Sibling Love (Or Something Close To It!)

Our Big Kids Ham It Up

Everyone was terribly cooperative for photographs. As usual. I was hoping to catch one of the three of them together, but no such luck.

The Countdown to One....

It was a beautiful, sunny day today. Perfect lighting for photographs. Actually it was almost too sunny. Probably should have waited one more hour, but with kids you take pictures when you can get them! Anyway, here is William as his first birthday approaches. One week until the big day! He has a cold this weekend and wasn't feeling very photogenic, so do excuse his lack of enthusiasm.

Gymnastics Class

Halfway through the session and I finally remember to bring my camera. Here is Ellie in her class, the first "big girl" session without Mommy! She enjoys it very much, I think because it is a high energy activity. Just perfect for her! I can definitely tell the difference in her post-ear tubes. She actually follows the directions now. It helps if you can actually hear what the teacher is saying!




The boys had to tag along today as Daddy wasn't available to watch them. Nick brought a massive backpack full of things to do for both of them. But William thought it was much more fun to push the chairs around the waiting area. I'm sure the other parents weren't terribly impressed when he crashed into their legs, but they were very polite about it!

Update to the Update....

Well, things are looking up around here!

Nick survived his first week back at school after Spring Break. And he did manage to grudgingly admit that he was glad to see his friends again. See, school is good for something!

William did indeed have Roseola. He has "polka dots" from head to toe! But at least he is feeling better and the fever is gone. Yeah!

Ellie had her surgery yesterday, at last! Everything went really well. We can already see a difference; her volume is WAY down, she has been eating non-stop, and she had the first good night's sleep in a very long time. Today she has been covering her ears a lot and complaining that many normal household noises are "too loud". The baby crying, water running, telephone ringing, a door slamming shut... So I would say that the ear tubes are working! She has lost 3 pounds over the last month, so the next goal is to fatten this girl up!

I will post some sort of photos this weekend. They may be of our spotted baby, an eating three year old, and the back of Nick's head as he rides his bike. But there will be pictures!

Family Update

Sorry, no photos with this post. Just updating all on the last week...

The kids enjoyed Spring Break last week, and it extended into today. Just in case a week wasn't enough time off?! We really enjoyed our visit with Nonie and Grande. It was great to have a little help (for me!) and company, and it gave Nick and Ellie someone else to jabber at non-stop for hours on end. Thanks Nonie and Grande! I am sure you are enjoying the peace and quiet back home though... FYI: The kids are still sleeping in their sleeping bags! (Although on top of their beds now, not on the floor!)

Nick has now announced that he doesn't need to go back at all, school is boring anyway. Get used to it kid, you have 16 more years to go, at least! He did spend time with his Dad learning how to throw and hit a baseball. And did so well that Paul bought him his own mitt and bat. Shockingly the kid can hit, and with both hands apparently as he is a leftie. Had I known this about two weeks earlier I could have put him in Little League this spring, but we just missed the deadline. Oh well, next spring for sure. I have plans to keep him very busy this summer just the same...

Ellie is having surgery on Thursday for her third set of ear tubes and an adenoidectomy. Say a prayer for us! She actually has had an ear infection for a month that does not respond to any outpatient antibiotics. Her hearing impairment (hopefully reversible) is noticeable and she complains of ear pain every day and night. We have been waiting on pins and needles waiting for a surgical time. She is our virtual "girl in a bubble" as we pulled her out of preschool and have been keeping her away from other kids as much as possible to ward off infection. But we were very blessed last night to learn that Children's Hospital has managed to squeeze her into the OR schedule early!! Yeah!! We are optimistically hopeful that this surgery will do the trick for her and she will be able to enjoy a more normal, pain-free life after this.

William has been sick the last few days with a 103-104 fever and not much else. I am guessing either the beginnings of a viral fever (aka Roseola) or an ear infection? I will probably take him in tomorrow unless he has magically recovered overnight or develops the classic rash. Other than that he is teething like crazy, even eye teeth are starting to pop through. He is trying really hard to play with the big kids. If only they would be a little more gentle and sweet! He is also trying so, so hard to speak. It is really cute! We are working on animal sounds this week- cows say "oooo"(moo), dogs say "woo woo" (woof), and chicks (thanks to Easter) say "pee pee" (peep). He learned "blue" after pressing the buttons on Paul's alarm clock. Bananas are "nana" and food is "yum"!

Payton is still her same clunky old self. She sleeps most of the time either inside or out. Unless there are visitors or food is being thrown about. In which case she turns into a 75 pound bouncing bunny. At 8 years old we are just waiting until the day she throws her back out doing this. Oh the vet bills!! This crazy weather is wreaking havoc on her coat. It gets warm and she starts blowing her winter coat, then the next day is cold and snowy and she is inside shedding like crazy. Today (snowy) it looked like a blizzard had hit the downstairs. I'm not sure if I am going to mentally/emotionally survive this seasonal change. I just keep telling myself to do some yoga breathing, have a cup of tea, and this too shall pass. And in the meantime, we are single handedly financially supporting the Swiffer and Hoover (vacuum bags) companies!

Paul and I are hanging in there. Paul is working like crazy, gotta' love tax season! Two sick kids to deal with. The ever present shedding dog. And of course something in the house must self-destruct about every 10 days. Next project, the powder room floor thanks to the kids overflowing the toilet one too many times. Actually pretty much just one kid... I'll leave it to you all to guess who! We have been really trying to reinforce the fact that you don't need to use an entire roll of toilet paper in one flush. Please?!!?

Best wishes to all! We miss all of you in MI/PA/AZ/CA/TX/WI!!
Will post pictures soon. Promise!

A Warm Spring Day

Today was gorgeous, 70 degrees and sunny. The warm weather is welcome anytime! All three kids (and the adults too!) enjoyed being outside. The big kids enjoyed it so much that they decided it was high time for swimsuits and the pool. I am quite certain that they were freezing, but they didn't admit to it! William liked the sun and thought Nick and Ellie were hysterical. He wisely didn't want anything to do with the water, and still hates grass on his hands or feet. So I carried him around in safety. I can't wait to see him keeping up with them this summer. Should be lots of fun! Unfortunately, there is a chance of snow for tomorrow. Today it is swimsuits and sunglasses, and tomorrow will be boots and winter coats. I am definitely ready for it to be warm permanently!

The Traditional Easter Peep

We always save our kids' first bite of candy for Easter day. And the traditional first taste is a Peep! William wasn't too sure about it at first. I had to touch it to his lips before he would actually try it. But he liked it! Another candy monster is born!!

The Easter Egg Hunt

What am I supposed to do with this thing?
Hey, where are the eggs?!


Nick was the egg finding champ, he found 14 out of 24!

Eleanor was only into looking for the pink ones. She left most of the other colors for Nick.
Year number 2 that we have missed a group photo before church. It is so hard to get three kids, up, fed, toileted, dressed in their finest, pried away from the baskets and candy, and into the car in time for Mass. Of course on Easter you have to be about an hour early to get a seat in the church. We were right on time and ended up in the gym on bleachers. The egg hunt had to wait until after we came home. Nick changed out of his clothing as fast as humanly possible so no group photos after either. He looked very handsome, but you will have to take my word for it!

And as always seems to happen with hardboiled eggs on Easter.... We are missing one. Everyone has searched in vain and there is one egg missing. I am sure we will find it (smell it) eventually!

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came to our house, hope he visited yours too!!

Easter morning temper tantrum....


No photos of Nick this morning, he was too fast for us! Raced through the opening and finding of Easter goodies. Next thing I knew he was in the kitchen for breakfast! Payton had an enjoyable Easter too. Daddy forgot to lock her up last night and when we came down this morning she had been helping herself to the chocolate out of Nick's basket all night. Yum! (No need to worry, she is fine. Despite the veterinarian warnings about dogs and chocolate it never has any effect on her. Nothing ever has actually, not the bag of fertilizer, not Sharpie markers, not nests full of baby bunnies, not bags full of garbage....) Poor Nick lost some of his goodies though. Luckily the little ones can't count and we have redivided the candy amongst them all.

Our Little Bunnies

Bunny Number 1:


A Little Flower:


Bashful Bunny Number 2:

Happy Bunny #3:

Preparing for Easter...

We spent the day getting ready for the big holiday. Dyeing lots of eggs, finding our bunny ears, and (better late than never I guess) decorating for Easter. The kids LOVED doing the eggs, big hit with them. Now if we can only get Nick to actually eat one.... It was a beautiful sunny morning, but turned cold and windy in the afternoon. By 10pm it was blowing snow and that continued all night. So much for the summery Easter outfits! I swear it always snows on Easter day. Whether it falls in March or April, it's always cold.

William is 11 Months!!

Yet another month flew by in the blink of an eye, and now our baby is 11 months old. We can already see the toddler that he will officially be in four short weeks. He has been perfecting the art of the temper tantrum the last week or so, and I think he has it down now. Arches and throws himself to the floor, arms and legs pumping, bright red face, and screaming in fury! And today he told me "NO" when I interrupted his favorite game of "fishing" in the toilet. Sigh... I am not looking forward to toddlerhood. If only they could stay little and sweet forever!
On a brighter note, William does love to read. He brings me books when we are in his room playing. The favorites are Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see" and the classic "Pat the Bunny". He knows all of the Pat activities now, and can point to the animals in the bear book when we ask him where they are.
He is still teeny tiny, despite having a voracious appetite. Especially for pizza, macaroni and cheese (any pasta dish actually), avocados, and donuts. You would think those things would bulk him up, but no such luck. If he hits 16 pounds by his birthday I will be surprised. Yet another child rear facing until sometime into his second year...
He has three teeth now and one more on the bottom due to pop through soon. The top two front teeth look like they are on their way in shortly.
William loves to walk, but hasn't attempted it on his own yet. He pushes his toys and scooter across the floor with ease. Kitchen chairs work well for ambulating too. He is actively trying to figure out how to climb the sides of his crib. So I imagine it is only time until he figures out how to escape from there.
William is definitely everyone's "baby"! He has a ready laugh and loves to be tickled. He adores his older siblings, at least until they get too wild and crazy. He has a nice predictable routine when teething isn't making him miserable. He loves to eat and is pretty laid back most of the time. William is quite the flirt when we are out and about, especially with the ladies! And he is definitely a Mama's Boy, I have to be in sight at all times or there are major tears. We are so enjoying William as a part of our family!

Look What I Learned How To Do!!

William has been intently watching Nick and Ellie with their straw cups for about a month now. He knew there was something in them, but couldn't figure out how to access it. You can see the look of surprise in his face today when at last, the tasty beverage came out! I think he is enjoying his first sampling of lemonade!

William's Moustache

One of the big kids, and they aren't admitting to it, gave William a cream cheese bagel. Which he proudly crawled into the family room with to devour. So I emerged from the laundry room to this delightful sight. A baby with a moustache, cream cheese caked carpeting, one drooling dog, and two very guilty looking children.

Easter Photos 2008

Photos went pretty well this year I think. William was less than thrilled to share the stage with his siblings, but was all smiles when it was his turn! I haven't decided if these are the Easter outfits yet, I think it will depend on the weather. Paul does a lot of eye rolling when I put the boys in matching outfits, apparently it's not "cool". (I personally think he is lucky that William was a boy. It would have been much more expensive to match two little girls!)

William vs. Mashed potatoes. The potatoes won. (I most definitely lost. And the booby prize was scrubbing down the high chair, the baby, and the clothing.)

Wacky Weather!

Saturday was 75 and sunny, we were all outside in shorts and t-shirts enjoying the weather. Sunday morning we woke up to about 5 inches of snow and blizzard-like blowing snow. Huh?! The kids had as much fun throwing snowballs and eating icicles as they did riding bikes in the sun. The only bonus was that the ground was still warm and the snow didn't stick to the pavement.

Nick the Karate Kid

Karate "chopping " in class


The Kindergarten Karate Kids: Callan, Avery , Nick, and Mason

Nick at his graduation ceremony. He loved receiving both the medal and certificate!
Nick took a karate course through his school and loved it! It was a five week session after school and his was thrilled that several of his friends were there too. We are not going to continue at this time though. WAY too expensive (try $198.oo per month for a five year old?!) and I don't think five year olds have the necessary attention span for martial arts. The kindergarteners were spacing out half of the time and busy karate kicking each other the other half. Whereas the older kids (3rd grade and up) were doing great. I think we'll give him a couple of years to mature and try again.

Rocky Mountain Wildlife

Sunday was warm and sunny (Yeah!). In an attempt to amuse our children, we decided to head out and find the reputed herd of buffalo in a park off of I-70. After an hour in the car with three kids crying, screaming, and/or fighting we finally located the park. Unfortunately, we neglected to take into account the unpaved roads and the fact that all of the snow was melting. The result? Lots and lots of mud. (Mud, kids, and a clean car are not a great combination.) And for all of our trouble we saw one, lone buffalo. So here he is! I am sure they are much more impressive in size if you are actually closer. But the herd is fenced off with signs posted warning how ill-tempered and unpredictable buffalo can be and advising sightseers to stay at least 3 feet from the fence. So I think this distant view will do nicely.

Miss America 2025

Little Miss "Fashion Girl" as she calls herself, all dressed up this morning and ready for her close-up.