Sofia turned FIVE!

June is a month of birthdays around our house. I wrote all about the boys' uneventful second birthday, but I've neglected to write about Sofia's birthday. She is the one who had the legitimate party after all. Which was Frozen themed of course. Frozen everything. I thought she was going to grow out of this Frozen phase by now, but it seems to still be going strong. I'll eventually get around to posting about her party, even though I have all of two photos of it. (Mommy fail) 

I just celebrated (if you can call it that) my birthday and even though it's on a major holiday, it's just another day and has been for quite some time. Nothing too special. Just the day I get to add another year to my age. But to Sofia, a birthday is indeed a celebration. All year long she seems to be planning for her birthday. When we are in a store and her request to buy something for her is denied, her automatic reply is, "No, for my birthday!" It's her way of saying Just Kidding. Can I have this tea set? No, sweetie, you have enough toys at home. No! For my BIRTHday!! Oh, sure, yeah, for your birthday.... 

For my birthday, my mom always bought me an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. I absolutely LOVED my birthday ice cream cakes. I was so sad when that tradition died as I got older. Adam got to pick out a fancy tea cup from his step-mom's china to use on birthdays growing up. We have yet to create some sort of tradition for Sofia's birthday. I'm sure that will come naturally eventually. This year we spent the day together and let Sofia do almost whatever she wanted, which I don't think was anything that exciting seeing as I can't even remember what we did. But boy was she happy to finally be five. 

Sofia,

    Such a little spitfire. You are too old for your own good. Five going on fifteen is what you are. The amount of sass that comes out of you is still surprising to me, even though I see it on a daily basis. I'm glad to see that you are a confident young lady. I can't tell you how proud I am to see you easily blend in with new kids on the playground or how easily you can chat with people. At times you play shy or coy with newer adults, but it's all for show. You love meeting people. You had a whole conversation with a lady at the mall this weekend about the new shoes you just bought. She told you about how excited her own daughter used to get when she was your age and she got new shoes. She was so excited about her new shoes, she'd put them on when they got home and she wouldn't want to take them off so she would sleep with her new shoes on. You thought this was silly and proceeded to tell the lady why sleeping with your shoes on is not a good idea because you'll get your sheets all dirty. 

    

    I'm sure you will follow in our footsteps and be a creative person. One of Daddy's favorite things is to see how well your drawing has evolved. Your drawing goes through phases. At first it was everything smiley face. Smiley faces on papers. Smiley faces on receipts at the restaurant. Then you were able to add the stick figure body to your smiley face. Then it was hands and feet, then hair, etc etc. etc. Which brings us to now where your drawings have lots of people with various amounts of prominently displayed teeth. Mostly just one tooth, which you think is hilarious, but sometimes two or more teeth. Lots of times with mustaches just like your favorite baseball player, Rollie Fingers. 

    Speaking of teeth, you sure have some sweet ones. If it were up to you, you'd just eat cookies all day long. In Sofia's Perfect World every meal would be a sweet one, or at least would have dessert. We'd spend all day at the park before going to a friend's house for a play date. There would always be a TV on to watch a movie. Doesn't matter what movie really. As long as it's not too scary. Preferably a cartoon. Or Jimmy Fallon. Bedtime wouldn't exist. Someone would always be available to play with you, doesn't matter what, as long as they play. And we'd never have to match our clothes. Well, either never match or be totally monochrome. One of those two extremes would have to be the dress code. 

    You haven't given up on your job as big sister yet. There have been so many times I've asked you to watch over your brothers so I can take the clothes out of the dryer, or go to the restroom, or go get the mail, or whatever, and you hardly ever complain. Okay, Mommy! All I need you to do is just make sure they don't kill themselves or each other, and you do a good job of that. Sometimes it would be nice if you could just take the glass of water away from them instead of shrieking, EEEEEEeeeeeeee! Mommy!! Thomas has a glass of water!! It's funny to hear you try to direct or correct your brothers when they are doing something wrong or about to get in trouble. jayCOB! Don't DO that. JAYcob!! You sound so authoritative and yet they don't listen to you hardly at all. It's okay, don't feel bad. They do the same thing to me. 

    I think being five is going to be a great age for you. I am a little behind on the whole, learning to swim and ride a bike thing. But you already know how to tie your own shoelaces! Although you hardly ever try. And you are so close to learning how to read. I hope this year will bring you some patience since that is one thing you aren't too great at. Patience with yourself as you can get frustrated easily when tasks you are trying to do aren't going well, and patience with others as you sometimes forget you aren't the only person who needs help or attention. We'll work on it. You'll get there. I mean, you are only five... 

Twins Turned Two!

I'm a little behind in everything blogging, but the boys did have their second birthday recently. My how (fill in your cliched saying about kids getting older here)!

We had a quiet day at home with the family for their birthday. No party for the boys this year. Not only do two year olds not really care about birthday parties yet but, let's get real, they don't have any friends of their own. Sofia really really wanted a Frozen themed party so having a joint party between her and the boys would be a bit awkward. Not a very gender neutral theme. Besides, we had a lot going on with Sofia graduating preschool and Sofia's party (because she does have friends of her own) and getting ready for Texas that we just opted to save everyone the hassle and shopping and skipped on a party for the boys. I hope they don't mind.

Thomas:
    You've lost most of your squish but I still sometimes call you My Little Squishy. You are a pretty easy going toddler. Between you and your brother, it's definitely monkey see monkey do for you. What you see Jacob do, you do. You are still a bit reserved around strangers, but usually only if Daddy or I are around. When you are with a babysitter, neither you nor your brother bat an eye that we are leaving. And you are still an amazing sleeper. We did have to separate you and your brother into two cribs, but you don't fuss at going down for naps or for bed at night. Although you do get a bit fussy and feisty if you are tired, we clearly know when you are ready to sleep as your right thumb is in your mouth and your left hand is tugging on your ear.

Especially within the last two weeks, your language and communication has really developed. You can ask for More.... Peese (please). You love going Owside (outside) and To Carrrrr (going to the car) even though you ask for Daddy's truck every time. In the morning you always ask Where Dadddeeee (where's Daddy)? Instead of saying yes, you say OH! "Thomas, do you want a snack?" "Oh!" And if you don't want to do something, it's NoNoNo! You aren't that great of a sharer so it's a good thing your brother is. I'm going to learn from raising your sister and refrain from saying something is mine because I can totally see you being one of those Mine Mine Mine kids. You have yet to learn that, so I really hope we just skip that stage.

Your favorite things in the whole wide world are shoes. You picked out a cute little pair of Vans with a gold fish face on them many moons ago. Those are definitely your shoes. Heaven forbid I try to put them on Jacob. NoNoNoNo! Shoes! Shoes! Just the other day I was getting you dressed after your nap and brought you to the closet so you could pick out your shoes. No! Shoes! Yes, Thomas, pick out your shoes. No Shoes!! Yes, Thomas, pick our your shoes. What shoes do you want to wear? (get closer to the closet) No!!!! Shoes! Pish Shoes!! oh! you want your fish shoes?? (which where on the nightstand, not in the closet) Oh! Pish Shoes!! I hate to tell you buddy, but you are going to outgrow those pish shoes soon. It is not uncommon to see you walk down the hall in your sister's shoes and your dad's shoes and my shoes. Now if we can teach you to put them all back when your done....

Not so much a fan of bananas anymore but you are the most milk-drinkingest kid ever. Milk with every meal. If I try to give you water when you want milk? Sippy cup thrown across the room. I've started a savings account to pay for the gallons and gallons you'll be consuming in the next 13 years or so. (I kid, but that's not a bad idea...)

We can usually find you in the playroom by the small bookshelf lining up every Matchbox and Hot Wheels car side by side, then lining them up front to back in a row, then parking them on a diagonal. Dad calls that Thomas's Garage.

Not as outgoing as your brother but you are such a sweet little guy. It's no wonder I smother you with kisses all the time. 

Jacob:
    Monkey See, Monkey Do and you are always the Monkey doing. You've caught up to your brother growth wise. Only one pound and one inch difference. He seems like more of a chunk because of the little buddha belly, but carrying you around ain't no picnic either. You were the happiest baby and you are still the happiest toddler. You know no stranger. Your hugs come complete with back pats or arm rubs. And you've moved on from giving hugs to giving kisses. I've been lazy and haven't taken you in for a hair cut in a while, which actually isn't a bad thing because now you have these sweet little waves in your hair. Especially when you get hot and your hair gets a little wet or damp. Curls for the girls.

You are still a horrible sleeper. Nap? No, thank you! If it were up to you, you would just go go go all day until you couldn't go anymore and then you would literally pass out unconscious right where you were. (We know because you've done it before). You have gotten better at going to sleep at night though. Most times you'll go down without a fight, but occasionally you still need to protest. They only last a few minutes though, and then you give up and stay quiet even though you don't always fall asleep right away.

Your language isn't quite as developed as Thomas's but it is getting better and better each day. You're most spoken words are Cookie, Outside, More, Shoes, and Nose. You don't talk as much as other kids your age, but you understand a lot. I just think you aren't a big talker in general. You are more the thinker. The engineer. You look at stuff like you are really trying to figure it out. Like how you were the first to figure out how to open doors, including the dead bolt on the front door, and the first to climb up onto the table, and the first to figure out what the remote control does....

Your favorite thing in the whole world is getting into trouble. Okay not really, but you think it's hilarious. You must think your name is Jacob NoNoDon'tdothat White. And after we tell you no don't do that, you stare at us and smile and keep doing it. You Turkey!! But it's impossible to get angry because you are so darn cute! That little coy face of yours. Many a time Daddy and I try to scold you and give you stern looks and then have to turn away so you don't see us laughing. (Don't encourage the boy!!) You have one of the most expressive faces I've seen on a little kid. Happy face, pouty face, excited face, surprised face, curious face - you've got them all done, one more amazing than the next. 

You must have inherited my sweet tooth because you can put the hurt onto a box of cookies. You are going to be just like your sister - eat dinner only because we make you before you can have dessert.

We can usually find you in the playroom on top of the counter or elbow deep in paint (when we are not having craft time) or dumping the legos out onto the floor and then moving on to dumping the train set onto the floor and then dumping out all of Sofia's Barbies on to the floor. Do you see a trend here? Whereas Thomas can spend hours in his Garage playing with cars, you bore easily and need to move onto the next thing. Unless you are playing outside, where you can spend hours pushing the doll stroller from one end of the yard to the other. Back and forth, Back and forth. That little $3 doll stroller from the thrift store was the best purchase ever. It's got so many miles on it, half of one wheel has fallen off.

It is impossible not to smile when we are around you. A bundle of joy even though you drive us crazy with your shenanigans. 

It's true what other mom's of multiples have told me, it does get easier as time goes on. I am so thankful that you continue to compliment each other so well. A built in playmate. An automatic best friend. There was a time where I was sad for Sofia that she didn't have a sister to play with, but now I see she has two awesome brothers that love each other and love her. Not a day goes by that I don't say, man, I've got three amazing kids. Love you boys.

Airport Shuttle Fail level 1002

No one in my family is a stranger to traveling. I was lucky to have parents who enjoyed traveling and had family in Canada and overseas. My brother and I were such seasoned travelers, my parents had no worries shipping us off to Italy by ourselves as teenagers... With an eight hour layover in Frankfurt (that was a whole thing). Adam worked for Continental Airlines back in the day so our long distance relationship while dating included many standby flights between Oakland and Houston. So it is no wonder that we don't balk at the idea of flying as a family bringing our small kids with us. Even with a family, you won't regret standing behind us in the security line. We know our stuff. We pack light. We are prepared. And so far the kids have been great travelers. However, dealing with diapers and toys and car seats is stressful enough. I don't need frustrating airport shuttle issues too!

Having five family members makes it hard to ask friends for a ride to the airport so we opted to just take an airport shuttle. I've used various airport shuttles in the past and don't remember having any big complaints. They were all easy. Schedule a pick up, they come right to your house, help load your bags in the van and drop you off at the airport departure curb. This time we opted to use a local service instead of a well know brand like we've used in the past. Our neighbor just three doors down has an airport shuttle parked in his driveway. Let's keep it super local!! He quoted me a good price, $75, and was so excited to learn his neighbor was giving him business. I should have known from our first conversation... 

Our flight leaves Thursday morning from Oakland at 945. We have three car seats to deal with so I want to get there by 8. 

Ok sure! Just call me two days before. 

How do we deal with pick up on the return trip?

Oh just call me two days before. Where do you live? 

On Windward and Coral. 

Ok what city? 

(... Um, we already established we were neighbors and you live on coral... But ok) ....

... Two days before... 

Hello, I want to confirm my pick up for Thursday.

Oh yes ok. Where do you live? 

We are neighbors... 

Oh yes. What time is your flight? 

I want to be at the airport at 8. What time do you need to pick us up? 715? 730? 

Oh 730 will be okay. See you Saturday. 

No Thursday. 

Saturday. 

Thursday? As in the day after tomorrow. 

Why don't you text me? 

Yes. Great idea! 

Crystal clear, right?? As you can see, I had to write back after I got no response for an hour. Then I got a call... 

Hello, yes. I got your message. I will be there at 730 Saturday. 

Thursday!! 

Let it be known, he was not instilling any confidence with me. Perhaps he was saying Thursday all along and I just couldn't understand between the bad cell connection and the accent. A 730 pickup was already making me nervous. Who knows how difficult it would be to get the seats strapped in to his van. And yes there is a car pool lane for some of the trip, but heaven forbid we hit traffic on 880 where there is no carpool lane. Adam and I decided if this guy wasn't showing up by 735, we were packing up the truck and driving ourselves. 

Fast forward to Thursday. (Saturday? No Thursday!!) 

715 and the butterflies are starting. Oh my gosh I hope this guy shows up. 725 and the pacing begins. 731 and we are all staring out the window. 735 and no shuttle. Dammit! 

Calling the guy... 

Hello? We had a pickup for today. Are you on your way?? (From literally three doors down...) 

Oh yes. You asked for an 8 o'clock pickup. 

No! I said I wanted to be at the airport at 8!! 

Oh so sorry! Ok, I'll be there in 10 minutes. 

(Are you for real?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!) 

746 .... Calling again. 

Hello? Are you coming?

Yes yes. I'll be there in two seconds . 

Because we need to leave! We are terribly behind schedule. 

At this point we are beyond done. Adam had started throwing suitcases in the bed of the truck in anticipation of having to jam out to the airport on our own. We are putting everything out of the house to lock up and run as soon as he pulls up or we just give up and drive ourselves and the phone rings... 

Hello you are at 809? 

No. 908. 

Is this guy for real?! I friggin texted you the info. Take a look at your damn phone. It says it RIGHT THERE!!!!!! 

Dude finally rolls up at like 755. We are throwing things on the van. Good thing I'm a pro at installing car seats. Forget the damn anchor strap, ain't nobody got time for that. Adam is wanting to totally rip the guy a new one. Homeboy is so oblivious that we are fuming. We live at least 25 minutes away from the airport on a good day and we are now leaving the house 5 minutes before we wanted to be rolling up at the airport curb. Arg! We get everything and everyone locked and loaded in about five minutes and are finally on the road. 

Don't worry, sir. I will drive very fast. 

He says as he drives down the hill at about ten miles per hour... Until he slows down to about three miles per hour... 

See I live right there he says as he's pointing out his house. 

Yes! Dude! We know!! We told you about ten times that we are your neighbor which means we know exactly where you live!!!! 

Thankfully it was a good day and the traffic was light. We got to the airport right around 830. At least I had the foresight to plan on getting to the airport with ample time to spare. I had hoped to have time to grab something to eat and let the kids run around a bit before getting on the plane. That extra time was cut out, but we weren't at any risk of missing our flight, which is more important. The guy asks Adam about the return trip and tells us to call him two days before our return. As he drives off, I look at Adam... 

So we are calling Super Shuttle for the ride back, right? Yup! 

We get checked in, get through security, and then Thomas promptly pees through his diaper while in the Ergo and gets my shirt all wet. 

Well isn't that lovely! 

Bucket list

Adam is a man of many dreams. He is constantly thinking about the things he'd like to do, buy, see, complete, build, and work towards. He often shares these dreams with me, many of which I think are just dreams for the sake of dreaming about something. Although the man may have his head in the clouds, I know sometimes those are actual goals he would like to see accomplished. I do my fair share of dreaming as well, mostly dreaming about all the things I'd do if I ever won the lottery, but I do not make many long terms goals. It's just not my style. I am more of a day by day kind of person. I can't bother myself with worrying about where we will be in ten years when I'm trying to get a laundry list of stuff done this week.

However the other day I read an article in the paper about a young nursing student who had passed away but whose friends and family were going to try and complete her bucket list. She was already able to cross off one huge item off her bucket list, she saved someone's life by being an organ donor. She actually saved several lives.  Here was a young 21-year old woman who had already mapped out the things she wanted to do with her life and here I am, a 30-something that is only worried about what I'm going to make for dinner. Perhaps Adam is right and I should spend a little energy on dreaming a bit more.  So I started creating my own bucket list.

Instantly I knew Travel the World would be on my list, but that seemed a bit broad. So I tried to define that and created this never ending list of places I wanted to visit. Well now that's too detailed. Plus would I really be able to travel the whole entire world? Just the shear cost and time investment in that is mind-boggling, even if spread over a lifetime. Instead I tried to focus on the places that I would be saddened to not have visited before my time is up. All the other places would just be bonuses.

Then I started listed all these places I'd like to live in which is different from just visiting somewhere. Although I don't find listing home locations that odd since the retirement plan includes a ginormous RV, I was surprised at just how many places were on the list. This would prove difficult seeing as I don't want to be moving every few years. And the RV retirement plan mostly limits us to the contiguous 48 states (well maybe Alaska wouldn't be so hard to get to) so limited time and limited locations limits the list. So I took out most of the Where I'd Like to Live stuff too.

I barely started my list and all that's on there is traveling stuff. I had to really think about what kinds of other things I wanted to do. I also wanted to make sure I was including things that I could realistically do. There's a difference between "if I win the lottery" and honest to goodness real life.

So here is my bucket list so far. I'm sure it will constantly be changing and evolving.
Sabrina's Bucket List:

1. Visit all 50 states 

2. Live in Hawaii for at least one year 

3. Volunteer as a camp host in a national park 

4. Visit Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks 

5. Learn how to ride a skateboard 

6. Learn how to golf 

7. Watch a live taping of Dancing With the Stars (if for whatever reason I actually have 15 minutes of fame, then I'll change this to being a contestant - but what are the odds...)
8. Swim with dolphins
9. Eat a lobster roll in Maine
10. Eat some crab cakes in Maryland
11. Grow a garden large enough to support 75% of all our cooking for a year
12. Take an actually culinary class from a culinary school
13. Do something heroic
14. Go cliff diving
15. Own a convertible car (again)
16. Stay in a super expensive hotel room (like a penthouse suite or something)

What do you think? Do you have a list too?? 

Jacob sickie poos

I don't think Sofia caught her first cold until she was almost a year old. And even then, she had the sniffles for a few days and was back to normal rather quickly. Since then she's been ill maybe once or twice a year. Same kind of deal, a little fever, a runny nose and then she's good after a day or two. She never really complains about being sick even when she is. She must have inherited Adam's immune system. That man is never sick.

Jacob is the exact opposite. Poor little thing. It seems like he has been sick at least once a month since October. The past few times have been awful. He caught these colds where he just looked downright miserable. A ton of congestion, coughing, super tired, lethargic. Unfortunately I know there isn't much you can do for a cold. It just has to run it's course. So we make Jacob as comfy as possible, keep the humidifier going, give him some honey when he's coughing, slather on the baby Vapo-rub, and give him as many hugs and kisses as we can. I am hoping that this is somewhat of a phase and he will eventually grow out of it in the next year or so and that he's not going to be a sickly child. He had a rough start, especially with his lungs, so I'm not entirely surprised that while Thomas is just like Sofia, Jacob gets it a little worse. 

Well about two weeks ago, he got it real bad. 

It started out with a small cough and a watery eye. We had a play date with some friends scheduled for that day and I would have canceled except that Jacob seemed fine. He was acting totally normal, still energetic, the cough was inconsistent, it was the watery eye through me for a loop. Maybe it's allergies? So we continue on with our play date. And then we left for Yosemite two days later. Nope, definitely not allergies. In typical Jacob fashion, he caught a cold that hit him hard. He pretty much slept the whole time. And I wouldn't have thought anything of it except when we got back home, I found out our friends we had the play date with came down with croup. Oh my lord. Did Jacob get those girls sick with croup?!? I can't even begin to tell you how awful I felt that my kid might have gotten other kids super sick. Ug. So although Adam and I both have very level heads and aren't usually the kind of parents that run to the doctor for every little thing, in this case, even though Jacob seemed to be getting better, perhaps we should get him checked out. 

We booked an appointment for the next day. Adam thought it might be a waste since Jacob's energy was back, the cough subsided a lot and he was just dealing with some nasal congestion. Even so, we should at least ask the doctor if we should be concerned with how often he seems to be getting sick. Being the super dad that he is, Adam had to bring all three kids to Jacob's appointment since I was working that day. Thankfully the doctor confirmed he did not have croup, but his oxygen saturation was on the low side so she opted to give him an Albuterol treatment to see if that would help. And of course it didn't work. His saturation actually got worse. So the doctor tells Adam they have to admit Jacob to the hospital to put him on oxygen. 

What? 

Adam called me at work. "They are admitting Jacob to the hospital to put him on oxygen." What?! 

I hung up the phone and I was surprised that I just lost it. It hit me all at once. My sweet baby is going to the hospital. I knew that it wasn't for anything too serious. I understood he just needed to be monitored. He wasn't going to the hospital because he was seriously ill. But regardless, it is not fun to hear. Especially when you aren't expecting to hear it what so ever. I wasn't there for the appointment so I had no idea how this all transpired. And I kept thinking how we almost canceled the appointment. If we had done that, how would we have known... 

Ends up Jacob had bronchiolitis from RSV, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, so in essence, he caught a nasty cold. I was familiar with RSV already. It's a big deal in the premie world. So I knew what it was and that it is not uncommon for children to be hospitalized for it. But let me tell you, RSV is no joke. He stayed in the hospital for four days and even then, we asked to go home. They would have had him stay longer if we wanted to. He was on oxygen for the first two days. While on oxygen, his saturation was good. Off oxygen and it dipped. After two days, we took him of oxygen to see how he would do on room air. He was alright, hovering around 94. The true test was could he keep his sats up while he slept. During his afternoon nap he dipped to 90. Anything under that and alarms start going off. As long as he doesn't dip below 90 for more than 5 minutes, he's okay to stay on room air. Otherwise he'd have to go back on oxygen. His nurse and I had our eyes glued to that monitor. Longest he was below 90 was 3 minutes. A little repositioning and he went back up. Phew. At this point they weren't doing anything other than monitoring his vitals. He started with Albuterol treatments every four hours but they weren't helping so those were discontinued. 

We had been in the hospital since Thursday afternoon. It's now Sunday and the doctor was concerned if Jacob was released, he might get worse at home as the congestion in his chest gets broken up and he tries to get rid of it. She was thinking we should stay. This is what surprised me most. No one was pushing us out. Other than the births of my children, I've never spend time much time in a hospital. All I have to go on about hospital experiences is what I hear from other people. The common theme is getting released asap. That was not the case with us. Not once did we feel like they were trying to push us out. But we were about done with being in a hospital. The doctor was concerned we would get home and if Jacob got worse, we'd want to go back. She didn't want us to have to come back. (She obviously doesn't know us and how much we can handle) The only concern we had was if his oxygen saturation dipped back down at home, how would we know. The doctor said we shouldn't worry about that. Now that he was having productive coughs, his saturation should stay up. Well... in that case... let's get the heck out of here and go home. If Jacob's still going to feel miserable, he might as well feel miserable at home. We can deal with a coughing kid. If the cough gets worse because he's now coughing gross stuff up, so be it. 

We were released Sunday afternoon. Jacob's cough did get a bit worse. He was pretty much sleeping through the night in the hospital but we was waking up about 3 - 4 times a night at home for the first few days with these awful coughing fits. But for the most part he was doing really well. Four or five days after getting released, Jacob was pretty much back to normal. We kept him on quarantine at home for another week just in case. RSV is highly contagious and I definitely don't want him spreading those germs around. 

All in all, having Jacob in the hospital was not that bad. I am so thankful that he had an awesome day nurse. Dawn in Walnut Creek, you rock. She was not only taking care of Jacob, she was also taking care of me. You want some coffee? Can I fill up your water? There's an extra breakfast tray, you want it? She was a perfect example of why I have thought of becoming a nurse. I am also very thankful that Adam and I both have very level heads. It makes dealing with things like this much less stressful. I was blown away by the amount of support we received too. Within 10 minutes of being at the hospital, Adam's work already told him to stay home and deal with it. His coworkers had offered to make us dinner, my coworkers did bring us dinner, my dad and his wife dropped what they were doing all weekend and came to visit us every day and helped us with the other two kids, my boss and manager checked in on me several times a day and good friends offered to help however they could and I knew they actually meant it. However much it sucked having a kid in the hospital, it was amazing to see just how strong our support system really is. So Thank You, Thank You, Thank You to everyone who knew and offered support or help. It meant a lot.

Here are some photos of our stay. Because however sad it is to see a tiny kid in a hospital gown, it is also equally as adorable. 

Day One: On oxygen and exhausted from the day's events. 

He was obsessed with the light on his monitor. We called it his ET toe. 

Day Two: Perked up and feeling better. 

Taking a nap on room air, without any oxygen. 

 Day Three: He must feel better, he's getting into trouble.

He would not leave the stethoscope alone.

I gave up on keeping it away from him.
Might as well keep him occupied. 

 Day Four: Going home!

Eating breakfast in his car seat.
Genius. 

All buckled up and ready to go!!

Happy to be home! 

Outfit of the day

This morning was surprisingly stress free. Although Sofia and the boys all woke up later than normal, she got ready for school on her own without a fight AND we got out of the house on time. What?!? 

Of course getting ready on her own means her outfit is of her own choosing. 

It could be worse. At least it's temperature/weather appropriate. 

Shirt: Gymboree 

Skirt: Cherokee from Target 

Leggings: Carter's 

Knee high socks (even though one has fallen down slightly): I think they are Babylegs but really does anyone know what brand your socks are usually? 

Shoes: New Balance 

She also requested her hair style, two braids like Anna's (from Frozen) with two really long white ribbons. Ok. I can do that. 

Camping in Yosemite

When Adam and I found ourselves with the same three days off work together, we knew just what we were going to do - go camping! And what better place to go to than Yosemite, my absolute favorite place.

Growing up, my parents took our family out on all kinds of adventures. This was before RVing went out of style, when you could find a RV park near every major attraction. I have so many memories of my parents waking my brother and I up in the early morning to set out on a camping trip. I grew up going to Yosemite so I'm not sure if it's the nostalgia or if it's simply one of the most breath taking places, but my heart soars every time I am there. I am so glad Adam enjoys the outdoors as much, if not more, than I do. And we have every intention of giving our children those same great memories I have.

We started outdoor adventures pretty early with Sofia. Pre-twins we were able to go camping on a fairly regular basis. Sofia loved putting on her hiking shoes and going out onto the trail. Once the boys came along, it became much more difficult simply because the adults were outnumbered. Although we are working on getting a camper ready for family vacations, right now we only have our truck and our two person backpacking tent at our disposal. So we decided instead of trying to set up camp with three road-tired kids and an undersized tent, we'd just stay in Curry Village this time.

Staying in Yosemite you have three choices for lodging: campsites, hotels, or Curry Village (not quite camping but nothing like a hotel room). Tucked at the far edge of Yosemite Valley in the shadows of Glacier Point and Half Dome sit about 300 tent cabins, a dining pavilion and a small recreation area that make up Curry Village. I am rather conflicted on whether or not I actually like Curry Village. The tent cabins are really convenient since they are ready-to-go when you get there - you don't have to set up camp like you do with a tent. Some cabins are heated, a definite bonus in the winter, but that costs extra of course. They have gravel paths leading to each cabin and wood floors in the tent cabins so tracking dirt and mud into the tent is minimal. A big bonus with little kids. You also get a cot with a mattress so you're not sleeping on the floor. There are several dining options in Curry Village, including a buffet style cafeteria and coffee shop, and Curry Village is home to the only showers in the valley open 24-hours a day. Obviously staying at one of the hotels, this wouldn't be a problem, but for everyone else, it's where you'll end up if you want to shower.

I've stayed at Curry Village several times but each time I stay I like it a little less. It is rather expensive for what you get. I get special deals being a return guest and a Yosemite Conservatory member. I don't know that I would pay full price ($100-$140 a night) to stay in a glorified tent. The cabins are really close together, so noise can be an issue if you have inconsiderate neighbors or families with small children (sorry cabins 420 - 445). There is absolutely NO cooking allowed at your tent. No campfires. No camp stoves. You can bring food, but you can't heat it or cook it in Curry Village. (PB & Js for days!!!) which wouldn't be so bad if the dining hall was open all the time, but it's not. It's closed during the off season - like October to May - which is when we usually go to Yosemite so we can avoid the crowds. If you want to eat a hot meal at a dining facility, you have to travel to the other side of the valley to eat at the Lodge. We also found out the hard way that check-in isn't until 5pm which means if you plan on getting to the park, throwing your things in your tent, and heading out, you'll be disappointed. (oops. That was a total bust.)

Actually, this whole trip was a bust. It was still enjoyable - just nothing really went according to plan. Maybe it wasn't as much of a bust as it was just a bummer.

Because we got held up with checking-in, we weren't able to go out walking on Monday when we got there like I hoped. At first we were told our cabin wasn't ready so check back after lunch. It wasn't until our post-lunch check-in attempt we were told check in was at 5 pm. And they pretty much held right to that, not clearing our cabin for check-in until 4:55 pm. Had we known we would have just parked the car and headed out when we first got to the park at noon. Oh well. That could have been avoided if I had just paid attention to our booking confirmation. By the time we finally got settled, the kids were done for the day. It also didn't help that Jacob developed a fever that evening from what ended up being the most gnarly cold ever. But that's a different post. So now we'd be camping with sick kids. Fun!

The plan for Tuesday was to go out towards Yosemite Falls and try to get as far up the Upper Falls Trail as we could. We had no expectation of getting all the way to the top with two toddlers in packs and a four year old on foot, but we wanted to see just how far we could go. After breakfast, Sofia easily walked the Lower Yosemite Falls trail, but by the end, she was done. I'm sure she wasn't physically tired. I think she was just ready for something else. Sofia's interest in hiking has dwindled. The allure of being out on the trail has been replaced with playing games and watching videos. Boo. So although the day was still young, by the time we made it to the Upper Yosemite Falls trailhead, Adam and I had our daily fill of Sofia Whine and decided to reluctantly call it quits. Busted again. Instead we packed Thomas and Sofia into the wagon and wheeled them around the valley. They both loved sitting back and enjoying the view so this actually worked out well. I am glad we packed the wagon. This worked out much much better than bringing a stroller. Since poor Jacob wasn't feeling well, I just carried him in the Ergo so he could nap in comfort. Since Curry Village is right at the base of Glacier Point, the sun hides earlier in the day than actual sunset, so it gets pretty dark before you'd expect. We used that to our advantage on Tuesday and called it a night early. Thankfully when our kids our tired, they go down without much of a fight.

We didn't really have a plan for Wednesday going in to our trip other than knowing we wanted to stay in Yosemite most of the day. Since we didn't spend as much time out hiking on Tuesday as we'd like, I thought it might be nice to go out super early on Wednesday and try to see the sun rise. Can't say I've done that in Yosemite before. Adam was all for that idea. He wakes up super early anyway - might as well get an early start. We wanted to wake up and quickly strap the boys in the packs and head out rather silently since we had the whole neighbors in nearby tents issue. Instead of having the boys sleep in their clothes like Sofia did, we had them in their pajamas which meant come Wednesday morning they'd have to go out on the trail in their pajamas or they'd be fully awake to get changed into clothes. Which wouldn't have been so bad except Thomas has decided changing out of his pajamas is his most hated thing in the whole world and wails incessantly during the whole process. Wednesday morning comes and I can't bare to disrupt our neighbors nor the boys sleeping so quietly so we just poo poo'd the idea. In hindsight, we should have just sucked it up and made them go in their pajamas. Who the heck cares. Regardless, Jacob wasn't feeling any better and my throat was starting to tickle so we just threw in the towel and packed up and left.

Not our best trip to Yosemite by a long shot, but the weather during our stay was amazing. High 60s low 70s during the day and upper 40s at night. Couldn't ask for better. Not too cold to make waking up brutal and not too hot that hiking became uncomfortable. So we did enjoy ourselves. It's really difficult to say any trip to Yosemite would be a waste since it is so magnificently beautiful, just being there and doing nothing is wonderful. It was nice to get out of the house and do something as a family for more than a few hours, even if it was playing cards by the fire.

I guess we'll just put a do-over on our list and try again soon. Hopefully in our own camper so none of the problems we ran into this time would be an issue.

Outfit of the day

I thought for a minute there I wouldn't have any posts of Sofia's chosen outfits anymore. She seemed to always want someone else to pick out her clothes. So of course her outfits matched and looked normal. And then she started requesting outfits to be laid out and then refusing to wear them. "No I want to wear THIS shirt." We'll shoot. Then just pick out your own clothes then!! 

And that's how I came home to find her wearing this cute little combo. 

What is this?? 

Shirt: Gymboree 

Skirt: mini Boden 

Jeans: hand me downs but I think from penny's 

Shoes: Gymboree 

Elsa tiara/crown: Disney store 

Why I hate the movie Frozen

Just like most 3 - 9 year old girls, my daughter is obsessed with this Disney movie. She sings the songs all day long while wearing her Frozen costume and playing with her Elsa doll after telling me her name is no longer Sofia, it's now Elsa. Needless to say we've seen the movie several times. So how could I possibly hate the biggest movie of the year? Because every time I watch it, I cry. And I'm not talking cute little watery eyes. I'm talking big ol' mascara running tears.

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best Disney animated movies of all time. Not only is it beautiful to watch - wonderfully detailed costumes, a castle set in a Scandinavian fjord, the whole winter wonderland thing - but it is refreshingly un-typical Disney princess. Which is a big part of why I love it so much. Like most other princess movies, Frozen has a damsel in distress, a misunderstood wingman, the requisite act of true love and a Prince Charming. Where it differs is in the damsel's self-awakening, Prince Charming not being all he's cracked up to be, and the twist on what an act of true love really is. All these things that I love about the movie are probably lost on Sofia somewhat. Yes she understands the story but I think she just loves the costumes and the songs and the princesses, as I would suspect a four year old would. However, I don't think the messages are completely lost on her. At least I hope not. It's probably not the reason SHE loves the movie, but I love that she's getting exposed to what I consider positive beneficial messages.

In case you haven't been lucky enough to see Frozen yet, let me sum it up for you. Two sisters, Elsa and Anna, are princesses of Arendelle. Elsa, born gifted with the power over winter (ice, snow, frost, etc) and Anna are close until Elsa accidentally freezes a piece of Anna while playing when they were young.  To protect Elsa from her growing powers and causing any more damage, the sisters are separated, Anna's memories of her sister's gift are wiped clean and Elsa is told to conceal her powers and keep them under control. Which is fine until the queen and king end up dying and now Elsa, being the eldest, is in charge. When sister Anna meets Hans (Prince Charming) on Elsa's coronation day and falls head over heels getting engaged that same evening, an irritated Elsa waves her hand in a burst of frustration and reveals her ice powers to all. She flees to North Mountain to find solitude and be free from everyone but unintentionally sets off an eternal winter in Arendelle on her way out. Anna goes after her sister convinced she can talk Elsa into returning and thawing out the city, except in another burst of frustration Elsa accidentally freezes Anna's heart which means she will eventually turn into ice unless an act of true love can save her. Assuming true love's kiss is the act of true love she needs, Anna rushes back to Hans only to find out he never really loved her and was only using her to gain access to the throne. Elsa ends up being captured and returned to Arendelle where she finds herself about to be slain by Hans before an extremely weak and nearly completely frozen Anna jumps in the way sacrificing herself to save Elsa right before she turns into an ice sculpture, which ends up being the act of true love that saves her. Anna thaws. Hans gets outed as a jerk. Elsa learns how to return Arendelle to normal by using love to defrost the town and everyone moves toward living happily ever after.

I'm fighting back tears during two parts of the movie: Elsa's transformation from a terrified and confused queen to a confident and unrestrained sorceress during the song, "Let It Go", and Anna's act of self sacrifice to save her sister. These two parts in particular really speak to me but there are many other messages in the movie that I appreciate.

Until she flees to North Mountain, Elsa is terrified of her powers. She barely has control over them. She is constantly reminded to conceal, don't feel, don't let it show. Her powers are a part of her and had been a source of happiness as a young girl, then all of a sudden she is required to bottle that all up and never speak to her sister or anyone about this huge piece of her. How could she ever be expected to learn how to control her powers if she was required to mask them all the time? How constricted must she have felt to not be able to be herself? So she finally gets out of town, although not under the best of circumstances, and decides to test her strength and she what she's really capable of. She is finally free to be herself. All of herself without hiding. How liberating! No need to hold back. Be your true person.

Isn't that an amazing lesson to be teaching young girls? Be your true self. Don't worry what other people say, just let it go. You will have a hard time being truly happy if you are trying to be someone that you aren't. Or hiding pieces of you. Do not be ashamed. Be proud of who you are. In that, you will find happiness. We are constantly being barraged with messages of how to look, what to wear, how to act, what to listen to, what to watch, who to surround yourself with.... If there is one thing I want Sofia to be, it is to be comfortable with herself. Confidence. Don't worry about what other people think, you have to be true to you. During the "Let It Go" sequence, Elsa is clearly transformed from fearful to fearless. The transformation is what gets to me. Yes I know this is an animated movie I'm talking about, but really it's the message that it's sending to my daughter that I'm focusing on. transformation is what brings up emotions.

I would be remiss not to mention the ... costume change ... that takes place during Elsa's transformation. I'm sure there are people who are taken aback by the sexualization of the character at that point. Elsa goes from wearing a modest, albeit still beautiful, dress with a humble updo to a more revealing glittery gown with tossled hair. At first even I thought, gosh, did they really have to make her that hot? Honestly, no probably not. However I am not bothered by Disney's choice. Why? Because we've all had those days were we put on an outfit and look in the mirror and say, "Damn, I look good!" Which is exactly what I think Elsa is doing. And isn't that a great feeling? If that's the dress that makes her feel good, then go on with your bad self girl! Live it up. Elsa is all by herself at the top of a secluded mountain. There aren't any other people up there she is trying to impress. She wasn't getting fancy for anyone but herself.

A bunch of stuff happens in the middle of the movie, yadda yadda yadda, and then we get towards the end where you're wondering how this is all going to play out. The bond between the sisters is highlighted throughout the entire movie. Family first. I love how Anna never gives up on Elsa even though they had grown more distant after the initial accident. Regardless, they were sisters and to Anna that meant she would always fight for Elsa. That bond is what saved Anna's life. Sacrifice is not new to fairy tales or Disney - Ariel gives up her voice in The Little Mermaid, Belle stays with the Beast to save her father's life... but the act of true love is almost always a kiss from the handsome prince. Not only that, but the handsome prince just met the poor damsel in distress moments before and now he's saved her life and they've run off and gotten married the VERY NEXT DAY and life happily ever after. Pah-lese. Although a surprising plot twist, it was so refreshing to see Hans being portrayed as something other than perfect. What a rotten scoundrel.

Because listen girls, there is no problem in believing in fairy tails, but you also have to believe that not everyone is who they claim to be. Sometimes it's just too good to be true. Watch yourself and learn to love someone who has proven themselves to you. There is absolutely someone out there for everyone. I truly believe that. So I do want my daughter to grow up knowing there is someone out there for her who will love her, all of her, and who she can love back 100%. But relationships take work, regardless of if it was love at first sight or not, so I do not necessarily need her to believe in happily ever after or that falling in love doesn't take some work. There will be someone out there for her, but maybe not exactly Prince Charming...

So true love's kiss was not the act of true love that saved Anna at all. It was her selflessness in saving her sister. It was not some passive act of true love that Anna had to wait for someone else to do but instead it was her own actions that saved her. It was something she did. A decision she made. Another powerful message that brings me to tears. She was willing to give up her life for her sister because she loved her so much. That in itself would move me to tears - but then I start thinking about my own children and how I hope they love each other as much as these sisters do. And I think about my sweet Sofia and how she loves her little brothers so much now and I hope her love will only grow year after year. And I think about how much it means to have someone that has your back no matter what and how much more that means when it's your sibling. And then I get a lump in my throat as I choke back the tears that I'm sure my daughter would not understand at all if she actually saw me crying. So far I've been lucky that she hasn't.

I should say that moving me to tears actually doesn't take much. I am a weenie for sad sappy stuff. But the fact that I cry every. single. time I watch this children's movie is why I hate Frozen so much. I'll be one of the first to buy it when it's released.

Sofia's Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

We aren't big celebrators of this specific holiday. Although all holidays these days are a bit commercialized, this one in particular feels just a little too Hallmark-y for me. I understand the sentiment of telling your loved ones you love them on a particular day, but really, that just needs to be a year round occurrence. So we don't go all out for Valentine's day like we do for other holidays, but it is still fun to celebrate. I have some great memories of picking out valentines to pass out to my classmates and who doesn't like those little conversations heart candies.

Being in preschool, this is Sofia's first year of celebrating Valentine's day with her classmates. They didn't do a big party, but they did pass out valentines. She had to bring one valentine for each kid in her class (as it should be, at this age at least) and she had a lot of fun putting them together. She picked out the valentine idea herself with the only direction from me that she couldn't give out candy or food. There would be enough of that from the other kids I was sure. It took her all of five minutes to pick out bouncy balls over all the other options they had at the store. Some printed out tags that said, "Have a ball this Valentine's Day" and we are good!

Sofia wrote her name on all 24 valentines. Phew! I thought she was going to give up after a while but she just kept on trucking until we got to the end. Then she stuffed all the bags with the bouncy balls. I folded the cards and stapled the bags shut. I had forgot we bought the heart stickers so in hindsight, I would have left off the cute little pink pennant banner, made the font bigger, and just used the stickers as decoration. But I didn't think about that until she was half way done writing her name on the cards and I felt awful asking her to do it again... so the perfectionist in me is not crazy about how these turned out. They are preschool valentine cards. It's really not that big a deal... 

Sofia was so excited to get to school today because she knew she was going to hand out her valentines. 

And then she was excited to get home to eat all the candy she got in return. 

Sofia's Jeans on Jeans Action

This is totally a Sofia original. 

Why yes she is wearing a jean skirt OVER her jeans. 

This is actually an outfit she wore the other day and I just hadn't had a chance to post it. What I had originally set out for her consisted of the jeans and a bunch of other stuff not seen here. What she came out of her room wearing cracked me up. But at the same time, it kind of works. At least both denim items are of similar color. And I guess I'd rather have this than a Canadian tuxedo... 

This outfit also has some significance because it's the first time we were able to put Sofia's hair in a high ponytail. She wants to grow it out "long like Rapunzel!"She also took some scissors to it over a year ago and we had to put some layers in to remedy that, so those layers have finally grown out enough to allow for a high ponytail. 

Shirt - hand-me-down of unknown origin

glitter jean Skirt - Old Navy

bootcut jeans - Old Navy

shoes - Michael Khors

korker bow - TuTu Cute Creations by Amanda