11 months old!

Ok babies...I know your Mommy has been rushing you to grow up a little bit. I have enjoyed clearning out your clothes and baby gear to make some cash for all of your big kid toys and clothes. I have started Audrey's collection of back to school clothes, fall/winter clothes, and even some stuff for next spring/summer. Poor Mason will have to share with Parker for now. I have been planning your fabulous Monkey Luau and we even have some special guests coming all the way from New Jersey!! Now your Mommy will take the time to remind you of all the fun you have over the past month.

Mason: You are such a sweet Momma's boy. You are very sensitive and cry at small things such a spilled milk. You let your big brother and little sister run you over. All of this is because you are just as sweet as pie. You can climb the stairs in our house. You are still cruising around, but not really showing any more signs of walking. I thought for sure you would be walking first! I think you wave bye-bye but I am not 100% sure. You aren't clapping, but still have a smile that can light up any room. You have 6, yes six, teeth. I think you are working on some more too. You are a pretty good eater, but don't get really excited about it. You seem to love eggs!! You love to babble Mama, dada, and lots of other sounds and noises. All in all, you are a happy man and I hope you stay that way for a long time.

Audrey: Where do I start??? You have turned into a true wild-woman. You recently climb out of your bath seat and were standing up so proud of yourself. You stand unassisted and smile like you have just climbed Mt. Everest. You can take one or two steps. You clap, but not that often. You just started waving and it is about the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. (I will post a video) You love your big brother with all of your heart. You two giggle together and it melts Mommy's heart every.single.time! You love to dance when you hear music. I am thrilled that you have made so much progress over the past month, you had your Mommy worried for a while there. Stay happy and wild Miss Audrey!!

Totally not babies anymore..

I have to say although I am sad that I will never have another sweet newborn of my own, I love love this age. The twins will be ten months old on Friday and I am loving every second. I feel like we are finally out of survival mode and can actually enjoy a few moments of rasing our kids. Both babies are into everything!!! Last week, I had two days with just the twins before Parker got out of school for summer. We snuck into his room to do some cleaning and my two monkeys got up onto his bed for a little fun.

It's summer!!! Attempt at keeping 3 kids busy and a Mommy sane..

I had to come up with some type of routine to keep all 4 of us from have daily meltdowns. We joined the YMCA which is a huge blessing. Two hours of free childcare seven days a week, where do I sign up? On the top list of things to do this summer if for Mommy to work on her fitness. Here is our first attempt at our summer schedule...

6am - Mommy and Daddy wake up to get ready for the day
6:30am - Babies up and ready for their bottles. Now that they can hold their own bottles, I usually prep breakfast or unload the dishwasher.
7am - Change diapers and get kiddies dressed for the day
7:15am - Breakfast for Parker and solids for the babies
7:30am - Clean up and play
7:50 - Load everyone into the car and head over the the YMCA (MWF); On Tuesday and Thursday we will attempt a walk around our neighborhood or head out for a field trip (Babies will nap on the go when we go out for day)
9:15am - Home from gym, unload, and change diapers
9:30am - Babies down for a nap - Play with Parker while I clean or catch up on email. Parker will also have snack time
11:00am - Babies up and want bottles
11:30am - Everybody plays together while Mommy gets lunch ready
12:00pm- Lunch time!!
12:30pm - Parker goes down for a 2-3 hour nap, play with babies for an hour
1:30pm - Babies go down for an 1-1.5 hour nap
3:00pm - Everyone starts to wake up from naps, bottles for babies and snack for Parker.
3:30pm - Play time or an outing if needed
5:00pm - Prep for dinner while kids play or watch TV (yes, my kids watch TV when I need them occupied)
5:30pm - Kids eat dinner
6:00pm - Bath time (usually every other night)
6:30pm - Wind down time - read books, P has a glass of milk and babies have bottles. Daddy usually arrives home about this time when he isn't traveling.
7:00pm - Mason and Audrey in bed
7:30-8:00pm - Parker goes to bed
8:00pm - Mommy Bliss...no kids, no bottles, a little bit of dishes, and a load of laundry. Cleaning the house usually gets fit in during playtime with the kids. We move from room to room while they play and listen to music while I clean.

Favorites on Friday

I am going to try to post some of my favorite baby and toddler items each Friday. So stay tuned each week.

Our focus for this week is Dr. Browns bottles. When Parker was born we had no clue what bottles to use or if we were even going to be using bottles. We realized very quickly that bottles would be a part of daily lives. I settled on Dr. Browns because I heard so many raves about them and P suffered from some pretty severe reflux. If you use Dr. Browns you are familiar with all of the many parts. :::Shudder:::

I never had any kind of system with P, but when the twins arrived we had 24 bottles in rotation. Two babies eating every 2 to 3 hours around the clock equals a Mommy who doesn't want to stand at the sink on the little time I had to myself. I also use to be pretty good about rinsing dishes immediately. I had to come up with something since many of thse bottles were sitting for far too long in the sink. So here is my system....

Once the babies finish, I rinse and break into pieces. Bottles get filled with fresh water, parts all go into my glad plastic container.
"

When I get around to unloading/load the dishwasher, all of the "parts" get sorted into the Munchkin diswasher baskets. Love these and had 4 of them in rotation but now I use 2. Rubber parts and nipple rings go into the basket itself and the nipples go into the top part.

Then I line up all the bottles in the glass area on the top rack and all of the tubes get put on the spokes in the dishwasher.

When I unload I use two really cheap bottle racks from Baby Depot. I think they were $1.00. I put the tubes on the pegs and put a bottle on top. Then I put the rings, rubber piece, and a nipple on top on a paper towel that gets changed daily.

And here are the two cuties who like to help with the dishwasher...

To Uncle Crystal...

I really don't know where to start this blog entry. Let's just start by saying we will miss you lots and we really do hope you love Seattle, but we wouldn't be disappointed if you came back sooner than we all expect.

During the summer of 2000(I think??), I worked at a summer camp for the YMCA trying to get some hands on experience working with kids to prepare myself for my career as a teacher. I met this beautiful and fun loving girl named Crystal who was also working at the camp during her summer off from UF. (Go Gators!) We "hit it off" instantly. Very quickly, we started spending lots of time together not only at work, but also outside of work. When summer was over I was sad to see my new BFF return to Gainesville, while I headed back to USF. The great part was my boyfriend at the time also went to UF, so I spend most of my weekends making the three hour trip from Sarasota to Gainesville. Crystal and I continued to grow our friendship bond. Eventually, my BF and I broke up so I wasn't visiting as often, but Crystal always made it a point to visit with me when she was home visiting her family.

Fast forward to Spring Break 2001 when she met my brother. One day while we were hanging out she saw a picture of a boy she thought was HOT! She inquired who this person was....ugh...my brother???!!! At the time, my brother was in the Navy and stationed out in Seattle, Washington. I promised her I would introduce them next time he was on leave. The big introduction happened that Spring Break 2001, apparently fireworks went off. At first I couldn't be more thrilled that my brother was going to be dating a good friend of mine. How perfect to pick your brother's girlfriend, right??

A few months into their new relationship, I started to feel like a Kindergarten girl who just lost her best friend. It was horrible!! And I was so disappointed. I wanted to take back that day I introduced them, so I could have my friend back. I did get past my resentful feelings, eventually. haha!

Once my brother was done with the Navy and Crystal graduated collge they moved to Clearwater to start new jobs. After a few years and a job change, Crystal bought a house. My brother went to college at USF to pursue a degree in Engineering. We all bugged them about getting married but they kept us all sitting on the edge of our seats for a long time.

Parker was born and they became the best uncle and honorary aunt a little boy could ask for. My brother graduated from USF in May of 2010. Then Mason and Audrey were born, we hoped they would share a birthday with Aunt Crystal but I guess they wanted their own day. My brother continued to search for a job for over 6 months with no real prospects. Finally, they decided that my brother would look in other states. He was offered a job in Seattle, Washington???!!! Things started to move fast. Looking for places to live, getting the house ready to sell, and looking at engagement rings were all part of the plan.

Yes, folks, after all these years my brother was going to propose to Crystal!!! I think we were all thrilled, but in disbelief. Overall, we were just plain happy!!!! He proposed and of course she said YES! Our family and friends got to celebrate with them before they will leave on June 8th at a BBQ at my parents house.

We will miss both of you and can't wait to help you plan the wedding.

Disney - Third Times a Charm

We took Parker to Disney World a few weekends ago. It was a blast for Mommy and Daddy to spend time with our first baby, P-man. He loves his brother and sister, but they sure have rocked his world for better or worse. Both Chris and I do our best to spend one on one time with him but in all reality it doesn't happen much.
We had gone to Disney back in February with my parents and my sister. It was fun to go as one big happy family, but in all honesty I don't think anyone really enjoyed themselves. During our last visit, we bought four day passes that were going to expire by the end of May, so it was essential that we go back.
My sister, who is always there when we need her, offered to watch the twins so we could take Parker. We left on a Sunday morning and headed up to Orlando. We arrived there about 10:30am and decided to see if the hotel would let us check in. Yes!!! We got all checked in, explored the hotel for a while, and then all three of us took a nap. After we woke up, it was time to head over to the Magic Kingdom. Parker seemed to enjoy most of the rides we took him on. He was really afraid of Philhar-Magic. Loved the teacups!!!
Pointing at the parade.

Totally blurry but love the clapping..

He wasn't so sure about the race cars, but he gave us a smile anyway.

I wish I got a better picture of this, but you can see the happiness in his face.

On Monday, Animal Kingdom was next on the list. Parker went on the Safari Jeep ride and a train. He enjoyed the animals. Around 1pm he dozed off in his stroller so we headed back to Sarasota.
I loved the fact that we could do Disney around his schedule. I am thankful that we don't have to pay thousands of dollars and make sure that we see EVERYTHING in just a few days. We can go whenever we want and spend as much time or as little time as we want. But the best part was being with Parker. Chris and I loved giving him all the attention he wanted!!!

Mason and Audrey Spot a Reality TV Celeb

One of my co-workers, Missy, was asked to participate in the 65th anniversary party of Tervis Tumbler. (If you have never used a Tervis..you should try it!) As part of the celebration, they asked many local bakers to participate in a cake decorating contest. The best part was a celebrity judge, Duff from Ace of Cakes. I figured if we had nothing planned on this particular Saturday afternoon we would go partake in the fun. Our nap schedule didn't exactly align with the excitement, so I decided to take the babies while Parker was taking his nap. I loaded them into the car and headed 10 minutes south to the big event. You had to wait in line to meet Duff after the contest was over. I hopped in line with one of my friends and her two daughters.

As we stood there, some Tervis employees were taking a count asking if we would want an autograph. I really didn't have a desire to get his autograph but I thought it would be fun to get a picture. After what seemed like a lifetime, Duff came out and the line started moving. I approached the table where Duff was sitting with a baby on each hip, something I do often, and some cRaZy Tervis Tumbler Lady yelled, "You can't take those babies up there!!! You need to move out of line" He was on a platfrom a foot off the ground. I looked at her like "Lady I have been carrying these two around for the past 9 months I think I am good. And I have just stood in your damn line for an hour you better let me at least get a picture." Another manager stepped in and said, "Wait a minute you can just stand on the ground and take your picture." My friend stepped back to take the picture and the psycho Tervis lady was at it again. This time yelling, "Take the picture NOW or you don't get one." So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the one picture we got with Duff......

Meeting a celebrity is hard work.

Is it too good to be true???

About two weeks ago on a Tuesday, Parker came home from school and said he wanted to use the potty. Rewind about 10 months ago, we bought him a potty. We have had the potty in the bathroom and let him sit on it when he wanted. I decided that Summer 2011 would be Potty Training Time! With two working parents and set of twins I wasn't in any hurry. Since I am off all summer I figured it would be a fantastic time to work on our potty skills. He started showing a lot more interest over the past few months. Elmo Potty Time became a huge favorite while eating his morning breakfast and sometimes his TV before bed. As his interest was growing, I figured it was time to invest in a second potty because we have a two-story house. We went to Target to pick out another potty. He first picked out a pink Dora potty. I asked him to pick a different one. Then he literally picked the most expensive potty in the aisle. I am pretty sure I could have gone to Lowes or Home Depot and bought a real toilet for the price of this one.

Ok back to the best Tuesday of 2011. As I said, he came home and told me he wanted to use the potty. :::::Insert Mommy Eye Roll::::::: Ok, if you really want. Sure enough he did his business. This continued all evening. Then he told me he was ready to poop. I pinched myself because there was NO WAY this was happening. And in Parker fashion he struted out of the bathroom yelling, "I DID IT!!!" Yes, he did! Ever since that fabulous Tuesday he has been using the potty 90% of the time. He has not had one accident. I do put a diaper on if we go out of the house and at night. I am not ready to tackle those two tasks yet. He is also consistantly using the potty at preschool. They use potty charts, treats, and a treasure box to keep the kids interested. I did use smarties and m&ms for a few days at home but he stopped asking for them.

I won't embarass the boy by posting any potty pictures. But here are few pictures of him helping Daddy wash the poor car that has to travel to and from Tampa every day.

Wordless Wednesday

This what 7pm looks like in our house.

9 months, are you for realz????

I can't believe that Mason and Audrey are NINE months old???!!!! The past nine months have gone faster than I ever imagined. With Parker, it seemed that I was waiting forever for him to hit new milestones, but now the milestones are coming faster than I can keep up with.

Mason: He continues to be one of the happiest babies in our family. He smiles at anyone and anything. He does not like going to bed. Poor Audrey has to listen to his sob story every single night. He is still wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 months clothes. I thought for sure he would be in 12 months by now. His growing has definitely slowed down a little bit. He isn't too crazy about eating, he must take after Parker. He recently starting pushing my hand away when I try to feed him. He is doing great at eating most table foods. The boy is cruising around our house like he owns it. I am sure he will walk before his first birthday, but I think we still have some time. He is also doing a lot babbling, still mostly DaDaDa. He has figured out how to turn on the Blu-Ray player and disrupt any show his brother is watching. Last week, he decided that Parker's peanut butter toast looked really yummy and decided to try it for breakfast. Overall, he is such a happy boy and keeps his Mommy on her toes at all times.

Audrey: The girl loves to eat!!!! She will literally eat anything you put on her tray. She cries when you feed Mason and gives you the stare down if you are eating and not feeding her. She can pick up food and get it into her mouth in seconds flat. It is truly an amazing sight. She is still wearing a size 3 diaper and 6-9 months clothes. She loves to babble also. I am hearing new constants all the time. She is also crawling!!!!! Yeah our low-muscle tone baby is doing great. She is the champion of going from belly to a sitting position. She is such an angel about going to sleep. I give her a paci and lay her down, then I never hear another peep until morning. Her naps still leave much left to be desired, but I won't complain. She loves to giggle at both of her brothers. It melts my heart every time I see her laughing at them. Audrey is such a sweet angel and is laid back about most things except her food.

They will go for their 9 month well visit on Friday and I will be sure to post their lastest stats!

Mother's Day 2011

My first Mother's Day as a mother of three was fantastic. I love my husband dearly, but I never have high expectations of being wined and dined on any given holiday. He spoils me rotten when I ask him to, but he isn't big on surprises. On Mother's Day morning, he wished me a Happy Mother's Day before his eyes were barely open. Awwww! After we finished feeding the babies, I asked him what kind of gourmet breakfast he was going to cook me. His kind response was, "I will buy you a gourmet breakfast." Parker and Daddy set off to buy me a souffle from Panera Bread along with a blueberry muffin to share with Parker. When they arrived home with my breakfast they also had a bouquet of flowers and a card.

Parker also made me an adorable picture flower bouquet at school.

To finish out the day, we went to my Mom's house to celebrate with the rest of the family.

My mom has meant more to me over the past year and a half that she ever has. When I found out I was pregnant with the twins, I knew I was going to need our family's help. I never dreamed that our life would have changed as much as it has. My Mom has always been there for me, but over the past year she has dropped anything she was working on to help us. When I went on bedrest, she watched Parker almost every single day so I could follow my doctor's orders. She took me to the hospital twice and to the doctors once a week for the last six weeks of my pregnancy. She picks Parker up from school almost every day she is off. She watches the twins when our babysitter can't. She took all three of our kids for five days so we could go to the Bahamas to see my friend get married. She makes us dinners and does our laundry pretty much everytime she is here visiting. I never have to ask my Mom to do much because she just knows what needs to do done. (Hi Mom! because I am sure you are reading this) My mom also has her own husband to take care of and a full-time job as a nurse. As you can see, she still manages to take of us too. She is a pretty amazing woman. I love you and wouldn't know what to do without you.

Oh, and this is my handsome brother. He is officially taken and going to get hitched!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our family couldn't be more happy, it only took almost 10 years. We will miss them terribly as they take on a new adventure in Seattle, Washington.

Wishlist Wednesday

I haven't done this in a while. A girl can dream right??!!

If my husband ever wants to have a really happy wife, he can buy me one of these. The Audi Q7 will fit all of our kids with a third row. Also, it comes in a TDI which means the fuel efficency is great.

Or how about getting this body back?? Back then, I thought my body was so terrible. ::Sigh::

A new house?? I do love our townhouse, but it isn't ideal with three kids. I don't even need a big house or more square footage just a new floor plan. It will be tough to give up all the amenities and locate of our place, but it would be worth it. An open floor plan, with a master split, 3 additional bedrooms, a pool, and a three car garage would work best. Please and thank you.

Ok dream over...

Braggin' on my Boy

Words can't express how much I love my first baby. I know I am completely biased because I am his Mommy, but some days I just wonder how he is so darn smart. Well, he obviously gets it from his Daddy. Here are some recent funnies from a very special two year old boy....

-Mommy, this fish from Africa!
-Daddy: Are you ready for bed Parker? Parker: Not quite
-After reading, David Gets in Trouble. Parker: Mommy, I get in trouble. I knock coke over. :::Insert tiny giggles::: as I enter the kitchen to see cans of coke all over the floor.
- one, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten. (Not sure what happened to two and six)
-Mommy, monkey took my pants. Call zoo and get them back.
-Mason knock my table over. (As I see his table flipped over and innocent Mason next to it)

And a cute picture....

We are in trouble!

Mason is on the move!!! He climbs and crawls into and on EVERYTHING. I have a feeling we might have an early walker.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Mason and Audrey are fantastic eaters. I can't express how excited this makes me. Parker has never been a good eater, apparently he gets this from me. I do blame myself for his horrible eating habits. I didn't expose him to enough when he was a baby. I made all his baby food and never really made too many meats because it was just gross. I also didn't push food as quickly as I have with the twins.

I have started to expose them to a lot of our table food. Most of the articles I read say that 8 months is a good age to start. I have also read some articles and blog on baby lead weaning. This is when parents never offer pureed food and go right to table food. I think it is interesting, so I have started offering them parts of our meal. Mason was gagging on most food, but I kept offering. Audrey LOVES any food you offer her. She gets very excited.

Tonight I cut up some chicken that I grilled for dinner in very small pieces and they both gobbled it up. Sweet Sucess!!!!!!!!