More Fun in the Snow

Well, I've been mostly hanging around inside the house enjoying little stress, but trying to keep up on being prepared for whenever this baby decides to make his arrival.  Doug and the boys on the other hand have been able to take advantage of the snow that is still laying around.  Today was exceptionally sunny and not too crazy cold, so Doug got the big boys out for some sledding fun at Frick Park late in the morning.  

Clearly, they are happy boys.  Seriously, they really are happy outside.  Inside, it's truly that part of the winter where cabin fever has really settled in, but thankfully outside the boys get that fresh air in their lungs and it changes them!  Tavin got very brave today and with plenty of instruction from Daddy he had some very successful runs all on his own.  Doug took some great video.  Enjoy!

Tav was pretty proud of himself for all he accomplished on the slopes.  Doug got a picture that shows it!

Tav had a good nap this afternoon and Koen had some much needed downtime.  Then at 4pm, I got them out into the backyard.  They stayed out there for an hour and 15 minutes playing "Polar Bears."  Such a cute little game they play wrestling like polar bear cubs, building caves and dens and hunting for food.  My pics from the kitchen aren't that impressive, but you get the gist.

Well, that's it for now.  We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow, so hopefully the boys can have some fresh snow to keep busy out in the backyard during Daddy's long work day.  I'm so thankful we've had some good snow and OK temps so the boys can take advantage of this fun white stuff that makes winter oh so much better!

A Few Tavin Updates

I've got good news and bad news.  Let's start with the good news...

Tavin has begun his re-evaluation with Pittsburgh Public Schools who provides his on-site speech therapy at preschool.  The results that are in so far already disqualify him from needing Pittsburgh Public Schools' speech services in Kindergarten.  2 years ago I would've never thought this was possible as his speech issues were so complex and foreign to me and seemed like such a huge obstacle to overcome.  We are rejoicing that my fears are not our reality and instead Tavin, with the Lord's help, has been such a hard worker and has accomplished so much that he is at an age-appropriate level of speech (actually on the first part of his re-eval this week at preschool he scored above average!!).  Praise God!!

Ok, so now the bad news....

My poor, sweet Tavin has yet again gotten the worst version of the cold that hit the three boys last week.  It landed him with a cough that has just not quit (this is frequently a problem for Tav whenever he has a virus).  Today we headed out on some errands and soon afterwards it was apparent that something was really, really bothering him.  I rushed through my must-do's as fast as possible and got him home to find out he had a temp approaching 102.  I called the doctor and got a 2:30pm appointment for him.  Thankfully Doug was able to bust out of work and come home to take him to the appointment.  I had asked that he make sure that they knew of the duration of the cold/cough, please to check his lungs carefully for pneumonia or walking pneumonia and check his ears (he was complaining of ear pain).  Well, Doug didn't even have to mention the underscore of checking his lungs since with the first listen the doctor determined that Tavin has pneumonia.  Pneumonia!!??!!  Oh my goodness, I felt so awful.  Here I had this little trooper out and about running an errand this morning, meanwhile he must have felt so awful!  This isn't Tavin's first bout of pneumonia.  He had it at 6 months, but thankfully this time around it isn't as scary or severe (and does not include a hospital admittance!).  Doug sent me some pics from the doctor's.  Doug said he had to get Tav to do a frowny face about 6 times.  The sweet sick kid kept smiling by accident believe it or not.

Before they left, Tav had to have a breathing treatment.  

They left and went and got prescriptions on the way home.  Tav is on an antibiotic and then also an inhaler/breathing treatment.  Lord-willing these meds will get him back to healthy quickly and hopefully reduce his uncomfortable cough within 48 hours.  Good job hanging in there, Tav.  We love you and I look forward to just letting you relax and chill out around the house tomorrow.  No errands! =)

Snow Much Fun!

It's been a bit of a lame winter snow-wise, but things seem to be picking up!  On Saturday we got just enough snow that the boys could go and play some wintery soccer in the backyard all geared up in their snowpants.  It was great to get them outside for about 40 minutes.  Fresh air makes such a difference!

Sunday Koen got invited to go to a friend's house for some sledding.  They live just outside the city and they had a few more inches to work with than we did, so I was so happy that Koen could again take advantage of some outdoor winter time!  I stayed home with the little guys and we didn't end up getting in the backyard, but on Monday morning we were greeted with plenty of fresh snow to work with that was a lot more fun anyways.  Koen and Tavin and Doug shoveled before school (delayed two hours) and preschool.  Penn assisted Doug in taking Tav to preschool with Koen too and then when they got home it was time for Koen to wait at the bus stop.  Penn kept busy shoveling.  Soooo cute!

Doug gets just as excited as the boys when it snows.  Perhaps evenmoreso.  Thankfully all this snow came on his day off!  He decided to take Tav to pick up Koen from school rather than have Koen ride home on the bus and they went straight to a huge hill at Frick Park for some sledding fun.  Here are the handsome big boys.  I just love their sweet faces, surrounded by the dark blue coats and white background.  Striking!

Doug and Tav were sled partners most of the time as this hill is NO JOKE!  I was glad Doug kept good tabs on Tav.

Well, until he talked him into going down on his own.  Here's a video of how that went...

And then here's a more successful voyage Koen took at another point.  

The boys arrived home at sunset and they were exhausted.  They headed right up to a warm bath, then jumped into cozy pajamas.  Soon after we had a belly-warming family dinner of my homemade Chicken Pot Pie and then we got the boys right to bed.  Tav was down by 6:40pm and Koen was in bed by 7:05pm.  Doug was in bed by 9:30pm himself.  That Daddy-extraordinaire shoveled 4 times and also had that sledding adventure with the boys.  He was wiped out!!

Sick Little Guys & Penn's 2 and 1/2 Year Appt.

After such a fun start to the week with Nana here and then a long morning at the Children's Museum and even some snow fun, we ran amuck mid-week with Tav getting hit hard with the cold virus Koen had that turned into an ear infection on MLK Day.  Then within 24 hours, Penn was showing signs of the cold too.  By Thursday morning it was official...the little guys were really sick.  Tav was majorly feverish, coughing up a storm and so uncomfortable.  Penn woke up coughing too, but the intense barking, croup kind.  I was already figuring I should take Tav to the pediatrician's office, so by 8:30am, I just decided to pack them both up and get them both looked at.  Penn was a miserable mess since he was too frustrated with breathing that he wouldn't let me give him Tylenol.  Tavin was awesome trying to be a good example to Penn at the doctor's.  It didn't help though.  Man, Penn just HATES the doctor.  He screamed through getting weighed and getting his temp taken under his arm.  It was pathetic.  Anyways, we survived the appointment and the boys didn't have ear infections (which was my concern since they had so much congestion and were complaining of ear aches and pressure).  So, we headed back home.  On the way, Tav gave up the fight and just started to completely melt down.  Poor thing.  When he gets hit with anything his body puts up the hardest fight and rages a fever.  He also always responds with the worst sounding cough of all 3 boys.  It's so sad.  He was begging to take a nap by 11:30am, so I let him.  He slept until 2:45pm.  Then he was totally downhill again only an hour or so later despite being on both Tylenol and ibuprofen, so he was begging to go to bed by 5:45pm.  He barely ate anything all day, but just wanted to crawl into bed, so I let him.  Turns out that little guy knows his body.  He slept almost 14 hours, not waking until 7:15am.  Amazing.  I was thrilled he didn't get up in the night and thankfully today he's been much improved.  Penn, too, did surprisingly well in the night (and he had a 3 and 1/2 hour nap yesterday afternoon).  He woke up super early because of his cough, but he let me give him Tylenol and change him and lay him back down and then he slept in until 8am.  Phew!  I was relieved that this pregnant momma didn't have to be running up and down the stairs all night for these sweet, little troopers.  

Poor Penn, today we had to go right back to the doctor's for his 2 and 1/2 year old appointment.  Classic!  I didn't want to cancel it since the baby will be arriving soon and I'm loving getting anything like this out of the way before that happens.  He, of course, totally lost it again when it was time for his vitals.  Even so, he weighed in at 28 lbs., 13 oz. (35th percentile) and he was 36 inches tall (48th percentile).  Thankfully although he has this cold, otherwise he checked out perfectly healthy.  Such a blessing every time we get that news.  We did chat with the pediatrician about his speech therapy, but since we are already pursuing that and aware of it, etc., it wasn't a big deal to update the doctor.  

Well, sorry no pictures.  Just a pathetic update on my poor little sickies.  Thankfully, Tavin has been rebounding today (although missed preschool and an afternoon at his Kindergarten for pre-K day because we didn't want to drain him or spread the germs).  Penn seems to be doing OK, not getting quite so pathetic as Tav, but he was very low energy before nap and has been asleep for 3 and 1/2 hours again.  Thank goodness these little guys have been able to sleep so well despite this obnoxious cough/cold!

Surprise Snowy Day

Yesterday we had a heavy, wet snow on and off all morning long.  It was in the mid-30's though so we didn't get much accumulation.  Today we had another unexpected fun snowfall and this time more of it stuck.  The temps were still pretty mild too, so we were able to take advantage of the snow a bit.  Tav took his snowpants to preschool and got to play outside with his buddies there (no pictures, but envision little boys in snow gear throwing snowballs at playground equipment because that's what Tav said they did and he loved it).  Penn and I had plans to hang out at a neighbor's house for part of the morning, so I decided it was only appropriate to take Penn on his first sled ride of the year to get there.  But first here's Mr. Heffalump...

Check out this face!!  I think he likes the sled ride, but looks like he's still waiting to see how the whole journey goes.

On the way home he was much more relaxed and halfway home he started making snowballs as I pulled him along and throwing them at my legs (and FYI, he's a good shot!).

We waited for Tav on the front porch and then played out front with Tav a bit before heading in for lunch.  After naptime, I got all 3 boys out to the back.  Due to the mild temps, some of the snow had already melted away, but there was enough to keep the boys busy for awhile.  As you can see here, all 3 boys had their own activities going on in the back yard we haven't been able to utilize in months.  Koen even made Penn an Olaf!

Doug was out this evening, so I was so thankful for the snow as a fun and different activity for the boys.  Hopefully we have more surprise snowy days.  This was such a blessing!

Children's Museum with the Little Guys

Tavin is about to join the ranks of the "Big Boys" all the time with the arrival of a littler one to join Penn in the "Little Guys" camp, but until Baby Boy #4 arrives, Tav can still flip and flop between the Big Boys and the Little Guys.  Yesterday, Tavin loved hanging with his little bro, Penn, at the Children's Museum.  We had a few free passes that I've been needing to use up before baby arrived and when my friend Stephanie and her son, Lincoln, wanted to hang out for the day, I figured this was the perfect opportunity.  Turns out I was right!  FYI: go to a museum the day after MLK Day.  No one does field trips the day after a Monday off from school!  It was so quiet and chill.  Perfect for the boys to take advantage of whatever they wanted to without fighting crowds and perfect for Steph and I to just enjoy watching them play while chatting away.  Here's a photo overview...

Tavin remembered other visits to the museum, so he requested to go straight to the "garage" area where there is a Smart car for the kids to drive.  On the way though, the boys got excited about a new light/shadow exhibit.  

And then straight to the Smart car as planned.  Penn was so happy to be chauffeured around by Tav (well, notice he's the navigator with his map on his lap).

Tav got the treadmill to work even though it's pretty tough to start.  It works a bunch of gears above that turns bicycle wheels together (that's what he's looking at).

Next the boys were on to building cars out of magnetic pieces and then racing them around the ramp area.  

After some more fun in the garage room (trolley, car racing and building wheels with spokes), we headed on to the new exhibit...Bounce!  A room full of balls and open to exploring their bounciness.  Not a bad exhibit for a few boys!

With particular balls, the boys could stand on one side of this screen and bounce the ball and it's path would be traced on the wall.  Very cool.  

They had a sectioned off area where kids could just go nuts bouncing balls.  Helmets and goggles required (even though they were the only ones in there).  The helmets and goggles were a little cumbersome, but oh so cute!!!

Next we headed up to the Nursery floor.  It sounds like it's for infants, but the museum has done a great job of making it an appropriate space for little ones and toddlers and preschoolers even.  When we got off the elevator there was a huge space sheep made out of water bottles.  Tav and Penn were immediately astronauts.  3,2,1 Blast off!

The boys roamed around the nursery area for a bit and then settled in the sand area.  They ended up staying there contentedly working over the lighted boxes moving and shaping sand for at least 30 minutes.  I was so happy to see them enjoying such simple activities.  I think they miss digging outdoors and being at the beach.  They were just both lost in the sand play.  Oh and don't miss sweet little Lincoln checking out what they are up to. =)

Later they moved on to the bubble see-saw.  Lincoln was watching again as he really likes this ride too.  Tav was heavier than Penn, so he was really slamming him up and down.  Penn thought it was funny, add to that the bubbles it created in the water wall between them and they were a happy pair.

Steph grabbed my camera when I was working with the boys in the blue rocks area.  Not a super exciting picture, but I'm so rarely in the photos, that I figured I should include it to prove I was there. =) 

Penn and Tav stayed at this table for awhile too.  Again, I just loved watching them being creative making games and fun play out of such simple activities.  I think they were so refreshed by the change of scenery and the hands-on activities.  They were so calm and content.  It was lovely!

A little before noon we headed down for a lunch break.  After lunch we had time for one more activity and Tav chose the water floor.  Penn hasn't been in that area since he was old enough to really enjoy it and boy did he enjoy it on this visit!!  So much hard work with water, buckets and pumps, etc.  Lincoln was totally into this floor as well.  He was fearless in having fun with the water.  

Tav kept working with the water flow and attempted to make a dam strong enough to hold it back.  

Since it's the middle of the winter, I just loved seeing Penn's little bare feet walking around the space.  So cute!  I miss those sweet feet (and all that is wonderful about warmer weather too of course!).

Penn just loved dumping water, filling buckets and doing it over and over and over and over again. =)

Tav introduced Penn to the water pump.  Then we had to figure out a back and forth sharing pattern to keep everyone happy. 

Lincoln was closeby checking out the boys much of the time.  He's such a hearty little guy and can totally hang with my older boys.  Impressive!

Well, right at 1pm we had to pack up and get ready to head out into the snowy afternoon to head home for naptime.  We were at the museum for 3 hours and it was a blast watching the boys enjoy, engage and experience things there.  I cannot wait for our next visit.  I'm so glad we got a chance to use our passes before baby came.  It was a joy to watch these boys explore these exhibits.  Thanks, Stephanie, for getting together.  It was great to have a mom friend to chat with and enjoy this time with.  I look forward to doing it again!

The Shape of Things to Come

This morning we went to the Children's Museum.  I'll blog about the fun I had with the boys later.  I got a little artistic with some shadow/light photo opps in the very empty museum and thought I was quite "overdue" to show some prego pics on the blog.  So, here's Amy (in artistic fashion) at 37 weeks.  First shot: straight on...

Turn to the side and there's that baby bump!!

In another exhibit there was a screen with colors of light casting your shadow multiple times.  This totally looks like a Warhol, don't you think?

My little sidekick (reading his map) stepped into this last shot.  But I think it adds to the artistry.  First comes belly, then comes cute little boy a few years later. =)

Well, my belly isn't the only thing shaping up these days.  I've been having fun this January doing projects here there and everywhere around the house to be prepared for certainly at least a few months of not really taking on fun house projects.  But I've mostly been nesting, you know, the tell-tale sign that baby is just around the corner.  The last few weeks I've worked to paint a hand-me-down changing table to use in our office/guest room/nursery (it's a weird room, it can do all these things).  Here's the table.  Not super exciting, but well worth the effort since I love things to match!

I rearranged some furniture in this multi-purpose room and realized I needed something over the baby's crib (which used to be positioned under the canvases I painted before Penn was born).  I did a little search on Pinterest for ideas on a DIY mobiles and found one that I thought I could handle.  Here's how it turned out.  I'm pretty proud of myself!

Well, that's it for now.  Obviously I'll keep you "posted" whenever baby arrives.  I think these were my last big baby prep projects.  Now it's the waiting game!

MLK Weekend Nana Visit!

This long weekend was an especially nice holiday because Nana came to visit with us! She arrived on Sunday afternoon.  The boys were soooo excited!  Koen stared out the window like this for about 30 minutes just watching and waiting.

Whenever the boys see their grandparents, they are just completely at home with them.  Penn used to be an exception to this rule, but not anymore.  He wanted Nana right away after his nap and was quick to tell me to "Mommy, go."  

On Sunday after some late afternoon playtime, we all headed to church to hear Doug preach (well, the boys had Kidz Church).  It was great to be there worshiping with Doug's mom and then together enjoying Doug deliver a great sermon (especially since we must be his two biggest fans).  After the church service we got the boys to bed while Doug had to finish up with a meeting at the church.  Later he got home and he and his mom and I enjoyed catching up and then relaxing watching Downtown Abbey (we were happy to find Nana was a fan!).  This morning we enjoyed a family breakfast together and then the boys couldn't wait any longer...they knew Nana had brought Christmas gifts and they were dying to dig in.  So, Christmas #2 was on (in PJ's too!).    

Tav got this very cool (and challenging!) rubix cube-type toy.  It will certainly keep us busy! 

Penn remembered the fun of unwrapping and totally made the most of unwrapping his presents.

He was excited to see it was a book.  Tav was also quite interested since it was a Dinosaur Train story (he's been super into Dinosaur Train lately!).

Look at how he's smiling!  He loves "All Aboard!"

How sweet!  Brothers!

Next Koen got to open his gift.  It was Yomega!  A very intense set of Yo-Yo's for him to learn how to really Yo-Yo it up!  We all had fun setting the first one up for him and by the end of the morning he was already making progress.

Tav had another present first.  Look at this smile...  You want to know why he's smiling?  It's a Dinosaur Train book for him!  Perfect!  He was thrilled!

Koen also got a special book, "The Wind in the Willows."  We don't own this classic (nor have I ever borrowed it from the library amazingly enough!), so it was a perfect choice.  Good job, PopPop!

Penn checking it out with Koen.  Oh my goodness, these boys are cute.  Rowdy, but cute!

Another sweet book for Penn.  This one about a little lost sheep.  I love books about Biblical principles.  Can't wait to read this one with Penn (not to mention he loves animals, so he's all about the sheep!).

Then all three boys got a joint book gift too.  We love adding to the home library.  Good job, Nana & PopPop!  Thank you so much!

After present time, Penn crawled up and wanted Nana to read him his book.  Such a snuggly little bug!

After wrapping present cleanup, the boys all had a snack (you know, second breakfast, a little boy necessity it seems).  Penn shared his with Nana.  

After noting the level of the boys' energy yesterday, Doug and I constructed a plan to get them out of the house.  We all piled in the car and headed to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.   We are loving the membership Sky & Megan gifted us.  It's so nice to know you can just pop in for an hour or two here or there rather than feeling like you have to make a day of it if you are paying full admission price.  All 3 boys enjoyed the excursion.  Here they are as quite the archaeologist crew. 

Oh my goodness, doesn't he look like a little boy and not so much a baby?!?!

After the museum time (I ran a few errands instead of the museum since I had a rough prego morning, just didn't feel like meandering around a museum would go well with the discomfort I was in, plus getting my errands out of the way allowed me to get my feet up in the afternoon), we all met up at The Porch right near the museum.  Yummy lunch with Nana!  Unfortunately, during lunch Koen started complaining (like the real kind where you know something is wrong) that his ear hurt.  He had had a cold/cough all week and so it made sense to me that maybe he could have an ear infection.  It was quite evident it was really bothering him, so I called the doctor on the way home from lunch and with it being MLK Day they were closed.  So, to MedExpress we headed.  First we dropped everyone off at the house.  Doug laid Penn down, but first there was a little play time.  Tav enjoyed playing a little hockey again Nana.  Here they are amidst a play...

And then Nana scores (and she looks surprised!)!  Tav dove for it, but that puck got it.  Nice play, Nana!

After Penn's lay down and some goodbyes to Doug and Tav, Nana hit the road.  It was so great to see you, Nana.  Thanks so much for making the drive for the 24 hour visit.  We loved having you and it was just what we needed to get through the long weekend.  =)

PS - Koen did indeed have an ear infection.  Poor bug.  I could tell for sure he was in a lot of pain.  Hopefully he's feeling well enough to head back to school tomorrow.  Oh and MedExpress, although helpful, gives me the creeps.  Oh, the germs!  I couldn't get out of there fast enough!