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