Elena is Turning Four!

We celebrated Elena's birthday a week early since she will be in Michigan for the big day next week.  We packed the day with fun activities of her choice.

Heading to see Toy Story 3 

David Wore Elena's 3-D Glasses After We Returned Home

The Birthday Girl with Her Presents

Photo By Alex of Elena with Mom and Dad

Alex Giving Elena Her Birthday Book, a Family Tradition

Elena's Ballerina "Julie" Box, aka Jewelry Box

 Twin Babies, David and Brian (although these baby dolls are apparently girls)

Little Mommy Elena

Baby David in the Baby Swing, Propped to Drink His Bottle...

...While Mommy Elena Feeds Baby Brian.  Amazing how imitative she is!

 Dinner at Bob Evans (Elena's restaurant choice- must be the curly straws!) with the Galvins

 The Amazing "Lion King" (Elena's favorite movie right now) Cupcakes Made By Aunt Melinda

Happy 4th Birthday, My Favorite Girl!

Little Republicans?

Jeff is an avid reader of on-line conservative media outlets, like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.  Here he is with both babies, indoctrinating them early on with the "right" way of thinking.

Oh the Wonderful Thing About Tiggers...

Alex was given this adorable Tigger outfit, which he wore at 9 months.  David is wearing it at 2 months. He is our mega baby!

Happy Father's Day Jeff!

Jeff has earned the title of "Super Dad" these last few month.  He has always been a hands-on, involved father, but his level of involvement in the lives of these four children recently has been awe inspiring.  With the twins, he gladly does the late night feedings, takes on the hard tasks involved in Brian's medical care, and never complains about being pooped or peed on.  

He still finds the energy to spend time with the older kids everyday- they are frequent visitors to their neighborhood pool in the evenings, go on neighborhood "adventures" on their bikes, and usually pick him for the reading of bedtime stories because of all his funny voices. Jeff coached Alex's soccer team this spring, has never missed a hockey practice or swim meet, and brings Alex along to go hit golf balls on the weekends.  He is teaching Elena to swim this summer, introduced her to her new favorite food- tacos- and even plays Barbies with her sometimes. 

I can not imagine a better father to these children, and feel very blessed to have him in our lives.

An Impromtu Tea Party

I had a rough morning in the cath lab, getting my fourth PICC line since October put in. So I decided to treat myself and Elena to some Starbucks.  Elena often gets the last few sips of my favorite drink (vanilla chai latte), but this was the first time she got to order one her own.  She was VERY excited about her treat, and this did wonders for helping to cheer me up.

Elena Taking a Sip of her Very Own Tea

A Little Girl Talk during our Tea Party

Big Dave felt left out, so so we found his bottle...

 And took our tea party into the foyer to join him

This little bit of fun provided my a good distraction from my grumpies. My kids are the best!

How Feeding Time with the Twins Works

The babies eat a 6 ounce bottle every 3 hours- Big Dave will let you know if you are even a minute off that schedule.  Often, we are able to space it out so that we can hold one baby for his entire feeding before turning our attention to the other. Sometimes however, they are both ready to eat at the same time and they want to be fed NOW, with no patience for taking turns.  Feedings like that require all kinds of tricks.  We purchased all the on-line gadgets we could find: a special pillow that looks like a tooth, bottles that have a long straw & pacifier, even a monkey that hangs above to hold the bottle.  But what seems to work best is simply putting them in their car seats and propping the bottles with blankets.

The boys tend to eat at different rates, so we can usually time the midway burp to hold each baby for the last part of the bottle.  This system seems to be working well, but it will be nice when they can hold their own bottle.

Alex's Swimming in the Big Kid's Relay Race

There was a shortage of big kids able to attend this evening's swim meet, so the coaches asked Alex to swim in a relay race with the 8 year olds.

He was a little nervous

But he swam his fastest, even faster than usual with the motivation of the the older kids as competition

And his team won first place!

The Best Invention For Babies Ever. Seriously.

I would pay a million bucks to stop the babies from crying some nights.  Especially at 2am. Especially now that when one twin starts crying, he usually set his brother off crying too.  A girlfriend recommended The Woombie when we had lunch downtown last week.  I couldn't imagine it would be any better than any of the the other swaddling blankets we already own, but she is an old friend (and a doctor, and has a 6-month old baby with colic), so I went ahead and ordered two online anyway.  These things are worth every penny!  They look kind of like little tiny straight jackets so it seems a bit odd to use them, but the boys LOVE them.  They calm down in under 30 seconds once they are zipped in, almost every time. I am eternally grateful for this recommendation.  Now if I could just figure out what might work this well on my 6 & 3 year old...

Tummy Time

Elena enjoys hanging out with her baby brothers during their tummy time. 

Today she decided that Brian should have a few friends to keep him company. Too bad that didn't seem to help with the crying!

Elena and "Her Baby"

 

For whatever reason, Elena has claimed David as "her baby."  When we have our "Girl Time" together on Saturday mornings (running exciting errands like grocery shopping and picking up the dry cleaning), she often asks if "her baby" can come with.  He is a happy passenger in the baby Bjorn, so he usually gets to join our fun. 

On THIS particular Saturday after all the boring errands were completed, we headed downtown to attend Talbot Street Art Fair, Sesame Street Meet you at the Park, and shop at a few of my favorite boutiques on Mass Ave. Here she is right before we had lunch at Hoaglin to Go with her bag of new clothes from Nurture.

She likes to pretend her name is "Baby Irene" on these little outings with me, and asks me repeatedly if I am still her baby.  I think it is important we have these little outings so she can feel like she still has an important place in our family.

Alex's Second Swim Meet

On Your Mark...

Alex swam in his second meet today against Woodland Springs.  He did terrific in all three events, but won first prize in his age division for Freestyle.  

Looking Good in the Speedos!

His time would have been even better if he didn't keep looking around between strokes to see how far behind the rest of the kids were at.  We will have to work on that!

Kids with the Camera

Alex and Elena got a hold of the camera today and took pictures of each other.

Then Alex took photos of them playing their favorite game "Owl Owl." It is a silly mad-up game that basically consists of them jumping from the couch to other pieces of furniture without touching the carpet.  If they do land on the carpet, they have to start over.  

 Where that name comes from is a bit of a mystery...

Sink Baby

We have given David and Brian a bath in the bathroom sink a few evenings while Alex and Elena are taking a bath. 

David with his Budda Belly

 Elena has been watching! I found her at the kitchen sink today giving her own baby doll a sink bath.

After her baby was all clean, it was time to read her a book while she sat in one of the twin's car seats.  Elena loves pretending to be a mommy, and insists that she will have FIVE babies when she grows up.  If she does, I sure hope she has a lot of help.

A Little Lego Fun

Jeff and the kids had some fun together after dinner playing with some of the new Legos Alex received for his birthday.  

 Alex especially likes all the little pieces Grandma Sandy gave him. However, they will never be THIS organized again!

Alex's First Swim Meet!

Alex is on the Woods Run swim team this summer.  Practice is every morning at 8:30 down the street at the neighborhood swimming pool  Today was the first swim meet! Alex swam the backstroke in the first heat with the 6 & Under age group.  The second heat was freestyle, which he won! 

We are looking forward to lots more fun at the pool this summer!