Paci Fairy!! Come back!!

Typed March 22nd - Forgot to Post!

Well she came....

Ryan isn't taking it so well though. I don't think the kid will ever sleep again. His paci's have been gone for about 2 hours now, but probably seems like forever to him. He just keeps searching the house for more (we only had 3 and they all went into the bag).

I'll start from the beginning though.....

We got up this morning and asked him who was coming today he said "Elle & Emma?" which of course we replied "not today, who is coming today?" "Paci Fairy" Ryan responds....

So we proceed to talk about how the day will go - Playing for awhile then getting all the paci's into the little green bag, putting it onto the tree which Ryan quickly told us he didn't want to put his paci's on the tree because the bees will put them in their mouths. So we told him of course that the bees will not get them & the Paci Fairy is going to take them to new babies who need them. While he's napping the Fairy will come and leave him his new big boy gift.

So as planned we put the paci's into the green bag, tied them to the tree & off to nap he went. Well the nap never happened - he refused to stay in his bed so after about an hour we let him up.



Then he noticed "it" the big boy gift sitting just where he had left his paci's he loved it! The Mater tricycle was a huge hit....for about 30 minutes at which time he realized the paci's were no where to be found. So he's ready for that Fairy to come back take the trike and give his paci's back.

It's going to be a long night........

~~~~UPDATE!!~~~

Well, He did start sleeping again, we had about 2 weeks of sleepless nights...either him not going to be until 11:30 or 12:00, or when he did go to bed he would wake up 2 to 3 times each night.
Now things are much better, the speech has gotten a little better but not as quickly as I had hoped, but hey we're getting there!

P.S. - Check back in 2006 - notice anything???

Goodbye....Hello

Last weekend was sad for us a we lost our good friend Sponge Bob Jr. he had been in our family for about a year and a half so we were sad to see him pass.

Just the day before we had finally bought him a friend "Pistol Pete". We had noticed SBJ hadn't been acting normal for about a week but had hoped a new friend would help. But no such luck.

This past week we upgraded our fish tank from 2.5 gal. to 10 gal. so we adopted 3 more fish. Here they are...

Pistol Pete - Black Pop Eyed Goldfish
Lollipop - Sucker Fish (get it lollipop-sucker fish??)
Diego - Orange Fantailed Goldfish
Spot - Calico Fantailed Goldfish

Can you find them all in this picture??

What are they doing to me?!?!?!

A couple weeks ago I signed Aydan up for a Nutrition & Development study for breastfed babies at OSU. They observe the babies at 3, 6 & 9 months as well as test the mothers milk & blood as they are trying to determine the effects of major metals on brain development.

Well to do this they monitor his vital signs while he watches a computer screen with random pictures of people on it. Then they put an electrode cap on his head and test his brain waves while he listens to different sound through baby headphones.


For me this was very exciting because I'm very interested in how babies learn so the students doing this study were able to explain alot about their findings so far. Plus the picture make for fun scrapbooking! For Aydan it was exciting because he had a whole bunch of people paying attention to just him! He only got upset once and I think that was from wanting to nurse but the sound from the headphones were making it very hard to relax.

I'm Sorry, Sooooo Sorry!

I know it's been a really long time! Life with 3 kids is just so much more tiring than I expected.
The family is doing well though! At least as well as can be expected. We all have finally recovered from the flu. Luckily everyone was able to get treatment for it except me...because of Aydan - I refused to use formula for a week...

Dylan celebrated his 5th birthday this month. I can't believe he's 5 already! He is thriving in school! Coming home with new things he's learned everyday. He just finished up his spring break this past week. While on it he learned to read 2 sight word books! I've been so proud, and he is so proud of himself for being able to sound out the words. He also just recovered from his 4th year of HSP, once again he broke out in those awful red spots & was in pain for a week. He's much better now & back to his handsome little self!

Ryan is growing slowly but growing! We've just made it into 24 month jeans! Woohoo! We just completed potty training & he is even staying dry at night-1 whole month now! (this is huge...I really need me sleep! and no more pull-ups!!) He's getting ready to have a visit from the Paci Fairy tomorrow. He has very mixed feelings about her arrival - well really her departure more... I'll let you know how it goes!

Aydan is changing so much right now. Just over the past 3 weeks he has went from tiny cuddly baby to a mover & shaker - learning to push up on his arms & roll over. He laughs all the time which causes awful hic-ups & in turn makes him very upset. JD is convinced that he already says "hi" - but I'm not too sure....

Welcome Aydan Colby!

Well, he's here!! (Been here for a month already, sorry I took so long to post!) Born Nov. 7th at 4:21 P.M. weighed 7lbs 11oz & was 19 1/2in. Dylan and Ryan are super proud of their baby brother & actually fight over helping do things for him. Ryan doesn't like it at all Aydan is sad or crying - he thinks I should drop everything I'm doing to make Aydan happy right away.
Overall he is a pretty happy baby though, having some tummy trouble but otherwise very content. Sleeping -okay- at night so we're pretty happy...
Aydan is definitely our "chunky" baby - it's so crazy to have a baby with a big enough tushie to hold up his diapers! Hardly any leaks!!

Here are a few pictures from the first week he was born. I will post more I just need to pull them off the camera first! (Sorry I'm a little behind - it's hard getting used to the craziness that comes with 3 kids!)

"Bean" (the Turtle)

This is "Bean" (Ryan named him). We have had him since May?? I think. He showed up in our back yard & made a perfect new little part of our family. We have a wonderful "Multi-Dollar" condo for him (wanted to say Multi Million, but that would be lying..lol), but he keeps burying himself in the substrate and refusing to eat, which was causing him to loose weight. So he and his good friend "Sam" got moved into -prison- to force them to act like turtles should in the summer. Their condo is currently under construction as we think the UVA & UVB bulbs are too far away from the babies causing them to think its winter?? So until the upgrades are complete they will just have to like prison. They seen to actually enjoy it though....the sunny window seems to be keeping them happy....




No animals were harmed in the making of this video. The babies are very used to Ryans little hands being in the cage with them.
Yes-Ryan washed his hands as soon as filming was complete - so no children were harmed either! :)

Daycare Felt Boards

Well, for the last couple years we have been using Funshine Express - a curriculum program for toddlers & preschoolers. With it we always have wall displays for weather, calendar, shapes, colors, ABC's, Numbers...etc... Well I have just always taped them to the wall since I had no other way to hang them up.
That has changed this year!!!! JD Made me some felt boards to use with velcro so - No More Tape!!! :) It's so exciting!! Plus now we can use felt board stories with our books even!! It's great!
I had to share this picture of my 3 "Handy Men" hanging them up.

Dylan's New Friend

This is Dylan & his new friend Brooklynn. She comes over to play every now & then. The two of them acted as if they had known each other always with in minutes of meeting. They are so cute!

Happy Family Day Sponge Bob Jr.

It has officially been a year now since Sponge Bob Jr. became a part of our family. He's still just as happy as the day we got him. Now he's even trained to eat when his light comes on.

It wasn't easy getting a picture of this little guy. I tried feeding him which helped but it made his water all cloudy.

So far so good....

Last week we went for our "In Depth" Level 2 ultrasound to make sure Aydan made it through my case of shingles okay.

All seems fine so far though they did want us to come back toward the end of Sept. just to make sure.

It was cool though! The pictures were a little more fuzzy but you could see right through him! All of his tummy matter, brain everything! It was awesome...he has two kidneys! (Okay so I know most everyone does, but hey had we not done this ultrasound we may not have been sure about his...)

Anyways at the end they gave us another little 4D shot of him. They don't have the ability to print it out in color but the black & white copy was great too!

We did find out that he's a little confused about his origin...He was giving us the "Hang Loose" sign. Whats up with that? Oklahoma is pretty far from Hawaii! Maybe he'll just be a traveller! Or maybe all the liquid & ocean sounds in there have him hopeful! :)

Dylans' First Day of School

Today was Dylans first day of school. He was so excited. JD & I both were wanting to walk him in, but that dream was quickly dashed when we got to the school and there was no place to park. The streets were so busy! Like rush hr. in a big city. So I just had to hop out and take him in myself. Holding his hand all the way to his class (for my sake not his...) he was so eager to just go. I had him pause long enough outside his class for me to snap a picture. The only one I got - being a scrapbooker this made me a little sad. But off he went! Ready to play & make new friends.

He picked out his own clothes that he wanted to wear. His new monster truck shirt & his "soft pants" since it was only 68 degrees when we got up & it wasn't supposed to get over 90 I decided this was okay. Well, It ended up getting warmer than that. So tomorrow he'll be wearing shorts!

This afternoon we went to pick him up - he & his teacher quickly informed us he had made a new friend. A little girl named Asha (Tasha - T) just as cute as she can be. I guess he had even asked his teacher if they could sit together in class!?!? Is he old enough for this?

We were hoping to hear all about his day, but he just said he didn't want to tell us. Slowly he is letting go of bits & pieces though!

Over all it sounds like he had a pretty great day. I mean he wants to go back tomorrow. That has to be good right?

Yearly Pictures

Yesterday we had pictures of Dylan & Ryan taken. They were supposed to be done right after their birthdays, but....life's been a little busy. Better late than never...

Seeing Aydan!!

Today we went to have a 4D ultrasound done. It was AWESOME! Seeing your baby before you can see him is great! I just wanted to share a few of the pics we got!

Getting ready for school.....

Well we've been trying to get stuff ready for Dylan to go to school. This past weekend we had a "no tax weekend" on clothes.

So we got him a few new clothes & a pair of new shoes. He's so excited, but I think he's also starting to get a little nervous. He'll do great. He makes friends very easily, and loves learning.

I still cannot believe he's 4 already. It seems like only yesterday we were bringing him home for the first time.

Meet "Bunny"

This is "Bunny". He has been coming and eating in our back yard all spring. Sometimes bring his mate with him. We think right now she is in a nest with their youngsters right now though. Ryan just loves the visitor. The first thing he looks for in the morning & one of the last before bed. (bunny visits only while it's cool out) We put out dried corn for him so that he'll continue to visit.

Story Time

We still go to story time every week. I guess we've been there a long time because they are starting to repeat themes. This time we learned again about Dinosaurs. The kids loved it though!


They read books, sang a dino song while dancing, watched a short film, and did a dino craft.


Ryan finished his headband, Dylan got only 1 of the 3 dinos colored. He wanted the whole page to be orange. (This took a looooonnnggg time!) But it's cute! :)

I need a hair cut....

Well, if you can see him, this is Ryan. He needed a hair cut. Hair - not my thing, but I've been cutting their hair since the beginning. The last time they got haircuts we decided to take them and get it done by someone who knows what they are doing. Well - turns out that's not always true! I was amazed how chopped up it was considering how still they sat. They aren't even that still for me and at least I get it straight!
So once again it needs to be done, but what to do?

Sunday evening I finally cut it again. Both of them look very nice now though. So in a month or two we will be right back where we started....

Brotherly Love

I came accross this picture today. It's one from sometime last year, but it was just too sweet not to share!

Pool Party

Last month we invited our friends Elle & Emma to come over for a pool party. We sat up 2 blow up pools & the "silly sprinkler". All 4 of the kids had a lot of fun. Elle & Emma brought over their little water guns which were a big hit with my boys.

Kale's 4th Birthday

Kale, his Mom, & sister were recently able to come back to OK from Hawaii to visit. While they were in the state to had Kale's 4th birthday party. Of course we had to go. Dylan has missed Kale so much. It was so great to get to go. This was in May and now at the end of July he still talks non-stop about seeing him.

All of the kids were having so much fun!

Kales family makes the best hamburgers! I had been having a ton of trouble with all day sickness during that time & couldn't eat a thing, but I ate 2 burgers & a ton of other stuff. Real home cooking!