A tired boy and his blankey

Ollie

Silly Mommy

I am sure that's exactly what Ollie was thinking this morning as I was wiping him off after breakfast. I am a little emotional this morning and was telling all the boys that I loved them more than they would ever know while they were enjoying their first cinnamon rolls ever! They liked them. Anyway I was telling Ollie how proud I was of him for starting to walk and that he was talking again. As I was cleaning the icing off his chin he said, "Momma", and I just started crying. I began telling him I thought at one point in the NICU that I didnt think he was going to make it. Of course that made me cry harder. He put his hand on my cheek and sort of wiped away my tears and gave me that cute little Ollie smile.

This may sound crazy but I always worry that all the boys will have some memory of what happened in the NICU and be tramatized. I know that I am. I will never forget seeing them for the first time all hooked up to machines and just clinging on to life. So when little milestones are reached, eventhough they may be late for the age, I thank my lucky stars that everyone made it out alive. I know things could have turned out much worse.

Drum roll please...........

Oliver is finally walking!!!!! It's taken him 17 months to get here and by God he is going to be cautious and do it slowly. He is so matter of fact about all of it. He doesnt think its as big deal a deal as DH and I do. He just goes about his business and thats it! That is exactly how Ollie is, nothing is really a big deal unless a brother is stealing food or a cup from him. He is finally talking again. He has gone pretty silent in the last 4 months except for crying, grunting, and laughing. I was worried at first but was told by a development therapist that often times when kids start crawling and getting ready to walk that their brains concentrate on those things and language goes out the window. I am truly happy thats the case! It was kinda strange because as soon as he started taking steps on his own he started saying "Momma" again. It was so automatic.

Spencer has mastered the walking thing. He still does the drunken sailor walk but its less and less. I quite enjoy watching him walk all crazy. He has a really good sense of humor and is the first kid to laugh out loud at something funny. He also has the best laugh.

Ian is master of the basement and all the toys. Especially the slide. He is the King of the slide. He can go down frontwards and now just to show off he can slide down on his belly and feet first. He likes to show off his new skill to anyone who will watch. And he expects clapping and congratulations every time. He is such a show off. There had to be one in the bunch.

I have finally picked out their costumes for Halloween. I cant tell you what they are going to be because its a secret but I can tell you that they look every cute! There is no theme, but the costumes do match their personalities quite well.

A very good question

Karen asked, "Arent you worried that your inlaws might read your blog?" Thats a very good question. It's taken me all week to think about it. Well not exactly all week, the dudes are sick with a cold and that has taken up most of my week. But I digress, I am slightly worried but not really. Let me explain further. The MIL is not so great on the computer, in fact she has gone through 3 in the last 2 years. Poor DH has to try to fix what she has done and usually finds that its screwed up beyond repair and she buys a new one. Same with printers, I think she has gone through 4 in the last 2 years. We got one of her castoffs that didnt "work" but it works fine here. Hmmm I wonder why?

There is a possiblity that I will leave the blog up on my computer one day but they wouldnt dare touch my computer. For reasons that I stated above, and that edict was not handed down from me but comes from DH. He doesnt need me bitchin about my computer not working. Plus the boys should keep them so busy while they are here that they shouldnt have time to screw around online.

Also, I am a huge risk taker. Remember I had the RE transfer three perfect 8 cell embryos. Ah they all wont take I thought, but here I sit with three 17 month olds. So I laugh in the face of fear. Yeah right! :)

So am I really worried? Not really. But thanks for asking!

1000 hits

Ian enjoying dinner.

I just noticed that my blog has received over a 1,000 hits. Thats kinda cool. I wonder who is reading this? Hopefully not the inlaws!

So who are you people? Come out of the shadows and stop lurking! I would love to know how you found my blog. Please, please, please tell me!!! Or is there just one person who keeps coming back repeatedly all day?? Hmmmmm.

Whatever the case is, thanks for stopping by.

Payback

So I did it. I screwed with the inlaws. Instead of turning off the tv when they were here yesterday, I tuned it to an alternative music channel where the F word is used frequently in song. They didnt say anything and didnt change the channel. The boys love the music and I was upstairs doing other things so I didnt care. Finally after dinner the MIL asked which channel the boys liked and I said 293. I left it at that. Within seconds the tv was blasting baby friendly programing. I dont think they are going to say much more about the whole tv thing. Well if they know what's good for them.

Today they were back over and brought over a toy that I had passed up at a garage sale a few months ago. She bought it for her house. They started bringing it down the stairs and I said "NO! NO! NO!" That thing makes too much noise and it has tons of plastic blocks that go with it and we already have too many as it is. She looked at me dumbfounded and said, "well I dont want it at my house it makes too much noise and has too many parts." To which I replied, "I didnt want it at the garage sale and stated that so take it back out to your van." The FIL did and when he was outside she said that she was going to take it to Great Grandma's house. Poor GGM.

On a different note, Spencer is in full walking mode. He is doing really well. I cant believe how fast he is moving. Everyone was in a good mood today, which was kinda strange for this house. There is usually one rotten egg in the bunch, but not today! We'll see how tomorrow goes.

If it ain't one its the other.

Today while the inlaws were over and I was conventienly "cleaning" the upstairs bathroom, DH was downstairs in the baby dungeon with his parents. They arent usually in the room very long together so I thought it was nice that I wasnt there. Well thank God that I wasnt. DH's Dad thought he would spew some pearls of wisdom to DH. He had just happened to be reading Time magazine and read that the American Pediatric Association says that children should not be exposed to or watch television until they reach age 2. Of course we have heard this from our pediatrician, who also snickered and said that most of the peds that are apart of the APA have nannies and dont have multiples, so in her words "you gotta do what you gotta do to keep them happy". I love that woman. But I take offense to him bringing it up. First I feel like its an attack on our parenting style. He never really had time when DH was a toddler because he was too busy going to graduate school. And for that matter so was the MIL. DH grew up with babysitters who cooked and cleaned the home. He couldnt join t-ball because they both had classes on the nights of practice and on game day. They both have no idea what its like to be a SAHM or Dad and werent really around much because they were pursuing their own thing. So I take offense to this. I gave up my "other" life to devote myself to these little hooligans that roam freely in my house. Yeah I know I am being kinda critical but it seems like an attack.

I am glad that I wasnt down there or I would have said something like this to the FIL "Well I dont see YOU down on the floor engaging the boys in any kind of play." He just sits there while everyone else is changing diapers or consoling a crying hooligan. He never tries to play with them but is always questioning what I am doing. For instance, last week before yoga class I gave the boys some ibuprofen because their molars are slowwwwwly breaking through. They change into hideous beasts if not given the wonderful make everything better drug, ibuprofen. He wanted to know why I was giving it to them and wasnt I afraid that they were going to become immune to the drug?? I didnt even know how to answer that one without laughing hysterically outloud and asking him if he was stupid. Come on, give me a break. If my kid is in pain and I can make it better so they can sleep through most of the night, dont you think I would give it to him??

The other thing today was that they brought over an article for our local big city paper about making homemade babyfood. Fine, great, whatever. I made all most all of the boys food when they were eating babyfood cause its cheaper and I could make it taste and smell better than that Gerber crap. The MIL went on and on about the recipes in the article, which we have outgrown. I polietly told her that DH had sent me the article days ago and it was more about how to make it and since we are done with that then thanks but no thanks for the article. Always wanting to be right she said "WEL there are recipes that you might not have seen" Ok I will get right on it and puree some foods for the boys who can already self feed. She just doesnt get it. I dont think she ever will.

As for the FIL, well he can just bite my big fat booty!!! How come all of a sudden he is interested in his grandkids? But wont do anything with them. He will know become known as the armchair grandfather.

The tv is on most of the day. Not always on baby type programing, sometimes shows I want to watch (like the news, etc.), and a lot of the time we listen to music channels on the tv. And I know how far I can push the boys until they start to freak out and need some sort of baby stimulation and then I change the channel to the Teletubbies or put in a movie. They dont just sit there like Zombies all day.

So thats it I am pissed off once again with my inlaws and they are coming over to "help" tomorrow night because DH has school. Please give me the strength to not say anything overly sarcastic. I am going to turn the tv off right before they arrive and see how long it takes them to turn it on. In fact I will hit the stop watch the second they drive up the driveway. Bastards. Why cant they just leave us alone and find someone else to bother.

Speaking of parents, my Mom and I dont have the best relationship in fact at the moment we arent speaking but not sure exactly why. She knows that the hooligans were born because my sister told her but thats about it. The boys have another blog that was started when they were in the NICU and I know that she still checks it and sees pictures. I miss her. My side of the family is very dysfunctional and its hard to explain. So I might call her tonight. Hopefully she will take my call and we can get back to being Mom and daughter again.