Happy 3rd Birthday! (a little late)

Ok, so better late than never, right?  My kids have been 3 for 11 days, and I am just now getting around to putting this on here.  I did just upload 568 pictures from the last couple months, so now maybe I can actually take the time to blog about some of those pictures!

The kids birthday was awesome!  It was so much more fun this year!  They actually understood what was going on, and that it was their day.  We have been talking about them turning 3 for a few weeks, so they were really excited when the day actually arrived.  They even picked out what they wanted on their big cake, and picked out the colors for their little cakes that Aunt Stacie made for them.  I cannot believe they are already 3!  Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday that I even found out I was pregnant, and other days it feels like it was 10 years ago. 

We have been so busy the last couple of months.  We are not a stay at home all the time kind of family.  The kids love to go, go, go and so do Lee and I.  Lee’s schedule changed a couple of weeks ago, so he is back to working every other weekend.  This is a bit of an adjustment for us, but we will get used to it. 

We have filled our days with going to Nana and Papa’s, playing at the Children’s museum, hanging out at Grand Sue and Grandpa’s farm, playing in the snow, playing at the park, and enjoying this nice weather we have been having the past week. 

Now for the birthday parties!  We had a big party on Feb. 5th with all of our family and a few close friends.  Then on the 11th, their actual birthday, we had a little party at home with just the kids and Lee and I.  We made cupcakes, sang Happy Birthday about 1000 times, and they opened a couple presents from mommy and daddy. 

This is just a smorgasbord of pictures.  I couldn’t narrow it down to just a few, so enjoy!  Ignore the fact that they are all in just underwear in the last few pictures.  We are working on potty training, (that’s another post!) so just underwear is the normal wear around here these days. 

 

I hope you are all doing well!  I had a complaint the other day that it is too complicated to comment on here, so I made it a little easier.  You should be able to comment anonymously now, without needing a google account, so just make sure to sign your name if you comment this way!

Brotherly Love

My boys fight like crazy.  Especially Brett and Kaden.  I know they love eachother, but man, they get on eachother’s nerves!   They are always fighting!  ALWAYS!  They hit, bite, scratch, wrestle and do whatever they can to irritate the heck out of eachother.  But, occasionally, I catch them in a rare moment when they are getting along and playing so nice with eachother. 

Yesterday, they all 3 decided they needed to wear their snowboots around the house.  They looked so stinking cute that we had to take pictures.  When I asked them to stand together, so we could get a picture, this is what they did……

Kaden, Brett, Cooper

 

Cooper, Kaden and Brett

 

Kaden and Brett

 

Cooper

Brett, Kaden and Cooper

 

Brett, Kaden and Cooper

This girl does not like to smile for pictures, so I have to be very sneaky!  She looks so cute in this one! 

I love when they do stuff like this.  It’s awesome to watch their relationship with eachother grow from just being siblings that live in the same house to friends!  It should be fun to watch them grow up together and see the bond that they have with each other grow even stronger! 

We’re Off To See The Wizard!

Halloween was so much fun!  The kids had a great time, and learned really quick to say Trick or Treat, hold out their buckets, say thank you, and take off to the next place to get more candy! 

I was a little worried that they wouldn’t even wear their costumes since every trial run we have had in the last few weeks hasn’t gone so well.  This morning as we were leaving for Kearney, I brought their buckets up from downstairs and they got so excited!  When it was time to get dressed up later in the day, I told them we were going to go trick or treating and get candy to put in their buckets.  Wow, did they put those costumes on fast! 

We took them to the mall in Kearney first, so we wouldn’t have to worry about the weather.   They loved it!  Kaden was the leader of the pack and spent most of his time in front of the other three.  He would get his candy and move on to the next stop.  If the line wasn’t moving fast enough for him, he would walk around people and push to the front to get his candy.  At one point he was walking down the mall waving saying, “Heeellllooooo!”  I think he knew people were looking at him, and since he is a comedian just like his daddy, he decided to put on a show for them.  

After we left the mall, we headed home to do a little trick or treating around our neighborhood.  Since it had gotten cold by this time, I did my best to bundle the kids up under their costumes.  They all had red, runny noses and freezing cold hands by the time we were done, but they all had a great time!  At one point Cooper was shaking he was so cold, but he didn’t want to stop.  I had him all wrapped in my coat to keep him warm, but every house we stopped at he, jumped down so he could get his candy! 

Cooper, Parker, Brett and Kaden

I bet you didn’t know Dorothy had a laptop did you?

Getting some candy

You can see the look of horror on Cooper’s face.  I think there was a guy in a gorilla costume that scared the heck out of Cooper and Parker.

They were so excited to have a whole bucket of candy!

Brett, Cooper, Parker and Kaden

Not the best picture of Lee and I, but it’s the only family photo I got!

This girl does not like to have her picture taken.  She either refuses to smile or turns her head.  But she still looks cute!

Cooper looks a little cold!

You mean I get to eat ALL of this?

I love cheetos!

Brett the Lion

Cooper the Scarecrow

Mommy, can I eat these too????

Kaden the Tinman

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!  We did!

Pigeon Toes

Kaden has always been a little pigeon toed and likes to walk on his tip toes.  In the last few months, we have felt like it has gotten worse.  He has always hated, and I mean HATED, wearing tennis shoes.  Honestly, I don’t know if they bother his feet, or if it is just a behavior thing.  He is usually fine once the shoes are on, but putting them on is a chore!  He hasn’t worn tennis shoes all summer.  My kids are just like me, they prefer sandals or no shoes at all.  Lately, we have been noticing that Kaden is even starting to run on his tip toes.  I don’t know how he manages to do that without falling, but he does.  A couple months ago, when the kids were in the tub, I asked Kaden to lift up his feet so I could wash them and I realized he couldn’t lift his legs above the water.   The other three lift them up and hold them in the air for however long I need them to, so it seemed odd that Kaden couldn’t do it.  It continued, and he still can’t lift his legs up too high.

We talked with our pediatrician, who said he definitely felt a tightness in Kaden’s legs, which we already knew.  He then used the dreaded word “palsey”.  What he actually said was that he was assuming it was a sort of a palsey.  I guess I knew that too, but no one ever wants to hear that their child might have a form of cerebral palsey. Don’t get me wrong, he probably has the most mild form of it any kid could have, but still.  In a comfort to me, he said that he didn’t feel like we needed to be too concerned about it, since it is pretty obvious that it hasn’t caused him any other delays.  His speech is a little delayed, but all three of the boys are behind in their speech, which is normal for quads and even more normal for a kiddo born at 23 weeks!  The pediatrician also didn’t feel like Kaden would be needing orthotics.  He felt like physical therapy would be sufficient.

Since the kids already qualify for services through EDN due to their prematurity, we were lucky enough to have the Physical Therapist come to our home to evaluate him.  She agreed with the doctor that Kaden doesn’t need braces at this time.  She did say he is very tight in his calves and hamstrings.  Besides the pigeon toes and tip   toe walking, he also doesn’t fully straighten his legs when he walks.  The fact that his hamstrings are really tight prevent him from completely straightening his legs. 

She gave us several stretches to do with Kaden 4-5 times a day.  The problem with this, is that he HATES the stretches.  Like, screaming, crying, fighting as hard as he can, hates them.  It seriously breaks my heart to have to do these stretches with him.  I hate being the reason for his tears.  The first couple times we did the stretches I’m not sure who cried more, Kaden or me.  I know that this will make him better and it will be worth it in the long run, but man, this is hard.  We’ve tried making it a game, which worked at first, but then he figured out what we were doing and that didn’t work anymore.  M&M’s seem to work temporarily.  We can get about half way through the stretches without him freaking out if he is eating M&M’s.  The only problem with that, is how many M&M’s should a kid have in one day?  It’s not just Kaden that is eating them.  All four of them have to have some, because you can’t give M&M’s to one kid and not the others.  I guess if everyone gets lots of M&M’s for a while, it will be worth it if we can straighten Kaden’s legs out, right??????

Really, I shouldn’t complain about something like this.  It could be SO much worse, it fact, it SHOULD be so much worse.  I mean, my kids were born at 23 weeks.  Technically, they shouldn’t even be here right now.  I should be mourning the loss of my babies, or at least have four babies with serious mental and physical challenges.  I thank God everyday for my four healthy, beautiful, perfect little people that I have been blessed with.  This is just one of the many bumps in the road that we have encountered.  It’s just that, for me, this is a hard one.  It’s hard because I have to look at the look on Kaden’s face while I am trying to convince him that he needs to do these silly little stretches. 

Thank you for listening to me vent, but this is my journal, so this is where my thoughts go!  If anyone has any suggestions for me, please let me know!  I’m up for trying anything!