Happy Thanksgiving

Alyna and Ryan sat for 20 minutes licking the freshly made whipped cream off the beaters.

We are so very thankful for our blessings this year. At the top of the list is Kellyn's arrival as a happy, beautiful baby girl in August. Ryan and Alyna are growing into such wonderful children who love everyone and love to learn. Barry is blessed with a good career which allows me to be at home with our young children. And while we may not love the city we live in, we defintely love all the people we know. It is a wonderful blessing to have lots of substitute grandparents, aunts, and uncles to mentor our children in God's ways.

We are also quite thankful to not have company for this holiday this year. This will be the first time since the Thanksgiving we were in Europe in 2007 that we haven't had anyone here (that includes the Christmas holidays as well). We love when we do have family visiting us, but it's also nice to enjoy just being our small family of 5 as well.

Thank you for reading this... you are my support system and I love sharing our lives with you.

Every month counts

It's amazing how much kids learn in a month's time.

We all know how infants change rapidly each month. Kellyn this month is interacting with her world so much more. She wants to sit up in your lap to look around, and she loves to watch her siblings play.



But I've been surprised lately at how much Alyna and Ryan still change every month. It's getting easier all the time to communicate with them. They are learning to follow directions, and to form complete sentences when they are speaking. They love to learn new things.

Sometimes I work with them on pronouncing a new word or someone's name. Last week Ryan learned to say "monkey" very clearly. This week the word blanket has gone from "bet" to "bayket". I figured out just today that when Ryan asks where "Whining" is he's saying "Lightning" meaning his Lightning McQueen car.



Alyna called from across the house yesterday, "Mom, where are you?" I chuckled because she sounded so grown up. Every time you sigh or say, "ouch" she asks "Are you okay?" It's so cute that she shows such concern for those around her.

Ryan knows many of his letters now, but doesn't respond to questions about them like Alyna does. Alyna can tell you many of the lowercase letters now along with the capital letters. She looked at a lower case "d" today and said "Daddy", because d is for Daddy.

She often says pieces of the alphabet repeatedly though she'll skip letters. She gets "A, B, C, D" easily then skips around a bunch until "W, Y, Z, now I know".

She does the same with counting to ten. Right now it's: 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10



Alyna knows what the computer mouse is and the remote control so she can bring them to me across the room while I'm nursing. Ryan and Alyna both love to take Kellyn's empty bottles to the sink for me. When their drink cups are empty they will often go put them on the counter by the refrigerator so I can refill them.

I am so thankful for every day that they grow and learn. God's blessings are overflowing in my house this holiday season.

picture updates

Kellyn is now 3 months old. She interacts a lot with everyone, cooing and smiling. She reaches to hit and grab toys, but her favorite thing to do right now is watch ceiling fans. It's fun to watch her as she stares and talks to the fan as the shadows move across the ceiling above her.



Ryan actually shares his most prized possession with her as a blanket. This is his monkey cuddly that he sleeps with and carries around when he's not feeling well. He loves her so much.



Alyna and Ryan are loosing that toddler look and looking more like little kids. It's fun to watch them grow.

Yucky

We've got a nasty stomach bug going around our family this week. This is actually the first one we've had since the long before the twins were born. The poor kids didn't even know what was happening since they'd never thrown up before.

Ryan got it first, on Monday afternoon, and he got the mildest case. He threw up a couple times, and had a few yucky diapers on Tuesday.

Alyna and I both got it worse on Tuesday night. Alyna was fine by morning, but I still have some symptoms hanging on even now. I didn't eat anything until Wednesday night. I'm just trying to stay hydrated.

The poor kids are going crazy because Barry and I are too tired to do anything with them. He was just coming off night shift on Tuesday so his lack of sleep was evident yesterday. He hasn't gotten the bug yet, but odds are he will in the next few days. Hopefully since Kellyn hasn't gotten it yet she will be fine. She would have been exposed when I was since I'm breastfeeding.

One of the hardest parts for me is still trying to nurse while sick. Even to pump the milk is a chore of sitting in one place for a while. I learned how to feed her while lying down because of it. She looked at me really funny at first until she figured out that the food was there so it didn't matter that we changed positions.

Today's thoughts

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday I always feel so blessed by the LORD to be where I am today.

It's an extra windy fall day here in southern New Mexico. Barry's at work all day (12 hours shift) and I'm home with the kids. There's a couple errands I could run, but I don't know if we'll do it today or not. Ryan awoke with a constant cough, and as I mentioned before, it is really windy outside.

I've already got 2 loads of laundry waiting to be folded, and about 3 more to go. I got a little behind on it this week.

Beef stew is in the crockpot for dinner, and the dishwasher is unloaded.

Alyna and Ryan woke up at 6:30 and are having a pajamas morning, and watched a movie because I knew they wouldn't go outside to play this morning. Kellyn is in the swing about to take a nap.

This afternoon, their new friend Madison is coming over to play with them. Madison is in 7th grade and just moved here in August. She and her 5th grade sister, Casey, are absolutely wonderful with the kids, and come over a couple times a week just to play with them. They'll even change diapers or take them to the potty without being asked. Since they live about 5 blocks away, it's a perfect situation. They're family attends our congregation, and we get along really well with their parents too.

Alyna loves having them over so much that last night before dinner she kept asking for them. She'd say "Mad and Cases?" over and over again.

P.S. Only in New Mexico would the Thanksgiving meal bags we give out from church include bags of rice and pinto beans. LOL!

Booked

We're doing it. I'm flying with the 3 kids to Boston on Friday, December 3 and returning on Monday, December 13. I'll be there for my sister's baby shower on Saturday which I'm really excited about. We'll miss Barry's really rough week of work and when we return home on Monday he is off work until Thursday.

We have one stop each way at DFW where we should have enough time to eat lunch, play, and change planes.

So I've been busy making sure we have warm clothes and a few new toys/coloring books for the trip. While it is in the 30s here at night, it was 80 degrees here yesterday during the daytime. We haven't needed more than a sweatshirt yet.

I'm excited, and the next few weeks will be very busy.

A Test Run

Next month Barry has a week of work that will be longer and harder than any of his usual shifts. He will work 3 long days and then 3 long nights. I'd rather not even be here with the kids that week, but none of my family or close friends live with-in close driving distance. So I either have a 8+ hour drive by myself, or a couple plane rides. Neither is appealing with the 3 kids, but I'm also just anxious to travel somewhere. I've been couped up in this town for 4 months now, and that's very unusual for me. I really want to go visit my sister in Boston that week.

Barry's worried that a plane ride with the 3 kids will be so rough that I'll regret doing it. I think a long drive would be even worse. My biggest challenges with the 3 little ones are parking lots and public restrooms. At least in the airports they are usually bigger and clean, and you don't have to cross a parking lot to get there. So.....

I realized that if I really want to do this I need to prove myself first by taking the 3 of them somewhere other than just to the church building and friend's houses. So off we went today on a short road trip (Barry was sleeping for night-shift anyway).

We got a late start because Kellyn slept from 9 pm to 9 am straight. So by the time I fed her, dressed her, and got everything loaded it was a little after 10 am. We drove an hour and 40 minutes to the Target in Odessa, TX. Everyone traveled wonderfully. Kellyn didn't start crying until 10 minutes away when she decided she was too hungry to wait any longer. I gave her a bottle as I wheeled in the cart across the parking lot.

The main goal was to buy coats and backpacks for Ryan and Alyna and look at or purchase some other small items. It's such a warm season here, that they didn't have many actual coats out. I found one I think will work for Alyna that is a fuzzy pale pink and lined with fake fur. I didn't find one for Ryan. I'll have to visit a couple local stores in the next week or two to find one for Ryan. Since we aren't out in the early morning or late evening it's not an urgent matter.

Alyna picked the Tinkerbell backpack and sippy cup over Disney Princess. Ryan got a Toy Story backpack because there weren't any Cars motifs available, but did get a Cars sippy cup. We don't use sippy cups a lot except when we go places, but the ones we have are leaking. We found the backpacks in the luggage section where they discovered the rolling backpacks. Ryan was instantly zooming around with Lightning McQueen from Cars, and Alyna took the Disney Princesses (in the absence of Tinkerbell) for a stroll. I let them take them along to the next few stops. We filled the cart with a couple long sleeve shirts for each of the 3, and next-size-up shoes for the twins.

We went back to the toy section to look at the tricycles. There was only one without security bindings on it that they could sit on, so I had to supervise them taking turns. (This was a test to see if it would make a good Christmas present... and I think it passed.) When it was time to put it back on the shelf, Ryan was reluctant to dismount.

When I turned around from putting him back inside the cart, Alyna was gone. I walked to the end of the aisle and looked around but she was nowhere in sight. I turned to a couple other moms with kids and carts and asked if they saw a 2 year old girl pulling a suitcase. I started calling her name and walking toward the baby section across the path. After a very long minute (or so), one of the other moms called out that she saw her. Alyna was right back on the aisle with the tricycles. She must have gone down and back around one of the next aisles to find me again. It was a very scary moment for me.

After a bathroom stop where Alyna actually used the potty, and checking out at the register, we went to Chick-fil-a. We stayed there for over an hour because it had a great play-place. I fed Kellyn her 2nd bottle right before we left.

I also realized that Ryan has developed a fear of public restrooms. I had to pick him up and carry him in both times. I think it's because he hates the hand dryers. The one in the Target restroom was used 3-4 times while we were in there and he screamed his head off. One of the workers said she'd wait and use the towels in the staff room so he wouldn't cry again. The Chick-fil-a bathroom didn't even have a dryer and he screamed and tried to crawl under the stall door several times. I hope he gets over that soon.

All the kids napped on the drive home, and once again Kellyn started crying about 10 minutes away. I guess that's here limit.

So I made it. It's not quite like an airport and long plane ride would be, but at least it didn't discourage me from it. Now we have to decide about the plane... hmmmmm

Crazy Tuesdays

Tuesday mornings we attend Ladies Bible Class at our congregation, and there's a paid nursery worker to watch Ryan and Alyna play in the nursery. Another 2 year old, Mia, usually comes too, and they get along very well together.

Class starts at 9:30 so we have to be loading up in the van by 9:10 just to make it in time with all the car seats to fasten and unfasten even though it's only a 7 minute drive. This morning at 8:55 I was finishing up getting ready and thinking that we were all set to go a little early when I looked over and saw that Ryan and Alyna were still in their pajamas. I hadn't even picked out clothes for them yet, so I had to rush around to get them changed in time to leave.

We weren't late, but it wasn't the easy pace I thought I was achieving...

At the very end of class we heard screaming coming all the way down the hall from the nursery. I couldn't tell if it was Ryan or Mia... so Mia's mom and I both ended up going down there to see what was happening. It was both of them. Mia was throwing a tantrum because she didn't want to put her shoes on, and Ryan was crying because he didn't understand why Mia was upset. He's such a sensitive guy, and was a little tired today from waking up early today.

We went to lunch with a bunch of ladies where Ryan ended up in our preacher's wife's lap... because she had chocolate cake in front of her.

Kellyn slept through most of class and lunch. When she woke up at the end of lunch one of the ladies held her and fed her some of the bottle. Then she gave me a special treat... a blowout poopy diaper. It leaked up the back onto her shirt. I didn't have an extra shirt with me because I switched bags this morning, so she got to wear a blanket for coming home.

The 3 kids all napped at the same time for almost an hour... that was some nice quiet time.

After nap, and snack (applesauce) we all went for a walk. I carried Kellyn in our baby carrier on my chest. (It's like a backpack but worn on the front.) I decided that instead of pushing the double stroller that I would pull the kids in our 2-seater wagon. The polling place is only 2 blocks away, and they enjoyed the ride to the fire station. The ladies at the tables were happy to talk to Ryan and Alyna while I filled in the bubbles on the ballot. Kellyn had fallen asleep by then.

As we exited the fire station we stopped at the fenced in park next door for about 20 minutes. It's a small play area with a tunnel and slide in the shape of a fire engine. Ryan ran to the back gate and looked at the fire engine, and watched a digging machine help some men move rocks.

On the way home we stopped to visit our neighbor Mrs. Smith who just adores them. She brought a basket of stuffed animals into her living room for them to play with. They made all the animal sounds for her as we talked.

Our outing didn't end there. We loaded up into our van and went to the drive-thru of the bank for some cash and picked up dinner on the way home.

I'm hoping the kids will all sleep really well tonight. Kellyn seems a little out of sorts from the strange schedule of the day. Tomorrow we stay at home all day until church at night. It will be nice...