Dentist

We made our semi-annual trip to the dentist the day after the kids' birthday.  We figured after birthday party cupcakes, Halloween candy & real birthday cupcakes was a great time to go :)  Ha!

Luckily, we came out cavity free!

Logan, is such a rock star there.  He does so awesome!  He jumps right up on the chair.  Talks to he gals.  No fear.  No tears. No nothing.  Wouldn't even care if I was there.  He'd go back & do it alone. Follows them off all on his own to go for X-rays.  Sits still all on his own.  Amazing.

Olivia had a good trip too.  She requires a hand holding hers at all moments, but otherwise cooperates & actually conversed {very quietly} with the gals as needed for important things like picking her toothpaste flavor.

 ^^Check out that pouty lip above!!

Hayden, in his true form, was a terror.  Cried.  Wouldn't lay down.  Didn't sit still.  We will have to repeat his X-rays next time because his were wiggly-blurry.

Yup, him hiding by a window thinking he'd get out of it all.  He wanted Grandma the whole time, which turned out great for him.  She, in the heat of the moment, promised him a trip to Target for a toy.  {where as I would have promised him quite the opposite if he didn't shape up}

Hayden didn't cooperate enough for Dr. Matt to say anything about his overbite, but I know its there.

Olivia's teeth line up just perfect :)

And Logan.... oh Logan.  That underbite.

It gets more... and more noticable as he grows I think.

To my knowledge our families don't have history of underbites.  Jeff's has overbites, which explains Hayden's.  But this, no idea.  In my googling I did stumble upon talk of underbites from prematurity.  As your body lacks nutrition for proper bone growth, so the upper palate forms small.  I think you can find an article saying prematurity is a cause for about anything under the sun.

I asked "in terms of underbites is his pretty mild or pretty significant," because I really don't know much about them.  He said, "I want you to be prepared, because its pretty significant & it will get worse because the lower jaw grows faster than the upper."  Glad he is honest I guess.  There is nothing we do to treat it at this point, or nothing we should do as its not the best time for it I guess.  I think he said more around the time he is getting his adult teeth, age 7-8.  Part of me wants to put it off until forever, & part of me wishes we could just start treating it now & get it over with.  I've done a little Dr. Google of how to fix underbites & all I know is its not going to be fun in any stretch of the imagination.  It actually makes me sad for him already.  In the meanwhile, I guess I'll just keep piling money into a health savings account.  He's gonna have an expensive mouth!

I guess the good news is, if any kid tolerates the dentist well.... its him.

Prematurity Awareness

November is Prematurity Awareness Month.
And yesterday, November 17, was World Prematurity Day.

Different countries around the world lit up monuments, castles & bridges with purple lights.  NICU nurses wore purple shirts.

Mothers remembered & cried
Nurses did too.

I didn't get around to posting yesterday, as I was at work, with today's preemies, thinking about my 2009 preemies.

Today I found this video on Facebook & Olivia & I have watched it 6 or so times already.  She sat in awe, and watched 3 straight times without moving.  The 2nd time she said "I didn't like that stuff on my nose when I was a sick little baby."  Think she somehow remembers?  The third time as she cuddled on my arm, I cried.

I will never forget how blessed my preemies are.  That they entered the world as strong as they did & for all the loving care they received from some people who remain my greatest friends.

I will never forget some of the other preemies that have come into my life at work.  Some leaving for home.  Some joining their Father as he called them Home.

I am truly blessed.

Logan

Olivia

 Hayden

Remembering my little preemies during Prematurity Awareness Month. 11/28/2009, 16 days old & finally stable enough to get them all together for the first time since birth.

I will never forget the people who helped me get from this...

 ...to this...

 ...through this...

...to this!

Finally home.  December 24, 2009.  

At FOUR....

A collection of Question/Answer, observations & my thoughts of these little beings, at 4.

Hayden:

-Loves to play cars, trucks, trains... but also likes to play mommy & baby.
-Loves to color, but often says "I just want to scribble today."  Still writes with both his right & left hand, but its starting to show that he is more skilled with his right hand.
-Is a good eater.  Has learned to eat frosting this year.  And since Halloween has been eating chocolate!  (Though if you tell him its chocolate he will gag, then if you say "just kidding its not chocolate," he will stop gagging & keep eating.)
-His favorite comfort item is his blanket, or 2 blankets we can thankfully use interchangeably.
-He says his favorite food is "cinnamon roll breadsticks" {cinnamon sticks from Pizza Hut}
-He says his favorite color is blue.
-He hands down has the most infectious smile on the planet.
-I foresee him growing up to be the class clown.  All on his own he has come up with the idea to & mastered the art of mooning people & thinks its hilarious.
-He melts my heart when he, on his own accord, says "Thank you mom."  He can act SO grown up.
-He can be so unbelievably cause.me.grey.hair ornery, but somewhere in all that toddler-ness he has the sweetest heart.
-As of today, he says he wants to be a daddy when he grows up.  Though he usually says he wants to grow up to be a mommy.

Olivia:

-Loves to play teacher most of all.  Instructs her brothers all day long.  She also loves to play mommy, or try to BE mommy.  Countless times a day we tell her "Just let us be the parent please."
-Is such a sponge.  She learns EVERYTHING instantly!  She is sooooo smart!
-Is our most adventurous eater.
-Her favorite comfort item is her monkey lovie.  She will briefly let us substitute her other one so we can wash "Millie Monk Monkey" every now & again.  But she LOVES that monkey lovie.  The silky "cold power" it has "does the job" at making all her problems better.
-She says her favorite food is fruit.
-She says her favorite colors are black, yellow, grey, pink, blue, brown ,green & purple.
-You can not listen to her laugh & not laugh.  Just tickle her oh.so.ticklish self & find out!
-I foresee her growing up to be a lot like me.
-She asks "Why" more than anyone I know.  And thinks so deeply she keeps us on our toes.  I can't help but giggle as she tries to figure out the world by asking things like "If we had another baby at our house, would we be triplets still, or just twins?" Or "Since we are 4, not 3, how can we be triplets, because triplets means 3?"  She also asks a lot about Heaven & death (which honestly freaks me out a little sometimes.)
-She can be a bit of an instigator, but also possesses mad negotiation skills & tries hard to work out compromises with or usually for her brothers.
-She wants to be a mommy police girl when she grows up.

Logan:

-Loves to play cars, trucks, trains.  Is very particular about his stuff being just so & isn't a big fan of anybody else messing up his stuff.
-Has some insane fine motor skills for a 4 year old!
-Is a TERRIBLE eater.  Terrible.  Like he wrote the book for picky eater syndrome.  He continues to eat no meat (outside of chicken nuggets).  He would prefer to live off bread & butter.  Cereal bars are a close second.
-His favorite comfort item is his lovie.  Or his puppy.  Or this stuffed elephant he calls "Stuftie."  He's pretty low maintenance in this category.  He's pretty low maintenance in every category actually.
-His favorite food is a "butter sandwich," {see above comment about his eating}
-He says his favorite color is green.
-He has an undying need to be FIRST at everything.  Getting dressed, undressed, teeth brushed, plate handed, everything.  Expect a 20 minute meltdown following any instance he is second & don't even get me started on what life is like if he has to be last.  Surprisingly he doesn't object to the fact that he was born last, though he thinks it was because he was "stuck on that glue."
-I foresee him growing up to do all Hayden's homework.
-He may grow up to be a nudist.  He prefers to be naked & often strips his clothes off almost immediately after getting home.  He really dislikes shoes & will wear ONLY his cowboy boots.  I can't remember the last time he wore a different pair.
-He is such a little fart & I LOVE that he is so snuggly.  He is after all technically my baby!
-He wants to be a garbage man when he grows up.

We break up fights 'til we're blue in the face, yet they are each others best friends & LOVE each other to the bottom of their hearts.  

I simply can not imagine life without them.  

Happy 4th Birthday Hayden, Olivia & Logan.  

Birthday Party #4

Birthday Party #4 happened October 12, a whole month early.  (And I'm a whole month late blogging about it!)  Because some spoiled rotten kids were getting a swing set & we wanted to try to ensure some nice weather, we did the party early.  And lucky we did, because this morning it was like 9 degrees!  We got VERY lucky with the weather that weekend, the weather since then has been so up & down in temps.  But we had a beautiful day.  

Also, because Analeigh's birthday is so close to ours, she celebrated turning 2 with us!!

After a heck of a process trying to find an in budget swing set, that wasn't going to take 6 weeks or cost $200 to ship.  After switching gears 3 times... we finally got one at our doorstep the weekend before the party.  Jeff started on the building Friday night at about 6pm.  And worked in the garage building it in pieces until after 2am.  Then woke up Saturday morning at 6, to haul the pieces to the back yard & assemble it.  Since cousins Addie & Ava came up Friday night, the kids were so excited to play with their cousins, they were oblivious to the fact that their dad was outside.  So it was all built in secret!!  They have a pretty awesome dad!

 We wanted to make sure they saw the surprise before people started showing up for the party & the back door got left open or something.  So we took them out around 10:30am.  They were kind of stunned & confused.

 But quickly climbed on up & started having a blast!

 Ava & Addie got to check it out too!

Typical Logan :)

 Their hair is just to die for isn't it?!

 We had a Pirates & Princesses birthday this year!

 They begged all.day.long to open presents.  The party didn't start until 4.  So once I finally said "ok lets go open presents...." I had hardly even gotten my camera in my hand & there was paper flying everywhere.  Since they got the swing set, they just got some smaller things from family, some things from friends & some needed items like new tennis shoes.  But the whole process was over in about 4 minutes & the whole floor was covered in paper & tissue.  Wasn't exactly what I had planned, but whatever.

 Literally I had time to take those 6 pictures & it was done.

 Analeigh wasn't quite so crazy.

Don't I have the cutest nieces ever??!!

 

See!!

 Love these 3 little girlies so much!!

 Then we moved on to cake.  Singing Happy Birthday to "Hayden...Olivia...Logan... and... Analeigh" is a bit of a mouth full!!

 Blowing out FOUR candles!!

And TWO candles!

 Hayden even ate FROSTING!!!

 Eye closing good!  He is such a sweets man!

 Our friend Mason, the pirate prince!

 Then off the kids were for more swing set fun!

 Hayden wasn't in the mood, so Addie tried on his "Bot" hat for him.  Grandma GG made Team Umizoomi hats for the kids for their Halloween costumes.  Its one of their favorite cartoons right now.  Olivia is Milli. Logan is Geo.  And Hayden {or Addie} is Bot.

 And the day rounded out with one of my new favorite pictures!  We have a pretty cool Uncle Ethan!!

Love my {were not when the pictures were taken} but are now 4 year old kids!!!

Hayden Thomas

 {typical Hayden}

Olivia Paige

 {goof}

Logan Daniel

 {what he really thought of this picture business}