BOUNCE - NOT

Instead of Bounce - U I am going to call it Jaxon Cry the whole time- U . Yes he had a fir from the beginning. Not an enjoyable afternoon playdate. And why is it that these times are alsways when I am with a girlfriend of mine and their kid/kids. By myself, my kids are typically well behaved. Put them in a situation where they can make it seem like I've lost all control of my children and they just can't pass it up. At one point I had Ty in my left arm, the bottle propped under my chin, dragging Jaxon off the floor as he kicked and screamed. To top it off when I put him on time out, he looked at me defiantly and screamed, "NOOOOOOO!!" Maddox was pretty much doing his own thing until we went to leave and he lost it b/c I wouldn't let him play the video game anymore. I pushed my way out of the door, the twins in a double stroller that barely fit through the walkway, Maddox and of course Jaxon screaming and crying and my friend looking at me sorrowfully saying, "I'll pray for you." Sleep is calling!! Anyways, here are the pics I said I'd get up.

Yesterday

Playing catch up from yesterday. I'll try to make it quick...for your benefit and mine. ( I have a sitter for the boys this am so I can try and get some work done around the house.) Anyways, I took the kids to Bounce-U yesterday, which is basically a huge warehouse with all the inflatable jumping toys for the kids to play on. It's a pretty good deal. Pay 12 bucks for both kids and that includes snacks and a drink when they are done. Great time, the twins slept most of it. Then a basic Smith afternoon.... I think....Oh , yes....I took the kids to the do-it -yourself carwash and let them well, do-it-themsleves1 They loved that. I don't think I sent those picws to my computer yet, so I may post those later. That's about it....Oh and I introduced Ty and Olivia to tender sweet carrots baby food. They LOVED it! They each ate half a jar, so we'll see how they tolerate the food and go from there. Until later....

Catch Up

Sorry, the last few days have been a little crazy. Sunday, we ended up making it out to the beach for the afternoon. It was of course really nice....well after the first 45 minutes of hearing my kids cry that they wanted to leave. I had to set my stuff up a little closer than I usually do b/c my family had a lot to lug out and I didn't want to have them walk so far. So that sacrificed the little wading area we usually have. The water was particularly choppy too and the waves were very intimidating to the boys. They initially wanted to try the waves out, but the second we got past the surf they panicked and each clung to me for dear life! I scooped each boy up and held them at this point.....BIG mistake. They proceded to grab my bathing suit top and yank both sides down. I immediately dipped below the water trying to hide myself as they continue screaming in my ear. My reasoning with them was going in one ear and out the other, "Boys, let go of my top, mommy will take you in when you let go of my bathing suit." I tried slowing my words down to no avail. They were determined to not release their grips. Of course both of my hands are tied up so I wasn't even able to attempt to pry their fingers off. I was stuck. All I can imagine is that the people lying on the beach are wondering why this cruel mother won't bring her screaming children from the water that they clearly aren't enjoying. Well, they eventually let go and we were able to stumble our way back up to shore. Maddox couldn't get there fast enough and Jaxon couldn't have been bowled over by any more waves if he tried! Pheww. Anyways, after that fiasco, the kids finally settled down once my family showed up. They played and skim boarded...well tried to, for the rest of the afternoon. And you know what? By the end of the day I had Jaxon back in the waves and he could have cared less if I was holding his hand or not. He sat hi bottom in his little blow up ring and rode the waves laughing his head off for a good 15-20 minutes. Maddox of course couldn't let Jaxon show him up, so he let Grandma carry him out. He was so funny, he had this little smug grin when he looked at me, like 'I'm doin' it Mom.' Fun day though.

Yesterday I worked, not much to report there. Good day, training, cleaning and decent sleep. Again, can't complain.

Today I went in for a minor surgery. I was not really nervous until I got to the office. Then I got a little anxious. It was my first time ever having to "go under". HOW WEIRD! I didn't even have a chance to fight it. Next thing I know they were waking me up from a pretty good sleep. All in all it only took 11 minutes. I just had to have a piece of tissue removed. Non-cancerous and very common. More of an asthetic operation than anything. So, I napped at my Grandma's house after that and got a sitter for Arik at the house. Pretty basic day, other than that. Nothing exciting...Oh oH oh ewwwwwww....forgot to mention. So I had company over for a few minutes and we were visiting. Well, she let and I went to the back room to change and came back out. I smelled this HORENDOUS odor. I could hardly breathe through my nose. I smelled it from the couch where she was sitting and I didn't know if something spilled or what. So I went back to the computer room to grab Arik and have him help me find the cource. He wasn't too thrilled and told me, "honestly, Nicole it's probably just the trash." I insited he help me, so he unwillingly got up to look with me. Maddox joined in the hunt but with his sensitive sniffer, he really couldn't take it. He asked me, "Mommy is it Roxy?" I bent down to smell her and almost vomited. She definately got into a dead animal. I've smelled and before and knew right away. I guess that was also the reason she was vigorously cleaning herself. Arik and I grabbed her and brought her outside. I saw a small swarm of flies and basically confirmed my idea that she killed something. Arik was convinced it was a package of fish I threw out a couple of days ago, but I told him it was pressure sealed in a plasitic wrap and double tied in a grocery bag. Arik looked to the corner of the yard by the back gate and I swear, about 1000 flies were there. All together, it looked like a hovering black cloud. I told Arik, IF it was the fish and Roxy ate it, her hair wouldn't reak and that many flies would not be over there. I still don't know what it was! YUCK yuck YUCK!! I washed Roxy with a whole bottle of baby shampoo. The smell is still lingeing in the house, so I think I'll have to actually bleach the floor. She may even need another bath. Yay! Just what I wanted to do tonight. If it's not the kids it's the dog....or Arik:)

BORING DAY!!

Well, atleast boring for us!! I guess, you ask, how could any day with four young kids be boring! We didn't do anything specific. The boys played at my mom's house this morning with the cousins. I visited with an old friend of mine and her mom . Her brother (my friend ) just had identical twin boys two days ago. They actually weighed exactly the same as Ty and Olivia. 4.15 and 4.14 . They were 1/2 inch longer though. We just took it easy this afternoon, the boys swam out back for a while. I think they actually got a good 45 minutes of not fighting in. I know, I was amazed. Things are starting to quiet down now, well not exactly. I guess if you count Ty screaming in my face then not so much. What I mean is Olivai and Jax are both out like lights and Maddox is engrossed in his nightly episode of the Backyardigans. Speaking of Maddox, he has been a demanding little stink lately. "MOM, GET ME A DRINK! " Excuse me??? I don't know where he is getting it from, but I sure won't be putting up with it! I think he is testing his boundaries with me...well I know he is. (bouncing Ty in the pnk chair with my foot while I am typing....Debby, this is not one of those relaxing times I was talking about:) ahhhhh...silence:) Anyways, tomorrow we are having a whoever can make it family day at the beach. So far I have Hillary coming to watch the twins so I can take the boys out with me. Arik is working unfortunately. It was supposed to be a celebration for my cousin Brandon who just turned 18 (and officially signed on with USF for a full ride football scholarship) , but now I'm not sure if he'll be making it...apparently not to crazy about the beach!! So, I'll update tomorrow and in the meantime I am going to try to rock Ty to sleep, who by the way has resumed his fake screaming at me....I guess he just needed a little breather.

Splash Park

We did it. I convinced Arik to come sleep out on the couch with the twins while I took the older boys to the Splash Park. I made him a pretty nice little bed out in the living room, turned the air down and closed all the blinds. I made sure the twins were fed and content for the most part and then I loaded everyone up. By everyone I mean my cousins Joseph and Jaena and Lara across th street. So not only one helper, but three! We all had a really fun time. The older kids did the super slide and Maddox and Jaxon again just splashed and swam the entire time. They are both finally putting their whole heads under the water and really making an effort to swim. I took the boys over to the competition pool next to the Splash Area and we watched the older three do jumps off the diving board. They thought that was neat and they didn't want to leave. We ended up running into a little girl from Maddox's class ( Olivia, oddly enough ) and it was so funny. Her mom has told me in the past that Olivia talks non-stop about Maddox, so it came as no surprise that all she wanted to do was play with him today. She would try so hard to catch up to him or talk to him and he would just scoot off or for the most part ignore. Occasionally he would walk near her to play and then just as quickly he was off again. So I decided that Maddox was already playing hard to get:) We came home and took naps after pizza and now we are all just doing a whole lot of nothing....Well as nothing as can be expected! Arik is off golfing with Derek...you've all heard of the term "Bromance" I'm sure......enough said:)

Sick Little Ty

So while I was at work I guess Maddox and Ty got the cold bug the worst. Maddox was running a fever all day and most of the night, with a little relief from the Tylenol. Poor Ty was in rough shape. He apparently felt puny the whole day I was at work. I didn't know this until the evening. I got home yesterday morning and he was still burning up. Arik had a rough night with him after he got off work at almost 4:30. He relayed that Ty had been up atleast every hour. When I got home at 9 Arik was pooped. I did feel pretty sorry b/c he had to be to court at 1:30. Anyways, Maddox seemed to be feeling on the upside the next morning so our sitter Brandy offered to take the older boys and another 4 year old boy she watches to the Marina Jack's fountains. Perfect timing. She said they were perfect and got along great together. This freed me up to get Ty into the Doctor's office. My Grandma Sharon (behind us) offered to take Olivia, so I actually made a Doctor's visit with just one child! Ty was still running a slight temp ( 101.1 ) and the Doctor concluded, he felt it was likely a double ear infection. Ty had so much wax buildup in each ear that he couldn't get a great look. The nurses had to flush Ty's ears with water which he wasn't thrilled about. End result, Ty is on a script for a week or so. After nap, the twins went to my Grandma Jan's (along with a load of linens...Thank you Grandma ) and I met my mom...after cleaning up the house....at Lido Beach. I took the boys to the store before we went and bought them each matching mini red boogie boards. They were so excited! We actually had a really nice time. I laid in the shallow water with them and watched them played for almost 2 hours. At this point Maddox had enough and he demanded that we go home. Of course to avoid a meltdown, I gave in and packed our bags. Arik picked the twins up from my Grandma's and we each made seperate dinner plans. Arik insisted on Pizza Hut (which I can't stand!) and I wanted to throw a steak on my Mom's grill ( she had it fired up last night ) So I laid the boys down and left them with Arik and Olivia and I went to the store and then my Mom's for dinner. It worked out perfect. This morning everyone seems to be doing MUCH better! Ty had no fever and the two of them actually slept until 6:30 am! Can't complain about that. The boys are already begging me to go to the YMCA Splash Park, so if I can get an older kid to tag along then we may go.....I'll have to bring the twins and I can't sit on the edge with them and watch the boys. So we'll update ya later!

Under the Weather

I feel YUCK! I have a massive headcold that is just clinging on....and won't let go. I honestly think I've gone through half a roll of toilet paper blowing my nose today....and that's after finishing off the box of tissues I had laying around. Anyways, my obvious concern is passing it on to the kids. Unfortunately they all seem to have a little something. I washed all the bedding today and I have been generously using my purell hand sanitizer in attempt to kick this bug out for good. So on top of feeling puny, I attempted to "quit" caffeine today...HA HA bad idea. I made it half a day and my head was pounding so HARD that I broke down and made 1/2 and 1/2 coffee. Immediate results thank you. I guess I will have to gradually ween myself. So, I am having a little...erase that....BIG issue with Maddox and his "accidents". I wouldn't push the issue if we were still in potty training mode, but come on, he's been using the potty by himself for months now. All of a sudden I find myself immersed in big boy poop again. I've gotten to the point where I just toss the undies and send him straight to the shower, because when he gets caught his fingers immediately go up his bottom as he cries out, "it was just accident...it was an accident." I am truly tired of wiping poop of the floor scowering the toilet seat and watching in horror as I vow never to let Roxy lick me again ( you guess it ). But I calmly reassure Maddox that I am not mad at him, but next time could he please use the potty when he has to go? Well, I figure I'll learn the ropes and tricks with Maddox b/c I'll be "enjoying" this clean-up phase for a few more years!! I found these pics on my phone the other day, just pretty amazed at how small Ty and Olivia actually were. Either that or Jax has a Super huge head!!

Slacking

Sorry I haven't updated in the past few days. We had Ben and Ginger in town and we were trying to keep busy. It was really great having them down to visit. As I told Ben before, I know it is probably hard to believe, but we do somehow manage when they aren't here. Ben didn't think so, we totally utilize the help whenever we can!!! Thank you guys very much for everything...well almost everything, I'll still get you back for the Dilly Bars:) Here are a few pics from the last week.

Tuesday

I picked up overtime at work this morning from 8-2 so as a family our morning was uneventful. I hired the neighbor girls to help Arik out b/c he didn' go to bed until 3 or 4 am. I felt sorry for him until he pulled himself together to go golfing the rest of the day!! Anyways, it's basically been an outside swim day again. I just ran to the store and bought all the girls some ice cream and stuff to make sundaes. The boys didn't know what to think. Thank you to Ben who introduced the "outside ice cream" to them while he was down. Now every day they ask me for ice cream and cry when I tell them we don't have any.... Hmmmm, "Hayden...lollipop, soda???" Yeah it'll come around! Right before bedtime too:)