CINDY'S BLOG

I've Moved My Blog

2006-06-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

This blog is no longer being updated. My current blog is located here.

Bye-Bye Bassinet

2006-06-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

I sold the bassinet to Children's Orchard yesterday. Falyn had gotten to big for it and is now sleeping in the crib. My goal now is to get her to go to sleep in the crib by herself. She normally falls asleep in my arms and then I put her in the crib. She is starting to get too heavy to carry around all the time and I really need her to learn to sleep in her crib, so I have to stop doing th at. She did sleep better last night, now that her cold is almost gone. She only woke up once, at 3:19 am. I got up and put her binky back in her mouth and she then went right back to sleep. I'm hoping that soon she will be able to put her binky back in her mouth all by herself.

Falyn's First Time in Swing

2006-06-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today while the twins were at speech class, I took Falyn and Aidan to a nearby park. While there I put Falyn in the swing, she loved it! She looked so cute sitting the seat. She looked so little, but at the same time looked so grown up.

Like I said before, stuff always happens when I'm nursing the baby...

2006-06-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I was nursing Falyn and noticed that Riley wasn't in the living room. I asked Talia to go and see what he was doing. She found him up in his bedroom with the kitchen scissors cutting up one of Aidan's books. I yelled at him to come downstairs and put him in time out. When Dan got home, he discovered that not only had Riley cut up the book, the had cut up the screen on the window in his and Jared's room. He got another time out for that and I know had to move the scissors from a drawer in the kitchen to up high in the cabinet where the twins can't get to them.

Bad way to start the day

2006-06-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Falyn woke up at 2 am because of her cold. This is the third night in a row she has woken up in the middle of the night. I woke up to discover that I also have a bad cold and feel just horrible. I couldn't get her to go back to sleep in the crib, so I took her downstairs. I tried rocking her, but an hour later she was still fussing. Finally around 3:30 I was able to get her to go to sleep by lying down with her on the coach. She woke back up around 5 am and I then took her back up to my bed and nursed her and we both fell back asleep. I had to get up at 7:00 to take a shower and get the boys ready. Aidan has preschool at 9 and I had to bring the twins and the baby along to take him there. Falyn cried some of the way there and most of the way back. I can tell that she is going to be one fussy baby all day.

Kayli got stung by a bee

2006-06-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

Kayli went on a train ride to San Juan Capistrano today with the Brownie troop. They went on a tour of the San Jaun Capistrano Mission. While at the mission, she was stung by a bee. Kayli said she was just standing there looking at the pond when the bee jumped up and stung her. Luckily, she is not allergic. It is good to know that for the future. They said she was very upset when it happened, but was pretty much over it by the time I picked her up. She also left her lunch in the car when I dropped her off and I didn't find this out till it was way to late to get it to her. One of the leaders had brought extra so she did have a plenty for lunch.

Dinner with Miss McKinley

2006-06-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

The kids that read over 150 books this school year got to go to dinner at Miss McKinley's house. 17 kids out of the 36 in the class met that goal. She spread the students out over three nights. Kayli went on the third night. The evening started out with a game of Jenga. Then Miss McKinley brought out her bird Mercy. The kids all enjoyed playing with the bird. Next we had pizza, chips and fruit. After dinner the kids played Chinese Checkers. The girls played against each other in one game and the boys played against each other in another game. The girls took the game very seriously and were very competitive. The boys were making designs and patterns with their marbles instead of trying to win the game. Kayli's team ended up winning the girls game. All the kids had a great time and it was so nice of Miss McKinley to open up her home to them.

Falyn's first ride in the backpack

2006-06-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last night Dan took Falyn for a walk in the backpack for the first time. She was more than a bit leary of it at first. After a bit, she decided it wasn't so bad and started to enjoy the ride. By the end of the walk she had fallen asleep.

Meeting with Contractor and Planner

2006-06-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

The contractor came by again yesterday and this time brought his planner/engineer guy with him. This other guy said what we want done is definitely doable and he is going to get back to us with an estimate on coming up with "preliminary plans". Once you have the preliminary plans you can then get an estimate for the whole job. Who knew it would cost a few hundred dollars just to find out how much it will cost to do the job? Once you approve the preliminary plans, they will draw up the final plans and do all the structural/sesmic required studies. They will also take care of getting all the city approvals, which apparently is no easy task. Just getting to that point where the city says it's okay to start the project will likely cost around $1000. (Plus however much the city charges for permits!)

I created a Slide Show! Check it out!

2006-06-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

2006-06-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the 4th of July, I've added this fun new patriotic design to my store. I have a version for twins, twin mom, twin dad, triplets, triplet mom and triplet dad. This is also a great design for memorial day and labor day.

Why is it that things always happen when I'm nursing the baby?

2006-06-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

I was nursing Falyn downstairs this afternoon when I hear an "I'm hurt" type scream coming from Aidan upstairs. He continues to scream while coming down the stairs and I ask him what happened. He tells me that John Paul kicked him in the nose. I look over and see blood pouring out of his nose. That sure got my attention! I unlatch the baby and put her down and rush Aidan into the bathroom. I grab some toilet paper and have him hold it on his nose. Then I yell upstairs to John Paul to tell him that he has to go home. I have never had blood pouring out of any of my kids noses like that before. I quicky googled what to do for a bloody nose and find out that moist cotton balls held in the nostrils works well. So I run upstairs and grab the cotton balls, run back downstairs, get them wet and apply them to Aidan's nostrils. This, combined with light pressure on the outside of the nose, eventually gets the blood to stop pouring out. I then had to clean the blood up off the tile. Which is when John Paul and his dad show up at the front door to have John Paul tell Aidan he was sorry. This whole time the baby is crying because she still wants to eat. Twenty minutes after the first scream, I'm finally able to get back to feeding the baby.

Bad shower day

2006-06-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

My morning shower is a very important part of my day. It is the only time I get to be alone all day. It is my one point of solitude each day that I very much need to keep my sanity. As an introverted leaning person, I need this alone time to decompress and mental get ready for the day. This morning, my shower was anything but peaceful. First Kayli barges into the bathroom to inform me that Talia has opened up a luncheable to take out the candy for her snack at school today. (Talia knows she isn't suppose to have candy for snack!) I told Kayli to tell Talia to put it back. A few minutes later I hear Aidan in the bathroom telling me that I told him to remind me that he is bringing snack to school on Monday. Yes I did tell him to remind me, but didn't mean to remind me while I was taking a shower. I tell him to remind Daddy tomorrow when he goes to Costco to pick up the stuff for him to being for snack. A few minutes later, Kayli is back to inform me that she can't find Talia to tell her not to take the candy, At this point I'm getting rather exasperated and tell her that I am in the shower and can't go find Talia for her right now and why can't see go talk to daddy about this? Yes, Dan was awake and dressed and somewhere in the house, but still the kids had to come all the way upstairs through my bedroom and into my shower to talk to me about this "urgent" problems. I could lock the bathroom door. But then I would end up with kids pounding on the door and yelling for me to unlock it. Which would be an even bigger disruption to my attempt at having a peaceful shower.

I laugh at your one baby

2006-06-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

I just added this design to my store. It is a fun design for those of you juggling multiple babies. The text says "One baby? I laugh at your one baby! You should try juggling multiple babies sometime...".

Neighborhood Ducks

2006-05-31T15:29:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken from my next door neighbor's front yard. The sad thing is that everytime you see the mommy duck, she will have less ducklings. The neighborhood cats get them. They also fall victim to hawks.

Busy Morning!

2006-05-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy morning around here. I had to take the twins to speech and while they were there I ran over to the community center to register Talia and Kayli for a hip-hop class this summer. After we got back and I nursed Falyn, I decided to try and put her hair in a ponytail. It looked so cute that I had to take some pictures. They are uploading right now. I have about 1/2 a dozen special requests for items in my store that I need to get to and I want to get out a father's day newsletter too today.

Thirteen Years Ago Today

2006-05-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

Thirteen years ago today, Dan and I were married. Our love has grown stronger with each passing year. We are best friends and I would never imagine having a better life partner than Dan.

I never would have thought then that thirteen years later we would be the parents of six children. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful family, with such good kids.

Happy Memorial Day!

2006-05-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

Isn't this an adorable picture? Talia loves to carry Falyn around and Falyn seems to enjoy being carried around by her Talia picked that flower from our front yard and put it in Falyn's hair. We are having a very kick-back type of day today. Dan took the kids (except for Falyn) and about a half-dozen neighbor kids on a walk to 7-11 for slurpees, so it is really quite around here right now. Falyn is sleeping in my lap as I type.

This morning the twins got up and dressed themselves. They picked out their favorite tank-top shirts and "shiny" pants - which don't exactly match. Riley got his shirt on backwards and Jared got his pants on backwards, but I'm not complaining! I'm so glad they are now doing more and more for themselves. It makes life so much easier on me now that they use the potty and are starting to get themselves dressed and put on their own shoes. They still need some help figuring out which way clothes go, but it's a big improvement over me having to do everything for them.

Tonight we are going over to Dan's parents house for a BBQ. I'm sure Samantha will be there, but I'm not sure whether or not Pam and Lawrence will be. I know the kids all want to see their cousin Lawrence, so I hope they are there.

The floor is done!

2006-05-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

They did manage to get the entire floor finished and the bed put back up last night. We moved the bed so that it is by the window. It think I'm going to like it a lot better there. My next task will be to get my closet cleaned out and donate all the clothes in there I haven't worn in years. Then I can move Dan's clothes to my closet and we can start moving the scrapbooking business stuff to our bedroom. That has to be done before we can start on the bonus room expansion project.

New floor in our bedroom

2006-05-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Dan, his dad and sister are working hard today to put in a wooden floor in our bedroom. We've had the wood for it sitting in our room for over a year now! It sure will be nice to have it all done. Then we can start to tackle our next project - the bonus room expansion. That is going to be a huge project and will take months to complete.

Aidan learned to ride without training wheels

2006-05-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Aidan can now ride his bike without the training wheels. It took him about a week after we took off the training wheels to get enough confidence to ride it that way. He is doing great without the training wheels now.

Trying out Flickr Blog-It

2006-05-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out the blog-it feature on Flickr. This is one of my favorite pictures of Falyn. Doesn't she look cute?

Cafepress Affiliate Program

2006-05-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Do you have a multiples related site? If so, you might want to looking into Cafepress's new Affiliate program where you get 20% of any sales that come from click-thrus from your site. I have a twins related cafepress store and just put up an affiliate page which has instructions for joining the affiliate program and contains all the html code you need to add a link to your site. If you are interested, you can read more about it here.

Do all newly potty trained twins do this?

2006-05-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

Jared and Riley have to tell each other every time they go potty. This is a transcript of an actual conversation between them:

J: Riley, I went poop and pee in the potty!
R: You went poop and pee in the potty! Did you flush?
J: No, do you want to come see?
R: Ya! Don't flush, I'm coming.
(Riley goes in to bathroom with Jared.)
R: Good job Jared, high five!
(They give each other a high five.)
J: Do you want to help me flush?
R: Sure!
(They both flush together.)

This goes on each time on of them goes to the bathroom. It is hilarious! I wonder how long they will continue this behavior.

3 Months Old

2006-05-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Falyn is three months old already. She has grown so much in the last few weeks. She is already fitting into some of her 6 months sized outfits. She is very alert now and loves to observe what is going on around her. She is starting to figure out how to grasp at objects and get the into her mouth. She sit all by herself for 6 whole seconds yesterday. She loves "talking" to you and will hold long conversations gooing back and forth with you. She is getting better in the car, but will still sometimes scream when I have to stop at redlights. If I hit to many or get stuck for too long at one, she will end up screaming the entire rest of the way home. She sleeps through the night pretty much all the time now. And all in all, she is such a sweet, adorable, cute, cuddly baby!!! We so much love having her.

Finished Falyn's Blanket and Taggie!

2006-05-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Lisa gave me instructions on how make this cute "taggie" blanket for Falyn. I used the same material that I used for her no-sew fleece blanket. Falyn loves them both! It was so hard finding time to get it sewed with all the kids around. I finally had to get Dan to hold Falyn last night so I could finish sewing it.

Note to those stealing my pictures

2006-05-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that someone has been stealing pictures of my kids off of my website and claiming them as their own children. Why in the world would you do this? Do you not have a life of your own? Is your own life so pathetic that you have to pretend to be someone else? I really do feel sorry for you that you have nothing better to do than steal other peoples pictures and pretend they are you own. You really do need to get a life of your own.

As a result, I will no longer make my pictures accessible to anyone. All new pictures will be placed on Flickr and only accessible if I know exactly who you are. I will not add you to my list unless you are a trusted friend. Those of you that are my friends will already know my email address. If you aren't, you won't. If you email me, I'll send you an invite so that you can get access to the pictures.

I regret that this action has become necesary, but I will not tolerate people trying to pass off my kids as their own.

Cute Curl

2006-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

After giving Falyn a bath and combing her hair, it made this cute curl on the top of her head.

Police Evacuation - Update

2006-05-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor across the street took pictures of the cops in our front yard. You can see where the trampled the seedlings in the pics.

Brandy and Tammy came by this morning to pick up clothes for Tammy. Mark had tossed some of her clothes on the front porch, but she left those clothes there. They said Joey (the teenage son) had been with Brandy and wasn't in the house while all the cops were staking out the neighborhood. They think he needs to go to the hospital to go get check out, but he won't go and the cops won't make him go without there having been a crime committed. I told Tammy that I'm praying for them and I hope it will all get worked out soon.

Police Evacuation

2006-05-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

It is a good thing we cleaned up our house this weekend, since the police commandeered it and forced us to evacuate last night. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. It all started when I was packing orders in the bonus room. Aidan and Riley were up there playing when Riley said, "Look mommy, I see a police lady and a police car". That got my immediate attention and I went over to the window to check it out. Sure enough there was a police lady, two policemen and several police cars parked up the street. It is rare to see one, let alone three police cars in our neighborhood, especially two days in a row. Okay, I guess I should go back and start this from the beginning.

I was coming home from shopping on Saturday, turned onto my street and saw two police cars parked up the street from my house. I pulled into my driveway and saw my neighbor Melissa outside with her kids talking to Dan. My kids were also all outside by her house playing. She lives two doors down the street from me, so I got out of my car and headed over to her house and said, "What's up with the cops" as I passed the house between our two houses. In hindsight, that probably wasn't the best place to say that since it turned out the police were at our next door neighbors house.

Melissa and Dan filled me in on the situation. There had been yelling at our neighbors house and someone, probably Tammy - the lady that lives at that house, had called the police. All the kids had seen the police arrive and were all watching to see what was going to happen next. It all ended peacefully, no one was arrested and the cops left. Mark (Tammy's husband) came out and Melissa asked if everything was okay. He said everything was fine, went back in the house and then came out and drove away in his truck. This isn't just any truck, mind you. It's a huge white truck that I refer to as "Big Bertha". This thing is loud! I can always hear it from my house when he arrives or leaves.

So, that was the end of it. Or so we thought. Then last night as we were finishing up with dinner, Dan went out front and Aidan and Riley went out too. That's when we started to hear more screaming. This time, Brandy (who is Tammy and Mark's grown daughter) was over there with her boyfriend. Aidan and Riley were right over there trying to figure out what was happening. Dan made them come in and we went upstairs to look out and see what was going on.

Brandy was crying and her and Landen (the boyfriend) got in her car and drove off. Before leaving, she asked Melissa to give her a call if anything else happened. Everyone went inside and we though the situation was resolved. It wasn't.

That's when I started packing orders and soon after Riley commented on the police activity outside. Tammy must have called the police and I saw her standing in her driveway talking to three police officers. It wasn't long after that that they moved from her driveway to between my house and my other next door neighbors house.

I counted a total of five police officers outside my house. I got a good view from Aidan's room and was able to hear them fairly well from his window. From my eavesdropping, I was able to find out that Mark has recently started taking some sort of antidepressant medication and it had apparently caused him to go off the deep end. That in and of itself wasn't the polices concern. Their concern was that he has a lot of guns and ammunition. And, Tammy said he had been up all night cleaning these guns and she was terrified of what he might do.

During all this, Dan tried to put out the trash cans and was told by the police to get back in the house. The same thing happened to several other curious neighbors. The police didn't want anyone out of their homes. Around this time, Melissa called. She said she saw six more police officers down the other street that she can see from her house and we can't see. One of whom was running down the street with a big shotgun. We told her what we knew and she hung up to call Brandy.

Brandy arrived and little while later and Tammy and several police officers went further up the street to meet her. Unfortunately for me, that meant I could no longer listen in on what Tammy was talking about with the police. Turns out it didn't make a lot of difference, since it was soon after that that we got a call from the police telling us we had to evacuate and to go out the backyard side gate.

Riley and Jared were both asleep and all the other kids were in their pajamas about to be asleep. It must have been around 8 pm by this time. We gathered them up, grabbed some blankets and headed downstairs thinking we were going to go outside and down the street to wait this out for a while. We got downstairs and find a police officer waiting for us and he is telling us this could last an hour or all night so be prepared to be gone till morning. He also asked us if we had the numbers of any of our other neighbors. One of whom called right about that time and we gave the phone to the police officer to tell her about the evacuation.

I happened to have a list of a bunch of our neighbors phone numbers and addresses from my baby shower list. I printed that off and gave it to the officer. Then I ran around the house grabbing blanket, animals, jammies, clothes and shoes for all the kids. Somewhere during all this Dan's parents happened to call and we told them we were being evacuated and were headed over there. Melissa also called and we told her we would be at Dan's parent's house. We were finally ready to leave around 8:30 and the officer told us to leave the house unlocked because they may need it for the operation.

We got all the kids in the car, trough the garage - pre the officers instructions, and backed out of the driveway. We saw four police officers standing in the floor bed at the front of our house. Kayli was very concerned about her seedlings that she had planted there a few weeks ago and been watering daily.

We finally made it over to Dan's parent's house, by which time Falyn was screaming because she was hungry and I hadn't been able to feed her at 8:00 when she normally would have nursed. I feed her while Dan got all the kids out of the car and I filled the in-laws in on the whole store.

About the time we get all the kids settled in the phone rings. It was Melissa telling us it was all over and we could go home. We called the police station to verify it was okay for us to go home and they said it was. I'm not sure of exactly what happened, but apparently they called Mark and he surrender to them. They ended up leaving him at the house and Tammy went with Brandy. Since "no crime was committed", no arrest was made. Pretty anti-climatic ending, huh?

I'm really glad that it turned out that way and no one got hurt. Mark is normally a really nice guy and I'd hate for something to have happened to him. This morning around 6:30, I heard Big Bertha peel out and drive off down the street. Right now no on is home next door and I'm left here feeling like I'm waiting for the next shoe to drop. One thing I am a bit concerned about it where their teenage son is. I hope that he is over at his sister's place.

Before you ask, yes I'll give you an update if anything else happens. I'm hoping that Mark goes to the doctor and gets an adjustment to his medicine and that will put an end to all the police action on our block.

Oh ya, Kayli's seedlings did get trampled. I'm hoping they will spring back up, but only time will tell. The weeds, however, have all sprung back nicely.

Two Months Old

2006-04-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Falyn turned two months on last Friday! She is such a sweet baby. She hardly ever cries, except when she is hungry. She smiles a lot and loves to "talk" to you. She has even started laughing now. She loves to look at all her toys. She doesn't hold them herself yet, but loves for you to hold them up so she can look at them. I finally bought a stroller for her. I am able to put her carseat into it, which makes it so much easier when dropping Aidan off at school. She doesn't mind being in it, as long as you keep it moving.

Falyn had her two month check-up last week. The doctor said that she is doing just great. She also comment that she was very strong, since she can hold up her head really well now. At her check-up she got four shoots. She was very cranky afterwards and had a bit of a fever too. She weighed 10 lbs 4 oz and was 22 3/4 inches long. She is growing out of all her 0-3 months stuff and fits nicely into her 3-6 months stuff. She also has moved out of the size 1 diapers and into the size 2 diapers.

Potty Training Update

2006-04-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

After many other false starts, it appears that Jared and Riley were finally ready for potty training. (They are 3 1/2 now.) I put them in underwear one week ago today. After one day of accidents they are have been accident free and are even waking up in the morning and going pee on the potty all by themselves! They are even pooping on the potty too. I'm thrilled that they finally got the hang of this and it was virtually pain free! I'm very glad I didn't push it on them when they were younger and did not want to have anything to do with using the potty.

Sleep! Glorious Sleep!

2006-04-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Falyn slept for six hours straight last night!!! I put her down at 11:15 pm and she didn't wake up till 5:15 am! I, however, woke up around 2 am and checked on her then again at 4 am and checked on her. It was sure nice not having to get up twice during the night to nurse her. I hope that this sleeping pattern sticks!

Potty Update

2006-04-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Riley had one accident and the peed in the potty twice! Jared wet his pants five times and didn't go in the potty once. This morning, they have both gone in the potty one time with no accidents! I sure hope this trend continues.

Finally got her smile on film!

2006-04-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

It is finally going to be warm enough today to put Falyn in this cute purple sundress that I have been wanting to get pictures of her in. I set up a photoshoot this morning after nursing her so she would be nice and happy. I managed to get some really cute pictures and even some with her smilling!

The blanket Falyn is on was made by her Grandma Nelda just for her. Isn't it pretty? The pics are here.

Is there a Potty Training camp?

2006-04-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

Why is it so hard to potty train twins? Can't I just send them off to a potty training camp somewhere? I put the twins in underwear this morning and they have had accident after accident with no successess. I put them on the potty only to have the pee in the pants ten minutes later. It is so frustrating!!! I don't think they are ever going to get the hang of this.

Now I'm Sick

2006-04-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

I was so sick yesterday. I woke up with horrible abdominal pains. The pain was as bad as being in labor. Dan convinced me to call the doctor and I went in yesterday afternoon. The Dr. said I have diverticulitis and gave me two different antibiotics to treat it. He also printed out a handout from emedicinehealth.com (a site he highly recommended) all about diverticulitis. Turns out it was a very good thing I went in. If you don't get prompt treatment, you can end up in the hospital and may even have to have surgery. I didn't do anything yesterday but rest and nurse Falyn. I'm feeling much better today, but still not all better. And today is Dan's first day back at work. Talk about bad timing to be sick...

First cold

2006-04-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Falyn has a cold. Poor baby has such a stuffy nose with green mucus soming out of it. The doctor does want us giving her any decongestant since she is so little. At least she doesn't have a fever. I sure hope she is better soon!

Six Weeks Old

2006-04-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

Falyn is six weeks old today. The time has gone by unbelievable fast. She has started smiling up a storm lately! She has the cutest smile. I have to try and get some pictures of it. She is also cooing a lot now too. She is sleeping up to 3 1/2 hours at a time at night now and nursing about every 3 hours during the day. She loves her Baby Einstein play gym and will play with it for 20 minutes at a time. She also enjoys her swing and will often fall asleep in it. Her brothers and sister just adore her and want to hold her all the time. The twins like to "pet" her and tell me they will pet her so "soft-a-ly".

Mommy, a little help

2006-04-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

Riley is so cute! I'm sitting here at the computer and I hear him say, "Mommy, a little help." over and over again. He is in the kitchen and has one hand on the left handle of the refrigerator and has some home gotten one of the fingers stuck under the right and door. It was easy enough to fix and he said "Thank you mommy" and went back to playing. (No, he is not suppose to be playing with the refrigerator, but how can you get mad at him when he is being so darn cute!)

They won again!

2006-04-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Talia had her second softball game today. hey played a team without a pitcher that wasn't too great. A lot of girls on Talia's team ended up being walked. Talia got a hit and also got to make a run! Dan said that the rules state if one team gets 6 runs in one inning they end that teams part of the inning - which happened in this game. They won something like 12 to 5. The other team got runs because Talia's team put in a 5th grader to pitch that wasn't that good.

Talia's First Softball Game

2006-03-30T19:28:00.000-08:00

Talia had her first softball game today. They won 3 to 0. She said she had a lot of fun at the game. She is on the "B" team for her school, which is made up of 5th and 6th graders. There are only 4 5th graders on the team. I'm very proud of her for making the team, seeing as how she had never played a softball game before today! You can see the pictures here.

One Month Old

2006-03-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

Falyn turned one month old today. I can't believe she is already a month old! The time has totally flown by! To document the occasion, I did a photo shoot of her. I took some pics with a stuffed puppy and Baby Tad toy to show her size. I will take pics with those items each month to show how she has grown. The hat is the one that I knitted for her. The pics are here.

Falyn's First Bath

2006-03-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

We gave Falyn her first tub bath yesterday. She cried pretty much the entire time. Kayli was the photographer and Jared and Riley were the audience. Pics are here.

Falyn had her first doctor appointment today

2006-03-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Falyn had her first appointment today with Dr. Chang. Dr. Chang has been our pediatrician since Talia was a baby. All the kids just adore her. They are so good about scheduling newborn appointments at the beginning of the morning, or right after lunch, so you don't end up waiting in the waiting room with a bunch of sick kids. They also recently moved to a new office that has a seperate waiting room where they had me wait with Falyn away from the other kids that were there.

The nurse weighed and measured Falyn and she is up to 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 1/2 inches. She grew almost 2 inches since she was born! Then Dr. Chang came in and checked her out. She said that Falyn was still a bit jaundice, probably around a 9 or 10 billirubin level. But that was okay and to just keep her in bright rooms. Everything else was perfect. She did say that I should be taking extra calcium since this is the 6th baby I will have nursed and to continue with the prenatal vitamins. We take Falyn back in a month at which time she will get 4 shots.

The cord fell off

2006-03-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

Falyn's lost the rest of her cord today. I went to change her diaper and the cord stump was gone. I looked and looked for it, but couldn't find it. I finally found it later in the day in the foot of her outfit. She is 16 days old today.

Off the Lights!

2006-03-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

Falyn's billirubin count went down to 12 today, which means she doesn't have to be on the lights anymore! YEAH!!!! Right now she is sleeping in the baby papasan seat that my friend gave me. (hand-me-down) She loves it!

Still on billi-lights

2006-02-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

Today is day 4 that we have been home and Falyn is still on the billi-lights. It is a major pain having her hooked up to them all the time. The cable attached to the lights is only a few feet long, limiting the area we can move around with her. Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind being on the lights. It is also a big pain having to take her back to the hospital each day to have her blood taken. Saturday when we left the hospital her level was at 12.5, Sunday it went back up to 16 and yesterday it was at 14. Today the doctor said we didn't need to do a blood test and if it goes below 12 tomorrow, we can take her off the lights. I'm sure hoping that will be the case! I can't wait to get my baby unhooked from those machines.

She's Here!

2006-02-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

Falyn Hope was born today at 2:36 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. Pictures from the birth are here and pictures from afterwards are here.

Baby 6 to be born tomorrow!

2006-02-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

My c-section is scheduled for tomorrow at 1:30 pm PT. I would welcome any prayers and good thoughts that all goes well. I've been spending today getting all the last minute stuff done, but still the day has been dragging! We still haven't finalized a name for this baby. At this point I want to see her before deciding on what to name her. I'll likely be in the hospital till Saturday or Sunday. I'll give Lisa a call when I get settled in my room after the birth. I'll try and post in the morning so you know whether or not we are still on for the 1:30 time.

Had my last prenatal OB appt today

2006-02-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

I had my last prenatal OB appt. this morning. Everything looks good and we are all set for a c-section on Tuesday at 1:30 pm. The dr does want me to increase the amount of iron I am taking because the bloodwork done last week showed that I was still anemic. I'm fingertip dialated and high, so it doesn't appear I'll be going into labor on my on before Tuesday.

Quick Update

2006-02-11T11:57:00.000-08:00

I'm still pregnant and still suppose to be spending most of my time resting. On Thursday I went for my OB appointment at 9:30 and didn't get home till 3:30! My blood pressure was up and the baby's heartrate was up, so my Dr. sent me to the hospital for blood work and fetal monitoring. Many hours later, they decided that all was fine and let me go home. I go back for monitoring on Monday. If all goes well, in 10 days time I'll finally be holding this still to be named baby.

Had My Baby Shower Yesterday

2006-02-06T08:40:00.000-08:00

The baby shower was so much fun! It was hosted by my neighbor, my MIL and my friend that is my brownie co-leader. Our girls served as "junior hostesses" during the shower. They all did a great job. I gave Talia the camera and appointed her photographer. I got lots of great stuff, include a matress for the crib - which I badly needed, since the twins have both of the other crib matresses in their toddler beds. I also got a Leap Frog Baby Tad that is already a huge hit with the boys. I also got a ton of adorable girly clothes, some blankets, some onsies, books and diapers. Here's the link to the pictures. I included a couple of belly pics that Talia took before the shower on that page.

Today's OB appt.

2006-01-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

I just got back from my dr appt. I saw the other dr in the office, whom I haven't seen before. She went ahead and did a u/s to check the levels. She got around 14! That is over double what it was on Friday. Your prayers are all working! Thanks so much! I will still go to my NST at 4:00 today, but we are not expecting to have to deliver. I have been ordered to continue with the rest and drinking lots of water. I really do want to make it at least till next Monday, since my baby shower is on Sunday.

Low amniotic fluid levels

2006-01-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

I went for my NST this morning. The good news is that the baby is very reactive and moving around a lot. The bad news is that the amniotic fluid levels dropped from 8.5 to 6.2. They want to see it over 8.5 and if it had been much lower they would not have let me leave. I've been put on bed rest for the weekend and told to drink as much water as I can. They will recheck it on Monday and if it doesn't go up, they are going to deliver the baby. I'll be exactly 36 weeks on Monday, so the baby should be fine if delivered then.

I sprained my ankle

2006-01-25T10:25:00.000-08:00

I was stepping out my front door and twisted my ankle, landed on my knee, and then stopped my fall with my hands. I managed not to end up on my belly. So now I have a painful sprained ankle, a skinned knee and a hand with scraps on it. I've been trying to sit down and put ice on it, but I had to take Aidan to preschool, then the twins to swim class and now I just got a call that Kayli is sick and I have to go to her school to pick her up.

Had My First Non-Stress Test Today

2006-01-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

I spent almost 1 1/2 hours at the NST yesterday morning. They wanted to get a good baseline resting heartrate and little miss baby 6 would not be still. I really can't complain about being there that long though. The room I was in had an awesome view of the Newport Beach Harbor. I jokingly asked the nurse how I could get signed up to come in more often. It was really very relaxing sitting there looking out at the ocean.

The nurse said normally they only need to monitor you for 15 mintus or so. I do feel bad about my in-laws being stuck with the boys for so long though. They are watching them again Friday when I go for my next NST. Hopefully it won't take so long on Friday.

They also did a check on the amniotic fluid. Mine was right at 8.5 cm, which is the minimum they like to see. I was ordered to drink 3 liters of water a day and they will recheck it on Friday.

We Have a Date!

2006-01-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

I had my 35 week appointment today. Everything looks great and I actually lost 2 pounds since my last appointment 2 weeks ago. My appointment was with a nurse practitionar that is new to that office. She wanted to practice on the ultrasound machine and I of course said sure! Baby is head down and kept her left hand up by her face the entire time. She was moving around the whole time and looks perfecly healthy.

My next appointment is on next Monday and I'll be going each week from now on till the baby is born. I also start NSTs tomorrow and will be going every tues and friday to the hospital for those.

The c-section is scheduled for 4 weeks from tomorrow - Feb. 21 at 1:30 pm. Given that I've never gone into labor before my due date, I don't think I'm in any danger of having this baby before then.

What the neighborhood kids are up to this weekend

2006-01-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

The kids are making a movie. One of the boys has a video camera and aspirations at being a director. They have come up with a storyline, written scenes, made costumes and props and have been practicing before they start filming. The kids involved are between 8 and 11 years old - 6 girls (including my two) and 3 boys. Kayli tells me that they are even going to do bloopers. They started working on this yesterday afternoon and have been working on it all day today. Who knows if they will actually finish it, but I love that they are being so creative and working so well together!

32 Week Appointment

2006-01-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

I had my 32 week appointment today. Everything looks great. My Dr. didn't even mention my lack of taking the 3 hr. glucose test, so I didn't bring it up either. He did another quick u/s. Baby is now head down and measuring around 34 weeks in size. He wants me to start having NST starting at 35 weeks due to "advanged maternal age". I'm going to go ahead and do it, since a study done my the doctor that delivered my twins shows that it is warranted. He is going to try and get my c-section scheduled for Feb. 21. My next appointment is 2 weeks from monday, when I'll be at 35 weeks.

End of the Year Update

2005-12-31T16:10:00.000-08:00

Talia - She's have a great time in 5th grade. They have gotten to go on a number of fun field trips this year with several more planned throughout the year. She continues to be a honor roll student, excelling in everything she tries. She has taught herself to play the harmonica and has gotten pretty good at it. She does choir and girl scouts and challenge (which is a Catholic girls group). She is a beautiful girl, both inside and out. She has a great group of friends, most of whom she has been friends with since kindergarten. She spends most of her free time outside playing with the other kids in the neighborhood. She also enjoys her gameboy and playing online on Neopets and Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom.

Kayli - She is now 8 years old an in 2nd grade. She enjoys school and also excels in everything she tries. She was recently voted class president for the month of December. She is very outgoing and has tons of friends. She has taught herself to play the recorder and knows a large number of songs on it. She does choir and girl scouts and did soccer for the first time this year. She is very good at soccer and I'll likely continue to have her play next year. She also spends most of her free time outside playing with the other kids in the neighborhood and enjoys her gameboy and playing online on Neopets and Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom.

Aidan - He is now 5 year old and in a preppy-K class. Over the last month of so, reading has really started to click with him. He knows all the phonetic sounds for a while know and has recently caught on how to blend the words. I expect him to be reading quite well by the time he starts kindergarten next year. He played soccer for the first time this year and really enjoyed it. He says he wants to try baseball next year, so I will likely put him in that instead. He is all boy and his favorite thing to do is run around outside playing. He also enjoys playing on his leapster.

Jared and Riley - They are now 3 years old. I play to start them in preschool next year. They continue to be in speech therapy this year and are getting much easier to understand. I've also had them in swim classes and they are both making great progress. They continue to refuse to be potty trained, but we are hopeful that they will decide to start using the potty before preschool next year. They are also all boy and like nothing better than to run around outside playing.

Decorations are Down

2005-12-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

We got all the Christmas decorations taken down today. I was getting very tired of telling the boys to leave the tree alone every few minutes. It sure is nice not having to constantly keep them away from it. It's also nice having back the room the tree took up. They boys are happy to have it down since they get their light sabers back. After Aidan took his light saber and hit an ornament, breaking it, we took them away till after the tree was taken down. Several other ornaments also were broken this year. You would think that not having glass ornaments would prevent them from being broken, but not with my boys around! They still manage to break plastic ones.

Our Christmas

2005-12-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! It started around 5:30 am when the girls woke up and snuck downstairs to spy on their Santa gift and stockings. They then got dressed and came into bed with Dan and I until the boys finally woke up around 7:00 am. We got the boys dressed and everyone went downstairs. The boys were very excited about their Santa presents: BC Builders sets, Treasure Island Matchbox set and the Aircraft Carrier Micro-Adventure Rescue Heroes set. The girls got Heely's and were thrilled! They opened up their stockings and the twins started munching all their candy before we could stop them! I then started breakfast - coffee cake. Which apparently is our traditional Christmas morning meal. (Talia and Kayli informed me of this a few weeks ago.) After breakfast, Dan took the girls to 9 am mass. I went with them on Christmas Eve to the 4 pm mass. Since they are in the children's choir, they have to sing at two Christmas masses.

While the girls and Dan were gone, I opened up all the boxes of the boys Santa gifts and put them together so they could play with them. They were very anxious to open up their presents, but knew they had to wait till everyone was home. Finally, the girls and Dan were back and the present opening began. We tried to keep it orderly, with everyone opening one thing at a time, but it was hard to keep it under control. Kayli's favorite present was her gameboy. Talia already had one and she very much wanted one too. Talia isn't sure what her favorite present was, but has been playing her new gameboy games almost non-stop. The twins and Aidan loved all their new toys. My favorite present was the earings that Dan gave me.

After lunch, the girls went out to play with all the kids in the neigborhood. Turns out that all the other kids that didn't already have them, also got Heely's for Christmas. They all had a blast skating all over the neighborhood. I spent most of the afternoon opening boxes of the boy's new toys. They managed to play with ever single one of their new toys.

For dinner, we went over to Dan's parents house. Dan's parents, Dan sister Pam and her two children, Dan's sister Barbara and her "significant other" visiting from the Netherlands, Dan's sister Samantha, and Dan's grandma were there. Aidan brought his new Bionicle with him and and his cousin Lawrence help him put it together. Lawrence also got Heely's for Christmas and the girls tried to help him figure out how to use them.

After dinner, we had another round of present opening. We all got so much stuff, that I don't know what we will do with all of it! Definitely will be time to get rid of some old stuff. We then had desert and sat around talking. Dan's dad built a fire in the chiminaria and the kids all went ouside. Samantha and I went outside with them. Around this time, Dan's mom was trying to get his grandma to go to bed. Apparently, they had forgotten to add grandma's medicine to her food at dinner and she totally flipped out. (She won't take the medicine on her own, so they have to hide it in food.) She started yelling at everyone and refusing to go to bed. We left a while later at around 10:30 pm. From what I hear, grandma continue to rant and rave for several more hours.

You can see our Christmas pictures here.

I don't recommend doing this

2005-12-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

I took the boys to the mall today in a quest for the last few remaining Christmas presents. Things were going well, till I took them into Bath & Body Works. I had the double stroller, which the boys were all holding onto. With the threat of being placed into the stroller if they didn't stay with it. The layout of that store was not created with strollers in mind, or two three year olds for that matter! It was a struggle to get around the store to find what I wanted without the twins destroying every display in the store. I did manage to make it out of there with the present and without the boys breaking anything. I do strongly recommend you not every try this with three young boys!

The highlight of the mall trip for the boys was playing with the Reactrix. It's this interactive mat on the ground that has different scenes displayed on it that you can interact with. Their favorites are the fish, the soccer game and the racecar track. They would stay there all day if I let them. It was very hard getting them to leave. It is suppose to be an adverstisement tool, but the ads are totally lost on my boys. They think it is a toy and want to know why I can't buy them one for home.

Recognized at Costco

2005-12-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

I took the boys to Costco today to pick up some prints I had made and look for a few more Christmas presents. We go to check out and the checker says, "Hey, It's the triplets! Oh wait, one is older, right?" Aidan quickly says that he's 5 and they are 3. I guess I've been spending too much time at Costco lately!

28 Week Appointment

2005-12-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

I had my 28 week appointment on Friday. I was suppose to go on Thursday, but Dan totally forgot about it and didn't show up to watch the kids. They put me in a room with an u/s machine, so the dr did a quick u/s and I got to see the baby again. She is still a she! Everything looked great. She is breach, which I pretty much knew already since the kicks are all mostly low. It doesn't really matter since I'm having a scheduled c-section anyway, but the dr said they do like to know that before surgery.

He also said that my one hour GTT came back "a bit high". Turns out it was 137, which is exactly what it always is. They changed the cut off from 140 three years ago to 135 two years ago to 133 now. He wants me to do the three hour test, but I very likely will "forget" to go have it done. I have no sympomts at all of GD, and do tend to by hypoglycemic anyway. Fasting all night, going three hours with no food and just that glucose will very likely cause me to black out.

My iron also was a bit low, which I expected. So, he wants me to take more iron. He also suggested taking Omega-3 since one study showed that it helps brain development.

My next appointment is Jan. 6 when I will be almost 33 weeks. That means it will be only 6 weeks from then that the baby will be born!

"I'm going to sleep with my comfy light saber"

2005-12-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

That's what Riley told me last night while I was tucking him in bed. LOL!!! He is always sleeping with "comfy" this or "cuddly" that. Usually it's comfy socks and cuddly animals.

Kayli Was Elected President!

2005-12-06T15:59:00.000-08:00

Kayli was elected president of her class today. Each month they elect a new president and vice-president. She is really excited about being elected. She said it is hard work being president and listed all the jobs she will have to do. The best job, she said, is being the person that gets to calling on people to nominate the next president and vice-president and getting to see how people vote.

Lining Up for Swimsuit Sale in Dec?

2005-12-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Only in California would you see a parking lot full of people lined up to get into a swimsuit warehouse sale in December. On the way to taking the girls to school this morning, I saw exactly that. The TYR warehouse was having a sale and people were lined up all throughout the parking lot waiting for it to open.

I Took the Boys to See Santa This Morning

2005-12-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

I got there right after it opened, so we didn't have to wait in line. This is the first year that one or the other of the twins wasn't afraid of Santa. They all had a good time talking with him.

While we were at the mall, I must have been asked over a dozen times if they were triplets. Aidan has the drill down! I always say no and he pipes in with "I'm 5 and they are 3."

Back from Shopping!

2005-11-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

I'm back! I made it to Target, Sports Chalet, Michaels, Toys R Us and Kohls. I could have made it to Barnes and Nobles, but decided to enjoy a relaxing lunch instead of rushing lunch and going there. I got everything that I wanted to get! I did have to ask a couple of times about items and was lucky enough that they had them in the back and got them for me. I spent so much money in such a short amount of time that I triggered the fraud alert on my debit card! I had a message from them on my voice mail when I got home asking me to verify all the charges I placed.

Off on a Shopping Extravaganza

2005-11-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

My MIL is coming over in a few minutes to watch the twins. I'm going to drop Aidan off at preschool and then it's off to do Christmas shopping until I have to pick him back up at 12:30. I'm hoping to get all the gifts that have to be mailed as well as most of the stuff for the kids. I'm planning on going to Target, Micheals, Toys R Us, Kohls, Barnes and Noble and Sports Chalet. Wish me luck in getting it all done! I also plan to have a nice quite lunch all by myself. Something I rarely get to do.

New Storefront Online!

2005-11-29T10:14:00.000-08:00

I finally finished getting my twins and triplets apparel store online. It's not just apparel, but has stuff like mugs, bags, cards, stamps, aprons, and bumper stickers too. I've got over 800 different items in the store right now, with my goal being to have over 1000 items. You can check it out here.

Yo-Ho-Ho Hats

2005-11-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

Today we got down the Christmas stuff, so we could put out the Advent Candle holder before the first Sunday of Advent, which is tomorrow. I found the Santa Hats in the boxes and gave them to the boys. The immediately started calling them their "Yo-Ho-Ho" hats. They must be the pirate santas! They kept going around saying "yo-ho-ho" over and over. It was too cute!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

2005-11-18T09:44:00.000-08:00

It is way to hot for the middle of November! When I dropped Aidan off at preschool this morning at 9 am, it was already 75 degrees. That means it is likely to make it up into the 90's today. The high temps are caused by the Santa Ana winds. These winds come from the desert and bring hot dry air. They also bring lots of allergens that drive my allergies nuts! I sure hope they go away soon.

Fluid Pouring Out of the Van!

2005-11-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after I got home from picking up Aidan at pre-school, fluid was pouring out of the van and running down the driveway. I popped the hood to see what was going on and found coolant fluid pouring out of an escape valve on the coolant fluid container. It continued to do that for several minutes. The van as been fine since this incident, it isn't running hot and hasn't leaked anymore fluid. So, I'm hoping it was just some freaky thing due to it being hot yesterday.

24 Week Appointment

2005-11-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

I had my 24 week appointment today. Everything looks great, blood pressure is good, weight gain is fine, baby is measuring right on track. I have to do my GTT sometime between now and my next appt, which is Dec. 8. I was a bit worried that my blood pressure would still be high. It was very high for me (131/79) when I went to my PCP for the sinus infection. Must have been due to being sick. Thankfully, it is back down to normal.

Halloween

2005-11-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

The kids had so much fun last night. Talia was a cheerleader, Kayli was a mediveal princess, Aidan was a Hot Wheels World Racecar Driver, Jared was Baby Jaguar and Riley was batman. Ya, I know, Jared's costume looks like a tiger, not a jaguar. Just don't tell that to Jared!

The boys had more fun passing out candy than getting it. Poor Kayli came home sick after only going half way around the neighborhood. She had a 101 degree fever and went straight to bed. She is home sick today from school. Talia was out trick-or-treating for over 2 hours! She came back with way too much candy.

20 Week Appt.

2005-10-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

I had my 20 week appointment today. Hard to believe I'm already half way there! Everything went well at the appt. I'm measuring just right and the baby's hearbeat sounded great. My next appt. is in 4 weeks.

Riley Broke Off The Rearview Mirror on the Van

2005-10-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

After speech class today, we go home and I unbuckled the twins and went to open the front door. I put up their folders and then look back and see Riley playing with the mirror. I told him to stop, but before I could get to him he had already broken it off. The mirror is attached to the front window and will require a trip to a repair shop to get it fixed.

Go Diego Go with Darth Vader?

2005-10-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

Jared and Riley are cracking me up this morning. They are outside playing Go Diego Go. They are up in their "rescue center" (which is the fort on the play equipment). Jared is baby jagaur and Riley is Darth Vader (complete with the Darth Tater mask and hat.)

Kayli Got Braces

2005-10-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

Kayli got braces today. They are only on her few permanate teeth. They will add bands as her other teeth come in. She got orange and black rubberbands on them for Halloween. She read all the paperwork about what she can and can't eat and is very serious about following it to the letter. When she went to brush her teeth before going to bed, she brought the instructions the orthodontist had given her for brushing her teeth with the braces up with her to make sure she did it right.

What a difference at Speech Class!

2005-10-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today the twins ran into the class, said "Bye Mama" and started talking the teacher about the pictures they had brought for sharing. Looks like they have finally adjusted to going to the speech class. I started using the incentive of playing at the park afterwards if they were good in class. That seems to have really motivated them to participate in the class. On Tuesday as we were driving by the park, after playing there because they were good in class, Riley said "I like that park, it helps me be good at speech class."

It's a girl!

2005-10-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

We had the 20 week u/s today. The baby is health and has all the right parts in all the right places. The girls are so excited that they are going to have a baby sister. Aidan didn't seem to care one way or the other. The twins said, "I don't want a baby anything!"

Speech Class #3

2005-09-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

Jared and Riley were back to crying and not participating in speech class today. Nothing seems to motivate them to want to participate in the class. They don't at all care about the stickers she gives out if you are good. They do want to play in the park next to the school, so I told them if they participate in the speech class on Thursday, then they can play in the park. We'll see if it works.

Speech Class #2

2005-09-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

Jared and Riley did much better in speech class today. Riley hardly cried at all. Jared cried through most of it, but warmed up towards the end. Hopefully next time neither of them will cry at all.

More Tears at Swim Class

2005-09-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

The boys had their first swim class today. All three are signed up for 15 min private lessons once a week. Last week they had an evaluation and today they had their first class. Aidan is doing great and will likely be swimming after the end of our 11 week session. Last week Riley cried most of the class. This week both Jared and Riley cried, with Riley screaming at some points during the class. I sure hope they get used to the class soon! We are going to practice in the spa during the week to hopefully help them get used to the back floats that they both seem to hate.

Jared and Riley's First Speech Class

2005-09-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Jared and Riley had their first speech class today. They will be going twice a week for 1/2 hour each class. There are 4 kids total in the class. They both basically cried the entire time, with Jared being the worst and his crying caused Riley to cry too. They are never away from me, so I'm sure that was the main problem. Jared said he was crying because he wanted me. I told them they were going to go again on Thursday and Jared said, "I don't want to go again". Hopefully they will get used to it after a few classes.

A Rare Thunderstorm

2005-09-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

We were hit with a rare thunderstorm last night. The girls did not at all like the thunder and lightening. They had me close their blinds and I ended up having to turn on their radio so Kayli would go to sleep. They boys managed to sleep through it though.

Aidan's First Day at Preschool

2005-09-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

Aidan started his "Preppy-K" class today. He will go MWF in the mornings. After we got back from dropping the girls off at school, he helped me make his lunch - Bologna Sandwich, Doritos and Apple Juice. We drove to the school and located his classroom. After signing him in, we went out to the playground where the kids were lining up to go in to class. Aidan went right to his line, gave me a goodbye hug and headed right off to his class. A few of the other kids were crying and one was screaming at the top of his lungs! After they went in, I went to the class and took a picture of him sitting with the other kids in the classroom. Gave him a final wave and was off. I can't wait to hear how his day went. I think he is going to have a great time.

Talia's First Day of 5th Grade

2005-09-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

I just dropped of Talia for her first day of 5th grade. This is the first year that she gets to wear a skirt instead of a jumper. She is very excited about that. She has a great teacher this year and all but one of her good friends is in her class.

Kayli's First Day of 2nd Grade

2005-08-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

Kayli had her first day of 2nd Grade today. She goes for a 1/2 day today then doesn't go back till the day after labor day. Talia has her first day tomorrow. Kayli was sad that her two best friends are in the other class. She has lots of other friends in her class though. And I'm thrilled that she has the same teacher Talia had in 2nd grade. She is an awesome teacher.

Mommy, I didn't do it!

2005-06-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

I was resting on the couch this afternoon when I felt a big jolt. The house then started swaying and I knew it was an earthquake. I jumped up and yelled at Aidan asking him if he was okay. His reply was, "Mommy, I didnt' do it!" I told him I knew that he hadn't done it and that it was an earthquake. All the while I'm talking with Aidan, I'm running up the stairs to check on the twins. They were asleep in their room taking a nap. The earthquake woke them both up, but they were able to go back to sleep. Aidan and I then went downstairs and looked up the earthquake online. It turned out to be a 5.3 (later downgraded to a 4.9) centered in Yucaipa.

Talia Lost Her First Molar!

2005-06-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a big week for tooth losses around here. After the loss of two of Kayli's teeth earlier this week, last night Talia pulled out her molar. She said it was loose and had been bothering her, so she pulled it out. It bleed for quite a while! She was very excited to about loosing it and couldn't wait to tell her friends about it.

Now Talia Knocked Out Kayli's Tooth!

2005-06-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

Kayli was playing her recorder again and showing Talia how to cover the hole on the bottom and make different notes. Talia was cover the bottom hole and somehow managed to knock out the other bottom tooth on the opposite side that was loose. Kayli made me take pictures yesterday and today so she can do a page about it in her scrapbook.

Riley Knocked Out Kayli's Tooth!

2005-06-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

Kayli was practicing on her new recorder yesterday. Riley walked up and smacked the recorder, knocking out one of her bottom teeth! (It was a baby tooth and already very loose.) It was pretty funny. She went around showing Riley the whole where the tooth was and saying to him "See what you did!"

I've Really Got To Stop Calling Them Babies!

2005-03-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

The twins are getting so big and learning so many new skills. Jared now insists on climbing into and out of his carseat by himself. And today, Jared climbed all the way up the big slide in the backyard and then proceeded to slide down it all by himself. He followed that by climbing up the ladder all by himself with no trouble at all. Riley got really mad and wanted me to put him at the top too. I told him he had to climb up there himself. After trying a few times, he figured out how to do it too. They were having to much fun climbing up the slide and sliding back down.

My New Twins Apparel Store

2005-02-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about the new Twins Apparel Store that I just opened. You can find the store here. I ordered some of the products to check on the quality and I'm very happy with the way they turned out. I currently have six different designs and I plan to add more as I get time.

This picture shows Jared and Riley in their Twinadoes shirts. I just love these shirts and they describe those two perfectly.

I love you all the way to costco and back!

2005-02-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

I was cuddling in a chair with Aidan when he asked me how much I loved him. I told him that I loved him all the way to pluto and back. I then asked him how much he loves me. He thought about it for a while and then answered, "I love you all the way to costco and back!" For him that is a whole lot. When he really likes something, he will say I love it all the way around the neighborhood! I guess that Costco was the furthest place away he could thing of, so I take it as a great compliment.

The Saga of the Slab

2005-02-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

The slab of our house is wet and has been since July of last year. We have had three plumbers come out and say we have no pipe leaks and have been at a loss as to what to do about this problem. It is a problem because it caused my wood floor to buckle and you can see water stains in the edges of some of the planks. I don't want to fix it till I solve the problem. Well, I was chattiing with a neighbor (three houses up) and it turns out that she has a huge pond in her back yard that looses a foot of water each day. Her DH fills it back up each day and it looses all that water again. Add to that, my next door neighbor (one house up) has a spa that also leaks. We are getting inundated with water from these two peoples leaky pond and spa! I am almost 100% certain that is what is causing our problem. We are going to see if we can put some sort of barrier and drainage in on that side of the house. Is it just me, or wouldn't you fix it if you had a pond or spa that was leaking like that????