Week of Feb 20-26

Highlights of the past week:

• Sarah and Megan going to Disneyland together:

• U and Sarah were home on Monday for President's Day.  They slept together in the tent in the family room on Sunday night.

• Spending more time together as a family since they were home:

• Sarah was putting Megan in her pjs one night.  I looked at the pajamas she had chosen and told her I thought they were Matthew's.  She disagreed, but then decided I was right since the tag said "3 month."  She went to get another pair.  Again, they were Matthew's.  She informed me that Megan had no pajamas.  I went and found a pair.  When I showed Sarah, she exclaimed that they weren't Megan's--they were too big for her.  She went ahead and tried them on anyway.  Much to her surprise, they fit Megan.  (Note that we had just switched out Megan's clothes for the bigger size, so Sarah didn't know what they looked like.  Also, Megan's and Matthew's pajamas are in the same basket.)

• Megan is doing well in Physical Therapy and will hopefully "graduate" soon.  Laura, Megan's Physical Therapist, comments every time about how good her head control and her head shape is.  We're focusing on rolling and then will hopefully be done.  We were all very excited when Megan fell asleep on U with her head to the right.  Go Megan!

• Watching Megan and Matthew play.  Megan really enjoys grabbing toys (and often sticking them in her mouth) these days.  Matthew likes looking at things and has really taken to the star on the floor gym that lights up and plays music.

• Our cute kids!

Blessings

A few blessings from the past week:

• Matthew just had an ear infection not RSV or some other lung infection.
• U discovered that the battery on the van was about dead one evening and was able to get it replaced (instead of me discovering it the next morning).
• Being told by the insurance company that, despite the fact that one night of Megan's hospital stay had been deemed "not approved" by them, the bill had been paid and so not to worry about it.  (It is quite stressful to get mail saying the stay wasn't approved so this was a huge relief.  How nice that they can tell you it is not approved three months later!  But since they'd already paid the bill, why were they paying someone to determine if it was approved or not anyhow?)
• Sarah went to school every day this week!

Ear Infections

Apparently we breed ear infections around here.  Or something like that.

It started with Sarah.  I got a call from the school nurse a few weeks ago that her eye was a little goopy and pink.  I took her to the doctor and, sure enough, she had pink eye.  The next week, I took her back to the doctor because she had been up literally all night coughing.  Turns out that she had an ear infection and a sinus infection. 

The next day, Megan's eyes were really goopy and a little pink.  I called and made a doctor's appointment for the next morning.  By afternoon, Matthew's eyes were starting to be a little goopy, so I added him to the appointment.  Megan had pink eye and an ear infection while Matthew had a cold with goopy eyes. 

Last week, Matthew had a horrible sounding cough.  I was concerned his cold had moved into his lungs and so I went to the doctor yet again.  The good news is that his lungs were clear.  The bad news is that he had an ear infection. 

An interesting thing is that all three kids just had ear infections in their right ear.  And none of them had a fever.  (We've never had a fever with an ear infection, not even when it was a double ear infection with pneumonia.)  Here's to hoping that we're on the mend and won't be spending quite so much time at the doctor's office!

When I Grow Up

When Sarah grows up, she wants to be Tangled.  Why?  Long hair.  That's why after her latest haircut, she went from this:

To this:

(That's what happens when you move your head while getting a hair cut!)

Sarah tells us a lot that she wants long hair when she grows up.  In fact, if she had a magic lamp, one of her three wishes would be for long hair.  (The other two are to have a magic mirror and to be able to watch a movie.)

Breakfast Conversation

This morning's breakfast conversation went like this:

S: I'm glad I'm not a boy.
Me: Why is that?
S: Because then I'd have to go to work when I grow up.  I get to stay home all day instead.
Me: Don't you think that is work?
S: No.
Me: Oh.  What do you think you will do at home?
S: Have lots of fun and watch movies.

Twins?

When Megan, Matthew and I get out of the house, this is what we look like:

Which leads many people to say, "Aw....Twins!"  But really, look a little closer:

Definitely not twins.  She only weighs twice as much as he does!  When they're a bit older, I'll understand that comment, but right now, there is a huge difference.

Which leads to the comment we had when we were on a walk last weekend.  Someone looked at them and said, "They're......not.......twins" with long pauses between the words.  Very good!

Here are a few other side by sides of our "not twins":

Megan at almost 4 months, Matthew at 5 days:

Megan and Matthew in their Christmas pajamas Jan 10th:

In Christmas outfits from Grandma and Grandpa A the middle of January:

Matthew doing tummy time on Megan the beginning of February:

All tuckered out after our walk last week:

Tonight:

Week Two

We have survived another week!  Here are the highlights:

• Celebrated U's mom's birthday, also known as Valentine's Day.  Sarah had a party at school which was very exciting.  She also got cards from her grandparents and a balloon from her parents.  She made cards for Megan and Matthew--it was very sweet of her!
• Got Sarah to school three days.  I know, this is moving in the wrong direction, but what can I say?
• Had all three kids two days. Sarah coughed ALL NIGHT Monday so we kept her home Tuesday.  Then we had to wait for her to be on the antibiotics a day before going back to school.
• Took all three kids to the pediatrician.  Sarah went on Tuesday.  She has a sinus infection and ear infection.  Megan and Matthew went on Thursday.  Megan has pink eye and an ear infection.  Matthew just has a cold with goopy eyes although we're watching him carefully (he was the last to get sick so he may head down the same path as Sarah and Megan).  Sarah weighed 40 pounds, Megan 16 lb 14 ounces and Matthew 8 lb 12 ounces (6.5%!  Go Matthew!).
• Went to the pulmonologist.  Megan looks great and all the oxygen equipment is officially leaving tomorrow.  Yeah! 

Laundry

Apparently Megan and Matthew have been concerned that we don't have enough laundry to do.  This, notwithstanding the fact that they create about half of our laundry anyhow.  Friday, they decided to rectify the situation.  Here's what happened:

• Matthew: pooped out of his pajamas as soon as we got home from taking Sarah to school.  Casualties: pajamas and onsie (Note: this is a common occurrence.)
• Matthew: had a "faucet" spit up after his feeding.  Casualties: the outfit I'd just dressed him in, my clothes, the couch and the boppy
• Megan: had a spit up due to coughing on mucus after her morning nap.  Mom tried to minimize damage by getting her to the sink.  Casualties: the floor (tile, thankfully) and kitchen mat
• Megan: had a HUGE poopy diaper.  Megan has been a bit constipated and so we've been giving her some prune juice to move things along.  While I'm feeding Matthew, she gets this look on her face and some loud noises came from her direction.  Pretty soon I can tell she's pooping.  When she's done, I notice brown on the front of her onsie.  I put Matthew aside and bring Megan to the changing table.  She's poopy clear up to her armpits and down her legs.  I pull the clothes off, even pulling the onsie down to avoid the face and hair.  The clothes are dripping.  I proceed to clean her off.  She keeps getting her hands in the poop and I keep wiping them because she's teething and so her hands end up in her mouth.  Just when I thought I had cleaned everywhere, I'd discover new areas that needed cleaning.  Definitely the messiest contribution of the day!  (While I was cleaning her, which took quite awhile, Matthew decided he was not yet done eating and that he was, in fact, starving.  So we got to listen to him serenade us with his screams.)  Casualties: her outfit, the bouncy seat and the changing table cover

First Week

Last week was my first week on my own. 

• I successfully got Sarah to school on time four days with everyone being fed and clothed (sometime pjs for Matthew, but hey, he was clothed!).  I would have got her there the fifth day but she ended up being home sick with pink eye on Wednesday.  The school nurse called after lunch on Tuesday to tell me her eye was a little pink and crusty.  She wasn't going to send Sarah home because she wasn't sure it was pink eye and Sarah wasn't complaining of anything else, but when I explained Sarah's history of sickness (ie, she doesn't complain even when she's really sick), she decided Sarah should come home.  Thankfully U was able to get her as Megan had just gone down for a nap and was exhausted and Matthew was ready to eat.  (As a side note, I'd like to say that if I'm able to get Sarah to school, you'd think she would at least have the decency to stay the full day!  :) )
• I successfully sustained three human lives during the day for the whole week.  (At least this is what U tells me I did when I tell him I don't get anything done but feeding and helping with sleeping and a bit of playing.)
• I successfully had three kids at home for a whole day and minimized the contact the loving but sick older sister had with her two younger siblings.
• I successfully got Megan, Matthew and me to Physical Therapy and to the chiropractor.  Physical Therapy had been planned.  The chiropractor had been planned for me by myself but they called to see if I could come earlier.  I said I could if they'd babysit my kids (joking, of course) but they took me up on it.  Megan and Matthew both did really well with it, too.
• I successfully didn't go crazy (I'm saving that for this week).

Choices

On the way home from Physical Therapy on Friday, Megan was tired and hungry and so she was crying.  I told her that we were driving home and that she had a choice:  She could cry or she could not cry.  She stopped crying!  Pretty amazing decision for a five month old.

At home, I was feeding Megan when Matthew woke up.  He was hungry and started crying.  I told him that I was feeding Megan and that he had a choice:  He could cry or he could not cry.  He continued crying.  And crying.  And crying.  Finally his mother took pity on him and fed him too so I guess things worked out OK for him!  (And his mother knows she can feed Megan and Matthew at the same time if absolutely necessary although it isn't the preferred method of feeding.)

Sarah is at school

I managed to get Sarah to school on time. We had all eaten and I had even pumped. Enough said!