Choo Choo!

My kids have a new favorite thing, the Choo Choo train. I am not really all that sure where they first learned about it, but they have picked up that trains make "Choo choo" noises.

When we are out and come across a train, you can hear a chorus of, "Choo choo!!!" coming from my backseat!

When we are at home, they race to be the first to get the pick of the trains when they first come downstairs for the day.

We even have developed a liking for "Thomas The Train Engine" movies as of late.

They even showed me that Dora and Diego have train episodes as well! Thankfully, the Disney Channel has an ABC music video that plays every morning that involves a train, too!

Right now, Kian has most of a train set on his dinner tray, trying to balance dinner and his train cars at the same time.

Kai is sitting in his chair, having his dinner while wearing his Thomas the Train Engine Engineer hat, making "Choo choo" noises for his brother's train.

My kids really have developed this huge love of trains all of the sudden!

Having A Hair Day

You have probably had a good hair day, and even had a bad hair day. I never dreamed that my baby girl would go through this angst at the tender age of 2, though!

Ever since that ill-fated day when I had the bright idea to put her bangs up so that she could see better, having a hair-do has been a problem.

It's not that she removes the barrettes, because she doesn't. In fact she insists upon having them in 24/7.

Her brothers, however, have discovered how much fun it is to make sister cry by taking down her hair for her, though.

Then there is the confusion over why little girls get to have barrettes in their hair and little boys don't get any.

This hair business has become almost as much of a problem as Vivienne's shoe addiction.

If her hair begins to come down, or the barrettes begin to twist and not feel right, she insists upon having them re-done.

If she isn't able to convey what she is wanting, she gets frustrated and begins to cry, ALOT!

So, basically, Vivienne must have her hair perfectly fixed to her specification, and her shoes on her tiny little feet for her to be totally happy with life.

Woe to those who are around should her hair come down, or her shoes get lost!

What To Do About Noise

It's very loud inside my house at the moment. I am cooking, so I can hear the sound of the vent-hood whirring all the way in the bedroom.

Kian is crying, again. He isn't happy because he cannot possibly have dinner AND still fit all of the parts of his train set that he has been playing with on his little dinner tray.

I can also hear the babies movie, "Speed Racer" all the way from the living room and it's mingling with the sound coming from the baby monitor that consists of their lullaby music and DVD that is playing upstairs in their room.

Lately, it just seems soo noisy around here. Even my doggie is barking at the moment. I know, I know, it seems almost silly.

But you have to understand, that it seems that someone is always crying for some reason or another around here.

They also have learned the art of fake-crying, too, which really makes things trying at times.

They cry if someone takes a barrette out of Vivie's hair because the boys don't understand why they don't have the in their hair, too.

Never mind that Kai doesn't really even have enough hair to brush, much less try and put a barrette into!

It reminds me of that old Betty Boop carton called, "Noise Noise Noise" where she goes as far as to go to the country before realizing that she misses the noise from home.

I know that I would be frightened to death if it were dead quiet in here at the moment.

That usually means that my kids are up to something, and that something can never be a good thing!

So, at the moment, my nerves are frazzled, and I am trying to maintain some sense of sanity.

I suppose it's at least something to be able to admit that I have a problem, who knows!

Reflections On The Idea Of Work

Work, work ,work, we know we must do it, but sometimes, just sometimes, the dichotomy of the situation astounds me.

I actually am one of those fortunate people to have a legitimate work-at-home job. Actually, I have two of them, plus a fledgling non-profit theater that I am working on reviving from the ashes.

I have been working one of the jobs for about a year and a half, the other will be a year come this February.

I do both at home so I can keep an eye on my tiny trio and keep them out of daycare which would be basically a huge health risk for them as well as a huge expense for my family.

But in the past two weeks, I have had several meetings with both of my jobs that make me really take a look at my situation.

Before, I worked for a company for six years, most of which was spent in some sort of leadership position.

I can't say that I enjoyed every aspect of the job itself, because I won't answer my telephone anymore if I don't have to as a result of that job.

But I did discover yesterday, how much I really miss having a place to go to and people to talk to each day.

It was nice getting to see everyone after all this time (it had been almost 3 1/2 years.)

I mean, I love being able to be here for my children and the perks of having something to keep my mind busy and functioning and all, but I realized that there really is more to working than just that.

It really had me thinking about why we work. There is the obvious reasons, to make money so we can live and have the things we want and need.

But then, there are the other aspects of it, too, such as having the means to exercise our knowledge and use our brain, for lack of a better way to put it.

Both of the meetings really have me thinking about it as of late, too. I know that I cannot possibly afford daycare, much less be able to find suitable daycare spots for all three of my kids together.

Then there is the problem that would come up once my kids started to get sick. They are more prone to catching things than anybody I have ever met, really.

And the problem is, that my children don't always get sick at the same time, sometimes it rotates and revolves.

Yep, if one gets sick, another won't come down with anything until the other one is better sometimes. Then there is always one more to add into the cycle at some point!

Then, if I am not careful, and it has happened, the cycle begins all over again with a new strain of the old problem.

I would run the risk of having to either find alternative daycare for them while they were sick, or stay home with them until they are better.

I doubt any employer would be that considerate of my situation if I ended up having to be out for weeks on end like that, and I wouldn't blame them at all.

I just don't know. For now, I work at home and the only contact I have with my coworkers is via company email.

Maybe when my children are old enough for actual school, I might be able to consider finding something outside of the home.

Grocery Shopping

Today, my schedule mandated that I go to the grocery store with the babies in tow.

Now, I know you probably have all heard about how much I HATE taking them out now-a-days with the way folks react to us and all.

But, I did it anyway, because there really wasn't any other way to have milk and still make all of the appointments that I have scheduled tonight and tomorrow.

I had the new stroller, the one that keeps my kids from acting like the 3 Stooges most of the time.

I had never tried pushing the stroller and pulling the buggy with it before, so it was an experience.

This particular stroller doesn't have any wheels that turn for corners or anything, so if you want to turn, a wheelie must be popped, and often!

This made navigation difficult for me. Well, it might have been easier if folks were a little nicer about my not being able to help the fact that I have a long shopping train to deal with!

I know we are quite a spectacle, but I do wish folks would understand that if they come up and stand right next to my kids, it automatically makes them want to lean away from the people if they are too close, throwing the balance of everything totally off and posing a huge tumping threat!

It was soo cute, though, because this elderly gentleman talked to us a bit, and kept coming up to me, asking if I needed any help with my shopping.

He was soo sweet and soo sincere, I really hated to have to turn him down, but he needed to do his own shopping, too!

It was really neat to get an offer like that, though. I really appreciated it!

Overall, we only got stuck badly, once. It was in the check-out aisle. We are apparently one tiny bolt too wide for the regular check-out at Brookshires.

Luckily, the aisle next to us was wider, so we just hopped over to that one to get out!

Overall, it wasn't a bad experience, but it was very tiring!

Follow-up On That Food-Chain Issue

Well, on Monday, my kids attempted and really may have succeeded in devouring at least two of my eldest's Venus Fly-trap plants.

Did I ever mention how well they work together as a team? Kai usually is the one who does the dirty work for the most part, but evidence was there to suggest that everyone had some hand in it, both literally, and figuratively.

Tuesday was a nice, calm day of rest for all of us. In retrospect, it was the calm before the storm.

Wednesday, I heard chair moving noises, and jumped up and ran to the living room to see what was the matter.

In the beginning, it appeared that Kai wanted to sit in the arm chair, and watch the cars go by on Creswell while he looked at his picture books.

All of this SEEMED innocent enough, so I went back to my work, thinking all was well.

What I DIDN'T realize, was that there was a very good reason they had removed the cushions from that arm chair.

The placement of the cushions was by no means an accident, either!

While working, I heard another, different noise coming from the living room. It was a sort of dull thud.

Now, in my house, I am very adept at discerning the different natures of thuds that occur. This wasn't a body thud, and it wasn't a breaky thud, either.

My curiosity was peaked, as was my Mumsy radar triggered, so I headed back into the living room.

Well, those cushions were, as it turns out, strategically placed under the cabinet next to the fireplace for a very good reason.

Now, I am not sure if it was to muffle the noise of what the kids were about to attempt, or if it was done to keep something from breaking.

Whatever their motive (probably a bit of both, actually,) it had done its job and quieted the noise and kept everything in one piece in spite of their antics.

That day, the hermit crabs were the target and point of peaked toddler curiosity.

Kai had climbed up and slid the very large aquarium off of the cabinet ledge onto the cushion below.

He has a heck of an aim, lets just say that! That aquarium fell on end squarely in the middle of the cushion.

In fact, they managed not to even lose much of the dirt from inside it, somehow.

As for the crabs, well, I was petrified. If any of you have any hermit crabs, you will understand that you must keep extra shells in their habitat for them to move into as they grow or become bored with their old ones.

So, I hadn't any clue which crab was in which shell, or even which were vacant because I have one crab who prefers a giant shell to his tiny body.

But I knew that at least one survived, because it was chirping in its disdain for the disturbing of his home!

I couldn't tell if he was in his house or somewhere on the floor, but I hoped for the best as I cleaned up everything and set everything to right.

Nobody got hurt, thankfully, but some days I really wish they weren't so smart!

The Reality Of The Food Chain: A Toddler's Perspective

This morning, I was jolted with a huge reality check from the actions of my toddlers.

Now, in the past, I have worried for the safety and well-being of my eldest child's pets.

He keeps three hermit crabs in an aquarium in the cabinet next to the fireplace.

Now this cabinet is at about waste level for an averaged sized adult, so it's not like this is readily accessible to my toddlers.

Today, I was innocently trying to work, when I heard the tell-tale sound of furniture being moved.

I didn't think anything of it, because as of late, the babies have taken to using the dining room table as a run-way of sorts for their baby fashion shows, or even using it as a speed-way for racing cars.

What I didn't realize, was that my hungry toddlers were scavenging for a tasty treat and a nice snack seemed to be hiding somewhere up on those shelves above that cabinet!

Yep, when I went in to see what the matter was, I found Kai kneeling on top of the cabinet, playing with Bregon's origami animals that he loves to make.

There was water dripping off of the cabinet onto the floor, so I knew this was not an innocent attempt to play with off-limits origami animals.

Nope, Vivienne was sitting innocently in the chair that had been the source of the furniture moving noises, and was holding a bag full of contraband cookies that my trio had managed to squirrel away somewhere to avoid inspection.

The tell-tale signs of trouble were all over both Vivie's and Kai's faces. Kian had run to the couch to sit and act "Natural" at this point, too.

But, the truth was there, there was what looked like dirt on all of their faces.

The source of everything wasn't readily apparent, either, as the hermit crab aquarium lid seemed to be still in place, with everything apparently undisturbed.

The new hermit crab food was my next thought, but it was all still sitting up on the third shelf out of harm's way, seemingly undisturbed.

That was when I noticed a forgotten pet, sitting in the back corner, out of its usual place.

You see, to combat the flies that the hermit crabs attract, we had purchased several Venus Flytraps to eat them for us and keep them under control.

You only have to spritz them with water every so often, and they require little or no maintenance.

Unfortunately, the babies had noticed their existence somehow, and decided that they might make for a tasty treat.

Yep, the Venus Flytraps ate our flies for us, and my toddlers had tried to eat the Venus Flytraps in turn.

I found two in various spots on the floor, roots still attached, so I tried to re-plant them. I wont know for a while if my efforts were successful or not!

I found one in the bag with the cookies Vivie was trying to hide in her lap, and retried him as well.

There are still two missing. I don't know if they actually ate them or not, I cannot tell.

I looked up everything about Venus Flytraps and found what to watch for if the kids did manage to swallow them.

I am watching my kids like a hawk at the moment, but if they did eat them, they sure hadn't any trouble having a rather large lunch on top of it.

I just do not know how I am going to explain what happened to my eldest, though. He LOVES his Venus Flytraps.

I am hoping he also loves his triplet siblings enough to forgive them for having his pets for a tasty treat, too.

All I can think of right now is that song, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly..."

But today, I did learn that no matter where you think you are on the food chain, Toddlers can and will change that view!

Hurricanes, Oh My!

There have been so many hurricanes as of late. We rarely even ever see much out of any of them, but for some reason, we suddenly must try and prepare for them.

I find myself buying more water than usual, stocking up on things that are ready-to-eat out of easy to open pre-packaged containers, and overall doing things we normally just do not do.

We have resorted to tying the trampoline to the back porch in an effort to ensure that we don't have to figure out how to retrieve it from an unsuspecting neighbor's yard.

We have been working out at the Fair Grounds to build the maze for our theater's major fundraiser that is coming up soon, and have to be diligent in making sure not only everything is sturdy, braced, and ready for a big storm, but that we don't leave anything that may be enticing to any evacuees who may end up housed at the shelter out there, too.

Last time, we found ourselves having to bring home things like our chairs, because folks tried to set up shop on our site out of boredom I suppose, I'm not really certain.

Tonight, my husband and I are going back out to check on our site one last time, even if it's raining, just to make sure everything is ready for a big storm and to make sure nobody left anything lying around that may be of interest to someone should the shelter open back up again.

I'm off to the grocery store to make sure I have my stash of tasty treats at optimum capacity.

We need at least 5 boxes of Vanilla wafers just to make it through an average week, so I should add a few extras in the event of hurricane stress occurring with the babies!

Hopefully, we won't have to worry about this again for a while!

Learning A New Language

Lately, in an effort to get our babies to speak and communicate more, we have mounted a unified effort at making sure our kids know the correct term for everything we give them.

If they point to something, we discuss the name of the object. If they want something, we discuss what it is they are asking for, and the correct way to ask for it.

We thought this might help close our communication gap since they kids are 2 1/2 now, and really should be speaking English more, instead of tripletese.

I was so wrong on all accounts! All this has seemed to do, is inspire my trio to decide to mount their own unified effort to try and teach US how to speak tripletese.

We tell them the word for red in English, Kaiden in turn will look at us, point at the red object, and say the word SLOWLY in tripletese and get upset until we repeat it for him as he said it to begin with.

This happens often at my house. We seem to be gridlocked in our efforts to close the communication gap on both side of the coin.

The more we try and teach our children English, the more the babies try and teach us to speak Tripletese.

I swear that I fully expect for them to look at me one day, make the silly Star Trek sign with their fingers (think Vulcans) and say, "We come in peace!"

But, what's a Mum to do? Are they really going to try and take over the world and make Tripletese the universal spoken language?

Some days it just feels like that, I suppose!

How To Mortify One's Sister Without Really Trying

It finally happened, and it was a doozy, let me tell you!

Kian finally succeeded in mortifying his sister without really trying, and did it so well, that she was quite inconsolable for nearly an hour.

We've covered how Kian is voted most likely to potty train first, but this is a new one, even for him.

He was wearing his little overall outfit with the smocked dinosaurs on it. I thought it would be safe not to tape due to the snaps at the crotch aren't easily accessible.

I was very VERY WRONG, as it turns out. He knows exactly how to unsnap himself, and access his diaper.

In fact, he has such control of his faculties, that he had plenty of time to unsnap himself, remove his diaper, and cop a squat on the corner of the living room rug.

His diaper is spotless, the rug, sad to say, is not. I will be investing in some Resolve this evening!

Meanwhile, poor unsuspecting Baby Vivienne, in her pretty little dotted swiss pink dressie, decided to innocently sit down and watch television in the very same spot that Kian had managed his greatest feat to date.

So, sister not only stepped in it, she sat down right in front of it, nearly on top of it, actually.

She began to scream immediately. As it turns out, she despises being filthy, especially if it came from her brother's nether regions!

I found her sitting there on the floor, in tears, her brother Kian standing in front of her holding a diaper out, appearing to be asking for help.

Luckily, the mess was solid and didn't stick to anything but Vivie, so cleanup was a breeze, as soon as I was able to locate all of the stray pieces (some things just come out aerodynamically inclined to roll about!)

I set about to cleaning up poor Baby Vivienne next. The more I tried to clean her up, the more she cried.

In fact, she was outright bawling by the time I was done and it wasn't even her fault.

The entire time, we discussed how Kian needed to use the potty, and knew that he had to "Poo" and how and where such things are to be carried out.

I don't know if it left much of an impression, but we all four discussed it at length.

I finally got poor Baby Vivienne calmed down after an hour of crying and wailing.

Kian had his fresh diaper, and the satisfaction of having majorly mortified his sister without much effort.

Then Kai wandered up for his diaper as he had himself a rather nice poo as well and although he too is prone to diaper removal, did not feel compelled to join in the antics with his brother today.

For a split second I was worried that the inky black streaks across his face might be from the ick, but then I realized that he had been playing in the fireplace again, and had smeared soot on his face.

Lucky me, I now have three very clean, very sterilized babies and a nice freshly washed corner of the living room rug.

Reruns Run!

Yesterday was Rerunsrfun day for us at my house! This meant I would try and actually juggle work, my pet project and all four of my kids and their schedules so that we could make the noon opening of the sale.

I hit the ground running just as soon as I got up. I fed the kids, and while they were eating, ran their bath.

Somehow, I remembered to empty a laundry basket so that I would have something to carry stuff in while we shopped because our new stroller doesn't really have much in the way of a basket to hold stuff!

I even managed to get all three of the babies bathed and no longer looking like ragamuffins or something out of "Oliver Twist" in under an hour!

Kaiden didn't try and climb in with his brother, and Vivie let me comb all of the knots out of her hair and put it back in barrettes.

I even remembered to feed them lunch while I got ready myself somehow!

We left the house at 11:30 and headed for Bossier. I don't know how, but the babies were good, sweet and quiet for a time!

I arrived and was able to park with enough time to spare that we ended up being able to stand in line like real people instead of having to wander up like latecomers!

We made friends with everyone around us, and I even met a Twin Mommie in line!

We shared the same doctor, so we traded stories while we waited. The kids even tried making friends with the other little people in line, too!

Then it was time to go inside. I didn't have high hopes for the sale after reading some of the early comments about it, but I was pleasantly surprised once I got inside.

We need clothes, so we headed to the 2T rack immediately. I knew that if i browsed furniture, that I would probably end up buying the kids car toddler beds and break my oath NOT to go that route until they are ready for big beds!

I immediately found Vivienne something to wear for Christmas, which was a good sign, and more than I had hoped to find after the early reviews.

Then, I noticed that I was finding lots of boy clothes for once. I never find much in the way of boy clothes, but for some reason, I found a LOT!

I had my pick of Christmas outfits for the boys. In fact, I had soo much, that I ended up going through and getting to weed out the ones that weren't as cute or nice as the others and actually found myself putting things back!

All in all, I managed to find 35 clothing pieces in all, which averaged out to about $6.50 a garment.

This wasn't too bad considering I am a baby clothing snob and like smocking and boutique clothing!

I don't think I found one bit of play clothes, which is fine, because I will just dress them in the nice things and buy lots of Oxy-clean and call it a day!

They are clothes, after all, and meant to be worn regardless of how nice they really are.

Then, we headed over to the toys. In my house, we have so much of everything that we just didn't find much in the toy department.

But, what I did find was a super nice, what I would call a, "Dressie Bessie" sort of doll made by the Little People line at Fisher Price.

Vivienne didn't see it as she was much too busy protecting her tiny purple baby that she had brought to tag along, so it was quite a surprise once we got home and had present time!

Because the sale opened during naptime, my kids got to skip their nap. This made Kaiden ever so pleasant as he does not like change, and hates shopping even more!

He kicked, screamed and cried nearly the entire time. I tried to talk to him through everything, but of course it didn't do me much good, he still screamed!

My apologies to everyone for the noise, but being this is a twice a year shot, I had to try and get the kids some winter clothes!

Overall, we did okay. We managed to shop, check out, and miss the downpour outside in time to load up in only a few raindrops.

I had time to run by Wendy's and grab a quick salad on the way to pick up my eldest and transport him to the Renzi Center for class after school.

Kaiden and Kian tried to nap en route, but failed miserably. They were fussy, so over cookies, I gave them the cars and the baby that I had found for them at the sale.

Vivienne saw what I was doing while I cleaned up the new toys, and came running in from the living room screaming, "Yay, Yay, Yay!" the whole way.

She hasn't put her new dollie down yet, and its been a day already! The boys were ecstatic over their new cars, too.

All in all, I was able to pull it off, but I never got a chance to log in and do any work. Hopefully, I will get a chance to do that in a little while!

Mean Trucks!

The other day, I had a problem that really opened my eyes to something.

Our children really do notice their environment and what goes on around them.

They really are aware and understand a lot more than we as parents could ever realize!

As a warning to adults, you may not realize it, but you are a role model for children, even if all you are doing is driving from your home to the grocery store or to the gas station, even.

I know, because my child was very upset when we almost were hit by an eighteen wheeler the other day.

We had just picked up my eldest from school, and were headed down Gilbert to take Bregon to the Renzi Center for his after school program.

We were going to take the turn over by First Baptist where the Gilbert meets Ockley and stay on Gilbert to go to the red light, but then I noticed something odd.

Lucky for us, I noticed, too, because I am seriously afraid of what would have happened had I taken the usual route automatically.

I saw a rather unusual site coming down the road. Apparently, a grayish white eighteen wheeler (that probably should not have been in a residential section to begin with) came barreling down Gilbert and took the turn at the light.

Apparently he wasn't planning on stopping, because he actually missed the stop signs that are posted just after the light at the turn.

In fact, he missed the correct lane altogether, as well and barrelled through, ignoring the stop signs and the fact that this is NOT EUROPE and he was driving on the wrong side of the road in my lane!

He ran the stop sign and didn't even stop for the oncoming traffic! Luckily, I saw him coming and was able to stop before he hit us.

Thankfully, nobody was behind us, either, so we didn't get rear-ended. I don't know what this person was thinking, driving like that.

I don't really think he could have stopped something so large if he had wanted to at the speed he was going!

The driver seemed annoyed that I had dared use my horn, but what do you do in a situation like that?

If he had hit us, it would have impacted the front corner of my van and I don't think we would have made it at the speed he was driving.

I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't gone on and treated the turn as if I was going past the church instead of trying to stay on Gilbert, too!

But as he drove away, I heard this little voice from the back of my van say, "MEAN TRUCK!"

Then, Kian began to cry. He wasn't crying just a little bit, either, he was outright sobbing, saying, "Mean truck" over and over again.

You see, ever since he was old enough to have likes and dislikes, Kian has LOVED trucks of any sort. Big trucks, little trucks, old trucks, new trucks, he loved them ALL equally.

Trucks are his happy thought, and this truck had betrayed that, somehow, by driving badly and nearly hitting us.

He is only 2, but he recognized that this truck was driving badly and could have hurt us.

So, you see, little people understand and comprehend much more than we ever realize.

The next time you get the urge to cut someone off in traffic, or run a red light or stop sign, remember, a little person could be watching and THEY KNOW!

What I've Been Up To As Of Late

For about two years now, I have been working on several projects alongside my regular two jobs and raising my kids.

Part of the project had to be kept quiet and under wraps due to the industry locally being extremely political, but now I can tell you all about it!

My friends and I have been busy resurrecting a small community theater called Gas Light Players and along with it, its most infamous fundraiser that was pioneered by Drew Hunter of Dr. Blood fame.

It's been a huge undertaking, and it's by far over yet! We just started auditioning last week, and building the temporary maze out at the Fair Grounds, too.

Bits have run in the local papers, and an old alumni of the theater even wrote a resurrection story for the paper he writes for, too!

The emails started shortly after the first audition notice ran in the paper wanting us to quell the rumors. The funny part is, that these folks often don't include what the actual "Rumor" really is!

I have been getting calls from all sorts of people asking me, "Is this for real? Are you guys really back?"

It's funny, because I am finding it hard to explain that, really, many of us never even left!

In fact, a lot of us are still friends, even after all these years! I find that my friends that I met out at Gas Light have stuck around longer than friends that I made in school!

I met most of my best friends out at that theater, and even met my husband of 14 years out there, too!

Why, just the other day, I was over at Judy's at tea-time, discussing show elements with her.

It was only a month ago that we all met around my dining room table to visit with Hayden, in from Oklahoma, and visited with old friends, one of which, sadly, was for the last time.

We jokingly refer to each other as "Brothers & Sisters in Blood," but really that is exactly what we are.

Somehow over the years, we have all become some sort of pseudo family (not just for promotional purposes!) and are still together and keep in touch with as many of us as possible.

We sit back and take a good look at our kids, and marvel over how many of them have been raised in a theatrical and in some cases (like mine) an environment where they take the haunted house industry for granted as a normal part of their everyday lives.

It's amazing how one little theater could bring so many different people together in lasting friendship.

This weekend, we start auditioning for cast out at the Louisiana State Fair Grounds. Saturday & Sunday at 2p.m. and Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday at 7p.m.

We need Guides, Creatures, Tech Crew and Artists. I can't wait to meet everyone and can't help but wonder about all of the new and exciting people that we are going to meet and accept into our family!

Drastic Measures!

We have resorted to drastic diapering measures around my house! You see, the children have found ways to remove their tape!

Yep, they not only help each other take the tape off, but the boys can each remove their tape themselves!

I do NOT know what else to do anymore! We were wrapping it around their diapers like a belt and they STILL found the end and were able to unwind it!

I know that I cannot staple it to their little bottoms, but I sure do have the urge!

I guess I could try super glue, but what if it seeped through their diapers and on to their skin?

I am at my wits end and do not know what else to do anymore! I can't complain about the babies being smart, but I do wish they hadn't figured this one out!

Hey'Whoah?

Lately, my kids have been fighting over trying to get to play with our cell phones!

Originally, nobody minded them playing with them, either, because our phones were soo old and archaic.

In fact, mine was soo old it was almost royally outdated and the microphone didn’t always even work right!

But, the day came when both husband’s and my phone took their last calls, and we had to order new ones.
That is why nobody wants to share the new phones with the babies, really. Both are shiny and new and actually WORK for a time!

But, while we were waiting on our new phones to come in, my sister in law gave us a few spares to use in the meantime.

Only one of them ever really was usable, so we got the idea that it would be nice to give them to the babies to play with.

The diversion worked, for a time, too! Don’t get me wrong, whenever they see my shiny pretty red phone, they always want to play with it.

But, I found that if I remember to actually charge up the extra phones, that the babies are quite happy to use them instead.

There aren’t any sim cards in those phones, so they can’t call anyone, but the buttons and the displays still light up when you press the buttons, and the phones are real.

It is soo funny to hear the kids play with them, too. Vivienne will look at you, turn her back as she puts the phone up to her ear, and say quite loudly, “Hey'Whoah?”

Kian will, often at the same time, grab the other one, run to the other side of the room so that he has less noise and can “Hear” better, and say the same thing almost in the exact same way.

Kaiden usually wants to play, too, but is content to bide his time until everyone tires of their conversations and puts the phone down somewhere to do something else.

Then he will silently swipe the phones from his siblings so that he can have all of them. He usually doesn’t even want to talk on them, though.

He prefers to take them and line them up in a pretty row with his cars.

Hopefully the diversion phones will work out for us for a time, so that our new phones will be safe to see another day!