Seaside 2010

Bathtime with Cousin Calvin
Our First Popsicles

Calvin

The boys at the beach

Luke and Liam

John, Uncle Jason and the Boys

The boys in matching shirts in the wagon (AJ not too happy)

AJ and Mommy

Hunting for Crabs

The Five of Us

My Family

We had a great time on our recent vacation to Seaside, Florida. Other than a few difficulties trying to fly with three kids less than three years of age, things went pretty smoothly. The boys enjoyed the beach for the most part. Luke tends to overheat so he was not too fond of the beach. Liam, on the other hand, loved the sand and water by the end of the week. We loved getting to see Grandma and Grandpa as well as Uncle Jason, Aunt Sarah, and our cousin Calvin. We had some really long days while we were there since the boys decided to get up at least an hour earlier than normal. They were exhausted by the end of the week as were John and I. I will post several pictures because it was hard to pick from our some 400 pictures of the trip!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day!
One Meal=Several spills and One big mess

Messy Boys

I enjoyed a very nice Mother's Day over the weekend. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed a nice run followed by playing at a park and having a picnic. John and the boys had some nice gifts for me. Luke and Liam even made their first mother's day gift at school and they very proudly presented it to me. They were small wooden plaques with "Mommy's Little Helper" written on the bottom with their handprint on top. In addition to the boys gifts, John also framed one of my favorite pictures of all three boys and traced each of their handprints for the picture. Not sure how he pulled that off with all three, but he somehow managed.

The boys had their tube surgery yesterday and overall it went very well. The nurses and doctors were all very good and quite helpful since we had two having surgery plus an infant to care for. Luke and Liam had very infected ears. Liam, especially, had very compromised hearing and we have noticed improvements in less than 24 hours for him. He was already saying more words last night after the surgery and responding more to what we say.

I am posting a random picture from Mother's Day when we all ate dinner. I have mentioned before how messy dinners can be at our house and this one was no different. The picture does not do it justice. We had spilled milk (x2), food in the drink cups, fruit dumped on the table, new shirts and pants afterwards, etc... I think we ate out the next two meals after this one. Cleaning up after each meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) almost puts me over the top on some days.

Enjoy!

Sounds Familiar and Looks Familiar

Aiden and Daddy before work (May 2010)

Liam and Luke with Daddy before work (May 2008)

Another Ear Infection? Sounds familiar right? Well, we were back at our favorite place to visit, the pediatrician, where the boys associate seeing the "fishies" (they have a big fish tank) with the doctor and getting their ears checked. We were due for a re-check after our ear infections in April and we never seem to make it to the recheck without getting sick again. So, we spent Tuesday evening in the doctor and left with a diagnosis of viral tonsilitis, six ear infections, and a referral to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist. It looks like at least Luke and Liam will be getting tubes very soon. Although I have been fortunate not to get what the boys had over the winter, I got it this time around. I have been pretty sick myself and unable to keep up with our day to day routine. John has been more than helpful in taking over so I could get some much needed rest.

Since we have not had many photographic worthy moments this week, I decided to dig out a previous picture from May 2008 and one from May 2010. The "looks familiar" part of this post is the pictures of John with each of the boys on a morning before work while I was still out running.

Uh...oh....and Happy 4 Months AJ!!

Aiden John will be 4 months old on May 2!!
Smiling in his bouncy swing

Mr. AJ

Luke with Mommy's running shoes and he put a little desitin on his face

Trying out Daddy's shoes on Luke and Mommy's on Liam

Running in the shoes

This was on Daddy's watch, but Luke is getting into the powder in Mommy's bathroom drawer

Caught in the act

Powder was all over the floor and all over Luke

If you have been around Luke and Liam recently, you know they are quite different not only in size but also in personality. Luke is very outgoing and talks from the time he gets up until the time he goes to bed. Literally, I am not kidding. He takes his shoes off everytime we go somewhere, loves to laugh, and talks about "mommy, daddy, and baby" all the time. He is a smart little guy who tries to copy everything we do. Luke is also a mess. A complete and total mess. When he eats, there is food everywhere and it is not because he throws food or tries to be messy, he just is messy! He tries so hard to use a fork, spoon, and cup, but invariably we have spills and messes at every meal. BIG messes....Luke is also a little mastermind at getting into mischief. He is blatently mischievious and quick to cause trouble. He flashes his smile whenever he wants something and he is known as "flirt" at school because he tries to charm all the teachers and little girls. Quite the character!

Liam, on the other hand, is rather quiet and reserved. He is very sly and can get into as much trouble as his brother except you probably wouldn't notice because he is so quick and quiet. He is very agile for his age and can climb virtually anything. He steals his brother's treats when we turn our heads and then smiles so innocently as if nothing ever happened. Liam is insistent on having things "his way" and is not as easily distracted as Luke. John and I refer to him as "Mr. Intensity." Liam is very neat and clean. He hates things on his hands, always picks up the smallest speck of dirt off the floor and hands it to me, and rarely ever spills anything at dinner (unless he is acting silly or copying his brother).

So, if you combine the two characters above, you can understand why John and I might be exhausted by the end of the day (I know I am). Then, you combine trying to nurse an infant while watching two toddlers and it is like trying to catch two monkeys with your hands tied behind your back. I am posting a few pictures of the mischief they have gotten themselves into this week while I was working with Aiden.

Happy 4 months to Aiden on May 2!!! He is getting so big.

New Chairs

Trying out the new chairs
Relaxing and Eating a Cookie

Just the right size!

Here Aiden, this is my favorite stuffed doggy.....

It's hard being a third child. Poor AJ.

The boys recently got their own adirondack chairs and were so excited about them. They were so proud of the chairs and wanted to set them up on the front porch (without any help, of course). We have having a gorgeous spring with warm temperatures and lots of sunshine so we have spent lots of time outside recently and the chairs are really nice.

Daddy got the joy of taking the boys to school the other day because Mom had to do an errand and needed to be somewhere early in the morning. The boys woke up rather late and when that happens, they generally don't eat much for breakfast so I just pack some cereal in a cup and let them eat it in the car. They have learned (and do pretty well) handing me the cup of cereal when they are finished rather than throwing it on the floor. Apparently, this is only something they do with me. When John took them to school, he was less than a mile from school when the cups started flying. Luke's went first and Liam's was quick to follow. I went to switch cars at John's office before picking up the boys from school and found a cheerio bomb that exploded in the back seat! Wow! John said they were giggling and thought the whole episode was hilarious.

Spring Fun

Aiden trying out the swing for the first time
Liam in his Twins "Jersey"

Aiden (left) and Carter (right) playing at our neighbors house. Aiden and Carter were born two weeks apart.

Play Date with our other twin friends (5 sets of twins with a few MIA)

The boys

The boys and I have been busy this week trying to stay afloat without John's help while he is away on business. Thankfully, the weather has been pretty nice so we have gone outside quite a bit and played with several friends.

The Twins opened their new stadium, Target Field, on Monday so the boys and I wore our Twins "jerseys" this week. The boys call it a jersey since there is a number on it, though it is really just a t-shirt. We hope to see some games this summer or maybe in the future when we can sit through more than 4 or 5 innings.

I am posting some random pictures from the week with the boys together and Aiden is our swing for the first time. We also enjoyed a playdate with several of our two year old "twin friends". In the picture, all of the twins are lined up looking out the door at a local church where we play each week. I was taking Aiden out to the car and everyone was waiting for me to get back so that we could all leave. Lots of fun!

Hope you are enjoying some spring weather as much as we are in Minnesota!!

Easter Weekend

First run with the Five of us!!
Luke and Liam

Luke, Liam, John and I (sorry, Aiden is sleeping!)

Getting ready for a run!

First experience in the exersaucer

The boys loved the exersaucer

Easter baskets!!

We had a very nice Easter weekend with all three boys. Other than this being Aiden's first Easter, we had a few other "firsts" as well.

Aiden had his first experience in the exersaucer. I think Luke and Liam were more excited about the exersaucer than Aiden. They played with it longer than any of their other more "age appropriate" toys.

The boys had their first memorable Easter where they actually got into hunting eggs and opening a few small gifts as well as an Easter basket. The egg hunting moved pretty slowly once they discovered there was candy in the eggs because all they wanted to do was stop and eat the candy.

We also had our first run with all five of us. We started the boys in the jogging stroller when they were around 3-4 months of age and Aiden enjoyed his maiden voyage in the stroller over the weekend. We all loved it and Aiden slept pretty much the entire time (so did Liam actually). The weather was gorgeous all weekend so it was warm enough for Aiden to go out. The boys have always loved the stroller and now they ask for John to take them on runs. John and I call it the magic carpet ride because they can be in miserable moods before they go and then return and be in great moods.