Year End Blowout

tobie   December 29th, 2007      9 comments...sweet!

Yuck!So here’s my summary of the last couple of weeks:

My aunt and cousin were in for a few days.  It was fabulous.  My favorite moment from their trip is our visit to the spa in which my aunt treated me to a massage for my Christmas present.  It was a girls day out with my mom, aunt and cousin (thanks Eric for watching the babies so we could enjoy it).  Thank you Aunt Nancy…I can not tell you enough how awesome and needed that was. 

Yuckkkkkk!Next Eric’s brother and his wife and their daughter stayed with us for a few days.  Their little girl was so adaptive to our craziness…the kids seemed to be fascinated with her.  It was really cool to see how similar their daughter and Drew were.  They were roughly the same size with a lot of similar features.  Hopefully we’ll have a lot more family get togethers so they can grow up together.  The downside to their visit:  Enara became very sick with a nasty stomach virus so she was pretty lethargic on their last day with us.  She was vomiting A LOT and her poor mom came down with it as well on their last night.  Please see further into this blog post for more details.

Next Eric’s mom decided last week to surprise Eric’s brother’s family with a spur of the moment visit.  It was a bummer that Enara and her mom weren’t feeling better so we could all have a fabulous time…next time, right?  Anyways, Eric’s mom stayed with us for a few days.  Please see further into this blog post for more details.

So here’s the update to the last two paragraphs.  We caught the stomach bug.  It started with Paige on Friday.  All of a sudden I thought she was moving in for a kiss, when she vomited all over me.  This was about an hour before we were supposed to go to her 2nd psychology appt.  I decided this was fate’s way of telling me that we don’t need to see a psychologist for her.  Anyways, Cole got the bug today and he has not eaten anything for 2 days now.  Both kids have had vomit and diarrhea.  Between Enara, Cole and Paige being sick and barfing or pooping on everything and the number of guests that we have had with towels and sheets….I have never done more laundry in my life.  Seriously.  I’m waiting for our washing machine to break.  Luckily it has not hit Drew yet.  I hope I didn’t just jinx myself.  It was nice having Eric’s mom stay with us so she could help with the sickies.  Maybe not so nice for her, but nice for us.

So because I’ve been doing so much laundry I got kind of backed up on our adult laundry.  So I ran out of nursing bras and grabbed one of my old under wire bras to wear the other day.  Now I think I have a case of mastitis (a mild one, I had it BAD with the first pregnancy) because I am so freakin’ achy and my boob has a hard lump in it.  Either mild mastitis or a clogged duct…either way I’m miserable.

Back to our guests:  My brother and sis-in-law were out for Christmas and we ended up celebrating the day at our house as we are better baby-proofed than my parents’ house.  I think our house is now better stocked than Toys R Us.  The kids were giddy and had a blast opening presents and hanging out with my family.  Santa was very good to everyone that was at our house.  I can’t wait until next year when the kids actually get Christmas and we have to restrain them from opening every gift within ten minutes. 

Eric’s friend Greg is staying with us now and just when I thought we couldn’t get any more presents, he was very gracious to our kids.  We always love when Greg stays with us and Paige (of all people, stranger anxiety I think not) adores him.

Yuckkkkkk!!!So another update:  we had to move Paige out of her room this last week to make room for our guests.  I was extremely worried this would cause more evil than good.  Eric was originally going to put a mattress on the floor in our room but after begging him repeatedly to reconsider….we ended up putting her in Cole’s room.  So far she has slept with him for 5 nights and I think she has only woke him up 2 nights very briefly and he’s gone right back to sleep.  I haven’t noticed that she is waking up less with him in the same room as her, but at least it’s not disrupting him too much.  I’m going to keep her with him for a while after Greg leaves just to see if she improves sleeping through the night.  It’s cute when they talk to each other at night or during nap time.  One day during nap time they were yelling and crying, then a few minutes later I heard silly laughing out of both of them, then a little after that they were both passed out in their beds.  So cute!!  She still wakes up about every 2 hours crying and we have to go sit with her in her room until she falls back asleep.  It’s murder.

Hope every one’s holidays were as happy as ours.  Even with getting sick it’s been worth it seeing everyone and spending so much quality time with family and friends.

Updated by eric: I had to add some pictures from the last two days.  Hey we share the good, we have to share the bad right?  No way we are going to go through puke/ass-fest without all you! Happy new year!

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    The Park

    eric   December 29th, 2007      3 comments...sweet!

    Paige At The Park

    Cole At The Park

    Drew At The Park

    Been busy (duh), will write more about all the latest happenings!

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    X-mas Fun

    eric   December 27th, 2007      3 comments...sweet!

    Paige And Her Gifts
    Paige in the mountain of presents

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    The boys helping mommy open her gift.

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    Paige getting someone’s gift.

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    Cole and his new racecar!

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    Drew opening presents with his mouth.

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    Babies and their new rockers!
    (Paige somehow lost her shirt in all the gift opening)

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    Holiday Cheer

    eric   December 25th, 2007      5 comments...sweet!

    Paige Getting A Book!
    Paige got a book for x-mas!

    Cole Got A Vacuum for X-mas
    Cole got a vacuum for x-mas!

    Christmas Drew
    Drew got purple tissue paper for x-mas!

    Lunch Time
    Cousin Enara and the crew
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    Drew and cousin Enara
    (look at Drew’s feet, he’s about 3 inches off the ground in mid-jump)

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    Happy Holidays

    eric   December 24th, 2007      7 comments...sweet!

    2008 Holiday Card
    Have a great, safe, and fulfilling holiday!

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    The Crew

    eric   December 22nd, 2007      8 comments...sweet!

    The Crew
    Thank you for the shirts Gharaiblets.  Drew likes black, makes him look slimmer!

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    Pump, Pump It Up!

    eric   December 21st, 2007      3 comments...sweet!

    Pump It Up Pump It Up Pump IT Up

    One of our therapy programs was sponsoring a night at Pump It Up.  Tobie was really big on going.  We were casually talking and just finishing dinner when she realized tonight was the night.  We rushed right over to Pump It Up, but the party was just winding down.  We were able to play a little bit while everyone else had cupcakes in another room.  It was a little much for our kids.  They didn’t know what to do and wouldn’t leave our side.  Some of the blow-up contraptions have a little hole you crawl in and then you are surrounded by nets so you can bounce and jump and not worry about hurting yourself.  Paige crawled in and immediately freaked.  She didn’t know how to get out and was besides herself.  She wouldn’t come close enough to the little hole for us to grab her. It was touch and go there for a minute, but we got her out.  That situation is probably what she has nightmares about every night!  I’m hoping in another 6 months or so they can appreciate a place like this, because it looked really fun.  Now if only they made this type of place for adults!

    Paige Trapped
    Paige trapped!

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    Oh merry times

    tobie   December 20th, 2007      13 comments...sweet!

    Old Lady PaigeI think we may have turned a corner.  I don’t know why but it seems Paige has accepted her new sleeping arrangement.  She has slept miraculously better the last four nights (and taken better naps) and the change in her personality is so apparent.  All of our therapists have even remarked on how she is so happier and easier to work with.  I have caught her playing by herself on many occasions these last few days and she is just such a joy when she is well-rested.  Her vocabulary is expanding every day and she repeats most of what I say.  I think she is storing it away in a vault in her brain because sometimes she’ll say stuff that amazes me.

    Paige and Elmo and Cookie MonsterDrew is rolling and commando-crawling and pivoting everywhere.  He is no longer stationary.  This makes him the happiest baby ever.  The kid hardly ever fusses and loves to spend almost 20 minutes playing with a single toy.  He loves trucks, cars and anything that has wheels that he moves back and forth.  He loves the poppers even though he can’t walk with them…but he likes to sit and push them back and forth.  I swear we need 6 poppers in this house…one for each hand.  And he is LOUD!!  He is squealing and grunting and “talking” all the time.  We’re still not napping great..but even if I get him down for 20 minutes when the other two are sleeping I consider that a success.

    Cole and ElmoCole is just awesome.  I can’t really describe him any other way.  He is so easy going and pleasant.  Paige will take his toy, occasionally he’ll cry and look at me for help, but most times he just goes and finds another toy.  I dropped the feeding clinic for him.  It was a rough decision that I’ll probably regret in the future, but it just was too taxing for our schedule.  Besides, we have enough doctor’s appts and therapies between the three of them that it’s hard to maintain a sense of normalcy as it is.  Cole still is barely talking but he has a few key words.  He loves Drew and Drew may be one of his favorite toys.  He now knows all his body parts (by pointing) as does Mommy And ColePaige (Paige knew them a while ago) and I’ve been working on colors with them.  Cole has some stuffed animals in his crib that his awesome auntie got him and if I ask him where his elephant is he’ll grab it.  So he knows elephant, monkey, lion and horse.  Pretty good.  We also know the cow goes moo and the dog goes woof.  Paige knows baa for sheep, but that’s about it for animal noises.

    The family We also know all articles of clothing and actually got to wear a hat and gloves last night.  Our city has a train park that decorates with Christmas lights and you ride the choo choo train through the lights.  It’s awesome, but the thing that made it the most awesome, and something I will never forget (or hope to never forget) is Cole’s reaction to everything.  He oo’d and awe’d through the whole thing and was pointing to all the lights and waving to people waiting for the train.  His happiness made everything I do every day worth it.  Paige was sitting on the train with Daddy so I hope she got as much enjoyment out of the evening as Cole did.  The kids and CliffordDrew was sitting on my cousin’s lap next to me and I could tell even at his young age that he loved it too.  Another funny part of the evening was these characters as we were leaving that Cole and Paige got a real kick out of.  Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Clifford were real sports when it came to our kids because both Paige and Cole were pulling their ears, poking their eyes and squeezing their noses.  They loved those silly costumes!!!!  Here we come Disneyland!!!!!

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    Lunch Time Fun

    eric   December 20th, 2007      4 comments...sweet!

    Lunch Time Fun
    “Pull my finger”

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    8 Months Old

    eric   December 19th, 2007      9 comments...sweet!

    8 Months Old
    Drew is 8 months old today. 
    And Moxie has been loving every minute of it (she loves leftovers)!

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