Thursday, June 30, 2011

6 months...sort of.

Since there is no 31st this month I guess sometime between today and tomorrow Jericho will be 6 months LOL! We don't have his 6 month check up scheduled for another two weeks though so no stats yet.
We are still trying him on solid foods once or twice a day. So far oatmeal is not a winner, and he seems to like avacado even less. Sweet potato is next, if he is anything like his brother and sisters it will be the winner.

A nap with Dadd.


Big boy :)


Trying that green stuff again...silly kid, avacado is yummy!



I am busy getting the decorations finished up for the triplets party. Even though I toned it down this year it still feels like a lot of work.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

5 years...wow!

5 years ago today Jason and I got hitched. It was quite a day, first I thought I lost my ring while getting my make up done, always check your bathrobe pocket people. Then thinking I lost my ID I almost ran late looking for it and had to drive like mad to the chapel. Nothing good ever goes off without some sort of hiccup, well not usually anyway. It's been a great 5 years, seems longer but we dated for 4 years before we got married so that is probably why. Grandma came over and watched the kids for a couple hours while Jason and I went out for dinner. The waiter got a little extra in his tip jar....I got carded :)

Time is just getting away from me, I can not believe 1 year ago today I was pregnant with Jericho getting IV fluids and throwing up my anniversary dinner LOL. And three years ago I was pregnant with the triplets and living in a hospital room on bedrest. Wonder where we will be next year...I can't wait to see :)

I got lovely flowers from Jason, and a great card that was just perfect for us...then he made it even more amazing with his message to me..."Happy 5th babe. At 10 we will do something travely. For now lets enjoy the beautiful life we have built together. I love you, DH" Awwww do I have the best hubby or what?!

Some pics of us....today.


On our late honeymoon/1 yr anniversary in Maui.

One from our first year or two of dating....we look so young LOL.

My beautiful flowers and the gift I got Jason. It is a 6 year old Hawaiian Umbrella Bonsai tree with a coiled trunk. The traditional gift for 5 years is wood I guess, hey a tree is wood sort of right? I also loved that it is a Hawaiian tree since that's where we went for our late honeymoon/1 yr anniversary, and thought it was cool that it is an umbrella tree...you can stand under my umbrella babe :) Now lets just hope those of us with less than green thumbs do not kill it.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

First word!*

Jericho has been working on his first word for about a week now. Today I got a min or so of video of him saying his first word pretty darn clearly! Not quite 6 months old, six teeth and a word...baby boy is on a roll!






There was some really great info on drowning making the rounds the last few days. As it stats "It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult." I thought it was important to repeat it here.

http://gcaptain.com/drowning/?10981
The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

1.Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. Th e respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2.Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3.Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4.Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5.From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006)

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experience aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in there own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are n the water:

•Head low in the water, mouth at water level
•Head tilted back with mouth open
•Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
•Eyes closed
•Hair over forehead or eyes
•Not using legs – Vertical
•Hyperventilating or gasping
•Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
•Trying to roll over on the back
•Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.
So if a crew member falls overboard and every looks O.K. – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them: “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare – you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

If you have any questions at all – please post them in the gCaptain forums under “maritime safety”

disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Coast Guard.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Yummy yummy!

I really need to stop forgetting myself when passing out the sunscreen. Got a little crisp today, not horrible but it'll be a day or two before it turns into a bit of a tan. We spent the late morning until lunch time out side. I even did a little jumping on the trampoline with the kids. Of course I could only jump with one at a time so we would not go over the weight limit...heavy ass 40 lbs toddlers :) We had a great time...just loving the back yard, really a great space.

At dinner time today we decided to introduce Jericho to solids. He will be 6 months in 6 days and really showed interest. We started with a little baby oatmeal, he ate it very well, seemed a tad bored with it though. I think we will try it for another day or two then move on to something a bit more yummy.


They did not like it when I got out...what have I started LOL.





Jericho's first oatmeal experience! His brother and sisters loved being there and watching him.



Already biting and not letting go of the spoon.

Come on Mom just let me do it myself.


Such a happy mess!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Our newest daredevil

Hayden has joined her brother in doing her best to break a bone. Today she lined up stuff to jump off of, and had also lined up stuff to land on. When she climbed up she would call to us...must have an audience when you are about to injure yourself LOL.

The girls are starting to discover the art of wheeling and dealing. Now Lily will say things to us like "Lunch first, then nap, then jumping on the trampoline." Or when she knows it is bed time but she wants to watch one more Cat In the Hat she will say "we will watch one more Cat In the Hat then it's bed time."

We got them on a waiting list for a 2 day a week 3 hour a day preschool, hopefully spots open up soon. We were lucky to find a place that will run about $90 per kid per month...it's still expensive but way cheaper than most other places.

Hayden doing her daredevil bit.





I got together with an old friend today. I hadn't seen her in 17 years...it was a lot of fun laughing about some old times. Here is an old blast from the past pic of us, she was 14 and I was 15...dang now I feel old LOL.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Headed for a broken something I am sure

The trampoline is up and the kids are LOVING it! I'm sure we are headed for an injury, but they enjoy it so much I can't help but be happy....my worry wort self just hopes if/when someone does get hurt it is minor. It's a nice big one...8 foot max 220 lbs, so even mom and dad may get some jumping time :)

The kids "helped" Jason put it up, putting things together with three toddlers helping sure takes a long time LOL.


Xander, Hayden and Lily climbed right in and went wild. We have already been hearing "I can jump higher than you." Lord help us, at least with the netting they can not start seeing who can jump off it the farthest.



Xander wanted to wrestle, and I loved how the girls came to each others rescue when Xander was pinning one of them to the mat.






We had a nice time just kicking back and watching them.


It was hard to get them off for a quick lunch and nap. Hopefully once the newness wears off a bit it won't be such a fight.