Football Preview

Last weekend the babies and Daniel were all in their Rider gear for the big playoff game. Group pictures now are just about impossible to get without bribing them with something, and even then not everyone is looking at the same time.


Our speedy little running back ready to do some baking.

Our husky full back.


And our pretty little cheerleader.

Are these not the most beautiful blue eyes you have ever seen? I hope Casey and Mitchell are prepared to be her body guards.


We are going to a Grey Cup party on Sunday at a friend's place. There will be a lot of kids and noise there so I am sure it will be crazy but fun! And of course hopefully a good football game. Go Riders!

Silly Boys

We have been having so much fun with the babies lately, lots of laughs. They are real little people now. There are times when all 3 of them laugh and giggle and play with each other. Then 30 seconds later they start to fight and push each others buttons really well. Casey had his first time out the other day. He was determined to take Mitchell's soothie and toy away from him, even after numerous attempts of me trying to distract him and taking him into another room. He would just walk right back to Mitchell and pluck his soothie out his mouth, and then of course throw it away. So he spent a little time in his room all by himself which he hates. Some days I feel like Maggie kind of gets lost in the mix because she just does her own thing so quietly as the boys are little wild men. She is so happy and content, although she has started sticking up for herself more than she used to against the boys.

Here are some videos from a few days ago. The boys were having fun in the laundry basket. I am surprised that they played as well as they did being in such close quarters. I love Mitchell's laugh, it's so cute!



They all like to give kisses now. Here is a video of Mitchell giving Casey a kiss and then going after Maggie who was playing hard to get. The video is a little dark because of the light from the window.

It's so cute to watch them kiss each other or Daniel or I. It's even funnier to see all of the slobber that ends up on the cheeks, foreheads, books after the kissing is done.

Yuckiest Mommy Moment

Today I had the yuckiest moment since being a mom, well maybe ever. We were having a play date at our house with some friends and their kids. I had changed Maggie and Casey after their nap because they had dirty diapers. I picked Mitchell up to do the "sniff test" and see if he was dirty too. Well yes he was and I got the grossest surprise. I was not paying attention as I turned him around to sniff his little bum and apparently did not see or smell the poop coming out of the top of his diaper until I stuck my face in it. There I was standing in front of my two friends with poo all over my chin (just barely missing my mouth), on my hand, arm, shirt and it was smeared all over his back. Thank you to Karen and Kari for helping me clean myself up, what good friends! Yuck!

Sorry for sharing another poop story but I wanted this on here so Mitchell can see it some day and read (or laugh) about how much crap he put us through...
...kidding of course!!

Note to self: dress Mitchell in onesie's or 1 piece pj's so we don't have anything trying to escape.

Does this look like this face of a little boy who can make such a big mess?


A few more pictures. Maggie has been doing a real goofy grin lately showing off her new teeth.


Casey being coy

We have 3 Linus's that absolutely love their blankies. They would carry them around all day if we let them. They also love to put them over their heads like this and then walk around bumping into things and falling down.

Getting Ready For Christmas

Well not really, but we did get some "Christmas pictures" taken this past weekend for our Christmas cards. I wrapped up boxes for each of the babies to sit in and then some smaller boxes for them to play with. We went to Gail and Dave's so they could take the pictures for us.

It didn't take the babies long to tear into the wrapping paper and chew holes in the boxes. Then they had fun crawling in and out of them. All they need for Christmas is wrapped up empty boxes that they can crawl into. Speaking of Christmas wishes, Maggie got her wish early...her 2 front teeth are finally coming in nicely.

We weren't lucky enough to have everyone looking in one shot, so I knew of someone who can cut and paste heads to create one picture where everyone is looking their best. If you ever need someone to do that for you her website is http://mjmphotocreations.blogspot.com/ . She was really good to work with and got it back to me in no time.

I love the way the boys are looking at each other in this one.

Casey looks so excited, like he just opened the coolest gift (and Maggie is pretty interested in it too).

Professor Mitchell



Maggie and Auntie Gail were pushing the boys around. I think that is the closest they have been with no fighting in a long time.

Mitchell lounging back in his box and Maggie getting ready to jump out.

Christmas will be fun this year. We haven't decided yet what we are going to do about a tree. We may have to expand the baby jail that we have around the TV and put it in there. There is no way that we could have it not surrounded by something because they would have it pulled over it no time and be pooping pine needles for days.

Our First Incident

Last week we had our first "poop smearing incident". People told me that it would happen at some point. And I guess I have to say that I was glad that all 3 of the babies didn't join in. I was changing Maggie at the time when Daniel asked me what I had given Mitchell. He walked a little closer to see that his hand was full of poop and it was smeared on the carpet, their bedroom door and the music box. I guess he had reached around and pulled it out of the back of his diaper (he was wearing two piece pj's). Daniel and I almost lost our cookies but he didn't seem to mind because he had it in his mouth and up his nose. So gross!!

Everyone is pretty much fully walking now. They will still crawl the odd time but they have gotten really good at walking just within the past 5 days that Daniel has been gone. They must be wanting to show off for him when he gets back. Maggie and Mitchell used to walk like Frankenstein with their arms straight out and Casey had his arms up like a football goalpost. They don't do that as much anymore but they do still stager around at times like they have had a few too many drinks.

We have found out that nerf balls are not something that the babies (well actually Mitchell) are allowed to play with anymore. We had a few footballs that he took good sized chunks out of. Then today he dug to the bottom of the toy box, pulled out the soccer ball that I didn't realize was in there and ended up with a bunch of pieces of it in his mouth. This boy will bite and chew on anything, people included. He shoves food in his mouth with both hands...I think he figures someone may try and steal it if he doesn't (and maybe rightfully so in this house). He looks like a little chipmunk with stuffed cheeks when he eats. Casey has been screaming a lot lately, when he is happy, excited, sad, mad...or for no real reason at all. And Maggie, she is sneaky little girl. She always finds a way to climb onto our lap if we're on the floor or be right at our legs if we're at the table. She does it very discretely so the boys don't notice she has the prime spot.

Here is a video of something that the babies love to do in our kitchen. They go around and around the island. This a strangely quiet version, it usually is a lot louder than this. I think they had just gotten up from a nap.

Pool Fun

We spent some time this weekend at the hotel pool where my parents were staying. This was the first time that the babies were in any water other than the tub. Within a minute we realized that Mitchell and Maggie are little fish. They had a lot of fun splashing and being pulled around in the water. Mitchell kept putting his face into the water. I even took him down the waterslide. I think I was more concerned about how fast we were going and the cold water than he was. Casey took a little longer to warm up to the water but was splashing around and enjoying himself by the end.

We went back up to the hotel room after leaving the pool. The babies were all over the place until they found the box of beer. They were pretending to drink them and they would shake them to get them nice and bubbly for Grandpa to open later. Then the funniest thing happened. They were playing around with the cans when all of a sudden we heard one open. I looked over and Mitchell had cracked a beer open with his teeth and it was starting to bubble over! It was so funny! He loves to rake things over his bottom teeth. He used to take all of the lids off of their bottles that way. Daniel and I joked that he was going to be the guy at the parties opening beer bottle caps with his teeth. Well, we didn't think it would happen at 14 months old.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.






Mitchell's waterslide action shot. I realize it is just a blur, but I couldn't resist putting it in.

Here was the after party back in the room.


Casey thinking, "Hmmm, should I have 1 more?"

"Well maybe just 1, but then I really have to go."

Mitchell right before he actually opened his beer (and then had it taken away of course).

They all had a good time and everyone slept really good that night (and no, not because they were into the beer).

I realized this morning that we need to do a little more baby-proofing in our house. As I was getting their breakfast ready I looked down to see Mitchell had opened the oven door and had his arm sticking in there. So off I went later to Toys R Us and got oven locks. I know it is just a matter of time before they open the fridge too. Daniel is away in Texas right now for meetings. He may be coming back to 3 fully walking babies. Each day they get a little more stable and crawl a little less. It is so fun to watch them walking around!

Flu Season Here We Come

We went today and got the babies their H1N1 vaccinations. Gail and I had packed everyone up and gone yesterday but turned around and left once we saw the huge lineup. Last night a few people told us that it was fairly quiet in the early afternoon (as opposed to a 3 hour wait in the morning) so that's when we went today. It went really well, about 30 min. from start to finish. Daniel and Gail were there with me so we had one adult per baby. The babies all cried when they got poked but they were little troopers and were just fine within a minute or two. Now they are having their afternoon nap that hopefully will be a long one. We will just wait and watch in the news to find out if they will need a second shot in a few weeks time. The nurse today thought that they may not need it. They had the first of their seasonal flu shots on Monday and will get another one in about a month.

I had my seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 vaccination last weekend. I was able to get it done early because I am a health region employee. Daniel will hopefully be able to get his done in the next week or two and then we'll all be done. Hopefully we can escape this dreaded flu season without any sicknesses.

Speaking of hoping to escape the season without any illnesses we have been thinking also about the upcoming RSV season. Last year we sent out an email to our family and friends about RSV, a respiratory virus that our babies are at a higher risk of catching than most children. Here is the Cole's notes version of last year's letter:


Preventing the spread of RSV is very difficult. So, we must be vigilant about keeping our babies safe during RSV season (October through April).

The virus is spread through:
- physical contact (shaking hands, holding a baby)
- airborne particles in the air via a cough or sneeze
- touching an infected object or surface

Studies have shown that infants and school age children pose an even higher risk of spreading RSV to others. You might ask, “Can’t they fight it off and build up their immune system? Kids need to get sick, right?” The simple answer is NO.
In toddlers, kids and adults RSV can be nothing more than a common cold. However, in babies that are at high risk (which our babies are because they were premature) it could start as a cold but develop into a life threatening illness. They did not acquire the necessary immunities to fight off infection. Their lungs are still very fragile until they are over 2 years-old.

We ask that all visitors help us by doing the following:
1. When you arrive, please wash your hands and use hand-sanitizer before touching the babies or objects/surfaces in the house.
2. Please refrain from coming over if you think you may be getting sick, are currently sick, if you live with someone who is sick, or have been in close contact with someone who is sick.
3. If you are parents to a baby, toddler or child who has been sick, please refrain from bringing them over until they are well.
4. If we are planning to visit you and someone in your household is sick, please let us know and we will visit again when everyone is well.

We will also take the same precautions and will stay at home if anyone in our house is sick. Our goal is to make it through this season without the babies contracting RSV or any other serious illness.

We hope you understand and we appreciate your help. We want to do everything we possibly can to protect our babies from becoming potentially very sick. When Mitchell was hospitalized with pneumonia in September we realized once again how important it is to take all of the precautions that we can. Given the current flu situation I think everyone is going to be a little more aware and conscious of being out in crowds with or around sick people, whether that is with friends or family or in public places. In the few places I have been recently I have seen hand sanitizer being used whereas you would rarely see it before.

So here's hoping that our family and yours make it through this dreaded season illness free.

Happy Halloween!

What a difference a year makes. Last year at Halloween we had 3 tiny babies wearing preemie halloween shirts and now this year we have 3 walking monkeys. We dressed the babies up at home first in between their naps and tried to get some pictures of them. We got a few but then realized how hot the costumes were. I guess they are meant for outside trick or treating. Later in the afternoon we went to Gail and Dave's house for a quick visit and got some pictures there. When we got home we put them in the wagon and went over to a neighbour's place, but that was the extent of our trick or treating. We planned on getting out to see some friends but it didn't happen. They weren't crazy about being in their hot costumes and loaded in and out of the van.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the day. They were so cute! My mom sewed some pink felt onto Maggie's costume to make her a girly monkey.





Mitchell was having fun with Casey while Maggie was trying to eat the pumpkin.



The boys getting into Auntie's things.

Daniel thought the boys looked like fire fighters posing shirtless for their calendar shoot.

Casey


Mitchell



Maggie




My niece Meaghan and Maggie

My nephews ready to head out trick or treating (Scream and the Grim Reaper)