Snuggling with my baby

Garrison has had a cold and is cutting his eye teeth so he has been a little bit of a disaster lately and been very clingy and fussy so he has needed a few extra snuggles. No problem, I know these things won't last forever and I know someday he won't want to snuggle so I'll take them when I can and photograph the snuggling so that I can have proof later of what a sweet baby boy he was.

I can't believe he is already 21 months old and will be 2 in 3 short months. What happened to my baby?

Sir Garrison

Garrison found Gibson's knight costume the other day and had me help him put it on. He ran around with the sword pretending to fight. Its amazing how quickly the 3rd kid learns and picks up things from the other kids.

Ferry Ride

Gregg had President's Day off and he wanted to do something fun that weekend so we took the boys down to Edmonds and walked on the ferry for an adventure. It was G3's first time on the ferry not confined to a stroller and he loved his new found freedom!





Gibson wearing my scarf!


On the other side we just got off and waited for the ferry to unload then we reboarded, so while we were waiting the boys watched all the cars unload.


and of course when we got back on, we got some cookies for a treat!

ER

Now, in my 5.5 years of parenting, we have been to the ER 3 times until this week. Gibson went once when he was about 18 months because he was jumping up and down in his crib and bit through his lip. We waited 4 hours only to be told there was nothing they could do because 1. it had been too long (thanks to the waiting) and 2. it was too close to his mouth. Great, thanks. But it healed up nicely, so all is fine. It was an over reaction on my part, but I was a new mom and felt it needed to be checked, in hind sight urgent care or our dr would have been fine. Live and learn.

Grady went on Christmas Eve this last year when he busted his head open and then Garrison went once when he took a tumble when he was a baby. Garrison gets the award though because we went in a ambulance since I called 911 because of how he was acting and I was afraid of a concussion. He was fine, thankfully, and I hope to never repeat that excitement but better safe than sorry.

This week we have been twice, making our trip count up to 5.

On Monday night, Gibson was complaining of stomach pains, so I told him to go to the bathroom and go to bed. I thought he was stalling, because that has been his MO lately. Then, he got up in the middle of the night complaining of the same thing - so asked him if he had gone to the bathroom, and he said no. So I told him the same thing - go to the bathroom and go to bed. Fast forward to the next day - he went to school and seemed fine. Figured it was over. Later that night, he came into my room about midnight and was crying and had his arms on his stomach saying that it hurt really bad. I had him use the bathroom again, but it didn't seem to help. I wasn't sure what to do besides take him to the dr when they opened. He was writhing around in pain and couldn't sit still or calm down. So, I said "does it hurt bad enough that we need to go to the hospital?" He looked at me and said "Yes." Now, this is a kid who doesn't complain. He has been sick in the past and you never hear anything from him, he powers though and is good. Complains about picking up toys, but never about illness or if something hurts, so I KNEW that he was hurting if he was telling me we had to go to the hospital. So we got dressed and headed down to Children's in Seattle. I wasn't sure if it was his appendix or if he was just constipated, so I wanted to be where they dealt with kids and not have to go to more than one ER incase it was something more serious. We got there, and they did a urine culture and tested all that. He was clear and not dehydrated, so the dr decided to do an xray on his tummy. The poor kid was full of poop. The drs were very surprised because of how soft his tummy was, no one expected that. Anyway, they gave him medicine and got him all fixed up and he immediately said "I feel so much better, mommy, I want to go home to my bed." We got home about 6:30am, so no sleep for me that night. Luckily I have some great neighbors and one of them helped me out and kept the kids for me for the morning so I could grab a nap. We seem to be in the clear now with Gibson and he is feeling MUCH better.

Fast forward to Friday night. Everyone in the house is sleeping when all the sudden Gregg and I are awakened by some horrible coughing coming out of what we think is G3's room. Turns out it is actually Grady and he is gasping for air and coughing a cough like I have never heard before. He tells us he is having trouble breathing and so, I throw on some clothes, grab him and my wallet, and we head out to the ER for the second time that week. We went to a new hospital we have here in our area and it was GREAT. I will go there anytime we need care. We walked in, walked straight to a room and were in and out of there in an hour! Grady was diagnosed with croup and given a breathing treatment and some steroids and was much better after leaving. He slept the rest of the night without any trouble. I'm thankful it wasn't something more serious. Its so scary when your little one says they can't breath and they are gasping for air.

Both boys have follow ups with our drs today. I'll be glad to not go to the dr for a while after this!

Sleeping G-Men

Some sleeping pictures of the boys.

Where's Grady?

Gibson is SO my child. Seriously. Crazy sleeper and all (I'm better now, but as a kid, wow, did I wake up in some crazy positions!)

Grady has fallen asleep a couple times this week in some random places. These are 2 of them.

Frost!

Earlier this week during the evening, I had ran to the store with Grady to get a few things and to avoid taking all 3 boys the next day. Of course, in looking at the lobsters and crabs and listening to the incessant "I wanna a cookie, mommy" I forgot the ONE MAIN THING I went there for. Figures, right? Story of my life lately...and yes, I even had a list. GRRRR...anyway, now a trip the next day to the store with all 3 couldn't be avoided! So, I used my master bribing skills and offered the kids each a donut from Frost (a local gourmet donut shop) if they cooperated and made the trip easy for me. They did, and so we walked across the parking lot and had donuts. All 3 boys chose sprinkles...they are my kids for sure! G3 didn't eat his (huh?) but the other boys devoured theirs faster than you could say "donut"!

(Grady and his "I must wink for every picture" phase makes for some random faces!)

"I tire, mommy"

So, today Grady tells me "I tire, mommy, I go sleep" and he grabbed a blanket and laid down to watch some tv (it was quiet time, so they had picked a movie). Within 5 minutes, he was OUT. This kid never falls asleep anywhere and hasn't taken a nap in over a year. Hopefully he is just worn out from getting up in the middle of the night lately to go potty and then getting up VERY early (5am) for the day and not going back to bed and not getting sick!

Would somebody change that kids diaper!

I got the boys all some new metal water bottles the other night and G3 LOVES his. He has it with him all the time and gets mad if he can't find it. Runs around yelling "bottle, bottle, BOTTLE" until we find it. As a result of this, he has been drinking lots of water and going through diapers like crazy! The other night, I had taken his pants off for nap and I didn't put them back on when he got up because we were getting the kids ready for a bath after dinner and he slept late that day. Within about a 1/2 G3's diaper went from fine, to soaking wet and completely sagging. I had to take a picture, it was hysterical. It was so heavy, it was actually coming off on its own!

Mukilteo Beach

Sunday was a beautiful day here in Seattle. We had sunshine despite it being cold out. The older boys needed to burn some serious energy so Gregg took them to the beach to run around and throw some rocks into the water. We haven't been to the beach since last summer...looking at these pictures makes me hungry for summer!

Crazy hair and carpet burns

More naptime bad hair!

Like the scrapes on Garrison's forehead? Ya, he decided to run his forehead along the carpet and he gave himself a carpet burn.

I think it might be time for a haircut. :(

Sunny day in February.

Yes, I know it's mid February but despite the fact that it was only 40 degrees outside, we HAD to go out because IT WAS SUNNY! Sun is a GREAT think in the middle of winter! So, we bundled up and headed up to the 'sac.


Ummmm, Drew, I think you might be a tad too big for that bike.

Gibson's Valentine's Party

Today was a busy day with Gibson's party in the afternoon after Grady's. So, after getting home and feeding the other boys lunch, I headed out to Gibson's school.

His teacher had some learning fun planned for them! Here she is explaining everything.

This is the food the kids had to snack on! Quite the spread.

Gibson working on his project. The teacher gave each child a box of conversation hearts and had them separate the colors out then graph the results. I thought it was a fun project!


Gibson's teacher says "smile for the camera" and what does my kid do? Ya, sticks his finger up his nose...I swear this kid is not being raised in my house!

Ah, now, that is better.

and of course, what party is complete without pink cupcakes...

Grady's First Valentine's Day Party

Today was Grady's preschool Valentine's Day party. He was SO excited that I got to be there in class with him. They had a very fun day planned. The kids got to jump in the bounce houses, decorate cookies, make art and fill Valentine bags.




I had to put this picture in here. This is the kid that wouldn't ever put his hands in anything and here he is playing at the sensory table and playing with the rice! I was so excited when I saw him doing this!





"Grady, smile for mommy...." Ya, that isn't exactly what I was looking for.