Halloween 2008

Caterpillar Sophia.

Grape Rachel and Kitty Cat Alex.

Fun Fun Times!

Diaper Change

A bit more practice and I can delegate this task off to the twins!

It's Halloween!

The kids are SOOO excited today.  They can't wait to go trick or treating.  But first we had to carve out the pumpkins.  I bought 3 pumpkins a couple of weeks ago.  I bought them from a grocery store early on because I've been traumatized a couple of years ago when the whole city was sold out of pumpkins.  But what happened this year is that when I went to get them this morning 2 out of the 3 pumpkins were already rotten!  Luckily the girls had carved out pumpkins last weekend at their friends' house (they were lucky enough to have gone to 2 separate Halloween parties!).  I let them paint those faces this morning after the rotten pumpkin fiasco so as not to disappoint them (Thanks Joyce for the idea!).

I thought I could salvage one of the rotten ones.  Alex really wanted to carve it so I let her.  But she put on protective glasses just in case the guts splurted out at her :).

Rachel all serious about drawing out her 'cat' shadowy pumpkin.  The only one that we successfully carved today.

And baby Sophia just hanging out.

Sniffle, Sniffle, Cough, Sneeze

So what's the deal?  How come no one is really blogging anymore?  Or so it seems.  Doesn't everybody know that this is my only social connection to the outside world?

The last few days have been a bit challenging.  All 3 girls and I have a cold so there is a lot of coughing, sneezing and cuddling going around here.  As well, Sophia is teething badly.  I see a tiny corner of her bottom centre tooth trying to poke through.  Oh how badly I want her teeth to come out and be done with that.  On top of this...all 3 girls and I got immunized this afternoon.  I was always missing the Measles, Mumps, Rubella shot.  Or so I have been told numerous times in my life by nurses that have taken my blood.  Alex and Rachel also missed their MMR booster shot when they were 18 months.  So while Sophia got her 4 months old shots, we decided to get the rest of us up to date.  It was absolutely no fun at all.  I had to go first and act all happy and brave when I HATE needles.  And it did really sting and no I'm not being wimpy about it.  Then Rachel went she had to have 2 needles and she was really brave with the 1st shot.  Then she got the stingy MMR shot and starting to weep.  Alex started weeping with her sister.  GREAT...Alex is crying even before she has had her shots.  Then it's Alex's turn, she weeps while getting both needles but then Rachel starts crying holding onto Alex.  They can't stand either one of them being hurt...they look out for each other...very sweet.  So they wept at each other's pain.  Then the girls went to the waiting area with Papa while I stayed with Sophia who had no clue what was about to happen to her.  The nurse actually let me nurse her while she was getting the needles.  Some nurses don't let me stating that they are worried that the baby will choke.  So anyhow, Sophia gets 3 needles and it goes better than I thought thanks to the breastfeeding.  At the end of the hour I ask the nurse if she finds her job stressful.  She responds that she loves it why do I ask?  I was sweating profusely and I was stressed out to the max.  Anyhow that is what has been going on with us in the last few hours.  Absolutely surprisingly Papa just got home right this instance from his massage appointment and guess what he brought home for me.....McDonalds!!!  This is so incredible because he hates McDonalds, and because it is almost 9PM at night and because we already had dinner with the kids at 5:30pm.  But I am super happy because I get to eat this trio while watching a burned copy of Dexter.

3 Chung Chungs

Two Mamas and 6 Kiddies!

Some Random Videos

Look at Sophia's chest.  The wound looks so terrific 3 weeks post op!

Videos that only the grandparents will find thrilling.

Papa playing around with Sophia.

I don't know how Alex would have memorized all that! Since my kids don't watch TV...Yeah right!

Wine Fest

Can Papa be any happier?  Wine & his girls...what else would he need?  Wine fest is sure different nowadays with the kiddies around.  We just dropped into a winery this afternoon because we were out and about and because my friend was working there.  But we didn't realize that it was a Saturday afternoon on a long weekend right in the middle of wine fest so it was really busy.  Papa just had a small tasting of Syrah, we bought a bottle of wine and we headed back home.  I was happy that Sophia was happy.  I was just waiting for her to start fussing but she didn't!  For a whole hour and a half she wasn't nursing and she was happy.  Yeah!

Just a Few Thing....

These are a few things that made me happy this week....

Alex & Rachel got their haircuts this past week. 

I love what the girls wrote.  Makes me smile.

A back view of Alex's hair that had been curled after the cut.

Happy that Sophia sometimes finds her own thumb to suck which frees me up to do some work around the house.

So to sum it up...my children make me happy :)

Adiri Bottle

This is the bottle that has changed our life.  OK so I'm being dramatic but it really has helped us out and given me a little more freedom.  And the plastic is soft on top where the baby latches on.  But is completely safe plastic.  

Smoother Now

Sophia is doing so much better now.  She is happier for longer periods of time, screaming far less and finally gain weight.  Phew.  What a total relief.  Her weight gain has been an ongoing issue for us.  She took a little under 3 months to go from 10 pounds to 11 pounds.  Can you believe how tough it was for her to even gain 1 pound!  Anyhow, she seems to be hungry all the time so we are hoping that the next few pounds will be added on quickly and easily.

My parents have been demanding to see pics of their grandchildren so here they are.

Alex and Rachel a couple of weeks ago.

A dragon that the girls created out of toilet paper.

Sophia in one of her happier moments.

The girls all hanging out together tonight before bed watching TV

Do any of you meal plan?  Like plan a weekly menu and shop for just those ingredients at the supermarket?  Well I thought it was high time that I started so I spent Saturday evening on the computer carefully trying to choose meals and write down what items I needed to buy.  Well, it's hard to figure out that many meals in one go.  So my list is still not complete which means that I haven't gone grocery shopping yet which means that for lunch today we ate McDonalds!  Now seriously how wrong is that?  Trying to be totally healthy, organized, save money and then resorting to fast food.  Does the meal planning really work for anyone out there.  And if yes, can you save me a step and email me your menu?

It is so wrong that I am very excited that Sleeping Beauty will be out on DVD starting tomorrow?  It's been in the Disney vault and now it has been restored to better quality and I can purchase a copy for my girls.  And I wonder how I got to be at this point in my life that this excites me and no wonder I can't really relate to my non-mommy friends as much anymore.  

Another thing that has changed my world is this new bottle that is shaped and feels like a real boob.  The thing is that Sophia wants to nurse all the time.  When I say all the time I mean like 4 hours in a row...all the time.  So I was going a little crazy.  So my friend, Kaili, told me about this bottle that Sophia might like.  (She hated all the other nipples and bottles that we have tried beforehand).  And low and behold she took to this bottle. Yipee!  I saw the possibility of life off the couch and I was excited.  I could actually spend some quality time with Alex and Rachel finally.    This makes me happy.

I would post more but I am so tired.  I know it's so typical for a new mom to complain about lack of sleep.  But it is rough.  When will Sophia start actually using her crib and sleep without using me as a soother?  Not that I want to complain...I'm so happy that she is in my arms and healthy and at home.