Took Some Photos Today (and NOT with my phone camera for a change...)

The Boys Turned 6 Months Old Today!

The crew

I may have better pics on my camera (the one above was taken on my phone) but I had the boys dressed in their "Little Myke" outfits the other day.  It was pretty cute I must say.  

The Hines family got hit with a nasty cold over the past week.  Chloë seemed to have it first, surprise, surprise!  Preschool will do that to you I guess.  She was just out of sorts last weekend and very cranky.  That's her M.O. when she doesn't feel good.  She just doesn't quite seem herself and is not a happy girl at all.  Who is when they're sick though?  By the end of the week Owen had a little fever for a few hours and was coughing, then Myke & Eli got it Friday.  Eli just got a runny nose & cough but Myke seemed to get the brunt of it.  He just felt really worn down all day Friday and then went to bed at 6pm that night.  My throat hurt a little bit that night but it seemed to be gone by the next afternoon.  Anyways, I'm not sure why I'm giving you the play-by-play of our sickness, but the good news is that we're all pretty much feeling better now.  

The other good news is that boys slept until at least 5AM the past 2 days in a row!  I'm HOPING this trend will continue!  When I say they slept until 5am I mean that they don't wake up to eat until that time.  After they eat they go back to sleep until about 7am (though it has varied lately).  They go down for bed by 6:30pm so sleeping until 5am is a nice, long stretch.  It's one I can deal with!  The 3am wake-up was much more painful for me.  

Chloë & Sammy (twins?)

Today Chloë's little friend Samantha came over for a play date for a few hours.  Myke and I loaded the kids up in our strollers.  The babies were in the double snap-n-go and the toddlers were in the double Bob jogging stroller.  We headed to Starbucks to get drinks (apple juice for the kids) and then to the PB Rec Center for this open play gym for kids they have every Sunday.  Oh man, did we get a lot of attention with the four kids.  We must have been a sight to see with the 2 huge strollers.  We get a lot of attention and comments when we're out with just the 3 kids...but with Sammy with us it looked like we had 2 sets of twins.  Chloë & Sammy probably look more alike than Eli & Owen do! 

We be lovin' some solids!

We've been back on the west coast for two weeks already (wow, the time is flying!) and we are back onto some sort of schedule and routine.  I always used to say how much I disliked routines and how I never wanted "to live like that" and that I'd rather live sporadically and by the seat of my pants....well, that changes a lot when you have three small kids.  They THRIVE on routines.   When they thrive, we thrive.  Of course kids are extremely adaptable...and I think it's important that they get used to deviating from their norm every once in awhile...but especially Chloë seems to be more at ease when she is home and back into a more predictable day-to-day life.  

They boys don't really know any different--but they are sleeping MUCH better than they did on the trip.  They sleep solidly from 6pm to somewhere between 4 and 5am.  At that point Owen wakes up crying and wanting to eat.  After feeding Owen I wake up Eli and feed him, though I think he would sleep a couple hours longer before eating if I let him. I'm just not up for trying that because I like them eating on the same schedule throughout the day.  I'm weaning them to more and more bottle feedings now and I'm quickly zipping through the frozen stash of milk in the freezer.  Eli bought himself a one way ticket to all-bottles-all-the-time after he got a tooth last month and then started biting while feeding last week. OUCH!  The good thing is that they have eaten from bottles from the start and they have never had any problems switching between bottle and breast or between formula or mommy's milk.  So that's a definite good thing!  

They've also started eating solids on a daily basis over the past couple weeks.  They've had rice cereal, oatmeal, squash, peas, carrots, apples, sweet potato, bananas and prunes so far.  You're far less paranoid the 2nd time around with the whole waiting-four-days-between-introducing-new-foods thing.  :)

wrasslin'

Heather (our good friend and Chloë's godmother) came down from LA to visit us this past weekend.  We got a babysitter Friday night and went out with friends which was a great time.  One of the couples had a baby whom they put down to sleep in the pak-n-play in our room before we all headed out.  So our babysitter had four kids under the age of three she was responsible for.  It was the easiest job ever though since all the kids were already sleeping when she arrived.

  .....Anyways, I just realized that I'm tired and rambling on.  Here are some photos from the weekend that Heather took.  We drove up to the mountain town of Julian on Saturday and there was snow on the ground!  We had planned to go hiking but the trails were closed so we just visited the little Main street, got hot drinks and walked around.  Chloë must have been feeling under the weather because she was totally out of sorts all weekend and just not herself at all.  Luckily, she is seeming back to normal today!   

Eli 

Owen 

No comment for this pic!

snow!

No snow on this side of the mountain though!

Heather with the crew

Mmmm!  

coffee shop in Julian

East Coast Visit - Pictures

Myke somehow finds a smile for the photo after our LOOOONG day of travel back to San Diego

(this is a photo from our 4 hour layover in Chicago)

I've been meaning to post about our trip to the east coast but I just haven't found the time lately....and now as it slowly slips further and further into the past I feel that I probably will never actually get around to writing much about it.  So, for now at least, I will share some photos from the trip.  

In summary, we had a great time visiting family in both VA & PA over our 16 day trip.  We spent exactly the same amount of time with each set of parents with a short jaunt to northern VA to see Myke's sister and family and our college friends in the middle of it all.  In VA we had a family reunion for my dad's side of the family and also my 91 year old grandmother (my mom's mom) came all the way from Wisconsin to visit us!  She came along with two of my mom's sisters.  It was great seeing family from both my mom and dad's side while in Virginia (usually we have to go to NY or WI to see them!).  Chloë and the boys got to meet two 2nd cousins: Ki & Kian, who live in Maryland, their mom, Heather (my 1st cousin)  two great-aunts, Cathie & Nancie.  In PA we saw a lot of family as well.  Myke's parents hosted a big family party the day before we left.  Chloë and the boys have SO many 2nd cousins on that side that they had to rent a bouncy house to keep the kids entertained!   It worked out great that we were home for both my dad's and Myke's mom's birthdays and it was so special that the kids got to meet not one, but two great-grandmothers on the trip.  

The kids were amazing on the flight out which was a huge relief to us (and everyone sitting near us, I'm sure).  They even got compliments from other passengers on how great they all did.  I'm sure those passengers had been prepared for the worse when they saw 2 infants and a toddler on their flight!  I know I would have been...and was!  The way back was a bit crazier in that we didn't leave until 3pm EST, had a 3 hour layover in Chicago AND THEN our flight was delayed an hour...so FOUR HOURS in Chicago with THREE KIDS UNDER THREE...and it was BED TIME FOR THEM.  Not fun--but ended up being OK.  This was all followed by a 4 HOUR flight from Chicago to San Diego.  We arrived in SD at 11pm Cali time, which was 2am EST.  Did I mention that somehow we all of the boys diapers got put in our checked luggage?!  (we found some at an airport store, phew!) 

 Luckily, all kids slept on the 2nd leg of our trip. I think Myke even slept.  

Anyways, are some photos:

baking cookies with Aunt Debbie

My brother, parents and the kids

Great-Grandma

Owen & Grandpa blow out candles

Four generations

Chloë and Uncle Hale

Traci & Debbie (my mom's sisters) get wild!

Meeting up with some old friends and their adorable kids

Chloë and cousins Declan & Mira 

Cox Farms- the MOTHER of all pumpkin patches! In Northern VA

Declan carries Chloë

Getting tired out from all the fun!

yummy Virginia apples

Fun times at Mom-mom & Pop's house!

Great-Gram and the kids

Mom-mom's birthday!

Owen in the sink

Eli in the sink

Cousins in the bouncy house

Ball pit

Pop & Owen napping

Eli got a tooth on the trip!

Lounging on the porch in PA

Flight back to Cali...yay for iPads!

Myke and I even got a date night--complete with borrowing Dad's red convertible!  

Can you tell WE COULDN'T WAIT to go out without the kids?!  

We are cheezin' it up here!  

Halloween!!

We had a great time over Halloween weekend.  Friday we went to a Halloween carnival at the Pacific Beach Rec Center a few blocks from our house.  It was a blast - they had all kinds of games for kids, a mini-fire engine ride around a big grassy field, a HUGE blow up slide (my favorite--and yes, I had to "help" Chloë go down), a costume contest, cake walk, and all sorts of tricks and treats.  Myke ended up leaving to take the boys home for bed but Chloë and I ended up staying there until well after dark.  We also went to Sea World (in costume) for their Halloween Spooktacular event that they have each year.  Sea World is about a mile from our house and my parents gave us annual passes so we try to go as often as possible.  Mainly we just go so Chloë can burn off energy as they have a huge play area with places to run, climb, jump, etc.  Anyways, the went all out for Halloween and had trick-or-treating stations for the kids, tons of really well-done workers in costume, haunted areas, etc.  The highlight of the evening was seeing Snoop Dog.  Haha, for reals!  He walked right by us with his three big body guards.  At first I thought it was someone dressed as him for Halloween, but then realized it was him.  He definitely stands out in a crowd.  Anyways, I later found out he goes there all the time.  Random.

Then on the the actual day of Halloween Chloë had a costume parade at her preschool in the morning followed by trick-or-treating in the church lady's office (her preschool is in a church).  Myke and I went to watch and took the boys (in costume) as well.  That evening I let Myke (and the boys) off the hook from more Halloween fun and just Chloë and I went out for trick-or-treating.  Besides, the Chargers game was starting at 5:30 so Myke was MORE than happy to stay back.

Chloë and I had a BLAST trick-or-treating with some friends in their neighborhood.  The kids got it this year.  They just ran from door to door and both filled up their pumpkins until they were so heavy they couldn't carry them anymore.  It was just such a fun time.  I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me or Chloë (Myke would say me)!

Until next year!...

bumble bees! (do they look like they are OVER these costumes or what?)

my little ladybug at Sea World

preschool parade

first stop of the evening

Jax & Chloë trick-or-treating

Kara, Jefe (dog), Jax & Jon (Tangled!)