Little Known Facts

What you always wanted to know about the three monkeys....

**Ella could live on bread and cereal, but she doesn't always eat toast and rarely eats sandwiches. She also loves to mix cereals, Cheerios and Rice Krispies together is a favorite combo.

**Drew is a fast runner for his age, but otherwise is one of the slowest kids. Waiting for him to get out of the car, put his shoes on, and get dressed is sometimes painful.

**Tyler has been stuttering for a month. He tries to talk as fast as the other two and often gets stuck. It might be one of the cutest things ever and it has only increased the adoring stares he gets from strangers.

**Ella has an amazing memory, she can summarize books read only once a month ago at story time, she remembers parks we haven't visited in a year, and when looking at pictures she recalls events that happened on the day the picture was taken.

**Drew's hips are so bony that when he falls he doesn't usually skin his knees, he skins his hips.

**Tyler makes a great pig sound that none of us can do, we don't know where it came from, but it makes us laugh every time.

Looking Forward

Is it only Wednesday? Today is a little chilly, but who is complaining when the sun is out?!
After a few days of rain I love to head to our closest zoo. Walkways keep the kids out of the mud, but still in the fresh air. They can stretch their legs. And maybe it is just my imagination, but I think the animals are happier to see us after a spell of yucky weather.

This weekend promises temps back into the 80's. The hose will be reactivated and the wonder of water will entertain the troops.

Maybe if we are lucky we will hear the sweet song of the ice cream truck coming around the block.

The Sun will come out...

Im feeling better today. I think I hit a bit of a low yesterday afternoon, and it was just what I needed to say "enough is enough" and move on.

Move on from feeling sorry and frustrated and disappointed about this stinking kidney stent. So, Im uncomfortable. So, what? Baby is fine, Im fine, my family is awesome. Im lucky.

All this down time has been fun in a way. My kids have played with their own toys more in the past 2 weeks than the whole year. We have snuggled on the couch together more, without me jumping up to do something around the house. Sure we have watched tv, but we have done it together and had long conversations about what we watched.

I've also learned that I can't do it all. That accepting help isn't so bad. That I need to listen to my body and respect it. Ill need to take it easy for the next few months, but Im feeling confident now, today, that if I do, Ill be ok. The pain won't be so bad and Ill be able to act like myself.

Sometimes a day is all you need to see the big picture a little differently.

Life Vest

He is holding Tyler in this picture, but really it's my head he has above water.

He is washing floors and washing kids, keeping them busy and the kitchen clean.

He is making me laugh and buying ice cream.

He is making me feel better about feeling so terrible.

I couldn't ask for more.

Fishy

Doesn't she look happy?! She cried pretty much the entire lesson.

It is at these moments you wonder why you bothered.

But then while saying "bye" to her new teacher, after the tears were gone, she said, "Thank you for my swim lesson, but next time I want to be able to swim for a long, loooong time."

And she couldn't wait to go tell Daddy how much she loves swim lessons.

Go figure.

Never Get Old

Things Ill never tire of...

1. Little baby kicks and tumbles in my belly. They get me every time :)

2. The real giggles and laughs

3. Mispronounced words like "hospickle", "trench tries", "Oh-Tay!" and "hoop-a-loop"

4. My mother here for a visit

5. The way the enormous walrus at the aquarium swims up to the glass and smooshes his body into it, over and over

6. Sunny Spring Days

Tyler, Drew, and the Walrus - he is upside down

Like Father, Like....

Mike grew up going to the Jersey Shore, well before Snooki and the MTV crew invaded. Most beaches have showers at the entrances (I know my MA peeps, it is hard to imagine). Mike's family loves to laugh when they reminisce about Mike at the beach. He would have a blast in the water and then sprint to the showers, where he would remain until he was ready to go in the surf again. Why? He hates sand. Hates it. From a very young age, as if he was born to hate sand. Even now, he barely tolerates it.

Drew is like is Dad in so many ways. Creepy, "wow, nature is stronger than nurture" ways. But, there are reminders here and there that Drew is his own man.

On an uncharacteristically warm day in April, my brood and I escaped to the beach. The first thing Drew did was lay, roll, and laugh in the sand.

Yes, he is his own little man.

Happy Days

When Nonnie comes to town, all is right in the world.
But mainly, we are just so happy.

She'll be here for a few days to play, cook and watch American Idol with us. We will bask in her presence and the mood will be so light and happy.

I know Im lucky. So lucky.

How you doin'?!

This week I have fielded many questions about how I feel. It is an uncomfortable question for me, because I don't like to complain. I'd rather lie. I'd rather say, "Im doing great!" than "I feel like an Elephant is sitting on my bladder, a full bladder." The other problem, with my problem, is that people really don't want to hear about bladder, kidney or peeing issues. So when I do answer truthfully I get awkward looks and embarrassed stammers.

In case you really do want to know, keep reading, otherwise I'll see you tomorrow.

A few weeks ago blood showed up where it shouldn't. After lots of explaining to 4-yr-olds why I pee in cups and a relaxing trip for an ultrasound by myself - I found out I have a kidney stone. I was sent home with the hope that it would pass on it's own. At the time it felt like a rope was tied extra tight around my lower stomach.

Then Saturday night, the pain started. The kind of pain you read about. I have broken my leg, broken teeth and had exposed roots hanging out of my mouth, had numerous root canals, thrown up continually after a tonsillectomy, and birthed 3 children - including twins. I have never, ever, ever experienced pain like this. Over the 4 days in the hospital there were times when I felt as if I was watching this happen to someone else. I had no control over my body, thrashing around in the bed. I begged for more shots of morphine. I begged my husband to hit me over the head to knock me out.

Turns out when you are pregnant there is little you can do for a kidney stone.

So, we finally agreed to a CAT scan and a surgical procedure to hopefully remove the stone and/or add a stent to prevent my kidney from becoming infected and to eliminate the pain. A tough, nerve racking, heart wrenching decision. Would it harm my new baby boy? If I didn't do the scan and procedure would the pain cause me to go into labor? How long could I take copious amounts of pain killers hoping the stone would pass? I thought for sure that no matter the pain, I would/could endure it for my baby. It wasn't even an option. It just wasn't possible. Even writing that now, I feel in my heart that I failed, but rationally I know I did all I could.

They were not able to remove the stone, it is far too large - twice the size of the opening it needs to pass through. The stent is in and will need to be replaced at least once, maybe twice before I deliver the baby. And then surgery a few weeks after the baby is born to remove both stent and stone. More anesthesia, more uncomfortableness- but no pain and a healthy baby.

Keep your fingers crossed that I pass the stone so they can remove the stent and we can be done. But most importantly say a prayer that my baby comes out perfectly healthy and happy.

Favorite Things

Flip flops...
Spring flowers that welcome us home
Ribbons in pigtails...

Sweet Dreams

Last night, I helped my mom make up the couch and I kissed her goodnight. I gently shook my husband (with my foot) and he woke up off the floor and headed up to bed.

I followed him up, slowly.

First I stopped in on my baby and noticed how he suddenly filled the crib. He snored softly and clutched his blankie, looking like the sweetest little thing on Earth.

Next I checked in on my little girl, the only one Ill have. I moved dogs and bears, and the rest of the menagerie over so she would have a little room to sleep. I brushed her soft yellow curls away from her face and soaked in the smatter of freckles across her nose.

My biggest boy was next. My heart sank at his swollen eyes, chapped cheeks, and drippy nose. I said a silent curse to the trees blowing their pollen around our yard. I watched his chest rise and fall, reassured that he was breathing easy. My heart filled up again thinking about how he never complains about his obvious discomfort.

I climbed into bed and listened to the rhythm of my husband's sleepy breath and felt the warmth of his body right next to me.

After 4 nights in the hospital, it was the most perfect moment I could imagine.

Picnic

Today is chilly and quite gloomy, but we such a great week of spring and even summer weather! I have so many pictures to share of our adventures...but alas the kidney stone blues have me down and out.

You know what they say...this too shall pass...and in this case it is quite literal.

See you next week :)

Eggs in MA

Did you know that eggs in MA are brown, except at Easter time? And in NJ they are white all the time?
Little facts brought to you by Monkey Business...

The boys take their Easter Egg dying very seriously. This year we left the Paas kits in the store and went classic with a little food coloring. We tried to show them techniques with rubber bands and crayons, but they were content with plain old dipping.

This was our 3rd year in a row coloring eggs with my dad. The kids love that he is there, and my favorite moment of the year was when Drew splashed him with the green dye!! It was one of those moments where everyone laughs a real genuine, belly laugh and in the silence after the joy is palpable.

Crafting

..or as they call it, projects. They get so excited to do anything crafty, especially if it involves paint, glue, cutting or glitter. I love to prepare the project for 45 min and watch them take 5 min to complete it and leave the kitchen a mess of sticky glitter.

And then I try to think of people they can give the completed project to so I don't have to figure out where to put them.

The things we do for our kids :)

These were little Easter Baskets made from paper cups, paint, grass, baby chicks and ribbons. Cute and fun.

Catch Up

There are so many things I have to write. So many memories to preserve, pictures to share.

But, we have been too busy living to stop.

The weather is too great, and the friends and family too lovely.

Maybe tomorrow...