Day 59: "Emm is for Mittens!"

Look what Mommy made me!!!! Wearing her mittens proud!
This yarn is also from The Topeka Twister! I actually posted about it HERE!

Day 58: "Reading"

She sat like this for 30 minutes, flipping back and forth through this 5-page book "reading".

Day 57: "The Hubby Hat"

For one of Andy's Christmas gifts this year, I wanted to make him a hat from Alpaca yarn. Just my luck some one I know through a FB MoM (moms of multiples) group actually spins yarn and had some Alpaca to dye and spin! I jumped on it and she created some awesome yarn for his hat. The yarn was his Christmas gift. He picked out a pattern and asked every few weeks since Christmas morning when I was going to work on his hat? I had orders to fill, paying customers trumped the Hubby's hat until a couple weeks ago when I was all caught up! I finally finished last night and he is in love. Here's my newest hat!

Transformation Complete.

If you've never checked out my crochet page go check it out! CROCHET BY AMANDA
You could also check out my friend's yarn spinning page too! The Topeka Twister

Day 56: "Noah the Photog"

Noah kidnapped my phone while I was trying to take some pictures of him. 

He figured out how to snap some pictures...I think we have a natural!

First he took quite a few of these finger shots...

Then he started yelling, "CUP! CUP! CUP!" and actually snapped this one!

With a little help from Mommy, I lifted his hands up so he could see Owen, and he got this one!!

Day 55: "Where or Where Have My Chubby Babies Gone??"

Day 54: "Ohhh Lyla..."

 A crazy no-napper at 3:30pm...

That same no-napper at 4:30pm...

See, Mommy was right Lyla, you are going to regret not taking that nap...and sure enough she woke up around 5:30 and was sobbing inconsolably for 15 minutes and ate her dinner like a zombie.

Now to discuss her interesting fashion choices...no, she did not dress herself...yes, I picked out and layered her clothing this way on purpose. She is a little stripper, and we've tried the zip up jammies, she can now unzip. We've turned the zip up jammies backwards and twisted the feet around and zipped up behind her so she can't unzip, but she fights so hard and gets her skinny little body through the neck hole of every pair of pajamas that we own. If she wants to be in her diaper running around, fine with me, but......

Yesterday she decided to start taking it a little further, and removing her diaper as well and then running away laughing at me as she pees down her legs. Then naptime came and after the 3rd time redressing her and changing her wet sheets she finally fell asleep, but not after (as I discovered when I got her up) removing her diaper WITHOUT removing her pants, yeah, figure that one out. This getup was my attempt at bedtime to keep her clothed, after she had already gotten out of the backwards jammies AGAIN. When I went to get her out of her room this morning, as I peeked into her room, cringing at where the puddle might be, much to my surprise she was still clothed. Fitted zip up jammies (on the right way) with a onesie, it worked. 

This time anyway.

Day 53: "Squirrely"

Meet Nutty the squirrel. He's been visiting us for a couple years now. He comes right up on the deck, runs along the railing and climbs up to the peak of the roof of the garage and then down the other side never to been seen. The kids flip out with excitement whenever Nutty comes up to the deck! Sometimes he'll even sit there for minutes, just shaking his tail and staring in the window. He's probably contemplating what little fingers and toes might taste like, as I'm sure he's grown tired of his acorn diet!! Hopefully he won't be so brave once we're outside more often!

Day 52: "Watch and Learn"

Eating Lyla's Cheerio's! Want not, waste not, in this house! Owen was picking up one at a time before I snapped this photo, eating them so daintily. Noah was grabbing fist-fulls and horking them down as fast as he could, because he wanted them ALL! So Owen caught on, and started grabbing bigger handfuls too, losing half of them on the floor. I love what the learn from each other, even something silly like this.

Day 51: "Throwback Thursday"

Feb 2012

 Remember this one??? 

We thought this stroller was the answer to my cabin fever...too bad it was impractical for outings. 

The kids sure were cute in it though!

Day 50: "Little Moments Like This"

Today we had cousin Lucie over to play all day! It was so much fun to have her around! Emmalee finally had some one her own age to hang out with. We did a lot of fun things but this was my favorite part of the day. It only last a few minutes, but it was so cute!

Day 49: "Why My Kid Is Crying..."

As a parent you've probably had many, many of the following moments. 

Toddler-hood is especially chock full of these moments of inexplicable tantrum throwing.

Today's excerpt of Why My Kid Is Crying and Throwing a Tantrum:

All this is because the original pants I put on him this morning kept falling down, so he asked for new pants. I gave him these new pants that fit perfectly and stay up. Now he wants the pants that kept falling down back on.     o.O

Day 48: "Just a Little Peanut Butter"

It's been over a year but these images haunt me still.

Owen a few minutes after eating some peanut butter, he was 1.5 years old, and usually spit PB out immediately, so I gave him bologna that day, and he took a slice of Noah's PB&J sandwich and was eating it, saying; "mmm good!" We had no reason to believe he was allergic to PB, just though he didn't care for it. I took this photo to ask some mom friends on FB what they thought this might be. When a few suggested food allergy, I knew something was wrong, and when the red was up above his face, and he was rubbing himself on the ground, something was not right about this. His breathing was fine, so I got my sister in law to come sit with the others and I took him to Urgent Care.

Here he is in the exam room having Nebulizer treatments. This was after we walked in, signed in and he vomited all over me and himself and began getting wheezy. He had some steroids and Benadryl to stop his reaction and did the nebulizer a few times. We were sent home with a script for an EpiPen and told to follow up with our Pediatrician ASAP.

Here he is a month after his reaction at his first appointment with his allergist. He was such a trooper for a very long and exhausting appointment. We had to retell the events of his reaction 3 times that morning and then they were to proceed with testing for allergies by doing a skin test for peanuts, all tree nuts and we had them add eggs because we had a small suspicion that he might have an oral allergy to them.

Here is his back about 5 minutes after she pricked him with all the allergens. The 2nd one down on the top left is peanuts. I don't recall what the second on the right is, but that one was pretty bad as well! The one on the bottom right was eggs. After we also had blood drawn it was determined that he is indeed allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and had a mild egg allergy. We were told to carry an EpiPen at all times, avoid peanuts and tree nuts and concentrated eggs (he could have eggs baked in things like cookies/cakes etc) and come back for a follow up in a year unless he has a reaction before then.

Today was our one year follow up. We will do blood work on a yearly basis to determine if his levels have decreased and if he will ever be a candidate for an in-office food challenge. We are planning to do one of these challenges for the concentrated eggs this year some time. He's quite your typical 2.5 year old picky eater, so I don't know that he'd even eat the eggs if he was given them. So we'll start offering eggs to everyone else on a weekly basis and see if he shows interest and then schedule the challenge. This is something they want to do in the office, because they aren't sure if he will react or not, so it's better to have the doctors and nurses there to monitor the challenge. As far as the peanut/tree nut allergies, we know for sure he's got an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts, he's had a reaction to prove so. Tree nuts have never been a part of his diet to this point, but until his blood work shows that he's very low, or negative for them, we will continue to avoid them. We will know his results in a few days, and will go from there. The allergist, based on his testing thinks he may be a lifer with the peanut allergy. So we are doing our best to keep him safe, and continuing to be a nut free home.

Day 47: "Look HOO's Getting Their First Mugs!"

I ordered these adorable mason jar mugs today on etsy! Julie, the owner of House of Jars, was so pleasant and quick to respond! I told her what I was looking for, she sent me ideas right away and voila!!! a few hours later, they came to life!

You can find House of Jars on Facebook and Etsy!
(Photo Credit to House of Jars)

Day 46: "Go AWAY Snow!"

But it just keeps coming....

Day 45: "Be Mine"

Our Valentine's Day tradition with the kids is for Andy to pick out a little something for the kids. This year, the beloved Beanie Boos make an appearance, adding 4 new little critters to the collection we've got going. Daddy chose a bumble bee name Sting for Lyla, a fuzzy puppy named Rootbeer for Noah, an elephant named Peanut for Owen, and a lady bug name Bugsy for Emmalee. The were all so excited to see these as they came out for breakfast, and opened their cards with enthusiasm, and Lyla even gave us unprompted "Thank oooo, Thank oooo!!!" (That's a big deal here folks!)

Day 44: "Icy"

Add caption

Day 43: "Slippers"

My first pair of slippers!
(Pattern can be found HERE!)

Day 42: "Valentines"

Emmalee working hard on signing her name 19 times for her Valentines for her classmates and teachers! We went the homemade route, since I have stacks and stacks of scrapbook paper not getting used. Emmalee picked her favorite designs, I cut out some heart shapes, she glued her classmates name & picture tags (provided by her teachers) on the back, and after I wrote "Happy Valentine's Day!  Love," she signed her name!

Day 41: "A Year Ago Today"

My camera battery was dead, and I just didn't take any good pictures today. So here's one from a year ago today. (2/10/13) We were at my parents for a Sunday dinner and got all the kids (minus Mason for some reason) sitting on the couch watching a movie. Notice the "Ham" in the center of the photo, gotta love that cheesey grin!

Day 40: "At the Jump Club"

Today we went to The Jump Club with cousins Alex & Mason! This was our first outing to a play place with all 4 kids, and the trio's first time anywhere like this! Let me just say, I was a bit anxious going in, didn't know what to expect and if I was going to be regretting every moment. In the end, it was great fun, we had help from my sisters and my parents and the place was set up pretty well so that we could kind of see every one at the same time! Here's some fun pictures of the kids at play!

Day 39: "Mail"

The best day are the days the mailman delivers my orders! I just love seeing those envelopes and boxes on my doorstep! This is what came inside a brown paper envelope today!

Hand-spun yarn by my friend Jess who goes by "The Topeka Twister" on Facebook! Check her out!
I plan to transform this into mittens for Emmalee, and when I showed her, and told her what I was going to make with them, she was literally jumping for joy!

Day 38: "The Perfect Ending"

To Mommy's night out! :) Thanks for being my date, Julie!

And yes, that is a PB cup sundae with extra PB...I only eat PB when I'm out to eat! I miss it just a little bit.

Day 37: "Rare Moments"

A rare moment indeed.

The 2.5 age is upon us, and that comes with hitting, arguing, and just plain "hating" each others guts. (I don't think they hate each other, they can barely be separated for a short time, but you know what I mean.) Today I came home from dropping Emmalee to school and they were sitting here, didn't even move to come greet me, as they usually do, just kept playing and talking to each other. A priceless moment.

Another rare moment.

Why is this so moment so rare, you ask?? Well we see Papa at least 3 days a week, so it's not that. Lyla loves him to death, so it's not that she's on his lap. They're both happy individuals, so it's not the smiles. See what Lyla is wearing???????? A shirt!!!!! Not zipped up fleece pajamas, on backwards, but a real, adorable shirt dress, and even has pants on too! She kept it on for like an hour, then I left to bring Emmalee to school and Papa said he had to redress her 4 times. She just always wants to be naked...I don't get it! It's chilly! My remedy has been to dress her in zip up fleece jammies and then recently she learned to unzip, so we turn them backwards, and she can't get to the zipper! (She's tried to wiggle her way out the neck, with no luck, YET!) I think I need to let go of the control over this and let her be free!!! What do you think? We're just home, when the therapists come she can be in jammies, she has to for naps anyways b/c she'll strip completely down in bed, we've learned that the hard way.

Day 36: "Our Full, Messy Life"

My kids toys have taken over our living room. I don't mind the mess of toys, and will leave them sprawled over the floor for days for a few reasons.

Reason #1: As soon as I/we clean up, some one dumps everything out.

 

Reason #2: The boys go crazy!

Reason #3: The craziness spreads and results in over reactions...such as this:

And finally Reason #4: It was back to looking like this before they went to bed tonight. And this is nothing compared to what it usually looks like!! :)

Our home is lived in, and played in, and it looks that way. We do some big clean ups and they're learning to participate, and soon they'll understand playing with a toy and putting it away when they're done. For now, we love our full, messy life!

Day 35: "Mike & Sully Hats"

I'm pretty proud of how these hats turned out! I love when people ask for characters, send me photos and then let me do whatever I can, and as you can see, I created my own versions of Mike & Sully!

Day 34: "Keep Growing..."

24 Hours

These things are growing, but it's barely noticeable YET...the package said allow 72hrs for most growth...we shall see...

Day 33: "Grow!"

This weekend we got some of those little grow animals, let's see if these Dollar Tree dinosaurs actually grow!

0 hours...

Day 32: "First Day of Firsts"

Today is February 1st, and this is Emmalee's first snowman of the year, and the triplets' first snowman ever! Also it's their first time using the new snowman kit they got from Julie for Christmas! Emmalee named him Olaf (I wonder why?) and says he likes warm hugs! :)