The bunny and stuff....

We saw the bunny tonight. I realized as I was standing there and my 3 robots were saying "cheese" that 1. I take a lot of pictures and they do a great job of knowing what to do to move on to what they want to do. and 2. gone are the days of kicking and crying cause they are afraid. When we were done I asked them if they like the bunny and I got from Dylan "it's the same every year". I thought maybe the mold was broke after Brett was born - I was wrong!

We have been busy re-arranging our bedrooms as the boys got their much needed bunk beds. Our neighbor sold us hers for a great price and they are in great shape. So a week ago Cody and I went mattress shopping and we set the room up last Saturday. And I don't think I've seen my boys since. Just Kidding......but they do spend a lot of time up there. Their toys downstairs are starting to feel neglected. They have asked the bunny to bring them their own sheets. Cody wants Bakugan and Dylan would like Tony Hawk.

Brett's job is so-so. Not sure how many know this but he works for AIG and well they have been in the news A LOT for some really bad choices. We figure it would be only time before we started to feel the true affects of a company in trouble. Thankfully he still has a job and that comes with a big thanks especially today as the company did a big layoff. Several people lost their jobs today and go out into the economy of uncertainty. They will have a meeting in April to discuss major changes. Not sure what that will mean but could mean loosing a shift differential in pay, a change in hours, etc.... So we wait. He's handling the stress pretty good of going to work every day and not being sure if you have a job. Thankfully, my job is stable and our company is actually growing.

Cody and Dylan will be singing up for Kindergarten next month. Seems our district is late in doing them. Many other New Yorkers have done theirs already. Within the next few weeks we will have a parent-teacher conference with their pre-school teacher to discuss how they are doing. She has told me fine - but I have lots of questions as we will start the school year out with 2. I am unsure if I will push to keep them together or let them go their separate ways. Doing lots of research and just trying (like always) to make the right decision.

Until next time....

Happy Birthday Auntie Tanya

The yummy ice cream cake. I forgot how good these were. Tanya and the crew....just missing Jack! The kids wanted nothing to do with dinner but once we said "cake" they came running. Singing "Happy Birthday"....we tend to just let the kids sing. They do a great job! Auntie and Dylan.......he doesn't pose as much but gave in to his auntie on her special day! Today is Tanya's 40th birthday. A pretty big milestone but she couldn't look any better. We had a nice night of celebration. Yummy lasagna that my mom made and a super yummy ice cream cake. She got some great gifts but a couple of her favorites were what the kids got her. I had asked the 3 of them what they wanted to get her for her birthday. Dylan after first wanted to get her a "new shirt" but I told him I was thinking of something cheaper. :) So Dylan got her his favorite candy bar (that Auntie told him she would share with him and he thought that was a GREAT idea)......Tyler got her a lollipop. He wanted a "big" one but I couldn't find it. Cody got her a pack of gum. As Cody loves to chew his gum. I bet she'll share that with him too! They all made her cards. I think she enjoyed her 40th birthday.

Shopping for new beds

The time has come that the boys want bunk beds. At first I was going to get the beds that Kevin and I had as kids (that were originally my dad and his brothers) but while they are old, beat up, they also didn't have great security to them. No ladder - not great sides. So I was hesitating on getting them. Then my neighbor called me the other night and said she is getting rid of her set and if we wanted them - the price was very reasonable. So I went to check them out - and OMG they are great. Nice wood, a little dings but nothing major, a built in ladder on the end. I loved them. So our next move was to buy mattresses. I called around to some furniture places today and just so happen I found a sale. So tonight Cody and I went mattress shopping. Nobody else wanted to go. So Cody tested them out and we pick up 2 new mattresses on Friday. I am so excited for them to be getting their own beds. Our sleeping arrangement isn't one many people like. We co-sleep. Some agree - some don't and that's fine. But we did what we had to to get sleep with twins. So it works for us. But it's time to move on and they are excited about it. They are asking the bunny for sheets. Cody would like bakugan and Dylan would like sharks, spongebob and skateboards. I will have to see what the bunny finds. Now Daddy needs to get out his tools as we have a lot of moving to do. I smell spring cleaning in my future!

Finally an end to the hearing issue....

Cody and I went to see Dr. Tatum today. My major concern was his hearing (although he did pass his hearing test), but I was also concerned with his tubes and if there were holes on the ear drum. Dr. Tatum said he is hearing next to perfect. I told him that every doctor is not able to see past the wax and I am thinking it's time to get it out. So he said while he doesn't like to remove the wax with the instruments while they are awake at this age - we could try it and see how he does. Well Cody did PERFECT! He laid there and winced a little but Dr. Tatum got a great amount of wax out. It was really neat to cause I got to watch it all on a monitor so I could actually see inside of Cody's ear. I got to see the tubes. They are in place however his left ear does appear to be working it's way out. The tube itself is blue in color and almost looks like pvc pipe. Kind of cool to see inside your kids ear. So no surgery as my gut was thinking. For once I am wrong. But that's good because I really don't want to visit the OR any sooner than I have to. So we go back and see the team in July. But really my next step is to get the ball rolling on dental. Let the insurance battle begin.

Seems like forever ago...

I changed the background of the blog today and am gearing up for the Easter holiday. The bunny has been busy starting to buy for the baskets....we have dates set for upcoming egg hunts to go to.....the "bunny is watching" threat is starting to be used....but this picture brings back so many memories.

The boys were 3 months old, making Karly 3 years old. This was their first picture with the bunny. As you can tell they were sound asleep and really didn't care. It really does seem like yesterday that they were so little.

A little bit of Luck

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!!

Brett calls me today to inform me we got the letter from the town court on my ticket. Great! I was waiting for him to tell me how much it was going to cost us. Instead.....the case has been dismissed. YEAH!!! Not sure why, the letter just stated that "due to the above mentioned circumstances, the case pending against you has been dismissed". Thank you very much. I am very grateful that we don't have to come up with that money. I was figuring an easy $150. So thank you to the district attorney for dismissing my case. :)

I guess on St. Patrick's Day - I had a "little bit of luck". Should of played the lotto but I didn't want to push it. ;)

Yeah for Dylan

So this is probably embarrassing and luckily I can get away with it cause I'm the mom....with potty training comes daytime training and night time training. The daytime came for everybody and went pretty smoothly...or as smoothly as potty training 3 kids at once can go. Then it was night time and Cody and Tyler just seemed to not have any issues. Dylan seemed as if it was taking a little longer. Well it took almost a year longer. Not a big deal. We just graduated to those Good Nights and didn't make a big deal of it. The pediatrician wasn't worried that he was 5 and still wetting at night. I did some research to and I wasn't worried - it would come! Well folks, the time has come and he hasn't wet for a couple of weeks now. YEAH! He is so happy he doesn't have to wear the "pull up" at night any more. It's almost as if the gland that controls this just became mature. I'm so proud of him. The sad thing is is that I had just bought a new pack of the good nights and used like 2 out of it. So......I guess I hand them down to Connor when it's his turn. Yeah for Dylan and yeah for everybody just peeing in the potty!!!! Now we just need to work on that aim.......

Doggy Heaven

Tyson..Tanner...Molly - begging for a treat!

Very early this morning my sister's dog Tyson went to Doggy Heaven. He was 13 years old and lived the sweet life of a dog. I remember them getting Tyson as I was living with them at the time while I was going to school. He was so playful and full of energy as any puppy is. Tyson was a great dog who got along with all dogs, was great with people and especially the kids once they came along. One of the things I will always remember about him is his love of chasing a football! He LOVED to run back and forth between two people as they threw the ball. Just in hopes that one of them would drop it and he could attack it. And while running - he would bark the entire time. Ok, so the barking got annoying but it was still funny to watch. Even as he got older and the younger pups, Molly and Tanner would do it for a minute and then find something else to do - Tyson would stay right there - running! But he died peacefully in his sleep in his favorite spot. You really couldn't ask for anything better. We'll miss him for sure! And Molly and Tanner won't know what to do without him.

Parade

Today we went to the St. Patrick's Day parade. While the weather was supposed to hold off - it didn't. Surprise Surprise for Upstate NY. So we got wet....but we still had fun and the kids still got their candy. This was our first St. Patrick's day parade. I LOVED it! I absolutely LOVE the sound of the bagpipers. We have our parade so early because we get groups that come up from NYC, Philly and Scranton. And I am so glad we do because they were awesome!

One very funny moment though......Cody is very baffled why it's "only" called "St. Patrick's"........if you know where I am going with this - we watch Spongebob. Who is his right hand man - Yep, Patrick! So Cody wonders why it's not St. Spongebob!!!!????? Do you think the Catholics out there could ask for me? LOL......

Pictures & Video!!!!

Listen to the sound of this.....these guys came all the way from NYC. Awesome!

Aren't they cute?? Yes, the boys and the shirts...I found them at Children's Place and while lucky isn't spelled like we do - it never is - these are pretty close.

Then we added two more to the group. All decked out in green of course. Family photo op....we were all decked out in our green. Cody was a little mad cause by this time we had waited for a little bit and it was just starting to sprinkle. He had on his sweat shirt and I made him take it off for the picture. I know, bad mother! :)We can hear the parade and the kids are beyond ready for some candy. They didn't get as much as we thought but we were pretty far up town and people ran out quickly. Karly made the bags for them each. She wrote their name and a shamrock. She did a great job. One thing we found out though - the markers were obviously "washable"....everything smeared! Bagpipers from Westchester......each group that came through had on different kilts. I can still hear the sound. And this made Dylan's day.....he loves monster trucks. He was so excited there was a school bus monster truck. We happen to listen to this radio station every morning. It's our favorite. However later Dylan told me "it's not a real monster truck, cause there were no dings in the bus"

Audiologist Appointment

I took Cody to see an Audiologist today for a full hearing test. She believes that he has a hole in each ear drum. I knew about one ear but didn't know both. So that was a little bit of a shock. Then she did the hearing test. I had told him before hand he would have to wear headphones and he was cool with it. He got a clicker and every time he heard a sound he had to click. He did a good job with that. He passed the hearing test at 15 decibels. Which is really within normal hearing range. This is good news but also confusing for me as it doesn't really explain why I am playing the volume game on the TV. (I turn it down, he turns it up) She said that while he can hear each sound - he might not be hearing each sound during a conversation. So in order to hear a full conversation - he needs the volume up. As if I was to stand in the shower and listen to the radio. I would probably have to have the radio up louder than normal so I could hear it over the water. Well Cody needs the "volume up" louder when you are talking to him. She said basically he has normal - to boarder line mild hearing loss. He is also full of wax. Not completely impacted as she could see around it - but she feels he really needs to be cleaned out. So.......we wait for 2 more weeks and head to Syracuse to see what Dr. Tatum makes of it all. Did I ever tell ya I hate to wait?????..............but I will!

Facebook quiz

So there is this question / answer quiz going around on Facebook. The idea is to ask your kids and see what they said. This is what my trio said. Cody gave most of the answers - but Dylan and Tyler piped in at times. It was fun to see what they would say.

1. What is something mom always says to you? "no"
2. What makes mom happy? " being good"
3. What makes mom sad? "when we don't listen"
4. How does your mom make you laugh? "do funny stuff"
5. What did your mom like to do when she was a child? "play with dolls"
6. How old is your mom? "22"
7. How tall is your mom? "50 inches"
8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV? "American Idol"
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "watch TV"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "not sure what for, but I would get there by a limo"
11. What is your mom really good at? "@ computers"
12. What is your mom not very good at? "your good at everything"
13. What does your mom do for her job? "You work but you won't take us there"
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "chicken pot pie"
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "I make you feel better"
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Tyler said Spiderman, Dylan says I would be on Animal Planet and do wild rescues and Cody says I would be Pokemon"
17. What do you and your mom do together? "take us to school"
18. How are you and your mom the same? "Dylan says we are both humans"
19. How are you and your mom different? "you're a grown up and we're a kid"
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "because you tell us"
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? "that he cooks"
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? "Walmart"

Can you See that?

Cody and Dylan can.....

At there 5 year check up, they didn't pass the vision part. Our pediatrician recommended that we get them in with an eye doctor for an exam. So I took her advice and did just that. During her exam she got Dylan at (left) 20/70 and (right) 20/40. Cody was 20/50 both eyes. Dylan would of for sure been giving a script for glasses. That isn't great seeing at all. Then I decided to call the school nurse as she also tested them and I didn't remember getting a paper home. She tested them in October and got them both at 20/30. Which is pretty good as there eyes are still growing and developing. So I was very confused.

We went today and they did fantastic. They did their test and saw things smaller than I could (with my contacts in). Dylan tested at 20/20 in both eyes. Cody tested at 20/25 in both eyes. Perfect vision! No problems. Eyes are healthy, straight, no signs of anything. The doctor was very interested in Cody and his thyroid problem and said that if the thyroid continued to be a problem it might affect vision later but he said his youngest patient with a thyroid problem and vision problem was 12. They both got their eyes dilated and they weren't so crazy on that.

So the pediatrician got a big fat "F" on this one. I mean I am glad she told me to go seeing as though how she tested they would of needed help seeing but it just didn't seem right. They haven't complained once that they "couldn't see". And I kind of cracked up because when I have really known there was a problem and wanted to go ahead to see a specialist - they dragged there feet. This time, they rushed us there and there was no problem.

This is down and behind us. Next up is on Friday for Cody's hearing test. That I can't wait for and am very nervous for the results.