Dinosaur Poop!

You read it right. That is the name of the video that Drew found on PBSkids.org today while I was cooking dinner, guess I should have been paying closer attention to his internet usage. Well, he though it was hilarious. I must say, when he insisted on showing Kevin and me the video tonight (which was 12 minutes long by the way), I though it would be some video that said the word "poop" once or twice and he just thought it was funny. Like he would wait for that one second that the dino said poop and just laugh. Well, it was an ENTIRE video about dinosaur poop. Educational, yes, but seriously...a 12 minute video or dinosaur poop!

Just check it out, go to the end of the video where he sings the song on the train...hilarious!
So for those of you so inclined to do so, here is the link:
http://pbskids.org/dinosaurtrain/videos/index.html?pid=FtgDr7KvKIDVMvI6ssfiTzIdzjiBC3IY

Enjoy!

Love to all!

Wacky Wednesday!

Drew had Wacky Wednesday at school today.

Is he wacky or what?

What about this one? She wanted her picture taken too!

Love to all!

Hoki, Hoki, Hoki Hy

Techs, Techs, VPI
Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah
Polytechs, Vir-gin-ia
Rae, Ri, VPI!!!

Drew is in LOVE with the Hokies and tells me, when talking about his outfit "I am going to leave it on forever!" Yesterday, it was gorgeous here and I asked the kids if they wanted to go outside. Drew had just gotten up from his nap and said, "Nah." So I left it at that. Now, anyone that knows Drew, knows that the moment he walks in the door, he heads straight up to his room, sheds off his "normal clothes" (ie. jeans and t-shirt) and puts on "bum clothes" or "pajamas" which usually consists of shorts that are two sizes too small and no shirt :) I dont' know why he does this, but for whatever reason, he hates to be in normal clothes when he is just hanging out around the house. Quite frankly, I can't say I blame him. I am normally lounging around the house in sweats and a T-shirt. But whatever, back to the story. So when Drew said he didn't want to go out side (he was in his shorts and no shirt), I didn't push the issue. I went into the other room and continued my battle with trying to potty train Ellie (I'm still loosing that one). A few minutes later, Drew walks into the bathroom, fully dressed and VERY proud of his clothing selection and says to me, "I'm ready to go outside Mom."

He had put on his VT shirt and his VT hat and looked just as proud as any Hokie you have ever seen! I told him I was going to get Ellie ready and to wait a couple of minutes. So I am dressing Ellie and I walk past my room only to see this....



I stopped and I watched and Drew was totally primping in front of our mirror! Soooooo funny! I could see him turning his hat around backwards and then forwards and kind of looking to assess which way he liked better! It was so funny! I asked him could I take his picture and he insisted that I do it with it both forward and backward. Then he sang me the fight song, which my sister proudly taught him!

I love that little Hokie!!!!

When I saw Drew "primping" in the mirror, I thought it was the cutest/funniest thing! Then the more I thought about it, the more it reinforced the fact that he is growing up! He is turning into this little person...aggghhhhh! I'm too young to be the mother of a little person. The mother of babies, sure....but a little person...a school aged child...a child with feelings and emotions and worries and the ability to primp....SCARY! It is happening right before my very eyes...my little boy is growing up :( Each day, he says or does something that makes me do a double take, a "where did you learn that" or a "how did you know how to do that" or I'll see him doing something that is completely age appropriate, yet very "dangerous" for a little boy, but he isn't a little boy anymore, he is turning into a little man! And I just love that little guy to pieces :)

Love to all!

8 Months and Counting...

I really can NOT believe that my BABY is eight months old today!!! I know I say this every single time I post on a birthday/mile-marker for the kids, but time really is FLYING.

So Emmy must have know it was her 8-month birthday because she woke up at 5:50am ready to celebrate!!! And there was no putting this child back to bed this morning. Needless to say, she was fed, dressed and ready to go before 7am...oh how I love my baby, but oh how I miss my sleep :(

Here is what Emmy is up to these days:
-she is crawling backwards and trying so hard how to figure out how to go forward
-she goes from sitting to crawling position to laying and back to sitting and can move herself clear across the room with no help from others
-she is sitting up unassisted for extended periods of time (she does have occasional "throw myself backwards" moments, but for the most part she can sit on her blanket and play with her toys for hours...and she frequently does...such and easy baby)
-she still gobbles down all four 8oz bottles and screams when she figures out that they are all gone
-she is eating the little Gerber pickups that melt in your mouth. I noticed that she is starting to get better with her pincer grasp and can pick them up and feed herself, but she prefers me to feed them to her.
-she eats baby food about once, sometimes twice a day but is really not that interested. I think she is going to be one of those babies that practically goes from bottles to table food...Emmy loves to eat and that must feel that baby food mush if for the birds!
-Emmy is now sleeping in her crib! (HUGE accomplishment)
-Emmy is such an EASY baby and will often sit and plays with her toys or just watch her brother and sister.

When I tried to take her picture this morning, this was her response...


But this is what she usually looks like...


My little ham!!!! Oh how I love that little girl!

Love to all!

It's the Little Things

I was reminded this morning of how special the little things are in life and how it truly is the little things that make life so wonderful.

So in our continued attempts to get all three children sleeping through the night without we have finally put Emmy in her crib, which is in the same room with Ellie. So when Emmy cried out last night, Kevin brought Ellie in to the room with me and he got in the bed with Drew. It really is musical beds in our house just about every night. In fact most mornings, I have no clue which bed Kevin has ended up in...ours, Drew's, Ellie's or the couch. But anyway, back to my story. So Ellie slept with me last night and when I heard her stirring this morning, I opened one eye, in hopes that she wouldn't see me and would go back to sleep for just a few minutes. Well she didn't go back to sleep, but she didn't see my half opened eye either. What she did do was look around, see that she was in bed with me and without saying a work leaned over and gave me the sweetest little kiss. It melted my heart. It was kind of like a mother kissing her sleeping child, but rather a child kissing her sleeping mother! So, so sweet!

It's the small things!

Love to all!

Do You See What I See?

Do you see them....

How about now...look really close...

Emmy has two teeth! Right on the bottom. She is ready for a steak and baked potato! Except that she is up half of the night so probably too sleepy to stay up with us all and eat! I can't believe how quickly my little baby is growing!!! And Emmy is just that to me. I mean, they all are my babies, but Emmy is my last and is supposed to just stay a baby! When she starts growing up the "baby stage" of our lives is going to be over and I am just not ready for that quite yet...although sleeping all the way through the night without being woken up by one of the three does sound pretty good ;) In fact, one night last week, no one made a peep until 5am and when I woke up, I thought something was wrong!

Just a little update with the hives: we never did figure out what it was that made Emmy break out. She broke out for a few days and then it just kind of stopped. Of course, I was just positive that she had a milk allergy and I needed to change her formula. I had myself all worked up and in a tizzy over how I kept making her break out. I was terribly stressed out about her "milk allergy" (yes, the one that didn't exist, or not yet at least) and how I should handle it. And trust me this: the internet is NO FRIEND when a mother is diagnosing her own child. But my gut instinct kept telling to relax and wait it out a few days. To quit stressing and trying to "figure it out." So I did. And the rash stopped. I guess that is why they say a Mama should listen to her gut. Now I would like to know what caused the reaction and the only thing I can come up with is a few bites of strawberry flavored yogurt that I gave Emmy (yes, I don't know what I was thinking...I DO KNOW that strawberries are a big allergan, I just wasn't thinking :( Imagine that!). So we will retry that again in a month or so to see if that was what did it. Other than that...nothing! That's my only guess. But Emmy is doing much better and that is all that matters:)

My parents came down this weekend for dinner and took Drew home with them, so it was just

Kevin and me and the girls! After they left last night, I walked into the bonus room only to find Kevin laying on the couch and Ellie carefully putting lipgloss all over his "lips" (this includes everything from the lips to the bottom of the chin and up to the nostrils). She was being ever so careful to make his "mame-um" (yes, that's makeup) look "preeetttty." So cute!!! It is amazing what this Daddy will do for his little girls :) Today we painted toes and colored in the princess book and had a good "girls day"...

But we do miss our Bubba!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Lots of love!

Covered with Hives...but Still So Happy

My poor baby is covered from head to toe in hives!!! She looks just pitiful :( but is not at all bothered.





Kevin noticed a few bumps on Emmy last night (just on her neck and a few behind her ears) and we figured she had rubbed against something rough or her little skin was just chapped from the 15 and 20 degree weather. This morning when she woke up it was worse and the rash had spread and covered her entire body from head to toe! Now, I am usually pretty laid back and don't take my kids to the doctor to for every little thing (mostly because I am too cheap to go and pay a copay for them to tell me something that I already know). Well I was almost certain that the rash looked like an allergic reaction, but she looked so pitiful!!! And I could not think of one single thing that she ate differently yesterday that would have caused her to have a reaction.
Long story short: I took her to the doctor this morning. She said it was definitely an allergic reaction of some type. Could have been something that she ate. Could be a heat/cold reaction. Gave me dosing for Benadryl. Could come and go for a few weeks. Perfectly harmless to Emmy. Worth a copay for peace of mind.

Needless to say, Emmy has been an angel and seems completely unaffected by the hives covering her entire body!



Stay warm!

Love to all!

Long Time, No Blog

So, I have been very lazy about blogging over the the holidays...yeah, like I haven't blogged in over a month (not very good journaling for my kids, but what can I say, I do the best I can).

So everyone around here is doing great! Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years were all wonderful. We spent time with family, had a crazy Christmas morning with all kinds of fun new toys, and ate/drank until we were sick to our stomachs :) Yes, we DO love the holidays!!!

And now it is back to the daily grind....reality :) Drew started back to preschool today and as I was driving him to school this morning I came to the stunning realization that I needed to register him for Kindergarten...my BABY BOY....KINDERGARTEN....AHHHHHH! I can't believe that I am actually having to register him for school...where did the time go? Anyway, he will start in July and I don't know if I am ready for this real school stuff. They have to be at school between 7:15 and 7:45...AM that is!!!! Way earlier than our 9:15 drop off for preschool. I am sure that Daddy will be the one taking Drew to school on his way to work...that way I just have to get HIM up, dressed, and fed....not all four of us! Unless I can convince Kevin to get him ready....hmmmmmm?!?!?!?!

Emmy turned 7 months old on Christmas day!!!
She is sitting up, eating baby food, cooing a lot, scooting all over the place and being a very happy little baby! She loves watching her older brother and sister and has become a very easy baby! She is also a MORNING PERSON....ugghhhh! She wakes up MUCH earlier than Ellie ever did and is ready to coo and play at 5:45 some mornings! Most of the time I can hold her off until around 6:30 or so, but by then she is over the "dozing in Mama's arms" thing and is ready to get up! But she is super sweet....even at 6am!


Drew all dressed up before his Christmas play



Us at Drew's Christmas play.


Ellie on Christmas Eve




Me and Emmy on Christmas Eve.


Hope that everyone had a very wonderful holiday and enjoyed the most wonderful time of the year. We are very blessed!

Love to all!