Hoody strings??

 A rare shot these days, the boys playing good together!

 When Riley notices me laying on the floor taking pictures he makes his move for me...

you have something I want, Mommy...

 ...sidetracked by my barefoot...

 ...moving on, scaling up my leg...

 

...got it!! I love the strings on your hooded sweatshirt ;)

 Riley decides to join his brothers again...

Evan sees something that he wants...

...give me that chain-link!!

 Oh, Riley won :(

 This makes Evan very MAD!!!

 ...and then he drops it and moves on! Evan's still mad...

Why is Riley all over the place?? I want to be cruising too :(

*****Notice how sweet P was not phased by any of their silly nonsense :)



Just another day....

No news yet on Payton's echo, but he did gain almost 1/2 a pound! He is also on an inhaler now to see if it helps with his lungs, will check back with the Dr. in 2 weeks.

The boys actually played "nicely" together for about 15 minutes! It usually ends when Riley steamrolls Payton or Evan gets frustrated that Riley is crawling and he isn't. I hope this phase passes soon- it is wearing us out!! I know they could use a change of scenery, but it's so cold outside :( I need to start getting creative on how to entertain these boys in our small quarters- let me know if you have any suggestions!!

amazing baby!

Today was Payton's echocardiogram appointment, with a few hiccups we managed to get it done. I was not informed of any prep or information regarding what to expect (the last time he had one he was in the NICU and circumstances were different) so we went in blind. I should have known when I was called 30 minutes before his scheduled time asking if I was able to reschedule- ummmmm, no- I have help set up for my other 3 boys and feel I waited long enough! Heck, my son may still have an open PDA or congestive heart failure, don't ask me if I want to wait! (Hopefully he has neither, fingers crossed for good results!) SO she said I could still come in but may have to wait a little bit. Well, 75 minutes after the schedule time we were finally called back. She had me undress Payton from the waist up and lay him on a an ultrasound gurney- similar to the ones I spent maaany hours on when they were inutereo! I casually asked how long it would take and was shocked by the answer: "oh, about an hour", WHAAAATTT??? You expect a 10 month old to just lay still for an hour!?!! Me- "Isn't there sedation or something to make this possible?" Her- "Yes, if this doesn't work we will do it with sedation. But we would have to reschedule since this wasn't set up as a sedation case." Ugggghhh!!!! I was not going to reschedule after that lovely waiting room wait!

All I can say is thank goodness I had Payton there in that room with me. I can honestly say that there is NO WAY Riley or Evan would have EVER EVER, EVER endured that exam without sedation. I am not sure there are many 10 month old babies out there that would- not without any forewarning or planning of what to expect. But not my sweetie Payton, he is AMAZING!!! He started out a little iffy, but settled down listening to my sweet nothings whispered in hes ear and his lovey covering his head and eventually fell asleep during the scan itself!! We made it through almost the entire exam, a little over an hour before he woke up for the tail-end because we had to change his position. This boy amazes me all.the.time!!!

 This is at the end of the exam- what a perfect patient!!

I was not told anything about what was or was not seen as the study was going to be sent to a Fargo Dr who reads Minot's peds cases. We see the pediatrician tomorrow for a weight-check, my fingers are crossed that the report will be back! Look at the cheeks on P, I think the increased calories in the formula are helping....again, fingers crossed!!

 Brody knew that Payton was at the Dr for the entire afternoon so he decided to invite the boys into his room for "a party in his city!" (his words) It turned into a surprise bday party for Daddy (not his birthday) and fun for all :)

Such a good big brother

Snow what?

I think it has been snowing all day here! Brody woke up very excited to see this and was even more excited that he was able to wear snow pants for the 1st time! He found Zeke in the bathroom this morning ( :-) ) and has "practiced" twice so far just to be sure that Zeke tells Santa that he is trying. We decorated our perfect made-for-FEMA-trailer Christmas tree this morning followed by Brody helping Ben clean off the cars and playtime in the snow.

 Despite our lack of space this year we were able to carry on our tradition of a real Christmas tree :)

 Brody was a BIG help!!

Mom and the boys had a lazy Sunday morning playing :)

Tweet!!

Yes, we had pictures taken this morning of the boys :) A new saying also debuted from Brody instead of "cheese" or "stinky feet".."TWEEEET"!!! (or was it "treeeeaat!!", I'll never know) Brody did great for the the photoshoot, as did his baby-brothers. I am so excited to see the pictures HJ Selch took, I am sure they are amazing- just like her others. She has a beautiful new studio that they will be having a grand opening for soon (after losing their first studio to the darn flood!)

We started out in "formal" Christmas Attire for a family pic before stripping the boys down to show off their beautiful baby skin. They all did great considering the week of yuckies we have had. Riley, of course, called it quits first and thought army crawling around the studio was much more interesting than sitting next to his brothers while mom and dad danced around behind the camera like crazy people :) We managed to squeak a few more out before we definitely knew the shoot was over! What great boys though- they even were up for lunch out with Grandma afterwards- good day :)

We were almost out the door when Brody realized there was an old "race car" just his size. Heidi was great and let him take a cruise and even filled him up with gas. This is the only pic I got of our day:

ZEKE!

The Elf on the Shelf, Zeke, was introduced to the Waind family today. Brody is really interested in his story and is excited to wake up tomorrow to see where he will appear. We are thinking that Zeke will be spending a lot of time in the bathroom because, as you know, Santa REALLY wants Brody to use the big-boy potty, duh!! What a battle we have been having with this :( We started out pretty good before we left Portland and it has been the topic that Brody wishes not to discuss, AT ALL, for the past few months. Our fingers are crossed that Zeke is as magical in his ways as we have heard ;)

Rock On!

Brody is giving Uncle Ty and I a jam session before PJs and bedtime tonight :) (Those are tattoos on his knees which he also showed off to the pizza guy last night after he commented oh how cool the guys arm tattoos were, ha!)

Ben is laying flat on his back recovering from some injections he got in his SI joints, we should know in a few days if it will help with his pain, fingers crossed!!! We want him to be relieved of his pain and able to to do what he wants :) And he says Nurse Waind is the best...thanks babe!


We heard from the Dr today that Payton's labs came back normal (no hyperthyroidism) and his heart was within normal range on his CXR- Yeah!!! We still have the echo appt on Monday, hopefully it will be good as well. That will just open another can of worms- trying to figure out the weightloss when he eats like a champ, and the weird sweating?? More answers soon we hope. In the meantime we have increased the calorie content of his bottles and will have him weighed again next week.