The Biggest Loser

Did anyone catch this tonight? It was heartwrenching! Maybe it was because the two brothers were best friends and crying and they didn't want to leave the show w/o one another. And, deep down I hope my boys are that close someday. Or....maybe I'm just a HUGE SAP!

STUCK!

The weather looks crummy. We were going to try to head out this AM, but it looks like Cleveland is getting a foot of snow. Combine that w/ high winds and it's not a fun drive. The problem: I'm supposed to work on Thursday at 3 pm. So....I'm trying to switch Thursday around and hopefully we will take off on Wednesday. Maybe we'll make it to Bville by late Thursday or Friday sometime.

Great Day: Part 100 :)

We celebrated the day w/ our great friends (from high school), Amy and Jeff. Eddie and I use to go on double dates w/ Amy and Jeff in high school. Crazy, eh? And, they are Owen's God parents. They hung out all day today w/ us. And, it was completely chaotic as my brother and sister in law were here w/ Josie and Evie. And, my mom's brother and wife and kiddos were here, too. Oh, and my dad, my other brother and my brother's girlfriend. It was nuts! But, it was so, so fun! The kids played together beautifully and it was so nice hanging out. We are headed out in the next day or two as soon as we can get packed.....Eddie starts beer school tomorrow.

Special Day

Today my niece, Josephine, was baptized and Eddie and I are her God parents. What a beautiful ceremony it was and Josephine looked like an angel. She's just learned to clap, so she clapped through most of the presentation. I'll post pictures later....not sure how to do it from here.
Gotta say....I'm SO SAD we don't live closer to family. This AM my brother and my other niece, Evelyn, picked the boys up and took them to the donut shop w/ my other brother. Later, Evelyn and I went to run errands (I've forgotten what it's like to shop w/ a two year old...exhausting but she's so adorable it was fun). Oh, and she talked Aunt Megan into buying her a book and Nerds (She didn't have to beg too much. I like spoiling her!) Owen went w/ my mom to Nicki's store and ran it for Nicki so she could get ready for the baptism. On our way to the baptism, Owen went over w/ my mom. On the way back, Owen rode w/ my dad and Emmett w/ my mom. The point....how nice it is to have a family network for the kids to hang out with! Eddie and I have had more time alone then we have had together in a really long time!The boys are LOVING playing w/ their cousins. In addition to Evelyn and Josephine, my mom's brother and wife were her with their kids, who are 6 and 4. I love being around everyone and the kids love it, too. Hopefully, someday, we'll be closer again.

We're here!

YEAH! We made it! We did it in one long ( I mean REALLY long) day. We left at 11 AM on Tuesday and pulled in at 4 AM (NY time). The big boys were fabulous. Couldn't have been any better. Owen had a license plate sticker book and literally spent 6 hours staring out the window finding different state license plates. Emmett still had a fever and didn't feel great, so he napped twice (which NEVER happens). Henry was good for most of it, but he didn't feel great either (he also had a fever). And at one point, he puked all over. Thankfully, breast milk vomit isn't so bad. The drive to E'ville from NY is so much bettter then the drive to E'ville from Colorado. There is SO many more fun places to stop and eat. We stopped at Fazoli's for dinner (since we don't have Fazoli's in NY). It's fast, cheap, and yummy. A great change from McDonald's! My sis in law's shop is fabulous! And Owen and Emmett helped her hang clothes on Wednesday. Owen is going to go back to the shop to hang out tomorrow. He wants to greet people and help sell clothes. Eddie and I went shopping Wednesday for clothes for me for Josie's baptism. All by ourselves!!!! Well, Henry was with us but that doesn't quite count. I found clothes, although they are an embarrasing size (down 11 pounds in 5 weeks......25 to go!). Today, the St. Louis area is having a major ice storm. So, we were pretty much snowed (I mean iced in). Supposed to be the same for tomorrow. But, we did make it out to meet my dear friend and Owen's godmom, Amy, for lunch. So much fun.....Monday is going to come too quickly......

On our way?

Getting ready to walk out the door. Took Em and Henry took the doctor yesterday. Emmett still has a fever of 103 today, but he started antibiotics for a sinus infection. Henry has an ear infection, so he started antibiotics, too. Wish us luck!
This video is from yesterday. Emmett was literally dancing his pants off.

Cancelled!

Well, our trip to the water park is postponed indefinetely. Emmett is 103.5, Henry is 103. Not sure what is going to happen about us heading to E'ville this week. Henry is heading closer and closer to another trip to the hospital. He's thrown up every feeding today and is starting to cough and sound wheezy again. If there is no pee pee in his diaper after a few hours, we'll be making another trip to Crouse. And, Emmett (alhtough still seizure free) spent a good amount of time on the front porch (as Owen did earlier in the week) w/ a croupy/asthma cough. It makes me worry about what Henry will do tonight. The virus seems to follow a 48 hour slight cough/high fever/runny nose course and then horrible croupy/asthma cough followed by the worst day (day #3) then a S - L - O - W return to normal (Owen was still 100.5 last night - day 5). Henry will be day #3 tomorrow, the worst day. I don't mean to complain, because I know there is a lot worse things going on in the world. But really....haven't we had enough this last month?????

Update

Emmett -103 degrees, Henry - 102 degrees, Owen - no fever, but still coughing his head off. Good news: Emmett hasn't had a seizure (yet). Still hoping to get out of here Monday, but not so sure. Spoke w/ the pediatrician about Henry's fever and if it's still high Monday she wants us to see her. We've been locked inside the house since Tuesday. STIR CRAZY!!!

Our plans are a changing....

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Emmett is sick now...fever of 102 and Owen (on day 4) has his highest fever yet. 102.5. So, we've pushed back our Sunday reservations to Monday and hopefully, we'll make it to E'ville by Tuesday. UGH!

BTW...

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Henry's not quite ready for the Bumbo yet. His head is still a little too heavy.....

The infirmary (spelling?)

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Sorry about the delay in posting, our house is a sick ward. Owen came down w/ a fever of 102 on Tuesday night and it's been downhill since then. He has an ear infection and last night we spent a good portion of the middle of the night sitting outside (a combo of croup and asthma going on...). We debated about an emergency run to the ER after 3 middle of the night breathing treatments, but he finally settled down. Poor kid! He missed the big Valentine's party at school and the 100 day of school celebration yesterday. Henry has a slight runny nose and cough, as do I. Hopefully, we don't get worse. And, Emmett is starting to mope around, cough, and say he doesn't feel good. I'm praying he either doesn't get sick or gets sick now! Because, our trip home on Sunday will be delayed if he is sick. We can't be driving around if he has a fever. I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere if he has a seizure. Eddie has been working TONS to get ready for our trip. He's going to be out of the office for a month (week vacation and three weeks beer school), so he has a lot of work to do. But, I already got my Valentine's present. He got up w/ Owen in the middle of the night and did all the breathing treatments and one outside trip. I was able to sleep (kind of....). What a wonderful gift!

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A "gentle" kiss from big brother

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Henry says hi!

Audition update...

Haven't heard. They were videotaping the kids w/ one opposite sex sibling and a "mom" and "dad" to try to put together a family unit. They were supposed to look surprised. Owen looked adorable and I thought he did a great job. But, all the kids are adorable and it just depends on which "family unit" they liked the looks of best.

Our weekend...the good, bad, and ugly

Well, we did it. As most of you know, Eddie and I have a philosophical problem w/ spanking children. We don't believe in it and have never touched our children in any way other than w/ love (gag! I know...). But, remember how I said a few entries ago that Owen was rotten? Let me elaborate......Owen and Eddie got tickets to go to a professional soccer game tonight w/ another dad and son. I told Owen the only way he could go was if he laid down in his bed, lights out, for one hour tonight. He had two soccer games Saturday (and Emmett had two....that will be the next story) and we spent five hours at the sports center. Then, we went to Olive Garden for lunch/dinner and he was exhausted! When we got home, he decided he didn't want to lay down and how about we just go to the pro soccer game next weekend? I said, no problem and it wasn't...until bedtime. It was at that point that Owen decided he was ready to lay down, so he could go to the game. No deal! He lost control. Screaming, kicking, hitting, tearing through the house.....not staying in his room. Pretty much a repeat of what he did last weekend. We tried everything. Eddie sat and held him a while trying to get him to calm down. He just flailed around and said he was going to the game! Fast forward one hour later.......while all of this is going on, I say to Eddie .....he needs a spanking. Then, things were almost comical. With Eddie saying, "well, I don't want to do it." And me saying, "I don't want to do it." Finally...Eddie did it. 4 swats that couldn't have hardly hurt him. Sadly...it worked in calming him down. He stayed in his bed. Although, he said he couldn't sleep because his bottom hurt. So....to prevent this scenario from every happening again: we had a family meeting on Sunday to talk about behavior and punishments, reward for good behavior. I'll keep you posted. Spanking is SO NOT me and Eddie's way of thinking. I'm not sure we could do it again, so we have to come up w/ a better solution.
Part two: Went for Emmett's teacher conference on Friday and they told me that cognitively he was ready for kindergarten, but socially he was not. So, I guess we're making a good decision about not sending him next year. They also said we really needed to help him build self confidence and I should push him to separate from me a little more :(. Em has been talking about playing soccer for a while now and we tried it about a year ago. He got to the field and couldn't do it. After the conference I called the sports center and signed him up for a team. Saturday he would have his first practice and game. He was super excited. Eddie took him to buy his own soccer ball and shin guards Friday night. (We have 13 balls at our house, but they are all Owen's...God forbid, Emmett use one of those!) Saturday we get to the soccer field and Em flips. I can't do it...I can't do it.....But, we pushed. Pep talk. Pep talk. Pep talk. And, Finally...SUCCESS!!!! He stayed on the field and participated for both practice and the game! And, he's excited about next week. YEAH! Of course, as I've mentioned before this means we will spend 5+ hours at the soccer center every week.

Audition

Just got a phone call from a production company in Syracuse who wants Owen to audition for a commerical this afternoon. So, I guess we're going. I'll keep you posted.....

Shots!

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Henry got his first vaccines today, a total of 4 shots. He didn't make a peep for the first two, but he was not happy that she continued and screamed through the third and fourth. He weighed 13-2 today, which is super impressive because that means he has gained almost a pound in a week. I caught this photo of the boys and love it. Henry was laying on the ground just looking around and Owen went over to lay next to him while he watched TV. Owen is usually pretty uninterested in him, so I love that I caught him doing it. Every so often he would talk and smile at him and then go back to watching his show.

Deceptively Delicious Update

I had a friend over last night for dinner since Eddie was working late. We tried a new recipe out of the Deceptively Delicious book, chocolate chip muffins made w/ squash and pumpkin, and it was wonderful!

Not your average baby!

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So...you've heard that Henry is a good sleeper? Well, I just read that babies his age sleep on average 15 hours a day. For fun (this IS fun, isn't it?) I wrote down every moment yesterday Henry was awake or asleep. And....he slept 17 hours and 15 minutes! (including 8 hours and 45 minutes last night) Way above average! YAHOO! It's great having a baby who sleeps so much :)
Toni...that's his silky under his head in this photo.

Smarty Pants

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Owen got his report card today, and it's reassuring to know that he's not as rotten at school as he has been at home. Have I mentioned that he's been rotten lately? Oh...the stories. I'll write more about that later. Anyway, he got the highest score possible on everything except "using punctuation and using capitalization" . He got a "still developing" for those. And, he got a 98% on the 1-2 reading test and 97% on the mid-year math test. Smarty pants!

Synopsis of last night

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Work went well. YEAH! My patient was an uncomplicated, full term pregnant gal (HIV neg, no history of drug use or STD's, MARRIED even w/ insurance.....all a rarity these days). And, it wasn't super busy, so I even had a chance to pump twice! It was a nice way to ease back into things. My babysitter for the boys had a sick kiddo so Eddie came home to stay w/ the boys at 2 pm. I was looking forward to him doing the whole dinner, homework, bedtime, bath thing by himself because I've been telling him that it can be difficult for one. Henry is sometimes fussy around that time.....But, lo and behold, he said it was a piece of cake and they had a great time together. Bummer for me because he's going to work late all week (sigh) and I'm not sure he's going to take my complaining seriously now....
Anyway, the only problem for me is this little cherub in the picture. I got home and in bed at 1215 AM and he was up at 115 and 545 to eat! UGH! It's vital that he sleep through the night when I work. Doesn't he know that?

Happy Baby again!

My mom left yesterday, and while we were sad it isn't too bad. We are going to see her again in two weeks. Today is my first day back to work, and wouldn't you know it...Henry slept terrible last night. Up at 1:30, 3:30, and 5:30. I have to work until midnight...going to be super tired! The night before last he slept 8 hours. It figures, doesn't it? And my babysitter's kiddo is sick, so Eddie is going to come home to watch the boys. Which is OK really, it gives me a while longer to hoard Henry inside, away from germs!

Great news for the E'ville gang!

Drum roll please.........my brother and sister in law have purchased a upscale children's and maternity boutique in Edwardsville called Kate's Lullaby. For those of you who have commented on Henry's stylish clothing, well, most of it came from there. The store was previously owned by a good family friend, Lynn Dougherty. She is moving to Chicago and was looking to sell the store. And, since my SIL and mom frequent the store and LOVE it, it only made sense. Nicki has always wanted to have her own business, so this is super exciting for her. The store is located on Route 157 next to Neruda. Anyway, go visit her and check the store out! You won't be disappointed! Oh, and she has a website, too, for those of you far, far away. www.kateslullaby.com

Great flick!

Saw a great movie tonight....JUNO! It was wonderful. We laughed. We cried. Check it out if you can.