All in ONE Day

So everyone has been telling me lately how good it is that my children are so close in age, and that they will be such good friends; it will be easier to take them to do activities because they will be doing the same things; they are all boys and will play so well together, etc.  All these things are true, and I am looking forward to those things.  However, none of the people telling me these things have 3 boys ages 3 and under!! 

I love my boys dearly, but they can cause so much destruction in ONE day!!  Right now Kyler and Damon are causing the destruction mostly while I cook dinner and nurse Radley, but what will my house look like when I have 3 boys doing these things together?!?  I have always struggled nursing and now my boys have added more reasons to the negative side.  Here is the proof! 

(I asked Kenney when he got home if he wanted to see my day in pictures.  I thought after the first mess it would be done, but I had to make sure and document ALL of the messes)

I thought the boys were playing nicely in their room, and I heard one container of toys get dumped.  I thought it was only one and didn't think it was a big deal; then I went back there to see what they were doing and found this!

They had dumped EVERY SINGLE toy that they have into the middle of the room.  Kyler came out asking me where his Buzz gun was because he couldn't find it.  I had no idea this is why he couldn't find it!

Both sides of their toy shelf looked like this.  Completely empty!!  The only positive thing about this situation was that they did not empty their dressers as well, which they have been known to do.

Next, while I was feeding Radley, they decided to take food from underneath our bed and make a train out of it.

They made sure to get out enough cans and other things to go through two rooms.  At least they didn't open any of the food until I was done nursing, thankfully, because Damon opened the peanut butter.  That would have been awful to clean up.

Luckily I was able to stop them before they got too much further.  I'm sure they would have gotten out every can under there if I would have let them.

Then while I was making dinner they decided to get out EVERY book we have and make a big stack.  Kyler was pretty proud of it.  Unfortunately, most of the counter space I have to work with in the kitchen requires me to turn my back on the kids.  This is the kind of thing that ends up happening, so I have to choose between this or two little boys on the counter 'helping' me!

Damon was not left out of any of these messes, but Kyler was the mastermind behind all of them.

Catching the stack before it fell.  After this one fell they made it even higher.

***Another 3 reasons why I need a backyard!!!

Playing in the Rain/Mud

We have not gotten much rain in Texas during the last 3 years.  So basically during our kids' entire lives, we have been in a drought.  Kyler was excited when he woke up the other day to rain.  He begged and begged to go play in the rain.  If we had a yard, I would have sent him out right away, but all of us, including Radley, had to go out to play since they had to run around our apartments.  I finally agreed, and we all went out.  Kyler had an absolute blast!!  Damon was not such a big fan.  He doesn't like to get messy.  I know I have said this many many times, but I CANNOT wait until we have a yard!  I never realized how much boys need to run and play outside until recently.

Kyler found this puddle immediately, before I even got out the door.  He quite enjoyed the mud!!

Damon's (and my) idea of a puddle.  I thought playing in the rain only consisted of playing in the sidewalk puddles.  Kyler went straight for the mud!  I was really surprised Damon didn't like the mud.  I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since he doesn't really like sand or other things.

Damon barely touching the mud puddle.

A little while after 'testing' out the mud puddle, he got brave and decided to try and stand in it.  He didn't realize that Kyler had made the puddle quite deep after jumping in it so much.  It was about thigh deep for Damon.  He got scared after stepping in and fell.  This was his reaction.  I know I'm the horrible mom that took the picture rather than comforting the child.  It was really funny.

The deep puddle Kyler created.

He had mud from head to toe.

Damon couldn't get over his dirty hands.  He definitely gets that from me.  I hate having dirty hands.  I never would have jumped in mud puddles as a kid.  I know, Damon and I are kinda lame!

Damon attempting to clean his hands off!

Big Splash

Even 15mins after the fall, he still couldn't get over his dirty hands.  His face sums it up pretty well!

Kyler won the dirty award for sure.  I felt bad that we had to end his fun, but Damon HAD to have his hands cleaned.  I think Kyler would have stayed out there for hours!

Kyler's socks compared to Damon's socks.  My boys are SO SO different!

We got free Sluprees on 7/11.  I probably like the Slurpees just as much or more than the boys!!

He is getting big already!!  It is weird to have a baby sleep so much.  My other boys never really slept like he does (during the day).  It is pretty nice!

This video shows just how different the boys reacted to playing in the mud. 

This is Damon's new way of shooting baskets. We found him doing this one night, and I guess we shouldn't be surprised by anything he does, but I swear he is going to seriously injure himself one day. Kyler then climbed up there and got a little nervous because it was so high.

The 4th and a New Brother

We were able to celebrate the 4th of July with family in Childress because Kenney had half a week off of school. We spent most of the 4th itself with Kenney's brother and his family at the pool and their house. The boys loved having people to play with all day.  Kyler refused to get in the water at the pool, and Damon only spent about 5 mins in the water, but they still seemed to have fun.  Kyler did however play in the little pool in the backyard and the slip-n-slide.  Kyler did not like the fireworks Kevin was lighting off in the driveway.  The poor kid was so scared he was sitting alone in the house waiting for it to be over.  We were nervous about how he would react to the big fireworks, but he did much better than we expected.  We all had a really good time and Kevin and Kerry were nice enough to entertain us the whole day!!  We spent the rest of the time at Nana and Papa's house just enjoying space!!

Kyler eating snacks (of course) with his cousins.

Damon with a ball (of course)

It took forever to get Damon in the water, but at least he got in!!  He even went down the slide with Kenney.  He screamed when they hit the water, but he did it!

This is where Damon preferred to play, in the puddle!

Gentry was OBSESSED with Radley.  She wanted to be close to him the entire time she was around him.  She wouldn't even do fireworks because she had to be close to the baby!!

The boys throwing poppers (the little 'fireworks' that pop when you throw them).  This was before the loud ones started.

Kyler extremely nervous and timid about the sparklers.

He was a little bit scared of the big fireworks at first but he warmed up much faster to these.  He even stayed outside when everyone came back to do the fireworks at home.

Poor Kenney tried so hard to get a picture of the 3 of us.  He was never successful, but I love this attempt of the boys!  At least one of us had our eyes closed in every shot.

We had rootbeer floats after the big fireworks and Damon took eating his very seriously.  He had to have both hands on the table the entire time.  He wasn't about to waste one drop.

Just a funny sign we saw on our way back home that so reminds me of small town Texas!

We didn't get to play with Aunt Savanna very long, but I really like this picture.

Kyler and Damon have been so much better about having a little brother than I expected.  They each have to hold Radley at least three times a day (it only lasts about 10 seconds each time, but at least they know he is a part of our family).  They still aren't so sure about me feeding the baby, and Damon is figuring out that I am slightly less able to discipline him when I am feeding Radley.  I am a little scared about what the future may hold during feedings, but I am hoping for the best.  The boys can actually be pretty sweet to him.  There are some videos of them both singing to him.  It is really precious.  I still think I might go crazy at times, but we are adjusting to life with 3 boys age 3 and under!!

Kyler and Radley

Damon and Radley

This is how Damon chooses to 'sit' at the table.  He just hangs there, literally hangs there to eat.

Why would anyone choose to eat this way?  We question many of Damon's behaviors and this one is no different.

This is how Radley spends a lot of his days.  I am not used to a baby sleeping as much as he does.  It is very nice I might add!

So sweet and innocent

He is awake sometimes!!

Radley grabs his face and pulls his hair so we have to put little mittens on him.

Oh Damon

All ready for church with their hands in their pockets!!

Damon starts off singing the end of the ABCs, but they end singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Sorry about the bad filming.

Kyler was so cute one day when he climbed up onto the couch to sing to Radley.  I didn't know any of my boys could be so sweet!

The NICU

Three days after Radley was born, the nurse checked his temperature and it was 100.1  The doctor in the nursery was concerned and consulted with the doctors in the NICU.  They all thought it was best to admit him to the NICU just in case he had an infection.  The situation with his kidney made them more concerned because they wanted to make sure he did not have a kidney infection.  So by 10am Wednesday he was admitted.  So our forever long week began, and we came home without our baby.

We were blessed to have Oma and Papa Dude take Kyler and Damon to my Nanny's in Brownwood, and we didn't have to worry about them at all.  We then started making a trip to the hospital every 3 hours to feed Radley.  It was nice to have the comfort that he was pretty stable and healthy during the entire time, but it was really hard on all of us.  Poor Radely went through so much.  He had blood work and other tests run daily and had to have 4 catheters during his short NICU stay.  He was such a trooper.  He never seemed extra fussy or upset (except when the nurses strated messing with him).  He did spit-up really bad right in front of the doctor, and she was concerned that he would get dehydrated so even more IV fluids began.

I was also blessed because Kenney was able to come with me to almost every feeding.  Even though he had class and other church responsibilities, he made every effort to be there with me.  He was my driver to and from the hospital and kept me company while I fed the baby.  We both got tired of the long walk from the parking lot into the hospital, and our hands and forearms were raw from scrubbing in 8 times a day to get inside the NICU.  We were both exhausted.  Finally, on Sunday we were able to bring our sweet baby home and our other boys came home too.  It was so nice having our family back together again!

This is his bed after he upgraded from the first one.  He was moved closer to the more stable babies within 24 hrs and put back into the bassinet type bed.

Some of the cords and wires he had coming from him.

We were some of the lucky parents in the NICU that acutally got to hold our baby and not just touch him through a hole in his bed.  However, wearing the yellow gowns was extremely annoying.

This face pretty much tells the story about our feelings regarding our situation, and it's a good view of  his IV.  It was extremely hard to change his clothes with that IV strapped to his arm.

It was so much easier to hold and feed Radley once he was unhooked from all the machines.  I'm not sure how long it will take his poor little heels to recover from all the pokes he got and all the tests they ran.

I showed up one morning and this how I found him.  I thought for sure they were going to make us stay an extra week longer, but luckily the photo lights made his bilirubin go down quickly.  He only had the lights for a day and a half.

Hanging out under the lights with his cool shades!

Radley was just trying to be like his brothers by going without clothes!

Enjoying the lights.  It looks like he is tanning, but just the opposite is happening.  His cute 'tan' is going away.  They were calling him the beach baby because of his highlighted hair, tan skin, and cool shades!

He pulled off about 5 pair of glasses and left two big red marks on the side of his face.  One time when he pulled them off, we heard his skin getting ripped off.  He screamed so loud.  We felt really bad for him, but he kept both hands by the side of his face tugging at the velcro pieces even when the glasses were off his face.

Nanny came to visit, along with Aunt Edna, Aunt Natalie, and Uncle Richie.  Nanny even got him to grin if you look close.

All the nurses in the NICU knew who Radely was because of his hair.  Multiple times while we were there random nurses would come by just to see the baby with all the beautiful hair.  The last nurse we had was excited to get the 'cute' baby everyone had been talking about!

One side of his face where he pulled off the glasses.  Poor kid went through a lot in the first week of his life!