Brityn Turns 4...

Yes my sweetie girl is 4!! I can't believe how big she is too. The little baby chubbiness is gone and she is looking more and more like big girl. It makes me so sad.
Yesterday was her real birthday we took her to her fav place to eat the Olive Garden. The Hofs joined us for a little mini birthday party.
She's being silly with her brother


Present time


This was her first reaction to her present, she didn't know what it was yet


This was after she realized they were babies...twins...


Saturday we had her birthday party. It was smallish as none of Bry's family decided to attend(whole 'nother story), but they had fun with their cousins Lily, Leanna, Mikey, Bree, D.B., and Ayla.

Caden wanted to dance with his sister


Ry wanted to dance too


The Birthday Girl


Caden and Lil


cake time


present time...even better


Hope you had a wonderful birthday sweetie girl, we love you soooo much!

Brit Goes To The ER...

So since they're sharing a room, we thought we'd save space and put their bunk beds back up. Up until now they had been ok with them. Well Friday night, at bedtime I went in to turn out the the TV and Brit was hanging on the rail of the upper bunk with her feet on her mattress below, well I must have spooked her when I walked in because she took a tumble straight to the ground landing on her right shoulder. I picker her up, hugged her, took a look at it and it looked fine so I put her to bed. She wasn't really crying at all. But then I head her whimper while she was in bed. I took another look at it and noticed some swelling and that she couldn't really move it. She could move it when I checked her over the first time but the fact that she was crying in pain and it was swollen freaked me out. So we headed out to the ER, this was at like 11 p.m. She was pretty hysterical at the fact that she was going to the hospital, but settled down once we got there and fell asleep on daddy who was also falling asleep. I was just praying that it wasn't dislocated, I did not want her to go through the pain of them having to pop it back in. Omg, gives me chills just thinking about it.
After an hour or so wait, the nurse saw her and did an initial exam and determined that nothing was broken and that she'd be fine. Brit was asleep the whole time, I guess cause it was just a little traumatic to her. Two days later she's still sore. Yesterday at cousin Lil's party she was too scared to jump on the inflatables and was in clear pain. Luckily, Uncle Bob's cousin is an orthopedist. He took a look at her and said the same thing as the nurse, but if it still hurts her on Tuesday, that we can come in and he will Xray her to make sure. So that was our Friday night. My poor Bitty, she is still sore, and cannot put a whole lot of pressure on her arm. I've been giving her Motrin for the pain. I hope that she feels better tomorrow. I'll post a pic of my little injured child a little later.

This is Cute...

Yesterday after Brityn's bath, Caden decided he wanted to help. He was proud of himself for helping her get out of the tub. He wrapped her in a towel and walked her to her room. I thought it was cute and such a big-brotherly thing to do. So I asked him if Mommy was not there would he be able to care for her and Rylen. Just something to think about. You hear about something happening to moms and the kids have to fend for themselves. That's a HUGE fear of mine.
His first thought was " how can I cook, I can't use the stove". I told him he can make PB&J. He said OK. Then I asked if he would take care of Rylen and change his diaper. He said "sure". Then he said he would help Brityn get herself dressed. So he picked out her PJ's and told her to put them on. Then he got the brush and brushed her hair and even went to her bow holder to get a clippie and put the clippie on her head. I thought that was hilarious- he knows that she will always need a bow or clippie on her head.
I told him he did a good job. So then I hear him yell at her to "PICK UP YOUR TOYS...NOW!!"
It seems that he's taking his "big brother/parenting" role a little too seriously.

I mean where ever does he hear that??!! LOL

SickER Children...

I probably shouldn't have complained about them being sick a few days ago...that was a walk in the park compared to last night!
Brit woke up...puke...Caden woke up...puke...RyRy woke up nursed then...puke. And that's pretty much how the night went from about 2 am till 7 am.
I've done A LOT of laundry all through the night and did more cleaning and disinfecting than I care to do in a long time.
I felt so sorry for them!! Those poor pitiful little babies. Caden was doubled over in pain saying "somebody save me" that broke my heart. Brityn was ok in between being sick, but asked for chocolate milk this morning...yeah I don't think so. My poor RyRy was a strong little guy. He actually looked better than the other two.
Our sleeping arrangements weren't too bad though. I didn't condemn them to a basement floor as Kate Gosselin does. Although if I had a basement that would not have seemed like a bad idea. I had both big kids in Brit's room on the floor, and Bryan slept with Rylen on the bed. I only got maybe 3 hours of sleep, the kids didn't sleep much either.
The culprit....well we went to a party this past Sat. and as it turns out at least 10 people that attended were all sick last night. Viral, food poisoning...who knows. I am just praying that Bryan and I will be spared. I'm exhausted from taking care of sick kids, and I soooo don't want to be sick myself.

Sick Children...

My 3 have a cold, I really hate summer colds. Last night Caden kept waking up whining cause he couldn't breathe, even after I slathered on the Vicks. Rylen kept waking up too. Well, he did sleep a 2 hour stretch from 2-4. Then he was awake from about 4:00 - 4:45 am. He wasn't too miserable, he wanted to play a little. He let me know by slapping me over and over again. Then he'd kiss me, then slap me again. He was just restless and was having a hard time nursing from being so stuffy. I layed him down and patted his back for about 30 minutes, and the kid would not fall asleep. Finally, I asked Daddy to intervene. He got up, fixed him a small bottle, and sure enough got him to sleep. Daddy says Ry only pulls that act on Mommy, not on him. Brit seems to be surprisingly ok, except for her out right defiance to pick up toys, but I'm not sure I can attribute that to being sick...she's just being Brit.
Now I've got a terrible headache from having a crappy night, and know it will probably repeat itself in just a few hours.

I Was THAT Mom....

At Target the other night. I almost forgot to post about this, maybe I'm trying to block it out still. My sweet little Brit has turned on me, I don't know WHO that child is that throws those tantrums, but I want my Bitty back.
We went to Target on Sunday. It was about 6 or so, and we hadn't eaten dinner yet, and I know she was hungry and tired. In my defense-we had eaten a big, late lunch and she had snacks...I promise I don't starve my children. So Caden had $40 to spend on 2 new DS games. Bryan let Brit have her pick of something new too, cause you know these kids can never have enough toys, apparently.
She picked out this huge teapot full of Disney Princess play dishes. Um, no kid, we already have a ton of dishes, and Mom does not enjoy picking them up all over her room. I told her to pick something else. I was making suggestions and then the meltdown began. I pulled her aside and told her that she needed to behave herself or else we were gone, and she was getting nothing. So I tried again to have her look for something else, and the full blown tantrum began. I put her in the cart, and wheeled her butt out to the car. All the while she was flipping out, she wanted what she wanted. Yelling, screaming, crying, kicking, and everyone that we passed was staring. I felt like I was in a parade. I could not make it out the door fast enough. I started laughing at one point cause I was just thinking how embarrassing it was, and also about all those times when I was the witness to other kids tantrums in stores. Saying "well if I was her mom then I would...." Yeah well that came back to bite me in the ass.
Even getting her in the car and her car seat was a challenge. My poor Rylen was staring at her I only wish I knew what he was thinking at that time. I managed to force her in her seat and buckle her very quickly, then get my Ry in his seat too. When Bryan and Caden finally made it out to the car, she was at that point in crying that she couldn't even talk anymore. Well she managed make out a few words to make me feel like complete crap, she said "You're making Jesus sad". Bryan and I just looked at each other.
Did they teach her how to give the best guilt trips ever in Sunday school...I mean where did this girl learn this. I of course felt so bad, the guilt set in, I wanted to cry, but then I remembered that I can't give in to her all the time. So she was pissed at me for a while, she ate dinner then fell asleep in the car and when she woke up she was fine. I explained to her why Mommy had to take her out of the store and why she got nothing, and that big girls don't act like that. She got a big hug and kiss and was ok. I was ok, she still loves her momma. I am praying that she doesn't pull that act again, she has only done that in public twice and it's soo not fun.

The Clean Up

Today I decided to do a much needed cleaning of the kids' rooms. We pick them up daily, usually twice a day but I needed to get down into the toy boxes and bins to take all the crap out. I have them pick up their rooms too...I don't do it all. They have to pitch in, I don't make them really clean it, but at least make an effort to help me pick up. How else would they learn???
So anyway, I started in Brit's room, not too bad. She doesn't have a gigantic toy box, mostly dolls, books, dollhouse stuff, and kitchen stuff. So I dug into her toy box and found some interesting things (see below). I just tossed the junky stuff, and organized her kitchen and book shelf. Only to have her take out more toys while I was cleaning Caden's room.
Then I went on to Caden's room. Oh my word...seriously I must have sorted between about a 100 action figures and hot wheels, he's got tons of those. And I noticed he's got all the toys, legos, Thomas tracks, Power Rangers, Star Wars, Hotwheels, light sabers...you name it, and I gave them all their own place in his room. So I hope he keeps it that way, and I hope Bryan keeps it that way. When he picks up, he just dumps everything where ever he wants. Pisses me off.
All this took like 2 hours, I had to stop cause Rylen was impatient, he needed a nap. Thank goodness cause I was tired too. Tomorrow it's my room...thinking about that mountain of laundry scares the hell out of me.

The following are just some of the surprising things I found in their rooms...

1-Army guys with their heads chewed off
2-A tiny opened bottle of bubbles..what a mess.
3-A petrified french fry
4-A pencil that looks like a chipmunk chewed it
5- $3. 67
6- 3 well hidden granola bar wrappers (although they are not supposed to have snacks in their rooms)
7- Bank deposit slips (???)
8- My tape measure that has been MIA for a couple of months
9-Caden's favorite headless Spider Man figurine (it's his favorite!! and he's been looking all over for it, I think it was a hand me down from cousin Austen)
10-A long lost lipstick that was rolled all the way up into the cap, wonder who got a hold of this??

3 year old attitude!

Oh, she just makes some days difficult. We went to Grandma's this afternoon, so before we leave I have her pick up Rylen's toys. Well she obviously knows that she didn't take them out so why the heck should she pick them up.
Me: Brit, can you please pick up RyRy's toys and put them in the bucket?
Her: Nope
Me: (firmly) Pick up those toys and put them in the bucket please!
Her: No, I'm not gonna do it. (she says this as calmly as can be)
Me: Pick up those toys or you're not getting your chocolate milk!
Her: UGH!
She walks over and picks up ONE F'N TOY, drops it in the bucket and walks away.
I made her pick up the rest of them too, but geezus she makes the simplest things so difficult sometimes. She challenges me, I can never just ask her to do something and have her actually do it without any attitude first. She'll yell at me, and flat out tell me no.
While it pisses me off, sometimes I have to laugh at it. She's still adorable, and makes my day interesting. She is stubborn just like someone I know....Aww just look at her....

Also, I found out the name of the congenital liver defect is that the gastro was telling me about.
It's Focal Nodular Hyperplasia or FNH. I'll be doing more googling tonight to see what it's all about.