Frog Hands

Abby came to me today "Mom! I have frog hands!"

Me: "Frog hands?"

Abby: "They're sticky!"

The babies? Well they have their moments where they feel ok... but I see this a lot... they are not feeling well at all and today was rougher than I had seen them in awhile. Of course if they are feeling like I am right now...
Good grief it never ends.

We are moving towards sippy cups and so far it hasn't gone too bad. I did give them bottles tonight for bed because they were looking so awful. Kara just sat and sat and sat with me. 

(Kiley with her juice... apparently her sippy wasn't good enough)

Last night I was feeling very overwhelmed about things, and just in general. Abby had gotten her second pair of pajamas wet by playing in Feebee's water and I was so completely defeated that I just started crying and crying and crying. The only reason I'm mentioning this is is because Abby and her sweet soul was absolutely distraught that I was sobbing. She tried to get Tom to come help and I could hear her saying "Oh no, mommy's really crying. My mommy is so sad."

Then she came back upstairs pats me on the back and says "It's ok boy." 

It's really hard to cry when you are laughing. 

Of course even with the silly things she says I still was feeling rather down and though I wasn't crying Abby didnt leave me the rest of the night. She sat by me and watched Curious George with me until 10 o'clock at night. Just cuddling with me. 

I told her I loved her

She told me not to cry.

Doctor tomorrow? Perhaps

Well folks, we stayed put today. No leaving the house with three kiddos feeling under the weather (and myself not feeling 100% either)  We did run over to the neighbors to enjoy a coffee morning and I think that really helped us get through the day of being 'stuck home' 

We played upstairs and downstairs, Abby helped me make caramel rolls, we played Barbies, colored and she found a few other things to do here and there. There were certainly points today that I felt completely exhausted and stressed out. Especially after the babies cried for an hour straight and nothing I did seemed to help them. Finally I just put them both to bed...

No one really ate much today... they just weren't feeling very good. Kiley & Abby both had loose diapers and now have ouchy bottoms. Ugh. Yay for Balmex I guess!

I had to scold Kiley tonight and wow did she ever take it to heart. That girl can be soooo sensitive! 

Hopefully tonight goes better than last... though I've heard one of the babies has been up at least twice now so I won't count on it. 

Now off to fold the mountain of laundry.... 

My fluffy pink heart is broken...

An Abby story that I've been delinquent in sharing...

Tom and I invited a few good friends over to hang out at our house and play games. Once the babies were in bed we started playing this Harry Potter Lego game (which actually was a lot of fun) But since it was Legos Abby was very very interested in playing with us and had to sit on top of the table to watch. At one point during the game she looks at Tom and says "Abby want's to play Daddy."

Tom nicely explained that this game was too hard yet for Abby but that she could watch.

Abby wasn't exactly thrilled with this and then looks at him and says: "You broke my fluffy pink heart Daddy, Daddy you broke my fluffy heart."

It was so funny. So then I asked her what had happened to her heart.

"It died."

There was much talk about using tape to fix it, and how her heart was sparkely, and still very broken.... she went on and on and on and on about it. Very funny little girl we have here!

Kiley & Kara are STILL sick... debating whether to take them in to the doctor now. They have the 'crud', runny nose, cough, fever, ears... The fever was new yesterday for Kara but otherwise the rest of it they've had for going on 2 weeks... I've been trying to do the ear drops to take care of it but obviously it's not working.

(Kara before she wasn't feeling so good...still has runny nose here tho)

So we will see....

We did visit my grandparent's for a little while yesterday. That was a little intimidating for the babies. They weren't sure what to do with all the people there and mostly just clung to me. But for not feeling well I guess it was to be expected. We did get one of the chairs out of our basement at least! Yay!

(Kiley... also before she started feeling sick...)

Tip Top Shape

"I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps." Jeremiah 10:23

(Kiley)

A verse that stuck with me in my morning devotions today. Probably because I have this little nasty habit of wanting to plan plan plan everything in advance. I like to feel like I have some sort of 'control' over what is going to happen in the near future. Haha... yeah... right.

As a side note, a dear friend of mine lost a friend of hers tragically two-three days ago. Her friend was 23 and died suddenly of a massive cardiac arrest. Please pray for their family if you feel so inclined. As you can expect this was all very sudden and very shocking.


The girls were all feeling a little under the weather yesterday. There was much crying in the household last night! I'm hoping today will be a better day. I've started putting the drops in their ears again, I hope that helps them. They just looked miserable.

(Kiley lounging)

Abby is sitting with me and watching Curious George... kinda wish I didn't have to get ready for school but it's nice at least to see her in the morning before I leave. Hopefully my mom is able to navigate the snow to get here. We've gotten a lot of snow, bitter temps and wind (ew) I'm ready for winter to be over!

My new glasses came in but I'll wait to have a picture of them until after I get my new haircut this Saturday. :o)


Kiley is really into books now (more than just eating them) She will bring them to me or just come and sit in my lap with them. It's really cute. Kara loves to tackle Kiley... or lay on top of her, or give her kisses. It's pretty cute. :o)

(Kara)

Mondays

Monday Monday Monday...

Does anyone else ever feel like the days are monotonous? Perhaps I'm just tired of the crying... there is so.. much... crying around here lately. I wish the girls would just feel better for one entire week... one week without the crankiness, green noses, draining ears, teething, loose diapers, cough... seriously I cannot remember the last time we had an entire week with all of them being healthy...

Ok. I've had my vent.

Kiley has picked up a few new words "Hi and Wow." It's funny to get her to say both. I believe Kara also says "Wow." I wonder where they picked that up? lol

Kiley's cardboard book massacre is still ongoing and the books are taking casualties, I wish at least she would eat the books I don't like. Apparently they don't taste as good.

We have had some long light snows, probably around 6-8 inches now? Hard to really gauge other than how long it took Tom to scoop our driveway.

Abby hasn't been feeling as well lately either, she took a 3 hour nap yesterday (unbelievable) Everything makes her cry which is hard... hence the crying bit. She is still very into playing "punzel' and has new hair every day. Her swimsuit Barbie is now known as "New Punzel" and spends a lot of time in the Little People castle. At least she hasn't been getting up for hours in the middle of the night!

*In the middle of writing this post Kiley just walked up to me and puked in my lap... awesome..."


Kiley & Kara love to dance, it is so funny watching them dance to music. They dance in church, to cartoons, commercials and even my singing. I had videoed it but can't find it, will have to make another one soon. They also love to fight with eachother now... it's enough to drive me a little crazy sometimes.

Love

She is going to break some hearts some day....

It's still cold outside

I love this look... 

That's my princess Abby for you ;)

I got my new calendar yesterday! Harolds had an awesome $11 calendar sale and so I picked up a dry erase one (Normally $20) I think it is awesome and am trying to think of a way to 'decorate it' I'm thinking of putting a decorative frame around it but Tom is also considering shelves since we lost our 'key holder." I was pleasantly surprised at how large it is. Perfect for what I need to keep track of my crazy schedule this Spring.

Kara and her climbing shenanigans are driving me a little crazy. I'm just sure one of these times she is going to get hurt. But it's so hard to keep her from climbing on top of everything ALL the time. And she is incredibly persistent. Lol ALL of my girls are incredibly stubborn! The other day I noticed that Kiley was bringing me a lot of crackers. When I went to investigate... Kara was sitting on top of the table handing the crackers down to Kiley who was then taking the crackers to me... oh my

My Kiley is doing two very interesting things lately.... devouring all cardboard books .... and is terrified of stairs. I have had to put all the books up because she is EATING THEM... half of Abby books have the corners all mashed into brown mush.

This is as close as she will get now... I love it!  Kara on the other hand takes off like a crazed rabbit towards the open gate. She hasn't had the opportunity of falling down them yet and tries to walk down them standing up... oh my But she does enjoy a good car ride... backwards... 

Dishwasher boxes

Christmas break is counting down! One week from today I will be plunged back into the rat race of nursing school. I both dread and look forward to it... I'm ready to finish! Ready to be done with struggling to finish school while being a mother of three... and somehow getting laundry done.

Laundry oh you are the bane of my existence. Seriously... a plague. At least lately I haven't forgotten a load in the washer...

Another interesting note of interest (at least to me) is the focussed study in the Word... I admit, the craziness took over my life and the one thing I probably needed to be doing most I let slip some. So I decided that if Abby was going to be getting me up 6:30-7:00am and watching cartoons for an hour before the twins or Tom got up... that it was the perfect time to snatch a bit of coffee and some time for me to indulge myself in quite time reading and studying.

I'm on my third day and so far it hasn't been as difficult as I thought- waking up isn't always as easy (I need to go to bed earlier!) Funny though that the last two mornings she has been getting up 7:30-8:00... a test? Or was someone trying to get my attention? :o)

Speaking of Abby, she is already stripped of pj's and trying on her 'princess' dresses. I picked her up three headband 'crowns' and she has been playing with them in her new 'tower.' (The dishwasher box) Up to this point she has only fallen off... two? three times? Hard to convince her not to when she thinks she is Rapunzel. lol

Kara and Kiley have been more cranky lately. I'm not sure if it is teeth or something else going on? I sure hope they wake up happy this morning at least! There is nothing like a bath of green snot and drool.

I don't think we have much planned today, it would be nice to get them out but I'm not sure where we would go? I was able to get out for a bit yesterday to run a few errands, order my new glasses and it was nice to get a few things done. My good friend helped me pick glasses out and it was a lot less painful with her around. My awesome Mom is so wonderful to take time out of her day to come help me get things done, there are really only three people I trust other than myself to be able to watch all of the girls... which makes it hard to get things done that you can only do when you are alone... I am thankful for my mom's willingness to watch them for me so much. But the girls haven't left the house and I'm sure they are getting restless....

When we went to pick up our dishwasher Abby exclaimed... "There is Abby's new house! We need to find a key so we can open Abby's new house!" Hahaha she has large boxes figured out. (That white dress she is wearing is the one I can hardly get off of her even though I think it is a 12-18 month size? She likes it I guess)

Back to life

The days slip so quickly don't they! But here I am again, jotting away at my keyboard spattered with bits of baby drool and sticky fingers. We finished our last Christmas on Saturday with my Dad's extended family. The girls received once again some wonderful presents and we had a good time. This year has been amazing, and we are so grateful for the generosity of our family and friends. 

Kara and Kiley are babbling more and more now. Babababa (Bottle) has been very popular along with (Mum mum mum) Food. And we mustn't forget their favorites "No no no" and "Hot, Hot" Kara loves to tell me all of the things she finds that are hot, including her breakfast cereal. (which isn't hot, she made me blow on it to convince her though)

(Kara and Tic Tac)

Kiley is now afraid of going down the stairs alone (yaaaay!) Took her three times falling down them to get that but at last I have at least ONE child that doesn't immediately bee-line towards the gate the second Abby opens it. 

Abby is still very much the princess and wears her dress up dresses and things most of the day. I've decided I'm just going to put one set of 'real clothes' in the living room to put on her when she finally decides to wear them. The heap of laundry in the other room sighs in relief. She also insisted that she wear her pink sparkley shoes to church the other day...even if they were a little too big. The church goers got a kick out of them and her twirling during the church music. 

(Abby loves to brush hair and make it beautiful)

Kiley & Kara still hate being restrained during church and have a devious plan of trying to distract us constantly. Kiley also loves chewing to death the little cardboard books we got for Christmas (I've had to hide them) I took one away and she just screeeeeamed at the top of her lungs and wouldn't stop. Of course it was during the prayer...  

Here in lies the dilema. To try and comfort the one screaming child? Or chance that the moment one of us leaves with her that the other two won't notice? There are very high odds that the one screaming child will turn into three screaming children.

Who knew having children was a constant tactical exercise... I've learned we are a lot of fun to watch during the service. 

And a bit of an update on myself. (gasp) If you want to skip you can...  Perhaps you remember back a few posts I mentioned my having had 'Lazy Eye' as a child. I decided it would be a good idea to get into an optometrist to have a check up (it's been 4 years) My eyes were feeling tired and I was having a lot of headaches. 

My eyes as far as prescription goes, are actually pretty decent with not a lot of issues. I could probably live without any correction and be just fine. The problem is I have some form of a strabismus. Basically as it was explained to me by brain is fighting very hard to use both of my eyes. My left eye isn't as strong/good and so my right eye is very dominant. Up until now I was compensating pretty well but I guess the added stress of kids, sleep deprivation, school etc etc I can't do it as well as I was. After we talked I discovered I can actually tell when I'm switching vision from one eye to the next, and can't tolerate looking through both in the eye doctor lens things. (it forces both of my eyes to work together)

I asked him what would have happened if I hadn't come in, basically my brain would have given up trying to use the left eye and it would have become useless (blind) Ugh! 

Good news, it can be prevented! I just have to wear special glasses with prism lenses to make my eyes work together and make it less difficult on my poor weary brain. But that means no contacts and I will have to wear glasses pretty much all the time to try and reprogram things. 

Something that didn't bother me a whole lot until I started looking at myself in glasses. Whether it was all that pent up emotion from when I was teased as a child or felt ugly as an adolescent I just couldn't handle it. I felt awful. So I got out of there before I started to cry.

Tom my sweetheart happened to know I was upset and bought me a bouquet of flowers(love them so much, such a wonderful surprise!) and my mom stayed a bit longer to help me readjust a bit. (Thanks mom) I'm feeling better about it now, I was just soo overwhelmed and shocked by everything it was too much. My friend and I will probably go later and she will help me pick out a cute pair of frames. 

But kiddos are up and at em better hit the ground running... 

Good Times

An early trip in the morning went from 'waiting for Santa' to... mommy... let's go play with our toys. Abby has been up for awhile now to play with her two castles, princess Barbies... and to watch Curious George. She told me she was afraid of Daddy's computer downstairs.

May have to shut that down at night? Tom did a lot of work rearranging our basement downstairs. I worked yesterday on putting away the pile of things that got rearranged with it. Now we just need a good pickup to help us move everything! I need to take photos of everything to see if anyone wants anything before we take it off to some furniture mission. A new dishwasher will also be taking it's place along the other shiny black appliances. Perhaps we can all maintain our hearing now... at least we won't need to crank the volume on the tv or shout like an elderly married couple...

Merry Christmas to us ;) 

Kiley and Kara are working on more teeth... super cranky and some sour tummies. The diapers are sitting in the garage as they gave the house a 'recently changed' aroma... not so pleasant. 

Abby is eating a banana in the most peculiar way... sucking/smashing it on her mouth. Ugh. 

Not exactly sure what is on our plate today. Hoping to get my sister to stay the night and hang out with us today before the weather gets nasty again. They are saying possible 6 inches more of snow with strong winds and bitter cold... plus an ice bath before that starts. So we'll see where the storm goes but it may be a quiet New Year's Eve for us all.... 

Hark I hear babies... time to run!

(I bought 200 dollars in groceries last night... let's hope it makes us more than a week... wow they eat a lot!)