More Tubes



We've had a crazy couple of weeks over here.  I had a trip scheduled to Milwaukee for work two weeks ago.  I would fly out Sunday night, stay at Shelly's house (woo hoo!), and then work Mon thru Wed. and fly back home Wed. night.  Let's start by saying that coordinating leaving (who is babysitting the boys, what everyone is eating while I'm gone, packing Tyler to go to grandma's, finding clothes for myself that aren't comfy pants and don't have puke or food on them, etc.) is a huge job in itself.  But I was all ready to go for Sunday!  But then Sat. night Tyler spiked a fever and was coughing and really congested and told me his tummy really hurt.  All night he was miserable and the whole next day.  So I pushed my trip off a week.  I couldn't fly away with him needing his mama.  That week Derek, then Micah, and then Andrew got the same sickness, so everyone was coughing and congested.  I thought they were all on the mend by Sunday when I flew out.  The three days I was gone, they were great, which is such a blessing, and a miracle that it timed out like that.  When I got home, though, Derek got an eye infection which the Dr.'s say you can pass your runny nose to your eyes, so he had all this mattery junk coming out of his eyes, and they got so swollen and puffy he could hardly see.  We started doing eye drops for him to clear this up.  This is a very contagious infection, so you know what's coming next. 

 

On Sat. we went to Platte to my family for Easter, and when we put everyone in the car, we were all healthy!  Two hours later when we got there, Micah's eyes were mattered shut and he had gotten the eye infection.  We started the drops on him.  He also spiked a fever after we had been there about an hour, and so my aunt Pam who is a P.A. and always comes to my rescue, checked him out in the clinic.  He had a double ear infection which she said looked "terrible."  So we also started antibiotics for that.  We honestly didn't know what to put him on b/c he's been on everything, and nothing works.  After we went to Easter dinner that night at my grandma's, Andrew's eyes started swelling and getting infected, so we started the drops on him. 

 

Evan and I went to Easter Sunday church together, and left the whole sickly gang home with my parents.  Then we packed everyone right up and drove back to S.F.  Ahhh....life with kids!  :)  Monday morning I called ENT, and got Micah in and scheduled for tubes.  We think he's had an ear infection since about Jan. that never totally cleared.  Or if it did, it came right back within a week or two.  He got his tubes this morning already, which is so great, and we're thankful went so well!  So now 6 out of our 8 little ears in this house have tubes in them.  I blame their daddy's ear issues when he was a little guy.

 

Hopefully we can stay healthy now if the weather warms up!   We're all going stir crazy with this cold weather, and every day the babies bring me their coats a few times a day and start waving and saying "bye bye bye bye bye bye" over and over. I get it guys. We all NEED to get outside before we snap. How many boats or trains can you build in the living room before you need a change of pace, ya know?

 

Sometimes on bath night I let the babies go crazy with their food.  This time we had pudding.  Evan tells me that "messier isn't always more fun."  But I strongly disagree.  We balance each other out that way.  ha! 

 

Micah man....

M, D, A.  Take note of the floor.  Disaster zone.

Sweet little Derek.  His personality is changing a little.  He's kind of like a big, gentle, sweet teddy bear.  He's still dramatic and feisty a lot of times, but he's also a big cuddler, and so, so sweet.  He gives me lots of hugs...

Ahhh...teeth brushing.  The nightly ritual.  This is how you do it with three hoodlums.  I lay them down on the floor and trap each of their arms under my legs.  The part that is the most challenging about this is not the teeth brushing itself, but the two other brothers who are SO interested in what is going on.  As you can see, Andrew is charging at us full force here, so usually my elbow comes out and is used as a "brother blocker".  Micah is on the other side trying to get his tooth brush into Derek's mouth.  It's kind of a riot! 

Another challenging time is when I change diapers...especially dirty ones.  I usually just plop them down wherever we are on the floor to change them.  The same things happen then, though:  brothers attack from all sides, and these guys are getting so strong and feisty!  They hate laying still even for me to change them, so they're always trying to get up, or putting their hands in their dirty diaper, so I'm dealing with that.  But then I've got another guy taking all of the wipes out and throwing them on the floor (it never gets old), and another one trying to get their hands on the poopy diaper.  Why do you people want a dirty diaper??!! Another chaotic time.  I wear lots of deodrant.

 

Derek trying to lock his brothers in the corner cupboard while they play with tupperware. 

The babies are talking a lot!  Micah definitely says the most words.  His newest ones are:  sorry, star, banana, and "oh no!" (which he says very passionately!).  Derek jabbers constantly, too, and the words you can actually understand besides the basics are:  puppy, bird, and sorry (can you tell we have to say that a lot at our house?).  Andrew soaks everything in, and says:  "all done", mommy, daddy, uh oh, banana.  They all understand what we tell them now, which is so fun to see.  They bring things to their brothers if we ask them to, and are slowly learning what it means to share.  This day we learned all about bananas.  :)
D, M, A



Cutie pie Micah...

We bundle up and play on the deck whenever possible.  Micah and Derek...

Derek being his normal goofy self!

Evan and Tyler brought me flowers home the other night!  I have the best boys ever. Tyler was SO proud b/c he picked them out, and made sure to get me a bouquet with the most pink in it.  He knows his mama well! 

Derek.  This day they were all wearing aprons. 

Auntie Kayla (Evan's sis) reading with Derek and Andrew.  Kayla and her fiance Luke came and visited us for a weekend, which we all loved! 

Sweet little Andrew...

Kayla and Luke with our crew.  Don't they just look like naturals?  I think they could easily handle triplets someday.  All of our boys are going to be bell ringers in their wedding in June.  It's going to be total chaos, but so fun and cute!  Evan and I are standing up, too, so we're so honored and excited! 

There are days in this house, when I think we need to start a board with all the things we have to say that we don't even think a thing of, but I bet other people would think were a little funny.  On a daily basis, we say things like, "don't put the stick up your nose," "no sucking on your brothers head!", "Andrew, Derek doesn't want to be hugged so hard," etc.  It's a circus over here, but wow....what amazing, fun, sweet little boys we have....(D, M, A)