Santa Claus Is Watching

I think everyone in our house is making that extra effort to be nice right now. They want to make sure Santa visits them and brings lots and lots of toys.

Can you tell that they both had chocolate chip cookies right before we took these pictures?

Nathan is giving Brooke a kiss. I hope Santa saw that one.

Daddy and Nathan acting silly together.

Daisy is being especially good right now too. Even when those kids just won't leave her alone. The second they see her, they head right to her. Daisy just sits there and takes what ever they do to her. I think she is expecting a few extra bones in her stocking this year from Santa. She probably deserves it.

Even Wendel, who is not the kid loving type of cat, has been a little nicer to the kids lately. He let Brooke and Nathan get within two feet of him--that's a first. Lenny has been trying for years to get close enough to Wendel to pet him. It's always very funny when Lenny actually does get to pet Wendel. He is so gentle because he is afraid that Wendel will run away.

I hope Santa also turned his head a few times.

What? Are we not supposed to be back here?

Are you sure this isn't a toy for me?

Okay, you know he's just plain up to no good.

Family News Alert

Brooke took her first steps last Saturday. She keeps practicing every day and she smiles so big after she does it. It's very cute! It won't be long now until she is running with her brothers.

From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

I notice everyday that the bottom half of our Christmas tree keeps getting redecorated. It's funny that it's only the bottom half. And every now and then when I go into the living room, Lenny is showing me another bulb or ornament that "Daisy knocked off." Lenny was so kindly putting it back on the tree for us. Well I just assumed that maybe Daisy got it with her tail or something. Until the other day when I just happened to walk in and saw Lenny taking the ornaments and bulbs off and putting them under the tree. When I caught him, he said, "Daisy did that." Well, I witnessed the entire thing and Daisy was nowhere in sight. Poor dog is getting blamed for things already.

Hair Cuts, Santa, and Bob Evans?

Okay, I know I'm trying to pack a lot of things in one post. It's been a busy 24 hours.

Last night Nathan got his first hair cut. He did great and didn't cry at all. I was very proud of him. Our appointment was at 6 p.m. and Dominic was going to meet me at the hair salon so that he could watch Brooke and Lenny. The kids and I got there early so we went on in and to my surprise, Moni was ready for us. Dominic wasn't there yet but Brooke and Lenny were really good the entire time. Dominic got there just in time to see the finishing touches to Nathan's hair cut.

I actually took the next two pictures myself while Nathan was sitting on my lap. Dominic wasn't there to take the pictures so I just held the camera out, snapped it, and hoped to get a good picture.

Here is Nathan with his new haircut. I love it. It was so funny to get him out of his crib this morning because he looked so different.

We had another Christmas party to go to today and this time I took all three of the kids. The party was at a local assisted living home where we visited with residents, sang songs, ate cookies, and had a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was a lot of fun. Santa even had a gift for all of the kids--a book.

This picture sums up exactly what I had imagined would happen. I knew that Nathan would scream, Lenny would act shy, and Brooke would be interested in all the bright clothes. Although, I thought Brooke would try to take Santa's glasses or pull his beard. She was probably trying to figure out a way to do it.

Opening their present.

After the party, Lenny and the babies were still in a good mood and it was lunchtime so I decided to take them out to eat. We had a yummy lunch at Bob Evans and then headed home.

From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

When Santa gave Lenny his present, Lenny was showing Santa who was on the wrapping paper. There was Rudolph and Hermey. Then Lenny said to Santa, "Look at that scary abominable snow man." Santa and Mrs. Claus both laughed at that one. Lenny does not like the abominable snow man (or monster) at all.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

I really was about to cry over spilled milk this morning. Seriously! Lenny was eating breakfast and had a cup full of milk. He needed to get up from the table to use the potty (funny how that happens every time he sits down to eat). Anyway, I forget that Nathan can reach the top of the kitchen table now. All of a sudden I heard a big splash. I looked over at the table and there was milk EVERYWHERE! He had reached up to the table and pulled it off. I can't believe how far milk can splash and there was lots of it. As I said, it was a full cup of milk.

Imagine how much fun it was trying to clean the milk off of the floor while two little ones are slipping, sliding, and splashing through it. Lenny was still in the bathroom while all of this was going on. The babies were teaming up on me and I didn't have Lenny to help me. They are terrible about that. It was kind of funny though. Those two can move fast when they know they aren't supposed to be doing something. At least I was able to laugh about it. I chalk that one up to it being a fresh start to a new day. I'm not so sure it would have been as funny to me at dinner time. All is cool now and the kitchen floor is clean again.

Christmas Last Year

A week or so ago I was going through some of the babies' clothes that I decided to keep. I came across the little Christmas sleepers that I got for them last year. The clothes are so tiny. The entire outfit isn't even as long as one of their legs now. They were premie clothes. I have a picture of all three of the kids in a Christmas frame that I had displayed last year at Christmas and I have out again this year.

Here is the picture. Brooke and Nathan were almost one month old. It was taken one week before Christmas and exactly two days before Brooke got her NAM appliance and had to start wearing it.

Before starting to wear her NAM appliance, Brooke always put her tongue in the hole in her lip. She had a complete cleft lip and palate, complete meaning that it also affected her nose. She must have known some how that she could put her tongue there to close it up. It was so sweet. She is doing that in the picture.

It was frustrating trying to take this picture. One of them would cry while the other one was sleeping. Then the one that was crying would fall asleep and the other one would start crying. As you can see, Nathan is the one crying in this picture and Brooke is sleeping. They never could get on the same page with it.

It's hard for me to believe that they were ever that small. They are going to be a lot more fun this year for Christmas. We are so excited!

Our Little Engineer

I think by now everyone knows that Lenny is crazy about trains. That's all he talks about. Sure, he has other interests too but Thomas and engines are his favorite. As I noted in yesterday's post, Dominic got Lenny's big train set out yesterday but we didn't have any batteries for them. Dominic told Lenny that he would get some and bring them home tonight.

Not long after Dominic left this morning, Lenny was sitting backwards on the bench by the window and looking out. He said, "I miss Daddy. I'm going to watch for him." It was so cute. I told Dominic the story and he said, "He just wants the batteries." I think Dominic was right.

As soon as Daddy walked in the door, Lenny was ready to play with the train. He had a lot of fun but the train kept derailing because the track was on carpet and not together real good. Lenny, who loves crashes, liked that a lot. His Thomas engines crash ALL the time. I'm always called to "Come look at the damage."

Here's our little engineer. At this point, he didn't even have all of the freight cars and caboose attached yet. I later heard him tell Daddy that he needed to add them.

Dogs Love Snow Too

Last night Dominic was shoveling the snow off of our deck. All of a sudden Daisy went running up the stairs, in front of Dominic, through the porch, and off on the other side. She wanted Dominic to throw snow at her and she was going very fast. It was so comical to watch. She loves it. Of course, Dominic had to throw some snow at her after that performance.

Lunch with Santa

Lenny had lunch with Santa today and had a great time. He loved everything about it and was so excited to see Santa Claus. As we pulled into the parking lot, Lenny looked around and said that he didn't see Santa's sleigh. It was very cute. We decided that he must not have gotten there yet.

They sang songs, read a book, made two crafts, made a Christmas card, played games, got Christmas tattoos, made animal balloons, had lunch, and saw Santa Claus. It was a busy two hours. While we were in another room playing the games, Lenny and I heard the reindeer landing on the roof and then heard the sleigh bells. It was very exciting. It was even snowing outside when the party started. It was just perfect.

Lenny has been talking about what he was going to tell Santa that he wants for Christmas and also tell him that he is going to leave him some milk and cookies and some sugar for the reindeer. Well, the second he saw Santa, it was completely different. He was actually afraid. We stood in line anyway to talk to Santa. He started crying when it was time to sit on his lap. Santa and Mrs. Claus were so wonderful. They were great with Lenny. Santa moved over and told Lenny to sit on his chair. Santa then started talking to Lenny and asking him questions. All of a sudden, Lenny was much happier and then wouldn't stop talking to him.

I heard Santa ask Lenny if he has been a good boy. Of course, Lenny said yes. Then Santa asked if he gives someone a hug everyday and Lenny said yes. Lenny later told me that Santa also asked him if he cleans his room everyday. Lenny said that he told him yes. Hmm. I'm not so sure Lenny was telling the truth to Santa. Lenny then told me that he cleans his room everyday now.

When Santa and Mrs. Claus came into the room, it was just so exciting. I was almost ready to cry. I told the woman next to me that and she said she was about ready to cry to. They both looked so nice. I somehow managed to cut Mrs. Claus out of the picture above.

You can see that Lenny was still being very shy.

Now, he has gotten comfortable and is telling Santa that he wants Lucky Ducks, the Thomas zoo set, and the Station set--it comes with Mavis (that's what he told Santa).

After we got home, he was playing with all of his prizes and toys. He was trying to scare Brooke here.

Thanks Nunny, for watching Brooke and Nathan while we went to see Santa. I know they had fun watching the snow with you.

This has nothing to do with lunch with Santa. The other day, I checked on Nathan during his nap, and this is how he was sleeping. It looks uncomfortable with his feet hanging out the side.


From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

Dominic got Lenny's big train set out tonight. Our neighbors bought it for Lenny a few years ago for Christmas. He loves it. The only problem is that we couldn't find batteries for it tonight. Lenny was playing with it anyway. Dominic came downstairs and asked Lenny if he was having fun. Lenny said, "Yes, I'm having fun playing with a train that doesn't have batteries." I think he was being sarcastic.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Lenny was so excited to help decorate the Christmas tree this year. He could hardly wait until Dominic got home to start decorating the tree. When Dominic got home, they started putting the lights on while the babies and I played in the other room. I wasn't about to let them help this year. I know for sure that the tree would have been on the ground in a matter of minutes.

Dominic put the lights on while Lenny looked through all of the ornaments and bulbs that go on the tree. We had to keep reminding him that we had to wait until the lights and garland were on before we put on the ornaments. When Dominic was finished with the lights, we switched places. He played with and entertained the babies while I helped Lenny.

I wasn't sure how easy or difficult it was going to be with my little helper but it turned out to be very nice. It didn't take near as long as it usually takes to decorate it. We put the garland on and then went straight to the bulbs and ornaments. The only thing about my little helper that I noticed is that he wanted to put all of the bulbs on the same tree limb. It was very cute but we kept telling him that he needed to spread them out.


At one point, he put an apple ornament on a limb and a few minutes later he put a snowman on the same limb with the snowman facing the apple and said, "Look, a snowman is eating the apple."


He was a good helper and the tree turned out very pretty. Don't tell Lenny, but with my type of personality it was clear that the limb full of bulbs had to be thinned. Yes, I did a little rearranging after Lenny left the room.


Here is the finished Christmas tree. I love sitting around the tree with the lights on at night and looking at all of the ornaments and remembering where they came from and when we bought them.

Lenny was in the middle of changing his clothes when he found his snow boots that his cousin Luke gave to him. He had to put them on and run around the house like that.


I had to laugh at Lenny in his underwear and snow boots because it reminds me of a picture that mom has of my sister when she was little. She was even younger than Lenny and still in diapers. She has nothing on but a diaper and snow boots. It's the cutest thing. Mom said that Kristi loved to wear those snow boots in the house. Sorry Kristi, but I had to share that cute story especially after I took this picture of Lenny.

Little People Garage

The next story that I have is completely unrelated to the Christmas tree but I had to post these pictures. Lenny has a little people garage that the babies love to play with. Nathan always climbs on top of it, stands there, and laughs. He thinks he's the coolest.


Brooke keeps trying to get on top of it but she hasn't been able to stand on it yet. What she does is stands beside of it, leans forward on it, and puts her hands straight up in the air like she is on top of a cheerleading pyramid or something. It's very cute. She looks at you like she thinks she is doing something very cool.


From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

When Dominic gets our Christmas boxes out of the attic, he puts them in our room. Then as we unload the boxes, we put the empty ones in the basement. We had already unloaded some boxes and moved them to the basement. Then we had three boxes in the living room that had all of the decorations for the tree. When we were finished decorating the tree, Lenny was looking for more. I said, "That's all. We're done." He said, "No. We have five, there's two more upstairs." I didn't even know how many boxes we had but Lenny remembers everything. And it doesn't take him long to add or subtract in his head even though he doesn't know that's what he is doing.

One more story. We have a lot of little stuffed animals that we put under the tree every year. They are actually little stuffed Santa Claus', snowmen, and reindeer. As we were putting them out, I called them stuffed animals. Lenny, being the "matter of fact" type of kid that he is, said, "Snowmen aren't animals." Well, he had me there. It is true but I still don't know what else to call them.

WVU Fans Are Sad This Week

The Dominion Post newspaper in Morgantown Sunday morning said it best--Pitt-iful. We are shocked, depressed, and heartbroken over the loss to Pitt on Saturday. All I can say is that Pitt came to win it and they did. Our guys didn't even look like they showed up for the game. It's taken me a while to be able to post about it. We can't even talk about it in this house. We should have won that game and we didn't. Not by a long shot.

I can say that we had a GREAT time at the game. At least until the game started. I absolutely love college football games. I'm a fan of professional football games too but I have to say...Ain't nothin' like going to a college football game. We were so pumped and excited to be there. Just being in Morgantown on a game day is always fun. And, there was also a basketball game that same day, which we won!

We parked downtown and took the PRT over to the stadium. I haven't been on the PRT for years. It was fun to ride it again. However, I do now realize that I'm not in my 20s anymore. I sometimes forget and think that I am. Riding the PRT with college students made me remember that I am 30ish. Bummer.

This is the best picture that I got of the PRT.

Here we are before the game, it's the only one that I got of the two of us together and I'm the one that took it so it's kind of blurry.

I love watching the band. Even when we were in college, I always wanted to make sure that we got to the game in time to watch the band.

Here is the Pride of West Virginia. They are actually in the formation of the flying WV but we were too far down to get a good picture of it.

It was a depressing ride back on the PRT. We felt so bad for one guy, he was actually crying. Maybe he already bought his tickets to New Orleans. Another guy talked the entire way back about how he so badly wanted to play Ohio State for the national title. I think we were all just stunned.

We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with my sister and her kids. Kiana had a basketball game that day, then Kristi had a fundraiser to go to that she organized, then she always volunteers to be a "tour guide" on the buses from the coliseum to the stadium for the game. And we had the game. We were able to spend some time with her that night going over what went wrong at the game. We went to breakfast the next morning and everyone at the restaurant was very somber. We still had a nice time at breakfast with Kristi and the kids.

Mom had a great time with the kids. She shouldn't have let us know that everything went great. Now we know who we can leave them with again. She even taught Brooke how to move her finger back and forth to tell Nathan "no, no" when he gets up on top of the coffee table. She also does it when we tell her "no, no". It's very cute.

At least we can be happy that we are the Big East Champions and we are still going to a great bowl game.

Heading to MoTown

We will be on our way to Morgantown tomorrow morning for the Backyard Brawl against Pittsburgh! We are so excited especially because Dominic and I are going by ourselves without kids. Yeah! We are going to FREEZE at the game though. It doesn't start until 7:45 p.m. Yikes! I'm sure glad we have lots of WVU gear to keep us warm.

Sorry but I don't have time to post anything else. I'll post pictures of Lenny helping decorate the Christmas tree when we get back.

I hope we win!!

We Got Our Christmas Tree

I would like to start by saying that our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Sean Taylor, Washington Redskins safety, who passed away this morning at age 24. And to his little girl who will grow up without him. I'm so sad to think about what the family is going through at a time like this. It's so tragic.

On a better note, we got our Christmas tree today. I love picking out the tree but it always takes us a long time. I don't understand why we are so picky because it always looks the same each year after we get all of our decorations on it.

I will always remember as a kid going to buy our tree at the high school from the FFA (Future Farmers of America for anyone who doesn't know). Mom always took forever to decide. We would be freezing in the snow and she was still deciding. I completely understand why now. I do the same thing except for not in the snow.

Here is a picture at the Christmas tree lot.

And a picture of the kids sitting on the tree in the yard when we got home.

We will hopefully get it decorated tomorrow night. I'm so excited!

Nathan walks all the time now. He will crawl once in a while but he pretty much walks everywhere. He is always doing something silly and you never know what it is going to be next. He used to put the kitchen towel on his head and crawl all over the place. Now he does the same thing when he is walking. It doesn't even have to be the kitchen towel, it can be clothes, a blanket, the towel, or anything. He picks it up and throws it on top of his head and starts walking. Most of the time he can't even see where he is going. It's hilarious to watch him. He doesn't even care if he bumps into the wall.

Today I got a baby blanket out to show Brooke how to wrap her doll in it. Well, Nathan found a better use for it.

It started to fall off so he had to reposition it. Silly boy!


It is so cute to watch Lenny entertain his brother and sister. He can ALWAYS make them laugh. He doesn't even have to do anything that funny. Below is a video of Brooke laughing at Lenny flipping around in circles on the kitchen floor. The loud laughing at the beginning is Lenny trying to get Brooke to laugh.




From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

Lenny is a little joker these days. This evening Lenny was taking a bath and I was standing at the door trying to keep the babies out of the bathroom. Lenny was playing with a Thomas toy in the tub and had it under the bubbles and water. Lenny said, "Thomas is under the sea." And then he made me look at Thomas. Then he said, "If Thomas doesn't get out, he'll turn into a fish." I said, "He will". And then Lenny said, "Look at Thomas." I turned to look and Lenny had a fish in his hand. He was smiling when I looked at it. He thinks he is funny.

Way To Go WVU!

Lots of updates for this post. First, I would like to say...Way to go WVU! I love our football team and it gives me great pride to say that I am a Mountaineer. Currently ranked number 2 (should be #1 but we'll prove that later) we are on our way to a national championship game providing we beat Pittsburgh next weekend. And Dominic and I will be at the game Saturday cheering on our team! We are going to the 100th Backyard Brawl! Thanks to my sister, Kristi, for scoring us some awesome seats. She's the one that can always get us tickets to the games. She also keeps Dominic stocked with WVU things for his office. Thanks sis! We'll see you next weekend! And, thanks to my mom for agreeing to watch all three of the kids at her house overnight while we go to the game and stay with Kristi. She's a brave woman, I tell you that!

Birthday Dinner

We decided to take the kids to dinner on Brooke and Nathan's birthday. We went to Outback and had a great time. They thought they were so cool sitting there with their sippy cups and entertaining people around us. Brooke worked one side of the room and had them smiling and laughing while Nathan did the same for the other side of the room. It was so cute! The wait staff even brought each of them out a big ice cream with a candle on it and sang happy birthday to them. Brooke and Nathan didn't know what to think. And Lenny loved it too.

Brooke and Nathan chowed down on some bread, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and of course some ice cream. They loved it. Lenny was being a picky eater that night and only ate some of our salads, some steak, and the ice cream. I can always guarantee that he will eat a salad, lettuce and all. He's loved them since before he turned two years old.

The pictures are very fuzzy because the lens had a fingerprint on it. I didn't realize what the problem was until we got home.


Thanksgiving Day

We had a wonderful and busy Thanksgiving. Dominic and Lenny worked (and played) some outside on the yard since it was such a beautiful day. I made my dish for Thanksgiving dinner and made a small centerpiece for the dinner table. I used our leftover pumpkin shaped gourds, cleaned the inside out and added some fresh cut mums, Lenny helped with the flowers. He was so excited to give this to Nunny. He carried it in to her so proud.

On the way to Denny and Gloria's for Thanksgiving dinner, we stopped by the firehouse to visit our friend Dennis, who is a firefighter in northern Virginia and had to work that day. Dennis and Dominic have been friends their entire life. They lived down the street from each other. I was so excited for Lenny to see the firehouse and Dennis. Lenny fell asleep in the van on the way there so was still kind of sleepy. And to top it off, he was afraid of the firetrucks. I couldn't believe it. Brooke, our girl, was the first one brave enough to sit in the seat of the fire truck. Nathan eventually did too but Lenny wouldn't do it.

Don't the kids look real happy in the picture below? At least Dominic and I were. Thanks, Dennis, for showing us around the firehouse. Dominic and I enjoyed it.

We then headed to Denny and Gloria's for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time and lots of great food. Believe it or not, I didn't get any good pictures of us at the dinner table. I'm hoping that Gloria got some. Thanks for an awesome dinner!

Here's a good picture of Brooke and Uncle Chip. Brooke was just getting ready to grab his glasses. She had them shortly after the picture was snapped.

You can tell by the look on her face that she's getting ready to snag them. She's terrible about grabbing things. She's so quick about it that Dominic teases and says that he thinks she would be able to grab a fly in mid air.

One Year Well Baby Checkup

The babies had their one year check up today. I guess I can no longer call them babies now that they are one. They are still my babies though. Dominic stayed home with Lenny while I took Brooke and Nathan to their appointment. They did great today. I felt so bad for them though because they each got four shots (two in each leg) and they each got a finger prick. That's a lot of shots and finger pricks in one day. I wanted to cry myself when they started crying. It was so sad. I always hated that part with Lenny too.

Here are their measurements and the percentile:

Brooke:
Weight--19 pounds 2 ounces (23 %)
Height--27 3/4 (20%)
Head circumference--44 1/2 centimeters (40%)

Nathan:
Weight--23 pounds (60%)
Height--29 1/4 (40%)
Head circumference--46 1/2 (55%)

Brooke is still much farther behind than Nathan. But they have come a long way since the less than 5% that they received on everything at birth. And Brooke just jumped up to the 10th percentile on a few things at the 9 month checkup. Their doctor said that with premies, they usually catch up in their weight first and then they start catching up in their height.

I was curious about what Lenny was at this age so I looked it up:

Lenny weighed 22 pounds 6 ounces (49%), height was 30 inches (51%) and head circumference was 18 1/2 inches (75%)

Nathan weighs more than Lenny did at this age.

They missed their morning nap since we were at the doctor appointment and they were so tired. But by the time we got home, they were ready to play. At lunch time, I put them in their highchairs while I got lunch ready then I turned around to give it to them and Brooke was sound asleep and Nathan was almost asleep. They were really tired. Maybe they'll take a nice long afternoon nap.

From the Mouth of a Thirty Six Year Old?

Yes, this is a story about Dominic. It was very funny and I had to share it. When we eat lunch and dinner, we always lock Daisy out of the kitchen. We were finished with lunch yesterday and Daisy was reminding us to let her in but we were still cleaning the kitchen. She had barked several times when Dominic looked at her and said, "Daisy, that's enough barking. You are making us mad by barking. For each bark that's going to be five minutes." Sounds like a good concept but Daisy just ignored him.