Fallin' Apart

(I currently resemble the center photo)

We're falling apart here at the Hines household.

 First of all, I'm experiencing female pattern hair loss.  Okay, well not exactly, but I'm starting to shed more than my golden retriever on a hot summer day.  It used to be Kyla (our dog) that was the reason for us needing a super powered vacuum that we ran daily...and the reason for our occasional use of Draino to clear the drains.  Now it's me.  Apparently, THIS IS NORMAL a few months post-delivery as the pregnancy hormones continue to leave the body.  However, I do not remember this happening like this after I gave birth to Chloë.  From what a girlfriend told me, you don't lose any hair at all during pregnancy so your hair is thick and luxurious...and then afterwards it sheds to make up for lost time.   Or something like that.  To be honest, you can't tell since I have so much hair on my noggin to begin with...but if you are near when I'm brushing my hair you can collect enough strands on the floor to knit a sweater for a Chihuahua.  Gross, I know.

We were supposed to be up in Santa Monica (outside of LA) this weekend visiting friends but unfortunately had to cancel the trip due to sick kids.  It started Thursday with Chloë having a slight cold..then the boys got the colds.  Owen, not so bad, just a little cough at night, but Eli got the brunt of it.  Last night he couldn't sleep and his breathing got more and more labored and seal-sounding.  We googled "croup" and figured that's what it was.  We ended up putting him in our room in a swing to try to sleep as he couldn't breathe well when laying flat in his crib and we didn't want his fussing to keep Owen up.  He slept a bit in the swing but the kept waking up and crying the saddest, most pathetic cry you've ever heard.  It was basically a whimper with his eyes closed and tears flowing down his cheeks.  I wanted to cry just seeing the poor little guy.  So we put the shower on in our bathroom and turned it all the way on hot to create a steam room.  I stripped him down to his diaper and just stood there rocking him.  That seemed to help his breathing a bit but the moment I would leave the bathroom he would get worse again.  Myke called the on-call nurse at our pediatrician and she suggested going to the ER just to get him checked out.   Anyways, to make a long story short Myke spent a couple hours (from midnight to 2am) in the ER at the children's hospital with Eli where we found he had a 101 degree fever and needed a breathing treatment with steroids to help open his airways.  He was diagnosed with "acute respiratory distress", "viral croup", "accute febrile illness" and "inspiratory stridor"  according to the ER discharge papers.  Poor little guy!  He's doing a bit better today but still sounds awful just breathing.  He is taking all his naps in the swing because he can't get comfortable laying flat (and he usually is a pretty good sleeper) and is in the swing right now for the night.  Hopefully, he'll be better tomorrow!

Eli in the ER--trying to sleep since it was 1am! 

On top of that I put a bunch of potato peels down the sink drain and clogged up the pipes and temporarily disabled the dish disposal.  The sink was filled with gross food-ridden water and wouldn't drain.  In fact while I type this Myke is over there taking apart the kitchen sink plumbing and trying to fix  the problem.  (**note: do not shove the skins of 4 large potatoes down your sink drain.  Luckily, Myke loves me).

(from google images..not our sink)

Sooo, to sum it up:  we are supposed to right now be roasting marshmallows around a bonfire near the beach with friends up in Santa Monica..but instead I'm typing this and Myke is elbow deep dirty potato water.  Fun times here at the Hines household!

I'm trying to kill some time/distract myself while Owen is upstairs crying.  No, I'm not neglecting my baby, we're just letting him cry a minute or two (or 3 or 4) before intervening.  The boys are usually really great at falling asleep for naps and bed so when Eli started crying hysterically about 20 minutes after we put him to bed we figured something was really wrong.  After patting, rocking, trying to feed, suctioning his nose, etc. he is finally back asleep.  However, the fun part of the boys sharing a room is that if one cries the other hears it.  So now Owen has been crying on and off the past 20 minutes.  Let me also add the Chloë (who has a room across the hall from them) has been crying hysterically in her bedroom because she hears them crying and it upsets her.  Fun times here tonight!   I have an inkling that it all has to do with a little cold that Chloë brought home from preschool.  We have hand sanitizer out and we are washing our hands a lot--but we just can't keep her little toddler hands OFF the boys' faces!  I guess this kind of thing was bound to happen sooner or later.  She has been attending preschool since March 2011 and this is the first cold she has had since the babies have been home.  I guess we are due.   **As of this moment all kids are quiet..fingers crossed that it lasts**

I remember with Chloë at this age we would swaddle her, rock her and feed her until she fell asleep at nights.  Then we would tip-toe her over to her crib and veeeeeery gently place her in, and then tip-toe out of the room.  There was even a specific way to turn the door knob and close her door so it didn't make any noise.  We ended up doing sleep training with her at 6 months old.  One night we just didn't swaddle her, didn't feed her a bottle and rock her to sleep..and just put her in her crib awake.  We were shocked when she did great with the new routine and was having no problem falling asleep on her own by the 3rd night....and sleeping through the night.  With these boys we are trying a bit harder not to build some of these "bad habits" so we don't have to break them later.  We have put them down drowsy but awake from the get-go and I'm so glad we have.  We also ditched their swaddles as of last week and that has been great as well.  In fact, they both seem to sleep better without the swaddle!  

Owen & Eli running errands with me yesterday

Chloë's first pedicure.  Right afterwards she decided she didn't love it and said "I wanna wash my toes!" I had to convince her to keep the color on and that it would not mess up her sheets during nap.  (I was out of nail polish remover).

A friend of ours is married to a cop- he let the kids check out his patrol car.  Chloë was on cloud 9!

Feeding baby Eli.  

Testing out the bumbo chair at dinner last night.

Sitting on the stoop

We are supposed to be going up to Santa Monica (near L.A.) this weekend but if a cold takes over the household I think we'll be staying put.  Fingers crossed that it doesn't happen!  Just in case it does I better head to bed--may be a long night.  

Boys Are 4 Months Old!

Time flies!  The boys are 4 months now!  They are doing great- very happy boys!  My only complaint is that they suddenly stopped sleeping a long stretch at night about a month ago.  At first we thought it was a growth spurt...but a month-long growth spurt?!  Boo!  Elijah is the "trouble child" with that.  They go to bed around 8pm and (once-upon-a-time) were sleeping until 4am, waking up to eat and then going back to sleep until 7:30am.  Now Eli wakes up somewhere around 2am to eat instead.  I'm sure I've complained about this on this blog already, but I just wanted to let you know that it hasn't changed!  We've tried dream-feeds before we go to sleep (going in and feeding Eli once more around 10pm), and a few other strategies, but nothing has really changed.  He just seems to need to eat at 2am still!  I know he's only 4 months old, but Chloë was sleeping 9-12 hours at night at this age.  Then again, she was a lot more fussy and needy in the day than these guys are.  They are very happy little guys.  Impossible to be mad at them for making me get up at 2am!

Other than that, both boys have rolled over tummy to back and now back to tummy.  Owen found his feet this past weekend.  Eli has been sucking his thumb and fingers.  Very exciting updates, I know!

These pictures were taken over the past month or so...so not quite up-to-date!

Eli visiting Chloë in her crib after nap

kisses!

Looks like a "big-girl" bed in her near future!

little monkey

Eli in Chloë's doll cradle (August 2011)

feeding Eli with the play bottle

Owen looking cool in his jeans

Pre-Power-Outage Post (updated at bottom)

95 degrees in Pacific Beach?!  

Well, September has arrived and for San Diego that seems to mean that summer has also arrived...we've been having a heat wave here the past week!  As the rest of the country starts to enjoy the start of autumn, southern Cali begins the hottest months of the year.  September and October are notorious for their dry, hot days.  October is usually when we experience wild fires due to these conditions.  Feeling very fortunate to have air conditioning in the house right now...keeps it nice and cool and also provides a great white noise to help the kids sleep through one another's cries!  Poor Myke has his home office set up in our garage--which is NOT air conditioned.  So he is feeling the burn, literally!  

We have our tickets for our trip to the east coast- we leave in one month from tomorrow.  Besides a bit of stress with all the little details we need to work out with arranging transportation for five of us, three in car seats, etc, we are excited to see friends and family.  I'm hoping for some crisp, east-coast autumn weather when we get there!  There something that just doesn't seem quite right about taking the kids to pumpkin patches in October in San Diego--it's always so hot!  Hot apple cider isn't quite as tasty and comforting when you're sweating bullets!  I guess I could try an iced version!  

I've been starting to look for some fall-type clothes for the boys for the trip.  Right now they wear 3-6 month sizes and some 6-9 month.  I'm assuming in a a month they will mostly be in 6-9 month size.  There are some cute little outfits out there with fleece vests, pants, little cute caps, etc.  I'd look for clothes for Chloë, too, but I'm sure she'll insist on wearing her Wisconsin Badgers basketball uniform every day!  Kidding (kind of)!.. I did find some cute tops and leggings for her at Old Navy a couple weeks ago which we'll be taking.  

Today, being Thursday, I have all three kids all day.  No preschool for Chloë.  After everyone ate breakfast we headed out in the new stroller for a walk to the park.  It was my first time taking them all out--before this new double stroller, I have felt basically "stuck" in the house unless I go somewhere close which Chloë can walk to.  Our triple stroller is SO heavy and difficult to push but this new double one is light as a feather and easy to push with one hand.  So we headed to the park on the bay (3/4 mile walk).  I had Chloë and Owen in the seats and Eli in the Baby Bjorn.  Not to mention that I was pushing the stroller with one hand and holding my cell phone up to my ear with my other hand talking to my mom along the way.  And it was easy-peasy!  I'm definitely impressed with the Double Bob and highly suggest it so far!  I got it so I can jog with the kids (still have yet to try that) but it also works great for an every day stroller as far as I can tell.  It was so easy that we walked from the park on the bay to The Catamaran Resort which is further along down the bay walk.  They have parrots and big fish in their atrium and on their grounds which I thought Chloë would enjoy checking out.  

Parrots at The Catamaran Hotel

Waterfall in the hotel lobby (notice Chloë's outfit!)

big fish! 

After stopping here we continued our walk by crossing to the ocean, walking down the boardwalk, and then back up to our house.  Nearly 3 miles of walking.  I definitely hadn't planned ahead for this spontaneous adventure. I was in flip-flops, hadn't eaten breakfast, and was carrying a 15lb infant on my front.  Needless to say, I was sweating and VERY happy to get home and collapse in the A/C (A mom of 3 can only collapse for about 2 seconds..then she has to get up because inevitably someone will need something at any given time...there is NO rest time (except now, a few hours later, while all 3 are napping--a rare treat!).  I better have lost the last 10lbs of my baby weight with this outing!  Ha!  I wish :)

On another note, we have a new grill!  Myke's parents gave us a gift card for a new grill for our anniversary after learning that our current one broke.  At first we didn't think we would really use it considering I am vegetarian, Myke is vegan...AND now with his gluten free diet, he can't even eat veggie burgers anymore!  However, this one has 3 settings:  a traditional grill, a wok, or a pizza stone!  It's awesome and we've used it almost every day so far.  We've grilled corn on the cob, Myke sauteed a bunch of veggies (in picture) for a green curry dish with veggies & tofu (that was AMAZING by the way), and we've done pizzas as well (Myke uses a yummy gluten free crust that he has found at Whole Foods).  We'll have to host a pizza party some time soon.  

Putting together his new toy

Yummy veggies!  Doesn't this look so healthy?!

Grillin' it up!

Wow--this has been a nice little break while the kids all nap.  The boys are now almost 4 months old (9/16) and as of this past weekend they are no longer sharing a crib.  They have just gotten too big to do that, which is sad in a way.  My babies are growing up!  We have both cribs in their room now and they each sleep in a different one.  When I go to feed them in the middle of the night usually they have shimmied down to the end of the crib and their feet are sticking through the rails.   We don't have bumper pads on the cribs (apparently they aren't considered safe these days--though we used them for Chloë from birth until this past Spring actually). 

Uh, oh the power in our house just went out--that means everyone's noise machines (and the A/C, oh no!) have cut off.....time for everyone to wake up I'm sure!  Until next time....

**Update:  

We have power back-I was unable to publish this post until this morning due to a massive power outage in southern California which affected some 5 million people!  Power went out at 3:30pm Thursday and came back on sometime in the early hours of Friday morning.   All went well and we had no major problems.  Chloë actually enjoyed having her bed time stories read to her by flashlight.  Okay, going to post this now!

 The whole fam damily

I'm feeling a bit too tired to type much so I'll just share some photos.  We had a nice long holiday weekend.  Happy Birthday to my mom (9/3)!!

Chloë has now found the shorts that match the shirt.  There's no stopping her now!

She now wants to wear it to bed as well as during the day.  Must be darn comfy!

Working on a project at home

Paper bag puppet monster!

Our new double (triple?!) stroller

The boys riding in a stroller without being in their infant seats for the first time!  

I finally got the double jogging stroller that I've been wanting!  Woo!  We sold our single stroller on Craigslist and the next day put that money right towards this one- which was on sale at REI.  

Smooches!

Another one of Chloë's favorite articles of clothing - these pink shorts (a hand-me-down from our friend Sierra Martin- thank you, Si-Si).  She asks to wear these almost every day.  Pairing it with her pink Phillies baseball shirt is her ideal outfit.  

Me & Elijah

Myke & Eli checking the surf on Labor Day morning

  

Naps & Picking My Battles

It's Monday..and it's a great day!  In fact, I have all three kids down for a nap at the same time right now!  How else did you think I was typing this mid-afternoon?!  They've been down for almost an hour so I've had a lovely break, crossed a bunch of things off my to-do list..and now am just piddling on the laptop.  Ahhhhhh!  I could get used to this...but shouldn't because I doubt it will happen on a regular basis.  

Believe me, it wasn't the smoothest of times getting them all down.  I have Eli in the crib in our room, Owen in the crib in the boys' room and Chloë in her room.  I separate the boys for naps so they can get better rest.  They always wake up at the 45 minute mark and are learning to sooth themselves back to sleep (and by "learning" I mean I let them cry a few minutes at that time, console if needed, rinse and repeat..)  So today I had the boys down and I went to read Chloë her stories (part of her nap routine)...then Owen starts crying.  I go in and pat him.  He's quiet.  I get Chloë in her crib--after a bit of a fight as she has started to fight naps and bed time (after a year of telling us she was ready for bed before her bed time...she loved to sleep!).  So 2 minutes after I get her in the crib she starts crying.  And she doesn't cry quietly.  She SCREAMS BLOODY MURDER.  I kid you not!  I'm surprised the neighbors haven't called CPS.  She screeches so horribly it sounds like a scene from The Exorcist.  The first few times we thought something horrible was happening to her.  We would rush to her room, open the door and she would be immediately quiet and calmly ask, "Put my blankets on" or (her new one:) "Put my headband on" (What?  A head band!?  Yes, she insists on this head band that has a big flower on the top.  The weirdest part about it is that she never lets me do anything with her hair at any other time.  She won't wear head bands, won't let me do a pony tail or pig tails, no braids, etc...I once in awhile can get a clip in to hold the hair out of her eyes, but she usually will take that out within 5 minutes.  However, for some reason at 2am she NEEDS this head band in her hair in order to fall back asleep).  

So anyways, a little tangent there.  I got Chloë in her crib, had gone back in to put her head band on, came out and realized that HER crying had woken Owen up.  Now HE was crying.  Then his crying upset her and next thing I know they are BOTH crying.   Argh!  I open Chloë's door and she calmly says, "Baby Owen crying" (she ALWAYS knows which one's cry she hears).  I told her I would take care of it and that I wasn't coming back in.  I know, you're probably thinking we should have stopped going to her a long time ago.  It's just that in the middle of the night we don't know if she's had a nightmare or is scared, and I would feel horrible just letting her cry alone in fear.  She's 2 1/2 and things are starting to be a little more scary to her.  Sometimes when we go to see why she is crying she'll say "the sirens".  Even if there weren't any sirens going by outside she is thinking about them apparently.  We have to remind her that if she hears sirens it means they are going to help someone and that is a good thing.  ANYways, today at nap she started crying hysterically again after I closed her door and went to comfort Owen and I decided it was time to just let her cry.  So I did.  And she did.  For 12 minutes.  Then she was quiet.  Woke up from nap an hour and 1/2 later.  (When I started this post she was asleep..but my typing got put on hold as the crew started waking up..it's now 5pm).  Anyways, I got over an hour break today.  Today is a great day!!  

The photo up top is of the outfit Chloë picked to wear today when we went out to run errands.  Myke had gotten her dressed this morning and I was impressed that he had gotten a cute skirt on her.  She picks her clothes these days and, as I mentioned before, she always picks t-shirts and shorts.  Usually, some of the more unattractive ones.  I mean, of course I think she's cute no matter what she wears...but I have all of these adorable little summer dresses, rompers, or tops that I would love for her to wear and she won't hear of it!  And it's not a battle really worth picking on a daily basis (though for something special I'll make her wear something cuter).  Same goes for shoes.  I got her a few pairs of really cute summer sandals and she insists on these awful pink velcro sandals that are basically brown with dirt at this point.  I guess they are more comfortable.  So this morning she had a yellow skirt and cute white top with a whale on it on.  Then, right before we were walking out the gate she ran up to her room to grab something (I forget what) and came back with this Wisconsin jersey that my mom (I think) got her at a yard sale.  Or was it Aunt Debbie?  Either way, she has never worn it before...in fact I think it was hidden in a drawer in her closet....oh, did I say "hidden"?  I meant put nicely away....but she somehow found it and ran downstairs with it and wanted to put it on right away.  It's faded, the lettering is wearing off...and it's that net-like fabric that jerseys are made of.  RIGHT up Chloë's alley!  Haha..of course I let her wear it...she just cracks me up.  I give up on putting her in cute little outfits and doing her hair.  She'd much rather play basketball or ride her scooter and wear things like this.  Hey, it's better than her picking that Belle princess dress to wear out in public!!  Now that's a battle I would NOT let her win (though I'm sure one day I'll have to fight this battle since I bought her one!)

Ahhh...it's so nice having a little bit of a life back!  Now the boys have been moved to their own room (which is also our guest room) to sleep at night we can finally enjoy our downstairs again.  I'm writing this from the couch (via the laptop).  We only have 3 bed rooms and we have had family here for a majority of the boys' lives, so we found it easiest to put them (the babies, not our visiting family) to bed in a little travel crib in our living/family room area.  We tried sleeping with them in our room back when they were first born but we just didn't sleep well with all their little grunts and groans so the next best option was downstairs.  However, that meant that once they went down for the night everyone else headed up to bed.  So that was sometimes 8pm!

Now we sort of have a routine where we put all three kids to bed around the same time.  It's wonderful!  We have some time to hang out after they go to bed and have some free time.  Ahhhhhh!   It's much needed!  Especially now that I'm back to caring for all three of them on my own during the week.  That, my friends, can make for a challenging day(s)!

Last Friday was sizzling hot here in Pacific Beach (and by sizzling hot I mean in the low 80s...don't be a hater!).  We put out Chloë's little kiddie pool in the front for her to cool off with.  The water was pretty cold in my opinion but she is never cold so it worked out perfect for her!  I even put quite a few pots of hot tap water in to try to warm it up and it was still a bit too chilly for my taste!  Eli and I took a 20 second dip before his shocked screams got us out!  He took one for the team because I then decided to not make Owen test the waters.

They lounged on a beach towel instead

Pool time!

Saturday I did some yard sales with a friend- I always looking for inexpensive toys for the kids.  Toys can be so ridiculously pricey in stores, and for the amount they often use them rarely worth the price.  Gotta love finding a good deal.  Here is a Belle princess costume I found for $2.  I'm not a big fan of the whole "princess thing" that little girls get into--but for $2 I had to get this addition to her growing stash of dress up clothes!  Chloë wanted to wear it right away, but by the next day was back to wearing her favorite shirt- a Phillies baseball shirt sent from Myke's aunt.  She would live in that thing if she could!  

Saturday afternoon at the park

Kyla got professionally groomed for the first time in her life on Saturday--the folks at Petco chopped her fur right off! We were shocked!  She is now a yellow lab instead of golden retriever.  She even came home with bows on her ears.  Poor Kyla!  I'm sure she feels cooler during this heat wave, though!  

My lovies

Story time with daddy

Sunday was another hot one so we headed to the beach and bay for a few hours of fun in the water and sand.  

Lounging in their little tent

Playing in the sand (check out Myke's tattoos--he had the boys feet done on Father's Day back in June.  Chloë's were done a couple years ago.  All the footprints are from the day they were born)

Our little set up

Chloë and I went to Old Navy to spend some coupons we had that were set to expire.  We found her Halloween costume...only 2 months in advance!  Halloween is my favorite!  I already have the boys costumes as well - they are going to be bumble bees. Now if I can only get Myke to dress as a flower...we could have a nice theme going on here!