First (real) haircuts!

Winston's and Wesley's hair had become so long, I'm sure it was hard for them to see. I had cut their hair at home on two occasions, but this time we needed to bring in the professionals. It was time. So Poppy came over to help me bring them to our local Supercuts. The boys only cried for the first half (it all started when they sprayed their hair), but once they realized they had lollipops (a first), all was good.
(Wesley on left, Win on right)

Wesley

All was better once he tasted the lollipop! He kept saying "nummy nummy".

Winston

Win overhearing the ladies in the back saying how cute all the boys are! Notice Charlie just hanging out in the background.

Charlie loved this experience. He hung out, watched the haircut show AND got a lollipop.

Stop to smell the roses

Rob got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers for my birthday. When the boys saw it, they kept saying "flower", so we decided to give them a rose to smell. Win and Wes did a great job taking turns!
Wesley & Win

A great day sandwiched between two very bad days

I had a wonderful birthday last Friday. I woke up to the smell of my favorite coffee brewing, and got to sit down with my four favorite men for a breakfast of bagels with lox, cream cheese, capers, red onion, and lime. Valerie came for the morning and I left to treat myself to a pedicure and a few (fun) errands - like buying cupcakes! I spent the afternoon at the park, meeting up with a friend with twins and other twin moms. (The boys were hysterical. Wes kept finding and handing rocks to a random grandfather. Charlie wanted to stir his stick in another girl's sand bucket - she was not happy with this. Even when I got him a bucket of his own, he only wanted to play with hers. And Win joined us in the sandbox and proceeded to throw sand on the girl's mom, which she thought was funny.) After the boys went to bed, Rob got take out from our favorite Thai place and we proceeded to play with my gift - a Wii!

So backing up, the day before had been very trying. The boys were just screaming left and right, starting fights, throwing tantrum after tantrum. But the kicker was when (in his crib) Win decided to pull down his diaper and pee everywhere. Covering about a quarter of the room. And all this was before 11am.

But I would have traded everything for that awful Thursday, when on Saturday, I woke up with the stomach flu. Thankfully, it only lasted about 36 hours, but it knocked me out. And thankfully, it was a Saturday, so Rob was home and able to care for the boys without any help from me. But all is better now!

The Sickhouse...again

The boys have been fighting a cold for the last few weeks. They had runny noses and low-grade fevers that would come and go. So we didn't really worry about it. (I even called the pediatrician when Charlie started complaining about his ears, but they said it was nothing until he had a high fever.) So when Wes and Charlie spiked high fevers on Thursday and Friday, we decided to take them in for the doctor's sick hours. It was going to only be the two of them, until Winston started wheezing and barking (cough). After 2 hours of waiting, we were seen. Turns out that Charlie and Wes just have a cold - thankfully no ear infections. But Win, on the other hand, might have croup. We were given a steroid to reduce the swelling of his airways and sent on our way, reassured that the boys would be okay.

So later that night, we went to a Red Sox game with our dear friends Adam and Jen. It was a gorgeous, warm night, complete with the best seats we've ever sat in at Fenway - 12 rows directly behind home plate!! The only downside to the evening was learning that while we were off enjoying ourselves, Wes' fever had spiked up to 104.7! A record in this house. Valerie (our wonderful nanny) handled everything beautifully. The boys slept on and off through the night, and Rob was up with Wes at 5am. They are still struggling with their fevers, so they have enjoyed a morning in their pajamas, watching doo-dah (videos). Hopefully they will all start to feel better soon!

Easter hats, part 2

Apparently the boys will wear Easter hats. Just not the ones we bought for them. They have enjoyed wearing their Easter baskets as hats.
Wesley

Winston and Charlie

Boys will be boys

While we were out at my parents' house, they brought out the Barbie van that I used to play with as a child. The boys found a new way to play with the van - to get in and drive it! I love that these two images of Wes and Win are like mirror images: one hand on the wheel, one arm out of the van.
Win

Wesley

Easter eggs

While the boys were napping, we hid plastic eggs (filled with goldfish) throughout the house. Once they realized they were filled with food, they opened and consumed the eggs immediately.
Win was a master at finding the hidden eggs

Charlie opening an egg

Wesley about to eat his fish

Easter driving

We spent Easter weekend with my parents (Grammy & Poppy). This allowed us to go to the baptism of our dear friends' daughter on Saturday night (as well as sneak in a rare dinner out in Harvard Square). Easter was filled with worship, naps, great food, laughs, and outside playtime (despite the 39 degree weather!)

Grammy borrowed these great cars for the boys. The loved driving around (often backwards) and bumping into each other.

Charlie

Wes

Win

Traffic jam

Easter hats

So last Easter, we caught this adorable photo of the boys in their Easter hats. In an attempt to capture their cuteness this year, we put the boys in their Easter hats and sat them on this same love seat. Who were we kidding! The hats were immediately torn off, and they quickly jumped back down the floor.
Easter 2008

So Plan B: just get ANY photo of them in their hats. We bribed them with an M&M to put their hat on. Here is Winston getting his bribe.

Charlie's best photo

And Wesley, crawling through the table, with the dog's rawhide in hand

It will be years before they all take a photo together. I hope we can take a family photo...someday....

Parents' Revenge

We put Winston and Wesley to bed tonight with their sleepers on backwards. We're hoping that with the snap and zipper in the back, they won't be able to undress themselves like they did this morning.
Winston

Wes and Win romping in Wesley's crib as Charlie was being changed

Wesley trying to figure out why the feet of his pjs were backwards

One word: YUCK

Remember when we woke up to this sight?

Well, this morning both Win and Wes had removed their sleepers and thrown them on the floor. But to make matters worse, Win took it one step further and had taken off his dirty diaper and threw it on the floor. We will spare you the details and a photo of the scene because it was a mess.

And sadly this is not an April Fools joke.

Celebrating making it through the day

The boys are quite...rowdy. Active. Crazy, even. They enjoy body-slamming and pushing each other, putting each other in headlocks, etc. It rained all day, so we were stuck inside (after a fun weekend outside). And that seemed to put the boys in a tizzy. Winston would steal toys and books out of Charlie's hands. Charlie would come crying to me, saying "Take!" (which was him saying that someone took something from him). Then I would chase Win down telling him to return the contraband, but he thought this chase was a fun game. Then Winston would steal from Wesley and Wes would fight back and someone would end up tackled on the ground crying. Then someone else would stand on a chair and start the microwave or shove all of their magnets under the fridge (and out of reach for good) or crawl inside the oven and dishwasher. So it was a fun day.

So after the boys went to bed, we celebrated getting through the day with champagne. And folding four loads of laundry. Welcome to our world:

GeGe and Uncle

We had the pleasure of a visit from GeGe (Rob's Granny) and Uncle Raymond last week. The boys loved their time with a great grandmother and great uncle! Highlights of their trip (besides playing with the boys!) included a visit to the New Paris Bakery (a favorite from our old neighborhood), a trip to the park (complete with each of us following a toddler boy on his outdoor adventures), playtime on the sun porch (first time this year) and a wonderful meal out!

This meal out was monumental for us! (We have only taken the boys out to eat a handful of times, and it has been months since we have done so.) The boys were so well-behaved! They drank out of straws and they dipped their food in ketchup (Charlie even started "painting" with his ketchup fry)! And to top it off, all thanks to GeGe, the boys held our hands as we walked to the car. This may sound like nothing to most parents, but when you are outnumbered with three the same age, you don't get the chance to just walk down the road holding your child's hand. They were so proud and excited to just hold our hands and walk to the car! So all this is to say, we're hoping to make this a weekly family meal out.
The boys remembered a game with Uncle Raymond from January: they would look in his shirt pocket and pull out (and put back) pieces of paper!

They also loved playing with his hat
Wesley

Winston and Uncle Raymond

Wesley, Daddy, Win, Charlie, Uncle Raymond and the luckiest dog in the world (Julep)

Charlie

Wesley, GeGe, Win and Charlie

Charlie and Wes in the ball pit

Win, Charles Raymond, Uncle Raymond and Wesley

Classic Wes

All the boys have a wonderful sense of humor, but Wesley has an impish side to him. He is a ham. This photo is classic Wesley. Here he is, chilling on the chair, wearing Daddy's hat, flashing that sweet little pursed-lip smile. He is often the one that is running back and forth, from room to room, clearly cracking himself with whatever he is doing (wearing Daddy's hat that covered his whole face, wearing a bowl on his head, or dancing). And then he looks at you out of the corner of his eye, with a quick little raise of his eyebrow, and upturn of his lips, to let you know that you're in on the joke with him.

In other Wes news, he just started saying "Charlie" today. (Apparently, the name Charlie is easier than the "w" sound of Wesley and Winston.) It sounds a little like "Cha-dah". It's adorable.

What a week!

This week has been a doozy. We started with a foot of snow, making us housebound for 2 days. Winston then started with a runny nose, which turned into a fever, and was quickly passed along to his brothers. The boys seemed like they had finally stabilized, so Saturday night, Grammy & Poppy came over so Rob & I could have a date night. We drove into Boston and saw Slumdog Millionaire (first movie we have seen in over a year!!) and then went to our favorite tapas restaurant. It was wonderful! But when we returned, we learned that Charlie had taken a turn for the worst. He woke up screaming, so I slept with him in the recliner all night. And I use the term "slept" very, very loosely. He's had a fever of 101 for the entire weekend, but this morning was the first chance we had to take him to the doctor. It turns out he has a severe ear infection in both ears! So he is on antibiotics and lots of tylenol.

The upside of last week was that Charlie started to say his own name, as well as his brothers' names! It is the cutest thing!

Before they all got sick, the boys enjoyed parading around the house in Daddy's t-shirts...

Wesley, Charlie and Winston

The boys enjoy making each other laugh

Bird watching