Bring on that cruise!!!

 Riley: double ear infection, upper respiratory infection and pink eye.  Doctor put her on amoxicilan and eye drops.

 Cash: upper respiratory infection and pink eye.  Doctor put him on amoxicilan and eye drops.

 Tripp: upper respiratory infection, pink eye and high fever.  Doctor put him on amoxicilan and eye drops.  Motrin for his fever.

 Drew: has a pretty bad case of that newborn acne jazz that makes my face hurt to look at it.  Poor baby.  She is still happy though!  She is smiling more all the time.  I think I have even caught her laughing a couple times.  She is happiest in the morning when she first wakes up.

 The kids first started to get sick on Tuesday.  Darin also left for Oklahoma on Tuesday.  His first out of town work trip since December.  Perfect timing huh?! 
At least I have my sister now to help me.  Oh, but she was working 12 hour shifts at the hospital Tues, Wed and Thurs.  Ugh.
I didn't take them to the doctor right away because I just assumed they had that cold junk that was going around.  After the third day when all their colds seemed to be moving into their eyes and Tripp's temp would not come down, I decided to take them in.
I loaded all 4 kids up in the van on Thursday.  Thursday, the day of the winter storm that was blowing through with snow, sleet and ice.  Lovely.
We got to urgent care and the kids did really well letting the doctor check them out.  Thank God for that Bubble Guppies episode where Nani breaks his tail! 
We headed out of the doctors office with all our prescriptions in hand.  Thank God again for the drive thru at CVS!
I dropped off their prescriptions and we headed to McD's for the happy meals that I promised them if they were good during our doctor visit.
Little did I know that the advertised My Little Ponies and Monster Trucks toys in the happy meals were no longer.  The kids were pretty disappointed, but they were still happy to get a toy at all because we usually don't even get happy meals.
We got our lunch and then hit up CVS again to pick up our meds.  Well, they would only give me meds for Tripp and Cash...only the amoxicilan.  It was a no go on the eye drops because they couldn't read the doctors writing so they needed to wait until they heard back from their office.  They wouldn't give me meds for Riley because since her and Cash have the same birth date it was reading them as one person.  I guess there is a special code for twins that they weren't entering.  Anyway, kind of a pain, but Darin was able to pick up the rest of the prescriptions on his was home.
So it has been a crazy week, sick kids, Darin out of town, but we made it and the kids are already feeling much better.  And Darin and I leave for our cruise in the morning!!!  We are excited, but we will miss the kiddos a lot!  Cash came up to me this evening, stuck his hand out as if to shake my hand and said "mom, this is goodbye."  He shook my hand and walked out of the room.  I don't know where he gets some of this stuff. 
So when I think that I won't have to fight to get meds into 3 kids 3 times a day for the next week (and I will tell you that trying to get Tripp to take his meds is no small task) I am relieved.  But when I think about not seeing these little faces for 5 days, it makes me sad.  Its good for me though and for them, right?!  We will see!!!



A Visit from the Nosbisch Family

My brother and his family came down from Iowa last weekend for a visit. The kids all enjoyed playing at the house and swimming at the hotel where Adam and Rachel were staying. We attempted to get a picture of all 7 grandkids for Grandma Sue. We took quite a few, but these were probably the best. We tried!

I also have kind of a funny story.

Well, I guess its one of those stories that is kind of funny, but probably shouldn't be.

Cash, Riley and Becca were playing with Riley's ponies. Now, you can only play with Riley's ponies when she is in a generous, sharing kind of mood.

Apparently, at that moment, Riley was not in that kind of mood.

They were playing when Riley started crying and melting down because the other two were getting too close to her ponies.

All of a sudden we all heard a voice say "stop that you idiots!"

I just kind of stopped and looked at the other adults in the room. I said "was that Riley?"

I couldn't believe she used the word idiots. It didn't even sound like her voice.

I wasn't getting all bent out of shape because she said idiots. I mean its not like I want her going around saying that to people, but there are a lot of worse things she could say I guess.

It just sounded so strange and out of place to hear a phrase like that come out in her tiny, squeaky little voice.

I was wondering where she heard that word because we really try not to say things around them that we don't want repeated.

We all talked about it though and, in this blame game, we have narrowed it down to Sponge Bob and Woody from Toy Story.

I haven't heard it again since, but I am sure it may come out again.

I just hope it doesn't come out at school or something.

See...funny, but not really.

KC Zoo

Last week we had a couple of days with awesome weather! I had to get the kids out and thought I would brave the zoo with all 4 of them. I was a little nervous because the zoo is quite a "commitment". Its a little bit of a drive and it is expensive so you want to go when you can spend a little time there. I was also trying to time our visit between the times that Drew eats so I didn't have to be feeding her among the craziness. And it was craziness...70 degrees in February brings all of KC to the zoo!

The zoo turned out to be a great idea. The kids did really well. They were glad to be out of the house. Drew was really good and we timed it great with when she needed to eat. And I bought a family pass so I don't have to worry about wasting money if we only want to be at the zoo for an hour or so the next time we go.

I didn't get many pictures taken, but I did take a few. I had to get the elephants because they were so close to the fence and were busy digging in the dirt. That was fun to see. The KC zoo also got a new polar bear that we hadn't seen yet. He was my favorite. He just kept doing laps around this big rock. I took video of him and the kids as they watched him. They just cracked up every time he came around. I could have sat there all day and watched him!

Monster Jam

I usually have to pose them to get a picture like this, but this wasn't one of those times. Tripp just walked up to Cash and gave him a hug and they stood there like that for a while. I was glad that I had my camera right there on the counter so I could snap this photo. I think Darin got one on his phone too. It was sweet. Monster Jam came to the Sprint Center last weekend and since Cash is into monster trucks lately, Darin decided to take him. He didn't tell Cash where they were going. He just told him that it was a surprise. Cash and his dad, some monster trucks and a big tub of popcorn...Cash was loving it!




Thank God for the headphones Darin snagged from work. I knew it would be loud in there so we needed to protect those little ears. Darin thought about taking Riley too, but she isn't too into the whole monster truck deal and definitely not into loud noises. She would have wanted to leave once she heard all that noise. We stayed home and watched a pony movie which was more her style for sure!

Definitely a fun little date for Cash and his dad! We decided we need to do that more often with all our kids! It is fun to have a little one on one time with them and how easy to run around with just one kid every once in a while! I guess, depending on who that one kid is...

Happy New Year!

Tripp is always running around, playing this recorder and saying "Happy New Year!" It's pretty cute so I thought I'd share. I kind of had to coax him into doing it while I was taping because, of course you know, they are never doing it when you actually want them to. They usually do those kinds of things when you don't want them to like when you're on the phone or have a headache or something like that!

One Month

Here is Drew at one month...which was about a week and a half ago, but I am trying. I also took these pictures on the 7th instead of the 6th, but I don't think one day is too big of a deal. I am kind of anal like that though...I like to get the picture on the exact day.

I love it when they start smiling. I tried to get her smiling on video. She is smiling more and more every day!

Happy V Day!!!

For Valentine's Day we went over to visit my sister at her apartment. She had balloons for the kids which they loved. She had wine and chocolate covered pretzels for me...which I loved!
I figured I would try and get a few pictures of the kids with their Valentines Day shirts on, but it never works out quite like I planned.

Drew on her first Valentine's Day.

I like this picture. Cash is trying to help Drew get her paci back into her mouth.

Thanks for the shirts Grandma!

We had pizza and McDonald's for lunch. Healthy, I know. They have My Little Pony prizes for girls and Tonka trucks for boys in the Happy Meals. Somehow my kids spotted that little picture of the pony and the truck on the drive thru menu when we circled around to drop off a movie at Redbox. After that, there was no avoiding it, we had to have that pony. It was a fun little surprise for them though. They usually don't get to have the Happy Meals!

After we hung out at Sarah's, we went to visit Darin at work. We sent Darin to work with Oreo and Nutter Butter balls for the girls in the HR department. We decided to go visit them and make sure those treats actually made it to their office!

Hope you all had a great V Day!!!

What I find challenging these days...

*trying to burp a squirmy 4 week old.

*trying to get my 2 year old to leave his socks on.

*trying to keep my 3 year olds entertained with something other than watching My Little Pony, Transformers or Bubble Guppies.

*trying to stop my 2 year old from constantly wanting to eat nothing but Goldfish, Veggie Straws and "newt nacks" or fruit snacks.

*coming to grips with the fact that I have a long way to go before I am ever going to get rid of this baby belly!

*trying to realize that Coach Taylor, Tami Taylor, Julie, Vince, Becky, Riggs and all the others are just characters in a tv show. They are not real and life will go on after FNL airs for the final time next week! =(

*trying to drink more water. Even though I am not pregnant, it would still be good for me to drink a little bit of water each day. My sodie pop consumption over the last few weeks has been a little over the top. "sodie pop"...that is for my Grandpa.

*realizing that I am not crazy because I love the snow and I would have been happy to get 10 more inches. Its the ice that makes me never want to leave the house and move to Florida.

*trying to remember to brush my kids teeth at night.

*being excited about going on a cruise in about 3 weeks. Now, now, now...I am not crazy or ungrateful. I just find it hard to leave my 4 small children behind, especially my newborn. They will be with Grandma and Grandpa so I am not worried about them being taken care of by any means. I will just miss them, but how do you pass up a free cruise? Oh, and I will have to work some magic in the wardrobe department. I certainly don't want to be asked "and when are you due?" the entire week.

*trying to get my 2 year old to understand that while I would love to pick him up and carry him around all day, that isn't going to happen. I am pretty sure that since I am not supposed to do any heavy lifting quite yet, shleping around that little 40 lb lug is probably out of the question.

*trying to understand why nail trimming time is such an ordeal in our house...they hate it.

*trying to be grateful for the sleep that I'm getting despite having a 4 week old in the house, but not being overly worried when she does sleep for such a long stretch every night.

*trying to explain to my 3 year olds that even though there is a lot of nice, new snow outside and the sun is out, it is still way too cold and windy to go outside and play in it.

*trying to get used to the new names Cash and Riley have given to each other. No longer are they only Geo and Millie, but now they also go by Gil and Molly. Poor Tripp gets left out of the the nickname fun I guess.

*believing that next month, Darin and I will have been married for 5 years. 5 years, 4 kids, new house...not bad. =)

*missing our old neighborhood. Maybe when the weather gets a little warmer and people get out more, we will meet some new friends!

*trying to remember what I did before my sister lived in KC. I don't know how I managed so many appointments without someone to help me with the kids, especially when Darin can't help me because he is at work. Ugh. Reminds me...we need to gas up her car or something!

*trying not to cry at that part in Valentine's Day when Julia Roberts character comes home to...well, if you've seen it, you know and if you haven't I don't want to ruin the surprise. Valentine's Day is on HBO constantly and I always have it on and I always cry at that part. Maybe my hormones are still a little messed up?!

*preventing my kids from thinking that it is okay to speak in one word sentences like Max. If I hear "hungry" or "thirsty" without the words "I am" in front of it again I might permanently ban Max & Ruby from this household. That would devastate one certain little 2 year old around here so probably not, but really...

That's it for now.

And I feel better already.

Adjusting

I wanted to get in a quick post about how my other three are doing since the new addition to our family.

Cash~

Even though he cried when we told him it was a girl, he loves his little sister.

He is always checking on her and patting her head. He tries to show her his toys and even sets them up for her to see. He often tells me that he really loves his new baby which I think is very sweet.

He still talks about the other baby in my tummy that is a boy. He draws pictures of my tummy. This morning he even ate bites out of his pop tart to resemble my tummy with the boy inside.

I keep telling him that even though it looks like I still have a baby in there, we already have our baby. Nothing like a daily reminder of how big my belly still is to make me want to get back in to shape!

Riley~

She is doing well and adjusting to the fact that she is no longer the only little girl in the house!

She gives Drew kisses and is always checking on her.

The other night when Darin was taking them upstairs to go to bed, Riley came back down and said she had to get her baby. I told her that her baby was upstairs in her crib, but then I realized she was talking about Drew. Riley came over to her swing and looked at her sleeping and told her good night. I said "awww...Riley, that was nice of you" and Riley told me to "shhhh" because her baby was sleeping.

Cute.

Tripp~

He isn't digging the "not the baby of the family anymore" role he has to play. He is constantly wanting to sit on my lap if I am sitting down or he wants me to pick him up. I am still not supposed to be lifting anything much over 10 lbs so his 40 lb little body is a little much for me, but sometimes I just give in. Check back later when I am complaining that I have a hernia or something. I try.

Anyway...

He doesn't really like to be near Drew either. When I try to put the 4 of them together for a picture, he doesn't like to be too close to her. He screams and cries and tries to get away.

He isn't mean to her or anything. He just basically ignores her.

I am sure that will change. All too soon, he will be the protective big brother who will never let anyone mess with his little sister!