scary morning

UPDATE: Yep, Courtney has an ear infection...10 days of amoxicillin 3 X's a day!

Courtney had a terrible night. At 5 jon checked her temp and it was 101.6. We couldnt find the infant Tylenol so he went to Safeway and they didnt have any so he got infant Motrin. I looked up how much I was suppose to give her in "The Baby Book" and it said 1 1/2 droppers full but it wasnt the usual dropper that comes with it so I didnt read very carefully and I ended up double dosing her. I FREAKED out and made Jon call the after hours number at the doctors office. He talked to a nurse then she transferred him to the poison control (that serves Rhode Island and Massachusetts-odd) and they said the worse thing that will happen is that she will throw up. While he was on the phone I was giving her a bottle and when I went back into the bedroom I gave her the bottle from the middle of the night so if she throws up it could either be because she had to much Motrin or drank an old bottle. Not the best mothering this morning! I will be taking her to the doctors today to see if she has an ear infection because she was miserable all night long, at least Sydney only woke up once!

Moore's Pumpkin Patch

This morning I packed up the kids and went to the business Costco in Hayward. I like shopping at Costco because they have the shopping carts that fit the twins in the front and Sam sits in the basket. This Costco has a great bathroom, you can push the cart right in so when Sam had to go to the bathroom it wasnt a pain. On the way there we passed a pumpkin patch that had one of those pump it up slides but it wasnt pumped up so I told Sam if it was on the way home we'd swing by...it wasnt. I figured we'd just go to Moore's Pumpkin Patch which is just a couple miles up the freeway but the twins feel asleep so I told Sam after naps and lunch we'd head on over. So we got in the car around 245 and lo and behold Sam fell asleep. I drove all the way to Dublin filled the gas tank up at Safeway...I got .10 cents off a gallon using my card but big deal it was still 3.21 a gallon. I think it was 3.09 at the one off I usually go to but I digress. We got to the pumpkin patch around 330 and played for 45 minutes. Sam had a blast! She loved this fun house thing where you got to jump in the balls and climb up to a fun bridgr and a slide. The twins were all eyes on Sam the whole time.

How high can she fly?!

all smiles as usual

My sister is driving a train!

Conductor Sam

She's flying a helicoter

this year

last year

bath time?

After I got out of the shower this morning I accidently left the bathroom door open. When I came out of my room this is where I found the girls. Courtney was nice and wet. They played in there for a good twenty minutes giggling and happy as can be!

sleepy girl

Sam fell asleep on the couch during her quiet time today. When the twins woke up they tried to wake her but she didnt want to at all...she even rolled over. Finally at 6 I made her wake up. I tempted her with the pumpkin stamps that Namy sent her and cheese and crackers so she woke up. Let's hope she'll want to go to sleep in a couple hours!

park time w taylor

This morning while the twins were napping Sam and I went to Greenridge Park and met Julie and Taylor. Fun times!

BEST FRIENDS

daddy makes a good bed

Needless to say he didnt get a nap in!

more Bathtime

Tonight while Jon took Sam to gymnastics I gave the twins their bath. It was a little tricky, first I filled the tub up with about 2 inches of water then I got the girlies naked. My friend Kim gave me a picture of all three of her kids (the fourth wasnt born yet) when they were little looking in the tub like this that we have hanging in a bathroom. So when the twins stared into the tub I had to go grab the camera! It was pretty easy to bathe them at the same time. I totally think the key to it is not very much water in the tub, that way if they do fall over the arent going "under" and then me panicking trying to deal with one while the other is trying to stand or whatever. They sure were happy babies!

Bathtime

I absolutely love this picture!

CVMC Halloween Parade and party

This morning was the annual Halloween Parade and Party that the Castro Valley Mother's Club puts on. It is at the Baywood Senior Center. Lot's of cute giraffes, cats, lady bugs and princesses about! Some of the residents got into the spirit of things too and dressed up. The kids had a blast. All of Sam's play group were there also and Sam had fun running around the party and getting "treats" Have to watch her closely now since she figured out how to open candy wrappers. I think she had three pieces before I realized it!

this was the only picture I could get of Sam...she wasnt in the mood today. She looked like a princess with rag a muffin hair...she wouldnt let me brush it! She still pretty as a princess though!

I put on the new chicken costume I got for Cj today...it was size 9 months for 16-20 lbs babies and she was too long for it! So she had to wear her pumpkin shirt instead.

What a cute little lady bug!!

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more Dollies

All around the house you can find Sams dolls tucked in like this. Today she put my sweatshirt on the floor then went and got her dolly and a blanket. So not like her mom!

syd can stand

Here's a few shots of me trying to get of Sydney standing. She's really good at but everytime I get the camera out she stops!

I went to wake Sam up this morning and this is how she was sleeping...

Today was my last doubletalk class and the twins had colds so they stayed home with their daddy. I really enjoyed the series and I am sad that it is over. It was nice to chat with others in the same boat that I am in. I even liked it when I didnt get to take the twins w me. It gave me a little time to myself and I got to watch others interact w their twins. It sure is crazy trying to watch two at the same time w one going one and one going the other!

playing with dolls

I never played with dolls when I was a kid but it sure is joy to watch Sam play with them. She can play for an hour straight. I love the way she talks to them. She is my girlie girl who loves chocolate as you can see by her dirty face. She was helping me clean out my trashy car and she found an old candy bar that she thought was mighty tasty.

another fun twin and sib playgroup

This morning was a very hectic morning. I had a dentist appt first thing and we had to get a few rooms cleaned up because our realtor was coming over to take pictures. Last night Jon mowed the front lawn but it got to dark to do the back so he had to do that before he headed on in to work. I got all the girls fed, packed them up and we headed to Albany for the twins and sibs playgroup. Always fun. The twins and I have a cold and with this play group we only meet every other week so I hate to miss it. So we went snotty noses and all. They dont mind, they all have older kids so it's not these first time parents trying to keep the germs away!! Everybody had fun. On the way home they all fell asleep so when I got home I grabbed a magazine and headed to Costco. They all slept great. It was the first time I went to Costco and pushed the stroller instead of a cart. Last time I did the cart thing Sam had to go to the bathroom and I left the twins with the cashier so today I thought I'd just push the stroller. That way if she had to go I could take them all in. I ended up piling the stroller up with all the food, diapers and formula so when I went to check out I bought there to go bags. They were so heavy I ended up getting someone to help me take everything to the car... and after all that Sam didnt have to go to the bathroom!

Sam always wants to come out to the car with me while I pack it up before we go anywhere, today I told her to stay with the twins and this is the way they waited for me. Too cute!

Let us out!

So many toys...which one do we play with first!

Here's Samantha saying goodbye to Elizabeth and Miranda.

Sam loves to sit on Sydney for some insane reason!

a la peanut butter & jelly sandwiches

Monday

This morning we had Sams playgroup at the Vinciguerra's. They have a great play room and a fun back yard. The twins kept gravitating to there lemon tree. For some reason they wanted to eat the rotten ones on the ground, especially Sydney. Sam is always sad when it's time to leave.

The twins are wanting to move to one nap a day and it's pretty hard on them. They arent going down until 11 ish and sleeping for 2 1/2 to three hours but around 430 they are pills and I want them to nap again so I have been letting them sleep for an hour or so. so far it hasnt hurt there bed time but we might be having them go to bed earlier once they start fighting that late afternoon nap.

Update on Sam's potty training: I was soo proud of her this morning. At playgroup she told me she had to go potty twice and once it was #2 wahoo... but then when we got home she pooped in her pants and on the floor in the twins room. (I gave her time out for that because she didnt tell me and I could have had another poop incident) But then a couple hours later she told me she had to poop again and she made it to the toilet that time, she did have to take all of her clothes off though ...she sure did poop alot today...

another eventful night

I have a cold so I went to bed at 9 and at 11 I woke up becasue I heard Syd crying. Jon was doing the dishes so he didnt hear her. I got up and Jon made her a bottle. We figure the middle of the night bottles are ok to do every once and a while just as long as we dont make it a habit for them. She fell back to sleep but Jon said she did wake up at 2 and he just went in a replugged and she fell back to sleep. Courtney woke at 420 and she soaked through the target brand diaper. We did get Huggies for Sydney to wear at night but I didnt put them on Cj so we had to changed her and that ended up waking her up and she did not want to fall back to sleep. We tried a bottle which she happily drank but she still wanted crawl all over the place and play finally at 530 Jon put her in the pack n play that she naps in and let her play in there until she fell back to sleep. It was not a pleasant night but they are all still sleeping as I type this so that means the naps are going to be all messed up today but at least they are sleeping!

Boo plays soccer

Jon wanted a little alone time at the house today to watch the Vikings play football. Boo had a soccer game so I packed up the girls and headed to Danville for some real football! She did great but she was tired (last night was her homecoming dance and she didnt get to sleep until 1 am) the ref did horribly so they lost 3-2. One of the goals was a total offside play but the ref didnt call it! She even got a yellow card because she rammed her shoulder into a girl that was making her mad! Sam had fun running around but was bummed that Eric wasnt there to play kick the ball with her, she brought her Dora ball and everything.

Courtney thought it was great fun under their coffee table but she could figure out how to get out from under it!

And the Vikings lost!

eventful night

It started around 730pm Jon gave sam a bath and then he let the water out so the twins could have their turn. There was too much soap and bath crayon pieces everywhere. The drain was slow...my long hair...Sam and I went to Longs to get Draino while he bathed the twins. I put the draino in after they were done and went to do the dishes. I had also started a load of laundry so there was a lot of water going down the drain and the next thing I know water is coming out of the shower and into the yellow room. I yell for Jon, turn the washer off and start cleaning up. I looked in the tub and it's full too. jon goes outside and opens the front main drain thing to look in and with all the back up pressure poop and toilet paper came flying out! What a mess!! Thankfully all the kids were asleep so we didnt have to deal with them trying to crawl around. Sam fell asleep on the couch so I carried her to her bed and completely forgot to put a pull up on. So at 130 she climbed up on top of me & was totally wet. We went back to her room and changed her but I didnt want to deal w changing the sheets so I let her go back to sleep in our room. I couldnt get back to sleep because she was moving around and she has a little cough so at 230 I got up, changed her sheets and put her back in her bed. About 345 she came back into our room and crawled over me and got in between Jon and I. Jon pulled the blanket over him and Sam says "Dont take that away from her!" Kinda made me giggle at 4 am. Sydney woke up at 545 so I put Sam back in her bed so Syd could come in. She was sopping wet too. We changed from the Costco brand diapers to the Target brand on Friday and Sydney has peed through them both nights, now I have to go get new diapers for her today. Syd fell back to sleep and woke up for good at 745 and Courtney woke up 5 minutes later...Sam is still sleep and it's 9 am! Let's hope the day is better... AND THE PLUMBER IS COMING TODAY

enveloop

deck

The twins love playing out on the deck these days

so Barley gets locked out a lot and wants back in.

Check out Syds top teeth!

(ignore the food on her eye...Jon cleaned her up after lunch)

Making Strides for Breast Cancer

This morning I did the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk. Jon wasnt feeling very well so he stayed home with the twins. I didnt want to push the stroller 5 miles without his help. Sam had a sleepover at the Pates and she had a blast with them. I met up with my friends the Grays. Linda is a breast cancer survivor and she had about 10 of her friends walking with her. It was neat to see so many people out there (so early in the morning) dressed in pink supporting a great cause. The walk went by quickly. We did a 5 mile loop around Golden Gate Park and it was such a beautiful morning. I picked up Sam, she was down at the Danville Art and Wine Festival. She was having so much fun. Jack took her into the bouncy blow up slide thingy and Emily took her on a little train ride plus Sarah bought her ice cream (frozen yogurt really but sam thought it was ice cream) and she ate the whole thing. I was told she even got to go in a firetruck! Too fun!

play time

The girls love to play everywhere in the house. It's just so cute to watch them interact with eachother. It's so cool that they have eachother, a constant play mate!

morning bottles

This morning Sam woke up fever free and happy. She wanted to go to Debbies, she was suppose to go yesterday but with that fever she had all week I didnt think Debbie would appreciate me bringing a sick kid but she was fever free all day and night yesterday so she went today. Jon had just left, he's golfing today, so I made him turn around and get Sam since she wanted to go there NOW. After she left the twins woke up and they had there morning bottles! This is when it's tough having two...which one do you give the bottle to? so they both get to prop there bottles!

at the store

So big changes for the Howe family...we're moving-details to come-but today Sam said the cutest thing. I was picking up the house because someone is coming to look at it and I was telling Sam that we are going to buy a new, bigger house and she said "where, at the store?" I thought that was funny...at the store!

another sick day

Last night sam complained that her ear hurt and she still had a temp so first thing this morning I took her into the docs. There is no ear infection but he wants to touch base on Friday if she still has it...she's fighting something. So we stayed inside again all day. Sam has been a mommys girl too and wants to be on me at all times which gets kinda trying at times. At least they were all great nappers and I did get a few moments to paly a little online poker!

We put these pillows next to the hearth and both of the twins are using them as leverage to get up, at least when they fall its onto pillows!