Lets get Physical

Now that the boys are almost two (in ONE month!) we feel they are old enough to leave them in a day care setting. So in that train of thought, we have signed up at a local gym and are going to start working out. They have a great child center and closed circuit televisions so we can look in on the kids while working out. We will let you know how their first day in the center works out.

Double Trouble

Poor Jax is not feeling well. Yesterday I had to wake the kids at 4:45 (!) from their nap (usually they are up by 4). When I got to Jaxon, he was hot and clinging to me. He had a bit of a temperature and after we ran some errands and he showed no signs of shaking it off, I brought him to the 24 hour Dr's office. After the Dr was with us for a minute and a half, he diagnosed Jaxon with a double ear infection and sent us on our way. Off to CVS to go get his prescriptions filled and then we put the poor baby to bed.

Since he has been awake this morning, he has just wanted to be held. Wyatt and Lucas are thankfully keeping themselves busy and playing nicely (!) with each other. Jaxon is mostly laying on the kids foam pull out couch and every once in a while, Wyatt or Luke will come lay next to him, or come over when I am holding Jaxon to pat his back. When Jaxon was snoring a bit, Wyatt laid down and quietly growled, trying to imitate Jaxon's little snores.

Jaxon is eating, having raisin toast this morning and a fish stick and green beans for lunch, so thankfully his throat doesn't seem to be bothered much by his ears. The nurse told us he should be back to himself a bit more in a few days.

No Manners

Last night at dinner Lucas did what he has been doing lately, but for the first time it was seen by Jaxon before we could stop it. The two of them were so funny, that we had to video tape them before we put a stop to it. Naughty boys, but they are so cute!

County Fair

This weekend was the Clark County Fair in Logandale. We try to go every year and since we have the kids now, it has become something to look forward to. The fair is in a small town called Logandale over an hour away. The boys don't seem to do well in long car rides. Anything headed towards 45 minutes just gets louder as the minutes tick by. Hair gets pulled, screams get screamed, and heaven forbid anyone touches any one else.

Las Vegas has about 2 million people in it, but they have the county fair in a 2 lane town with no traffic lights! Last year we went to the fair on a Saturday and we got caught in about an hour of traffic for the 2 mile drive from the freeway exit to the fair. This year after taking care of some things in the early morning, we went on Friday. Going on Friday was the best thing we could've done. We made it in a hour drive total with no problems coming from the back seat. The boys are really into the Old Mac Donald DVD on the Baby Einsteins, constantly asking for "E-I-E-I-O?" so they were content to watch their videos on the DVD player.

Once we were in the fairgrounds, we went straight to the little farm animals. The boys had their first close up looks at cows, horses, pigs, goats, rabbits and roosters. All three of the boys were Cock-a-doodling right along with the roosters. Wanting them to have a closer look and get to pet the animals, I took each of them out of the wagon while Don would walk the other two around. Lucas would squat down close to them, but he didn't want to pet them. Jaxon would point and watch, but kept his distance- even acting shy and looking the other direction sometimes. Wyatt on the other hand thought the animals were great. He would laugh when he saw them and put his face against the bars so he could try to reach in and touch the different animals.

After visiting with the animals, it was lunch time. Don went with Jaxon and Luke to get some lunch while Wyatt and I looked for a sippy that someone had thrown out the wagon. After lunch, we checked out the fair booths and bought the boys little cowboy hats. Soon it was time to head back and get the boys down for their naps.

Here is a 10 second video of Lucas and Jaxon on the way home. Jaxon had fallen asleep and Lucas was nicely touching Jaxon's head. Just a sweet moment.


Credits for picture are here

Easter

A nice Easter morning was planned. We were to meet up with my family (Mom, Dad, Gram Robinson and Leigha) at my moms church. After church, some family friends (Frank and Marsha)were going to meet us for brunch at Mimi's Cafe. It went as outlined, but not as planned.

Once we got to church and were seated in the back row, we had our little bag of goodies ready. Crackers, water, match box cars, books....you name it, we had it. Jaxon sat on his own seat and really listened, even swayed to the hymns. Wyatt sat on my lap for a few minutes and then decided he wanted his Nana. Lucas was just unsettled and wanted to wander, occasionally touching the people who were sitting in the chairs in front of us or climbing through chairs, scaring the bejeepers out of me. Finally Don and I decided it was not going to work. My Mom, Leigha, Don and I all took the boys out of church and let them wander in the church halls. After 10 minutes, they were still full of energy. It finally occurred to Don and I that since church started at 9:00, the boys hadn't gotten to walk around really at ALL and just needed to run off some energy.


With plans to meet with my family at Mimi's, we took the boys out to a nearby park. They couldn't run and climb fast enough. they were wizzing around, climbing up all the steps they could find. Jaxon even went down a HUGE slide three or four times. Don and I -dressed in our Easter gear- were climbing along with them, making sure no one would fall down the drop or trip down any stairs.

When they seemed a bit more settled, we tried to get a picture of them in their Easter outfits. Jaxon had other plans and wouldn't stay still, so we asked another parent there if they would mind taking a picture of all of us. 5 clicks later, we had a decent picture (turned out to be the only family picture we took all day, so good thing we did it!) of us all and were on our way to brunch.

Frank and Marsha live in my parents neighborhood. Just the same as my parents, they moved in when their house was built 13 years ago. Even though we rarely see each other, it is so nice to get the chance to talk to them and catch up when we do. They had accepted my Mom's offer of meeting us for brunch, so it was great to see them again. Our waiter was nice enough to take a picture of our table, -and surprisingly he did a pretty good job, too.

Easter was a really great family day. We are looking forward to next year when they kids get to color eggs, or at least put stickers on them. But this year was fun, and Sunday was a great ending to a wonderful weekend.

Happy Easter!

Credits here

Table for 10

Tonight Cathy and her crew came over for dinner. It was totally an impromptu thing. She had called asking if we wanted to come to her house and let the kids play, but I had already had made dinner and it was cooking in the oven. So after thinking about how much food we had just for the five of us, it seems obvious to have them come over here instead.

The kids all had so much fun playing together! They were all in running inside and out back, playing in the little cars and sliding down the slide. Dinner was great, you would've never thought there were 6 toddlers all at the same table. They all ate their food and behaved pretty well, until the Grubb boys brought out their naughty side in a show of throwing food and forks across the table. That rounded up dinner, so back to playing they all went.

At about 8ish, the boys were getting noticeably tired and Cathy started packing up her boys. Wyatt was so sad to see his friends go, he just stood and cried with big tears falling down his little cheeks. Don and I took our boys out to Cathy's van so they could say good bye. Lucas kept trying to say good bye to everyone. It was a jumble of "bye-bye Noah-Matthew" bye-bye Leigha", but we could tell he was trying to get it all said. Jaxon flirted with Cathy, waving to her through her open window and giving her his big grin.

It was fun for all 10 of us. So much in fact, that we are going to do it again tomorrow night!

Crib Jumper

We realized about a week ago that this was coming. Wyatt (who is shorter than the other two) has been leaning over his crib side by lifting himself with his arms like a little gymnast on bars. We counteracted that by putting all three cribs side by side in the room, with the wall on one end and their armour on the other. This way if he was to jump out, he'd be stopped by Luke's crib or the armour. As luck would have it, it wasn't Wyatt who first jumped ship, it was Jaxon!

This morning while I was checking my email, the kids were chattering in their cribs. All the sudden, there was a big THUMP. I ran in there to see Jaxon on the floor, (his crib was against the wall on one side, but on the other he had about 7 inches). Needless to say, crib tents have been ordered this morning. This makes my wallet hurt.

A Birthday Party!

Today we went to Robert, Noah and Matthew's second birthday party. Their party was at a park by their house. It had a nice playground area and lots of grass for the boys to run through (although Wyatt kept gravitating towards the parking lot). There were kids climbing all over the place and between her boys and ours, they dominated the little slide area and loved every minute of it! Don was watch out where the little climbing wall was, Cathy would put the boys down the slide, and I was at the bottom to greet them as they came through the tunnel part.

Lots of pizza and yummy cake later, we had to get going as it was getting closer to nap time. We had such a fun time and it was nice to finally be in a place where all 6 of the boys got to play with each other and not just wave from the choo choos. It was a great party!
Happy Birthday Boys!

3 Days

This past weekend was pretty full of new things I had meant to blog about, but the time passed by too quickly for me to grab a minute to blog. So here is a bit of a catch up.

Friday morning my mom invited the kids and I to go to Chuck E Cheese. She was taking Michael, Matthew and Cathryn and she figured we may be able to go along. I liked the idea of taking advantage of extra hands for our first time going there and decided it was time to introduce the kids to Chuck E. I brought my camera, but we were so busy chasing them around that this is the only picture I took the whole time we were there. Luckily there were not many people at Chuck E Cheese at 10 am on a Friday morning, but I still worried about pinched fingers or the kids slipping out the front door. We had a really good time!



Saturday was a wonderful and busy day. In the morning, we all went to Red Rock. My
mom, dad, Michael, Cathryn, Matthew and the five of us. Red Rock has been "updated" by the Calico Basin, so it wasn't what we envisioned, but we still had a great time. After we got home and the boys took a nap, I brought the boys out to watch Don play softball. I had toy cars and McDonalds to keep them busy and Michael was there to help. Even with those extras, I was VERY thankful to have the help of our friends boys, Jordan and Nate.



Sunday.. hmmmm. I don't have too much of a recollection of it at all. My brain must be getting scrambled, lol. This picture reminded me that the boys are getting big and our baby proofing needs updates. Remember this post?


Frames made by Shannon Lee Designs

Red Rock Pictures

Here are pictures from our morning at Red Rock

All about Lucas

We knew Lucas would always march to his own beat. Most babies just curl up on their belly and snuggle in to stay warm when they sleep in the isolette. Little Lucas would lay on his back, hands resting under his head and legs stretched out as far as his little 16 1/2 inch body would stretch. He was a relaxed little baby that looked like he was trying get a suntan instead of trying to snuggle in the dark.

Luke has always been a content little guy. He has never been one to demand much, or cause much of a fuss. He is a watcher, studying how people and things work. A little professor, if you will. Sometimes when people come over, they will leave him alone after he seems disinterested in them. Then they get so surprised when he finally comes over to see them, playing shy at first and then running out with big smiles and sweet giggles to tease them.

He is such a beautiful boy! He has such clear blue eyes and when he smiles he is like a different child. His little legs love to dance, but sometimes he will stop when he sees he is being watched. Other times, he is just too caught up in his little groove to give much notice. Balancing is his favorite thing to do. Lucas will bravely stand on tables, a big play truck, or a book only an 1/8 inch tall. He loves to stand on our backs -up to our shoulders and down to our rumps he will walk- with a big squeal when he is about to fall off.


There is so much about Luke we haven't uncovered yet. Everyday with him is really like unwrapping a gift as he lets us see a tiny bit more of his personality. He is full of secrets and smiles. I cannot wait to get to know my little Lucas better.


I love Lucas,
I love Lucas, yes I do...
yes I do.
Lucas is so sweet,
down to his feet,
he's my Luke,
little Luke.

Vacuum Fun

Here are the boys (mainly Jaxon and Wyatt at first) playing with our central vacuum. Don is in the kitchen, about 10 feet away kicking it on and off at another section hidden under the cabinets.

Busy days

We have family back in town again and we have been having so much fun! Since the kids have been here this time, they have been taking advantage of the weather by swimming just about ever day at my parents' house. This past weekend we had a combined birthday party for Leigha (27) and Cathryn's (7th) birthdays. Afterwards, we took the boys into the jacuzzi part of the pool. They loved it! Wearing the suits we bought them last year (they still fit!) they just watched their older cousins playing in the "big pool" and ran along the seats of the jacuzzi. When it started getting late, we took them out, bathed them in the kitchen sink and headed home.

Yesterday we took all the kids to the park over by my moms house. Again, they amazed me by all they can do by themselves compared to last time. They ran right to the steps to climb up and would go down the slide and repeat all over again. All of them played on the swings and Jaxon actually signed "all done" to me when he had enough swinging. They have all done sign language for a while, but this is the first time that he signed to me first and that the concept of "all done" has been used with something other than food. When we left the park, Lucas looked over at the pigeons walking around and said "bye birds, bye-bye". Which reminds me... the other night after we left the grocery store, the boys were standing in the driveway telling the moon goodnight, saying "bye ba-noon". They obviously associate the moon with balloons, but it was the first time I noticed them putting words together.

Don took the day off today and we were passing back and forth ideas of what to do with our day. Go look at houses in Logandale? Mesquite? Take the kids to a park? Finally, we came up with a plan of taking Michael out for a trip to Red Rock and then run to Costco. At Red Rock, we just stayed around the area of the Visitors Center and looked for the Desert Tortoises. Just as we were leaving, one of the tortoises finally poked his head out! Jaxon, Wyatt and Lucas loved running around on the path. They actually listened very well and would stop when we told them to (for the most part, anyhow). The weather was beautiful and we are thinking of going again this weekend, if my parents are up to bringing the cousins, too. While the boys were running around, Lucas got a bit ahead of us. He turned back to be sure we were following him and must have thought we were too far behind because he said (I swear to you!) "c'mon Dadoo, momma!"

Here is a video of the boys in the park

Oh MY!

While surfing through some scrap sites this afternoon, I came across this picture.

Are you serious? Do people out there really think this would be FUN? My heart just about beats out of my chest looking at this picture, let alone thinking about someone I know walking on it. Anyhow, it is amazing that they can build structures like this and even more amazing that someone has the cajones to walk on it.

For more info go to The Grand Canyon Skywalk website

St Paddy's Day

First thing Saturday morning, we went to downtown Henderson to participate in the St. Patrick's parade with the Las Vegas Mothers of Multiples. I don't belong to the group, but my friend Michele -who also has triplets- invited a couple non-members to join in the festivities. The parade began at 10 and we were told to be there 9ish. At about 9:30, we just got done walking about a mile (a very uphill mile) up to the beginning at the parade, where we were to wait until it was time for our group to join.


Fast forward about an hour... we are still waiting. Kids are doing great though, but were getting antsy, so we let them out of the wagon to get some energy out. They ran around, loving the freedom. All three stayed pretty close by, better than expected and it was nice chatting with all the other people and their kids while we were waiting. When 11:15 rolled around, we still hadn't budged an inch. It was a beautiful morning, but the sun was really bright and the boys would be wanting lunch soon. We decided it was time to start heading out to the car.

Carl, his kids and Dad were watching the parade. Somehow, through the thousands of people there, we spotted them across the street! The boys watched the firetrucks and some people go by and then there was a big lull. Perfect timing for us to head out. So off we went out to our cars to get the boys cooled down and food in their tummies! All of them were so exhausted and I really think poor Jaxon was a bit dehydrated. Luckily we dodged any sunburn (thank you SPF 45!). After we stopped for some Wendy's and gave the boys some fries and chicken nuggets, they were as good as new and ready for their nap. It was definitely a St. Patrick's day to remember!

Drive to the Dr's

Today I had to make a stop at the Dr's office that helped us conceive the boys. It is a drive that I am sure I made over a hundred times within 6 months. Many of the trips were such thought ridden, emotional drives. All the wondering and wishing and hoping and praying that route has seen, with me driving back and forth in my little purple Amigo. I feel so disconnected to who I was then. All my thoughts are no longer consumed with if I will ever have a family of my own, or what will we do if Don and I can't have any children.

After I stopped at the Dr's office, I made a quick stop at the same Einstein Bagels I would go to some mornings after the Dr's. The day I had the first ultrasound, I stood in Einstein's little parking lot on the pay phone. First I had called Don at work, then called my mom -who was in New York- to let them know we were having an instant family and instead of one crib, we would need three.

But today all of that was so different. Don and I talked two times between my driving there and back home today. Both times we were chatting about our day and how the plan is to have my family over for dinner tonight. He asked about the kids and I tell him about our morning at Walmart and how the kids were happy to see Leigha there. Just normal conversation for us, about our children and family. These are the conversations that come with the dreams we had for our future. It is amazing to think how heartbroken I was and how afraid that this dream of my future would never come true. At that time, there was nothing worse than having a struggle in my heart about something I had no control over. I am SO BLESSED and thankful that I no longer have that struggle and pain.

Here is a short presentation I came across about a year ago, to help people have a bit more understanding of what that stuggle is like. Click here.

New Words

So much is being said around here! Not many things are clearly understood, but the boys are saying their own versions of helicopter, hello, bye-bye, snacks, baby, ball, balloon, bless you (Don's swears Wyatt said it), excuse me, book, Elmo, giraffe, bird, and naked- are the main ones. They are mostly repeating things, but there are times when they know the things to say. Since baby Reagan came over, almost every time they see a baby, even one the same age as them, they point and ask, "baby?". They are just soaking up so much right now, it is amazing how much they learn everyday.

Don took care of them most of the morning today while he gave me a break and let me sleep in, shower and I still had enough time to straighten my hair! I can't remember when I had enough time that I felt I could swing that! So I feel refreshed and ready for the week to come.

Here is a video of the boys playing out back today. Wyatt is in the white shirt, Lucas in the blue and Jaxon in the red. As you can tell from the picture off to the side, Jaxon was having an off day, so he took some coaxing to get his little smile out. If you listen to Wyatt, you will hear that he has turned his B sounds to D's. Bye-bye is now "dye-dye". Not sure why or how, but it is cute to hear.


Ironically, the day I finish a layout of Jaxon and his huge smile, I couldn't get a picture of him smiling.

Update on Don

This is an update on Don and a bit of a rant thrown in for good measure. =)

Life has been keeping us busy lately. Don's back is still hurting, but thankfully getting a bit better everyday. I can't believe what a joke worker comp Dr's and Nurses are. Paid by the "Big Man" indeed! Don got his MRI done one full week ago tomorrow, and still they only have the preliminary readings done. He has asked for a back brace 4 DAYS AGO, and he still does not have one. Even though he had not gotten any physical therapy done yet, the Dr has released him back to work on light duty tomorrow with the restrictions of no walking, bending, lifting, etc. BUT the Dr wants him to begin physical therapy 5 days a week, which he began this afternoon. Seems a little backwards to me. I would think Don would go to physical therapy where they would assess his abilities and pain and then decide what he can be released for. So basically he is to sit in a chair all day (even though that is not good for him either) and not get sleepy because of the pain pills. Ohhh, pain pills. Yes, the ones the nurse told him specifically would not make him drowsy, but when he read the label, it says everything to the contrary. I am glad he read the label before he decided to take one and drive home!

Even his schedule is off since he is now on light duty. He will have split days off instead of the weekend off, and his shift begins later -which is silly since people who are on light duty generally have Dr appointments to go to at least 3 times a week. One would think they would want you to start the day earlier, so you can actually get to the Dr office before it closes, but hey, "we don't make the rules and it is a national policy so no changes can be made".

On the other hand, Don sees at least one person who is obviously faking their injury at each appointment he goes to, so he knows the Dr's and nurses are probably cynical about every person who walks in the door. We don't expect it to be roses, but it is incredible how bad the care and lack of concern for someone who actually has hurt themselves and has to go through workers comp. So as you can see, it has been a big pain in the patookis for us.

I will be glad when all is back to "normal". The past week (seriously- it's only been one week? Seems like a month has gone by!) has been very trying for me to keep up with the kids from sun up to sun down without any real break, especially since we have been trying to keep our house in tip top shape with open houses every week. I feel completely drained and took a well deserved nap this afternoon while the boys were sleeping. We ARE thankful he seems to only have a muscle tear and life can resume as normal in a couple weeks. Thanks for your prayers!

Meet Reagan!

A few weeks ago we had a new addition to our family. My cousin Brent and his wife Jessica had a beautiful baby girl they named Reagan Lilly. We had met Regan at the hospital a couple days after she was born and then Brent and Jessica stopped by for a visit yesterday.

After the boys woke from their nap, they played shy for a bit, then they began to get curious about baby Reagan and the little noises she was making. We told them that Reagan was a baby, and Jax repeated it, "bay-bee". It's amazing to think our boys used to be that small. She's such a precious, perfect baby girl.