Myke & Me Plus ThreeFour: Fall Fun

It's FINALLY feeling like autumn weather! I'm saying that on Tuesday...after we just had a 2 day super-warm weekend with Santa Ana (desert) winds and very dry air. It felt like Las Vegas over the weekend. Our house stays super-cool inside even without A/C...thank goodness for that! I think it has something to do with the tile floors downstairs and the fact that no direct sun ever shines into our living areas. The only exception is Owen & Eli's room which is located upstairs at the front of the house. That room can get really warm. It's also located over the garage, so I think that definitely doesn't help the situation. We kept their shades lowered over the weekend and it actually stayed nice and cool. The dry heat isn't the issue- it's the muggy weather that is unbearable. We had a few muggy days in July this year but nothing too horrible. Nothing that has us calling an A/C installation crew. Not sure how I survived growing up with Virginia summers?! Today is in the 60's with a nice breeze. Feels the way autumn should feel!

It's a busy week here. Today Eli had his stitches taken out at the ped's office this morning. It was another opportunity to kill multiple birds with one stone. (When I was trying to convince Myke of this wonderful "plan" in the car a few days before, Chloë chimed in from the backseat, "But Mommy, we don't kill birds!!") Anyways, Myke and I took all four kids so we could have that done, get all the kids the flu vaccine (thank goodness for nasal spray option for kids over 2!!! Poor Ella had to get the needle), and get the boys' preschool medical forms filled out and signed by their doctor. So all six of us piled into this tiny patient exam room and waited for Dr. Dern. She's awesome. They did Eli's stitches removal first (which we were hoping they would do last so we could herd the other children out into the waiting room beforehand, but oh well). Dr. Dern told Eli that it wouldn't hurt, but as she started the procedure she realized the stitches had been put in extra tight, which made them more challenging to remove...and made the cut bleed. Poor Eli was on the table with Myke holding his head still and the Dr. trying to do her thing. He was crying so hard they ended up having to call in a nurse to help hold him still and keep his arms down. So now we have EIGHT people in this small room. We had brought the iPad along and the Dr had me hold it up over Eli so he could maybe watch a little show during the procedure to distract him--which didn't help at all....AND I had been carrying Ella so to do that meant that I had to set her down on the exam room floor while I got out the iPad and held it up (Oh well, 4th child, right?...at least the floor was carpeted....or is that worse?! Probably.). I finally got myself together and held Ella on one hip while leaning over the Dr, nurse and Myke so the iPad could be above Eli for him to see. And, like I mentioned, he couldn't have cared less about the iPad. He just wanted the procedure over with. Luckily, this entire scenario was done within about five minutes. Then time for the flu vaccines. That was quick and painless and then Myke herded the "big kids" out to the neighboring pharmacy to get lollipops while I stayed with Ella to get her shot in the thigh. We figured them witnessing Eli's traumatic morning was enough for them for one day. Chloë HATES hearing any of her siblings upset. She was stressing out and covering her ears. If Ella ever cries all three of them rush to her as fast as they can to make sure she's okay. It's so sweet to see :)

After we were done at the doctor's office we dropped Myke back off at home and headed to a park to play. We're in a little local playgroup that meets at different area parks on Tuesdays and we rarely are able to attend, so I figured this was as good of a chance as any. The kids were able to run around, Chloë got to play with some friends, and I got to talk to some other moms with kids close in age to my own. So that was fun. Now we're back home and it's rest time x4. Ahhhh! That has been occurring less and less since Ella usually takes a mega-nap in the mornings and then a teeny nap in the late afternoon. Today, she obviously had no nap with all running around we did, so she is conked out now. I NEED that break! Just to sit down unwind for at least a few minutes.

On a side note, we found a website that keeps track of commercials on TV- we're of course curious as to how often the LUVS commercial that Chloë is in airs...especially since we rarely watch TV so it's highly doubtful that we'll ever catch it live. So far the commercial has aired 135 times! It was only at 72 last Thursday so it's definitely airing a lot. I'm not sure if Chloë will benefit from how often it airs (hello, college fund?!) but pretty cool none-the-less.

Some photos: