Outing

We are finally over our colds. Ug. It was a long one this time. We have been couped up in the house for over 2 weeks. We did venture out on the weekend, though. We took all the kids to Disney on Ice. Believe it or not, the twins remembered the show from last year, so they were keen to go. Unfortunately, we didn't investigate which show it was first. We didn't realize Disney has multiple shows going at one time. We thought we were going to Toy Story 3. As it turns out, it was the Celebrations show. A bit of a let down. The kids weren't as into it. Lesson learned on our part. They did still enjoy themselves. The toddler got a bit antsy, which is to be expected after a 2 hour drive to get there. Fortunately, there were a bunch of open seats higher up. So we moved and he got to run through the aisle with glee. We learned another lesson, too - don't buy the toy until you leave. They spent the entire second act playing with the toy and ignored most of the show. All in all, we had a great time and will check out the event next year, too.

She slept through the night. Wahoo. It's a whole new world around here.

Potty Training Revisited

Success. For now anyway. Daddy Potty Training Boot-camp has resulted in success. Our diaper bill has officially decreased by $100/month. Ya.

Yup, we finally decided to try again. Well, actually, my husband had a few days off work and no projects planned, so I told him it was now his turn. Who knew that it would take approximately 1 year from when I tried. I guess 41/2 was the magic number.

Twin1 has now gone 4 days and nights without an accident. He will even instigate the bathroom stop without reminders. This is shocking since he was the one who would hide behind doors and under tables, or run down stairs to poo (his pull-up).

Twin2 has had a few accidents and is not quite as self reliant, but one accident a day is way better than changing pull ups and wiping down bums.

This age is actually nice because if they do have an accident, they can take care of themselves. They can change their own clothes and such. In fact, when twin2 has an accident I only find out because he has a different pair of pants on. What a clever lad.

My husbands approach was to allow them to choose their own underpants and then if they had an accident in them, then the twins had to throw the underpants in the garbage. They were a bit upset at the idea of throwing away their transformer underpants. Ya to my husband. His efforts are much appreciated.

Wahoo! Snow.

Soon to the ski hill we will go.

Sleeping Beauty and her Protectors

Sick

I have finally succumbed. I am sick. It started to come on full force yesterday around lunch. I guiltily turned down my kids invitations to build houses, play cars... and instead sat in the lazyboy reading a book and ignoring the screams from the throw down fighting going on downstairs. The toddler was feeling a bit under the weather too, so he joined me in the chair and watched 'Cars' over and over. I believe I have now seen that move close to a hundred times or more. The baby was a bit restless yesterday too. Perhaps because I was not attentive enough, or because her feedings were inconsistent due to the jostling of the toddler. She had small naps throughout the day, instead of her 2 long and 1 short ones.

The baby is doing wonderfully. She seems to have adjusted to a schedule already. I don't know if this is just luck, or professional parenting. She sits in the swing for longer periods now. And the toddler seems to have stopped poking her eyes out. Instead he goes up to her and puts his blanket on her and pets her head. He is such a good big brother. The baby smiles constantly and is always searching for someone to interact with. She has even started reaching for people and sucking on her hand. Ya, self soothing is one its way.

Speaking of great big brothers. Yesterday, twin1 and 2 were interacting with the baby, trying to make her smile. I reminded them not to touch her face and hands. Twin1 replied, "Ya, I got gems (germs)". They astound me everyday with their new knowledge. I just love being home with them and seeing these things.

I guess even if I am sick and not as attentive as I would like to be, I should be happy knowing that they have me everyday, no matter what. They know that they are loved one hundred percent. How fortunate I am to get to spend all this time with these wonderful people.

Housebound

1. We have been stuck in the house lately - sick. Thank goodness my husband took a few days off last week because each of the twins took a trip to the hospital - asthma and strep throat. The toddler (I can not get rid of the bullet that automatically generated!) got the cold first and passed it on. The baby even got it. Now the toddler seems to have developed another ailment. I am hoping this is just teething!!. My husband and I have managed to fight the bug so far. Another sleepless night and perhaps we will succumb.

The twins actually asked to do their home school yesterday. Ya. That made me quite happy. We took a break while dad was home and we were sick. Now we are back at it. It seems to go best when the toddler is napping, but he likes to be involved too. Yesterday I attempted it while all 4 were up. A bit of a mistake. But I wasn't about to say no to their enthusiasm over it. We did have to stop early, though. Oh well.

Twin2 is turning in to a bit of a computer addict. He asks to play on it all the time. We limit it until the toddler is sleeping, after school and to pbskids games.

Got to say goodbye to hubby and wake up with a hot cup of tea. Good morning.

Snow

His first play in the snow. Fun, fun.

Date Night

My husband and I are going on a date. Wahoo. The only problem is that it is a year from now! Perhaps by then I will be ready to part with all my babies.

Letters in Paint

Can you tell what the letter is?

Time Change, Shmim-Change

I don't think the time change happens over night. Like jetlag, it seems to take a week to several weeks to readjust. Around here, the time change has yet to happen. The kids are now waking at, what is now, somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30am. Ug. And they are exhausted and cranky by 6pm. Keeping them up later doesn't seem to help anything - they just get sick. We try to fight it and tell them to go back to bed, or let them climb in to our beds, but this doesn't work. Instead, somewhere in the next few weeks my husband and I will have noticed that we adjusted. I don't know when this happens, but all of a sudden it does. It must be like the sun, where we adjust slowly, by minutes a day. Next year I hope I remember this and stop making it such a big deal. We will adjust. It is just that sleep is so paramount in our lives at the moment. Caffeine will get us through! All hail caffeine!

Only in a Small Town

Only in a small town can your kids sit on the Zamboni during a hockey tournament. This made up for the fact that skating was canceled.

Homeschooling has been on the brain lately. The twins have really taken to it and are happy to sit down with me after lunch when the toddler goes to bed. We are finishing up the letter 'C' this week and moving on to 'D' next week. I am using the program created by 'Confessions of a Homeschooler' Blog. I checked out the BC PLO's for Kindergarten and her program seems to correspond pretty well. There is a bit of prep on my part, but I am enjoying it. The problem is finding the prep time, since I head to bed when the baby does in the evening. I am really happy with their progress and it doesn't take that long. An hour and we have practiced numbers, letters, colors, pre-writing practice, sizes... then we just need to find time to cuddle up and read books for awhile. I am really liking this and I think they are too.

I was feeling as though the toddler was being neglected and mentioned this to my husband. They next day I got to spend an entire hour with him playing cars, trains, puzzling, reading books. Then yesterday we got to spend another hour together. I guess I shouldn't worry so much. They will all get what they need when they need it. I guess it is impossible to give equal amounts of my time to all of them. They all have different needs and I will just have to go with the flow.

I do really enjoy my cuddle time with each of them, though. I guess this is what I need!

New Domain

Dresses. Hmm. They look very weird on my sweet little girl. I am still getting used to pink. Dresses - that is going to take awhile.

Mommy Brain

Yesterday I had a rip roaring headache that just wouldn't go away. I tried eating, drinking water, but nothing worked. I went to bed with the headache and, now, have woken up with it. However, at 1am, during a feeding, I figured out why. I only had time for 1 cup of green tea yesterday. I was having caffeine withdrawal. No wonder.

A Beautiful Day

The baby slept 6 hours in a row. Ya. Then she slept another 4 hours. I got more sleep last night than I have gotten since the toddler was 5 months old (he slept through the night twice before he was 6 months old and then he went to feeding 4-6 times a night when he started teething). The twins slept until 7am. Ya. The toddler, until 8am. Breakfast went off with no complaints. Daddy took the twins skating. They can now skate with a stick, pushing a puck, and then shoot it at the net. Wow. In the mean time, the toddler and I stayed home and had a bath while the baby slept. Then we packed up and headed out for my one day out of the house a week - running errands. We made it to our destination and the baby slept in her car seat the entire time - Ya. We all happily ate our picnic lunch in the car and my husband and I got to have a conversation during the drive. We ran our errands and received few complaints. Then we headed to an indoor play yard where all three boys ran around for 1 1/2 with huge smiles on their faces. Daddy attempted to keep up while sweating and panting. He he. Off to dinner - again with no complaints. Everyone ate happily and there was no screaming from the toddler or the baby. On the drive home, everyone fell asleep. My husband packed all the kids into the house, changed them, and sent them off to bed still sleeping. The baby ate and ate and ate and then drifted off to sleep. Now, I sit typing away making sure the baby really is asleep, while my husband is out playing hockey. Soon I too will drift off to sleep reading a good book.

Yes. My life currently revolves around keeping the peace, stress free meals where everyone eats, and sleep. Perhaps soon I will get to add more, but at the moment this constitutes a beautiful day.