Triplets for 4 Days

My good friend, Nola, called Kevin and I two weeks ago to see about me watching her boys while she's working and her husband is gone hunting with his parents.  Her MIL is the one that usually watches the boys so she needed someone to cover while they were gone.  I had to think about it awhile since it would start at 4:30am and that meant getting me and Rowan out that door at that hour.  Then she has twin boys that are 11 months old with a 4.5 year old and a 5.5 year old.  Without any other kids that's 5 kids 5 and under.  I decided since they were also paying us for watching the boys that I could do that for her.  The only thing on the calendar was Glenn's first field trip to the pumpkin patch that I was signed up to go to.  Kevin said he would cover me for that hour.

Kevin ended up starting a job today so he needed to drop Addie off to go to a meeting so I had all the kids for awhile except Glenn and Kaila who went to Erin's for 15 minutes until it was time to leave for school.  Vincent had home preschool with Grandma and some friends and it was hard for Addie to not be involved with them.  I let her watch a netflix show on my phone and made her some more breakfast since she said she hadn't eaten though I bet she was fed by Kevin but choose not to finish her food like she typically does.

The first hour before Kevin got there was crazy.  All four boys woke up to eat at the same time.  I first made the big boys their breakfast and then made the bottles for the twins. I gave it first to one and changed his diaper and then gave the second his bottle and changed his diaper. I let them play for a little while while I made their full breakfast of food.  Then Rowan woke up since he didn't go back to sleep from 4:30 until 6:15!  It was miserable but I was glad he slept in a little longer.  I got the twins in their seats with food and then nursed Rowan, changed him, and got him dressed.  The big boys finished getting ready with prompts.  It was the cutest thing after I told Koen to go brush through his hair he came out with it all styled.  He had the "I did the most amazing thing" look on his face as he told me he brushed it and then used hair spray on it.  It looked great!  I was impressed.

Then I cleaned up everything from breakfast and the kids played.  Rowan was exhausted so I put him to bed in Axel's bed so he could be undisturbed and had a sound machine. He was out quickly too poor boy was so tired. The big boys all went to their schools and Addie helped me with the babies.  I noticed the twins were getting cranky and consulted the schedule and saw they take morning naps. I moved Rowan onto Nola's bed and then got both twins to sleep.  They are such good babies and laid themselves down and went fast to sleep.  I was in shock that now I had nothing to do.

I started laundry for Nola and cleaned up the rest of breakfast.  I finally made breakfast for me and some for Addie.  I also snapped a few pics of Vincent at his preschool Halloween party for Nola to see.  It was great.  I enjoyed talking with Michelle Watts (Nola's mom and Vincent's preschool teacher).  Her mother was amazing.  She had a barely 3 year old, a set of twins, and then another set of newborn twins!  I was telling her how I couldn't imagine doing that when the three babies was a lot to handle.  She was telling me how her dad wasn't around to help either and they had to bucket their water into the trailer they lived in also.  Crazy!  I'm so glad that modern technology has helped relieved a lot of burdens.  Michelle did tell me that they all napped up until 1st grade because there wasn't kindergarten back then.  That I would imagine made everything possible for her mom to get a nap herself, cook, and clean.

I went to the field trip and Kevin watched the kids and fed them lunch.  I took Addie over to Grandma and Grandpa's since they were having them over for a play date that day.  Kevin said the twins were great eaters and very clean.  Axel only had one little crumb on his lap and Brody only had a small handful.  NICE!!  I was nervous about him dealing with twins and feeding them.  Thankfully Rowan went down for a nap shortly after I left so he only had the twins and V to watch.  The only thing that he didn't like that happened was Brody blowing out.  I even changed to boys before I left.

When I got back from the pumpkin patch it was time for the kids to nap.  Rowan woke up and I let him play with the twins for a minute.  I took Brody up to bed an came downstairs to see Rowan and Axel playing so well together around the exersaucer.  It was so cute.  Then I took Axel up to bed. It was LOVELY having only one kid up!!  How I miss nap time in our house.  I was able to get all toys organized and put away along with my stuff.  It was so nice and peaceful.  

Then Nola came home just as I was getting my 3 meal for the day for Game On.  I was so glad I brought all my own food to eat so I wouldn't have to stress over that too on top of everything else and I managed to do well!  3 more days to go...

Happy New Year...2014!

Last night we celebrated over at our friend's, The Hoeppner's house, like we have in prior years.  This time though the kids went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house it he n the afternoon so we didn't do New York count down with them like we usually do.  (The did the countdown with G&G though and banged pots and pans.  They loved it.  The older two went to bed well but Addie was all hyped up and I guess the kids stayed up talking until midnight and were still up at 7:30 this morning. So glad we were able to sleep in until 10/11 without any kids waking us up.) We had fun at the Hoeppner's with our friends dancing the night away on the Wii.  There was a great turn out and Erin even came!  I was so happy to have her there with us.  Alex and Katie even drove over for the fun too.  Kevin was the dancing, hip moving, sweaty machine.  I just did 3 moves and it hurt my uterus so I didn't dance.  Made me kind of sad but better to be safe than sorry.  I had a hard time avoiding the dairy while there with cookies out.  I finally tried one and after 5-10 minutes regretted it.  Brittany's caramel corn was so good and hard to stay away from.  When we got home my stomach let me know how angry it was.  Thankfully it didn't kill me for too long.

Toasting in the New Year!

I was a little sad about not celebrating with the kids but figured out how we could still celebrate with them... setting off fireworks that I had saved from the fourth. It's still New Year's Day! It was so fun other than Addie having to watch from the window because she hadn't listened about cleaning up while all the other kids did.  It was really sad and broke my heart.  The older kids were super sweet to her running confetti up to her after I pulled some party poppers on them :-)  I invited Erin to bring the kids down to watch and she did.  She had some sparklers left over from the fourth too so all the kids were able to have some fun with those.  Erin even did one for Addie writing her name with the sparkler for her.  The kids favorite was the jack in the box.  I had another one but wanted to save it for another time with Addie could be out there to enjoy them too.  Maybe for Glenn's birthday?  If I remember.

The Bad vs. The Good

Thankfully yesterday Glenn didn't get worse though he woke up and went to the bathroom to pee only to discover he had diarrhea in his underwear and didn't know it.  The poor boy. I had to put him in the shower to get it off him since he'd been sleeping in it for awhile. Sadly it happened a few more smaller episodes throughout the day.  Kevin was feeling a little better but after moving around felt the same.  I wonder if he'll ever get back to normal.  The past few days he keeps thinking he'll be better "tomorrow" though tomorrow comes and goes.  The poor guy!  Kaila was more lethargic than normal too and was complaining that her chest hurt and her tummy.  I let the kids skip their Popsicle stick jobs today since everyone was sick.  Kaila really likes picking her jobs though so we might do it later during the upcoming week if everyone gets better.  Addie's doing great which is good, everyone keeps telling me, though her being her normal crazy and stubborn self (likes to say, "I no want" or plainly "no") has added even more frustration to Kevin's life and mine though more to him since he's already not feeling well. I've been okay with a little nausea here and there (don't know if it's due to the environment I'm cleaning up, my period (felt that same way last month), or if I'm getting sick).  I keep saying positive thoughts that I'm fine!  I'm gargling with salt water, using OnGaurd and Eucalyptus, and drinking my water in hopes to stay healthy.  I'm also sleeping on the couch though I switched to the pullout hide-a-bed last night which was nice to spread out on though not as comfy.  Sadly my back is paying the toll and Kevin wants me to go to the chiropractor on Monday because I'm walking crooked.

I was able to escape the sickies for a bit last night to go and celebrate my friend, Kari Karlgaard's, 30th birthday which is actually today!  He sweet hubby did a surprise party for her at the Spaghetti Factory on the Waterfront.  It was lots of fun. There was a balloon guy there and Aaron got him to make a fun heart hat with curly balloons for Kari!  The staff even had everyone sing her happy birthday with a candle in her ice cream.  It was wonderful! I got to chat with my friends and got a ride with the Hoeppner's there so we were able to visit on the way there and back.  It's so nice to have wonderful friends!

Still in Pain

So, I'm still out of commission today. DH has had to do everything (laundry (3 loads), dishes, get DD, feed her, and pick up). All I can do is lay down. The little bit I walked and sat caused my pain to come again. I called the nurse back this morning and they set up an appointment for me for tomorrow at 9am. She thinks it may have been from me being dehydrated and the uterus being a muscle was cramping up since it didn't have enough fluids. She also says that since I'm at 13 weeks the round ligaments are stretching and it's generally worse with the second baby. So those are all legitimate reasons. I'm getting checked out tomorrow just to make sure things are okay. I hope they are. My doctors not available so I'm being seen by someone else. I hope they are good.

Tonight we were able to go and hangout with some friends, Hoeppner's who are watching their sibling's house and they have a movie room set up. We ate dinner together and then watched a movie. It was so nice to get out of the house and still relax with my feet up. DD had lots of fun too playing with our friends which was nice because I haven't been able to do anything with her so it was nice for her to get some more attention.