The King of Creativity

JP has such a great imagination. He can be gone for 5 minutes (as he did tonight) and come up with a new invention or idea. Tonight he told me he was the King of Magic and "granted" me some wishes. He needs to work on his tricks though because my kitchen-to-be-cleaned wish did not come true!

This past weekend he was on creativity overdrive. He made an office for himself on our basement stairs. He lined the floor with Joe's exercise mat and decorated the wall with everything from a paper calculator, a list of who's coming to his birthday party (in May) and even an exit sign. Of course any good office would not be complete without a welcome mat!

Later, he took boxes and made himself into a robot. He made Joe & I tickets to come see his robot show. This kid never ceases to amaze me at what he comes up with!














JP in his office.















The
"Welcum"
mat.












Celebrating Dad's real birthday last Friday- 39 and holding!




We took our first trip to the zoo this week & had a great time. Of course the babies had no idea what was going on, but with 70 degree weather in Feb, it was so nice to get outside.



Katy, james, Anne, george & the babies














Anne &
little G















The cousins













Here's an attempt to take a cute pic of the babies and trying hard to get them all to smile.



2 seconds later when Daddy walks by!












Here are a couple of videos of the kids in action:

Ryan's Surgery, JP's Retainer & a Fun Getaway!

Ryan & Dad before surgery

It's been busy around here this past week! Grandmom & Pop arrived last Wednesday from MA and we were so grateful that they were here with so much going on. On Thursday, I took JP to get his retainer on. I felt so much better about it once I talked to the orthodontist again and saw that JP was in no pain because of it. It looks like a clear piece of plastic, similar to a hockey mouth guard, that is permanently placed on his lower teeth. As his jaw grows, it will prevent his under bite from getting worse. I took him to school afterwards and his teacher had him do show & tell about it. She emailed me later and said he explained it to everyone & that was that.

On Friday, Joe & I took Ryan to Children's Hospital to have his skin tag removed. We had to be there at 5:30am for the 7:30am surgery. Ryan was such a good boy, especially considering he hadn't eaten since 6:30pm the night before. He went under and came out of the anesthesia like a pro. In true Ryan form he downed a bottle of pedialyte and then followed it up with 8oz. of formula almost immediately after waking up. He hopefully will not have much of a scar and we hope we will not have to visit Children's anytime in the near future.

On Saturday we headed up to Breckenridge for 4 days. It's about a 2 hour drive for us and the munchkins slept the whole way. We met Grandmom & Pop, Carolyn & Paul, Eloise, her friend Angie & little Willa up there. This was the first trip for the babies and they all did great. I didn't have batteries in my camera until the last day, so I couldn't take a picture, but it was quite amazing that our family of 6 fit into one room! They let us have the master bedroom and it actually fit the 3 pack & plays, a roll out bed plus the king sized bed very nicely. They seemed to like the change of scenery as much as we did!

It was so nice to be away for a few days. Grandmom watched the babies so I could take JP sledding, to the pool and the game room. I loved being able to do extra things with him. Joe took him skiing too, so I think he had a really fun time! Joe's birthday is the 20th, and we had a little early party for him on Sunday night complete with his favorite Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

We think Ryan will always remember Grandmom, because she found the key to his happiness- more food! Normally, with jars of food I just go right down the line with everyone getting basically the same amounts. Now that they can eat pretty much whatever, Grandmom sat Ryan up at the table each morning and he ate & ate & ate. He had the biggest smile on his face each time she put more food on is tray. I think once our current supply of baby food runs out, we are done. The babies now can eat pasta, meats, fruits, veggies- just about everything we eat. This makes me so happy!

Today, Grandmom & Pop had to leave- we will be missing them!! Joe also left this morning for a 2 day business trip, JP went back to school & I took the babies for their February RSV shots. It didn't take long for life to get back to normal around here!

Such a big procedure to get rid of the tiny skin tag next to his ear.

What a hambone!

Mom & Ryan after surgey, he was such a trooper!

We thought Caitlin had gotten most of the peas in her mouth. We were wrong!

Celebrating Daddy's birthday a little early.

Willa having fun at the party.

JP & Mom sledding.

Getting ready for a run.

You can kind of see JP's retainer sticking out his bottom lip.

Grandpop & JP

The babies loved the mountains!

Grandmom, Pop &

the girls

JP discovered a new favorite game!

Our attempt at a group shot!

Happy Valentine's Day 2009!

All My Funny Valentines!

9-Month Check Up

Who brings a camera to the doctor's office?- I do of course! OK, We're not quite 9 months old yet, but to block off time with 3 at the pediatrician's office with a specific doctor, you have to work both your and the doctor's schedule. All 3 are right on track development wise. They are not over-excelling, i.e. nobody waves bye-bye yet or get from laying to sitting position, but the doctor feels they are doing great and so do I. It's funny, with JP I was always looking at the books seeing what he was supposed to be doing next. With these guys a) I don't think I have time to look at any books :) and b) they are growing up fast enough, I don't want to rush things along!

Here are their 9-month stats:
Ryan: 21lbs, 8oz (70%), 29.75 in long (90%), and 18.25 in head (85%)
Caitlin: 17lbs (25%), 27.5 in long (50%), and 17 in head (25%)
Madison: 16lbs (10%), 27 in long (35%), and 16.625 in head (10%)

We had our first big colds this past week. The girls got it first. Ryan held off for about 5 days, which I couldn't believe, but he too got the runny nose & mild cough. They all have actually been doing pretty well with it. Waking up a little at night, but easily being put back down. We thought the girls were just about over it, but today we found out Madison has a mild ear infection. Our doctor thinks it just started, so hopefully it will go away quickly with the antibiotics. Ryan & Caitlin's ears look good for now. On Friday, we take Ryan for surgery to remove a skin tag he was born with. Hopefully he continues to get better and we can have the procedure done without any complications.

JP had a visit with an orthodontist this past week. His dentist has recommended the last 2 visits that he see him for his under bite. According to x-rays, JP is not set to start losing his baby teeth for a little while longer so he will be getting a retainer on his bottom teeth this week. The school of thought these days is to start correcting while he is young & his jaw is moving. The orthodontist thinks it will only take 3-6 weeks for the retainer to start moving his lower jaw back into place. I hate the thought of starting him with this, but I also am hoping doing this now will eliminate more painful treatments in the future.

We're excited that Joe's parents will be coming in town tomorrow for a week. We are planning our first family trip up to the mountains for 4 days. Even though it will require a lot of gear, Joe & I are excited for the trip!

Here are a few pics from the past couple of weeks. I also took some pretty cute ones of the kids for Valentines that I will put up in the next day or two:














Can you guess who didn't feel like napping today- so tired!





















The doctor thinks Caiti is the most social, watching every little thing going on.


























Maddi eating her binky











What good patients!










The other night JP called over to me "Mom Look!" I quickly snapped a shot and them told him that he doesn't need to be picking up the babies!

A couple of pictures of our crazy sleeper Caiti. She's the only one without a bumper and always has some body part sticking out!