Halloween Traditions

Today was a day of Halloween traditions. The good thing is that sometimes we have to shove it all in one day, but because Halloween is on Saturday, we got to spread it out this year!

Every year we visit grandma Patti's office at the Health District. I don't generally get a picture, but this time I did! It was a visit filled with tantrums and humiliating crying sessions, but we left on a good note.

We then go to Ba's office (Aunt Kim). We meet up with Cousin Kierra (who is a caterpillar this year). How tough is it to get a picture of 5 kids age 4 and under? Impossible!

After lunch and a napping session, we hit the road again. What happens next is my favorite Halloween tradition. We first stopped by greatma's. She lives in a retirement/apartment facility. We've gone every year since the boys were born. It's so fun to hear the oooohs and aaahhhs when we walk in and the boys say trick-or-treat. The people we so excited to see them and sad they didn't have candy that they boys were being given money! :) Here is a progression of photos from our years with greatma.

Next we grabbed dinner and went to great grandma Alice and great grandpa Lyle's house. We've also done this every year since the boys were born. We don't generally do the dinner part but because of timing and the babes needing out it was a perfect fit! Thanks great grandparents! Here is another progression of photos from those visits (except the first year when grandpa forgot he didn't have a memory card in...oops!).

All in all, a VERY busy day with VERY tired children. Some parts were hilarious, some awful, and some just downright devastating. But, memories were made and issues conquered. We'll live to do it again!

Just Because We Did It, Didn't Make It Fun

I usually look forward to picture day. Seeing those smiling faces and those great photos that are captured by someone other than me. That is, until I had four kids to get pictures of. We don't do anything fancy, just the general Sears photo studio. We've been going there since the boys were first born and have always had the same photographer. This time, she was training five new people so our experience was just not the same. Didn't help that Katie hates anyone but me, the girls were tired, and the boys were rowdy. Sounds like fun, right?! It wasn't horrible...believe me, I've had sessions with the boys where I just walked out and rescheduled for another day without getting any photos. These are not my favorite photos, but they'll do. They show the personalities of the kids at this stage in their lives. I'm sending them in the mail to Dan, so I can post them here, but not my Facebook as I want him to be surprised by his mail delivery. :) Here's the best we could get (sorry if grainy, I stole from the website just to show you!).

My Little Pumpkins

Tonight was pumpkin night at our house. We do this every year. We carve the pumpkins, dig out goo, all the traditional stuff. For a fun twist, we put the girls INSIDE their pumpkins. It turned out soooooo cute!

1/2 Year Birthday!

The girls are now 6 months old! Crazy how fast time flies. Here's the new developments:

Katie- Katie can scoot and nearly army crawl across the floor. She gets very frustrated that she can't move faster. When we are outside, now, she will fuss until put on the ground. Katie enjoyed her first real food, pancakes, yesterday. She was very proud of herself that she got to eat what the boys were eating. This girl is nonstop action.

Molly- Molly is my one and only mellow child. She is so easy. When happy, she talks and giggles and is very easy going. However, she quickly goes to angry and there is no consoling her; it's bedtime. Put her in a crib, give her a binky, and that girl is out. She is a daddy's girl through and through (even though daddy is gone right now).

Here's the stats:

Katie-
Weight- 16#13 (60%)---Katie weighed 17#4 last week, swine flu really hurt her weight!
Height- 27 1/4 (95%)
Head circumference- 16 3/4 (50%)

Molly-
Weight- 15#6 (50%)
Height- 28 1/2 (Above the 95%)
Head Circumference- 17 1/4 (80%)

*Pictures to come!

Happy 4th Birthday T&J

Happy 4th Birthday boys! It is definitely the birthday that never ends. :) On Monday (their actual birthday) we went to Red Robin for dinner. Despite the fact that the boys had not had a rest time and it was a later dinner, they did extremely well. The boys (especially Thomas) was totally thrilled that they sang happy birthday. It was so neat to watch.

On Wednesday, the boys had their birthday party with all their friends. It was suppose to be at our house, but since we're just ending all this sickness and lacking in cleaning energy, the party was moved to Chuck E Cheese. This made the boys extremely happy. The party in itself was the easiest party ever. No clean up, lots of hands to hold babies so I could focus on boys. The boys proclaimed it to be one of the best days ever!

October 19, 2005

October 19th, 2005---

We'd been in the hospital for 3 days. I was tired of the drugs that were doing nothing to stop my labor. I was miserable and HUGE!

My doctor came on rounds and decided today was the day. At 8 AM he broke my water and by noon we were ready to go. A fast trip to the OR (as is protocol with twins), a couple hours of pushing, and alas...

Thomas Bruce Domrese, 2:07 PM, 5#11. My beautiful baby boy. The oldest.

Joshua Stephen Domrese, 2:08 PM, 6#3. The stubborn breech baby that caused all the worry at birth.

Boys at 3 weeks.

Boys at 1 year.

Boys at 2 years.

Boys at 3 years.

Today is it. The boys are four years old. Joshua walked around yesterday saying, "It's my last day to be three." Totally cute.

Thomas- My crazy, energetic little boy. Always ready to toss a ball or play a game. Constantly moving. Either completely sweet and lovable or totally mischievious. The schemer. A leader. The little boy who can melt my heart with those big eyes

Joshua- The charming second born who NEVER STOPS TALKING. Always performing. Loves attention. Independent and adorable. My youngest boy that snuggles and gives me loves every day.

Just When You Think It's All Over...

Just when you think it's all over, something else pops up. Is this life with four kids? Katie woke up this morning very very congested. Because I've seen it before, I immediately called the doctor and made an appointment. What followed was a morning full of worry and an afternoon appointment which confirmed what I thought. Katie is wheezing. And something I didn't know. Molly is worse. Both girls have now started nebulizer treatments. The doctor said it's just another side-effect from the Swine Flu that we are experiencing. Luckily the boys have been cleared to go to school tomorrow so they'll get some much needed interaction with other people.

PHEW!

The week of misery has ended. We are 48 hours fever free. PHEW! The road to recovery appears long, but we just keep trudging along hoping everyday is better. We now deal with the residual cough and pray that this portion goes quickly and easily and does not turn into a secondary infection (such as pneumonia). Katie and Molly are really the only ones I'm worried about, although we all have the cough.

It's been a crazy week of being shut indoors. Finally the weather started to perk up and we got outside for a while every day. And today we got to go to a friends house for a cookie making playdate. Really I took the girls and put them to sleep while she made cookies with the 5 other kids. Thanks Beth! I was a much better mama after some adult conversation. After a little rest time, Ba (Aunt Kim) came over for dinner and conversation. This time the conversation was not adult but the boys talking and performing for Kim. They've obviously felt the affects of not seeing anyone for a week! Thanks Ba!

Molly Misses Daddy

It became very clear a few nights ago how much Molly misses daddy. I was wearing one of his shirts to bed (as I do when he's gone so that I can smell him when I'm sleeping and therefore sleep easier) and she woke up to nurse. She suckled for merely moments before taking a handful of my (Dan's) shirt, rubbing her face in it,looking at me with complete adoration and then falling asleep clutching the shirt. So sweet! Then and there I decided that every night I would pull out one of Dan's shirts and give it to her to snuggle with. Works like a charm! Last night she woke up once at 2 AM and slept from 9:30 PM- 9:30 AM. Too bad Joshua woke up at 2 AM for the day! ARG!

The Unofficial Face of Swine Flu

That's right folks. This house is now swine-flu central. Awful. Horrible. Terrible. I, myself, am surviving alright. The kids are getting hit hard. This is rotten stuff.

Betrayed!

I am feeling very betrayed. By my body. We had a deal. No getting sick while Dan is gone. I thought this was a very fair deal. Apparently I was wrong. And in actuality I'm doing fairly well. A slight fever with a sore throat...not bad. The kids, on the other hand, not fairing as well. I took them into the doctor today after 3 days of fevers just to make sure I was not under-reacting.

Joshua- Stayed with auntie Angie and cousin Kierra and got some quality time in. Poor kid needed it. He had one day of a fever of 99.5 and was over it. Those strong Domrese genes!

Thomas- Ear infection (his first..actually the first of any of our kids). A throat spotted with blisters (poor kid) and a nice temperature (kept between 101-102 with Motrin AND Tylenol). Thomas typically spikes to 104.3 with any fever and may or may not begin to seize if I don't keep it down. This is the first time it's been manageable. PHEW! Still, he's got that glassy-eyed look and is just lethargic. He basically naps all day long and cries because he's so achy his clothes hurt when they touch him. :(

Molly- Totally fine. One temperature reading of 99.5 and she is good to go. Teething like a fiend, but not complaining. In fact, she's most neglected and fell asleep in the jumperoo today as I was trying to get the other three dressed and ready to go! Poor baby!!!

Kaitlyn- Just started a temperature of 102 degrees today. A slight runny nose. Feeling tired and grumpy, just wants mommy (nothing new there!). Unfortunately she is also vomiting just a touch so keeping the Motrin down for the fever is very difficult. I mixed it with apple juice earlier and she kept that down (as she can't over eat from a bottle).

As you can see, life is crazy here right now. 4 sick children. Really? I signed up for this? True, true, I did. These are the days that I remind myself how lucky I am. I got chosen. I was chosen to have two sets of twins. I would have begged for these days during the three years that we tried month after month to conceive naturally. So I take it as best I can and know that tomorrow is bound to be better. AND, at least I'm getting lots and lots of snuggles, right?!

Videos to Make You Smile

Grandparent's Day

Today was Grandparent's Day at preschool. Grandpa Larry, Grandma Patti, and Grandpa Bob arrived at school to see a musical performance (including 'Jesus Loves Me' and other songs) and then did a craft project. My apologies to the grandparent's that were not invited. We love you all and will definitely invite you to other events with more room. The boys (and girls) are absolutely blessed with many fabulous grandparents and great grandparents. We love you all and will involve you in every step possible. Here are some pictures though!! Notice the boys wearing their "My Grandpa Rules" shirt and the girls wearing their "I (heart) Grandma" onesies! CUTE!

Katie is Scooting!!!!

That's right, you heard it, Katie is scooting! It's not a full on scoot, not even an army crawl, more of a 'use your face and pull with your fingers until you get to desired location' kind of scoot. However, she's definitely mobile now. She does really well on carpet and struggles a bit more on the hardwood floors (plus when she tries to use her face it hurts to she ends up in tears). I will post a video or pictures tomorrow if I can get her to perform on demand. :) My baby is mobile...

Up Up and Away

Day #1. Thomas manages to come out back with the rest of us and lock the back door behind him. My heart just about dropped. Joshua, Molly, Thomas and I locked outside. Katie alone inside. Luckily the front door was unlocked so we were able to get back inside, but I'm going to have to be more on top of things already!

Last night we took Halloween pictures with Dan so that we would still have the traditional picture. The kids are going to be so darn cute!

Family Birthday Party

We decided to do the boys' family birthday party early this year so that Dan could be a part of it. Thomas got to choose the theme of this party and, of course, he chose Spiderman. With Spiderman being the theme, you can imagine the spiderman products they received. Spiderman costumes, Spiderman web shooter, and more! Some other favorite gifts were a pizza set, a grilling set, puzzles, Uno and Sequence for Kids (played daily), and more! The boys had fun playing with their cousins and had a great early 4th birthday. Now it's difficult to convince them that they are not actually 4 years old yet! :)