Backyardigans

The backyard party is becoming a regular Friday afternoon Riverbrook tradition and we love it. Mr. Troy, Garrett and Courtney set up all kinds of fun things in their backyard and we all head over after naptime. This Friday Addison, Reagan, Garrett, Courtney, Clara, Nora, Brenna, Ava, Mackenzie, and Charlie ran all over the yard. They jumped in the bounce house, played in the sand-box, ran in the sprinklers and played in the little pool. They had their own private little carnival back there and they had a blast. I didn't get any pictures of the babies, but Gracyn, Lila and Presley all hung out in shade with their Mommies. Sometime around 5:00 pizza arrived, but we ran home fast, before I smelled the cheese! Thanks Mr. Troy for keeping our Friday's fun.

Such a Big Girl!

Look who is potty trained! She is such a big girl and she is doing a great job. We started on Tuesday and she had it down in just a few days. We even ran errands and went to dinner yesterday with her in her big-girl panties. She tells us when she needs to go and wakes up from both nap and bedtime dry. She tells me first thing in the morning that she needs to go potty. Today, we even found her in the bathroom doing it all by herself. She is so proud of herself and we are thrilled for her. Way to go Reagan!

Two Months

Gracyn Faith is two months old! She had her check-up yesterday and all is well. She weighed 11 pounds and 10 ounces, which is right smack in the middle of what Reagan (9 pounds) and Addison (13 pounds) were. She took her shots like a champ and only cried a few minutes. The doctor did encourage me to go ahead and take soy and nuts out of my diet as well. She had a pretty bad reaction to nuts a few weeks ago, so I had already done that and I can give up the soy pretty easily at this point....it's nothing compared to cheese and butter.

She is getting happier and more content each day. She is actually spending some time in her swing or lying on the couch looking around, which never would have happened a few weeks ago. Three cheers for Daddy, he got her to take the paci! I am so thrilled and so is she. Once she stopped gagging on it, she realized that it really is soothing and she loves it. Although, she still loves to have her hands in her mouth and I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up a thumb-sucker someday.

Gracyn loves to be upright and look around, snuggling with Mommy or Daddy, peace and quiet, and cooing at us. She hates her carseat, loud noise (yep, that is unfortunate considering the is the 3rd child) and being put down.

I love getting to know her more each day and learning her personality. I can't wait to see what all comes in the next few months.

Even Super Dads Have Off Nights

Last night the girls wanted Tommy to take them swimming after dinner. We have found that an evening swim works great if we take their jammies, shower them in the family changing room and bring them home ready for bed. On a side note, let me assure you this is indoor swimming we are talking about. It was 50 degrees here yesterday...summer, where are you already?

Tommy was happy to take them and we rushed through dinner to get them there. I am usually chief bag-packer of the family, but since I was cooking, I told him what they needed and he set off to get the bag. He packed up, we got everyone changed and they headed out.

I was upstairs snuggling Gracyn when I heard them come home a little later. Addison came in first and I heard her calling me. She marched right upstairs, put her hands on her hips and told me, "Reagan had a big diarrhea, we both got shampoo in our eyes, and I had no panties!".

It made me laugh so hard. These crazy things don't usually happen to Tommy, the girls seem to reserve the chaos for me. He came in soon behind her, heard me laughing and said, "I guess you heard." Thank goodness he is so laid back and all our "girl drama" never bothers him. They had a good time and that is all that matters.

We sent Addison, who was still "commando" to get her panties. Read them a few books and tucked them in for the night! Thanks Super-Dad for all the fun adventures!

Her Way

Yesterday Reagan woke up with some wild and crazy hair. I brushed it out of her eyes and told her it was wild. She promptly brushed it right back and replied, "That's the way I like it, Mommy!".

Playtime for Three

Sunday Sweetness

Ready for Church!

Milk, Who Needs It?

Not my Gracyn, that's for sure. Things are looking up a little for her, as I approach a week off of dairy. She does still have bouts of crying for an hour or two at a time, but usually only once or twice a day lately. That is big improvement from her crying in pain all day long. We are so glad to see her looking peaceful and content and enjoying the world a little more. And, I had my first Vegan chocolate-chip cookie from the Whole Foods Bakery....not bad I tell you, not bad!

Field Day Fun

Addison had her first field day at school last week and the whole family was invited. Reagan, Gracyn and I stayed for the first hour or so and had a blast. Reagan can definitely hold her own with the group, and with some (constant) direction from Big Sis, she just moved right along with the group.

I love these pictures. They were both having such a good time and Addison's personality just shows through in these shots. She is such a sassy girl and a definite leader....I am pretty sure her hands were on her hips in most of the pictures I took. You can also tell how tall she is when you see her standing next to her classmates. She is one of the youngest, but about a head taller than most.

Discussions about field day started about a week before the big day. Addison began telling me all about the special visor she had made and that Miss Margie said that they needed to wear tennis shoes and sunscreen. "But, she didn't say anything about dresses, Mom!". So began her campaign to wear a dress to field day. I spent the week trying to convince her that a dress was not a good idea and that she should probably wear shorts. I even took her to Gymboree to let her pick some shorts. She pointed out all the beautiful dresses in the store, told me she thought they would be perfect, and willfully refused any shorts. Oh well, I didn't want to buy them for her to wear only once anyway. We finally settled on the little skort she is wearing, that was from last year and doesn't really fit anymore. But, to her it is a skirt and it makes her happy! Does every little girl go through a "dresses only" phase?

During field day they played tug-of-war, danced like animals with their music teacher, played ring-toss, and jumped in the bounce house. I loved soaking up the sunshine while watching them both play and interact with friends. What a fun day!

Husband and Nabisco Save the Day

Three cheers to Nabisco and my husband for his discovery....Oreos are dairy free!!! Yeah!!!
I also found out that I can have Junior Mints. Leave it to me to discover all the junk foods I can find.

A Big Lifestyle Change....

Well, after increasingly bad fussiness, gas and general upset, I finally took Gracyn to the doctor yesterday to have her checked out. Poor baby is severely intolerant to milk and has grown more and more uncomfortable as her body struggles with the dairy I eat. The doctors did some tests and discovered blood in her colan, which indicates GI irritation for a baby. The poor girl has been in pain! And, in order to continue nursing her I have to be off all dairy, whey and casein.

Thankfully the doctor in our practice, who I happened to be scheduled with yesterday went down this road with both of her daughters and she nursed them for their entire first year despite of it. So, she didn't even really introduce the possibility of quiting to me, she just said, "Here is your diet, as she handed me many papers to look over.

Now, I am 100% committed to nursing her. Neither Addison or Reagan ever had formula and I nursed them both past their first birthdays. I desperately want to give that to Gracyn as well, but this is a HUGE diet over-haul for me. I guess it needed to happen sometime anyway, for general health purposes, but I basically eat dairy in some form in every meal and snack. When I returned from the dr. yesterday I struggled to find one thing in my pantry that I could eat.

So, good-bye Chick-Fil-A, afternoon chocolate-chip cookies, chocolate and delicious buttery popcorn. I will be learning to love fruit, veggies and meat. This means going forward, in order to eat out, I have to check all the nutrition information on a restaurants website before we go. I have to watch out for cross-contamination and be extremely careful what goes in my mouth....nothing that was even cooked with a milk product (good-bye butter, I will miss you.). This means, I have to figure out how to make all the casseroles my family eats without cream soups or cheese! Thankfully the pain and misery I have seen in my babies eyes over the last few weeks gives me motivation to do so. It takes our bodies 2 weeks to fully process dairy, so if I mess up, it will make her struggle for quite some time!

For now, until my body is clear, she is taking Zantac twice each day. I would appreciate your prayers as I learn how to feed myself and my family in a way that is so drastically different. Please pray for her to feel relief in her little tummy and for me to have the will-power to do this! If you are already sending me recipes and encouragment, thanks so much. I was encouraged this morning to know that other people have survived this diet.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. I hope everyone had a great day with their little ones and their families. My day was perfect. It started out with the gift of SLEEP!!! Tommy took Gracyn at 5:30 and Reagan at 6:00 and headed downstairs with them. Addison crawled in bed with me to watch a movie and I slept until 8:30...Yeah!

When I headed downstairs Reagan was waiting with a present she had wrapped and she also told me, "Heart", over and over again. I unwrapped this beautiful bracelet they had picked for me from James Avery. Daddy told them that the heart told me how much they love me. They also got me a Taylor Swift CD. We showed Addison a few of her videos Friday night and she was a hit. I wonder, does this mean I can add a little variety in my car in between Dora and VeggieTales. Finally, Addison told Daddy that I broke my water bottle last week. She showed him the exact one in Target and bought me a new one. So sweet.

We ran around like crazy for the next 1 1/2 and made it out the door to church. I got pictures with my big girls, but Gracyn was sound asleep in her carseat. The church service was great. The children's choir sang and the overhead was a slide show of pictures that children in the church had made for their mom's. The pastor's wife spoke about motherhood. They also had a baby dedication, which included FOUR girls named Addison!

After church we got the girls down for a nap and relaxed a little while. This evening we took them to the pool! We nearly had the place to ourselves and it was great. My little Reagan is getting far to brave in the water, and I was certain that a lifeguard was going to have to go in after her at some point. It turns out that Addison had to have his help, when she came down the slide to fast and smashed her head on the bottom of the pool. Thankfully she wasn't hurt too bad and she was thrilled with the ice-pack he offered her!

Happy Mother's Day again....Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Tommy!

We celebrated Tommy's 31st bday this weekend. The girls were anxious to give him their presents, so when he came home on Friday, we let him open some "beautifully" wrapped gifts. He got new clothes and shoes, and some margarita mix and salt from Williams Sonoma. The mix turned out great since his co-workers had given him a really nice bottle of tequila. I don't know anything about it, since I have been pregnant or nursing since 2004, but he liked it!!!

Saturday he got to have special dates with each of his girls. He and Reagan went out early in the morning for breakfast. Then my neighbor watched Addison and Reagan while we took Gracyn and went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory. We even wondered in to the mall and got chair massages from the guys in middle of the mall. It was surprisingly a great massage!!! Finally when we got home, he took Addison out to shop with her birthday money! Gracyn even let him hold her for awhile that evening!

Saturday night, we ordered pizza with some neighbors and then a few of Tommy's friends came over for drinks, while I hid upstairs and put the girls to bed.

With the exception of the Porshe he keeps mentioning and dreaming of, I think he got all he could have wanted. We sure love our Daddy and hope he had a great birthday!!!

Unique Conversations

As you can imagine, lots of funny things are said in a house with 3 little ones. Here are a few examples from this week.

At exactly 5:57am one morning this week. Reagan greeted me at my bedside, ready to start her day, with her piggy bank in hand. "This has not money in it Mommy!" she said. My thoughts....good to know, especially before 6:00am.

Addison is very into rhyming words right now. She was scratching her legs a few days ago and singing "Itchin', scritchin, bitchin' scratchin". She was just changing the first letter and making up words. You never know what you are going to get when you start a rhyming game!

I was nursing Gracyn in her room and talking to a friend on the phone, while Addison and Reagan played next door in their room. Addison ran around the corner telling me, "Mom, Reagan is putting poop on the floor". Um, by friend, it was nice having a few minutes on the phone with you!!! I think I have to go!

This afternoon, I left Addison downstairs eating her last birthday cupcake, while I took Reagan up for her nap. As I read to Reagan I heard Addison say, "Oh no, something terrible happened." I headed downstairs and she told me, "I gave Maggie (the dog) my cupcake wrapper to lick and she ate the whole thing". Ooops, better warn Daddy not to be alarmed when he is outside in the backyard scooping and he finds a little pink and some Tinkerbell.

Finally little Gracyn isn't saying much but she did inspire this middle of the night conversation. Let me preface this by telling you that my hubby is a man of few words in the middle of the night! He does not want to talk when it is time to sleep, and also that Gracyn likes the sling and nursing, two things Daddy doesn't do, so she isn't too into him yet! This little conversation took place at 3:45am, when I had been up with Gracyn for several hours and I finally asked him to hold her for awhile. She hadn't been crying with me, but was just awake, as soon as I handed her to Tommy she screamed and wouldn't stop. I let it go for a few minutes and then just took her back.

Me: Sweet Gracyn, what is wrong? Why are you crying.
Tommy: Daddy
Me: How do I keep ending up with babies that won't let Daddy hold them?
Tommy: Boob.

The end, he was back to sleep. Aren't we eloquent?

Never a dull moment around here. Thankfully all the crazy talk occurs in between lots of sweet hugs, kisses and "I love you's" and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Rolly-Polly Season

My girls, L-O-V-E hunting for roly-poly bugs. It is the preferred activity for spring and summer. They got brand new bug-catchers in their Easter baskets and we have just been waiting for the warm weather to arrive. Well, last week we finally started seeing the little critters and all the neighborhood girls couldn't be more excited.

I remembered from last year that the roly-polys are out crawling around early in the morning so this morning, at 7:30 am, the girls put sweaters over their pj's and we headed out to hunt. Last year, I had to watch Reagan like crazy, because she either squished and/or tried to eat every bug she got her hands on, but this year she knows just what to do. We wandered to the playground and ended up outside for 2 full hours. We only came back because Gracyn started squirming in her sling and was ready to eat.

I know these morning walks outside will be some of my fondest memories someday. It is so easy to be thankful for all my blessings when I am outside in the fresh air and sunshine surrounded by beauty. I find it so much easier to pray in that setting and I just feel peaceful! It sure helps that my girls aren't fighting out there and I am not running behind them cleaning up toys!

Just for fun, here we are a few hours later all cleaned up and taking Addison to school. Some of you probably remember that from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 Addison ALWAYS wore her sunglasses upside down. Looks like it is in their genes!

And, here is how Miss Gracyn spent a good part of her morning. She has been a little more content this week. I also am noticing her trying to smile. I can see it in her eyes and she is trying so hard with her little lips.

Birthday Dinner

We went to Trail Dust for dinner Monday, on Addison's birthday. I guess you could say it is becoming a tradition, since we have done it for both of her birthdays since we moved here. The food is pretty much terrible, but we have fun on the dance floor and slide! My girls are fearless, after sliding with me a few times, they were off. They went down the slide time and time again, while I waited to catch them at the bottom. She loved having the cowbell rang at our table and getting her birthday "Yee-Haw"!

Boys will be Boys

Here are Tommy and Uncle Mike at Addison's birthday dinner. Do you think Daddy was happy to have some male company along? I wonder, is there an age where boys outgrow the obsession of turning anything into a weapon?

Happy Birthday Addison!

Happy 4th Birthday Addison! Sorry, I know there are a million pictures, and someday I will learn to put them in a slideshow, but today (as I work one-handed and feed Gracyn) is not the day! We celebrated her birthday with a few sweet friends at Jack and Jill Hair Salon on Saturday. Each girl decorated a crown and received a pink ballerina tutu. Then, they each got their hair styled and got a fancy make-up job. They loved it, and they all looked so cute! Notice that Addison closes her eyes in all the posed pictures. She doesn't want you to miss her sparkly purple eye-shadow. We took the girls out to dinner afterwards and then came home to open her presents. She got lots of fun new things! Sunday morning was interesting. You have all seen what sleep can do to Addison's hair, and Saturday night, sleeping in the fancy do was no different. But, in her eyes it was still beautiful on Sunday morning and she was ready to go to church just as she was. I had to modify the hair a little and off we went. Funny thing, today when we got to school 2 of the girls still had their hair up from the party! Fun times!!!