New Husband Needed.....

If anyone knows of any available hubby's for hire.....I am in desperate need of one. Perferably one that is a good babysitter, cooking and cleaning would be nice.... WHY, one might ask? Well the pics below should speak for themselves. I left the room for 5 minutes. I left my sweet, handsome, helpful husband to hold down the fort (living room) with 2 toddlers. That shouldn't be too hard, right? WRONG.


This would be what Jesse was doing while he was SUPPOSED to be entertaining kiddos. That's right....he is playing video games.


Yep. That is a lampshade in his hands. And Porter's pacifier in his mouth.

Notice the end table has been moved. The love seat is a new location. Clothes are off and on the floor. CHAOS.....and he only had 2 kids. Imagine what I would come home to if I left him with all 3. And keep in mind I was only upstairs for 5 minutes.....no exaggeration.
So now you know why I need to hire a husband. Because I have 4 kids.....not 3. BUT WAIT....I don't need a new hubby. I need a WIFE. Let me know if anyone is available.

TWO....

Happy 2 Months to Porter. Today he is a big 2 months old. Can you believe it? I can't. He is still a happy go lucky baby. Getting bigger by the second. He is so easy. He sleeps from 9pm to 6 am. He eats great. He lays around and laughs and smiles and coos. Cutey.

Less than a week until Christmas. I am so excited for the kids this year. They are going to have so much fun opening presents. Can't wait.....

And next Saturday we are leaving for Ohio. Gulp....wish we could click our heels and be there but unfortunately we are driving. Hope the weather is good for our drive up......10 hours......

Pics.

Porter and Buster relaxing in the recliner.


Finally got the 2 to sit still long enough for a picture together.

Nothing new and exciting happening here. We are officially ready for Christmas. All the shopping is finished. The presents are wrapped and hidden from Danner so she won't rip them open. The tree is up (but not decorated since we have 2 little ones that like to pull off the decorations). So now we are just awaiting Santa's arrival......hope everyone has been good this year.

Santa.....

Well we had Santa visit the kids today. It went just about as well as expected. See photos below.


Porter loved Santa. He even told him he would like a little peace and quiet for Christmas. (Good luck with that one Santa)


Danner did NOT like Santa. We had to hold her down to get a photo and as you can see she was kicking and screaming the whole time. Just as I expected......


And Sawyer's shoe as he RAN away from Santa. He would not even get close to him, but he did tell Santa bye as he left. He was pretty glad to see him go.



Saywer did like the fake Santa's. He calls him Ho Ho.


Danner holding Porter under the tree.

They both love playing the piano. Sawyer even dances as he plays.

The BIG 2-0!!!!

THEN.....



NOW.....

That's right. Danner and Sawyer are the big 2-0. 20 whole months old. It is so hard to believe that in 4 short months they will be 2. This has been a very quick 20 months. I totally think that I have the best almost 2 year olds around. They are such sweet and loving kiddos. It just melts your heart. Now don't get me wrong, they definitely have their moments when they test my nerves to the extreme, but I couldn't love them anymore. Some nights I go to bed and feel awful that I raised my voice at them for crawling on the furniture or throwing food or whatever and vow that tomorrow I will try harder to have more patience. Here is a small 20 month update on them.

Danner:
She is so sensitive. And such a helper. She gets me diapers, wipes, sippy cups, books, toys...whatever I ask for. She loves to please. And she understands almost all directions. The little smarty pants. She loves to dress herself and her favorite thing to do is wear other peoples's shoes. She can pick out a matching pair of shoes. She is quite the fashion diva. She is also pretty clumsy. She will trip over her own 2 feet. She likes to eat most things, but they both have become a bit picky lately. Apparently this is a common phase for toddlers. She loves the baby. SHe likes to rock him and give him his pacifier. She is definitely shy compared to her brother. She doesn't talk as much as him but she is starting to use more words. Some of the words she says most are: dog, Maggie, baby, cookie, milk, bye, mama, dada, cat, Papaw, Granny, book, ball, bath, hat, football, Elmo

Danner then....

AND NOW.....

Sawyer:
He is my little trouble maker...or should I say trouble finder. He likes to climb on everything. Furniture. Tables. Chairs. He pretends to not understand the word NO. He is a big flirt and loves to give kisses. He loves to dance and really has rhythm unlike Jesse or me. He is very smart and knows and says most all animals and body parts. He speaks a lot of words...really too many to name. He will repeat almost anything you say. He is really funny and I find myself laughing at him alot. He loves getting all the attention. Sawyer is a picky eater. One day he will love something and the next day he won't touch it. He really likes watching football with Jesse. He is practically a spitting image of his daddy. Too cute.


SAWYER THEN.....


AND NOW.....




AND SWEET LITTLE PORTER.....




Can you tell that I am a proud mama? I really think I am the luckiest person ever. I have the best family anyone could hope for.

Now we wait...

Well Porter was a champ for his testing today. He was such a big boy. We arrived on time and of course they were running behind. So we waited and waited. Eventually they got everything set up and ready. First they put him in this hospital gown and laid him on the bed.....little bit big for him, huh?



They took an inital x-ray of his bladder, showed it to the dr, and gave us the go ahead to start. This is the machine they used.



A nurse came in and put a cathedar in. Supposedly that was the worst part. He cried for just a minute. Then they swaddled him snug like a bug in a bunch of blankets and strapped him to this board.....


Poor guy was strapped down and couldn't move a muscle. Apparently, this was the worst part for him. He really didn't like this at all. They started the dye running in the cath and filled his bladder. They we waited, and waited, and waited for him to pee. Seemed like forever when he was screaming bloody murder. But eventually he went just a little and the dr got the photos he needed. Then I held him until he peed again for one last x-ray of his bladder. BUt the little buger wouldn't go. I sat there for over an hour waiting for him to pee. His bladder was seriously full, but he was being stubborn. Eventually they gave up on him, needed the room, and send us home with instructions to call back if he doesn't pee. Well he finally did once we got home. I guess he was camera shy.

Now we wait on the final results, but the dr there said he didn't see anything to be concerned about. But we have to wait on the official results for my doctor.

Lesson Learned.....(the hard way)

This is why you don't put wrapped presents under the tree when you have toddlers.......



And not only did she unwrap them....she opened the box to see what was in it. Now I know she got that from me....but at least I would wrap them back.




And to think that I spent an entire naptime wrapping this gifts only to have them ruined in a matter of seconds. And yes that sweater is Granny's. Danner wasn't too fond of it though.

And FYI....the presents are NO longer under the tree.

Help!

Okay so we offically have Christmas cards. Now we just have to get them in the mail. The only problem with that is that when my hard drive crashed in May, I lost ALL my addresses. THe only one I am 100% sure of my parents (well I lived there for 18 years). So I know there are more than 8 people (my followers) that read my blog. PLEASE,PLEASE, PLEASE leave me a comment of your address or if you would rather send me an email (danner124@aol.com) Trust me...you are going to want this year's Christmas card. It was quite the process trying to get everyone to cooperate. Here is a little taste. (and special thanks to Ashley for helping and gathering kids up as you can see from the picture)




And while we are on the topic of leaving comments....I really like reading them.....thank you Lili, Jodi, and Beverly for leaving me comments. It lets me know that someone actually enjoys reading my crap. ANd for all you others who don't .....seriously? WTF? Mom? Ashley? Winnie? I know you are checking. Feel free to leave a comment. Or even better become a follower. It really isn't that hard. Ya'll can do it.

Okay so now that you know you won't be getting a card if you don't send me your address......on to more important business. I think we may have raised just about enough for the kids playset. I am calling tomorrow to hopefully get it installed just before Christmas. Here is what they are getting.



Porter has his procedure tomorrow so I will hopefully know more of what we are dealing with then. I will keep ya posted.

Oh and we have decided to make a "play room" for the kids. I am sick to death of toys taking over my house. My house that I can't keep clean because of the overabundance of TOYS!!! So we are selling our guest bedroom furniture set on Craigslist (if you know anyone intersted let me know) and converting a room to the kids with toys, tv, books, and junk. CAN'T WAIT to get the house back.

Danner's Appt

Danner's doctor appointment went great on Tuesday. She was 20 pounds and 31 inches. Finally legally able to turn her carseat facing forward. The doctor was quite impressed on how laid back she was. She never cried and she didn't even act scared of the doctor. We now don't have to go back until 24 months. Which is only 5 short months away.

December 1st

Porter's procedure has been scheduled for next Tuesday, December 1st. Should be and outpatient thing and we will know more after that.

One Month Pictures and more....

An attempt at a family photo.....took 45 tries to get a decent one.



Aunt Ashley loves him.



Porter loves his mommy...and mommy loves him.



Porter's eyes are still blue and he sometimes likes a pacifier.



His hair might be curly.



Porter likes to try to suck his thumb.



Sawyer at the doctor. He looks happy the whole time until we had to leave.





We had a family oyster roast this weekend. We tried to convinence Danner and Sawyer that oysters were great, but they didn't buy it. They had fun eating crackers and entertaining everyone with their dancing skills.

1 Month

Today Porter is 1 month old. This has been the quickest month ever. I can't believe it has already been a month. Crazy! He is the best baby. He is sleeping about a 7 hour stretch at night, then wakes up to eat and back to bed for 3 hours. It is great! He doesn't really nap that great during the day and likes to be held, but I don't mind. He is growing like a weed, I can practically see him grow. He has outgrown some of his newborn clothes. He is smiling a lot more too. Haven't caught it on camera yet though. He has really won my heart. LOVE.LOVE.LOVE HIM.

Sawyer had his 18 month checkup a month late on Wednesday. He is now 24 pounds and 33inches. He is in the 50% in height and 25 in weight. He is well above average in his vocabulary. The doctor was quite surprised at how many words he was speaking. He got a couple shots and barely cried. He did cry when we left though. He wanted to stay around. Danner has her appointment on Tuesday.

Poor Porter had his renal ultrasound today. He was such a big boy and didn't even cry. The doctor called a bit later to give me the report. Apparently his kidneys are enlarged due to urine being caught in there. (Of course, this is my terms and doctor terms would be a Stage 1 Hydronephrosis)It has gotten a bit worse since he was born and it should have been gone by now. So now we have to proceed with further testing. He will be having a dye test with a cathedar to see what is causing the problem. After we get the results from that we will be able to see what kind of further procedures we will be dealing with. Keep in mind, his is a mild case so I am trying not worry too much. We will know more after this first test. I will find out MOnday when the test is scheduled.

If you want to know more about Hydronephrosis here is a link that gives more details about this condition.

http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/gosh_families/information_sheets/hydronephrosis/hydronephrosis_families.html

Finger Painting Fun

Today we attempted to fingerpaint. The kids are so sick of being inside the same room all day. So we ventured to the porch to try painting. I bought some clear baby paint that only shows up on paper. They had fun with it and actually ended up with some cute artwork at the end.

Just starting out....




Danner was quite the artist.



Finished products...




And a picture of my big guy....


And on a complete seperate note......stuck in a bucket.....

3 weeks

PORTER


Here are the twins reading a book to Porter.

Sawyer right before he gives me a wet, sloppy kiss.


Danner reading to Porter.


Porter has been here 3 weeks. How crazy is that? Time has flown by. He is still such a great baby. It is hard to believe that with the twins I didn't even have them home at 3 weeks. I was still back and forth to the NICU visiting. It is really sad to think that I missed over 3 weeks of their lives. Especially now that I have a full term baby that came home on time and has been with me every waking and sleeping moment. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed these 3 weeks. I don't feel sleep deprieved or hormonal. With the twins I was definitely sleep deprieved. Beyond words.... I think the difference now is I can enjoy Porter. With the twins....the first few months were hard to enjoy. It was more survival mode....for them and me. Make sure they were fed, changed, clean, dressed, sleeping, breathing. A simple 20 minute feeding took 45 minutes per baby. Multiple 45 times 2 and that only leaves a little over an hour before we have to do it all over again. Make sure I could sleep and shower and maybe even brush my hair on a good day. There were often days where I didn't have time to eat or shower.. It was stressful. Counting every single ounce they ate. Taking temperatures. Cleaning spit-up. Analyzing spit-up (was that just projectile?) I wouldn't change a minute of it though. Well, with the exception of them to be born a few weeks later. A few weeks could have made a big difference. But Porter....complete different story. I don't worry about how much he eats. I don't worry when I see the occasional spit up. I don't worry if he crys. Maybe it is because I have some baby experience now or maybe it is because he is full term and healthy and perfect.

Speaking of Porter.....he had his appointment last week. He was great. But will have to have another ultrasound on his kidney next Friday. It is still at a Stage 1 but should be gone by 1 month. If it is not gone on Friday, then we will have to do further, more detailed tests. I feel confident he will be fine. Did I mention we were in and out of our appointment in 30 minutes? Great, huh? Danner and Sawyer have their 18 month check-up next week.....a month late, I know. My original dr didn't do 18 month checks but the new one does....so better late than never.

We did go out to dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday on Saturday night. Everyone behaved themselves and had fun.

Lazy Days...

The time change sure makes for a long day. And whoever says that you gain an hour of sleep forgot to give my kids the memo. They are starting to adjust but by 7 pm they are just plain pooped. The pictures are proof......