Our Morning

3:45 AM - Preston wakes and begins to play in his crib.  I remember that he and Kinsley are in the same crib tonight.  I wake Jared. "Could you get Preston, I don't want him to wake Kinsley."  Jared gets up and tries to settle Preston, who is laughing and cooing.  Preston realizes Kinsley is in the crib and with a giggle he climbs to her and steals her binkie.  Kinsley's cry rings out, but is quickly silenced as Jared returns the binkie to her mouth.  He then gathers Preston out of the crib and holds him.

5:30 AM - Preston is still awake and in a pleasant mood.  Jared is wondering if he will get any sleep tonight. Finally he decides to put Preston back in his bed, even if he isn't sleeping.  However, not wanting to wake Kinsley, he scoops her out and puts her in the swing to sleep.  She wakes for a few minutes, but relaxes and begins to sleep in the swing.  In the crib Preston is still giggling and cooing.  Jared heads for bead hoping to sleep for 2 hours before work.

5:45 AM - Preston has finally settled down.  Kinsley begins to fuss, not wanting to sleep in the swing.  Jared moves her from swing to crib.

6:45 AM - Kinsley wakes ready for breakfast. Jared gives her a binkie.  Kira wakes from the commotion. Jared gives her a binkie.

7:00 AM - Jared's alarm sounds.  He gets in the shower and the babies begin to get up.

7:15 AM - Lincoln calls from the front bathroom "I'm ready to be WIPED!"

7:30 AM - We move the babies to the table for breakfast and I begin to feed them.  We get Linx breakfast and Jared and I eat.  The babies eat baby-food and Cheerios.

8:30 AM - Jared starts washing breakfast off faces and changing diapers.  Preston has leaked through his clothes and is poopy.  Katelyn wakes up and wants breakfast. Kinsley has a poop diaper. Im sitting on the floor feeding the babies bottles as they come off the changing table.  Kira has a terrible diaper rash from the last couple of days so Jared leaves her diaper off as he hands her to me.  I have a towel we used to giver he bum some dry time yesterday.

8:45 AM - The babies are finishing bottles. KAtelyn still has no breakfast.  Preston and Kinsley are crawling around.  Im trying to keep Kira on the towel.  I decide to do a breathable cloth diaper out of a pair of Katelyn's undies and a towel.  I ask Katelyn if she can run and get those things.  Kira wont stay on the towel, so I am half wrestling her, half just holding her as she stands beside me.

8:47 AM - Preston crawls over to Kira and I.  Jared walks out the door for work.  Preston grabs something off the floor from under Kira and has it to his mouth before I see. Poop.  I grab his hand and he grabs the poop with the other hand. I grab his other hand holding Kira to my leg with my elbow.  I tell Katelyn to run out and grab daddy before he leaves.

8:49 AM - Jared walks back in and grabs Preston and takes him to the tub.  This opens the baby gate into the hall.  I'm guarding the poop, and wrestling Kira.  Katelyn comes back with the cloth diaper supplies.  I ask for a regular diaper.  Linx gets one for me.  I diaper Kira as JAred hands me the paper towels and carpet cleaner for the poop.

8:52 AM - Jared gets the baby bath and puts it in the sink, then collects Preston from the bathtub.  I finish the carpet cleaning and look around.  Kinsley has escaped the living room and I hear her in the bathroom.  I go in to find she has gotten up on the side of the tub and has her hands in the residual poop that Preston had smeared there.

8:54 AM - I carry Kinsley into the kitchen where Jared is bathing Preston in the sink and wash Kinsley's hands.  I put Kinsley back in the Living room and fix the gate.  Then I go in search of Kira who escaped.  I find her in the hall and replace her into the living room.  I get the cleaner and go into the bathroom to clean the tub.

8:56 AM - Jared finishes Preston's bath and diapering.  I gather clothes for the babies and begin dressing them as Jared walks out the door for work.  I grab a baby and a shirt and dress.  I get the first shirt on and start buttoning the back.  I have put one of the girl's shirts on Preston.  I don't care.  I just keep dressing.

In the end Kinsley is wearing Preston's clothes.  I know they don't care, lets see if anyone else even notices.  I don't think we are going anywhere today.

Through it all Jared and I just kind of laughed.  Im so glad I have someone who is willing to do everything with me, and take over so often.  When I told him thanks and that I was sorry he would be late for work he replied "sounds like life to me." He is always so positive and helps me in situations like this one where we could either laugh or cry.  I'm glad we choose to laugh.

My poor parenting

Today Katelyn had school.  She has a Halloween program that she is so excited about.  She is calling her Grandma and Grandpa and her friend Martha to ask if they can come watch her.  She is supposed to get dressed up, and then all the kids will sing to us the Halloween songs they have been learning.

For weeks I have been working on getting her Halloween costume together.  At first she wanted to be Cinderella, but her Cinderella costume is in poor repair.  So she and I looked at some pictures on the Internet and she decided she wanted to be a "pink puffy princess" she just wanted a really fluffy pink dress.  So with my limited skills I made her a fluffy pink skirt.  It is really silly looking, but she loves it.  As I was trying to get the shirt together I quickly realized it was way beyond my abilities.  So I asked my mom to help me.  She is an amazing seamstress.  I even gave her a deadline of yesterday and she didn't have a lot of notice.  She worked all day and was able to get together a top with super cute vest and crown.  We picked it up yesterday and made sure it would work well.

Jared went to the store late last night to get some candy for her to take to share with her class, and we coordinated with everyone who was able to go.  This morning we got up early.  Martha came and helped get the babies ready.  I did Katelyn's hair and got her ready.  We were later than I wanted to be, and I knew parking was going to be bad with all the parents there.  We loaded the babies and everyone into the cars.  Jared had decided to be late for work so he could see the program.

I pull up with Linx and the babies and immediately realize something is wrong.  There are no cars parked on the side of the road, and the parents taking kids in are not dressed up.  I think "did they forget?" "did it get canceled?"  So I leave everyone in the car and run in and ask the teacher.  Sure enough the party is next week.

Jared shows up with Katelyn.  She has so coat because her costume is too fluffy, and it is raining.  She is freezing.  I need to take her costume off and get her to class.  But all she is wearing underneath is shorts and a tank top.  I slip my t shirt off from under my sweatshirt and put it on her.  It hangs off her shoulder and goes to her knees.  Then I shuffle her inside.  She is now late and as she stands there in front of her class in my over sized shirt, I can see how uncomfortable she is.  I know she will never tell me that she was uncomfortable at school, and that she was embarrassed in front of her friends, but it still makes me sad to see her like that.

I know this is a small embarrassment, and hardly the last I will cause her.  As I drove away I kept thinking "better a week early than a week late..." Still I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

I actually wrote this post last week, but it took me a while to get photos of Katelyn in her costume.  Here they are, and I do have to say she is SO CUTE!

Our first bath together

I decided to bath the babies all together in the big bathtub.  I was SO worried because I have heard so many horror stories of babies going under.  I probably waited longer than I needed to because I didn't want them to fall over.  It was tons of fun.

I put all the babies in the tub and they just sat and looked at me for about 30 seconds, then Preston started to splash.  That boy LOVES to splash and splash and splash.  Kira kept crying every time she would get splashed and no matter how hard I tried Kira and Kinsley migrated to one side of the tub and Preston to the other.

It went really well.  The whole time we only had two near drowning experiences.  The first was because Kinsley kept trying to taste the water and accidentally stuck her face all the way in.  She was a little shocked.  The other was when Kira slipped a little and water splashed over her face.  I knew she was fine, but she was sure the world was about to end.

I put in a million photos, but I just think they are so cute!

I had to change my clothes after the splash party/shower, but the bath was SO quick! Plus the kids had way more fun than they ever had in the baby bath.

Feeding the Dolphins

Today the kids and I brought in the outdoor toys, and had dinner before I was able to get the slides clean and dry.  The slides were sitting on the kitchen floor as to keep the carpet clean, and I was unable to have my chair close to the babies high chairs during dinner.  We were having chili cheese fries and the babies kept wanting fries.  I could either stand and lean over the table to reach them, or just chuck the fries and hope they landed on the high chair trays.  Jared said "Are you enjoying feeding the dolphins?" and I was.

Here are some photos of how the kitchen was set up for dinner.

This is the only place we can fit the high chairs.
I do move them every feed, but have to move them
back so we can get out the back door.

You can see the chairs on the one side and the babies on the other side.
Plus you can see the slide in the bottom corner.

Notice the clean table, thank you very much.

 I wish my high chairs were matching, but they don't really fit in the kitchen, and really we just need to upgrade to the boosters, but Linx is still using one and I don't want 4 boosters...  If anyone sees them on sale let me know.

Now here are some photos of the babes being super cute as always.

Kinsley

Kira

Preston

Kira

Crawling

It is official! Kira is our first to crawl.  She crawled at about 4 pm tonight, making us all cheer for her.  Preston crawled later this evening, but by then it was just old news.  We are still waiting on Kinsley to take her first crawls, but expect it soon.

My new Living Room

The babies have started to really move.  They don't crawl yet, but can get anywhere they want too with only minor fussing.  They scoot, roll, reach, whatever to make it to their goal.  I have found I cant keep them from under the kitchen table.  They remind me of dogs, always finding where the food is.  If I had a dog it wouldn't be a problem.  Im sure any dog would take care of the table scraps dropped by Katelyn and Linx.  But I don't have a dog.  And I cant keep the floor under the table clean, no matter how I have tried.  I cant keep the babies from choking on the nasty dry food.  THat is problem number one.  Problem number two is Lincoln.  A wonderful two year old boy, but a boy nonetheless, and a two year old to boot.  He is SO ROUGH.  He climbs on and sits on and squeezes the babies until they are crying.  He wonders why they don't laugh at him when he hits them in the tummy because he sees Katelyn tickle them and they laugh.  He pushes them over.  None of this is done out of malice, but he just wants to play with and interact with the babies.  He just doesn't know how.

I have solved my problem with what I lovingly refer to as "the BABY PIT" or "the pit" for short.

I Love these gates! They are so versatile and nice.  They keep the babies in, and Lincoln out.  There is room for the babies to play, and room for Katelyn to play with the babies and for me to lie down and let the babies climb on me while I take a quick snooze as I have found myself doing on occasion.  I know it cant last forever, already Kira is testing the perimeter looking for weakness, but for now I enjoy these carefree moments when the babies are not choking on something they have found on the floor, and they are safe from well intentioned two year olds. I also enjoy the quick snoozes I can catch when the older kids are in quiet time and the babies just want to be close.

Kinsley in her favorite bouncing toy

Kira

Kira

Preston

Kinsley

A few days ago during Lincoln's nap and Katelyn's quiet time. I was sleeping away in the baby pit in the midst of chaos when I awoke to an unfamiliar touch.  I was roused by Katelyn who had come out of quiet time to ask me a question and found me sleeping.  She quietly slipped into the baby pit and turned off some of the noisy toys, then carefully covered me up with one of the nearby baby blankets so that I could sleep.  When she pulled the blanket around me I had woken up. She is such a sweet and thoughtful girl.  We have been blessed to have her in the family.  She already is taking care of everyone.

Today after taking the above photos, Katelyn asked if she could take some.  I handed her the camera and stepped away.  She has practiced before, but these are some of the best shots I have seen from her budding photography skills.

Here is a three photo set that Katelyn captured when I had stepped away.

Kira smashes Kinsley's face into the carpet.

Kira smiles at me (off camera) while Kinsley cries

Kinsley's face is priceless here from the side of the photo.

 Here is more of Katelyn's work

Kinsley

Preston

Kinsley (you can see in the background how versatile the pit is as I have opened  a panel so i can walk through.)

Kira

The babies playing in the pit

Preston's Diagnosis

Subglottic stenosis

Thats right.  They tell me it is called congenital subglottic stenosis.  Basically what that means is that the cartilage that forms just below the vocal cords, called the cricoid cartilage, is supposed to be a round ring, for what purpose?  To hold the airway open I suppose.  Preston's coicoid cartilage is shaped more like a U allowing less air to move through his airway, and when he does try to move air (when he is sad or mad or coughing) he barks and sounds croupy. It means that when he gets sick and the airway becomes inflamed as is normal, his already narrow airway may make it difficult to breath.  The doctor classified it as somewhere between a 2 and a 3 in severity on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being completely closed.  We have been referred to a specialist who will determine if and when he will need surgical intervention.  I wish I had been able to get a copy of the scope photos.  They were pretty cool.  I will ask when we see the specialist.