Because We're Cute. . .That's Why!

It's time again for another random post. I guess there's just so much cuteness, amongst these boys, that we can't fit it all into our regular posts. So there's no way to escape a random catch up every once and a while.

Though Big H has been "potty trained" for a couple of months now, he hasn't really been "potty trained". Our biggest culprit: the pooping of the pants. I made a sticker chart to help and it slowly filled up, but he never could get quite all those stickers. Why? Because he kept pooping his pants. Finally, I took away the viewing rights of his favorite TV show, Super Hero Squad. Within a few days he was fully potty trained! And within a few more days he had filled his sticker chart!



What did he get for filling said sticker chart. A new toy! A toy which I have come to call his "potty" train. He played with it for a day or two. Now it's old news. But he is still fully potty trained and going strong. And that is what matters.



Here's my favorite little super hero, Big H again, out playing in our "yard." One day it will start to resemble a yard.



Here's another one of my little cuties. Baby M is all ready for nursery, bag and all. Our nursery leader decided to just advance him to Senior Nursery since we couldn't get him to stay in the other class. Now he gets to be in there with Craig and I, and his brothers. He loves nursery! He loves having his own little bag to carry, and he loves participating in all the actions and games. He has a harder time sitting and doing some of the activities but that's OK. All the kids have somewhat of a hard time, so it's not too much of a difference.



Here is a cute picture of Baby M caught in between the seats in the car.



On a subject completely unrelated to boys:

My friend had her little girl the weekend before Memorial Day-- if I'm remembering correctly. This is the friend who also has three boys. This is her first girl. She's the one I threw the shower for not too long ago. We were way excited to meet their new little bundle of sweetness. It was so strange to see pink in her house ;)

Our Sick Week. . .or Two

Red, swollen eyes; coughing till you cry; fever, aches and pains; runny noses and even some vomiting. This was all included in our sick week.

We had a fun month trying to figure out if the kids were sick or not. The family doctor thought Baby M might have Fifths Disease. I don't know if this was the over all cause of our problems. In fact, I don't know if he actually had it or not. His cheeks would be red for a week, and then they looked fine. Then they would be red the next week.

*Fifths Disease tends to give children red cheeks, giving them the appearance of a cheek that has been slapped. This brings about its other name, Slap Cheek.



This month has also been filled with fun ailments such as rashes, diarrhea and slight fevers. Are these all factors to the illness we fought this week? I do not know.

It started with Baby M and a cough. I wasn't sure if it was a cough to worry about, so I just gave him medicine here and there and waited to see what happened.

Then one morning Big H woke up crying. He would cry every time he coughed. I brought him upstairs to lay down with me.

Then the next day Little H woke up crying. Same symptoms as Big H the day before.

Then the next two days found the twins both with red, swollen eyes. Baby M's eyes never swelled, or got red, they just produced little eye boogers.



The week went on and the boys all seemed to be getting better when, suddenly, Big H came down with a high fever. He just laid on the couch and didn't move. I was really worried about him. My Dad gave him a blessing, and he seemed to get a little better. The next night, however, found him waking up from nap time feeling all sorts of awful. He was so tired, but no matter how I held him, or what position he was in, he would moan and cry. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I called my mom and asked if she would help me take him to an insta-care-- Craig was at work. On the way my mom had to stop and get gas, and Big H just moaned and cried in the back seat. He'd arch his back and cry, "Mommy, Mommy!"

It broke my heart.

Finally we arrived at the insta-care. Craig was able to meet us there. The nurse was so sweet. She could tell he just didn't feel good, and she brought him some medicine. He was diagnosed with what was thought to be, probably, the flu.

Craig stayed home with the boys the next day while I worked. They seemed to be feeling better when I got home.

The next day I was home with the boys. Big H woke up crying, "I want medicine!"

I quickly dealt out doses to him. After which he began to say, "I want my Henrum!"

Little H was still asleep.

When Little H woke up, he came upstairs and laid down, in a big heap, on the kitchen floor. Big H brought him a blanket and patted his head. I then handed him his medicine. Big H took it from me and gave it to Little H. It was really sweet.

We have since recovered. Though whenever Big H gets a little tickle in his throat he says, "I want medicine"

"I think you just need a drink Honey."

P.S. The vomiting incident occurred because Big H tends to over stuff his mouth with food. Combine this action with a cough and. . .well. . .you get the picture.

In other fun, sick, news. Our little Baby M always keeps us guessing. From, "Is this another rash?" to "Should I be concerned about these red, pimple-like, things?"

One issue, he has had for a while, is a herniated belly button. It's usually no concern, and kids just grow out of it, but lately it has been poking out further. So we will be taking him to the Doctor again. Hopefully its still nothing serious.




On another note, a completely different note, here are some stories I want to write down before I forget.

Sometimes the twins won't go to sleep till one in the morning. When we open their door to tell them to go to sleep they quickly lay down and try not to move. Little H has even started fake snoring.

The boys invented a new game on the downstairs couch. They climb up on the arm and jump off. They call it, "To the rescue!" And they shout that as they jump off.

Little H has a pair of superman pajamas-- and Big H has some Batman ones. I brought them upstairs and he was so excited, and, I swear, he said something along the lines of, "With this I can fly."
He was so disappointed when I put them on and he couldn't fly.
"Hey I not flying."
I swear to you, that is what he said. It was kind of hard to get a "for sure" though.

The other day Baby M got out a bib because he saw me cooking lunch. When I didn't put him in his chair he got another bib. I gave it to Little H and said, "Take this to Big H."
He then said, "Henrum, its breakfast time!"
And wondered down stairs to find him.

We were at the mall setting up our new phones. Craig had the twins and I had Baby M. We were in the food court and I was waiting for him to finish his ice cream. A lady walked by and asked, "How old is he?"
"18 months."
"He's a beautiful baby."
She then waved and said, "Hi!"
Baby M caught right on. He waved his cute little wave and even blew kisses. He smiled and flirted with that woman, making sure she knew he was indeed cute.

While we were out the other day we needed gas, so I pulled into a gas station. Big H said, "Hey what are you doing?"
"I'm getting gas."
"No gas. Get drinks."

And now for a story about Craig.

Craig had a good interview with Standard Optical on Saturday. We are hoping and praying that we hear good news come Thursday. Its sounds like everything went really well and we really could use this job. So, wish him luck!

That's My Boys

An update, a little bragging and a way to try and squeeze in some random pictures.

Those boys of mine are sure cute!

The twins are obsessed with super heroes. You can often hear them saying, "To the rescue! It's superman to the rescue!"
 Big H likes Batman and Little H likes Superman and Spiderman.

The boys all like to play video games. I'm yet to think of a game they could play with out lots of help, but sometimes they help me play. Last night Big H kept exclaiming, "I did it! I did it!" As we played Lego Batman.

The boys have also started to pay special attention to their rewards charts. When they are good they get a star. After 9 stars they get a special surprise. Little H earned his yesterday-- it was a treat from our treat bucket. After that Big H kept saying, "I want stars." He said it over and over.
 "Well be a good boy and you'll get them."
I finally found a few reasons for him to get his last two stars and then he got a treat. Little H saw this and said, "I want stars."


The twins both love letters and when we are out the are always saying, "Look letters!"
Or they will say, "It's a 'A'. It's a 'D'".

The twins have gotten into a bad habit of saying "Stupid cat!" And "Shut-up!"
The "stupid cat" wasn't all our fault. It was on Muppet Treasure Island, and they picked right up on it. Though the other day the fridge froze some of our food and I said, "Stupid fridge!"
So, yes, I'm partly to blame.
The "shut-up" is my fault. I just tell them we shouldn't use that word and mommy and daddy shouldn't use it either. They then look at me and say, "Shhh! Shhh!" Big H always does this when I'm mad at him.

Big H

His weird rash. We still don't know what that was about.
 

Big H is now potty trained, though he still wears a pull-up at night. He loves his "underwears".  He gets upset when he can't find him, or if you offer him a diaper instead. One night we didn't have pull-ups so we put a diaper on him and he threw a fit. Half way through the night the diaper came off and he wet the bed. 

His pull-ups have Disney/Pixar's Cars on them. I guess all Cars pull-ups are not equal. Every night he has to pull them all out until he finds one with Mater on it. 

 Big H likes shapes. He asks me about the shapes on his potty chart. 

Big H: "What's that?" 

Me: "That's a rectangle." 

Big H: "A triangle. What's that?" 

Me: "That's a square." 

Big H: "No it's a Triangle." 

Big H likes movies. He has his own name for them to. We now have, to add to the list, Herald=Hercules, Spiderman Herald=Spiderman 2, Charlie Movie=All Dogs Go to Heaven, Snowman=Superman and Arella=Cinderella. The rest I haven't decoded yet, but their are a couple that go by Horse Movie and Mouse Movie.

 

Little H

Double the diapers, double the fun!

Little H is a huge momma's boy. He also likes to be the mom. "Don't do that Henrum!"
"Poop in the toilet."
"You OK?"

Little H picks up on all our phrases. Even the bad ones. One night I spilled the candy bucket and he said, "This is Crap Mom!" As he helped me pick up.
Yes that's the wisdom I have imparted to my child.

 Little H is always good to let Big H pick the movie-- and in this house Big H picks the movie. Sometimes I feel really bad that he never gets to choose, so I watch a movie with him. Or we just endure Big H's tantrum. Yesterday he watched Thumbelina with me. It was so fun, even though I fell asleep.

Little H is good to clean up when I ask him too. He's also good to throw a tantrum when I ask him to do things.

I learned, the other night, that the "Bibbity bobbity Boo" scene in Cinderella is pretty Traumatic for Little H. Watching all the animals get turned into something else left him saying, "Where did mice go? Where is horse? Oh no horse. Oh no dog! Where is dog?"

Baby M

Playing video games.

Baby M is on the ball. He is smart and attentive. When he's hungry he gets a bib and goes to his high chair. I didn't even have to teach him.

He's getting really good at following directions and picking up messes. But he can still be really stubborn about it too.

Baby M is our button pusher. Seriously, this kid is crazy with buttons. Within minutes of being at your house you would know what I mean.

He's a little troublemaker. Sometimes he laughs when he does something naughty-- like throwing things. Sometimes when I come to get him he'll stand there and smile then at the last minute run away. He can be a stinker sometimes.

Baby M likes to snuggle, and he likes when his brothers are gone and it's all about him.

Baby M hates baby signs and gets mad when I try to use them. He does really good at catching on to how things work though. If he wants more cereal he'll hand me his bowl and say, "Mo." If he's done he throws it on the floor.

The other day I told Baby M to put something in the sink. He gets confused about what goes in the sink and what goes in the garbage. Sometimes he'll try to throw dishes away. I pointed him towards the sink so he wouldn't get confused. Well, he couldn't reach, so he came back and threw it in the garbage.

The other day he thought the garbage looked fun. He pulled out an egg carton that had egg shells in it and crushed them all over the floor. He got sent to time out. He doesn't take kindly to punishment. It's really quite tragic for him.

Baby M is starting to fight his brothers more and more. It kind of surprises me. The twins used to always start it, but that's not the case anymore.

Baby M likes things to go exactly his way. Even if he gets what he wants, but it didn't go the way he wanted, he'll throw a fit. He finds ways to make his way work to. Like if Craig and I are hugging he'll butt in to get attention. We pick him up for a minute. But when we go to put him down he holds up his legs and won't stand up. I usually set him on the floor, which leads to a fit. 

Those are what the boys have been up to lately. I know there are more stories but I can not remember them. Oh well, the post is getting long anyway.

That's What We've been doing

This post will be sweet and fast. OK I don't know if I'll keep either of those promises. I'll I know is I hope to do a quick catch up.



Right before Christmas we took a trip down to Temple Square.





The boys were so excited about the train ride-- Trax.



We stopped to use the bathroom in the Joseph Smith Building, and they offered to take our picture. The boys then took it upon themselves to enjoy some of the toys they had there. We did a fun Family history coloring page too.




Big H really liked this star.



The Gingerbread Man Machine that was across the street, in Deseret Book.



Headed Home



And now for some random stuff.

Baby M and his cute new Onesie-- Santa couldnt' resist.




Little H sporting a new do. He was so excited about this headband.




Our first real snowfall, so our first venture out barefoot in the snow. I usually do this on the very first snow fall of the season, but we really haven't had a good one until now. We made it a family even this year. The boys weren't too crazy about that.




A couple Sundays ago we had another good snowfall and this time we decided to build a snowman with the boys. The twins got really into Frosty the Snowman this year, so they were ecstatic to have him in their backyard. Little H likes to go around and sing the song now. It's so cute!





Baby M likes Dad's computer. Even though it's not there anymore he still climbs up to that spot everyday.




I think that about catches us up. Sadly, we kind of blew off New Years. We had been going through a lot the week after Christmas, and when New Year rolled around we had no idea what to do. Our thoughts went back and forth between, "Should we try to do something? No lets just forget it. But it is a holiday." We put the kids to bed early and drank some Martinellis and midnight. BORING! I know :)

In other news Big H has begun potty training. He is doing really well. Though he still can't be trusted when he's full clothed. I'm rather impressed with the little guy. And yes it is just Big H for now. Little H freaks out every time I mention it. Craig and I have also been having fun serving in our nursery callings. We're the official photo takers. It's fun! Baby M has even started to take a stab at going to his nursery class. We haven't had much success.

That about does it, for now!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

As of Sunday, we finally have the house restored to a bit of sanity. We have both trees decorated, and I think all the decorations are up, excluding the Christmas Dishes.






Saturday, I met up with my cousin at The Festival of Trees. We haven't gone for a couple of years, and I have missed it. I thought the boys would really enjoy it too. The only downside was trying to push three boys, who did not want to be in a stroller, through the crowds.

Have you seen this child?

Yes it's true. I lost Big H at the festival of trees. Craig had just showed up so me, my cousin and Craig were scoping the crowds. I headed towards the front and caught sight of the information booth.

"I'll ask what to do when you've lost a child," I thought.

Well there was Big H sitting on a volunteers lap, crying his head off. The ladies laughed a little when they saw Little H.

"Hey I think we have that kid with us in the information booth," they all said.

I laughed and said, "Yeah can you tell he belongs to me." :)


I was very appreciative, and the volunteers were impressed that I was so calm. I was trying to keep from getting to the worried stage before it was absolutely necessary.



Shortly after, loosing Big H, the twins took to holding hands. That's sounds like a good idea to me.

Here are some of the trees, and gingerbread houses, that were at the festival this year. Beautiful as always.












The big man himself was at the Festival, and Big H was all excited to go see him. We got there right as Santa was returning, and the boys all got a candy cane. They were all really excited about Santa. So we waited. . .and waited. . .and waited. . .and waited. . .in line. I probably should have just dropped it. After all, we had already gotten Santa photos at Wal-Mart back in November. But the boys cried and cried in those photos, and I was just so excited the Big H actually wanted to see him. I was crossing my fingers that this would be a happy visit. Well I'm sure you can guess what happened.

After me, repeatedly asking Big H, "Do you want to see Santa?"

And getting an excited, "Yes!"

It was finally our turn and Big H started to say, "No, No Santa!"



As always Santa was nice, and we got a pretty decent photo. At least there wasn't as much squirming.

Waiting for Santa almost made us late for a reception we wanted to go to. Luckily the reception went way over the time on the invitation. It was for a friend of mine that I knew in first grade. We were great friends, but she moved after that school year. We wrote for a while, but it faded out. Then, one day, I got a letter from her. I think I was in high school at the time. Anyway, thanks to the wonders of facebook, we are still in touch today. She looked beautiful, and I was glad we made it to her reception. Sadly, my camera died so I couldn't get a picture with her. But I took a photo of the fun cake lollipop I got from her wedding.



It was DELICIOUS!

Upon returning from the festival of trees, I gave all the men a haircut. They were all in huge need. And, since we don't have much time for a good cut with the scissors, I just pulled out the clippers. I still can't believe how short it is. But they still look cute as ever!



To conclude our decorating, we made snowflakes at my parents house on Sunday night. My mom is responsible for the really pretty ones. Nephew K helped out too. It was way fun. We brought the home and stuck them on the wall with the tree on it.



P.S. It's Christmas Card time again. Those that want one sent snail mail let me know! Happy to do it!