It's Still Kickin'

My laptop, that is.  Yay!

It's Sunday night, the kids are all in bed, it's raining out (yes! we do get rain in San Diego on occasion!) and we're just lounging downstairs enjoying the peace and quiet.  Ahhhhh.  A rare moment :)

I went out shopping on Saturday ALL BY MYSELF.  Gone are the times where I can just run out the door and do as I please.  I planned this way in advance, made sure Myke didn't have anything planned on this day, prayed that none of the kids would be sick (because one sick kid is equivalent to 3 or 4 healthy kids and I would feel too guilty leaving Myke with that scenario), and looked forward to my solo outing all week long leading up to it.  It was fabulous.  I loved every minutes of the four hours I was out at the mall and Target.  It was so nice to be able to just take my time, go where I wanted, browse around, try a few things on, etc, without anyone else to worry about than myself.  I'm not even usually that excited about the mall or Target--I think 99% of the excitement was the fact that it was ME time.  I could have been scrubbing porta-potties alone and been just as excited (okay, that is DEFINITELY NOT true...but you know what I mean).

Anyways, I got some shopping done for the holidays so that's good.  One of the other things on my shopping list for that day was to find outfits for the kids to wear for our family photo that we had done (at JC Penny- yah, that's how I roll!) today.

Coordinating outfits for three kids is a task in itself, but somehow I managed to find some cute duds for them to sport.  Then I raided Myke and my closet for something we could wear that would fit with their outfits.  It all worked out, though Myke said I was a stress-ball at the photo place today, chasing Chloë around trying to put a clip in her hair (if you've read previous posts, you know why this may have been a challenge), trying to wipe up any drool and spit up off the boys (just the babies, not Myke), then back to Chloë telling her to put her dress down as she has a tendency to lift up her dress or shirt and flash anyone who looks at her and she kept standing in the center of the waiting room with her dress over her head, etc.


There were a ton of families at the portrait studio and, even though though we had a set appointment, we had to wait for awhile for our turn.  Luckily, they had "Cars" playing on a tv in the waiting area.  Chloë was also endlessly entertained watching the families before us get their pictures done.  She mainly liked it because the photographer in one of the rooms would continuously pretend to sneeze REALLY LOUDLY in a futile attempt to get whatever baby or small child she was photographing to smile.  It was a very dramatic and obnoxious session of "sneezes" but you do what you gotta do in that profession!  What an unforgiving job!  Our kids were no better.  We had a very flamboyant young man named Sampson do our photos.  I've had him before when Chloë was a baby and loved him because he was the only person there who could get her to smile.  He did not, however, have the same effect on my boys today.  Owen just stared at him.  Stared and stared but would NOT crack a smile.  His expression was "what the...?!" the entire time.  Chloë did great and was a trooper and Eli smiled a bit...but not Owen.  He was just not feeling it.  It didn't help that the little room felt like 100 degrees and the boys were in heavy sweaters.  We were all sweating.  I'm sure the pictures will come out great!   At least one has to, right?!  

Hmm...an option for next year maybe?

Or maybe this when the kids are a bit older...

Time for some snapshots from our phones:




Both of the following pictures were taken by Myke while he was in charge of the kids on Saturday.  Jus' sayin'....

The boys really get around lately...end up all over the place...even wedged under the couch.

America's Cup boat from NZ 

(San Diego Bay)

I found this wine at Henry's Market and couldn't resist.

I wonder if Myke thought I was trying to tell him something...

Daddy & Eli

Chloë in hog heaven (they were repaving our street)

Uncle Hale sent the kids some Sesame Street gear

Eli gets a gift from his godparents

Chlo & O

Owen post-bath

 My posting days may be limited...I'm sad to say that my laptop is slowly dying and I think it is in its final days as I type this.  There is some issue with the connection with the screen and the computer itself and most of the time I can only see 1/2 the screen.  This laptop has lived a very long and fulfilling life.  It even traveled around the world with us back in 2006/07.  Myke has spent many many hours working on it and I inherited when he moved on to bigger and better Mac products.  Now it's time for me to move on as well.  The problem is I don't have anything to move on to!  Myke says I can borrow his iPad - but I don't think I'd do very well typing on something without a real keyboard.  I guess I could plug in a separate keyboard to it...but then I'd have to somehow pry the iPad out of Myke's hands.  That might prove to be pretty difficult as he has been on it a lot lately.

Santa, if you're out there: please send me a new lap top for Christmas!  I'll even take a non-Apple!  :)

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!