Warmmmmm

I just wanted to post that Kara is running a temp again tonight. 100.6 so not too high but enough to make her uncomfortable. I gave her a little Tylenol and that seemed to help her get to sleep. I think one of the girls are stirring but I'm unsure which at the moment.

Abby had a great therapy appointment her Occupational Therapist is soooo impressed with the progress she has made! Who could be surprised lol? She is incredibly bright and honestly sometimes I think it isn't so much anything 'wrong' with her it's more redirecting or improving MY parenting skills. It has so much more to do with me then her. I learn how to be more patient in certain circumstances... I wish all moms of toddlers had the benefits of going through therapy like this, I've found it's helped me interact with other toddlers as well because I understand the way their brains work a little better and I've learned activities that work well with toddlers. Simple things. Who couldn't be overwhelmed with the hundreds of thousands of things being thrown at them constantly and the sheer number of things they are learning. It makes me appreciate toddlers and babies more :)


I'm proud of her.

I hope tomorrow brings less rain and warmer temps. We are ready to play outside again!

New Sign Off

I decided that I should change my profile name to something more discrete. One of the nicknames my dad gave me as a little girl was 'goose'... seemed fitting to change my profile name to "Mother Goose"

Wasn't I cute? :) Hard to believe I've grown up isn't it Dad?

It's still raining!

Kara is singing herself to sleep as I write this while rocking her in the rocking chair. It is pretty sweet considering she is warm and soft and smells like baby shampoo. mmmm

Today was a little crazy but not too bad. I took all three girls into the doctor alone which can be a bit scary. Thanks to my super awesome stroller I am now dubbing "Hawk" (Because it's yellow and black and looks like Hawkeye colors... yes I'm that mom) things went ok. Abby sat on one side, Kara in the other and Kiley rode in the Beco. I was a little worried that it wouldn't fit through the doors or into the exam rooms (if you have seen the clinic you would understand) but it maneuvered beautifully! It had a great rain shield which was awesome considering it rained ... again. I got nearly as many compliments on the stroller as I did on the twins... but the girls always win out. BTW Abby also loves the stroller which in my book makes it worth every single cent.

Abby was running a low grade temp when I brought her in. The doctor said there are two options. 1) It is a cold virus that is going around and this was the first day aka the worst day... or 2) he stated that RSV is really going around right now and they might have that. 3-4 days is when it peaks. He seemed to be fairly optimistic that because they got it before and not that long ago that they might still have some immunity built up against it. He said to keep an eye on Abby's cough and give her a neb if she starts to get wheezy but for now give her Tylenol/Motrin for the fever/feeling icky. And her ears looked ok by the way so no ear infection ( I think I will be forever paranoid about her having ear infections after I let her go so long with the last one)

While we are on medical updates I may be switching formulas with Kiley and Kara. I don't think it is agreeing with their little tummies. Kiley has also started breaking out in a rash on her face after I feed her from the bottle. I'm still only giving them a bottle once in awhile and have really pulled back since we started having issues. I talked with the clinic and they will probably try two other types of formula to see if they like them better.

We went to the mall after the doctor's appointment. I really just needed a little time out of the house and because it has been so rainy (and cold!) I couldn't take my girls outside. We ended up walking around the mall for an hour and a half. The surprising thing? I didn't buy a thing! Ok I bought lunch for Abby and I but that was under ten bucks. :) She was so cute sitting in the stroller munching on her chicken nuggets and apple fries. She loved going for a ride and she did so great! She even helped to put Kara's pacifier in when it fell out. (Another bonus!) Kiley and Kara took naps while we looked around. It was a nice break but time to go home!

Abby sang along to one of the Kutless songs that was on the radio while we drove on the way home it was so cute. She kept catching the last few words "Jesus coooomes" And would sing that whenever it came to that point in the chorus. She really does love music! When we got home Abby ended up taking a 3 1/2 hour nap, Kara took a 2 hour nap and Kiley took a 2 hour nap... slightly staggered but enough to allow me to lay down for an hour or so. It was nice! Rainy day naps are the best.

 K&K helped.

Check out the video on Facebook :) If you can't get to it and want to watch it please comment below and I'll try to link you to it. 

3 Fevers

Well all three of my girls were running temps last night. They have all had the runny nose icky bug for two weeks now? I'm wondering if it went to their ears. I put a call into the doctor this morning to see if we can check for ear infections because honestly... having three run fevers and crazy cranky is beyond what I can handle alone. It took Tom and I until 11:30pm last night to FINALY get K&K down ... and to STAY down. I got them to sleep 4 times last night and 3 of the times they were up 10 minuets later. Frustrating to say the least. Abby is also coughing so it's time to make sure there isn't more going on. If there isn't so be it... I want to make sure!

Under Construction!

Please bear with me as I try to get the bugs worked out of this new template. Takes time and that is something I just have in limited bursts! Eventually things will be pretty again!

**Update**

Things are closer to being finished! I think I like the look of this layout better than the last and I hope that you enjoy it too. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Rain Rain Go away... :)

We had a wonderful day at home with Tom and the kids. The weather was nasty and wet and cold but it was nice to snuggle up indoors. I will be ready for this rainy bit to end so that we can go outside and play again! The girls are taking it well being cooped up and we have tried to make a few little trips out of the house to make things easier for us all. I love this picture of my girls... Abby's shirt says "Big Sis" but it's hard to read when she is so snuggly with her sisters.

It sounds like my new stroller will be coming tomorrow! (Or perhaps the day after... it's hard to know) But I'm so excited about it and cannot WAIT until we can all go for a walk with it! It will make our trips out much easier. It is a Schwinn Double Jogging stroller that has some pretty cool features like individual reclining seats and a  front wheel that can be either locked or allowed to swivel. I wanted to have it before Abby's 2nd birthday party. :)

Kiley only woke up once last night at 3am.  Now Kara was up 5-6 times or more but at least Kiley was only up once! (There are days I swear having one baby is easy as pie... lol) But Kiley slept amazing in the crib and I'm hoping that she will continue this sleep pattern... even if I think that is wishful thinking. But maybe! I'm trying an experiment and put Kara into the crib tonight to see if she sleeps as well in it. If so there is a good chance here in the near future that we may be figuring out some way of getting both girls into a crib. But then we have to figure out where to put it!

For those of you waiting for the Barney dance... I have tried to video it unsucessfully twice now. She danced... but stopped by the time I got out the camera. It seems like she has a sixth sense that can figure out when I'm about to record her doing something super cute. Oh well! Perhaps I just need to be better prepared with the camera. At least the battery is charged now!

Abby can mimic pretty much everything we say now which means that are television viewing options are extremely limited right now. Which is ok... we should be cutting more of it out as it is. Hard on a rainy day though! It is amazing to watch her learn 'our language' and when to use certain phrases. Like today she said "Want apple" today when we were grocery shopping. Which might not seem like much compared to what she has been saying... but this was totally unprompted and she used the word 'want' to tell us that she 'desired' the apple. Ok enough tech speak but after 'studying' Spanish for how many years it is amazing to me how kids pick up language and learn it so quickly. She can also sing the entire Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song and she is working on the 1,2,3 Jesus Loves Me song along with her Abby Cadabby Lullabye.

My favorite thing that she says is still "Mommy hold you Abby" My heart melts into a pool of mush when she says that. Or "Sorry Mommy!" when she does something naughty. Oh it's hard to discipline when she so earnestly says that she is sorry! Especially with those beautiful brown eyes. We are really starting to see her beautiful personality come through... like any two year old she can be a little 'terror' sometimes but she truly does have an empathetic and caring heart. I hope that I can continue to nurture that!

Well time for bed before babies awaken. :) Aren't they special?

Happy Mother's Day

If you still read my blog I'm sorry that I haven't posted much lately. Things have been a little hectic around here as I had finals this last week, have been editing for three different photo sessions and combined my efforts with a neighbor to participate in a city-wide garage sale.

So yes a little crazy.

The girls finally seem to be on the mend even if Abby's little nose still likes to keep running. Thankfully they are all starting to sleep a little better. I 'think' these last few nights I've gotten a little more sleep finally. I think they are sleeping in 3 hour stretches instead of 30 minuets to an hour. I know of at least twice when I was so tired I couldn't get up to get one of the girls out of the crib... but honestly she went back to sleep and it was just a few minuets of crying. It makes me wonder if I should be letting them cry a little once in awhile at night?

The strategy won't work with the bassinet though as it is too unstable and small for me to let one of the girls get worked up in. Part of me wonders if I should get another crib or how much longer this arrangement will last. I have a suspicion that they sleep better in the crib. Do I move a piece of furniture out, buy another crib? I can't move Abby out of a toddler bed... or would she be ok? A lot of questions... I'm not sure what the right thing to do is yet. Any suggestions out there?

Can I just say I love my girls? I love how Kiley snuggles her head into my shoulder and makes these soft squeaky sounds when she is happy to see me and how she grabs my face in her hands and tries to eat me. Or how Kara makes little roaring/growling noises when she is excited and how she laughs when I play with her. Did you know that when they see me they smile? They search for my face in a crowd... how special is that? And Abby... I love when she wants me to hold her and my heart melts when she plays with her babies or sings or takes my hand in hers. I love when she can sense that I'm having a bad moment and she tells me "It's ok mommy" while patting my back or giving me a hug.... she kisses my owies and tells me "No more owies mommy.."

A few of my favorite mother's day quotes to ponder and enjoy:

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along.  ~Margaret Culkin Banning


A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.  ~Victor Hugo


A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.  ~Tenneva Jordan


Sweater, n.:  garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.  ~Ambrose Bierce


Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love.  ~Mildred B. Vermont


Happy Mothers Day :)

Somewhere over the rainbow....

"Weeeeeeee".... "Faster! Faster!" (Abby while driving in the car, directed towards Tom) lol

The nights and the days are melting together a bit. Sleep is coming few and far between and I'm constantly amazed at my ability to function on such little sleep. I feel a bit crazy sometimes though! I'm not sure if I need to put a call into the GI doctor... part of me is hoping this latest sprawl of sleepless nights is due to them being sick ... yes sick again... but as night after night after night of getting woken up every 30 minuets to an hour or them being up and down and up and down for 3-4 hours... I'm getting tired.

I can't wait to sleep again! Everyone says to medicate them... get them back on the Prevacid that wasn't working. And I'm just not ready to put them on the formula full time yet. I took a look at the ingredients the other day and it just makes me wonder. Can it really be that good to put something that has 50 ingredients into my baby's body? So the madness will continue :)

Poor Abby got sick again, along with Tom, Kiley and Kara. Thankfully as of right this very moment I'm not sick. THANK GOD! I'm not sure how I would have survived. I'm wondering if this means the end of the church nursery. I think there are too many germs there and my children's immune systems always take a hit after being in there. So ... guess we'll have to avoid it.

Kiley is really up on her hands and knees, she took her first attempts at crawling tonight but face planted. She'll get it down soon. Kara seems like she could care less and would prefer to make her way through rolling. I guess it works too well! They are really talking up a storm now and love to grab your face and eat it or your hands or anything within arms reach...

Babyproofing this time around is going to be a nightmare. Abby just likes to share her things too much! How do you explain to a two year old that sharing her fruit snacks with her sisters isn't a good idea! I love her willingness to share but we have had to explain that those are ABBY'S snacks and that babies are too little yet. Still cute though.

We have a busy week ahead of us I hope the weather improves some!

Mini Post

I've had very little sleep in the last three days so no energy to post much.

Abby is sick again. Coughing and gunky nose... she looks absolutely miserable. Poor thing can't stay healthy for very long lately it seems. And of course it's Friday.... Kiley and Kara had runny noses tonight too. 

Kiley had a lot of fun splashing in the bath tub and she is up on her hands and knees and is rocking. Won't be long before she really crawls!

Kara isn't far behind Kiley in the crawling arena but prefers to get around by rolling... and roll well she does. 

Abby and I play in the backyard almost every day as long as it is nice. She loves to draw with chalk, swing and go down the slides. It makes me feel like a kid when we do silly games like 'fight' over whose slide it is. I love her laugh and how excited she is to have me play with her. I need to remember to continue to play make believe with her and encourage her imagination. I'm trying to cut back on tv and cartoons but it's hard right now when I'm so tired and the twins aren't sleeping as well. Hopefully we will get back on track with sleeping 2-4 hour chunks at a time and if the weather is great we will really cut out tv from our days. She also has really gotten into playing with 'putty'. I need to get her some Play Dough tools so that she can use those instead of her silverware lol.

I just got the babies to sleep and I need to crash. Sorry about the delayed updates...

Pools of Drool

Sleep Deprivation... thats what I'm blaming my uncounted absences on. lol

I think I have narrowed the culprit down to teething (once again) but just as we had started to get *gasp* 4 hours in a row we are back to 1, 1, 1, 2, 1 ,2... 1/2 hour stretches...1/2 hour stretches! There comes a point if you wonder if it is crazy to even TRY to sleep. At 6am this morning I gave up and Kara got to take a ride in the swing... I was feeding Kiley and I had been up 3x at 2am... then 1/2 hour stretches until 6... i was done lol. So I made poor Tom get up but at least he was gracious enough to do it. It was kind of funny he couldn't see and was so tired that he picked up Kara upside down! Oops! He quickly figured it out though. lol  I even went to bed a few minuets after they did last night because I was so tired. Thankfully I did because that was the longest stretch they slept.

Poor teething babies...

Kiley is playing with a onesie on the floor. Her favorite toys are usually some soft cloth thing that she can scream into. I wonder if she will share her love of clothes like her sister does? Every single stuffed animal/baby doll has a pair of pj's, a onesie or a pair of 'real' pants on. They are a colorful assortment. Kiley and Kara are up on their hands and knees now and can really get places.... again I remember we have no gate. I'm planning on going to a specialized baby store and picking up a wide swinging gate. The other day when I went to Bible study the mom there had the nicest one... and it was so easy to get through (for the adults) It probably would be a little safer too since it won't be just 'hanging' there. Kiley loves faces so watch out!She takes your face in her little hands and 'attacks!' She loves to eat your chin and cheeks.

Let's see... Abby is really into her Little People doll house right now. Tom and I tend to play quite a bit with her on that. She loves the little grandma and grandpa and often thinks they need to go to bed or eat. :o) She is growing up so fast! Her language skills are exploding and I've had so many people remark on them. The other day she was looking at these flashcards of 'smiley faces' and she could identify when the face was mad, scared, happy and sad... with no prompting she knew exactly what they were! She loves to have us draw the faces and really is into figuring out emotions right now. "Babies sad face... they have owies..." *Kisses the baby* "No more owie" (SO CUTE!)

The weather has been chilly and wet so no outside for us. She did travel with my mom to watch my sister's track meet. It was a good thing she did because K&K were soooo fussy while they were gone it might have been too much for me to handle cranky babies and a bored Abby. (There wasn't anyone else home at that time) But she had a great time running around with my mom. All of our family is amazing... they all pitch in to help when they can when we need help. God has blessed us... we have an awesome support network!

I painted our bedroom, I'm trying to go for a 'nice cozy feel' instead of the long suffered 'storage closet' feel. lol. Part of it is my fault as all of my craft things and photography props spill out of the closet but I'm working on organizing it! I have finals this week and some classes to do for work... yes I'm still employed at the children's clinic! We are thinking of moving the crib into our bedroom and switching my dresser out into the nursery... but we'll see what happens. They aren't sleeping the greatest right now as it is. I had been hoping to transition them into sleeping in the crib together. Here is a cute video of them playing together. Enjoy!