four little swimmers...

I broke down & bought the tribe some "swimmies", aka "floaties". I just could not take one more day of them wanting to swim & not being able to do it. Plus it is rough when they each want mommy to take them out into the pool at the SAME time! LOL! I was told there were some cute ones at of all places our local Dollar Tree. In fact they had a TON of pool stuff! Who would have known?! We are now the proud owners of a pair of "swimmies" in the "Finding Nemo", "Cars" & two with the "Little Mermaid" theme. They were SO happy that they each were going to have their own pair!Once we got home I proceeded to get each of them suited up, slathered on the sun block & put their NEW "swimmies" on. They were READY! At least I thought they were! Avery, our best "swimmer" wanted NO part of them! Camryn & Linz were the only ones willing to wear them! It was quite the experience the very first time they had them on those little arms of theirs. They walked around like it was a piece of jewelry or "bling". TOO funny! Apparently they had NO idea what they were for because the excitement was short lived. Once I showed them how they work they screamed bloody murder like someone was about to kill them! This was NOT the reaction I was looking for! LOL! They had more fun checking out the frog that came to visit! See it!?

I'm telling you that if any of our neighbors were home during this adventure I think they would have called the police thinking something awful had happened. But no it was just the tribe having a MAJOR freak out! It was not until the 2nd time of me wrestling them on them did Camryn realize she would be ok. Linz still wanted no part of being out in the pool on her own. Camryn on the other hand slowly stepped off the last step & floated off into the shallow end of our pool. What a moment to witness! It was AMAZING! I was SO excited for her! She loved it SO much that I actually had to bribe her to get her out! There I was saying I would paint her finger nails just so she would get out of the pool! FYI, Bribery works like a charm! LOL! We had one day with them in our pool then it was off to Grandma's! Hopefully they will like to use them there! Ever since summer arrived we try to take them for a "swim" at least TWICE a day. Even with SPF 70 sun block on they are getting quite the tan! (= Daddy & Grandma took them swimming the entire weekend! The best part was that Daddy was able to get "swimmies" on ALL of the girls. GO DADDY! After some coaxing he was able to get them used to them & from what I am told they now LOVE them! YAY! Our Avery thought she could swim BEFORE "swimmies" just imagine what she thinks now! Funny how a week makes all the difference! (=My how a week changes the whole dynamic! Lindsey ended up showing me a thing or two once we were back in our pool! There she was jumping off the rock into the pool. It was like a flying leap! CRAZY! She also looked adorable in her hand me down "Little Mermaid" swimsuit with her matching "swimmies". Besides NOT being afraid of jumping into the pool she can now swim all over the pool! My mom said we better watch out because now that she knows she can swim WITH the "swimmies" she will probably think she can swim without them! UH OH! Just ANOTHER thing I have to worry about! Avery now does practically everything Lindsey does. I think she saw how easy it was for Lindsey to get out there & use those "swimmies" that she relented and started using them too! Funny how that is with identical "twins". They are SO similar yet different in many ways! Once she realized she was safe she broke free & became a WILD woman! She leaps off the edge into the pool like she has been doing it her entire life! I am SO happy to see them really appreciating our pool! It was once suppose to be my sanctuary & now it is theirs! Before I know it she will be actually swimming! For now, just seeing her "swim" all over the pool, frontwards, backwards, jumping, floating is such a treat!Brendan still wants no part of "swimming". The "swimmies" are definitely NOT his friend! LOL! He is by far our most cautious child. Don't see me complaining since it's one less kid to worry about while we are in the pool. PLUS It gives me more time to snuggle on him when I take him around the pool! For now if he is not in my arms he is just a bystander that remains in the "safe zone" of the steps. One day he will see what all the fuss is about & start exploring the pool like his sisters. I must say that they have become mean little "swimmers" in just a few short days! Pretty soon the "swimmies" will come off & we will have not just have one swimmer but...

four little swimmers...

adventures in "barber land"...

My Brendan, aka Mr B, was in need of yet another hair cut. It seems like yesterday that Uncle Bob, Brendan's Godfather, took him to get it cut. He has taken him quite a few times. I've been told that Brendan can cause quite the scene! }= Besides getting freaked by the "buzzer" aka clippers, he also gets SO many compliments on his platinum white hair. He has quite the fan base! awhh... This boys hair grows SO fast! He gets a haircut & before the week is over it has grown back! During the "in between times" I have "tried" my best to trim it but he really needed a professional cut! That is why we decided to go for a drastic cut today. Less "in between times" for me to worry about! Lucky for us Grandma found a coupon for $4 off a boy's cut at Sports Clips in her recent Valuepak. YAY! Sports Clips is such a COOL place for men of all ages. It's all about sports right down to their "shower" room. They happen to have one in the shopping mall just down the road from Grandma's house, so today was the day! We took the entire tribe there & it was an experience! They did good for about the first 5 minutes. After that I was NOT responsible for theirs or my actions! They proceeded to take out EVERY magazine in a failed attempt to read them, ha!, hid behind the register & then played with the various sports flags, stickers & decals like they were wind chimes. If that display fell down I would have been mortified! I was chasing after them & even broke a sweat! ugh! This is the craziness that comes with multiples. It gets even better when one tries to push on the other, out do the other, out scream the other. Yes there was screaming! It was more like what they do in Grandma's shower, singing/screeching like they are in their own personal recording studio. I am sure the guy before us getting his hair cut did not appreciate my munchkins being all CRAZY! But I was a mommy on a mission, my son needed a hair cut & I had a coupon. Don't mess with me! LOL! I was making sure he got the BEST cut & that I saved money at the same time! WOO HOO! When it was finally Brendan's turn he knew his fate. He started to cry as we climbed into the seat. I told Agnes, the barber, that he was going to be upset either way so to use the buzzer & keep on cutting, QUICK! We chose a 3 on the top & 2 on the sides. My niece Katie said I should do that, so that's what we did. This was the FIRST time that I took him to get his hair cut by a barber. Grandma on the other hand had prior experience. She has accompanied him once before. She said he did MUCH better this time. YAY! Maybe it was because he had his Momma there to hold him.Well that's what I'm telling EVERYONE! LOL! (= Looking at his after shot you'd think we shaved his head! Trust me, there is hair! One day I hope to get a shaver/buzzer/clipper set of my own to cut his hair. Yep I'll be the "barber". I guess I am preparing him for his future fate, when Mommy will be creating her own...


adventures in "barber land"...

I'm vomit, you're poop!...

These words actually came out of my hubby's mouth tonight. CRAZY but true! You see we made a pact a LONG time ago that when the kids vomit he will clean it up & when they poop I would do the same. This was one deal I had no problem making! I do not care how many poopie diapers I have to change as long as vomit does not come my way I am good! I think I'd throw up just looking at their vomit forget about the smell! YUK YUK YUK! SO tonight when Miss Avery told us that she had poopies her Daddy proceeded to tell me...

I'm vomit, you're poop!...

the JOYS of motherhood...

Today is our day! A day that we mom's are celebrated for all that we do! With as crazy as things have been over the past few months I sure needed this day! To be pampered & loved on was WONDERFUL! We started a little early by going over to my mom's neighbors house for an impromtu get together Saturday night. Two of their daughters had a joint birthday/slumber party & they invited us over to join in on the fun! Their house was full of a bunch of nine & eleven year old girls! OH MY! The things I can look forward to! We brought along my cousin Raine who was visiting us. Having some girls her own age to play with had to be more fun! It was SO nice hanging with adults & having margaritas! I LOVE a good margarita! (Thank you Vicky!) It was a BEAUTIFUL evening filled with great conversation. Too bad our evening was cut short due to one sick child. Miss Linz was SICK! She ended up waking the rest of the tribe up so we then had four crying babies to deal with! She had thrown up earlier in the evening but we thought it was due to her gulping down her food. She has a very bad habit of inhaling her food when shes hungry. Well, she threw up again in her crib. It was EVERYWHERE! YUK! I am SO glad I made that deal with Michael years ago, I do poop, he does vomit! He deserved a medal for what he cleaned up! LOL! We ended up setting up a pac n' play in our room as her bed for the night & put the rest of the tribe back to bed. They did not want to go to sleep without her, kept calling out her name. I felt SO bad but we did not want to have to deal with four sick babies. Linz on the other hand was feeling rather perky now that she was done feeling sick. In fact you would have never known she was even sick! She kept talking to us & even refused to go in the pac n' play. We tried putting her between us but I just cannot sleep with a child in our bed. Afraid we'll roll over on them or maybe it's because of all the stories I hear about how it's a BIG no no. How you should not let kids sleep with you because they will get too comfortable & never be able to sleep in their own bed again. I do TOO much thinking!! haha! So there I was climbing into the pac n' play at the foot of our bed just to get her to lay down in it. REMEMBER she still shares a crib with her twin. Weird how that was all it took. She needed to have someone next to her I guess. I was afraid I'd collapse the thing but it held us. She must have thought I was CRAZY for climbing into her "bed" but it did the trick! I layed there for almost 2 hours until she was tired enough to not care when I got up. In the end I lied to her as I got out saying "Mommy has to go pee pee and I'd be right back". She bought it & fell fast asleep! All I wanted was for her to be well & to get a good nights rest! I cannot tell you what time I finally fell asleep but I knew that I would remember this Mother's Day forever. Oh...

the JOYS of motherhood...