The Bin Method

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Since a lot of people's New Year's resolution is to get organized, a lot of my "mommy" boards were filled with awesome organizational ideas.  I totally stole this one and wanted to share.

Because we have an overabundance of toys and nowhere good to store them,

our living room looked like Toys R Us threw up.

It was always a pain to clean up at night and the babies

destroyed the "organization" in about 5 minutes.

What I've done is get bins and separate the toys. 

The clear bins are a mish mosh of toys.

The green bins are categorized (stuffies, balls, etc).

The big difference is...

WE ONLY TAKE OUT ONE BIN AT A TIME!!!

That way, it takes us less time to clean up.

The babies are tricked into thinking they get new toys all the time.

It's saved our lives!!!

Rave Review: Booger Sucker

NasalClear is a new battery operated nasal aspirator. It quickly, easily, and safely clears your baby's stuffy nose and helps her breathe more freely. The NasalClear aspirator provides you with suction that is stronger than that of a traditional manual aspirator, yet gentle enough to use safely and comfortably on your newborn or toddler. Battery operation lets you control the suction, so that you maintain the suction or release it as needed. NasalClear operates on 2 AA batteries and includes 2 different tips to accommodate different shaped nostrils and a variety of congestion conditions. The tips are made of soft silicone, making them comfortable for children of all ages. Although NasalClear has greater suction power than a manual aspirator, it is still gentle enough to use on newborns. It comes apart for easy and thorough cleaning and is dishwasher safe. NasalClear includes a plastic collection cup that helps you evaluate your baby's level of congestion.

Until Ben was hospitalized 2 weeks ago, I never gave much thought to booger suckers (aka nasal aspirators).  That was until the nurse hooked this contraption up to the wall and sucked all kinds of gunk out of his nose.  It was AH-MA-ZING!!!  She had an attachment that hooked up to the suction bucket that is standard in every hospital room in America.  I immediately wanted a suction bucket hooked up on every wall of our home.  How awesome was that thing!!!

But, alas, no room for compressors in the walls and I'm not sure what color slip cover matches "Booger Sucker Bucket" so we decided against my grand plan.  Instead we found this little piece of heaven.  It's unbelievable!  Toss aside your old blue suckers from the hospital...You'll never use one again.  I don't really want to get into all the awesomeness for those of you that have a weak stomach, so you'll have to believe me.  When you've got 3 little noses all dripping incessantly, you'll thank yourself for this little wonder sucker!!!

Rave Review: Vacuum

The Extreme™ Power Wet/Dry hand vac puts convenient wet and dry power in the palm of your hand! This rechargeable hand vac combines powerful 15.6 volt suction with cordless convenience. Combined ability to clean wet and dry messes this machine is great for any spill imaginable.

Until you have mutliples (or a lot of dogs), you don't realize how important a good vacuum is.  With 3 little ones constantly throwing food bits on the floor, we're sweeping/vacumming/mopping at least 4 times per day.  When our 10 year old vacuum (a gift from our wedding) finally died on us, Dave was insistent that we get something that can handle both wet and dry messes.  Since the babies have graduated to more "real" food, their messes have grown exponentially.  There's nothing like trying to scrub mashed up green beans or squash bits off the floor...

I finally got the chance to use it last night (prior to that, Dave had been hiding it from me and possibly sleeping with it under his pillow).  LET ME TELL YOU!!!  It picked up entire wagon wheel pastas, green beans, and chunks of meatloaf.  The emphatic "shwoop" when it sucks something up its little nozzle is almost addicting.  So worth $50!!! 

Mixed Signals

Sorry for the delay, but I've been trying to get a video to upload and it's not working...maybe it's too long?  Hmm...You'll have to deal with my terrible explanations instead...

The babies have been signing like crazy.  It's really cute and really helpful all at the same time.  So far they know:  milk, more, all done, change (diaper), up, please, bath, eat, story...I think that's it.  They blow kisses and wave hello or good bye too.

The funny part is when they do them without cueing.  If I say "banana" Natey starts doing "more" like crazy.  Sammy has also morphed two signs together...he puts "please" and "more" together.  It looks like he's rubbing his hands together while washing his hands or something (this is the terrible description that would have been much cuter had I been able to upload the video).

They also spontaneously do them if they hear a word that somebody might be saying in conversation.  If I tell Eli to pick a story, Ben starts signing "story".  If we say the word wave, Natey starts waving like a crazy man (also a cute visual...sorry!!!). 

We've been working on singing "up, help, and sorry".  They watch the Baby Einstein signing video sometimes, but mostly we use them in context.  I'm just glad to see they're picking them up.  I'd love to see them use them when they get frustrated, but they haven't quite figured that out yet. 

Ben's Hosptial Stay

Snuggling with Mama

In the holding cell

Sleepy Boy

After his blood draw (the guy who did it was AWESOME! and it only took 1 try)
The 2 blobs on his thighs are a numbing cream before his shots of antibiotics.

Where I slept...super comfy...

Graham cracker time

getting into trouble...

looking at Eli's picture

Snuggling with Dada

Fun balloons from Gigagak

Snuggling with Eli

Finally home and back to his favorite bucket!

The med list...

16 Months Old!

Unbelievable!  They're 16 months old!!!

Nate-Ben-Sam

Go Pats!!!

A Tale of 2 Sickies

OY!  Dave did a great job with that last update while I was in lock-up without wi-fi at LGH. 

The good news is Ben is home!!!!   and so am I!!!

The bad news is...Nate is also RSV positive and has an ear infection...Because he was put on antibiotics for the ear infection, the DR didn't feel it was necessary to do a chest x-ray for pneumonia. 

Sam wasn't tested for RSV but seems to be the least affected of the 3.  All 3 are on nebulizer treatments about a million times per day.  They gave Ben an inhaler too which is making things a bit easier.

I'll do a post with pictures once things get settled...HA!!!

RSV AND Pneumonia!

As usual, it is tough to tell if Ben is just being his normal stubborn self, or if he's actually sick.  This week-end was no different.  Ben kept us up both Friday and Saturday nights, waking up periodically coughing and screeming.  Both of his brothers had had a cold, so we thought it was his turn, and that he was over-reacting.  This appeared to be the case until Sunday, when he sounded waaaay more congested than his brothers had.  So, as with past colds, we started the albuterol and steroid treatments via nebulizer.  Also, as is our typical precaution when we start these treatments, we called the Dr. and scheduled an appointment for Monday morning.  After 3 treatments Sunday afternoon, Renee made the executive decision that if he looked / sounded this bad in the middle of the night, we would do another albuerol treatment.  That time came around 3:30am, and Dave brought him downstairs for the treatment.

Ben's appt. was at 8:00am, and he and Dave were the first ones in the place.  He looked great, and had a great demeanor, but he sounded like crap, and the nurse knew it.  So did the Dr.  3 albuterol treatments, 2 hours, and 1 oral steroid later, the Dr. had him admitted to the hospital.  Between treatments 2 and 3, it was obvious that he was retracting.  Dave called Renee and she met them in his hospital room as the on-call Dr. and nurse were doing the interview.  They took samples of his mucus to check for RSV and pneumonia.  Then Dave got his chance to experience the torture of assisting Ben with a chest x-ray.

Around 2:15 the lab was in for the RSV.  Positive.  Great.  Guess the synagis wasn't enough this time.  Less that half an hour later the lab came back for the pneumonia.  Positive.  What?!?  Double whammy?!?  Yup.  Next is an overnight stay and bloodwork to determine if it is bacterial or viral.

Dave called the Dr. to see if he should have Nate and Sam tested.  "Only if they have fevers, are coughing, and have runny noses."

Check, check, and check.  Their appointment is at 9:15 on Tuesday.

Did I mention they DIDN'T qualify for synagis this year?

Eli's in the paper...can you find him???

Ste. Jeanne d'Arc makes wishes come true - Lowell Sun Online

Look who's walking now...

He's still taking it slow and steady, but he's getting more and more confident all the time.  We're so proud of you Mr. Benjamin!!!

A Look Back at 2011

All pictures are

Nate-Ben-Sam

January

 February

March

 April

May

 

June

 July

August

September

October and November are stuck on our misbehaving laptop in cyber land...

 December

They've gone from little babies to big boys!  What a year!  It was crazy from start to finish, but I wouldn't change a thing!  Bring it on 2012!!!

Vacation Week Fun

We had an open day in our vacation week schedule so we decided to visit Dave at work.  He's got a great little museum close by so we killed some time there before we went to lunch.

It was a little over the babies' heads, but they did enjoy playing with (read: eating) the gears.

They also have a giant Millyard made out of Legos.  Seriously.  There's even a canal.  And a ferris wheel.  And a parade.  It's nuts.  AND Dave is a Lego nut so he drooled a bit (hence all the pix).

Then after lunch, we went to visit Dave at work.  They boys had a blast meeting all of his friends and tearing apart his office...

Not too many pix of Sammy because he kept running off to visit other areas of the office.