Pictures from 12 Days of Christmas

The kids enjoying their tri-popcorn snack and watching "Dreamworks Christmas Special"

Me and the kids--I wore the apron Emerald made for me for mother's day. Ben just enjoyed dancing around the kitchen

Gabriel playing with the flour

Benjamin slept almost the whole time we were making cookies

Stirring the batter, then rolling out the dough

Gabe, after making his flour angel. He really enjoyed swiping raw cookie dough!

The 12 Days of Christmas

We had been having a bit of a rough month. The kids' daycare (parents day out program) asked us to withdraw the children and find them alternative care. I was hurt and angry--Emerald has some behavioral issues, but I didn't think they were as bad as all of that; but with Gabriel it felt like it came out of nowhere. They had been telling us he had been doing well in class and enjoyed going, but then we had a meeting with the directors that said their program was not equipped to handle a child with a disability like Gabriel.

On the 13th, we took Gabe to see the developmental pediatrician Dr. Karen Rogers, who reaffirmed the diagnosis of Autism, adding the stipulation that because of his complete lack of communication despite a year in therapy that he is on the severe end of the spectrum. Granted, it doesn't look like he is mentally retarded--he is in fact quite intelligent--but socially he is...unmotivated, uninterested, and a bit stifled.

Of course, this should have hardly come as a shock. But you get used to people acting with skepticism when you tell them about Gabe, and despite yourself...you start believing them. The emotional part of you starts listening just a little, and you start to hope. It was a mistake--I realize that. I should have clung to that rational part of me, or it wouldn't have been so hard to hear a second time. But sometimes you don't have much control over that.

So, there we were--just a few weeks away from Christmas, and the mood in the house was far from festive.

That's when Santa's Christmas Elves began leaving presents on our front porch every morning. :)

We don't know who our secret friends are, but having something to look forward to every day has done wonders for our optimism, our attitudes, and our stress.

(I may have a few of these out of order--I wrote it down and then lost the list; I do remember everything we got, just not the order!)

1. The first day, we got snowman mugs, hot cocoa mix, and stuff to make s'mores. We decided to save the s'mores for Christmas Eve when Michael would be home; but the kids loved the cocoa, and I have loved having a friendly little snowman smiling at me from my coffee mug every morning :)

2. The second day, we got a tin of three types of popcorn--white cheddar, cheese, and caramel. My favorite is the caramel (what can I say: I have a sweet tooth!), and Emerald and Gabriel have loved having this little snack to eat while laying in bed on cold days and watching movies.

3. The third day was Christmas stuff for my kitchen: red white white snowflakes, we got a floor mat, pot holder, oven mitt, towel, and table cloth. Now the kitchen was decked with holiday cheer!

4. +\-he fourth day was cookies--a LOT of cookies :D We got stuff to make 15 dozen sugar cookies, plus cookie cutters shaped like a bow, a Christmas tree, and a gingerbread man.

Emerald was very helpful--she cleaned off tables and helped me clean the kitchen before starting on the cookies. Gabe stirred the dough a little, but Emerald did most of the hard work--rolling it out, cutting out the shapes, decorating. Gabriel's biggest contribution was tossing the bag of flour on the floor to make flour angels then tracking the powder through out the house, all over the carpet, and on my furniture.

The whole project took two full hours, most of which Ben slept through and listened to Christmas music as he played with his toys. The end result were not particularly works of art, but they were tasty enough. We are planning on making more today or tomorrow to leave out for Santa Claus when he comes.

5. The fifth day was Snowman candle holders; a whole family with a father, a mother, and a baby. Gabriel ate most of two candles while I wasn't looking, so we had to put them away and leave the snowmen out. Luckily they were just white candles without scent or coloring, so Gabe should be no worse for wear after his waxy culinary adventure :-/

6. For the sixth day, we got chocolate covered pretzels. Those are going to be my downfall, because I just cannot quit snacking on them. Both Emerald and Gabriel enjoy them a great deal as well.

7. We were expecting a winter snow that night, so at the end of the sixth day a rather tall elf brought the seventh gift early :) In it were gift cards to Burlington Coat Factory, coloring books and crayons for Emerald and Gabriel, and a Rudolph stuffed animal for Benjamin. Ben loves his new reindeer toy, as it makes for good chewing.

8. On the eighth day, we got a pretty green and blue tin full of shortbread cookies. Momma may have hidden those cookies in her room so that the kids wouldn't eat them all!!

9. For the ninth present, we got a gift card to Domino's and a stuff to make our own ornaments. Gabriel liked to smash our shatterproof Christmas ornaments, so we had to strip our tree bare of everything but the angel Emerald made for the top and the lights. It was looking rather forlorn, and Emerald was heartbroken thinking that it was going to die. These ornaments were absolutely Gabe-proof, so together before breakfast we made snowman, snowflake, Christmas tree, and stocking ornaments to decorate with. After a long morning of making ornaments, we ordered a big pepperoni pizza (Emerald's favorite!) for lunch.

10. Today was the tenth day, and we got this water-less snowglobe...on the inside are penguins mailing letters to Santa; you push a button on the front, and it lights up inside and blows "snow" all over while it plays any one of many Christmas songs.

The good news is that all three kids adore this--they haven't left it alone for more than 15 minutes all day long, and they are sharing with one another surprisingly well.

The bad news is that for the last 7 hours or so, I have had non-stop Christmas music literally following me around like my own holiday theme music, which can get a little grating, lol.

Two days until Christmas! Whoever the "elves" are--Thank you, from all of us. You have really brightened our holiday season!

--Andie--

Thanksgiving

Okay, right off the bat I need to apologize for the lack of pictures. I did an embarrassingly poor job of packing for this trip, and one of the many, many things that got left behind was my camera. I didn't even get a picture of Gabriel. And granted, I had my phone to take pictures with which is why I have the few that I do have, but it is not the fastest method in the world and I had my hands full as it was.

So! Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here is our thanksgiving!

This year, we have Thanksgiving in Ponder at Gigi and Papa's house. Michael asked off for this time a month ago so we were certainly going to make it, which was exciting for me. It has been a long time since I have gotten to see most of them because the children and I do not travel well, what with me being pregnant most of the time and the kids being relatively teeny still.

We were hoping to leave Wednesday after Mike worked a half day, but his coworker lost a niece in a fire, so Michael agreed to work late Wednesday before Thanksgiving so that coworker could go to the funeral. When Michael got home at 7, I was supposed to have everything packed and ready to be loaded into the car first thing in the morning because we wanted to hit the road early. Suffice to say, I did not. Normally, I am relatively good at packing for travels. Perhaps a tad over-prepared, but on time and efficient. I don't know what happened this time. Michael comes home, and I have all the laundry washed, but I cannot figure out what to pack.

We kind of toss some bags together, thinking that we will leave Thursday morning and come back Friday--we wanted it to be a longer trip, but it didn't look like we would be able to work it out that way. We figure that what we have will probably suffice, and worse comes to worse we can buy anything else we need while we're there.

Glo and Pawpaw come and see us Wednesday night so they can say goodbye before we leave and give us a card. Our fourth anniversary was on Thanksgiving day this year, so for the most part we would be riding in the car. On the ride down, we actually recalled the trip back from Lubbock after we got married--it was snowing hard and very dark, so we were having trouble reading the road signs, and a trip that should have taken five or six hours took nearly twice that.

Thursday morning, we load up the car with kiddos in warm, fuzzy pajamas with toasty blankets and hit the road by 6.15. It is about a six hour drive, all things said and done, so we expect to get there right before the 1pm lunch. Emerald, Gabriel, and Benjamin, as usual, were very well behaved. They do car rides very well. The night before, we had run to the store and got a new $5 DVD of Pocoyo for if they got too bored. The whole thing went remarkably smoothly--we stopped a few times to go potty and get food or drinks, but we still arrived on time.

Before Michael had even fully stopped the van, the door slid open and I was mauled by my sister, who missed me a great deal. I missed her a ton too--she is one of my bestest friends. Everyone in my family met us as we were getting out of the van, but most of them had yet to meet Mr. Ben Reilly. They all expected little tiny baby, but that has never quite described Benjafriend, lol.

Gabriel did pretty well, all things considered. He only had a few real meltdowns, and only one bad one--a little while after we had gotten there he got overwhelmed and started sobbing, so Amber and I took him outside to sit in the van and have a fruit snack snack.

I love Thanksgiving food--Uncle Robbie fried a turkey and Granny baked one; there was ham and baked squash, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green salad, broccoli rice, asparagus, green beans, rolls, two types of cranberry sauce, and gravy; plus dessert of pecan pie and sugar-free pumpkin pie, lemon bars, and lots more. If it weren't so much work to prepare and about a billion calories, I would want Thanksgiving dinner every month.

After lunch, we went upstairs to try and take a nap, but because the kids had slept on and off all morning they were not terribly interested in resting. When we got up, we took the kids outside because Papa was saddling up the horses.

Emerald loved riding on Fancy--Papa led her around for a bit, and then she rode on Murray with Justin. My cousins Justin and Tyler have goats and live next door to Granny and Papa, so we took the kids to see them. There is one that was bottle-fed because his mother died, so when you try and pet him he nips at your fingers which Emerald thought was hilarious.

There was this one big billy goat that was super chunky. Unneutered male goats will sometimes pee on their own beards or faces for whatever reason--maybe to attract female goats or something--but they smell just absolutely wretched and if you pet them, you will reek too. This fella, Rutger I think they named him, was jealous that all the mama and baby goats were getting all the attention so he would stand on his hind legs with his front hooves on the fence trying to get us to come over and pet him. It was really funny because he was this enormous goat, but he has a soft, high bleet that made me giggle.

For dinner, we had leftover Thanksgiving. Gabriel was spinning in a swivel chair in the computer room and got a little dizzy, ended up puking banana all over himself, including his weighted vest from ECI. We had to run laundry that night, and Gabriel took a bath so he wouldn't stink. When he got out, I dressed him in his warm jammies and fed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich; just as soon as he had taken the last bite, Gabe leaned his head back and fell asleep right there at the dinner table.

I went ahead and took all the kids upstairs to lay down, but after about a half an hour, Gabriel woke up and started crying and would not stop until the wee hours of the morning. You see, one of the many things that Mama forgot was a pacifier for Mr. Gabe, which meant that he was having difficulty soothing himself. Michael ran to the store and bought some, but Gabriel was so worn out and stressed from his long day that he couldn't comfort himself, even after he got the paci.

My family was encouraging us to stay a bit longer, so Michael and I discussed it and decided to try and stay one extra day to get more time with everybody.

In my family, we tend to get up pretty early. Though we had been up most of the night with Gabriel, we still got up at about 7 and were some of the last up. Julia and Mom wanted to go out shopping for the Black Friday sales, so Emerald and I tagged along. Gabriel stayed with Michael, and Benjamin spent the morning with Gigi.

Gabriel and Michael went with Grandpop to Cabela's, a really neat store that has a big fish pond and all these animals about to look at, plus samples of homemade fudge, and outdoorsy stuff. Michael said Gaby really liked the fish the best, and it was nice that him and Daddy got to do something fun just the two of them.

Aunt Julia, Oma, Emerald, Andrew, and I loaded up in the van and went to Justin Boot Store, hoping to find a great deal on baby boots. We didn't find any with great enough prices, so we left there and went into Denton to Famous Footwear. Their clearance shoes were all about $30! I know I am cheap, but at this age, the kids generally wear shoes maybe a handful of times before they outgrow them so sturdy but inexpensive tends to be key. Sears is actually a really great place to get kids shoes because if they wear out before the child outgrows them, Sears replaces them for free. Pretty sweet deal.

We walked down to Old Navy--it was pretty hectic in there. Emerald was struggling to behave and had to be put in the umbrella stroller. Children's Place was a lot quieter and had some really great deals, but I didn't find anything I liked enough to buy. The last place was Mardel's and that was the only store I really struggled in not to buy everything! They had a Veggie Tales DVD special that select titles were only $3, and they had all this Veggie Tales stuff that I just knew Gabriel would love: a Bible illustrated with the characters, books, stuffed animals, puppets, a Pirate ship, umbrella, rain boots, and so so much more. Gabriel hasn't been as interested in Veggie Tales in the past couple of weeks, but I went ahead and got him and Benjamin a DVD each for Christmas anyway.

For lunch, we went to Carl's Jr. I heard that everyone loves there, and maybe my downfall was getting chicken strips instead of a burger, but I was not that blown away. I didn't want to deal with the pomp and circumstance that revolves around me ordering a burger, so I copped out. The chicken strips were good, but nothing to get too excited about--I prefer spicier chicken.

Back at Granny's, we lay down again for nap and rested for a little bit. When we got up, Aunt Cindy and Mom volunteered to keep an eye on the kids so that Michael and I could go out for dinner for our anniversary.

Because of all the recent travelling, we didn't have a ton of extra money to spend, so we ended up at Taco Casa, Michael laughing the entire time about how classy it was to go to a fast food Mexican restaurant for your anniversary. The employee that brought us our food couldn't have been older than 12. Wal-Mart was right next door, so we walked around there for a while and talked about Christmas; got some ideas about what we wanted to do for the kids. I took pictures of things that interested me so that I can kind of get it in my head what sort of things we would like to do before we buy anything. It sounds cheesy, but it was actually quite lovely--Michael and I had not been able to go out since my birthday in June because of the pregnancy and then I don't relinquish new baby very well, so it was wonderful to not have to worry for a few hours and to talk without getting interrupted and to enjoy one another's company.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast before loading up the car and getting on the road about 9. I don't regret staying the extra day, but the wind was blowing us so hard all the way home that I wish we had left Friday or Sunday. It felt like we were getting pushed off the road the entire way. Mom and Butters rode with us back to Abilene; Butters had terrible dog farts that made the whole car stink, lol. For the most part, that trip too was uneventful disregarding the wind. We got home worn out around 4. Ken and Rhonda wanted to take the kids for a couple of hours that night, so Michael and I got our second "date"--this time we were too worn out to go anywhere, so I made us a good dinner at home. It was really nice to have some peace and quiet, we were both so worn out.

All in all, great trip, great family, great Thanksgiving :) I wish that we could do it more, if there wasn't a six hour car ride involved both ways--blech!

--Andie--

Emerald Quotes

Another edition of Emerald-isms!

* (when I am putting in a video game to play) "Fallout New Vegas? I LOVE that game! I love it better than 'splosion man or Mrs. 'splosion man, or firefighter man, or batman...I mean, not batman--batman is my favorite"

* Emerald didn't like me kissing on Benjamin, saying "Mama! Don't. Eat. My. Ben!"

A little while later, Ben was chewing on my nose, and I called for Emerald to help me. She said, "Ben very hungry. He can eat your nose, maybe."

* On the way to Gigi and Papa's for Thanksgiving, we were all talking about things we were thankful for. Emerald says, "I'm thankful for Dad-Dad!"

* As she was falling asleep Friday night after thanksgiving, Emerald asks, "Can we never leave Gigi's house?"

* "I do NOT have red hair! I have brown hair and red eyes!"

* I was playing with the kids, pretending I was a troll that was going to eat them. Emerald yells, "No, mama! You can't eat kids! If you eat me, I will give you a tummy ache and make you throw up!"

* "No mama! Please don't put on that show! It's scary! It gives me bad dreams" --about Glee.

* Emerald was showing me some bruises she had on her knees after school one day. I asked where she got them, and she casually says, "Oh, probably from the alligator that bit me".

* Gabriel was in trouble for jumping on the bed when he was supposed to be going to sleep. As I was getting on to him, Emerald interjects with, "mama, you be nice to my friend!".

* When asked what she wants Santa to bring her, she says "Oh, just presents". I prompt her to be more specific and she says, "how about....breakfast?" (kid is going to be easy to please on Christmas, lol)

--Andie--

This Past Week

We have had a lot of fun since the last post. The greatest motivation for that is because of how antsy I've been feeling--I'm getting a little burned out on everything lately, so I throw that much more effort into having good days with the kids at home. On a particularly bad day, Gabriel, Emerald, and I spent nearly an hour crafting a play-dough family (*pictured above), though Emerald was quite adamant that play-dough Benjamin looked more like a turtle.

New things with baby Benjamin: he smiles, he giggles, he chuckles, he coos. He can hold up his head really great, hardly wobbly at all, and now is rolling over :) He can only do it a few times, trying to get from place to place or get closer to me when he is nearby, but the ease with which he picked it up is so awesome to me :)

Last Saturday, Glo took Emerald to have breakfast with Santa. Emerald wore her brand new pajamas, and her necklace and bracelet with jingle-y bells. While she was gone, Gaby and I made chocolate chip waffles and hot cocoa for breakfast and watched Toy Story 2, then he helped me bathe Benji before Gabe took an extra long bath himself.

When Emerald got home, she was super excited about the pink piggie the balloon man had made for her. It was very cute, until she undid the legs, making it a pig face on a long balloon sword which she used to whomp and wallop her brothers, or else to poke it into our faces. It got pretty annoying and I threatened to pop it more than once, lol. It made me remember when I was growing up and mom and dad would always threaten to let our balloons loose out the window of the car because my siblings and I kept playing with them. I can't remember that they ever actually followed through with the threat, but I can imagine now how annoyed they must have been!

Besides the balloon, Emerald had a chicken biscuit, she told me, and saw Santa Claus and a snowman. She colored some pictures too; she seemed to have a very nice time. Gaby enjoyed his time at home with momma, but he was quite jealous of Emerald.

One of the most time consuming of all our activities was taking down all the fall decorations, cleaning the house, and then bringing in all of the Christmas decorations in from the garage and putting them up. We put on Christmas music and movies, and hung ornaments--this year, we opted to go for the "shatterproof ornament" balls instead of the treasured ornaments that Gabriel would have much an easier time destroying for good. As it is, he doesn't like the change in the house and keeps trying to take everything down, but for all I know, he is just part of the camp that thinks that Christmas decorations shouldn't be put up till after Thanksgiving, lol.

Emerald of course was the most helpful. She really loved singing and hanging everything up. She helped me cut pictures out of a toys-r-us catalog to make a collage letter to send to Santa Claus. Then I drew Christmas trees for all of us and we decorated them--I had gotten these crayons that you wear on the tips of your fingers and Gabriel thinks that is just the neatest thing ever because they are easier for him to hold. He doesn't even try to eat them! Emerald liked cutting shapes out of construction paper and gluing them on her Christmas tree as ornaments and lights.

If you're noticing that jail in the corner there, I assure you--it is not a baby containment area. Well, not in the punishment sense of the word at least. Both of the kids like having a place where they are contained and "alone", so I used this little gate to make their corner. Only one is allowed in at a time, it is full of balloons. They both enjoy just sitting back there and playing quietly until they are ready to rejoin the family.

On occasion, we have lovely fall days that are ideal for outside time. I wish that we could spend the whole day just playing in the backyard--picnic lunches, scavenger hunts, finger painting, swinging, basketball, races....unfortunately, Emerald usually relaxes just enough right after we are outside that within five minutes, without fail every single time we have gone outside, she tries to hide and have an accident. She really is making progress, which is encouraging, but this is a point of struggle for her, even if she sits on the potty or goes right before we go outside. It would be fine except that when she does that, I have to drag her back inside to go potty (which she never does) and the boys have to come back in even though neither of them want to. They sob and fight me and get angry, which makes me hurt for them--they didn't do anything wrong; nobody did. They aren't being punished. But Gabriel has trouble seeing it that way.

But inside has lots of things to do. Like I said, we have lots of crafts--one of my favorite things to do is to give play-dough to each of us so that we can all make something different; then Emerald and I make up a story up using all the different elements that everyone contributed. Gabriel is usually not very interested, but he likes feeling the play-dough. Up there, I made a kitty/dog that has a horn, lol. Emerald told me very plainly that it was absurd, took the horn off, and made the story about a dog.

Going through the kids' memory trunk, I stumbled across a bear sleeper pajamas for a little baby. I had bought it for Gabriel as his take-home outfit from the hospital because Emerald wore a long-sleeved pink striped onesie with a teddy bear on the front when she came home from the hospital, so I wanted them to have that to share. Of course, I completely forgot about that when Ben came home from the hospital as a Benji-bunny, but believe it or not, those fuzzy-wuzzy jammies were too hot for Gabe to wear when he came home in February. He ended up wearing a yellow and white striped onesie.

Anyways, it was crazy cute, so I dressed Ben up as a teddy bear. Then a thought occurred to me:

Emerald had missed her Halloween party at school. I had been meaning to do something to make up for it, but it had slipped my mind. So I pulled out Emerald's Rosetta costume from last year that was in the trunk too and we threw a party!

Gabriel resisted all attempts to dress up--he just wanted to be himself, I guess. Emerald hammed it up though--wand and costume, make up, headband, tons of jewelry....we got out the candy left over from trick-or-treating and ate some before dinner (the madness!). Then we blew up some balloons for our party, blew bubbles, and watched Halloween shows on Netflix. After they were done with their candy, they came into the kitchen and helped me cook while we listened to a documentary on American colleges. Okay, so I am a kind of boring :)

One last thing, I swear--then I'll shut up!

Tammy lent me some books about ASD, and we have been reading them together. The one I am on right now is "10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew" by Ellen Notbohm. Soon, I plan on finishing it and writing a bit about it so that Michael can get my impressions and so I can remember the highlights for future reference; as of now, I read it aloud to them although none of them can understand a word of it, but hearing it helps me remember and they like the sound of my voice. So hopefully you can look forward to that soon!!

Sounds like my chicken and rice is ready to come out of the oven--goodbye for tonight!

--Andie!--

More Pictures from Ruidoso

Ben and Grannymom got a lot of time to bond

All ready holding his head up, strong boy

Emerald in her pretty new coat with Pawpaw; Gabriel walking with his walking stick with Glo

One of the sensory items we brought for Gabe--his weighted vest. It helps with his "proprioceptive" senses; we also brought his brush, his "P", and his butt bucket.

Bubble bath :)

Ben was so fat and happy all weekend

Gabe in the shower

Emerald playing on Glo's iPad--she had coloring apps, puzzles, and games.

Gabe in his new pajamas playing football

Trip to Ruidoso

Grannymom and Daddad have been married for 50 years this month, so we had a little vacation up in the mountains with them to celebrate!

Ruidosa is a beautiful place, and we were all very excited to be going. Michael got two days off so that he could go to, and he was looking forward to getting away for the weekend, especially in the mountains as he misses living in Denver.

Friday marked the day that "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" came out. Michael knew how much I was looking forward to this game since it was announced, so he surprised me with it as a gift and packed the xbox for the trip so that I could play it while we were away :)

All of Thursday, I did laundry and packed bags, cleaned the house, and generally got everything ready to go. The Peacocks agreed to keep an eye on the pets for us while we were gone, which I greatly appreciated. Emerald kept talking about how she was going to go to the snowy mountains, not to the hot mountains, and how she was going to see deer and build a snowman...the only one more excited than she was was Michael, who just could not wait for the work day to end.

I know I am a lucky mama--my kids are wonderful on long car rides. They don't cry or fight, they're easily entertained with just staring out the windows and watching the scenery change; we scarcely have to stop, even for restroom breaks. For the most part, they are well-behaved and agreeable little kiddos.

Grannymom and Daddad--Michael's grandparents--met us at our house so that we could follow them up. We have a GPS navigation system for the van, but it is good to go in groups just in case something happens. Mike wanted to leave earlier than we did, but I didn't want to get out of bed at the crack of dawn so we got on the road about 9.

Stopping at McDonalds on the way out of town, I made the mistake of getting a peppermint mocha. It tasted just fine, but they made us park and wait 2o minutes before they brought it out to us--pretty ridiculous. I can't imagine how on earth it would have taken nearly a half an hour to prepare a single beverage, but as they continued serving everyone that was behind me, I could venture a guess.

On the way up, Michael and I mostly talked--as anyone that knows me can attest, I am definitely a talkative person. The chill of the early morning reminded us of morning marching practice when we were in the high school band (Michael played tuba; I was a trombone), and we talked books and comics and movies, while the kids ate their pancakes and drank their juice and watched Lubbock disappear in the rear view mirror. Ben mostly played peek-a-boo with me and smiled and flirted with his reflection in a toy mirror attached to his car seat.

When the flat plains gave way to the mountains, Emerald perked up and started chattering away as well. She was surprised that the mountains were covered in trees instead of snow, and would tell us stories about how the mountains grew sick and their mommy made them better, even though she had made them sick in the first place. Don't know how flatteringly that reflects on me, but it was quite creative, lol.

We stopped only once--in Roswell, we got out so that Emerald could use the restroom and Gabriel could stretch his legs, and we could change Ben. Mike got them a hot dog to split and we made a bottle for Benjamin, and kept on our way.

All in all, the drive up was easy and pleasantly passed. The only complaint I would have regarding that would be the precarious and narrow road that hugs the mountain on one side and boasts no guardrail on the sheer drop of the other side. That part I would consider a bit more harrowing than anything else, but of course we are fin--I am just a nervous nelly.

Rhonda, Ken, and Patrick had left much earlier than we did so that they could get the house ready; so when we arrived, Rhonda showed us around while Ken went and got pizza for lunch.

The house was simply amazing.

It was huge, with tons of windows that looked out at the beautiful dark blue mountains. When you walked in, there was a large dining room with a long wooden table to seat 8-10 on your left. In front of you was a living room with leather recliners and couch, a high round table, and a fireplace; to your right is a door leading to a deck-balcony with a huge grill, and a staircase that leads downstairs (to one beautiful bedroom), then further downstairs to another living room, bedroom, and laundry room.

The kitchen was probably my favorite room in the house--it was enormous, and (thanks to Rhonda) full of wonderful things to eat and drink.

They gave my little family the master bedroom, which was incredible. There was a glass door leading outside; we set up an inflatable mattress for Emerald and Gabriel to share in the corner, and a bassinet for Benjamin to sleep in next to the bed. The bathroom had a great big jacuzzi tub that Emerald thought was a swimming pool, and a shower with a built in bench and three showerheads. I have never stayed in such a nice room before.

After the tour of the house, we had pizza for lunch and hung out all afternoon. At one point, I tried to lay the kids down for a nap, but they would have none of it, so I let them lay down and watch a movie instead. Their favorite part was taking walks though--the weather was cool and beautiful. Gabriel found a walking stick, and it was cute to watch him toddle along, using his little stick for support. Of course, when Emerald saw that Gabriel had one, she wanted one as well. Michael, Ken, and Patrick went to a casino to hang out and have some guy time; Mike seemed to have such a great time.

Steve and Melisa, and their daughters Sydney and Macy (Mike's uncle, aunt, and cousins) had a basketball game, so they didn't come until late--after the kids and I had all ready gone to bed. For dinner, Rhonda made brisket and beans, potato salad, and rolls.

I love food. Though I am a relatively picky eater, I do very much enjoy food. That is why I am usually able to recall what we ate with more ease than what activities we did. But while the fare was awesome this time, that is not why it sticks out so vividly in my memory. I had worried that Gabriel would have trouble with the new place and so many people and more noise--he struggles with those kinds of situations normally. In Ruidoso, Gabriel's attitude and behavior were better than expected, and he handled them quite well; the only issue we had was that our usually agreeable eater became notably uninterested in eating. Oh, he was hungry, and we did feed him; but meal times were the only points of struggle for Mr. Gabe on this particular trip. Which is probably why I remember all our meals so well.

Anyways, at dinner Gabe was dragging so badly that halfway through I had to abandon my meal to take him to bed. Poor thing was exhausted, though it was only 6.30. We all ended up retiring early.

Saturday morning, I got up at Benjamin's first meal, at about 6, and we headed out in the main house around 6.30. Rhonda was making breakfast--a bacon quiche, biscuits and sausage gravy, and scrambled eggs. That was a lot of fun, helping her cook; I learned how to make quiche! I was hoping the kids would eat it a bit better so that I could introduce it into our meal rotation at home, but Gabriel showed no interest in eating when he got up and Emerald mostly picked at everything. Luckily, I got Gabe to eat a peanut butter granola bar.

I had told Emerald she could go "swimming" after breakfast, so we filled up the bathtub for her and Gabriel. Not thinking, I put some lavender bubble bath in it, which would have been fine until we turned on the jets--the churning water multiplied the bubbles until there were more suds than water in the bathtub. The kids of course loved it, especially since they got to sit in the shower and rinse off afterwards. I think Gabe liked the shower even more than the bath--Mike got soaked trying to keep Gaby from jumping up and down so he wouldn't fall and hurt himself!

Since we had all gone to bed so early, my little family hadn't gotten to see Steve and Melisa or the girls yet, so Emerald was thrilled to see them. Mostly, Emerald wanted to just play on Glo's iPad, which sort of stinks that I dragged all these toys all the way here and all the kids had better things to do, but meh. Rather be over-prepared than wish I had done more to pack.

Everyone wanted to go into town and walk around, but by mid-morning I was dead on my feet from the trip the day before and getting up so early (plus a night with a 2 month old baby), so when Ben went down for a nap, I tried to lay down as well. I didn't get to sleep because I just couldn't settle myself before Benji got back up, but it was nice to rest. Michael took the xbox to Patrick's room over the garage and they played video games together.

For lunch, we made the leftover brisket into sandwiches and I warmed up pizza and sliced some apples for the kids. Gabe actually ate a slice of pizza, plus some trail mix with dried fruits and nuts.

After nap, where Emerald and Gabriel slept most of the afternoon away, Michael mentioned that he had seen a ping-pong table outside, so Steve and Ken and Patrick went outside to play; Rhonda brought out some cards and she, Sydney, Michael, and I played some card games. Sydney taught us "Egyptian Rat Slap" (a more appropriate name than the traditional Egyptian Rat Screw), which she beat us all every time. After a few hands of that, Ken came inside and taught me how to play Spades--me and him on a team against Rhonda and Sydney. It was a lot of fun, but I suspect that I am quite lousy.

I found myself actually wishing I had brought dominos--I am more used to playing chickens foot (if not cribbage). I think that could have been a lot of fun.

Steve and Melisa made dinner--steaks, twice baked potatoes, green beans, and rolls; the day before, Rhonda had made a German Chocolate Cake from scratch, and it was iced and ready to go for dessert for Grannymom and Daddad's anniversary. After cake, I took the kids to bed and let them watch Finding Nemo until the fell asleep.

Sunday morning was our last at the beautiful house in the mountains. Melisa made breakfast burritos which were yummy. I packed while Michael watched the kids, then we switched so that he could load the car. We held a little church, where Daddad spoke and we took communion, said prayers for safe travels. Then we got on the road.

All in all, it was a perfect little vacation. We relaxed and enjoyed one another's company--I spent most of my time talking to people. The only problem we had was Emerald's struggles with using the potty. She would much rather hide, and when there are people that could hear her and come save her from evil mommy, she screams and cries as loudly as she can "someone please help me!". I felt awful, her screaming like I was hurting her. She never did manage to poop.

Happy 50th Anniversary to Grannymom and Daddad :)

--Andie

November

Benjamin is growing up so fast!! At two months now, he is more alert and awake than either of his siblings at that age, his precious little cheeks are plumping up, and he is wearing 3-6 month clothes all ready. Just as when he was a fetus, he is quite active, and very strong--I would be more upset about getting pummeled by his tiny fists and kicked by his flailing legs if I weren't so proud. And he works hard to lift that big ol' head up.

Developmentally, he is doing very well. He can hold his head up for several long seconds; he grins and giggles whenever Michael or I play with him; and he babbles and coos at anyone that will listen. Lately he has been trying to focus his eyes better on things that are in his line of sight. The only downside for the little fella is that the formula he is on upsets his tummy horribly. For the most part, he is still a very happy baby, but occasionally he gets fussy and cranky. I can't fault him for that; I am not a happy camper when my tummy hurts either.

We had an appointment with Tammy (the LPC from ECI--lot of acronyms!!) the other day and she is very encouraged with Gabriel's progress. He is starting to acknowledge Emerald and trying to engage her and us in what he is doing. Granted, he is not always the most graceful about it--it is not uncommon to see him perched on Benjamin's lap in the baby swing, or (as in the picture above) squatting on Emerald as she lays on the floor; but when he realizes that he may have done the wrong thing, he is quick to try and make amends. Several times, I have caught him when he thought I wasn't looking stroking Benji's hair or offering his baby brother a pacifier.

Most people would see Gabriel and assume that he does not want to play with other children/people. I admit, I can see where they get that impression--he won't sit still to hear books read, he abandons toys if another kid shows too much interest in it, he runs from interaction and never initiates play himself. But those that know him better see that he just doesn't know what he is supposed to do to get them to play with him. I mean, it's not like he can verbally extend an invitation, and most cannot interpret his invented signs.

So right now, that is one of our biggest goals--teaching him how to approach a peer and share a game with them as well as how to leave the interaction politely when he is done. Thus far, we have gotten him to greet visitors at the door; if he knows them, he will occasionally offer a hug or touch their hand as a form of acknowledgement. When it is time for them to leave, he will walk with them to the door, blow them kisses, and see them off.

As the days get cooler, it is harder for me to orchestrate time outside. Ben Reilly is a cold-natured baby, so he has a much harder time keeping warm. That's part of the reason he is scarcely happy unless someone is holding him; you can see his little lips trembling and his tiny hands and feet are freezing.

At any rate, we have found ourselves inside more often than not in the last few weeks, and anyone that knows Gabriel knows that he needs a great deal of sensory stimulation; being cooped up so long drives him stir-crazy. I have had to get a little creative to burn out that excess in Gabe.

I noticed that Gabriel was a big fan of jumping off the crafts table, but I worried that he would hurt himself. So I used cushions and blankets to make a soft landing, and we took turns tumbling and leaping off onto the pallet. Besides that, we also have races and play tag, wrestle on the couch, and tumble and roll in our own invented version of gymnastics.

Finally, crafts!! The more time-consuming, the better because it keeps the children's minds off their cabin fever. We made that gingerbread house up there, which took most of the morning. I also have a lot of activities to prepare Emerald for school; construction paper for a variety of simple projects; and a couple of board games that hold their interest.

Something we have all enjoyed--over the years, I have collected the many mementos that I just couldn't bear to part with: things they did at school, bracelets from the hospital when they were born...anything that reminds me of this time, when they were my babies. Recently, we have taken all those things out and preserved them in scrapbooks. Emerald cannot believe the little girl in those pictures is her; she, in fact, has invented a story about the baby "Hannah" that we have so many photographs of. Gabriel particularly enjoys seeing how his hand compares to the prints he made when he was younger, and to add stickers to the finished pages.

That is what we are doing to keep our spirits up as the temperature drops!

--Andie--

Emerald-isms

It's that time again--looking back on all the funny/sweet/awkward things spouting from the mouth of my little girl.

Emerald was taking a bath one day. She asks "Mom, it's okay to pee-pee in the bathtub, right?". I reply, "No baby; pee-pee goes in the potty." "Oh." There is a weighted pause before Emerald asks, "Mommy? Can I have some new water please?"

"It's okay if you yell at me, Mommy--that just means you love me."

"Mary had a little lamb, and the police were white as Glo!"

Emerald and I made up a song that made her laugh so hard that she couldn't breathe called "peanut butter bunny pants".

Emerald's friend Ella came down from Colorado with her parents, and they were playing together and having a lot of fun. When it was time to go, Emerald hugged Ella to her and said, "No! We can't go! I love her!"

Emerald, very indignantly when I told her she was a smart girl, "I NOT smart! I pretty! I am a pretty, pretty girl!!" I explain that she was many things--pretty, smart, funny...she smiles and says, "No, I just pretty".

One day we were talking about bacteria, and I explained to Emerald that her Oma worked with bacteria for a living. Emerald looked horrified and said, "No!! We don't play with nasty, ugly germs! They will make us sick! Oma, that gross!"

In an attempt to compliment me, Emerald declares, "You not little momma! You really, really big!!" -beams-

I was sitting on the floor and must have looked awfully forlorn, for Emerald smiles hugely, saying "Don't be sad, Momma! You got me!"

--Andie--

Pictures

You know what I hate about being a parent? How much of my day revolves around other people's bowel movements. Nobody ever told me about that. If you had told me that I would talk about poop this much--little less on a blog for the whole world to read about--I would have been appalled.

This all has a point, I promise.

So, Rhonda and Ken volunteer to have the kids pictures taken. This is a very generous gift--the amount of stress involved in wrangling my sweet babies is considerable, so offering to help capture this time in their lives is incredibly nice.

Glo has great taste--she is just a fashionable lady. Now me? I wear sweatpants year round (which Michael informed me is apparently inappropriate in the summer--who knew?) and concern myself more with comfort than looking good. So I always appreciate it when Rhonda helps me figure out coordinating outfits for events like this. She picked out absolutely precious clothes in a red, white, and black palette that looked very nice on the kids =)

Gabriel obviously was going to be our biggest obstacle. He's a mover--we can't get him to sit still for anything. At school, he is restrained with a seat belt on his chair; at home, he wears a weighted vest that helps his proprioceptive senses (what tells you where you are in relation to yourself and to your surroundings so that you use appropriate and proportional movements). Unfortunately, neither of those are options here, so I had to get creative.

The photography studio also called to confirm that my appointment was Wednesday at 4.30. Ummm...no? It is Tuesday--Tuesday, as I have stated about four billion times, is the day that Michael only works until 11. Granted, I could have made a mistake when making the appointment and accidentally told them Wednesday, but I am judging by the fact that I set up all the families appointments and we have had probably greater than 50 in the last year (as well as the fact that I made the girl booking the appointment verbally verify three times that it was Tuesday at 4.30 pm), I am going to say it was a mistake on their end. Well, they apologize profusely and say they have an appointment at 5.30. I am not happy about it because it will directly interfere with the kids' dinner time, but I don't want to argue it that much. We accept the 5.30 appointment

The other problem was that the kids take issue with taking naps when Michael is here. I don't know if it is because they are so excited that he is here that they can't wind down, or that he just changes the routine so the kids are testing their boundaries, but either way, it is not uncommon that one or both the kids are too rowdy at rest time on the days that Daddy is here. (Obviously Benjamin sleeps whenever he wants, wherever he wants, and Michael has no effect on that, lol.)

So in all likeliness, the kids are going to be hungry or tired or both. Not exactly ideal conditions for taking pictures.

First, Benjamin: He was precious. I mean, how badly behaved can a baby his size be? He was quiet and didn't require feeding or changing the hour or two we were there. His little body is still pretty floppy, so posing him was easy...he was ideal :)

Now, poor Emerald.

The day of the pictures, Emerald is having some tummy troubles. (I told you that poop-rant paragraph was going somewhere). I was hoping they would resolve themselves before we had to leave, but they didn't. So when we get to the studio, she is physically miserable and sick. All she wants to do is poop, but she most certainly does not want to poop because she is scared...the whole time we were having her pictures made, she was well-behaved and followed directions pretty well. Any time it was somebody else's, she was running off and hiding, holding her stomach and crying.

The other problem she had was that a few days before she had gotten a scrape near her eye. She wouldn't stop picking off the scab, so I put a band-aid over it, hoping that it would heal up a little before the pictures if she didn't pick at it for a day. But she had an allergic reaction to the band-aid, so now instead of just a little scab, there was a rash in the shape of a band-aid. I put benadryl cream on it several times that day, but it never cleared up. In the end, we had to put a little make-up to cover it up, but it was still a little visible.

Gabriel was, as said earlier, our wild card. We knew he wasn't going to sit still. If you look at the picture above, you can see my arm steadying him behind him (we can crop that out, but I didn't bother for this post, since it kind of illustrates my story). Smiling is rare for Gaby, even though he is a happy baby, so we have to get him in a good mood.

The bubbles I brought did not hold his interest. The Veggie Tales Michael put on his iPad went unwatched. The many toys were ignored. It was time for my last ditch effort: Skittles.

Now THAT got his attention! In several of the pictures, you could see him chewing happily away, or else signing 'more', 'please', or 'thank you' to get more. The game Buzz Went the Bee got him smiling as well, so with a little bribery, we were able to get a few good shots of him. With Emerald, we wanted her looking happy; with Gabriel, we were content with him just sitting still.

All in all, it went pretty well and we got some great pictures. Now it is time for me to put the kiddos to nap--goodnight!!

--Andie--

Halloween

It was Banjo's first Halloween!!

Okay, so obviously we didn't take him trick-or-treating. Come on--he's just a little feller. But he did get a sweet little Halloween onesie.

First, Gabriel: My in-laws are incredibly sweet people, and they love my babies very much. As most will attest, there is little that interests Gabriel besides Veggie Tales. Nothing ever gets him as excited as that show. Rhonda and Ken got him a Larry the Cucumber costume to wear this year. You should have seen how excited he got when he saw it--he didn't even mind wearing the hat that much, and he was so darned cute waddling around the house as a big green cucumber.

Emerald had been telling me she wanted to be Captain America since her birthday, but the week before when it was starting to bear down on her, she started considering more options. We took her to Toys-R-Us and let her pick through the costumes until she found one she liked. The ones that were most interesting to her were Cinderella and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). That is, they were until she saw the Tinkerbell costume. She loved that one! I actually kind of liked it too because it meant that she and Gabriel were both wearing green, so there was still some continuity to their costumes. This year was exciting for me because for the first time, Emerald was old enough to really pick her own.

Another flashback:

Emerald's first Halloween (6 weeks old), Oma got her a red chili pepper costume. Second Halloween, she was 13 months old and was a Pumpkin (Oma), then a Lion (Gigi), and finally a pink fluffy poodle (Glo and Pawpaw).

Third Halloween, she was 25 months and wore a Ladybug costume (Glo). Gabriel was 8 months old and was a Zebra (Oma), plus he wore the Lion that Emerald had the year before. Fourth Halloween, Emerald was 3 and Gabriel was 20 months: Emerald picked out a Rosetta costume (the pink flower fairy from Tinkerbell) as well as a Batgirl costume, so I went ahead and got both, lol. Gabriel got a Batman costume because Emerald got the Batgirl costume and I couldn't resist, so they matched. It was really cute.

Now I have caught you (and me!) all up on Halloweens past!!

Back to this Halloween though: Emerald was Tinkerbell, Gabriel was Larry the Cucumber, and Benjamin was staying home with Glo because he is just a little dumpling right now.

Pawpaw, Michael, and I took Emerald and Gabriel trick-or-treating at the dorms like we do every year. I like it because it is safe. That being said, it stressed me out pretty bad.

We had a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed it, but it is warm and there are a ton of people so I feel claustrophobic, and I get turned around easily which means that I don't know which way is out and that is not a feeling I enjoy. To be honest, I do have concerns that this whole event is a terrible fire hazard, with so many people and decorations all over the walls that can so easily catch flame from the strobe lights and everything...okay, so I am getting myself worked up again, but those were the paranoid thoughts that were running through my head as we went from room to room.

The thing is, those kinds of situations stress Michael out as well, so it is no surprise that the kids were a little frazzled afterwards either. Like I said, we all had a great time, but (and this should come as a shock to no one), Mommy is totally high strung. We all ready know that Emerald and Gabriel can't handle large groups of people or loud noises without having no small amount of anxiety, plus the whole seizure thing was never quite resolved so when we got into the hallway with the flashing strobe light...

I am rambling. My point in all of this is: while we had a really good time, I think maybe next year, I will let someone else (maybe Glo and Pawpaw or Daddy) take the kids trick or treating, and maybe I will try and throw a small party for the kids and their friends. Obviously this is just the preliminary, knee-jerk reaction to a stressful situation, and I am a problem solver, so I start plotting way in advance. How much fun would it be to have bobbing for apples or decorate your own candy apples or a Halloween relay race out in the backyard? Plus, Emerald would love to have Cooper over to play.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

--Andie!--