Just a Little Freedom Finally

Two times now Madelyn has stayed in nurseries for a short period of time.

Yesterday I finally made it back to church but only with Logan and Madelyn. The twins stayed home with Tony and took a nap. I was told Madelyn was very happy in the nursery but was getting tired by the end. We only stayed for Sunday School but that sure was a relief to know she was comfortable enough to stay in there for a short period of time.

And Today, I finally made it back to the YMCA to workout - only 40 minutes but better than nothing. I haven't been since end of January. When I walked in with two strollers (I pushed the twins in the double and Logan pushed Madelyn in the single) someone yelled out "here comes the stroller brigade." When I scanned my card, the people at the desk made sure they checked my registration to make sure I wasn't bringing in extras. Madelyn had not been added to the account yet. I was asked if I had a newborn. My guess is she didn't get a good look at Madelyn before she said that but obviously I haven't just had a baby. She's as big as the twins. So I explained to them she was from China and it was her first visit to the Y. I had already added her to the nursery list last time I visited. We had the referral then so I told them there to add her to our list of children. The nursery workers told me today she did just fine. She was a little whiney but again this was before nap time so she was ready to come home and get some shut eye.

Want to guess how many asked "are these all your children" just walking into the building and back out? Or how many said, "you've got your hands full"?

Need a Nickname

 

We need a nickname for these three. They aren't triplets as far as being born same time by same birth mother, and it's odd to say "here's the twins and Madelyn", and it takes too long to say all of their names when introducing them so I'd like some sort of catchy phrase for these three. Any suggestions?

Jeff Foxworthy explains Country Music

Yeah, This doesn't have a lot to do with Babies, China, Twins, Carseats, and all the other stuff that regularly appears on the Blog.

However, It probably does a great job of explaining why I, and so many other people like Country Music.

Jeff Foxworthy tells it like it is

1 crawler, 2 walkers and a soon-to-be Kindergartener

Yep, it's all true. Madelyn is starting to crawl. She's not fast but she is on the move now. If she really wants something, she can get to it now on her own. I've been making her crawl to some of her bottles which was recommended by CDSA workers. It's something she wants and somehow she's going to get it so it's forcing her to learn how to crawl. Andrew is walking several steps and laughing at the same time b/c he's so excited he's walking. Nate is taking about 2-3 steps at a time. Both boys still prefer crawling but they are definitely on their feet now. And then there's Logan....my biggest baby is going to Kindergarten in the fall. We registered him this week to start school. He graduates from preschool end of next month. Talk about a busy week...and it's only Thursday.

Today is Madelyn's First Birthday...here's the Birthday Girl.

 

 

CDSA and Hearing Test

I'm behind on posting the latest updates on Madelyn. Thursday I took her to have her hearing evaluated. She still has fluid in her ears...no surprise. She was started on antibiotics that morning also for a sinus infection. Her hearing was fine for having fluid in her ears but they are recommending to her pediatrician that she see an ENT dr. They also want her to have her speech evaluated. When I told them she choked on cheerios and other small solids and threw up, they said this was definitely a problem and wanted me to make a visit to their speech therapist.

CDSA evaluated her Friday and are taking her on to help catch her up to her age. She will have several visits with an occupational therapist and also another provider who will come work with her with her speech, eating problems, and hopefully get her up and moving soon. She tries to crawl but she's not that great at it. She can't get very far and it's more like an army crawl than being up on her knees and hands.

She definitely charmed both places and smiled and laughed at everyone both days. She's such a happy baby most of the time. It is getting a little better every day with all three b/c she's starting to be able to play some on her own and interact more with her brothers. She loves toys that make noises and tapping things together. I do need to teach her how to take a toy back after one of the boys takes one from her. She doesn't know how to defend herself yet and that's a have-to-know to live here.

Let's Get This Party Started

 

All the Hooker babies waiting on the birthday party to start.

Madelyn's Birthday Cake

 

OOOhhhh Presents!!!!

 

Yesterday Madelyn and Logan had their combined birthday party at a park nearby. Aunt Ne-ne made Madelyn a ladybug cake and made Logan a transformer cake. Since Madelyn doesn't eat solids very well yet, she didn't get the opportunity to dig into a piece of cake like most one year olds do but I got a spoon full of icing and tried to feed it to her. She wasn't too crazy about it. I did find out later that Ne-ne fed her chocolate ice cream while I was down at the lake with the older kids loading them into paddle boats. They said she really loved the ice cream and her bib was covered in chocolate. She loved all the attention she got yesterday. Tomorrow is her birthday and I have saved a cupcake that might let her try to play with in the highchair tomorrow. She got lots of presents including clothes, toys, and money.

Coming down stairs

 

Here's the answer to "how do you get all of them down the stairs?" I put the three monsters on my lap and scoot on my butt down the steps singing some sort of kid song to make them laugh. Logan grabbed the camera today and took a picture of us making our way down after naps. AND YES, Madelyn again is wearing a blue bib. I grab first available and most of the bibs here are blue or boy related. She had to keep one on today not for drool or for messes with food but to catch the never ending runny nose. It's been so bad today that once while wiping her nose, I got sick to my stomach and vomited in the sink. I can't handle snot. Yuck! I've even gag over my own sometimes.

Bath Time Photos

 

 

 

 

Laundry Time

 

Lady in Red

 

Having a Drink and Taking Over the Recliner

 

Help! My Kids are Aging Me Fast!

Last night we kept Logan up a little past his bedtime since it was his birthday and the first chance we had all day to spend time with him only. Tony took him to Toys R Us and he picked out a new toy. When they got home I pulled out a Brownie mix and made it b/c we didn't have a birthday cake (I know, I'm terrible but who wants to go to a grocery store with four kids?). I couldn't find the birthday candles but I had a #1 candle left over from the twins birthday party.

We took some time to look at Logan's baby pictures while waiting on the brownies to cook. There were some pictures of me holding Logan a few days after he was born and I was all dressed up, make-up, hair fixed, etc. Tony says "wow, your hair sure has changed." Huh? Yep it has, so has the rest of me. Since then I've been thinking of how much my kids have aged me.

I have more gray hair, I rarely put on make-up, I don't go out much, I don't even have nice clothes to wear anymore b/c most of them are stained from the kids. I don't have many pictures of me with the twins or Madelyn (except while in China) b/c I don't want to be in them. It's not that I don't want to look nice, why bother while I'm home with three babies? If I do fix up, I end up pulling my hair back before mid-day b/c someone is pulling my hair. My clothes will be dirty from babies wiping dirty hands on me, snotty noses will be brushed up against my shoulder, and it's just not worth the effort to go through all that.

I've mentioned before I am letting my hair grow out for Locks of Love. I have enough now but it will be shorter than I want so I'm thinking by my birthday in July I am going to treat myself to a haircut and cut all this off and send it in, plus color up the gray and maybe have it cut into something easy to style b/c I don't have lots of time to spend in front of the mirror. That is my birthday present for myself. Madelyn will be 16 months then and the twins 17 months old. Hopefully they'll be walking and things might start getting a little easier.

Maybe Madelyn will feed herself more by then meaning less food on me. Hopefully all of them will become more independent. I'll get even more exercise chasing after them in three different directions. It's going to get better and easier (I have to keep telling myself this). I might one day be able to make a date with my husband and enjoy a quiet meal outside the home with no kids.

I do admit seeing Logan's baby pictures made me wish he was a baby again. I wish I could always keep a little baby around BUT it's time to move on and raise the family we have. No more little babies anymore. Madelyn is the only one under a year right now and that is only for 12 more days. Maybe I'll get the chance to babysit little ones and get my baby fix that way. I admit, I'm ready to see highchairs, bottles, and baby toys disappear. We have three of almost everything so you can imagine it's a mess here. I'd like to not have to sweep under the table after every meal or wash off three highchair trays or spend 30-40 minutes every night just washing bottles, nipples and sippy cups. I'd like to use this time to have with the kids. They are all growing up so fast.

The munchkins are now waking up and they are so sweet to listen to through the monitors. Madelyn has started sitting up in her crib playing with her toys in the crib and the twins have their own talk and tug-o-war with the blankets and pillows in their cribs. Unfortunately when I walk up there to get them out of the cribs, the madness starts, they cry and scream b/c they don't have patience getting changed waiting on breakfast, my face wrinkles up, blood pressure rises, another gray hair pops out and my super powers have to kick in to get them all ready to come down the stairs and have food ready immediately. You should see how I get three infants down the stairs and only have to make one trip doing it.

Let the chaos begin!

 

Happy Birthday to this Very Handsome 5 Year Old

 

  Who cares if I'm wearing my brothers' pj's? I'm just going to drool all over them anyway. (yep, when we can't find the pink pj's, or she's out of clean ones, at least she has a back up in the twins room.)

Ready to Go!!!

 

Bigger Family = Bigger Vehicle

 
The mini-van wasn't working out for us. When we first bought our van we had planned on two children at the time. I was pregnant with Reagan at the time. We lost her four months later after buying it and then started the adoption paperchase. After that was over with, then I found out I was pregnant with twins. The van was fine with the twins plus Logan. Then after we got home with Madelyn, it began to get cramped. My van was a 7 passenger van but I don't think 7 was meant for four kids in carseats. Our best arrangement was to put the twins in the back seat and Logan and Madelyn in the captains chairs in the middle. Everytime we put the twins in or took them out, we had to remove Logan's booster, fold the seat down, climb into the back to buckle/unbuckle the twins. This was not easy at all. So, we have debated since we've been home whether or not to upgrade to something bigger. I didn't want a bigger vehicle b/c of payments and gas mileage but after this weekend of trying to get them in and out, it was time to finally purchase something else.

We found this '05 Expedition at a really good price for what it has. I didn't care if it had leather or not but it's loaded including a DVD player. Logan LOVES that part. Since today is his 5th birthday we told him this was his birthday present. How many 5 year olds get SUV's for their birthday? I love it. I've only driven it from the dealership to home and to Chick-fil-a today and that's it. You can see I'm not good at parking something this big yet. Even in this picture I've got the tires on part of the grass.

I do miss my van. It had automatic sliding doors. Sliding doors with kids around is a great thing to have. Now I have to worry about Logan opening doors and hitting another car. It is nice to have a clean vehicle. It won't last long though.

Big Smile

 

This would have been a great photo if the shade had not been in her face.  

Happy Easter

 

Our Virtual Triplets

It's impossible to get them to all look at the camera at the same time. 

I think they got their idea from looking at my van

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEFE3B0Rje0

Happy Sweet Birthday

Happy Sweet Birthday to our daughter Reagan, never to be forgotten.

My New Van Magnet

 

Poop and Scoop

I am so mad at the labs and my dr's office right now. Madelyn was suppose to have her stool checked again for giardia to see if it's gone now. I was given containers yesterday at her visit. Today while I'm dropping off Logan at school, she poops. Most of her poops seem to be in the mornings or evenings when I can't get the samples to the lab in time. Since it had to be there in an hour, I loaded up my other kids in my van (I had to take them all in to go view Logan's preschool graduation pictures), a friend of mine takes the containers and scoops poop for me. How many friends do that? Then I run home, grab a neighbor to ride with me so she can stay in the van with my other kids so I don't have to unload to take everyone in just to drop off labs. I registered her, left the samples and took off. When I got home they had left a message that they could not test it b/c her name was not on the containers.

They knew who the containers belonged to. I registered her. I did everything but mark her name on the bottles. Turns out it's a liability for them to test if the parent doesn't write the name on the container or it was not written on prior to the sample being put in. I even called the dr's office to see if they could do anything and they said no. The name could not be written on there by anyone in the lab even though they knew who it belonged to b/c they didn't take the sample. They couldn't even take my word over the phone to write her name on it.

I was furious...still am. Even if I worked, how do they think a parent is suppose to get poop to them in one hour time? I live 30 minutes away from the lab so that means leaving the house pretty much as soon as she poops. I don't work outside the home but I do have three other kids to have to load up and be able to leave or have someone available to come here. Am I suppose to get Madelyn on a pooping schedule so it's convenient for them to test it? It was a miracle I was able to do it today and all b/c her name was not written on the container even though they had her registered and took the containers from me, they could not test it.

Now, if we want to make sure this is gone, I have to make another trip to the dr's office and pick up containers, then wait on her to poop, collect it and hope it's during office hours within one hour time frame and take it there. I think they are asking a bit much and they need to come up with another way for this test. I'm pretty sure she is cured. She took the antibiotics for it and her poop has definitely changed since this.

And for those that know me, changing diapers is not a specialty of mine. I've been known to gag at the smells if not vomit. Scooping into a container is definitely not something I can do without gagging. I was lucky a friend was available to help me out today with that.

First Shots

Madelyn had a check-up appointment for her ears today and according to the doctor they were all clear. That surprised me after seeing all the junk coming out Saturday. Since those were clear and her chest was clear, she got checked all over again and the doctor cleared her for her first shots in America. She got four shots - 2 of those combined into one - plus a tb skin test. She does NOT like shots.....she cried at the rubbing of alcohol before the needle came close to her. The doctor was also concerned about her not putting much weight on her legs and not interested in crawling or cruising at 11 months old so she ordered a hip x-ray. I just got the call and was told her hips were fine and not dislocated. The dr said she saw nothing else to think there was anything else wrong with her and she was a healthy baby. We were concerned her sweaty head and other symptons might indicate rickets but she doesn't have this and the dr. said sometimes sweaty heads indicate cystic fibrosis but she didn't have that either. She was also approved to have her hearing test rescheduled since her ear drums looked fine. I'm waiting on a callback for this.

I told Madelyn today she was doing at good job at meeting our insurance deductible for the year. She laughed and thought that was funny.

Nate's First Haircut

 

I took Nate for his first haircut today. (Logan tagged along to watch and also get his cut too.) The baby curls are mostly gone. He's still got a few left though. They gave us a card with Panda's on it to put his curls in. I'll have to take Madelyn there for her first haircut so she can get one of those cards. Andrew might get his first haircut by the time he's two.

When I first walked into the place that cut Nate's hair, a lady in there looked at me and said "Wow, you brought two kids with you by yourself for haircuts...YOU'VE GOT YOUR HANDS FULL." I laughed. I told her she had NO idea and that I had four kids, three of those in the 11-12 month old range. This was a breeze only having Nate and Logan with me. I could have stayed out all day with just two kids. Then this lady proceeded to tell me I must be insane. I told her probably so.

Click on link below for more photos of the Hooker Gang

Hawaiian Day

Lots of Smiles with Tongues Hanging Out

 

Please Help Me! These boys are CRAZY!