My children's new addiction

Baylee (first photo) and Amelia (second photo) have decided that every day they need to have at least one popsicle or 50. They beg at the freezer at least a dozen times a day! Charlie now can eat one on his own too, just with supervision because he doesn't hold it with the stick so his hand gets super cold! The last photo is of my son getting comfy on his sister's very pink blankets, he is a very secure little man ;) Sorry for sooo many posts at once I am trying to get all the 2010 photos in before the end of the year!! Can't believe it's going to be 2011 soon!

Random bad iphone photos

This outfit was a hand me down from Cousin Davis, apparently Charlie thought he needed to live up to what his shirt said that day, he was a "little devil"! :)























After Charlie's first party of the day, Baylee and Charlie were extremely tired, they cuddled up together while playing with his new toys and fell asleep for 2 hours!!























Minnesota had a blizzard the weekend before Charlie's birthday and this is our front screen door, the snow is blocking the door and we couldn't get out, the garage door was frozen shut too! No worries we got dug out! There is so much snow here, it reminds me of the snow we had when I was little. For example, the snow in our front yard is taller than me and 3 times taller than the twins. I have to push it down the street now to get the snow off our driveway!























This is Charlie cuddling with mommy after we finished putting up our tree, it was freezing outside but nice and toasty inside!























The ladies didn't understand that all the Disney ornaments were not something to play with!























Our three tv addicts!! No really they are.























This is the way the girls "help" with laundry!























Yes, this is Charlie at the hospital again. After his surgery in November, he contracted a serious infection, that lead to him having surgery to drain the infection and having to stay in the hospital for the weekend getting iv antibiotics. Poor guy had to be stuck over a dozen times, arms, legs, ankles and head, to start an iv! Auntie Julie was there and she eventually stayed with him because mommy first of all couldn't handle watching him cry for the 2 hours it took to get the iv in (YES 2 HOURS) and she had a hallway meeting with not 1 or 2 or 3 no 6 doctors on what the plan was to get Charlie over the infection. This was very scary! Auntie Julie was Charlie's advocate, mommy asked for the IV team to come in after the second try, she was told they were the iv team (just so you know they weren't), Auntie Julie was very verbal when the 3 sets of nurses came in and said "they were good at starting IV's", Julie informed them that this was his 10th try and the poor baby had been through enough. Well, they failed but then came the nurse of my dreams. She looked at me and said she would try once and if she didn't get it, she wouldn't keep poking him. She did it!!! We loved her! Everyone kept calling him too pudgy, well he is a little chubby but I have seen way chubbier babies in my lifetime and makes me think what they have to go through! Personally I think he has my veins, I have to have the iv team whenever I get an iv! He is completely recovered with a small scar.

Baylee coloring with her new Color Magic Markers from Auntie Jeni & family!














Amelia coloring with her new markers too!



















Charlie trying to get into his gift from Auntie Janice & girls, but his sisters are hogging it!



















Charlie gave up and this is where you can find the girls most of the day!



















This is what our house looks like right now, a lot of new toys thrown everywhere! Charlie loves the duplo blocks he got from his Uncle Vincent & family! Amelia is in the background playing with one of the two magna doodles Santa brought them! Mommy needs some more bins, shelves or garbage cans (just kidding). This week we are determined to organize everything for the new year! Right now we are fighting the "pink" eye, drops in 3 kids eyes every 4 hours is not very fun, let me tell you :( Hope everyone has a great new year and a safe one too!

First snow storm-that we brought inside

This was from our first snowstorm in MN. As everyone knows, we have gotten A LOT more since then. We were still in our jammies, so mommy filled up a bin and brought the snow in to play with on the kitchen table. They all thought it was something to eat. Good breakfast??

Charlie turned ONE!!!

Merry Christmas!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We had a great weekend spending time with friends and family! The kids were extremely spoiled! As you can see they have their very own ride on Vespas for the summer! Now on to making and keeping some New Year's Resolutions, like updating this blog with our activities, like Charlie turned one, photos to come!!!

The adventures of surgery with a two year old

10 things I learned these 5 days post op with a two year old (dare I add stubborn 2 year old)

10. Insists on sleeping on me no matter if my legs, hips & tushie are in pain

9. Putting a nuk in her mouth makes her swallow the much needed medicine

8. Ellaphant (her stuffed animal) really needs a bath, but has been the best companion he was knocked out before her, he got a chest xray just like her and he gets medicine like Amelia :)

7. Disney movies heal. How many times have I watched Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas this week? You don't want to know!

6. Her brother & sister will annoy her no matter what they are doing, don't even think about looking at her Baylee and Charlie

5. She will wake up in the middle of the night screaming, every 4 hours, in need of item #2, then think it is time to watch a movie, so crying for 15 minutes because you are mad at mom before passing out again!

4. You can not eat too many popsicles.

3. White popsicles rock! Pina Colada YUM!

2. Tylenol with codeine is my savior!!!

1. She wants her mommy, no matter how much she loves her daddy, only Mommy's arms will do!

Recovering kiddos

Amelia after surgery! She has her faithful friend, "Ellaphant", he helps her feel better!
She received balloons from her Uncle Mike, Aunt Irma & boys! She loved them.
Baylee & Charlie fast asleep, Amelia got up & covered them up with their blankets, patted them on the backs & then turned to me with her finger by her mouth & said "shh, nigh,nigh". A sweet moment!

Post op

Well we are post op recovering now. Amelia is doing well, she had her tonsils/adnoids outs and tubes put in her ears. She seems to go in spurts of wellness. Then she crashes and cries which she is hard to get to calm down. She doesn't like to take her medicine so every 4 hours we have a meltdown. Amelia had to stay overnight in the hospital, they wanted to give her anti swelling drugs because she already has a small throat and with the natural swelling from surgery they wanted to make sure her airway was clear. She loved going on wagon rides throughout Children's Hospital. We met some other friends in the hospital and mommy just has to say that we are really lucky we just had our tonsils/adnoids out, some of the poor angels we met were in for far worse. May they recover soon :)

Charlie is doing well, a little gassy still from his procedures. He had a bronc and endocospy which led to them taking 3 biopsies of his tummy from "suspicious" material. We will know what that is all about in a week or so when the results come back. He fought being put under put did well waking up. He then got to have some cuddle time with his favorite person, grandma I. He was a major flirt with the woman, just like his Grandpa I used to be!! He really didn't like his iv and we had to restrain him so he wouldn't pull it out!

Baylee is doing well, she has aspiration pneumonia. All 3 of my children have been diagnosed with weak throats that leave their airway not protected from liquids. We are going to be starting Vital Stem therapy in December (Amelia has to wait 4-6 weeks). This is to strengthen their throat muscles so we can prevent aspiration pneumonia. Anyways Baylee is doing well, currently napping. She has not had a fever for 3 days. So we are thankful and hopeful she is on the mend.

Cute after note. Amelia is awake right now but her siblings are sleeping on the floor in the living room. She just took 2 blankets and covered each one of them up and patted their back and said "nigh, nigh". Too cute. A definite glad to be a mom moment!!

Surgery Day

Amelia and Charlie will be having surgery tomorrow, please keep them in your prayers!!

Lazy Sunday

What are we doing today? Absolutely nothing! It feels good to have a morning with just the family hanging out, playing dollies, playing with mommy's make up kit (Amelia), which lead to cleaning the carpet, Charlie eating a least 3 whole silver dollar pancakes, the girls decorating each other with pudding, watching Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas, throwing clean laundry all over thinking it is the best game ever, putting blankets on our heads and trying to find our way around. So was this morning lazy?? We need to add at least 5 timeouts for 2 little 2 year olds and 1 timeout for a little man who can't stop turning the tv on and off. 1 meltdown over a missed toy. 1 doorbell ring from another kid selling some kind of fundraiser thing.

Now for naptime! phew! Mommy needs a nap and daddy is off to work. Afternoon fun...hmmm I am thinking of something that gives hours of entertainment but hours of clean up to...what's that? Playdoh! May my children not consume it or throw it across the room or smash it in the carpet.
Happy Sunday!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Here is a photo of our Three Little Pigs! The kids had so much fun going door to door. Baylee & Amelia thanked everyone and blew kisses. They also went up to the door and said "Trick or Treat" Mommy was so happy that they were talking most of the night! Charlie REALLY likes suckers! It was a great night and we had a blast!

Joyce did an awesome job on the Twins 2 year and Charlie's 9 month photo shoot. We shot it at my Aunt Joan's farm. It was a lot of fun! Note: Baylee is in the sweater with pink flower hair accessory and Amelia is in the black jacket with purple flower hair accessory.