Monday, July 25, 2011

Videos of my boys

Here are a few videos of the boys that go with some of my recent posts:

http://www.youtube.com/user/heenycute1?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/GmmCT926B1E
This video is of Nathan riding his new tricycle.  Yeah, he's wearing a swim diaper because he'd been playing with mud and water.

http://www.youtube.com/user/heenycute1?feature=mhee#p/a/u/2/BRTToEmTvIQ
Here is Daniel describing the river he made with his daddy.  This goes with the Fun with Mud and Water post I put up last week. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/heenycute1?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/Ih5SHXJkzUg
Here is the river running.

Exersaucer!

Xander's first time in the saucer.  This was day  before yesterday: July 23, 2011

He's really enjoying it!  A new way to play!
He's doing really well with not falling over too.  It's great for his leg strength and also fine motor skills.  So glad we could get him into playing upright more!

Looking closely at one of the toys...

Interacting...

Having lots of fun.  Not to mention, big brother Daniel was in the chair next to him making him laugh.

"Look at me, Daddy!"

Daniel gave Xander this lion ball thing with little tentacle like things coming off of it.  Xander is really studying what it is and the strange new texture!

He seems to really like the exersaucer.  I'm so glad I bought this thing for Daniel when he was a baby.  All three boys have gotten great use out of it!  Last night, Xander staying in it and was happy and entertained for about an hour!  Not too much else to report on this story.  The pictures really speak for themselves!  Thanks for checking them out!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Heat Exhaustion

So, yesterday, my friend Jill called and invited us to come to her swim club for the day because it was so hot out:  a whopping 117 degrees with the heat index.  I wasn't sure it was  good idea but I knew the boys would want to go and see their friends and play in the pool.  So, I packed the kids up and we went to the pool.  It was insanely hot!  We got there (in our suits) and pretty much go right into the pool.  I had the baby with me in the water and I was doing all that I could to keep him cool while keeping him out of the sun.  There was one sliver of shade in the pool so that was where we camped out.  The boys had a good time and I'm glad I brought some of their water toys because no one else did and their toys were quite popular.  One little girl named Isla (age 2), kept taking them and putting them over by her mom.  It was cute.  She was thinking "I'll take this one and this one and put them here so I can play with them later".   It was a nice time but even with sitting in the pool and watering ourselves down, we were all getting too hot.  When it was time to go, I had the boys dressed (aside from Daniel's underwear which I told him to pack and he didn't) and I was about to strap a sleeping Xander into his car seat and he woke up and wanted to eat.   So, I got my cape and the burp cloth and sat down to feed him while still in my bathing suit.  My friend who invited us, Jill, offered the boys suckers.  So they were content and sitting in  a couple of deck chairs enjoying their suckers when suddenly I see/hear a gush of something under Daniel.   Immediately, I thought he peed his pants.  I was about to yell at him when he got up and walked over to me covered in vomit and tears streaming.  Poor guy got so overheated that he threw up.  I handed Xander off to Jill and took Daniel to the showers to get the puke off of him and put his bathing suit back on so he didn't have to wear the puke in the car.  We get back to the kids pool and Nathan is still sitting happily with his sucker and Xander is with Jill and has burped.  Daniel gets green again and looks like he's gonna go again.  I tell him to bend over (so he won't barf on his bathing suit too) and he proceeds to stand straight up and puke all over himself.  I was screaming at him "BEND OVER! BEND OVER! BEND OVER!" and he just stood there and kept puking.  GRRRRR!  I felt bad for him but angry that he didn't listen and now had NOTHING to wear home.   I was going to take him back to the shower again but decided to grab a few cups of water from the pool and dump it down the front of him to rinse him off and the pool deck at the same time.  That worked.  We packed up and got out of there fast.  Thank GOD my van's AC works fast!  It cooled down within a couple of minutes and he was already feeling better.  We got home and I pumped him with apple juice and water to rehydrate him.  He was fine.  It was a quite a scare though!  Moral of the story, always bring drinks to the pool and keep the kids drinking, drinking, drinking if it's that hot outside OR  stay inside in the air conditioning!!!!! 

Monday, July 18, 2011

Fun with Mud and Water

So, yesterday, after not sleeping well because of heartburn and feeling nauseated half the night, I had to miss church which I wasn't happy about.  After a couple of hours and some breakfast, I started to feel better.  Chris and I decided to take the boys outside to play because it was a nice summer day but way too hot to not doing something with water.  So, Chris got the Bruder trucks out that the boys got for Christmas from their Grandma and Grandpa.  He and Nathan got to work on building a river in the area he created in the back yard just for them and their trucks.   I hung out with Xander in the front yard so I could watch them if they decided to ride bikes or play with the cozy coupes.  I also got the plastic pool out and filled it up with cold water from the hose and bubble bath.   I got the idea from my friend Rachel Kinney, who posted some pictures of her kids playing in a pool filled with bubbles on facebook.  As soon as it was filled, Nathan was in it... even in his clothes and sandals!  They had huge blobs of bubbles on their heads and I'm bummed we weren't able to get pictures of that but I did get pictures of Nathan in the pool and Daniel's river he built with his dad.
Daniel after playing in the dirt.  He didn't want to show his face for the picture! He was pretty dirty even after rinsing off in the soapy pool a lot!

Nathan in the pool with his new swimming Nemo.

New Story to Share

I have decided to change the focus of my blog to talking about my family and things that come up in our lives.  Sharing things the kids have done for family and friends to read and any others that might relate to our stories and struggles.  On that note, I'm going to start right now with talking about what's been going on with us since we became a family of five...
Oh, and in case were wondering why I'm MOM2DNA it's because a the mom to Daniel, Nathan and Alexander!

It was certainly a surprise when we learned we were expecting a third child.  It happened earlier than we had planned or expected but we were happy none the less after the initial shock wore off!  After I told Chris, the reality of the situation set in for both of us and we both were a bit freaked out.  I went down to my crafting desk and just stared at it for a while in wonder and fear of the impending reality of being a mother of 3.  I'm not sure why it was so scary at first but it was. 

We found out the day before our kitchen and the rest of our house was demoed for a full kitchen remodel.   It was really not the best timing to find out that I couldn't lift or move anything since our whole house was turned upside down!  My parents are a God-send and offered to let us come and live with them during the remodel so we lived there for about 2 months.  It was really nice living there aside from the boys having a harder time sleeping in an environment they weren't used to sleeping in.  I didn't have to worry about cleaning much or cooking because my mom took care of most of it. She wouldn't let me because of my "condition".  The best part was when we told her.  She had no clue because I didn't let on before we went to her house.  We told her the day after we found out.  We arrived at her house to live there and as we were unpacking our stuff I handed her the pregnancy test.  She screamed with delight!  Best reaction EVER!

The pregnancy was my hardest by far.  I had a LOT of pain from sciatica and contractions for the last 5 yes FIVE months of my pregnancy.  I ended up in the hospital once with what I thought might be preterm labor but was dehydration and a UTI. 

I have to be honest, I was a little bit sad after I learned that I was having a third boy.  I really wanted to have one girl to do all of the mother-daughter things with and share all of my "wisdom" and experience with. My mom and I are really close and I wanted to have that with my child.  I cried during my ultrasound.  I was really sad.  Chris didn't understand why I was sad.  "He's healthy.  You should be happy."  I was happy that he was healthy but he didn't understand that I was mourning a relationship I'll never get to have.  I'll never get to help a daughter with her first period, how to deal with boys, taking her shopping for her first bra, prom dress or help her plan her wedding, just to name a few things.  He didn't get it until I asked him how he thought he'd feel if we'd just found out we were having our third GIRL. He got it then.  He's really close with the boys which is great.  I'm not sure why God decided to bless us with our boys and no girls but there certainly was a reason.  I was sad for a day and when people ask if we'll be trying again for a girl.  I have to answer them, "No.  The doctor told me it's a bad idea for me to get pregnant again because my uterus has thinned out too much after having 3 c-sections".  Our only option would be to adopt at this point and I'm not closed to the idea.  We wanted 3 children and we have been blessed with 3 beautiful children.  I will do my best to raise good, sweet, honest and loving boys who are happy and healthy.  I love my boys more than anything in this world and I thank the good Lord for blessing us with them.  Thanks for listening.