Gallimimus Has No Teeth

Poor Brayden took forever to get to sleep last night.  He kept coughing and coughing.  Finally around 9:30 or so I decided to move the humidifier back to the boys' room and he was able to get to sleep shortly thereafter.

Aubrey slept through the night again.  Can't say the same for Carter.  He woke up a number of times, but just wanted a paci and then went back to bed.  As long as he doesn't need a bottle I figure we're moving in the right direction.  Aubrey woke up to eat a little after 4:00 again.  Carter got up just as I got out of the shower which worked out well.

Calvin wanted a bowl of Cheez-its this morning.  He spilled them while on the way to daycare and asked dada to "clean up.  made mess".  I reached behind me, but couldn't find them so I asked where the mess was.  Calvin said "right here" and then grabbed my hand and moved it to where the crackers were in his car seat.

Erin had her six week follow-up visit today.  She is cleared to do just about everything now.  She just can't lift heavy objects or do any ab related exercises for another six weeks.  The doctor said everything was looking good and that the swelling will be 100% gone in six more weeks.

Calvin didn't eat any of his dinner which was macaroni & cheese, baked beans and applesauce.  Instead he ate Cheez-its.  He also enjoyed dropping Cheez-its on the ground and then stepping on them.  As soon as dada sat down to eat dinner Calvin said "up please".  He sat on my lap and proceeded to eat my macaroni & cheese.  I also had some meat that he wanted and actually ate. 

Aubrey was playing peek-a-boo with Brayden tonight.  Erin was holding a book in front of Aubrey while she was in Erin's lap.  Brayden was standing in front of Aubrey.  Aubrey would duck her head below the book and  then pop up and laugh.  She did this at least five or six times so it was definitely intentional.  That's a smart little girl.

Carter is really crawling now.  He is up on his hands and knees.  He's also really fast.  You only need to turn around for a few seconds and he'll be on the other side of the room.

Erin picked up another humidifier today and we set it up in the babies room.  The kids weren't coughing much tonight. Hopefully they're getting over whatever it is that they had.  At least we have another humidifier in case we need it.  We turned both of them on tonight.

Calvin and Brayden got a bath tonight.  While I was getting the bath ready Erin got the babies ready for bed and put them down to bed.  The boys still aren't crazy about getting cleaned, but they're getting a little better.  After the bath it was time to go to bed.  Erin was reading to Brayden while I read to Calvin.

I was reading the Dinosaurs A to Z book to Calvin tonight and he said "Gallimimus no teeth" when I showed a picture of the Gallimimus.  I probably told him once a few days ago that a Gallimimus has no teeth so I was shocked that he remembered.  Especially since I didn't remember.  I had to read the description of the dinosaur to figure out that he was right!

Here's a YouTube link to the babies playing with a balloon from yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt3WVLjKe00

Cough Cough

Aubrey slept through the night again.  Carter did not.  He got up a number of times.  We kept giving him a paci and he went back to sleep.  Eventually he finally slept for good.  Aubrey got up a little after 4:00 again.  Carter got up about 4:30.

Carter is now having coughing fits.  Brayden's continue.  My throat is starting to get scratchy.  Will we ever have a house without someone being sick?

When we got home Erin got the babies in the high chairs and fed them.  She also made dinosaur chicken nuggets, but the boys weren't interested.  Brayden went over to the pantry and pulled out some banana muffins.  Erin actually gave Brayden muffins without making him eat any of his dinner.  I didn't stop her in time.

After feeding the babies Erin took Carter down to play.  We left Aubrey in her high chair with a spoon to play with.  She is always quite amused with a spoon.  I was eating my dinner and keeping her company.

Calvin brought a Christmas tree ornament out to the Family room.  Erin went to put it back on the tree and found another broken ornament.  We'll give it another few days, but we may need to move all breakable ornaments higher up on the tree.

"Don't touch my cars".  That was a phrase that Calvin started saying tonight.  He wasn't really talking to anyone (at least I dont' think he was), but he said it a number of times while he was playing with his cars.

Aubrey was jamming with her music cube.  She is able to hit the big buttons and make it play music.  She would bob her head and bounce back and forth to the music.  She's such an adorable little girl.

Calvin and Brayden have been very good about going to bed when we ask them to.  We just have to say that it is bed time and they head up stairs to their room.  Brayden is always the first one up.  Calvin always takes another minute or two to get upstairs.

We decided to put the humidifier in the babies room tonight since Carter is coughing so much.  Poor Brayden has been coughing for quite a while now.  I guess we'll put the humidifier back in the boys' room tomorrow night.

Sweet Dreams

The babies slept through the night.  They didn't wake up at all.  Not even to get a paci.  Aubrey woke up around 4:00 and Erin fed her.  Then I got up shortly after and fed Carter. 

I went back to work today after taking all of last week off.  It was quite busy as I expected.  I could have read through a bunch of my e-mail on my Blackberry last week, but I didn't feel like it.  I also could have taken my laptop home, but again I wanted to relax and not do any work so I left the laptop at the office last week.  Only a few more weeks and then I get a week and a half off for Christmas/New Year's.

The boys were outside playing with leaves today when I got to daycare to pick them up.  Calvin would count to three or four or eleven and then throw the leaves up in the air.  Brayden was throwing the leaves at the same time that Calvin did.  I eventually corralled them into the minivan.  Calvin wanted to hook his own seatbelt, but after waiting for a little bit I did it for him.  When I came back to the car after getting Carter and Aubrey I noticed Calvin had unhooked his seatbelt.  Then he was able to hook it again.  I was impressed.

I learned something about dinosaurs the other night while reading the boys' new book.  I wondered why dinosaur books never refer to Brontosauruses.  The new book explains why.  Apparently a number of years ago some paleontologists realized that bones for a Brontosuarus and Apatosaurus were actually of the same dinosaur.  These dinosaurs were always considered to be two different types until this discovery.  Since the Apatosaurus was named first they kept that name and dropped the Brontosaurus name.  I understand the reasoning, but I always thought that the brontosaurus was better known.  I suppose I will continue to learn fun facts like this as I read books to the kids.

Brayden's cough is still really bad.  It's also kind of hard to understand what he says because his voice is so scratchy and hoarse.

The boys once again wanted Skittles as soon as we got home.  However, I was able to get them to eat their dinner before getting Skittles.  We had been giving them the little Fun Size bags, but we got one of the great big bags from Wal-Mart this weekend.  We put the skittles in a Zip-Lock bag or a little container.  For some reason Calvin didn't want Skittles in anything other than the little Fun Size bags.  Eventually he took Skittles in the container after not getting them in a Fun Size bag.

Speaking of the large bag of Skittles.  I wonder how companies come up with the sizes of these bags.  The one we got is a 41oz. bag.  41oz???  What kind of size is that?  Did they start with a 48oz (or 3-pound) bag and just eventually reduce it by an ounce over time, but keep the price the same?  I know that ice cream companies did that.  They don't sell half-gallon containers anymore.  Now they are 0.45-gallon or something like that, but the price is the same as the old half-gallon.

Now that they have been eating candy I really want to get them to brush their teeth.  They will do it every now and again with dada's toothbrush.  They have their own, but they don't like to use them.  We'll see what we can do.

Just Another Manic Sunday

I watched the VT-UVA football game late last night on the DVR.  What a game.  VT sure is looking good.  This is the right time of year to play this well.  We'll see how they fair against Clemson in the ACC championship game.

The babies got up a few times again last night.  I keep waiting for some sort of magic to happen and the babies will just stop getting up in the middle of the night.  I can't even remember if we fed them during the night or not.  I know that we fed them around 4:30 and then they went back to sleep for a few hours. 

I got up and took a shower before Calvin and Brayden woke up.  By the time I was out of the shower I could hear the boys talking to each other.  "Get up Bray Bray".  "Uh oh".  *CLUNK* as something is thrown from their crib to the floor. 

Brayden's voice still sounds very hoarse and his cough is still somewhat of a bark.  Shortly after eating breakfast he started coughing and actually threw up a little bit.  We got everyone cleaned up and changed and then headed out to Wal-Mart.  "Going SHOPPING!" as Calvin says.

We once again opted for the side-by-side double stroller instead of the snap and go.  We went to Lowe's before Wal-Mart since Erin wanted to get some lighted garland to put out on our front porch.  Lowe's is right next to Wal-Mart so it is very convenient.  We got two 9-foot strands only to realize that we need three.  We'll pick another up next week.

We had lots of comments today from folks at Wal-Mart.  One lady said to me "that's the second set of twins I've seen in the past minute".  I said, "That's because the other set is mine as well".  At that time Erin came around the corner with Calvin and Brayden.  The look on the lady's face was priceless.  Another man that was in one of those scooters said "better you than me.  I couldn't keep up with them."  Then the lady that was with him (I assume his daughter) said "you can't keep up with much of anything at this point".  It was pretty funny.

After getting home we got everyone fed and then let them play for a while before putting them to bed.  Shortly after getting everyone to sleep I went out to get a haircut.  I get it cut about once a month and even doing that is difficult.  Sometimes I have to leave work thirty minutes early just to get my haircut because there is no other time to get it done.

Carter and Aubrey got up early from their nap.  I still hadn't returned home from getting my hair cut, but I was on the way when Erin called and said the babies were up and were both fussy.  Erin's mom got to our house just a minute or so before I got home.  Calvin and Brayden slept for over four hours today for their nap.  I actually went upstairs and took a short nap myself while the boys were still sleeping.

Calvin was very fussy again today.  I assume that it's the "terrible twos".  Either that or he's bipolar.  And somehow I doubt that toddlers are bipolar. 

Carter and Aubrey have started getting upset if you play with them and then get up to do something.  As soon as you walk away they start to cry.  I'm sure Calvin and Brayden did this too, but I can't remember.  They just want attention.

Aubrey is a very good sitter.  If you prop sit her she no longer falls over.  She has also become very good at playing with things and hitting buttons on their music toys.  Carter continues to crawl all over the place.  Sometimes I think he's part turtle.  He always wants to crawl over to the coffee table.  We don't want him to hit his head on the table so we always move him or turn him in the other direction.  But he's persistent and heads right back for the coffee table.

Erin was upstairs tonight getting the babies clothes ready for the week and Calvin and Brayden asked "where mama go?".  I said, "Is she by the Christmas Tree?"  So they would run out to the living room and check "Nooo".  "Is she in the office?"  Once again they would run and check "Nooo".  "Is she in the bathroom?"  "No."  After a few more attempts at finding mama they decided to head upstairs.  About that time Erin finished and was heading downstairs so they finally found mama.

Carter and Aubrey were sleepy tonight so we kept them up until about 6:20 and then put them down.  I hate it when they don't nap well and go to bed early.  It really minimizes their chance of sleeping through the night.

Calvin and Brayden got a bath tonight.  They still don't like getting washed, but they love being in the water.  When Calvin got out of the bath he was upset because his fingers were pruney from being in the water for so long.

Croup

This post is actually regarding Friday night and Saturday.  The internet wasn't working Saturday night so I couldn't post.

Aubrey got up a few times last night.  Erin ended up giving her a bottle.  Carter also got up a little later (around midnight) and I gave him a bottle.  They didn't get bottles before they went to bed last night so I figured they needed it.

Brayden woke up about 3:30 and was screaming and making a very strange sound.  It almost sounded like he was choking.  When we went in to check on him he was making sort of a barking cough sound.  I picked him up and he didn't appear to be choking, but he obviously wasn't feeling well.  I brought him into our room and sat on the bed with him.  He spit up a bunch of phlegm.  We gave him some Tylenol and let him sleep in the bed with me.  Erin decided to get up at that point, but I layed back down with Brayden.  He didn't wake up again until 6:45.  At that point we got up and headed downstairs for breakfast.  It appears that he has Croup.

Almost ran out of formula so we went to Target and picked up some.  We also got some other things from Target.  It's hard to walk out of that place and not get more than what you planned on picking up.  We put the babies in the side-by-side double stroller again since they seemed to enjoy it so much the other day.  It is more work on us, but if it's good for the babies we can manage.  We take Calvin and Brayden out of the car first and put them in their stroller.  Then I get one of the babies and remove their car seat carrier from the base.  Then I set the carrier in the middle seat and prop it between the boys' car seat and the back of the front seat.  Then it's fairly easy to get the baby out of the carrier and into the stroller.  It also gets everything in a good position for getting them back in the car.

We planned on going to Waller Mill park to walk around.  They had a gate up at the park entrance with a sign saying that there is a $2 vehicle fee.  I thought that was pretty ridiculous so we turned around.  We ended up heading home since the kids were tired.  They all napped quite well once Carter and Aubrey finally got to sleep.  We have been putting them in their swings a lot at nap time because they won't seem to sleep in their cribs. 

We set up a humidifier in Calvin and Brayden's room since it is supposed to help with Croup.  We heard Calvin on the monitor saying "get up Bray Bray".  So I went in to see what was going on.  Calvin had pooped so I changed him and then put him back down.  Poor Brayden's voice got really hoarse.  On a positive note we had previously thought that Carter might be getting sick, but he seems fine (other than pooping five or six times today).

I set up the train set around the Christmas Tree.  I bought a Lionel O-gauge set a few years ago after Christmas when it was on clearance.  It's really easy to set up and it looks great.  Calvin and Brayden absolutely loved the train.   Calvin kept trying to play with the train while I was getting it set up.  He would move it around the track and always get the wheels off the track. I probably put it back together a bunch of times.

We went to the local park after everyone got up from their nap.  They all seemed to have a really good time.  There is a small house that Calvin and Brayden would run in and out of.  Calvin had a basketball and Brayden had a football that they brought.  They would throw their ball out of the house and then run out and pick it up.  We went down a big slide a number of times.  I would be in the middle with Calvin and Brayden on each side of me when we went down.  We loaded everyone back into the strollers and were going to go for a walk around the park on the trail, but Calvin started screaming that he kept wanting us to go "that way" which was always the opposite way we were heading...even when we turned around.  We decided to go to an area of the park where there as a big field and let Calvin and Brayden play with their football and basketball.  For a while we played catch.  I taught the boys to hold their arms together when I threw the ball and they each caught a ball once.  We played around for a while and then headed home.

Calvin was quite fussy today for some reason.  He kept wanting the bowl of candy.  Then he would take something and not eat it.  He wanted it again right before dinner.  I told him that he would have it after he ate.  At first he wasn't happy, but then he actually went over to his table and ate his dinner.  I was shocked that he listened.

I found that one thing I am really good at is understanding toddler talk.  There are many things that Calvin and Brayden say that Erin and others don't know, but I do.  Could this be my six sense? *

Black Friday

I didn't go out to do any Doorbuster Black Friday shopping.  I only did it once a few years ago and it was so aweful that I don't want to do it again.

Aubrey woke up a few times last night.  She went to bed early so I wasn't surprised.  Erin ended up giving her a bottle around 10:30.  Carter woke up around 2:00 so I fed him and put him back to sleep.  Calvin and Brayden actually got up before Carter and Aubrey.  They got up right at 6:00.

After everyone was fed and changed we decided to go to the Virginia Living Museum.  Before we went there we stopped by Target.  We went to the one by Water Country since no one ever goes to that one.  There were actually a number of cars there, but not as many as I expected for Black Friday.  It may have been worse around midnight.  I was considering buying a dual 9" car headrest TV/dvd player.  It was a really good deal, but we probably won't need it for another year or so and I figured I can wait to see what deals are available when we will actually use it.

The kids had a really good time at the Virginia Living Museum.  We brought both side-by-side double strollers and took Carter and Aubrey out of their car seat carriers so that they could see more.  They really seemed to enjoy seeing everything as well.  It was a really nice day so we were able to head outside on the trail as well as seeing the indoor exhibits.  We let Calvin and Brayden get down and run around.  Sometimes it's a little hard keeping them corralled, but usually they stay together pretty well.

We put up the Christmas tree today.  I had only put up three ornaments so far and we had our first broken ornament.  Calvin decided to play with one and it fell and broke.  The boys really loved the tree.  They kept saying "Christmas tree" over and over.  I was able to plug the tree lights into the outlet that is connected to a light switch so it will be easy to turn the tree lights on and off.

Calvin and Brayden wanted leftover pumpkin cake tonight.  Except that Calvin didn't really want it.  He kept saying that he wanted a bite from "right there", but when I tried to give him some he would just shake his head and say "no".  After a while I gave up.  He got really upset about not getting what he wanted, but I didn't really know what he wanted so there wasn't much I could do.  It was quite amusing that he started screaming and then when he would stop Aubrey would scream back at him.

Carter may be sick.  He pooped about six times today and was fussy a lot.  He also had a little bit of a runny nose.  The poor thing just couldn't get comfortable.  Normally he is very happy to be by himself and crawl on the ground.  The only time he seemed happy is when he was held so we held him a lot tonight.  Perhaps he is just teething.  We'll see tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

The babies did well last night.  They woke up around 3:00 and were fed and then put back to sleep.  They woke up again shortly after 6:00 and wouldn't go back to sleep.  So we brought them downstairs and gave them some breakfast.  Calvin and Brayden woke up shortly thereafter.  Erin fed the babies and got Calvin and Brayden's breakfast ready while I went up to get them out of bed. 

After breakfast we played for a while.  Then I gave Calvin and Brayden a bath.  It's always a struggle to get them out of the bath.  Brayden learned that he can close the drain after dada opens it.  So he thought it was fun to close the drain and then open it again and again.  Eventually I just grabbed Calvin and got him dried off and his clothes on.  By the time I was done with him Brayden was ready to get out.  All the water had been out of the tub for about five to ten minutes so you would think they would start to get cold and want to get out.  But, they seem to have a lot of fun in the tub.  After giving them a bath I took a shower.

We got everyone loaded up in the minivan and headed over to Erin's parents for Thanksgiving.  This is the first time I had been to there house in quite some time (perhaps since before the babies were born).  Everyone always came over to our house since it's so difficult for us to get out.

We decided to take the Colonial Parkway to their house instead of the interstate.  I thought the change in scenery would be good.  The boys really liked going under the bridges.  There is a short tunnel as well that they rather enjoyed.

The boys seemed to really enjoy themselves at grammie and pappaps.  They had a wooden train set that the boys played with for a long time.  They also jumped on a small trampoline for a while.  The trampoline has a bar to hold onto so it was fairly safe.  Calvin and Brayden really like the breakfast bread with icing that my mother-in-law makes. I wasn't sure if they would want any so I gave each of them a bite.  After one bite they wanted more and more.  They couldn't get enough until it was all gone.

Carter is the only one that actually napped.  Aubrey may have napped for a short while, but if she did it was only for thirty minutes or so.  We put Calvin and Brayden down, but they just kept laughing and talking to each other and never went to sleep.

Dinner was great.  My mother-in-law is a really good cook so it's always nice to eat some of her cooking.  Calvin was enjoying it too.  He ate a bunch of turkey and brocolli caserole.  Brayden didn't eat much, but he did have a little.  I think I grossed out my sister-in-laws by digging in Calvin's nose to get some dried up boogers out.  Oh well, I figured once you have kids stuff like that doesn't bother you anymore.

The boys played with my mother-in-laws iPad.  There were a few games on there that they were really enjoying.  Maybe one of these days we'll get a Kindle Fire.  I know that the Kindle Fire is comparable to the iPad and quite a bit cheaper.  Apparently Amazon is actually selling them at a loss thinking that they will get more sales through the website with the Kindle since most products are linked to Amazon's website.  We'll wait on getting it though since we would like for the kids to play with toys instead of electronics for as long as they can.

We thought we were going to run out of diapers.  We always bring way more than we think we're going to need, but everyone kept pooping so we went through a lot of diapers.  We ended up having one each for the older boys and only one between Carter and Aubrey left when we headed home.

We left sometime after 5:00.  Calvin and Brayden were both asleep in the car within a few minutes of leaving.  We took the Parkway home again.  It took about thirty minutes to get home which is about the same time it would take if we used the interstate.  The interstate may be a few minutes faster, but you always worry about accidents and heavy traffic slowing you down.  There was almost no traffic on the Parkway.

We got home and Brayden woke up when we opened the car doors.  He immediately started fussing.  We got him inside first and Erin changed him into his jammies.  Then I got Calvin in and then the babies.  After bringing the babies in I brought Brayden up to bed.  By the time I was done with Brayden Calvin had been changed so up to bed he went.  Calvin wanted something from the pantry, but I didn't let him go over to the pantry before putting him in bed.  Instead when I put him in bed he started screaming.  I asked him what he wanted and he wouldn't say.  So I asked if he wanted M&Ms and he said yes.  Then Brayden said he wanted "manis" which means muffins.  I got them each their order and then they were happy.  I read one story and then let them fall asleep.  They only fussed for a minute after I left.  I'm sure they were so tired that they wanted to sleep.  I think they got in bed sometime around 6:00 which is about an hour earlier than their normal bedtime.

We fed Aubrey and Carter and got them changed.  Aubrey went down without a problem.  Carter on the other hand wasn't too keen on going to bed just yet.  Since he had a few hour nap he wanted to stay up.  We eventually got him to sleep so we were able to relax.  Of course before relaxing we had to clean up the Family Room. 

Coke Freestyle

Carter got up a little after midnight, but went back to sleep after getting a paci.  Aubrey woke up first around 4:30 and then Carter woke up shortly after her.  They were both fed and then put back down until it was time to go to daycare.

I got Calvin in to daycare and it was barely starting to sprinkle.  It was raining harder when I got Brayden in.  By the time I got the babies is was a downpour.  They stayed fairly dry thanks to the car carrier shade and their blanket.  Dada on the other hand was a drowned rat.

I was planning on lifting weights when I got home, but I was so wet that I went straight for the shower.  After that I had breakfast then organized some more in the basement.

I headed back out to do some more shopping.  I picked up a few things for the kids.  Then I went to Firehouse Subs for lunch.  That place is awesome.  Whoever thought of the Coke Freestyle soda machine is a genius.  I only wish that the Pepsi folks thought of it first.  I'm sure Coke has a patent so Pepsi won't be able to have one for twenty years.  Oh well.  I got a 12" sub, but I would have been fine with a 6" sub.  I don't eat at Firehouse very often and I forgot just how much meat they put on their subs.  Definitely better than Subway.  I think Firehouse Subs has surpassed Quiznos as my favorite sub shop.  I got an Orange Sprite and then an Orange Mello Yellow.  They were both quite good.  I think next time I'll go for a Grape Sprite.  The sign said there are more than 120 flavors to choose from.  They can probably keep track of the most popular choices and maybe they will create a new drink based on popularity.  If they're not doing that they should start.

I got home and put the stuff away.  Erin got home shortly after I did.  She only had a half day of work today.  Then we headed out to meet with a prospective daycare lady.  She was very nice and I think we may end up making the change.  We'll take a few days to decide.  Before we make a decision we'll take the kids over and make sure they are comfortable there.

We came back home and I was able to play the PS3 for about thirty minutes before heading out to pick up the kids.  I was hoping to play more video games while I was off work, but I did get some other things done around the house.

When I picked up the kids Calvin had grabbed two sticks that have leaves on them and brought them in the car.  After getting everyone loaded and the car started Calvin asked me to open the door.  He threw out the leaves and then I closed teh door.  Brayden asked for the leaves and Calvin said, "I'm sorry Bray Bray.  Threw out leaves".  About a mile down the road Brayden asked for leaves again and Calvin said "Sorry Bray Bray".  About another mile down the road Brayden once again asked for leaves.  This time Calvin said in a much louder voice "Threw outside Bray Bray, leaves gone".  I couldn't help myself from laughing.  Silly little guys.

Calvin sat on my lap as I ate my dinner.  I took some Fritos and crushed them up and put them in my chili.  Calvin wanted Fritos too and when he saw me crush mine he decided to do the same.  Then I said he didn't have to crush his so he stopped.  He kept dipping his Fritos in my chili. 

Aubrey was sitting up and we gave her a blanket.  She was having the best time playing with the blanket.  She would move it around and pull it up to her face. 

Remember when I said Carter was quite mobile?  We turned our back on him for about ten seconds and he had crawled under the coffee table.  We try to keep him away from the coffee table because he can easily hit his head on the legs or even push up and hit his head on the underside of the table.  When he sees something he wants he puts it in overdrive and motors along the floor.

Brayden got Nerds all over the floor again.  We didn't see who did it so we asked the boys who made a mess.  Brayden said "No" and Calvin said "Bray Bray made mess".  When I asked Brayden if he made a mess he just grinned.

I bought the boys three new books (Opposites, 12 Days of Christmas and Dinosaurs A to Z) while I was out this morning.  I read the books to them tonight and they loved them.  They were so excited to get in bed so dada could read them new books.  I think they loved the dinosaur book the best.

I set up a shelving unit in the garage to act as a pantry overflow.  We started moving some things out there tonight.  It will definitely help to unclutter the pantry in the kitchen.

Dunkin Donuts...that's good

The babies slept through the night.  It was great not even having to get up to give them a paci.  They woke up around 3:30 and got a bottle, changed and back in bed until it was time to get ready to go to daycare.  Calvin and Brayden wanted Froot Loops on the ride to daycare today so they each got a small bag of Froot Loops.

After dropping them off I came home and started putting the shelves together.  I was able to get all four shelving units assembled and things organized in the basement.  I finished everything around 1:00 so I ate lunch and then took a shower.  After that I laid down on the couch to watch some TV and fell asleep.  I woke up around 4:00.  Erin came home shortly after that and then I left to pick up the kids.

Brayden was a little difficult getting him loaded in the car.  I had to hold him down with one arm while getting him buckled in.  Once everyone was loaded in the car Brayden was happy.  I gave him some Corn Pops for the ride home.  Calvin didn't want his Corn Pops.

We gave the boys Nerds tonight.  They have had them before and really like them.  My grandfather used to call them "Nerts".  Anyway, the boys were spilling their Nerds out of the box so I got a small bowl for each of them and they poured the Nerds in the bowl.  This worked for a while.  Then they decided to sit down on the Kitchen floor next to each other to eat their Nerds.  They started dropping their Nerds on the floor and made a mess.  I asked them to stop and they got great big grins on their faces.  Then after I walked away I heard the sound of Nerds hitting the hardwood again.  So I walked over and took the Nerds away from them.  They only fussed for a minute or so.  Then Calvin actually helped clean up.  He grabbed the dust pan and helped me sweep the Nerds up.  Then he carried the dust pan to the garbage can and dumped them in.

Calvin for some reason decided to pull out all the baby spoons from the drawer and bring them to Erin as she was feeding Carter and Aubrey.  After pulling out all the spoons Calvin and Brayden put them all away.  I'm not sure if the drawer was left open or if Calvin opened it again, but later on he was playing with his toy tractors and he hit his head on the open drawer.  If left a small mark on his forehead, but it wasn't bad.  He started crying until I kissed his forehead then he was happy.

I picked up some Dunkin Donuts this morning on my way home.  I ate one for breakfast and then ate one after dinner.  The boys ate about half of my doughnut.  Calvin said "that's good" after taking his first bite (which was a big bite).  He says "mmm that's good" quite a bit now. 

I hid under Brayden's crib before the boys came up to go to bed.  They found me hiding and then both crawled under the crib with me.  We played around on the floor for a little while before putting them to bed.  They fussed for quite a while tonight.  Normally we just leave them, but I decided to go in and see what was going on.  Calvin had thrown out his water, blanket and pacis.  I gave everything back to him and then they went to bed shortly after.

County Grill

Carter woke up around 10:30 last night and I didn't think he would go back to sleep, but surprisingly he did.  The babies didn't wake up again until about 3:30.

I got up later than a typical Monday today since I wasn't going in to work.  We got the kids ready and I ran them off to daycare.  I can remember when we only had Calvin and Brayden and we would take a day off work and drop them at daycare.  I think the first day or two we felt guilty, but the free time to get things done quickly overshadowed any guilt.

I came home after dropping the kids off.  I took the car seats and seats out of my minivan so that I could pick up some large shelving units from Lowe's.  What a pain.  At least it forced me to clean out the minivan.  I couldn't believe how much cereal was all over the place. 

The LATCH system is awesome.  If you don't know what it is the LATCH system is a way to fasten baby car seats to the actual car seat without using the seat belt.  It uses steel hooks that are built into the seats.  It is so much easier than using the darn seat belt.  Go figure that my minivan only has one seat equipped with the LATCH system.  Erin's Dodge Grand Caravan has three seats equipped with the LATCH system.  Speaking of the Caravan you can't underestimate the stow-and-go feature of the Dodge Grand Caravan.  Lifting those heavy seats out of the Chevy Venture was a shore.  The second and third row stow-and-go seats in the Caravan would have been so much easier.  I probably should have swapped cars with Erin today.  It's no wonder that Chevy doesn't make a minivan anymore and that Dodge sells more than any other makers combined.

I thought about going to the gym today, but decided to get some shopping done instead.  I figured that I could lift at home if time permitted.  I have two of the BowFlex SelectTech 1090 dumbbells.  Those things are great.  My only complaint is that the weights are taller than I would have liked.  I would prefer for them to be shorter and wider.  Some exercises are a pain to do because the height (diameter) of the weights gets in the way.  It didn't bother me today since I didn't end up having time to workout.

I ended up going to Wal-Mart and Lowe's in Williamsburg this morning.  I think the cashier at Wal-Mart was either drunk or stoned.  She was acting very strange and was very slow.  Being strange and slow are normal for the South, but this girl was out there.  I bought two sets of ice cream bowls which were sold as part of a holiday set.  There were four bowls in the set (one blue, one green, one yellow and one pink).  I thought this was fitting since Brayden has a blue blanket, Calvin's is green, Carter's is cream colored (close enough to yellow) and Aubrey's is pink. 

I picked up more shelves for the unfinished part of the basement from Lowe's.  I needed four more shelving units, but they only had three.  I went home and dropped everything off and then headed back out to see if the Lowe's in Newport News had one more.

Since it was getting close to lunch I decided to eat at County Grill.  County Grill is by far my favorite restaurant in Hampton Roads.  They have great pulled pork barbeque and beef brisket.  Oh and their corn bread muffins are the best I have ever had.  I also love the fact that their meats are served with just a dry rub and they have six different barbeque sauces on the table to choose from.  I like to mix their Memphis and Kansas City sauces together.  Today I strayed from the norm and didn't get the Pit Master sandwich (pulled pork barbeque and beef brisket).  Instead I got a smoke turkey sandwich.  I'm glad I did because it was awesome.

After lunch I went to Target and Toys R Us to return some things and pick up some more gifts for the kids.  Then I went to the other Lowe's and picked up the fourth shelving unit.  While there I helped a guy load a bunch of plywood on his cart and then helped him load it in his truck.  I know what it's like trying to do things like that by yourself so I'm always happy to help out others. 

I got home at 3:00 and had enough time to get things situated and relax for a little bit before heading out to pick up the kids.  Erin got home from work a few minutes before I went to pick up the kids. 

Carter and Aubrey ate very well tonight.  Together they ate two of the Gerber food containers.  We tried giving them sippy cups, but that was a complete failure.  Can't remember at what point Calvin and Brayden started using sippy cups.  Speaking of Calvin and Brayden they tried my chili tonight. Brayden didn't like it, but Calvin kept asking for more.  It is hotter (spicy hot) than usual so I was surprised he like it.  I'll have to tone it down for the next chili competition.

Playing catch

Carter got up at 10:30 last night and wouldn't go back to sleep.  Erin got up and fed him even though I think we're to the point where they need to just figure out how to get back to sleep on their own.  He couldn't have really been hungry since he ate a little after 7:00 and ate his whole bottle.

The babies got up around 3:00 and like usual we fed them and then put them back in bed.  They got up again sometime around 7:00.  I actually got up before all the kids woke up and took a shower in the morning.  I was able to eat breakfast before Calvin and Brayden woke up.  The boys had french toast for breakfast and they actually ate it all.

We played with the kids for a little bit after eating breakfast and then headed off to Wal-Mart.  There wasn't anything special about today's trip.  Calvin and Brayden were wandering around our yard before eventually getting in the minivan.  I figured out an easy way to get them to get in the car or go to bed or whatever.  I just walk over to the boys and say that I'm going to pick them up.  They almost always respond with "no, walk" and then they start walking wherever it is that I want them to go. 

Calvin and Brayden wanted us to put set their blankets up on the crib as a "fort".  We would drape the blanket across from the front to the back of the crib to create a roof.  They really seemed to love it. 

Carter didn't nap long after we got home and the kids had lunch.  I think he got up after napping for less than an hour and a half.  He had pooped which I am sure is why he woke up.  I changed his diaper, but he wasn't interested in going back to sleep.  The little stinker decided to poop again just a few minutes after changing his diaper.  We were able to give him some one on one attention that they don't get very often.  It's amazing how well he crawls around now.  He is doing the "inch worm" crawl and he's pretty quick.

Carter and Aubrey are doing better at eating Puffs and their cookies.  We also gave them Cheerios for the first time today.  They actually ate a few.  They still prefer the jarred baby food, but they are doing well with eating other foods.

Calvin and Brayden were playing with their Lego Duplo animals today.  They got them for their birthday and hadn't played with them too much, but they decided to get them out today.

We took everyone out for a walk tonight.  It was such a great Fall day.  The kids really love going for walks.  I remember we used to take Calvin and Brayden for walks almost everyday when they were babies.  We don't go on as many walks now since it's a little harder to get everyone ready to go.

I was playing "catch" with Calvin today using a little football.  He can actually throw pretty well and I was able to catch most of his throws.  He didn't catch any of mine, but he was trying.  Some of them hit his forehead and he said "oh hit forehead". 

Calvin and Brayden ate some Sweet Tarts tonight.  They kept saying "crunchy" and then they would bite down on one and make a loud cruching sound.  They wanted to take some Sweet Tarts to bed with them, but we wouldn't let them since it's a choking hazard.  They weren't very happy when I took the Sweet Tarts away from them, but they got over it. 

Chili cook-off

The babies got up sometime before 5:00 so we fed them and then put them back to bed.  I also went back to bed, but Erin stayed up.  I woke up sometime after 6:00 when Calvin and Brayden woke up.

We went to Yankee Candle today to see all the decorations.  They have a big train that is set up around the top of the store and the boys really enjoyed watching it go around.  I think the Yankee Candle store in Williamsburg is the flagship store so it has a lot of extras that I'm sure other stores don't have.  They had Santa Claus at the store today and we were going to have the kids get their picture taken, but Brayden started getting fussy so we figured we wouldn't even try.

Carter and Aubrey were asleep when we got home so I just brought them up to their room and left them in the car seat carriers.  They woke up after about forty minutes so we gave them a bottle and changed them.  Then we put them in their swings to get them to sleep.  I had to go up to their room and give them a paci two or three times before they finally went to sleep.  We were able to do a little cleaning and watch a little TV when they napped.

After the kids woke up we gave them snacks and then played for a while.  Calvin and Brayden were stacking their blocks and then knocking them down.  We put Carter and Aubrey in their bouncers for a while.  They have something in common with Tigger...they love to bounce.

I brought the chili across the street for the party around 4:30 so they could get everything set up.  We then got everyone ready and headed over around 5:00.  Everyone was very well behaved tonight.  Calvin and Brayden played with some of the other kids and seemed to have a good time.  We were able to meet a few more neighbors which is nice since we don't get out much.  My chili didn't win, but there's always next year.  They actually had a trophy made so we'll be doing this each year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

We brought the kids back home a little after 7:00 so they could get in bed.  We gave Carter and Aubrey a bottle, changed them and put them in bed.  Then we got Calvin and Brayden changed and put in bed.  After all the kids were in bed I headed back across the street to the party for a few hours.  Erin stayed home with the kids.  It was a really good day and I was quite pleased with how well behaved the kids were.

Mama's sick

I stayed up late last night watching the Virginia Tech football game.  I didn't go to sleep until sometime after midnight.

Erin got sick last night.  She went to bed really early and was up vomiting during the night.  Carter woke up a few times and I gave him a paci.  The third time he woke up he wasn't happy getting a paci so he had to cry himself to sleep.  They are getting to the point where they don't cry that long anymore before going back to sleep.

I had to get all the kids ready by myself since Erin was sick.  It's not that big of a deal, but having help is always nice.  Erin was able to feed Aubrey her bottle, but then she went back to bed.  Erin normally gets the kids clothes ready the night before, but she didn't do it last night.  I actually had to go through the drawers to get their pants and shirts.  Again, not that big of a deal, but I'm spoiled and used to having the kids clothes laid out on their dressers.

Today was my last day of work for a week.  I'm taking all of next week off.  It was an extremely busy day since everyone was trying to get me to review things before leaving.

I got to daycare a little before 5:00 and they were holding an icepack to Brayden's forehead.  He hit his head on the window sill and had a good size bump.  I told the daycare lady not to worry about it that he does stuff like that at home all the time.  Brayden seemed to be happier when I showed up and picked him up.

The boys once again barely ate any of their dinner.  They once again decided to eat dada's dinner.  At one point I had turned my head to see something that Calvin was doing.  I was probably only looking away for fifteen or twenty seconds.  When I looked back at my food I saw that all of my macaroni and cheese was gone.  I asked Brayden if he ate it and he just laughed and gave a big grin.  I could see the macaroni and cheese bulging from his cheeks.

Brayden kept trying to run by me to get to the books.  When he would come near me I would grab him and flip him over.  This went on for about twenty minutes.  Brayden thought it was hilarious.  I was enjoying myself too.  Erin was using Magnadoodle with Calvin.  Eventually Calvin wanted to get in on the fun and ran at me so that I could flip him around. 

Unfortunately I think all this horsing around contributed to the kids being very difficult to change into their pajamas tonight.  They kept trying to get away while we were attempting to change their diaper and clothes. 

After putting the kids to bed I went out to the grocery store to pick up ingredients to make chili.  Neighbor across the street is having a chili cook-off tomorrow.  Should be a good time.

Coloring books

The babies have been doing extremely well the past few nights.  They sometimes get up, but will quickly go back to sleep if we give them a paci.  They have been gwtting up between 3:00 and 4:00 each morning.  We have been feeding them, changing their diaper and clothes and then putting them back in their crib until it is close to time to leave for daycare.  We get Calvin and Brayden up about fifteen or twenty minutes before it is time to leave.  Calvin and Brayden always stand in front of the pantry and pick out their snack for the car ride to daycare.  Sometimes they are quite indecisive so we eventually pick something for them and they have to deal with the choice.

Brayden was fussing on the car ride home.  He wanted whatever snack I gave to Calvin.  So he didn't get a snack for a while.  I stopped to get gas on the way home.  After getting gas I gave Brayden a snack and then he was happy.  I guess sometimes you just have to make them realize that they can't get whatever they want.  It seemed that he realized that this was a "take it or leave it" offer so he decided to take it.

The boys barely touched their dinner, but they ate a good bit of dada's dinner.  The babies ate very well tonight.  They finished their baby food and then were knawing on cookies and Puffs.

The boys were coloring in their coloring books today.  We got some Halloween coloring books on clearance that we let them color in.  Mama and dada were coloring with them tonight.  For some reason Brayden really likes to peel the labels off the crayons.  How will we ever know what color they are without the label?

Only one more day of work then I get a week off.  I kept putting off taking a week off from work because I have been so busy.  At some point you just have to decide that enough is enough and it's time to use some vacation.

Another bloody lip

I went out to lunch today with my old group that used to work for me.  One of the guys is leaving to go back to school.  I'm always happy for people when they decide to make a change for the better.  I had one of those Monte Cristo sandwiches which was great.  If you don't know what that is it is a ham, turkey and cheese sandwich that is dipped in some sort of batter and then fried.  Mmmmm.  Although my stomach is now a little upset because I am not used to eating a lot of oil.

Calvin really wanted to buckle his own seat belt together tonight after I put him in the car.  He was taking forever and I wanted to get home so I snapped it together which he didn't appreciate.  He started screaming and continued for the next few minutes.  Then we hit traffic because of an accident and he decided to calm down.  I gave him some Froot Loops and he was quite happy.

After eating a buch of Froot Loops Brayden asked for water.  Calvin said "Water home Bray Bray".  Brayden responded by saying "home" and then didn't ask for water again.  We often bring water with us when we're going somewhere on the weekends, but I never have it with me during the week.

Calvin and Brayden got a bath tonight.  They really love getting in the bath and playing, but they still don't care for the cleaning part.  When I am cleaning one of them they always tell me to "clean brother". 

While I was washing the older two Erin got the babies ready for bed.  The babies were in bed by the time Calvin and Brayden were finished with their bath.

Brayden grabbed my toothbrush and started brushing his teeth.  The Calvin grabbed another toothbrush and did the same.  They won't use their own toothbrushes, but they will use dada's. 

Brayden somehow hit his upper lip and cut it open.  I'm not really sure what he hit his face on, but I'm guessing it was the sideboard of our bed.  He didn't bleed very much which was a good thing.  I'm not that good around blood.  I seem to remember when I was younger (in middle school or high school) I thought I wanted to be a doctor.  I realized soon thereafter that I couldn't stomach the site of blood so that put an end to those thoughts. 

Need Blow Nose

The boys were playing outside in leaves when I pulled up at daycare today.  Brayden was laying down in the leaves and Calvin had a rake in his hands and was "raking" the leaves.  The boys were quite dirty with dirt in their hair, on their hands and face.  One thing I love about Virginia is this great weather.  It was in the 70s today and it's the middle of November.

Calvin said "Dada and Bray Bray and Calvin and Carter and Aubrey...YAY!!!" several times on the way home.  "Need blow nose dada," said Calvin.  So I handed him a tissue and he made a little nose blowing sound as he held the tissue up to his nose.  Then he said, "all clean" and dropped the tissue on the floor.

Carter and Aubrey are doing well eating their Puffs.  They both can pick them up and pull them up to their mouth.  They aren't very good at getting them in the mouth, but they're working on it.  We also gave them Vanilla Wafer cookies tonight to knaw on.  They really seem to enjoy picking up their own food.

Carter was moving even more tonight than yesterday and Sunday.  He has figured out how to do a sort of military style crawl.  He actually moves forward fairly quickly now.  It definitely won't be long before he's crawling.  I'm sure once he starts Aubrey will realize that she needs to crawl too and will start.

Brayden took his blanket to daycare today.  As luck would have it we left it there when I picked everyone up today.  He asked for his blanket after we got a few miles down the road.  I realized we left it there as soon as he said "blanket", but I didn't want to turn back at that point.  I wasn't sure if he would go to sleep okay without it.  Last time we forgot his blanket at daycare he cried and cried before going to sleep.  Tonight was much better.  He asked for it a few times, but I said he would get it tomorrow at daycare and he seemed okay with that. 

We need to get our Christmas list sent out.   I developed a simple Excel file that we update year-round as we think of things we would like.  We also put things on there for the kids.  It's a little difficult to tell what the kids want, but we can determine some things that they really like based on what they play with at daycare, home or at a store.  The babies don't really need anyting other than clothes.  They are too young for any toys.  I've been ready to send out the list for a while, but Erin finally updated her list tonight so that I can send it now.

Puff the Magic Dragon

The babies went to bed really early Sunday night so we knew that they were going to wake up early.  They both got up before 9:00 so we fed them and then they went right back to sleep.  They did quite well after that and didn't get up until around 3:00 or so in the morning.

We started giving the babies Puffs.  The boys loved Puffs when they were babies.  Puffs are a good food because they disintegrate so they aren't much of a choking hazard.  Aubrey was actually picking them up and bringing them to her mouth.  She didn't actually put them in her mouth, but she was making the motion.

I had a late meeting today, but I left in time to pick the kids up on time.  When I pulled up I saw the TV on at daycare.  I wasn't happy, but I didn't say anything.  I may say something tomorrow morning when I drop them off.  We had a few more people say they are interested in watching the kids so we'll meet them before deciding what we are going to do.  I'm fairly certain that we're going to switch daycares.  We just need to find the right place.

Erin gave the babies a bath tonight.  We started giving them a bath in the kitchen sink instead of in their little bathtub.  They seem to enjoy the kitchen sink much more.

Brayden has been spitting out his medicine so we have to give it to him and then hold his mouth shut.  It's not fun (for us or him), but he has to take his medicine. 

Need More Power!

The babies did pretty well last night. They both got up, but went back to sleep after getting a paci. Aubrey actually woke up twice. The second time she continued to cry after getting her paci, but we just left her in bed. After a while she went back to sleep. When they get to the point where they continue to cry we turn off the baby monitor in our room. We can still hear them, but at least we can attempt to go back to sleep ourselves.

Carter and Aubrey got up around 4:00 and we fed them and put them back in bed. I was able to play NBA Jam again this morning. Thought about staying up late last night to play, but I was laying on the couch watching college football and I fell asleep. I think I woke up because one of the babies woke up and I heard them through the baby monitor.

At Wal-Mart today a lady asked if our kids were triplets?!?! Perhaps she failed Math in school. And Biology.

Aubrey pooped while we were at Wal-Mart. We rarely ever have to use the diaper bag, but we're always prepared just in case. I took Carter and Aubrey in the bathroom and changed her. I'm pretty sure this is only the second time I have ever used one of those bathroom changing tables.

I was pushing the baby stroller and towing the shopping cart behind me which is typical for when we go shopping. Erin was pushing Calvin and Brayden's stroller behind me. Calvin and Brayden grabbed onto the shopping cart and started "pushing". Calvin would say "Need more power!!". It was awesome.

I had the rest of my homemade pastrami for lunch today. I made it for the boys' second birthday party about a month and a half ago. That was the second time making it. It takes a week including the curing time so it's something you have to plan ahead of time to make. I got the idea for making my own pastrami after visiting Erin's aunt and uncle in NYC in 2009 before Calvin and Brayden were born. We went to Katz's Deli and I got one of their legendary pastrami sandwiches. I was hooked and decided to search for recipes and try making it myself. I have to say that it turned out quite well.

Calvin is becoming more independent. He tries to undress and dress himself now. They have been helping for a while now, but he wants to do everything himself. It's great that he's doing this, but it gets frustrating at times. If we're in a hurry he won't let us help him so it takes ten minutes or so for him to get dressed.

Carter woke up early from his nap. I went to check on him and he had pooped. Right after I took his diaper off and finished cleaning him he started peeing. He hadn't done it in a really long time. Fortunately it just got on his socks and on the changing pad sheet. I ended up putting him in a swing to get him back to sleep.

We visited a lady that was interested in watching the kids this evening. The place was kind of small, but it's not far from our house. Unfortunately it's in the opposite direction to head to work. This would make it really hard to get there on time to pick up the kids each day. We'll see.

Erin told her parents that it could be as much as eight weeks before she can pick up the boys. She had only told me that it could be six weeks so this came as a surprise. It is what it is, but it will make it that much harder on me. Not to mention that I'll have to get people to cover a few of my meetings at work for two more weeks. And I won't be going back to the gym for two more weeks. *Sigh*

Wacky kitty cats

Carter got up early last night.  It hadn't been long since he ate so we didn't give him a bottle.  I tried giving him a paci and rolling him on his back, but he was still crying.  We ended up leaving him and after about thirty minutes or so he went to sleep.

Carter and Aubrey got up around 4:30 so we gave them each a bottle.  After changing their diapers they both went back to sleep.  The boys got up late today which was kind of nice.  We were actually able to get a few things done in the morning (including taking showers).  Simple things like taking a shower becomes a chore with four little kids.

After eating breakfast and playing for a while we went to PetSmart, BB&B, a few other stores and Target.  We weren't really looking for anything, but we just wandered around because the kids really like seeing different things.  Erin had Calvin and Brayden and I had the babies.  Calvin and Brayden would say "go get dada" and Erin would push them close to me.  Then they would each grab on to one of my legs and laugh like crazy.  They almost pulled me over a few times.  Silly kids.

We noticed that the cats were clawing the carpet so we picked up a scratching pad with catnip.  We set it up when we got home and the cats went crazy over it.  We'll see if it prevents them from scratching the carpet.

Everyone had lunch and then took a nap.  The babies needed to be in their swings to sleep again today.  Carter and Aubrey fell asleep for short naps while we were out shopping.

I was able to play NBA Jam again when the kids napped.  I have to say that I'm getting better.  It's nice not having to do any yardwork for the next few months.  All my free time on the weekends had been spent doing yardwork since we moved into the new house. 

After everyone got up from their nap we went for a walk.  Calvin and Brayden were in the wagon while Carter and Aubrey were in the jogging stroller.  We actually took a long walk today since the weather was so nice.

Carter is all over the place when we set him on the floor.  He's still not crawling, but he's a belly-flop/breast stroke-type movement to go forward.  I'm really impressed by how well he moves.  Aubrey still doesn't move around that much.  She'll rollover here and there, but she's going at her own pace.  I'm thinking that we'll need to set up the gate soon.  We have one of those gate/fence things that sets up in an octagonal shape.  We used it with Calvin and Brayden to keep them away from areas that we didn't want them to go.  We have foam mats that we put down under the gate so that the floor is soft.  We may set it up in the Living Room since we never use that room anyway.  Although I think we'll set up the Christmas tree in that room so we'll see.

Carter is almost in twelve month clothes and he's not even eight months old yet.  Of course twelve month clothes are normally worn between nine and twelve months old, but it is still early.  Aubrey still has a few weeks or maybe even month in her nine month clothes, but Carter can start wearing his twelve month clothes now.

My stomach still isn't back to normal.  I ate a few bites of my lunch and then threw the rest away.  Still don't have much of an appetite.  I ate dinner, but now my stomach is upset.  Maybe I need to stick with cereal for the time being.

Getting over the flu

Brayden is already doing much better than the other night.  You wouldn't even know he was sick by the way he was running around and playing.  He doesn't really like taking his medicine though.  I think he spits out more than he swallows.

Carter was playing with plastic toy keys and while he was flailing them around he threw them.  As luck would have it the keys hit Aubrey in the head so she started crying.  It definitely wasn't anything that hurt her, but I'm she it surprised her.  Not to mention it was late and she was tired.

Carter and Aubrey really love seeing the cats.  They always try to grab a handful of fur.  The cats don't mind the babies, but they aren't too keen on the older boys.  That's probably because instead of petting the cats they smack them.

Calvin and Brayden have been wanting to sit on their potties again.  They did it for a period of time a few weeks ago, but then stopped.  Now it seems that they are interested again.  They still aren't using the potties, but they are pretending to use them which is a step in the right direction.

I am feeling better, but still not 100%.  I wish this flu would hurry up and run its course.  I hate feeling as though I have no energy.  I am one of those people that is always doing something and having to sit around is really boring.

We're starting to look for a new person to watch the kids for daycare.  We like the people that are watching them, but we're just not comfortable with the area that they live.  I always have to take two kids in and leave the other two in the car until I come back to get them.  I don't like leaving the kids in the car alone when I am at this daycare place.

It comes full circle

Carter and Aubrey had a doctor's appointment this morning at 8:30 to get their second flu shot.  We let everyone sleep in late since there was no need to rush anyone off to daycare.  The babies got up at 5:30 so we fed them and played for a while.  Calvin and Brayden got up shortly after.  Carter actually inched forward a little bit today.  I'm very impressed with his development.

Everyone had breakfast and then I loaded Calvin and Brayden in my car while I put the babies in Erin's car.  I dropped the boys off at daycare and then met Erin at the doctor's office.  The pediatrician's office is across the hall from where Erin works so it is quite convenient.  She had some people that she works with help her get the babies out of the car.  Obviously everyone wanted to see the babies.

The doctor's visit was quick.  They were fifteen minutes late calling us to the room, but they just got their shot and then we were done.  I dropped the babies off at daycare and then headed to work.

On my way home from work I hit heavy traffic again.  This time a fire truck came by while I was sitting in traffic.  The first thought that crossed my mind is "oh boy, this will take a while".  I probably should have thought about the poor people that were in the accident, but it's probably more common for people to think about their own inconvenience first.

When I got to daycare Brayden said "head hurts".  The daycare lady said that he was hot today and she had given him Tylenol.  When we got home I checked his temperature and he was at 102.  We still had some antibiotic leftover from Carter and Aubrey so Erin checked Brayden's dose and we gave him some medicine.  Hopefully he starts feeling better tomorrow.   Now all four kids have been sick in the past two weeks.

And I'm sorry to say that dada is still under the weather.  I still don't have an appetite (nor any energy).  There are times when I feel better and there are times where all I way to do is lay down and be in a quiet room.  I'll be going to bed early tonight instead of staying up to watch the Virginia Tech/Georgia Tech game.

Brayden was clingy tonight as you might expect when a kid is sick.  Calvin was not well behaved tonight.  He threw a fit because he didn't get chocolate milk in the cup that he wanted.  He was upset because I didn't put the ketchup exactly where he wanted it on his plate.  Then he threw a fit because we opened one bag of Pop Tarts, but not the second.  I'm not sure if he just wanted to make sure that he got his fair share of attention or what, but it made things difficult on mama and dada tonight.

I hope that I start feeling better soon.  I'm really not looking forward to the weekend if I feel the same way that I do now.  It's hard enough being sick, but taking care of four kids while sick is really hard.

Honk honk

The babies did not sleep through the night yet again.  I got up a few times to plug them with pacis.  Then Erin eventually got up to feed Aubrey.  She also fed Carter because I was being stubborn and decided yet again that it's time for them to stop geting bottles and start figuring out how to deal without a bottle. 

I realize that this irritates Erin, but it irritates me that she won't just let them cry.  So we decided tonight that we'll water down their night time bottles and get watering them down more and more.  Eventually we'll just give them water.  Most likely they won't want the water and at that point they'll have to deal with not getting a bottle.

I wasn't feeling well again this morning.  I had almost no energy so it was a struggle to get the kids ready and loaded in the minivan.  I was contemplating dropping the kids off at daycare and then heading back home, but I decided to try going to work and see how long I could make it.  I dropped the kids off and got my hugs and kisses from Calvin and Brayden.  Then Calvin opened the door and said "bye bye dada" and then after I walked out the door he closed the door behind me.  At least I know that they like being at daycare.

I started feeling a better a little before noon today and I managed to stay the entire day at work.  There was a lot of traffic on the way home today.  There were a lot of rubberneckers causing a major traffic jam.  Even with the traffic jam I was only five minutes late picking up the kids.

On the way home there was someone that honked their horn and Calvin said "someone honk horn".  He kept saying it over and over all the way home.

Brayden actually ate all of his corn dog tonight.  As a matter of fact he ate all of his dinner.  They hadn't been doing very well eating dinner lately so it was good to see at least one of them eat. 

Nothing spectacular happened tonight.  Everyone went to bed quite easily. 

Erin had another follow-up visit today.  Everything is going well.  She can start doing light activity.  She still can't pick up the older boys for three more weeks.

Go Dada, Go

Carter and Aubrey didn't really eat much of their bottle last night so I pretty much knew they were going to get up during the night.  They did eat their solid food, but normally when they don't eat much of their bottle they don't make it through the night.  Of course they had to prove me right and woke up sometime around midnight. 

It's interesting that it just dawned on me that we haven't been giving them rice cereal mixed in their bottles.  I know that we did that with Calvin and Brayden.  I also remember people saying that as soon as we started giving them cereal in their bottles they would start sleeping through the night.  Someone never told that to Calvin and Brayden because it didn't change anything for them.  Erin reminded me that we actually started giving Carter and Aubrey rice cereal in their bottles, but they got so constipated that we stopped.

The crew was back to normal today so everyone went to daycare and dada went to work.  I'm sure Brayden was happier having his brother with him at daycare today.  If you think about it they spend more time with each other than with anyone else by far.

I got out of work late today and barely made it to daycare before 5:30.  I always hate it when I'm stuck in a meeting that runs late.  Especially now since I can't just call on Erin to pick up the kids.  It's me or nothing for the next four weeks or so.

Everyone was happy to see me when I arrived at daycare.  Calvin and Brayden didn't want to get in the minivan though.  They fought with me to get their seatbelts on.  I hate it when they do that.  It's quite difficult to hold them down and get them buckled in.  After finally getting them buckled in and loading Carter and Aubrey I gave Calvin and Brayden some snacks which made them happy.

Everytime I stopped at a red light I would say "stop dada, stop.  the light is red".  Calvin would say "go dada, go".  And I would repeat "stop dada, stop".  We kept saying that back and forth until the light turned green.  Then I would say "go dada, go.  the light is green now".  Calvin would reply by saying "fast dada".  It sort of reminded me of the scene in the movie Talladega Nights where Will Ferrell's character as a young boy said "I wanna go fast".

It sounds like Aubrey says "hi dada" at times.  I know that she has no idea what she is saying at this point, but it's still cute.

Carter has figured out how to roll and turn his body and roll some more to get to where he wants to go.  Lately he has been going over to where his brothers are playing.  Then he decides to pick up something that they are playing with and play with it himself.  Sometimes Calvin and Brayden don't mind and other times they take it from him.  Is this a prelude of things to come?  We'll see over the next fifteen or twenty years.  Being the youngest of three boys I know what it's like to get picked on and left out.  But it only makes you stronger.  Perhaps my brothers were preparing me for difficult situations in the future.  Perhaps.

Like Son, Like Father

Calvin threw up two more times during the night.  He gave us fair warning by waking up and starting to cry.  Erin was able to get in the room in time so that it got in the bucket and not on his bed.  Unfortunately dada didn't fair much better than Calvin last night.  My upset stomach turned into praying to the porcelain god.  Erin was very helpful last night and took care of Calvin and also the babies since I was sick.

I was able to garner enough strength to get a shower and then help get the kids ready before dropping them off at daycare.  I was able to get Brayden out of their room without waking up Calvin.  While we were driving Brayden asked "where brother go?".  Brayden was a little shy at first when we arrived at daycare.  But soon enough I got him playing with a big truck and he was happy.  Calvin stayed home with dada today.  Having sick kids is the worst thing that can happen right now with Erin not being able to do much.  It's not that she physically can't do anything, but we don't want her doing anything that could rip the stitches before she fully heals.  The surgery was way too expensive to repeat.

The daycare lady said that a number of other kids were sick.  Someone must have spread it at the previous daycare place.  No big deal, that's what you get when you have kids.  On my way home I stopped at a 7-Eleven and picked up some Gatorade.  I figured Calvin could drink that and it would help to rehydrate him.

Calvin didn't end up waking up until about 8:30.  Considering he went to bed at 6:00 last night that's a pretty long time.  He obviously needed it.  I gave him some watered-down lemon Gatorade and he drank the whole thing immediately.  There's no doubt he had to be dehydrated.

We played for a while and then dada fell asleep on the couch.  Calvin kept playing and would eventually come up to me and wake me up by showing me something.  I woke up a little after noon and Calvin was sleeping on the floor next to me.  After he got up I made him some pancakes.  I was at the kitchen island cutting the pancakes into smaller pieces and he was running around the house (from the kitchen, to the dining room, living room, foyer and back to the kitchen).  He would stop and pick up a piece of pancake then it was time for another lap.  Pancakes apparently make for a pretty good pit stop.

I brought Calvin with me to pick up the other kids from daycare.  Calvin kept saying "going to get Carter and Sister and BRAY BRAY!"  Brayden was very excited to see Calvin.  He started twirling around and couldn't stop smiling.  It seems like the kids had a good day at the new daycare so that's good.

This evening the boys were riding their cars around the house.  I noticed a trail of chocolate milk from where they were riding.  Brayden decided to put his cup of chocolate milk in the compartment under his seat and it was leaking out and getting on the floor.  The boys were very helpful cleaning up.  They kept pointing out all the places that needed to be cleaned "mess over there dada". 

The babies can pull out their paci and put it back in their mouth.  Not sure how long they've been doing it.  Sometimes you see them do things, but it doesn't really register until sometime later.  I think that Carter and Aubrey missed Calvin today because they kept looking at him and smiling all night.

An extra hour of Paradise...or maybe not

Babies woke up a number of times before midnight.  Aubrey threw up so she needed to be changed.  Fortunately we use sheet protectors and fortunately that's where she threw up.  I didn't have to change the sheet, I only had to take off the sheet protector.  Carter got up around 12:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep.  I tried giving him a paci and holding him, but it wouldn't work.  Erin ended up feeding him and then he went to sleep.  Aubrey slept through the night again.  We just need to get Carter sleeping through the night and we'll be alright.

Fall backwards (daylight savings) threw us off a little bit.  The kids got up at 6:30 which was now 5:30 thanks to daylight savings.  It's always a pain to go around and make sure you have changed all the clocks.  Fortunately computers and phones reset automatically.

Calvin wanted baby food again this morning.  Instead of eating it he seemed to enjoy watching his baby food spill all over the floor.  So we took it from him and cleaned up the floor.  Fortunately most of it got on the hardwood and only a little got on the carpet.

The boys ate lots of dada's french toast sticks this morning.  Then Calvin ate more of his pancakes after he dipped them in dada's leftover maple syrup.  We tried giving them their own syrup before, but that just ended in a sticky mess.  Letting him mop up the little that was left on the plate worked out okay though.

For some reason the babies love it when I blow my nose.  They get the biggest smiles on their faces.  I remember that Calvin and Brayden did the same thing when they were babies.  Anything to get a smile.

At Wal-Mart today we met a lady that had seven year-old quadruplets.  Which begs the question, what is harder?  Two sets of twins within 18 months of each other or quadruplets?  I would think that quadruplets would be harder for the first few months because you would be doing nothing but feeding and changing babies.  It might be a little easier as they get a little older because they would all be immobile at the same time.  At this age, with the boys being two years-old and the babies seven months-old it is quite a bit easier than it was at first.  One thing I know is that her kids were all over the place and not well behaved.  If that's what you get with quadruplets then I'm glad we have two sets of twins (regardless of which is harder). 

The checkout lady asked if we get tired of people commenting on having two sets of twins.  I told her that it can sometimes be annoying depending on what people say.  I said normally we don't mind the comments.  The only time it really gets to us is if we're in a hurry and complete strangers want to stop and talk to us.  I realize that we're an easy target and an odd case, but sometimes it would be nice to not get the comments.

"What happened?"  "Made a mess."  That was a conversation that I had with Calvin when I walked into their room when they woke up from their nap.  They wanted crackers when they went down for their nap so I obliged.  Ritz has these great snack size stacks so I opened two and gave them each one.  Apparently they decided to have a cracker throwing war before they went to sleep.   Nothing a little vacuuming didn't fix.

We noticed that Calvin wasn't his normal self after getting up from his nap.  He just sat on the couch with mama for a while.  Then he got up to get a drink and he threw up on the kitchen floor (at least it's hardwood and easy to clean).  Calvin threw up a whole bunch of times tonight.  Must have been at least a dozen times (no exaggeration).  We got a couple of little containers to use as puke buckets.  He did very well and got it in the bucket each time.  I am not very good at dealing with the smell, but I was proud of myself.  I only gagged once.  I sat on the floor with Calvin for about an hour and a half just holding him and cleaning him up.  We ended up giving him a bath and then putting him in bed.  After he was in bed he cried out a few times and we were able to run in and get a bucket in front of him in time.  We'll see how he does the rest of the night.  I may end up sleeping in their room tonight.  Of course, now I'm not feeling well.

Thank God Erin's parents were here tonight.  I don't know how we could have dealt with all four kids when Calvin was sick and Erin can't pick them up without help.  I just hope Calvin is better tomorrow.  It's so sad to see a child sick like this.  At least you can tell they really like the comfort of holding them.  I'll have to stay home if any of the kids are sick for the next four weeks since Erin can't take care of them herself.

LEGOs...a toy that has stood the test of time

Carter got up around midnight, but went back to sleep after plugging him with a paci.  He got up again around 2:45 and got a bottle.  Aubrey got up at 4:00 and got a bottle.  All four kids got up around 7:00.  I'm not sure what time Erin got up, but she was up cleaning or something when the kids woke up.  I didn't get up until the kids woke me up.

Carter is almost able to push himself up to a sitting position.  I really think he'll be crawling within a month.  He is doing great.  He's not doing the eye rolling thing much anymore.  We will see him do it a little from time to time, but it is less frequent than it was a few weeks ago. 

Calvin and Brayden actually ate very well this morning.  After eating their french toast they ate a few bowls of cereal.  We always make sure that we have their breakfast ready and at their table before we get them out of their room in the morning.  We find that this helps reduce any morning fussiness. 

A little while after getting everyone fed and dressed we decided to head out to Barnes & Noble.  Barnes & Noble is a great way to spend some time if the kids are getting a little fussy.  Calvin and Brayden love to look through books.  Aubrey and Carter are pretty easy and are content to do just about anything.  Erin handed Aubrey a new toy called a Winkle and she loved it so much that we bought it.  After Calvin and Brayden had their fill of looking through books they played with Lego Duplo blocks.  They were making towers with the blocks.  Barnes & Noble had a table set up with a Lego block base plate for building with the Lego blocks.  The kids absolutely loved it.  Their previous daycare place had Lego Duplos and they would play with them all the time.  The boys probably need to get some for Christmas this year.

After Barnes & Noble the boys were asking for french fries so off to Burger King we went.  I got a burger and a large french fries thinking that it would be enough to share with the boys.  Burger King must have skimped on the fries because the boys ate them all and I didn't get any.  When we got home I had to make my own french fries.  Everyone went down fairly easily for their nap.

Erin's younger sister and her daughter came over today to help out.   Erin still has a lot of discomfort so she asked her sister to come help today.  Erin's friend from work that had been staying with us went back home Friday.   She was a big help, especially in the evenings.

I was actually able to play the PlayStation 3 today for the first time in about a month.  I don't have anymore outside work to do so I actually get to relax while the kids are napping.  I played NBA Jam.  Aside from the modern players and better graphics it's just like the game I remember from my childhood.  I can remember playing the game at the arcade.  I also remember that the original arcade game made you pay a 25cents for each quarter of the game.  It costs a dollar to play a whole game.  Looking back that seems like a rip off.  Oh well.  Anyway, I wasn't very good at playing, but I put the difficulty level on easy and that made me look like a superstar.  It would be nice to be able to update the roster or trade to make rosters more current.  I'm a Knicks fan so it would be great to have Carmelo Anthony on the team.  Once again, oh well.

After the kids got up I took Calvin and Brayden and we went to new daycare place just to check it out.  The lady that will be watching them was working for the previous daycare lady so the boys already knew the people.  The boys seemed to have fun.  Brayden was hopping around like a frog which was quite amusing to see.  The daycare place is kind of small so we'll see how it goes.  We may need to find another place, but we'll give it a month or so.  It's not easy finding someone that can watch four kids and do it from 5:30 to 5:30.

The boys and I went to Harris Teeter (grocery store) to get something for dinner and everyone loved Calvin and Brayden.  I picked up some meat stuffed pizza.  I have to say that the pizza was awesome.  We rarely shop at Harris Teeter because it is a bit out of our way, but they have great stuff.  Calvin and Brayden were really hamming it up for the girl working the pizza bar.  I can see them turning into a couple of ladies men when they get older.

All the kids were very well behaved today.  They went to bed without any fussing at all.

What do you get when you guzzle down sweets? Eating as much as an elephant eats.

The boys found where we put all their Halloween candy and they wanted it tonight.  They would take a bite of a piece of candy and decide that they didn't want it and then get something else.  Of course dada couldn't let that go to waste so I ended up eating a fair number of candy tonight.  My stomach now hurts from eating all the candy.  I had a Take 5 candy bar for the first time.  I'm not a big fan of chocolate covered pretzels, but the Take 5 was quite good.

I have been losing weight over the past month or so.  Although the weight I am losing is just what was gained after the babies were born.  Not getting to work out + not getting sleep = eating more to stay awake = gaining weight.  It's not like I'm overweight, but I am outside of my comfort zone and would like to lose ten more pounds.  It's hard to do when I eat the leftovers from the kids.

We learned that Calvin and Brayden like regular M&Ms, don't care for peanut M&Ms, like Hershey's chocolate bars, don't like Take 5, like Nerds, don't like Snickers.  I noticed that they didn't care for candy that has any sort of nut in it.  They also really seem to like Milk Duds.  It's funny to see them eat Milk Duds because they get the caramel stuck to the roof of their mouths.  It's kind of like giving a dog peanut butter.

Erin had asked me to do something and called me James so Calvin decided to call me James.  It's not the first time, but it's kind of funny.  I tell him my name is dada, but he says "no, James".

Brayden and I were hiding from Calvin tonight.  We put giant pillows around us to hide.  Brayden always says "sshhhh, hiding from brother" to me when we're hiding.  Calvin will run over and jump on us. 

Calvin figured out that he can play with the washing machine and dryer.  We have the Samsung front-load washer and dryer where the controls are on the front.  Calvin kept turning the power on and off.  I'm sure he liked seeing the lights come on and off and hearing the noises it makes.  I have to say that I'm less than impressed with the front-load washer and dryer.  They seem to do a good job cleaning, but they I keep thinking that the clothes have a weird odor about them.  It's almost like a mildewy odor.  Maybe it's just me.

I went to a manager's offsite meeting today for work.  The meeting was held in a hotel conference room.  When I was walking into the hotel I noticed people that were wearing costumes.  I thought it was a little strange since Halloween was a few days ago.  Then I kept seeing more and more people wearing strange costumes.  I can't even begin to explain the strange costumes that I saw.  Eventually we decided to ask someone what was going on and they said that there was a Japanese Anime convention.  It was a bit odd, but who am I to judge?  Anyway, it did add a bit of entertainment seeing all the goofy costumes.

Oreo mustache

Aubrey slept through the night again last night.  Carter got up around midnight.  The babies are getting better at sleeping during the night which is great.  I'm looking forward to them continually sleeping through the night.

Calvin wanted mini Oreo's for his snack on the way to daycare this morning.  So we let him take the bag.  Bray Bray grabbed two bags of muffins.  It's normally a process of elimination in the morning's.  Sometimes they want Brownie bites, sometimes it's muffins (chocolate chip, choclate fudge, banana, blueberry), sometimes they want cereal bars, and other times it's Pop Tarts.  We end up grabbing something and seeing if they are happy.  Sometimes they tell us what they want, but when we get it for them they decide they don't want it.  I guess this is what it's like dealing with two year-olds.

I had some 100 calorie Brownie bites, a Fiber One brownie bar as well as the Oreo's in the minivan.  Instead of the boys' getting some type of cereal for their snack on the car ride home from daycare they got the good stuff.  Brayden wanted the Brownie bites.  Then Calvin wanted Brownie bites when he saw Bray Bray eating them.  I didn't have any more so I gave Calvin the brownie bar.  Then of course Brayden wanted a brownie bar, but I didn't have another one so I gave him the bag of mini Oreo's.  And guess what?  Calvin wanted the bag of Oreo's.  So I tried giving him a handful, but he threw them on the ground.  I'm not one to let a good thing to to waste so I ate them. 

After a little while of Calvin fussing I asked Brayden if he would give his brother the Oreo's and he said "no dada".  Then I asked Brayden if he would give Calvin some Oreo's and he did.  That made Calvin happy for a while.  Eventually Brayden actually gave the bag to Calvin.  When we got to the house and I got them out of their car seats I noticed that their hands were covered in Oreo cookie crumbs.  They also had Oreo cookie all over their face.

The boys' haven't been eating very healthy lately.  They had popcorn and chocolate chip muffins for dinner.  We made them a peanut butter sandwich, but they didn't eat it.  They did eat a few of dada's french fries though.

The boys fussed a lot when they were put to bed again tonight.  They were doing quite well for a while, but the past few nights have been a struggle.  I keep reading books and play with them and try to make them happy, but eventually I get to a point where I realize that there isn't any more I can do.  At that point I just walk out of the room and let them scream until they eventually fall asleep.  It only takes a few minutes for them to go to sleep, but I really wish they wouldn't get so upset each night.

Tomorrow is their last day at their current daycare place.  They go to a new place on Monday.  We'll be heading over to the new daycare place this weekend to check it out and get the kids somewhat familiar with it.  The lady that will be watching them was one of the people that has been watching them so it shouldn't be too much of a change for them.  The location will change, but at least they will know the daycare lady.

Taste the Rainbow

Carter is all over the place.  He rolls around and gets up on his hands and knees. He scoots backwards and grabs everything he sees. 

Calvin and Brayden love Skittles.  I don't think they ate any dinner other than the Skittles.  They each ate a full size bag of Skittles tonight.  Not one of those little Fun Size bags.  I'm not really sure what is so "fun" about Fun size candy bars.  I would think the bigger the candy the more fun.  Who in the world really thinks that less candy equals fun?

Calvin and Brayden got a bath tonight.  They love getting in the bath and playing, but don't really like getting cleaned.  Whenever I start cleaning Brayden he says "get Budher dada".  Whenever I start cleaning Calvin he says "get Bray Bray dada".  They also started taking cups and pouring water over each other.  Unfortunately, they also started dumping water out of the bathtub.  When that started I figured it was time to end bathtime and so I pulled the drain.  They never like getting out of the bath.  At one point in time it used to bother me, but I have long since realized that they just need to accept certain things whether they like it or not.

After the bath the boys went in their room and started playing with toys.  I was sitting down reading a book "Oh Say Can You Say Dinosaur?".  Calvin decided I should have been reading "Hop on Pop".  Either that or he just started acting out the title of the book.  He ran across the room and jumped on me.  So then I started wrestling and rolling around with him.  I really enjoy playing with them like that.

Help Save the Youth of America from Exploding

The babies did pretty well sleeping last night.  Aubrey needed to be plugged with her paci a few times, but neither of them were fed all night.

Even though they slept well, I was still really tired today.  I felt like I could fall asleep in my office.  I also felt like falling asleep while driving home.  I really need to take some time off work.  I think I'm going to take a week off soon.  I have only taken a few days off (not including the time when the babies were born) this year.  I have lots of vacation time saved up so I need to start using some.

One of the mother's was picking up her son at the same time I was picking up my kids.  She must have had a really bad day or something because she was very mean to her son.  I would guess that her son is about one and a half years old.  She was even cussing when talking to her child as she was trying to get him in his car seat.  It was definitely surprising and I didn't like it at all.  I didn't say anything because I was busy getting my kids together, but I feel like I should have said something.

The babies went down to sleep very easily tonight.  Brayden on the other hand was screaming for a long time before going to sleep.  Perhaps it's because he decided to bring his blanket with him to daycare and we forgot it there.  So he doesn't have his blanket with him in bed.

Brayden was actually quite needy tonight.  He wanted to be picked up and held just about the whole night.  I'm not sure what's going on with him.  I guess it's just a phase.  Calvin went through it a few months ago.  Now Calvin rarely asks to be held.  He prefers to be independent and do things on his own.

Erin went back to work today for a half day.  This was her first day back since her surgery.  She said that she was worn out by the time she was done.  She goes in for another follow-up appointment tomorrow.  They may tell her that it's now okay to pick up the babies which would be a big help.