Our Week In Pics!

This pic has a funny story to go with it. Not only is Sarah showing some belly...and boy does she have a cute belly but check out her shoes! Those are actually her xmas shoes. I told her to go get some shoes so we could go outside and she comes running back with these...so these are the ones she wore outside to play today...nice patent leather shoes! HA HA!
Hannah is going to be a photographer. She totally took this of me & the girls!
She told me to make a fish face...this was the best i could do as Sam was trying to escape out of my arms!
Playing in the basket...see the shoes again! The girls LOVE these clothes baskets!
Hannah & Sarah sharing a basket!

Sam & Hannah cooking up some food...outside in the nice 70 degree weather!
Sweet Gracye playing with us! What's up with her ear?! :)
Sam, just hanging out in her chair!
This tree is awesome! It divides our yard & our grumpy neighbors yard! I totally tried to get my big butt up there...but just couldn't do it! There's actually a chain ladder to climb up...but i couldn't pull myself up...otherwise i'd been up there too. Probably good thing i didn't go up though...if i had fallen down we'd been in some big trouble! :)
The tree is HUGE! FUN FUN FUN!!! Maybe i'll try again some other day when Pauls home to rescue me!

The other day Hannah disappeared..i found her butt naked in our spare bedroom closet(where i had put their swim suits i bought for FL) She totally pulled it down and was trying to put it on. Isn't she one cute little lady!
Sarah's first escape out of Myers' Prison...through the doggie door! Paul totally had to take a pic! You can hardly see her out there...she was running as fast as she could!
This big bad truck is Pauls new toy! Awesome Remote Control truck...I PLAYED WITH IT ALL MORNING! Hannah LOVES to chase it around!
Busted! Sam, playing in the doggie water...i don't know why she's SOOO OBSESSED with the dog water licksit and the bathtub water knob...she'd mess with both of them all day if we didn't pop her sweet little hands every time she messes with them!
Sarah and her shoes...just hanging out !

This that's all for now! Hope everyone had a wonderful V-DAY! Paul and i did...and the girls ALL MADE out like bandits in the candy department(well Pauls office did now). I'm not kidding, they got more candy from their friends at school then they did on Halloween! It was CRAZY! Talking about a mouth full of cavities! YIKES!

We Have an escapee...out the doggie door!

Well, i don't have a pic...BUT my girls are now escaping out the doggie door! Today was the first day Sarah did it all by herself...we didn't even notice it until she was outside playing! WHAT? HOLY SMOKES! I definitely didn't expect for this to happen soo fast. Lucikly we don't have much to do to really really baby proof the back yard. Most is already done. We just have to make sure to ALWAYS lock both gates(PAUL, I'm TALKING TO YOU, LOL :) Right after Sarah escaped...so did Sam. I couldn't believe it. Hannah was so excited when she saw what she had taught her sisters! Mom wasn't soo excited! :( I was concerned about the doggie door thing because it's a pretty far drop down...and i was scared they'd just go out and hit the cement. I'm assuming that didn't happen because i never heard a scream. I did see Hannah the other day showing them how to put their gett out first so they'd just jump down. I guess they are good at following directions!

Our Valentines day has been fun so far. Hannah made out like a bandit. She got TONS of candy, a cute little fake cd player that would drive anyone crazy...and there's NO volume to turn it down(obviously i didn't know that or i wouldn't have bought it), all girls got teddy bears, the girls got their first taste of chocolate, and daddy even bought them each a mylar balloon! Daddy also got something cool...a remote control ATW chevy truck! Hananh is going to love it and i bet the girls will love chasing after it. Daddy bought me some really cute black pearl earrings...although they probably won't get worn much since he bought me diamond earrings for our dating anniversary back in december and i haven't taken them out since then. But they'll be my nice going out earrrings. I think they are georgous and he did a great job picking them out for me. We had a lunch date today too...and it was nice and peaceful! Oh, how i love going to lunch and not having to worry about keeping 3 kidos occupied. :)

Anyway, as usual, i have some pics of the very first escape out the doggie door...i'll post them later.

Teeth Count

I just checked and Sam has 9(YEP, NINE) teeth

Sarah is still working on 8...that last bottom one is coming in very slowly.

Also, forgot to post weights.

When we took them to the dr. last friday they weighted

Sarah: 20lbs on the dot
Samantha: 20.13

This was with clothes on...so they are probably closer to 19.8 & 20.8 since they are almost always 1/2-1lb apart!

Gracye

Gracye is our very first puppy together and our baby! As our growing family progressed, her life has changed a bit. Anyway, as a documentation of how much Sarah & Sam love her, i caught a small video of Sam giving her some Lovin! I think she may have been preparing for "GO RODEO" day and horse riding...but i'm not sure. Although, Gracyes' life has changed in a big way...i know she loves the girls soo much. I know they sure do love her a ton. The also love Sugar our sheltie, but Sugar does NOT love them and won't give them the time of day. She yelps, sweetly snaps at them and moves on to another home when they come around. :)

Today was a day of thinking...

BEWARE...very long post ahead!

Today i kinda had a small break down in the shower. No, not a crying break down...but i started really thinking about Hannah going to Pre-K. I've been thinking about it for a while and i know she's one of the youngest ones in her class. I guess what REALLY got me thinking was yesterday. I asked her to count to 10. She said "1,2,3,7,8,9,10". Now, she's counted before...but lately i think she has her mind blocked from 4,5, & 6. So i started to really get worried. The reason this whole thing started was because i went to pick her up the other day and one little girl in her class was cutting out hearts and writing letters or maybe even her name on it. She seems SOO mature and she is really tall too. I FREAKED OUT! Am I a bad parent? She doesn't know how to write her name, she doesn't recognize letters, etc. How have i just blown off this? Well i don't have a good reason other than...i have 3 kidos and 2 are just one year old and need a TON of my attention and well to be quite honest, i can HARDLY keep my head above water with just feeding them, keeping them somewhat clean, keeping the house and clothes clean, and of course keeping up my blog so i can remember all this in the years ahead and look back and laugh at my life and how i kept my head above water. SO, with all that being said, today i'm going to really get on the horse with Hannah.

I went to target this morning and was amazed at all the educational books they had. TONS & TONS of books for writing letters, learning shapes, learning spelling, numbers, etc. SO, i went over board and bought about 6 books. Some are really neat...you can trace over the number or letter and then wipe it off which is good so you don't just chunk the book once you've written in it. AWESOME! So with this, we are going to really start working with her. It's going to be a big challenge because i really can't do it with her during the day because of the girls. So, we may start a 30 minute "mommy and daddy/rotating out" play time upstairs away from the girls. We'll take Hannah upstairs and sit at her table and just work with her...go over things and repeat. I DO NOT want this to be a horrible experience for her so i'm not going to force it on her. Instead, she will get rewarded with presents once she learns something really well.

So, that was my day. Shopping at target and thinking about getting the ball moving on Hannah's education. My desire for her is so unexplainable. I want so much for her. I want her to like school first of all. I want her to enjoy learning. I want her to succeed...but i don't want to push her so hard that she hates it. I want her to FINISH college(if you know me you know i have YET to finish because i couldnt' afford it before and then when i finally went back after having Hannah i got pregnant with the twins and had to drop out). I also want her to be something great in life. I want her to make something great of herself. I want her to be happy with her choices in life and really do the best she can do. I want her to make lots of money...so she can pay for Paul & My nursing home living by the beach...(JUST KIDDING). I have very strong feelings about learning because i don't really have great memories of myself learning and being happy with it. I have some really bad memories that i don't want to go into about learning and being taught at home. One that i really remember was needing help sometimes...and my parents just telling me to figure it out...so i'd sit in the back and cry...helpless. I'm not going to do that! I'm going to sit by her side and help her..guide her and probably learn a ton of stuff myself. :) I don't blame my parents for the way i was educated back when, I just don't think back then there were the resources for parents as there are these days. So in all reality, i'm going to take advantage of those resources and really participate...i'm going to go back to PRE-K, 1st grade, 2nd grade, etc. If we learn together it'll be fun for both of us...not punishment or dread of school and homework.

Anyway, so back to my point. This week, probably tomorrow, i'm really going to start to Pump her up about Mom & Hannah time...and the AWESOME NEW BOOK I BOUGHT JUST FOR HER AND I! Then, we'll go upstairs and do some fun learning. I don't want to set any goals for me & Hannah...because i don't know where we are and how fast she'll be able to take in all the things we'll be learning. I don't want to over achieve...i want to learn at HER pace. So, as we learn something new i'll check that off my list and we'll move on.

Well that's all for now. I better run and get some house work done before i go pick up my girls! BTW, i was SOOOO PROUD of the twins today. I got to school and pulled Sarah out of the car...she was fighting me to put her down, which i NEVER do because we're in the parking lot and it's easier to just pick up one, go to the other side of the car, get the other one out..help Hannah out the same door and carry them all the way in to their classroom. Well today Sarah had something else in mind. She was squirming and squirming...trying hard to get out of my arms. So i hurried up...got them all out...got all the way into the building and couldn't hold Sarah any longer. I put them both down(which i never do) and let them hold my hands and walk to the classroom! You wouldn't believe it but THEY DID AWESOME! They walked all the way to their classroom...knew exactly where it was, mind you. I opened the door and they WALKED INTO THE CLASSROOM! AMAZING!! I MEAN AMAZING! I was sooo extatic i could hardly contain myself. The girls are FINALLY used to school and seem to actually like it. Not one cry, not one whimper....just walked right on in! HALLELUIA! It was an awesome feeling.

And one last note, i'm officially wedding ring less! NO, it's not what you think. You see, when i got prego with Hananh my fingers were so swollen that i couldn't wear my ring. After she was born, i lost all but about 10lbs before i got pregnant again with the girls. After i had lost all but that last 10lbs i could FINALLY wear my wedding ring again. Well, then the girls came along and once again i put all the weight back on. Well for the past month i've really been working hard on loosing the weight. I'm embarassed to say i have a good 20 more lbs to loose...BUT i've lost 10 in one month and i'm SOO proud. With that being said, on our anniversary last year Paul finally decided to get my ring resized(larger) so that it would fit since i hadn't really worn it in a while because it was too tight. Well, as of the last few days...it doesn't fit anymore. It's BIG now! I know i know...we wasted a bit of money resizing it to fit...but i'm SOO excited because i already feel soo much better from loosing that 10lbs. My clothes that were hardly fitting are now sagging on me...and it's almost time to go buy SMALLER clothes...which will be so exciting. My goal is to loose as much as possible before our big trip(check counter above)...and i think i can do it! I have done really great with not eating as much, totally cut out diet drinks, have maybe a half glass of wine with dinner(sometimes none at all), cut out the beer completely, don't snack when i give the girls snacks, etc. So, i told Paul if i reach my goal weight by August of THIS year...he'll know exactly what i want for our anniversary! My ring re-sized back to normal...back to the my 5.5 which is right where i was when we got married, O yeah and a new target/jcp wardrobe...LOL!

Why we live in Houston, Texas

It was a BEAUTIFUL Day today in Houston! Highs in the high 70's and just a perfect day to play outside ALL day. So THAT is what we did.

Here is a cute pic of the girls in their "twin" chair. They love this chair....and it's so stable and won't flip very easily! Another one of Hannah with the girls. She didn't look too happy...i don't think she really wanted to take the pic with the girls.
And now to the bad stuff. Today out of the blue i noticed Sams finger looked weird. Somehow she got this yucky looking boo boo on her right pinky finger. It looks REALLY bad. I have NO idea how she even got it. We've been putting neosporin on it...but there's not much else we can do because they won't let you put a band aid on them or they'll take it off and eat it.
To add injury to insult(literally) to her already having the boo boo on her finger..check THIS out? We are SOOO lucky she didn't break her arm. She was playing on of the the lounge chairs outside..and some how when she was crawling off her arm got stuck in it and she flipped over the arm...it scraped all the way up and down the inside of her forearm..we are just SOOO lucky she didn't break it. It looked sooo bad when it happened. My poor baby!

Cute Pictures from this week!

Just a sweet smile from Samantha!

Look at that Monkey...they crawl on top of the chairs to look outside! Then they'll crawl on to the couch...it's all fun and games till someone ends up spitting up or Puking for that matter! Then it's not so funny anymore! :)Giving out some Love to her sister! Sam Kissing Sarah on the head! This is the best part of having two...how sometimes they are SOOO sweet to each other! A very RARE Occasion though!A side view of the hairdo! Sarah did good keeping her hair up...till Sam would yank it out!Just playing in the living room...My favorite pic...All three lined up sitting on the front of the shower door...LOOK...everyones hair is up...the LOOK LIKE GIRLS!!!Playing in the basket together! SOO SWEET!BAD BAD HANNAH...She taught the girls(and kinda pulled them) out the doggie door! One was already out of jail...she was pulling the other out and wearing one of daddies shirts she pulled out of the closet. Total fashion faux pa!Bad pic...taken on pauls camera phone. This was at the grocery store..the first time we let them "drive" the car while BIG GIRL HANNAH had her own buggy for shopping! Kroger is SOOO KIDDIE FRIENDLY!The hats again...they LOVE THESE "HATS"!ALL THREE GIRLS in one small cabinet! SOO cute!Another cute pic...Sam wasn't so happy though...i think she was squished!Sam pulling out Sarah's hair tie! BAD SAM!That's all for now...i'm sure i'll have more by the end of the week!

4:30am WAKE UP CALL!

OMG! I'm going to go crazy soon. Sarah woke up at 4:30am crying...and coughing. I normally just let her or them cry it out..but since she sick and i heard her hacking i thought i better get her up. I went in there and low and behold...both babies were wide awake! WHAT? It's 4:30a and i'm not even close to getting up...some people are barely going to bed at this time! ERR...I can't wait till this coughing stuff is over with. My poor babies...or rather poor Sarah now. Sam seems to be doing a lot better...just Sarah can't seem to get rid of the cough and snot. YUCK! Anyway, thank goodness Paul got up too...because they ALWAYS want him in the morning...so he held them and i laid back down on the couch...lights blasting and all. I fell asleep until one of my sweet babies came and popped me in the head(as she was laughing and giggling). They had patiently waited long enough and wanted me to get UP! SO, around 6:30 i finally got up after falling back asleep on the couch sometime after 5:45ish. UGH!

It's going to be a long day b/c Hannah & I have that party @ 3:00 today...and we won't get home till 5:30ish...FUN FUN! I can't believe the amount of bday parties we've been to in one year already...i can't even imagine how many we'll be going to in a year or two when the girls have friends at MDO too! YIKES...it's probably going to be more than i want to think of right now! LOL!!

P.S. for some weird crazy reason my spell check thing is NOT working...i have no idea why. SO please pardon my spelling until i get this problem fixed!

Last Night

Started out REALLY BAD! I have NEVER in my life heard two children cough sooo much! It was HORRIBLE...FOR ME & For THEM I'm SURE. I gave them some albuterol and finally they settled down to actual non-coughing sleep about 930ish. That is from coughing from the time we put them down at 730p-930p. I mean, literally coughing the WHOLE time! I sure hope this Z-Pac kicks in soon as i want them to be well because i hate it when my babies are soo sick. Samantha got up at 5am, which was fine since i had a few good hours of sleep at a time. Sarah is still sleeping right now at 552a...i'm thinking of going in there to check on her because it's weird that she's sleeping with all the raquet Sam & Hannah are making right now. Sam is now acting completely normal...i hope this keeps up b/c that'll mean she feels better and is on the upside of this horrible sickness. This is literally as sick as i've ever seen either of them.

TGIF...this Saturday Hannah & I are going to a birthday party at Pump it up. Hannah is really excited since we've never been there before. Should be lots of fun...makes me sad that i'm adult sometimes because they sure didn't have cool places like pump it up when we were young.

Anyway, i'm praying for a nice quiet weekend...where the snot and coughing subside. I gotta tell ya, getting kisses all over your face and clothes is not as cute when you get a gross green snotty kiss...although i'll take it anyway i can get it! :) Last night i was covered in snot from head to toe...all over my face, all over my chest from hugs, all over my pants from those leg hugs i get when they want to be picked up and loved on. You know, as nasty as it sounds...it was still soo cute and sweet...because they are MY babies & I love them more than anything!

On another note: i talked to the Dr. about ALL THE BITING. I asked if there was anything she felt i could do to stop it. She said Sam will just have to out grow it and tell her no everytime she does it. I asked her if i could put a muzzle on her(LOL..JUST KIDDING). It's just horrible...Sarah has bites ALL over her.

Well, that's it for now...i have some cute pics...i'll post in a bit when i have time.

The Babies have bronchitis

Well, i waited and waited hoping not to have to take the girls to the dr. But today, as i was on my way to take them to MDO they just really started coughing REALLY bad. I pulled over and cancelled my appt for Hannah's pedi dentist and called the dr. Luckily they had an appt open this morning and i went to pick paul up to help and drove straight to the dr. Sure enough, they have bronchitis! YUCK! My poor babies are sick! I knew it was coming because they started MDO and we've been lucky for about a month of no big sickness other than a constant runny nose for Sarah. The dr. gave me a Z-pac for each and we're back home and the girls are napping(hopefully for a while, as they really need some good rest). Other that that not much going on...I just hate it when the girls get sick...i feel so bad for them and there's nothing i can do other than confort them and wait for this ickyness to pass.

Will the Sickness EVER END???

Well, i sent the girls to school yesterday although Sam was a bit snotty...nothing i was worried about. She seemed FINE when we got home from school and so we even played outside for a long time after they got home... Last night they were a bit congested at bed time. No, big deal...or so i thought. About 11:45p i hear a screaming in the bedroom. I peek in and Sam is standing up in her crib bawling. I give her about 10 minutes to calm down and maybe lay back down and go to bed. I had even bought a little non medicated menthol little fan thing that sends mentholatum through the room just for a little kicker to help them breathe. So i though...well maybe it's really irritating her and making things worse. So after she calmed down(about 5 minutes later) i snuck in(literally crawling on my knees so she wouldn't see me since i knew she was still awake) and turned it off. I snuck back out and low and behold she somehow heard or saw me and the crying began again. I went in and told Paul and asked what he thought i should do. He said...do whatever you want(he ALWAYS says this and it DRIVES ME CRAZY b/c sometimes i'd really like an honest second opinion). Anyway, i went in and picked her up...held her for a bit and took her to our room and laid her down between us...she just did NOT want to sleep...she totally wanted to play. ERRR...i was exhausted and annoyed. So i gave her something to hold on to and the remote to play with...then she kept pointing as to tell me to turn on the tv...i'm assuming because she wanted to room to have some sort of light. I turn on the t.v and she was even more ready to play! UGH! I take her towards the living room thinking maybe we could sit on the recliner and get her back to bed...she didn't want that. She wanted to go back to the bedroom to play with Paul as he was trying to sleep. I finally threw in the towel and put her back in her bed. She laid their quietly...for a while. THEN Hannah started to cough and i freaked out knowing she'd wake them back up. I ran in there and got her out and threw her in the bed with us...GOSH this 3 kids in one room is really not helping us sleep around here. :( So to end this story that i could go on forever about...the girls are ALL SNOTTY and kinda PUKY from the congestion and now i'm going to have to cancel Hannah's dentist appt for tomorrow and keep them all home...

I guess the good part is that they are all acting normal...not too fussy or clingy. SO that is ALWAYS GOOD!


Maybe one day soon everyone will be well...who knows. It seems like someone in this house has been sick pretty much since Christmas!

It IS indeed a small world

Today i went to Babies R Us to get some things i needed. As i was walking out i noticed there were a couple of sheriff constables in the parking lot. Looked to me like they were checking car seats to make sure they were installed correctly. I knew mine MAY be installed right...but what the heck...might as well make sure. I asked the deputy as i was walking out and she said you had to have an appt but maybe i should check inside and see if they had openings. So i called them on my phone sitting in my car...just to check. SURE enough, they had an opening right then and there. SO i drove up and they took lots of time to go over each of my car seats. Asked, ages, weights, heights, etc. All sorts of good questions. So, while the constables were showing me how to install them correctly(an indeed they weren't installed the exact correct way...BUT CLOSE) we were making small talk. Mainly about twins, triplets, etc. I asked the constable something about "well is it legal to have seats in the very back seat...like if you have triplets, quads, etc." He said yes, and then i heard him mumble something about quads...but i kinda blew it off. We proceeded to talk about twins some more and they were all joking asking if i wanted more...etc...etc. So then the constable said i have triplets. I said O WOW...You DO? He said yeah we actually had two sets of identical twins(quads) and that one had passed away at 6 weeks. I said i'm sorry and we talked some more...i asked if his wife was a member of a MOMS group. He said indeed she is...NWHMOM! HOW FUNNY IS THAT? I said ME TOO! And then it all hit me...i knew about him and his quads because THEY walk every year in the March of Dimes walk...it's obviously something they also hold close to their heart! And when we walked last year there was a set of triplets...all wearing a shirt with a pic of the little baby that passed away...and something really sweet but sad on it. I remember walking through the start line with tears in my eyes...about how sad it was for them because they were in a way re-living a sad part of their lives walking for their little boy! Anyway, we kept talking and talking...and i felt like i had known him just from being a part of the walk with him and his family! It was so nice...he was so nice. He then proceeded to tell me that he'd love to come talk to our MOMS group about the correct way to install a car seat...etc. He gave me his card and i went on my way. Mainly my point is what a SMALL world it really is....who would have thought i'd run into someone i have a small connection with...his wife is part of the same group...he has identical twin boys +1 now.

On to another topic now. We found this awesome hotel in Panama City, FL and we're officially in the midst of planning our first REAL BIG family vacation. The hotel is AWESOME and i called this morning and the lady said it's VERY kid friendly and that we'll have loads of fun.

Check out his hotel:
http://www.hipcbeach.com/accommodations/index.html

I'm sooo excited! The girls will get to touch the ocean for the very first time...and SOON! We'll leave May 25th and take the whole 10 hr drive in one day and return May 29th. SOO excited!

Some random pics from today

Today was an awesome day to hang out outside. SO, we girls took advantage and played outside ALL morning. It would have been more fun if we had this:


http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=2&item=387245&ppImageType=330

But since we don't have it yet...we just went around hunting for treasures, eating half rotten oranges, and climbing trees...which Hannah LOVES to do now that mom & dad taught her how to get up into the plumb tree. YEP, Paul and i climbed up the plumb tree and didn't break one limb! LOL!
Sweet sisters!Hannah climbing the tree!She made it pretty far up in the tree...and then yelled..."MOM, CATCH ME"! Gracye joining in the fun!I think this is Sarah..but i'm not 100% sure.
Yes, that was Sarah..because this one is Sam.Playing on the dirty lawn chairs we drug out from behind the garage! All three girls playing together! They didn't fight ALL MORNING! YAY!




These are some random pics i found and forgot to post.



These shirts are soo cute...But not as cute as two sisters sharing dads chair.


But sweet only for a few seconds...UNTIL they both wanted to watch something different on TV! LOL! No, not really, but they were fighting over the remote!

This is interesting...Two bites in a row on Sarah's arm. You can't see one..it's already bruised...but you can see that one on the bend in her arm. Geeze..when will the biting stop! I feel sooo sorry for Sarah. She also has two bite on her back now! :( I'm at my whits end as to what to do with Sam for biting her! UGH!

Cute pics in their anywhere chairs. Not in their right "name" chairs...but none the less...they are sitting in the chairs.

Look Dad...Look what i Found in the backyard!

YEP...that is in fact, A LIZARD!!
Mommy wouldn't come too close while i was holding him!
This sweet baby just doesn't look like someone that would pick up a LIZARD! YUCK!
Such a sweet precious baby!

Mommy screamd when she found it....but i captured it and held on to it long enough for mommy to go run and grab her handy dandy camera! I think i'm making your dreams come true...i MAY end up being a TOM BOY...but if mommy has anything to do with it i'll be a high maintenance princess in pink! :)