Andrew is 4 months old

We have the official checkup tommorow but according to my scale he is around 13 lbs and 26.5 inches. Much taller than the other 2 were at that age. And a couple new pictures:


These hands are interesting:

Feel the love!

Smile for Mimi

I thought I would bribe Alex to smile for Mimi so I could at least get a "nice" picture of him. Yea, bribes don't work. Here is what we got.




This will have to do:

Christmas baking and decorating

Yesterday I decided we needed a Christmas tree in our house. So, Alex and I headed to Wal-mart and bought a cheapy tree. We then baked us some sugar cookies, decorated them, and then decorated the tree. I have to say, decorating a tree with three children running amok is pretty hard. I thought I did well by buying shatterproof bulbs. I didn't think about the hooks to hang them with. So Aidan is pulling all of the bulbs off, which I then place at the top where he can't reach.
Here are the pictures:
Enjoying just baked cookies:


Decorating them, he ate the majority of the sprinkles before they made it on the cookies:


Yum Yum:


Christmas tree:


Group shot. Yes, Aidan is eating a bulb:



Being a good brother:

A few pictures of Andrew is his Xmas outfit and stocking

Took a few picture of Andrew today in his Xmas outfit. He was in a happy mood. Hoping to get a few other the other 2 boys soon. He has really found his hands and loves having them in his mouth.

Huge smile

Holding his stocking

Thanksgiving

What's new

Gearing up for Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping here. Kids are good. I am trying(and have been trying) to teach Alex his numbers. For some reason he always counts 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, no matter how many times I correct him. Oh well. Have also been trying to teach him how to write some letters, mainly his name. Not doing so good with that either ;) He can write an A somewhat. Maybe I am just trying to teach things above and beyond his skill level. He knows his shapes, his colors, recognizes some numbers, some letters, but has a good memory for stories. He can pick up any book and tell me what each page is about, so we are good there :)

Aidan is doing good. He walks all over the place now and is getting to be more of a toddler than a baby. Doing a little better at leaving his cochlear implant on. He is responding to really loud noises like the spoon on the mixing bowl. But still doesn't respond to other things, or our voices. He is currently hearing at 45(or maybe it was 40) decibels. That is the level at which you can hear people talking, so we do believe he can hear us. The main thing is teaching him to discriminate between important sounds(us talking, sounds from toys, dogs) vs things that are unimportant(dishwasher running, tv). So he can't pick out sounds yet so he doesn't know where things are coming from. The speech therapist has us getting on his level and having him watch our mouths move when we talk so that he will imitate that movement, thus creating more sound from him. Different sounds feel different on the throat so once we can get him to make his mouth move in a different position AND make noise at the same time, he should recognize a different sound coming from him. Anyway, the ST thinks he is behind in a few other areas than language. Namely in his ability to imitate things. I personally do not think he is as behind as she thinks he is. He does imitate things I do--he puts a toy phone to his ear(even though he can't hear anything), he tries to give Andrew food, he waves(although only after you wave to him, not of his own accord). We are teaching him to point. He will do it but does not do it for something he wants. He will jusy point at the wall :) and think it is funny. So we are working more on that with him as well as working on more signs.

Andrew is now 3 months old. He is about 11 pounds and 25 inches. He still spits up a ton. Seems like he(and I) are always covered in foul smelling spit up, yuck. He is starting to roll over. He can roll belly to back pretty well but only does it at night. He is trying to get from back to belly but only gets about 1/2 way over(arm gets in the way). Well, after after another spit up and change of clothes he actually just managed to go from his back to his belly. Yay Andrew! He smiles quite a bit now but it is so hard to get on camera. He is also starting to laugh a little bit. It will probably be at least another month before I get a full blown belly laugh but it is coming.

O, what everyone likes to see, new pictures. I took these for our 2008 Christmas card:

Aidan refused to look at the camera and it is really hard to get him to look anyway



And here is the result of the Christmas card I put together, courtesy of www.scrapblog.com Love that site!


And a funny picture of Aidan in his sunglasses

Halloween

Kids had a great Halloween. I took Alex to Temple's Fall Festival on Thursday. He got to climb into the firetruck and check it out, look at a hot air balloon(too afriad to get in), ride a pony, and play a few games. Good time had by all. Friday afternoon we did the downtown trick or treating. I was shocked at how much candy the kids got. We then headed to Shreveport to my dad's/stepmother's house for a Halloween get together. Kids enjoyed getting to see their cousins and got even more candy :)
Pictures:

Edward and the kids:

Me and Andrew:

Andrew as a cow:

Alex as Dash from Incredibles:

Aidan as a bumblebee:

Sick House

So it appears that we are all sick here(except Edward). Andrew just has a little nasal congestion, Aidan has a horribly gunky nose, slight fever, and just all around miserable, oh and a night time cough, oh and he is teething. Alex has the night time cough and a little congestion but for the most part is over it. Unfortunately I went to the Er Sunday night b/c of breathing problems. After 3 breathing treatments, steroids to open my lungs, chest xrays, and some meds I was diagnosed with asthma(got a puffer for that) and either pneumonia or bronchitis(they weren't sure) but the antibiotic I got covers both so all is well. Feeling a lot better today, still have a bad cough, had to use the puffer once already, but not soo bad considering how bad yesterday was. I am just hoping the kids don't get worse.

Andrew is 2 months old

Andrew is now 2 months, seems to have been going by so fast. Haven't taken him for his official checkup, but by my calculations he is 12 lbs and 23", we will see if I am correct next week.
Here is a picture I took yesterday:

Matching outfits

A few days back I went shopping to find Alex a light jacket for this winter since it gets cold enough for a jacket but not cold enough for a big thick jacket. I had the hardest time finding something and really wanted a windbreaker. But I did find a light fleece hoodie with pants and a tshirt. Decided Aidan could use some more pants so I got them both an outfit. Today was their first day of ever wearing a matching outfit



Aidan waiting to go outside:

Zoo

We went to the zoo on Friday(10/10/08) and had a good time. Alex ran from each area wanting to see all the different animals, but didn't want to look too long, guess he was afraid that the animals would disappear if we lingered. Aidan loved seeing everything and Andrew slept most of the time :)Unfortunately the camera died before I could get a shot of Alex or any more of the kids and animals.




Feeding the ducks

Andrew sleeping


New picture of Andrew


Aidan and Alex

Big man on the street

So Alex is pretty popular with the other kids on our street. They are all older than him but seem to follow him around everywhere. We think it is b/c of the cool toys :) But it sure is a site to see Alex having 2 girls on each arm walking down the street :)

Aidan's new Hairdo

I went to walmart a few days ago and got some blue and red hair dye for Alex to dye his hair for Halloween. I really thought he would love doing it but nope, he had a fit and was afraid. So I did Aidan's instead. I think it turned out very cute. DOn't worry, it washes out.

Busy Busy Busy

Having 3 kids creates a busy household. Between putting Aidan's processer on and tending to a baby that enjoys screaming, it seems like there is time for not much else. I have to say that Alex is a big helper, but we may rely on him too much. Aidan is doing better with his implant, although we are unsure if he can hear anything yet. Taking him outside in the wagon and walking up and down the street gives us about 30mins-1 hour of him wearing it so we are trying to get him outside a few times a day when it is cooler.
Adding a few new pictures of the kids:
Alex holding Andrew:


Me and Andrew, Alex actually took this picture:


Alex requested to hold both babies. Aidan is not too fond of Andrew:

Finally creating a family blog

I have been meaning to start another blog for our family, but haven't gotten around to it until now. Better late than never, I suppose.

A little about us. I am Cassie, sometimes known as Cassandra, but please don't call me that, I may have to kill you. My husband is Edward and we have 3 beautiful boys. Our oldest is Alex. He will be 4 in April and is one very bright kid. Got quite a mouth on him, takes after his mommy. Our middle son is Aidan who just turned 1 in July. That boy has killer hair and the most gorgeous eyes, he is definitely a lady killer. Our youngest is Andrew(see a trend with the names?) and he was just born in August 2008 and as of now is my mini me, YAY, finally a baby that looks like me and not his daddy!

As you can see it is a house filled with testosterone, but maybe that is better than me spending untold amounts on frilly dresses and bows that I would love to buy.

Pictures of the kidlets and family:
Alex-as you can see he has trouble written all over his face.



Aidan-see all that gorgeous hair.



Andrew-this is what he likes to do most of the time he isn't sleeping.