A day at the park

On Fridays I have all 4 kids home all day. No one has school. Sometimes the day feels long, like bedtime will never arrive. But on Fridays I try my best to get out of the house with all the kids. It takes work but it's worth it. We went to the park today and it made me realize how big my kids are getting. Just last year I had babies that needed help getting up and down on the playground. Not anymore! The kids were climbing on everything and didn't want any help even when they absolutely needed mama so they didn't fall and break their bones.


Nathan is my daredevil. The boy climbed everything. He's getting really good at going up the ladders and he loved jumping on the bridge.


Logan's always been cautious but today I saw him taking some risks. He's terrified of the bridge but after a few minutes of watching Natey he did it. He was white knuckled holding on to the railing but he did it. He's also really getting quick climbing the ladders, went all the way up the twisty climber and was practicing hanging from the bars.


Gracie always does her own thing. She plays by herself most of the time and just watches her crazy brothers. Occasionally,today, she'd pop into their game and claim she was the baby, mommy, batgirl of wonder woman. She was spooked by Logan's fear of the bridge so it took her a long time to get on it and jump around. She liked to play under the structure and poke her cute face through the holes.


And just to prove we were there too. Here's Colly and mama. It was so windy so Collin ws very squinty in every picture I took. But the cheeks... I love the cheeks! So kissable. He loves his Moby wrap. He never cries in it and loves to people watch. By far my fave baby item.

Rolling over and feeling better

Yesterday, my sweet Collin finally rolled over. Back to tummy. He is just starting to grab at toys, pull hair and he's dying to reach my food while I'm eating. While all of these new things are exciting, I'm sad that the days of peacefully eating, cooking or writing while holding my baby are gone. Baby boy wants to grab everything! He has some kind of super mega grip and then sticks whatever he has just grabbed immediately into his mouth. Hair is his fave. Gross.
Collin has been so sick for the past few weeks. We've gone to the doctor 3 times and urgent care once for wheezing and a nasty cough. He was put on Albuterol and it seems to help a little. For a few days, when he felt the yuckiest, he wouldn't smile or play. It's so nice to finally have my smiley, playful Colly Boy back.

Sick again, boo

On Wednesday night Ell started complaining of a headache and the chills. Oh no! I knew he was getting sick. My parents had been sick the 2 days prior and were still recovering. Very slowly. Sure enough, Ell called from work on Thursday to say he need to go to the doctor. I knew it was bad if he actually wanted to go to the doctor. A few hours later he called again to say he was getting an IV. My mom drove me into SB to meet Elliott because even though he said he was fine I knew there was no way he could drive home. Poor husband looked horrible when I got there.



He had already been given 2 bags of fluid and still looked really weak. The doctor came in and have him a prescription and told him to quarantine himself until Tuesday of next week. Ugh. Parenting 4 kids alone for 6 days would be hard but having 4 kids get the flu would be a nightmare.

Collin and I moved downstairs into the living room. Our new digs aren't very comfy but the location is convenient. Making bottles at 2am has never been so fast.



I'm on the couch and Colly sleeps in his bouncy seat for approximately 30 minutes before moving to the couch to sleep on me. The whole sleep-on-mama-all-night-long thing isn't new but it is a whole lot less comfortable for mama on the couch. Hopefully Tuesday will come soon and Ell will be feeling better. He's definitely the strong one and when he's out of commission I feel lost and really sad. I haven't seen much of my best friend and the kids miss their silly daddy. By the end of these past few days I've been completely wiped. Last night my kids were lucky I didn't say "go eat whatever's in the fridge" however, there dinner was a tad less than 'home cooked'



Whatev. At least i covered all the food groups. My mom and sister have been amazing but, sadly my sister goes back to school today. No, say it isn't so!! My mom did Colly's early morning feeding and it was such a huge blessing to me. An extra 2 hours of sleep? Yes, please!

The kids have been fairly well behaved. I know this is all tough on them too. They love their daddy. He's the wrestling, silly story telling, weird joke telling, scary noise making, light saber fighting, parents and as much as I try it's just not the same. Get well soon, daddy so we can play with you. xo

Laundry catch up day

Today was a bank holiday and so Ell was home with me all day. Yay! We had so much laundry to catch up on its all we did. The poor children had empty drawers and had been wearing their jammies for 2 days. It was bad. Our family stomach flu had cleaned out our linen closets. Lots of the laundry was already clean but it never made it out of the laundry baskets. It was bad.


We folded and put away about 8 loads of laundry. The baskets are much emptier and mommy and daddy are much happier. I'd much rather keep my sanity, have time to play with my kids, hold my baby while he's small, and cook for my family than stress about laundry. Sometimes the clean laundry piles up but sometimes it's worth it. Anyway, our kids will now have clean, wrinkle free clothes to wear to school. Hooray!

Stomach Flu, you stink!

It all started early Wednesday morning, like 3am early. Ell and I woke up to Gracie's cries. "Oh no, something's wrong" is what I mumbled as I pushed Ell out of bed to see what had happened. Barf everywhere, poor girl. My super husband cleaned her and her bedding and put her back to sleep. A couple hours later Collin vommitted all over me and my side of the bed. It's one thing when big kids are sick but it is quite another when tiny babies are sick. So at 5am we were up changing all of our bedding and I jumped in the shower with Colly. Ell stayed home from work to help me with the sickies. We quarantined Gracie to her room. She slept all day but never threw up again. I took Collin to see Dr. Roseman just because he's so young still. She checked him out and told us to lay off the formula for a while. Hello Pedialyte. By dinner time, Gracie was begging to eat and looked to be feeling much better. I considered keeping her home from school but put the idea out of my head when I saw her running around her brothers.

The next morning I took a tour at a potential kindergarten for Logan. More on that later. The twins went to preschool and Colly came with me. After the tour we went to lunch with Phee Phee and did some shopping. We picked up the twins from school and everyone seemed great. Around 3pm I got a call from Logan's preschool. He threw up. Bummer. Ell left work early and brought home our poor barfy boy. Poor Logie went right to bed. Ell and I had a meeting that night at another potential kindergarten. Ell was unusually quiet and I just knew he was next. On our way home Phee Phee called to say Gracie had thrown up again. Darn. As soon as we got home from the meeting Ell was sick. No not my husband! He takes care of the barf so I don't have to!! So I started my 1st of 10 loads of gross laundry. I'm so thankful we have a washer and dryer!

Everyone was confined to their beds until I deemed them healthy enough to return to society. Logan bunked with daddy since he is without a bed until we buy another mattress. This, however, left mommy and Colly without a bed. So for the past 2 nights we've slept on couch. Downstairs. By ourselves. In a creeky house. After watching several episodes of Criminal Minds. Yes, I am a big chicken.

Today the sickies are all feeling much better. They were allowed downstairs and to play with each other. They miss each other so much when they're separated for any amount of time. On Friday, when Logan and Gracie were sick, Nathan kept saying "Mommy, I'm so sick I need to be with Gracie." Then he'd fake cough. Poor guy was lonely. I'm hoping and praying that Nathan and I avoided whatever the others had but we cancelled all out weekend plans just in case. So, Stomach Flu, we've hosted you at our house twice in the last 2 months. You aren't welcome here anymore! Move on.

4 months last Sunday

Collin turned 4 months on this past Sunday. I can't believe it. Last year at this time I had NO idea I was pregnant and I was completely happy to wait until the twins were 3ish before we started trying for our next baby. God knew our family needed a sweet, adorable, smiley, squishy baby boy in our lives. I'm so glad!

Collin, you are such a joy. You love your mama, a lot. And that thrills me to no end. You're happiest snuggled up with me or watching me make silly faces at you. You still hate tummy time and being in your carseat. You are wearing a size 2 diaper and 6 month clothes. You love the bath and watching your brothers and sister play. You've just started to really enjoy your jumperoo! You're eating 5oz every 4 hours. You don't go to see Dr. Roseman until January 30th but I'm guessing you're about 17lbs. You're such a big boy! I love you so much and I've enjoyed these past 4 months so much. xo


1-4 months

San Diego

This weekend was the long awaited trip to San Diego for my inlaws' 30th wedding anniversary. We had big plans to leave by 10am on Friday and to have the car all packed the night before. Fail. We left at 2pm and hit rush hour traffic in San Diego. Collin was less than thrilled with having to sit in his carseat for 4 hours. When we finally arrived the kids and I explored the rental house while Daddy unpacked the car. The kids love their uncles so the we're totally crazy excited to play with them. Grandma made dinner and then we put the kids to bed. The grown ups played games and laughed a lot until we were too tired to keep our eyes open. The kids were up bright and early and excited to go to Sea World. We had a yummy breakfast, packed our backpack, dressed the kids and we're on our way. First we hit the tide pools.


I hardly know what to do with myself when the grandparents and uncles are around. Colly is my only responsibility. It's really nice to have the extra hands. After the tide pools we did the aquarium. All 3 big kids were scared of the dark and the giant fish. They didn't believe us when we told them the fish couldn't come through the glass.


Before lunch we saw the Shamu show. It was so fun to watch the kids watch the show. The loved the whales but were disappointed that we didn't get splashed. It was freezing cold! They had Huge tv screens and if you texted you name it would appear on screen. I emailed in a photo of Logan and after the show they put it up on the big tv too! We told him he was famous.


Next we had lunch. It was overpriced theme park food but we were hungry. Uncle James got attacked by some seagulls on the way to the table and they stole Logan's hotdog! The kids got a kick out of that! After lunch we did the dolphin show, met Elmo, rode some Sesame Street rides,


saw the pet show, did the helicopter ride, and saw the sharks and penguins! So busy and so fun!! Collin was good as gold the whole time we were at the park. He's such a mellow baby now. We were back at the house by 6 and the kids were asleep by 6:45. They were exhausted. Last night Colly had a rough night and was awake a lot. He has a little cold and all the congestion was making him feel terrible. I was up most of the night so when I rolled over in bed and saw 3 little faces staring at me I was not thrilled. We started our day before 6am and I'm sure we woke up everyone in the house as well. My kids are not quiet. Ever. Today we walked around old town for a couple hours. We had breakfast at a Mexican restaurant and then did some shopping. Our day together ended with ice cream from Cold Stone. Yum. We said our goodbyes and gave lots of hugs before tackling our 4 hour car ride home. Ugh. I hate traffic and so does Collin. The 3 big kids slept most of the ride and then watched movies. They were great travelers. This trip makes me even more excited for our big Disneyland trip in the Spring! I can't wait. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun getaway this weekend. We had a blast! xo

Five years and still going strong!

Yesterday was our 5th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 5 years! Only 5 years?! We've had 4 beautiful children in 5 beautiful years together. My sister babysat Collin for us so we could spend the morning together while the big kids were at preschool. We went to breakfast, shopped downtown (Goodwill, Used books, Collectables). Then we ran to Trader Joes to get snacks for our San Diego trip before we picked up the twins at preschool. Ell bought a half gallon of orange peach mango juice to drink in the car.


It was so nice to be alone together and talk and hold hands and just be silly. We didn't even play with our iPhones! Later that night, after the kids were fed a ready for bed, we went out to dinner. Ell loves him some Red Lobster and we had a gift card so that's where we ended up.


Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Yum! We also saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I may or may not have napped in the theater for about 30 minutes. Oops. A 9:55 movie is too late for this girl. Especially when the movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. The parts I was awake for we're really good. I feel so blessed to have found such a kind, loving, caring man to marry. He takes good care of all of us and I couldn't ask for a better father for my kids. I'm looking forward to sharing lots and lots of anniversaries with you, Ell. I love you.

Christmas Recap

Our Christmaspalooza started on the 14th with the bank's family Christmas party. The kids had a blast, ate tons of pizza, and decorated cookies. The highlight was when Santa made a special stop at the party. He brought each of the kids a gift. Gracie got a veterinarian kit to take care of her Nala and the boys each got robots. Mommy must have had a mini stroke when buying them. Otherwise I never would have. I'm the anti weapon/ anti violence mom and yet I purchased each of my boys a robot with a giant gun in one hand and a sword in the other. Oops. Also those robots are loud and light up. Totally not my style. Collin even got to sit on Santa's lap and get a present.
The next night we had the twins' Christmas program at school. Their personal performances could not have been more true to their characters. Gracie cried throughout the entire performance all while singing every word and doing every hand motion. Nathan laughed and hopped around the stage completely clueless to the fact that he was there to sing a song. Good times. Faraway grandma and grandpa and Uncle Nick made the trip as well as Nina, Willie, Papa, Grandma and Phee Phee. My kids always have quite the cheering section.
Friday was Logan's Christmas program. He was the narrator of the play and had memorized about 10 lines. When he got on stage I could tell he was super nervous but daddy and I told him to do his best and that we were SO proud of him and that seemed to do the trick. He was ready and he did such a great job. Our entire family was there to see our big boy. After the performance we headed home to get ready for our Palmdale Christmas with Ell's family.
Ell had all these plans to be all packed up and ready to go earlier than scheduled. However, the littlest people bring the most stuff and take the longest to get ready to go. So, we were late. We love our tradition of celebrating with our Faraway family the weekend before Christmas. The kids played with their dad's and uncles' old Ghostbusters toys and soaked up all the wonderful attention from their grandparents and uncles. Uncle James and Nicole made and decorated cookies with them. We went to dinner at Giovanni's. Yum. After dinner we went back home to open presents. Gracie got some Calico Critters and the boys got Jokers Funhouse. After presents it was SO bedtime for the kids. The grownups played LeftRightCenter and watched a movie after setting up Santa's gifts to the kids. When it was finally bedtime for the adults, Nathan threw up. Poor baby. In the morning the kids found that Santa had brought them the Batcave, 2 "rock guitars" and a microphone, and a Calico Critters nursey. Nathan, Collin and I stayed home from church to avoid any accidents. After church we decided Nathan was well enough to go to lunch with everyone. We ate at PARS. After some more hangout and play time we packed up the car and headed home. It was such a nice time. I love that they love our kids so much.
The next week the kids were off school on Christmas break. We stayed in our jammies until late in the day, had Icees at Target, watched every Disney movie we own, had some playdates, and ate way too many Christmas treats.
Christmas eve we played in the backyard and later went to church for the children's service. Gracie volunteered to be an angel and the boys Just kind of stood on stage with the other kids. Grandma and I made taquitos for dinner and then it was off to bed for the kidlets. Grandma and Ell stayed up super late wrapping presents. The kids were up but 7:30 and had already dumped their stockings by 7:45. This year was so fun. The kids loved all their gifts and were so excited to open each present. It was just as much fun for Ell and I. For dinner we went to my Aunt's house. My mom and I made tacos and we had tamales. This was the first Christmas without my Grammie. It was sad. Blue was her favorite color so we all hung blue ornaments on the tree in her honor.
This was Colly's first Christmas and although he didn't care about any of it, I am amazed that we have a beautiful baby boy this year to celebrate with. He's such a blessing.

A blog to remember...

I started this blog as a place to record our everyday happenings. With 4 kids 4 and under, life gets busy. Like really busy. But it's also really fun and so precious. I want to remember it all.