Weekend Updates, Kiddie Updates, & Funny Poo 2

WEEKEND UPDATES

Last week was a short three day work week but I ended up working longer hours leading up to the four day Thanksgiving weekend.

On Thursday, Fiona and I had her sister (Angeline) and her fiance (Elliot) over for Thanksgiving dinner (The parents were out on a trip to China). Fiona cooked up a Jennie-O turkey (no thawing or cleaning needed) , scrumptous green bean casserole, mashed potatoes sprinkled with bacon and green onions (smothered in gravy), Stove Top stuffing, and Pillsbury crescents. Fiona's sister brought over a huge pumpkin pie and Chocolate bundt-shaped cake. As we went around sharing what we were thankful for this past year, Jadon's response (which was quite mature for his age) was "God." We just all looked at each other.

On Friday, Angeline and Elliot were kind enough to baby sit so Fiona and I could catch a movie. We put the kids to sleep a little bit earlier (7:30pm) and caught an 8:45pm showing of Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire. It was a much darker film then the other three. A lot of grayish backdrops (buildings, clouds, rain). It was a fast paced film. Not to mention that it was a PG-13 movie. Some of it I was able to recall from the book and other parts I just didn't remember. The actors in the movie definitely look much older from the last one. They better krank the rest of them out before they start looking old.

The weekend was slated for Christmas shopping. I did some shopping for Jadon and Fiona. Unfortunately Fiona, Jadon, and Vanessa have come down with some type of sickness. Jadon and Vanessa have stuffy noses and Fiona seems to have come down with a sore throat/cough. What's surprising about that is Fiona (and the kids) haven't really been out much lately. The only close contact Fiona has came with is Natalie's physical therapist. But Natalie doesn't seem to be affected. So far I have been able to escape the germs but I have a bad feeling that I'll come around (as I always do).

KIDDIE UPDATES

Jadon - he has been warming up to his potty training lately. He has been wanting to go on the potty more often (not all the time yet). He'll let us know by telling us "Got 'tomach ache." I guess a while ago his grandpa promised him a tricycle if he went on the potty all the time. So everytime Jadon goes poop on the toilet he'll say "get tricycle."

Natalie - for the past week and half she has started to crawl. Woohoo! That's a big milestone for her. And because of that, she seems to be less cranky. Don't get me wrong, she can still be super whiney but she has become more likeable.

Vanessa - she has been crawling and propping her self into a stand position and cruise (moving around on her feet while holding onto something). Not only that but she'll let go and try to stand on her own without holding onto something. She can stand from 5-10 seconds before she loses her balance.

FUNNY POO 2

So previously I went over how Jadon and Vanessa show signs of pooing. Well Natalie's story is a funny one as well. I was feeding Natalie her dinner in her high chair. She kept on grunting. Her face turing red. With her left hand, she kept on pounding her tray. Grunting, hitting, grunting, hitting. It was so funny (even Jadon imitates her). So Fiona changed her diaper and we were expecting a massive lode of crap. It turned out to be a little itty bitty pebble. If Natalie reacted that way over something so small I wonder what she would turn into when she does take a massive dump.

Texas Hold 'em Challenge

Last Friday, Fiona and I held a Texas Hold 'em showdown between the two of us. The loser would have to chug down this special elixir. I won the contest with my Ace-of-clubs and Three-of-hearts to her Queen-of-spades and Two-of-diamonds. I ended up with a flush. So what was this special concoction that I avoided? It was an ounce of breast milk.

I remember a couple of years ago that Fiona dared me to drink down three ounces of breast milk. She said if I did that I could get a Playstation 2. Well I did it and I got myself a PS2. It's not something I would want to drink unless I was enticed by a nice reward. The initial taste to breast milk is a little cornish.

Frustrating Night.

Last night was a frustrating night. It was a combination of having a short temper and the kids being a little annoying (plus inefficiencies in our night time routine).

Vanessa's banshee cry is probably what set the tone. When she woke up from her last nap, she just went into a cry (she's like that with most of her naps). I thought that perhaps she would go back to sleep (apparently she didn't and it got worse). Enduring those cries can be tough not just from a pity standpoint but tough on your ears because it just makes you cringe. I felt that I was better off letting her cry because I new at that point that if I go up there I would make things worse (either by lecturing her or being short with her).

Natalie's little annoyance happened when I was giving her a bath. She can make it tough at times to give her a bath without getting water in her face. She straightens out her legs sometimes when I am trying to wash her hair and I end up inadvertently douse her face making her cry. Of course she does this a couple more times and cries even more.

Jadon was probably the worse of the bunch. He was crying for stupid reasons tonight and I just wasn't in a tolerable mood. Not to mention that he had picked up Natalie and dropped her and she bonked her head (luckily she was low to the ground from the start and it was on carpet). All I had to do was take him by the shirt and look him in the eyes. I didn't say anything and he cried and said "No timeout." So he cried throughout the night and I was just all wound up. I ended up trying to send him in timeout but this time I tried to do it differently. Instead of forcibly putting him in time out I told him to go sit in the corner and go in timeout. Let's just say that that was an utter failure. He was crying hard and he was pouting by jumping up and down. At the time, it wasn't funny but in retrospect it was a little amusing to see him jump up and down that way.

Maybe I should put myself in timeout. Hopefully today is a new day and things will be more tolerable.

Bob The Builder No More?

For the past 4 or 5 nights we have been putting the girls to sleep first and letting Jadon stay up a little longer and watch his favorite show, Bob The Builder. He'd get so excited. When I tell him "Jadon, tonight you can watch Bob the Builder ok?" His response is he would jump up and down and exclaim "Yay!!!" Well yesterday Fiona had to keep him occupied so she had him watch Bob The Builder for an hour and half!!! Doh! I think that traumatized the little guy because last night when it got dark he began to whine (bed time is coming). But this time he didn't whine about his bath. He kept on repeating "No watch Bob the Builder." Then he went so far as to add to that "Just bath. Take bath now." So Fiona oversaturated the little tykes brain. Good going.....

Jadon: A Typical Boy.

This just in:

I was surfing the net when I heard a boom against the wall. I turn to my left and I noticed that Jadon had just ran into the wall. I was thinking "What on Earth just happened?" Apparently he had taken my eye mask and put it on. And well you know the end result. Boy was I laughing hard. Afterwards he brings me the eye mask and says "no like this one." Hmmmm I wonder why? I guess I should be expecting these typical boyish type behavior.

Picture Time.

The holidays are coming up and that means family picture time. Two years ago we had our pictures taken at Target (cheap packages) and Jadon was crying through that. Last year we decided to go to the park and have my sister-in-law, Angeline, take them. That turned out to be tough. Jadon was super squirmy. Of course it didn't help matters that there was a jungle gym close by. This year we decided to go back to Target. It was something that we wanted to do but were dreading it because this time it was not only Jadon but the girls as well. The past week we have been hyping up picture day to Jadon. We pretty much bought new out fits for all of us. We told Jadon that we got him a new shirt, new pants, and new shoes and that he would look just like his dadda. He couldn't wait to get his picture taken. So last night we went to target and I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised. Jadon was cooperative and full of smiles and the girls (who didn't really smile) were behaving. We took some of our better pictures during that session. What a big sigh of relief that was. I'll post those up later.

Jadon's Costume

As promised, this is what we dressed Jadon up as. He went as Bob The Builder.

50/50 Chance?

Typically when we go out with the girls, we get on lookers who make comments and/or have questions about them. That's perfectly fine and we have come to expect it. But today was a roll-your-eyes-no-common-sense-whack-your-head-with-a-hammer questioning. This is a picture of the girls going out for a walk with Fiona. A lady came up and asked "Ohhhh....how cute....are they boys?" Maybe the lady was color blind.

Natalie's MRI

This past Tuesday, Fiona took Natalie to her MRI appointment scheduled at 12:00pm. Natalie had to fast, so she couldn't eat anything and she had to stay awake from that time she woke up (which was 9:00am) until they sedate her. So she was cranky throughout the morning. Fiona took her in and the medical personnel didn't sedate her until 1:30pm! They couldn't administer the drug until the doctor saw her. That was a little annoysome. Here's a baby not even 10 months old that has eating problems, weight issues and they deprive her of sleep and food for 4+hours. Sheesh. Anyways when they administered the sedative they were warning Fiona that the medicine taste really bad. So they wanted her to be ready for any tactics to make Natalie swallow the drug. It turned out that Natalie just gulped it down. Apparently she surprised everyone. The test took 25 minutes or so. The medical staff told Fiona that it could take 30 minutes or so for Natalie to wake up. So Fiona wouldn't be able to leave until she woke up and was evaluated that she was good to go. When the test was over, the technologist went to get Natalie. As soon as he picked her up, her eyes open wide. So much conventional wisdom. I guess now we'll just have to wait for the results.

Jadon's Way Of Crying.

Jadon can be a strange little guy at times. Lately, when he's been bad he'll break out into tear and bawl. Then out of nowhere he stop and say "Jadon cry" and he'll be fine after that. So it will go something like "Waaaahhh-huh(taking a breath)-waaaaahhh-huh....Jadon cry." I just roll my eyes and smack my forhead. Weirdo.....

Funny Poo...

I always get a crack up when I see my kids poo. Jadon and Vanessa poo the same way (not to sure about Natalie). The way they take a poop is typically they get into a standing position, grab on to something, and then they have this focused look on their face. All is quiet and then you will see their eyebrows and the tip of their noses turn red. Next you hear a couple of little grunting noises. And finally their faces turn back to normal color and they return to their activity of playing. Ah....the entertainment of kids....gotta love it.

All Is Almost Quiet On the Western Front.

Wow, it's been a week since my last post. All has been good and I have very little to mention.

Jadon has been behaving quite well. No timeouts (nor even a strong threat) since the post from Oct. 26th. Not only that but he has gotten better when it comes to his bath/bed time. Lastnight everything went off without a hitch. No tears, no whining. He's even gone so far as to say (upon finishing his bath) "Jadon loves dadda." The little guy really knows how to melt my heart. Fiona and I have been reinforcing the "I love you" statements with our kiddies. Almost everyday I tell Jadon that I love him and he'll say it as well (a couple of times of day). I say it to him more then I do then to Fiona!

Vanessa has been her bubbily self. Every now and then she'll become needy and really really whine but she's still cute. When mamma is in the kitchen, Vanessa will crawl up to the gate-enclosed area in our living room, stand up and began her whine. Annoying sounds but cute to look at.

Natalie has warmed up. She is still needy but she is letting other people hold her (except grandpa). She still whines the most and is probably the most annoying of the three kiddies. Her weight is still a problem. She's only about 12 lbs and she is nearing 10 months. She has been through blood tests (most have come out normal), metabolic tests (haven't seen the results yet but I am thinking that that should shed some light) and she is about to undergo a brain MRI tomorrow. That's going to be interesting. She has to fast and she has to be awake for a while before they administer a sleep agent in order to take the test. Starting today she is starting her physical therapy sessions (twice a week, one hour each session) to strengthen her muscle tone. Finally after months and months of evaluations, things are happening. Now I hope that we can see quick results.

On a different note, I found out this past week that my close friend, Steve and his bride, are due to have a baby come next May. Welcome to the club!