Hanauma Bay

Thanks to the boys uncle Chance and aunt Janet, Phil and I got a baby free morning and afternoon. It was so nice, we spent our time at Hanauma Bay (sp?) snorkling (see pic). The first pic is actually from yesterday.

Water Baby Eli

Aside from the boys waking up at 3:30am (6:30 west coast, their normal wake up time) it was a fantastic day. We set off for the beach at 6am since what else are we to do at the condo at this awful early time of day! All the boys freaked out when they felt the sand under their feet (as expected from their reaction to Sandland back in Portland). It took Eli a good 45 minutes to get used to it and finally step off our bamboo mat and out onto the sand (probably the last of our relaxing on the beach). Phil took him out to the water and he instantly loved it! We couldn't keep Eli away from the water and seemed to have no fear of it, it was back in forth to the water and then back to digging, with his shovel always in hand. Caleb took a bit more coaxing but finally joined Eli after about 1.5 hrs on the bamboo mat prison. Poor Thomas just couldn't let go of his fears as easily and it took him at least three hours before he made his peace with the sand although he's still not real sure of it. The boys played so hard that the minute we loaded them back into the stroller (and Eli on my back) to head back for lunch they fell asleep (it was still only 10am!). They slept for 3.5hrs! I'm hoping this helps them get over their jet lag and will wake up at least no later than 5am. We'll see : )

Here is a picture (not sure what order the pics are in) of Eli sporting an old timey classic beach baby outfit. And some other pics too!

21 degrees North

That's how far North we are of the equator : )

The first half of the flight went as expected, everything new and exciting. 1 or 2 out bursts but nothing bad, ate tons of snacks followed by lunch, then major 'ants in my pants.' Started to get very nervous because they had no signs of being tired. Some hard rocking put Eli and Thomas to sleep. Had to bring out the big guns for Caleb so i nursed him and he went right to sleep. Big sigh! The second half they just slept...well for about an hour or so then back to wrestling them and keeping them from losing it. The rest of the day went much worse everyone was super tired and cranky but bed time finally came! Took care of some essentials like grocery shopping and come to find out stuff isn't as expensive as I thought it would be. Ready to eat dinner and hit the sack.Tomorrow should be better once we are all well rested : )

Aloha!

The boys are going to bed in their travel outfits, don't they look cute? (Thomas was totally digging his backpack).

It's gonna be a LONG day tomorrow getting to HAWAII!!! Since the boys sleep so dang much I anticipate lots of down time so I intend on updating the blog each day we are there but all I have is my iPhone so it'll be just one or two pics per post till we get back. I'm also not sure how to publish comments so I'll see them but might have to wait till we get back to publish them. Wish us safe travels : )

Sorry the pics aren't being sized correctly, just click on the pics to see them individually (bare with me I'm not very good at technology!)

One Shoe Blue Shoe No Shoe

Don't mess with these guys, remember there's three of them and only one of you!

Bad to the bone

Action shot!

The boys love admiring their friend Oscar...from afar apparently

For the love of ketchup!

 It took several tries for them to finally like ketchup, I think they grew to like it because of their love of dipping!

 The boys dipped their sweet potato fries, sandwich, pickles, and strawberries in ketchup. So glad they ate outside!

Thomas dipped his grilled cheese sandwich in the ketchup on his knee 

One Shoe Blue Shoe No Shoe

Putting Eli's shoe back on

Eli going back for his shoe

Eli throwing his shoe

Eli is upset that he's missing a shoe again...repeat

Baby Updates

When I went to pick up the boys at nursery school one of their teachers asked me if "Eli is the real emotional one?" Boy she couldn't have hit the nail on the head better. Then she said that "Eli will let you know when he's not happy!" So true, one morning long ago (don't even remember when) but Eli was being real clingy and Phil couldn't get anything done and so he yells to me to come help him and says "Eli's an emotional wreck!" Another excellent description of Eli (well just sometimes).  

As of the last couple of weeks time outs are working! I've always used them as a means to calm a baby down but now I can actually threaten them with it and they will immediately calm down (most of the time). I don't like screaming at the top of your lungs for no good reason. It works best on Eli but that might just be because he gets them the most (remember he can be a real emotional wreck sometimes). 

So more about Eli but this one is positive (not that the other stuff is all that bad). Eli has become such a star signer, he picks up signs so quickly! After showing him how to sign diaper maybe a handful of times he tried it and uses it appropriately now. He also sometimes combines two signs together (for example signing all done followed by more). That boy is as sharp as a whip!

Thomas was petting our cat Lankston when I asked if he could give him a kiss. He leans forward and kisses the cat on the head! So cute, pets are such a good thing for babies and kids, not only do they help kids learn empathy but they are also good for their health! Kids that grow up with pets have less allergies and asthma than those who don't (I'm not making this up, there are scientific studies to back this up). I was asked several times while I was pregnant if we were planning on keeping our cats, inappropriate question in my book. Of course not, it didn't even cross our minds, we love our kitties! 

The boys play together a lot more now. This includes chasing, wrestling, but mostly they love imitating each other like if one boy starts jumping on the couch and the other two quickly join in.

Ever since I quit nursing Thomas first thing in the morning (now he get's a sippy cup of milk in care of dad) he's become quite the papa's boy. If dad is home he run's to him and not me for comfort if he needs it. Phil pretty much has him attached to the hip until he leaves for work in the mornings. 

We have had two speech therapy sessions so far and already they are really helping. Their teacher thinks they are on the cusp but that they are such busy kids exploring that their hasn't been much interest to learn to talk. She has taught me some good techniques to encourage them to communicate. Like blowing bubbles and saying "down down down pop!" They say "dow" with some encouragement, repetition is key. And building up anticipation with a wind up toy by saying "one two three" pause "go!" They say "oh" with some encouragement as well. We need to work on giving them choices to get them to point at what they want but this doesn't work too well when you have three kids so need to think about this one some more. Eli very consistently says banana sounds like 'nanana.' The other two join in and say nanana but only after they hear me praise Eli for saying it. They learn very quickly from each other and always love being praised! Caleb has always been very interested when I stick my tongue out at him or say 'lalalala' he hasn't been able to do it until now and once they saw Caleb doing it the other two have joined in as well.  

Crazy for Thomas!

This video is a bit long (3min) but for those who are big fans of the boys you will not be disappointed! See how crazy the boys are for Thomas the Train. See if you can identify who is who by their dancing. Thomas does a side to side sway, Eli twirls around in circles, and Caleb does this crazy shake where he looks like he's boxing or something.

 

March Of Dimes 2012

Family pic before starting

 Here we go!

 We did the long walk this year (10K) because the family walk is sooo short and not the prettiest route. It would have been a piece of cake had Eli not refused to sit in the stroller for more than 10 minutes into the walk. I carried him on my back for most of the walk and my legs were sore for days!

 They are a little young to appreciate how cool fire trucks are

I must say I'm a little disappointed that MofD, which promotes healthy babies, didn't have a healthy lunch option. All they had were hot dogs and potato chips. The boys didn't touch their hot dog (which I guess isn't entirely a bad thing) and all they ate were chips. Can't believe how much they liked them, makes me glad I keep them away from junk food because that's all they'd want to eat!

Just like last year Thomas did a "March for Babies" dance: