Christmas Eve Mass

Armed with goldfish and sippy cups, we attempted to continue our tradition of Christmas Eve mass with the entire crew.  Owen was an angel, stopping in the middle of mass to turn to Pops and tell him "I'm being a REALLY good boy." When awake, Ben was great.  He was a little tired but Jen was able to rock him to sleep instantly.  Parker and Jack, well, they were a little different story.  I prefer to stay in the cry room as it is just better than attempting to join the general public which requires making a great escape when things start to get crazy.  Well, I gave in and we attempted…

Let's lead into this story and say that Jack and Parker aren't terribly fond of having long, in depth conversations, but they love letters.  LOVE THEM.  Whenever they see letters that are distinguishable or ones they are preferential to, they shout them out (the X on an EXIT sign, the N from the NBC logo on TV, the O on everything, etc).  Why oh why did we not remember this before going to a church filled with crosses that look like T's?

"T" Jack shouted, "T, T, T!!!" Shouting and pointing at all the crosses.  If we weren't supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ, it would have been pretty funny; but instead, it was a little bit embarrassing.  We definitely had our fair share of dirty looks, the "I'm glad my kids aren't acting all crazy like that" expression, and a couple of "I remember that phase" smirks.  We had to immediately leave the general population, enter the cry room, eat all the goldfish we brought, and then bring P and J outside to walk around and point at the letters on the church sign.  As a whole, the church outing wasn't necessarily a win or a loss, it was more like we just stopped playing in the 9th inning, took our ball, and went home. 

The Jumper

There is a new movie now showing in the Connisonville backyard theater…

Title:  The Jumper

Rating:  G

Starring:  Owen, Parker, and Jack Connison

Storyline:  Purchased to serve double duty to give Mommy another outdoor activity for the dude ranch and as a "let's wear out the kids until exhaustion" toy; this Little Tikes bounce house will provide hours and hours of entertainment as all the kiddos jump to their hearts content. 

Soundtrack:  Jump Around by House of Pain (hopefully this is not a self fulfilling prophecy)

meanwhile..

Its frat day at the clubhouse

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ben is 4 months already?!

Hi I'm Ben. I rarely cry. I barely fuss. I never beg to eat. I'm by far the least neediest human in the entire house. I coo. I laugh. I'm adorable. I constantly smile. I'm totally go with the flow. I've slept through the night for the last 2 months. Just rolled over for the first time this morning. I'm the best baby who ever lived. Shh don't tell the others. Good thing the babymaking party is over in this house because it doesn't get any better... Just sayin..

.
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Fosstule Bosstule and other Christmas stories

If you don’t know who Fosstule Bosstule is, don’t be alarmed.  He is our Elf on the Shelf that goes back to the North Pole every night and reports to Santa on how good the boys were during the day. He then comes back to our house in a different location to watch the next days activities. Many of Santa’s elves have funny sounding names, but we are completely unsure of where this name came from, except Owen’s little noggin. Who really knows what is going on in there or what he was trying to say when the name Fosstule Bosstule came out.

Owen is very anxious to find Fosstule everyday when he wakes up and the one day he “left his elf hat at the North Pole,” Owen was very distressed because his head was cold. Good thing he goes back to the North Pole every night and was able to retrieve it. We don’t necessarily see a dramatic improvement with Owen’s behavior with the addition of this magical elf at our house, but it is a consequence that Owen has to deal with when he knows that Fosstule saw him do something wrong…

This weekend, Pops dropped all of us downtown. We took Parker, Jack, and Owen to see Santa at the Miracle on Fulton Street. With manufactured snow (read: Dawn bubbles) dropping down from overhead, Parker was a little apprehensive about the entire thing. He quickly got over it and decided to watch the rest of the sights from his front row seat in the wagon while he and his brother were chauffeured around the place. They have live reindeer and the boys all got their picture taken with the antlers and we were able to take a decent pic with Santa (which by the way, is only available via printed picture so I now have to scan it in order to post it here...). The lines weren’t very long and we had some goldfish keep the little guys occupied for a while and then were able to get everyone looking in the same direction.

The big stage had a band playing Christmas carols and room for Owen to dance around. They boys all had a good time, but we were definitely sad that we left little Ben at home. We weren’t sure of the crowds and effort it would really be to take a Santa picture, so we are definitely getting one of our WHOLE family next year. Sorry Ben!!

This was better than the previous two years where we didn’t even make it out last year as we were still in survival mode with twin 10 month olds who were constantly fighting ear infections. Then there was the year before with Jen uber prego with the twins, Owen was 16 months old, and there was a line at the mall a mile long. We did get this shot that year…Santa is about 40 yards in the background, but he did make the pic.

I love Christmas time and can’t wait until the big day when the boys get to open their stuff from Santa. They have all been good boys this year, so I think they will have lots of presents (I also know this because I check our credit card statement...good thing I love Mrs. Claus)!

I’m pretty sure Dora’s hitting the sauce

All the boys really like watching Dora the Explorer  (a little too much if you ask me), but we are still in survival mode so the TV helps entertain the kiddos when things actually need to get done in Connisonville (dishes, laundry, dinner, adult conversation, what-have-you). Well, Dora likes to teach Spanish to her children viewers. Owen has picked up on “hola” and “si” and “vamanos” and especially on “delicioso.” Anything and everything he eats is delicioso.

In true holiday spirit(s) the other night, I recommended that Jen and I wrap all the presents while watching TV (I'm sensing where the boys get there TV watching skills) and drink hot chocolate spiked with Kahlua. As I was pouring our glasses, I noticed that “Delicioso” is printed right on the label. Apparently Kahlua is imported from Vera Cruz, Mexico and this is part of their marketing campaign.

I think I now understand why Dora is always in such a good mood, but also why she needs you to repeat things multiple times…

mr happypants strikes again

I go check on Ben during his "nap" to find him quiet as a mouse, wide awake, leaning up on his little arms looking like he's saying some prayers. Always always smiling. Love this kid!
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living the dream

One of these things just doesn't belong. another day in paradise.
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Video from Santa

Santa Claus sent Owen this video from the North Pole:

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/LVHuGlqmhmCQWdiIuqJC5w

He watched it for about 15 seconds and thought it was cool, but lost interest in Santa quickly...maybe next year he will like it better.

2010 Christmas Card

This is our 2010 Christmas card.  Jen is awesomely awesome at creating beautiful cards of our family (with a little help from Shutterfly of course). 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Connisonville!!

-Brett, Jen, Owen, Parker, Jack, and Ben

A day of firsts.

Today Ben giggled for the first time playing peek a boo with me. Not just a coo and a smile. A full on adorable baby giggle.

Jack decided today he'd crawl uP the slide and then slide back down. He'd be so proud when he got to the top he'd clap his hands and say "yay!" then head on down... Must have repeated this new skill 20 times.

Owen walked into school with katie and Mack today. Mack isn't adjusting to being back to school since Joseph has arrived and has started crying crying crying upon drop off. And since owen is now totally happy about going to school (after crying for six weeks when he started), today he told Mack "i'll take care of you this time buddy".

Parker's first is borderline vile. Apparently when owen got home from school he went to the potty without telling anyone. and I didn't happen to go in the bathroom all afternoon to notice. But as I was fixing the boys dinner I realized I hadn't seen park in a few minutes so I went to find him and oh yes. He broke into the bathroom, potty turned over, contents everywhere with Parker laying in contents snow angel style.
Immediate bath commenced following immediate cloroxing of bathroom. (sigh)

Daddy and I even had a first. We went to a christmas party tonight and left all four of you with sweet dear Louise without putting anyone to bed first. Whaaaaat?

just like elmo says, "you did something new today... hooray! hooray! hooray!"
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this about sums up the year! and what a year its been....

Ben’s Bad Night

Newsflash: Ben isn’t perfect. I know it is tough to believe, but we had a not so great time the other night. He’s got the boogie-woogs and it pretty congested, so it isn’t his fault, but it still wasn’t pretty for us. It started with a 12:30am wake up call to feed him, another one around 2:50-3:45am which ended with me rocking him in the chair, and the last one was an hour and a half sleeping/feeding on and off with Jen around 5am. We were both exhausted and at that point realized how lucky we were that Ben usually sleeps from 8 or 9 something into the 6 o’clock hour. He is 3.5 months and sleeps like an angel, and so do we because of it.


I guess we have to take the occasional bad night in exchange for the peacefulness that usually takes place.

On a similar note of Ben not being perfect, the times that Ben is usually the fussiest is when he is OVER tired. If we miss that window of opportunity to put him down, he kind of goes berserk. We recently had one of those nights too when everyone else went to bed, he screamed for about 25 minutes. He fought me tooth and nail and eventually had to be soothed, rocked and passed out in my arms rocking in the chair…it was pretty pathetic. 

Ben, let's try not to do that again.  Love, Dad.

A Special Date

Snowman sippy with hot chocolate

We took Owen on a “special date” to see all the lights at the Baton Rouge Zoo the other night. They have a Celebration in the Oaks type deal (but not quite as dramatic) so we figured we could take him while MM and PP were in town. I think Owen just liked the idea of having some one on one time with his Mom and Dad. We had hot chocolate (in the special snowman sippy seen above) and shared a pretzel, and walked around the zoo bunded up in our winter garb…it was pretty chilly. After a run in with the anteater and a pretty ornery yak, we headed home because the “train was sleeping” so we couldn’t ride it.

Days later, he is still telling me about that “late car ride” and how we were up way past our bedtime. I think he had a pretty good time...I know Jen and I did.

Previously our party of 3

Too Cool for School



Field trip to the BR Zoo

Since I haven’t been consistently updating on Owen's progress at the Mother’s Day Out program, I am choosing to wrap it all up into one post.

After a lengthy period of adjustment, Owen has finally accepted that he goes to school on Monday’s and Thursday’s. Almost daily, he says…”no school today?” regardless of what day it was. He just didn’t want to go. At first, he would melt down, then he got over that, but just got sad about the morning and would whine  (Side note:  3 year olds whine...a LOT).  We would do our daily dance of explaining how great school was and on and on and how we love to pick him up and drop him off, etc. Eventually he didn’t have tears and would go without a fight. He loves to have me pick him up in the afternoons – probably because I tell him that he should love it...

We had about 6 weeks of tears, some days were bad (2-4 hours of crying) and some days were much better (5 minutes-30 minutes). Owen got used to the routine and he is now tear free. As a matter of fact, we have had some fun outings that he was able to look forward to: a trip to the fire station, a Thanksgiving Feast, and a trip to the BR Zoo. They have music class, play on the playground and have even helped tremendously with potty training (more on that later).

We have been very happy with Owen’s teachers (Ms. Marilyn and Ms. Anita) and they seem to love him too. Overall Jefferson Baptist has been great and we would highly recommend them to anyone. There was a spot that opened up so they can now fit Owen in 3 days a week. We are starting that in January after the holidays and we are pretty confident that he will adjust fine. It will be a break for Jen another day of the week so that will also be nice. After we thought about putting Parker and Jack in a 2 day program starting soon, we considered the cost – which would equal about $450/month! Hopefully, Daddy will learn some creative accounting between now and the fall and we can send them all over there without breaking the bank.

Thankful.

We started off Thanksgiving Day with our own makeshift Turkey Trot, both Jen and I were able to get out for a good run before we spent the rest of Thanksgiving with everyone in NOLA. When we got in town, we put the little kiddos down for a nap and went to town on the turkey. Owen stayed up with us to eat, as we figured there would be too much excitement for him to nap. Since he didn’t really go to bed the night before until 11pm due to a lengthy nap on Wednesday, he was exhausted and asked us if he could take a rest. WHAT?!?!?! Sure buddy, go ahead. GO RIGHT AHEAD.

Stuffed, we proceeded to watch the Saints comeback win against Dallas, while we enjoyed drinks and family (and of course more food).

We have so much to be thankful for, here are just a few of my top things this year:

My beautiful, lovely, and wonderful wife, Jen. She is my teammate, my soulmate, and my rock.  I thank God for her every day, but especially on Thanksgiving.

Our boys. I can’t imagine our lives without them. Jen and I love being parents. The guys make us laugh and smile and happy and proud. Sometimes, they make us frustrated and angry too, but its the ups and downs that make our lives so fulfilled. We look forward to all that God has in store for us as parents.

Our awesome family. With two wonderful sets of grandparents, along with sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins (some near and some far), we couldn’t ask for a better family. They are a tremendous support system and role models for us and our boys. We are so very thankful for all of them.

A wealth of Health, Happiness, and Love. These factors help make is easy for us to manage the sometimes chaotic lives. We have been fortunate to avoid chronic ailments; have strived to show those around us our happiness; and proven that we can get through anything with our love. We are so grateful to have full and happy, healthy lives to share with everyone.

And everything else, AMEN. God has blessed us in so many ways:  great friends, Daddy’s good job, a wonderful home, food on the table, and too many other things to count. We are thankful for everything in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving from Connisonville!

-Brett, Jen, Owen, Parker, Jack, and Ben

What a Turkeyhead

Owen had a Thanksgiving feast at school yesterday. Jen met me there on my lunch break and we got to see our little Pilgrim with all his school friends. They said a nice prayer saying they were thankful for their food, then Owen dug into the cookies and cupcake first...yeah, he's mine.

We found this on the wall outside of Owen's classroom. *tear*

On our way to see the Tigers play!

View from our seats.

A little blury and my head is cut off, but O looks like he's having fun...


After having LSU Football season tickets for the past two years, Vincent and I gave them up this year due to the new additions to our families (Ben in August and Little Melerine in December). We frequently spoke about how dumb it was to bring young kids (who we would later see sleeping) to the game knowing that they weren’t going to enjoy it nearly as much as they should. We also talked about how much fun it was going to be once they were old enough to enjoy it. Apparently that would come sooner rather than later for Owen…

On Saturday, Owen and I went to his very first LSU Football game. We got tickets from Aunt Karen and Uncle Tommy and all the stars aligned as were able to swing an early kickoff, a small crowd (because LSU was playing UL-Monroe), and perfect weather. We had 6 tickets so Rob and Mack and Dave and Daniel were able to come too. We parked and started to walk closer and closer to Tiger Stadium, Owen was just enamored with all the people, all the lights, and how big the stadium was. With the boys in tow, Rob and I made our way to the gate where we met up with Uncle Doose and Uncle Daniel before heading in to the game.

Jen and I kept telling him how loud it was going to be and how there were going to be a lot of people and he was going to stay up way past his bed time. He was super excited. I think the initial shock of loudness startled him, but he then got into it and was able to contribute his own high pitched yells. He even joined the crowd and put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem. Dave and I tried to help Owen learn a few of the dances from the band, specifically the first and second down chants and the praise the defense bow. He also helped us do the wave, though I am not really sure that he understood what was going on, but he was all smiles.

Since we always read Owen's Born to be a Tiger book, he kind of knew what was going to happen at the game. We grabbed a Tiger Dog, just like the book, and Owen scarffed it down. He asked for another one before the 1st quarter was up and I thought he was just trying to be like the book, but after about 10 times and him whining “I’m hungry,” I realized that he actually was hungry…sorry about that buddy. After a second Tiger dog, Owen was good to go again. We sent a few pics to Jen and she was worried that Owen was getting tired, but his blank stare was more shock and amazement of the sights than anything else.

We cheered on the Tigers (and their terrible offense) until halftime where it was 23-0 in LSU’s favor. We walked back down the tunnels and paused to take some pictures closer to the field before leaving and heading back to the car. With O on my shoulders, he proceeded to use my head like a drum and beat it until we could no longer hear the music from the stadium…thanks big guy.

It was a definite “W” for Rob and me, and of course for LSU (final score of 51-0). Our offense was terrible, but that is another story…

Some of Owen’s quotables:
“I’m all done with Tiger Stadium.” (after the first quarter)
“I’m all done with the football game.”
“I want another Tiger Dog, please.”
“I love Tiger Stadium.”
“I love Tiger Dogs.”
“I want to go closer on the grass.” (yeah, me too buddy)
“Look at all those men on the grass.”
“It’s dark outside, but the lights are bright in here.”
“We are up WAY past our bed time.”
“It’s gonna get REAL LOUD!”
“GEAUX TIGERS!!”
“I see the cheerleaders; they spelled L-S-U.”
“We got to get that fumble!”

It was awesome to take Owen to his first LSU game, but I wish Jen would have been there with us. I can't wait to take the rest of the guys to their first Tiger games and to take them all as a family, but that is going to be a few years from now.  Regardless, I'm sure this whole family is going to bleed Purple and Gold (whether they like it or not!).

UPDATE:  Every couple of days since last Saturday...Owen has thanked me mulitple times for taking him to the Tiger game.  I just love that kid. 

Babbling Boys

I just read an article about how twins have delayed speech, potentially months behind singletons, especially for boys. We are officially witnessing this firsthand. I don't think Parker and Jack don't have the vocabulary they should for their age.

Because there are two guys to focus on, they obviously don’t get enough one on one time. Jen and I do our best to spend individual time with both Parker and Jack, but they just don’t get the same amount of time that Owen had at their age (since there was only one). We read every night to them and try to do as much teaching and learning throughout the day, but the simple fact is, the one on one time is crucial to speech development. Parker and Jack are competing for time, not only between each other, but with Owen, AND Ben. Poor guys, they have a clown to the left and a joker to the right, and they are stuck in the middle with each other.

As far as their development, the boys know certain words, but are not always ready to express them. Owen repeated EVERYTHING, but Jack and Parker only try to repeat specific things. For some reason, they prefer more complex words…Parker loves to say “volcano” and Jack always says “exercise” but they don’t always want to say the easy ones like “mama” or “tubby.” Jack tends to babble way more than Parker, but says less things clear. Parker babbles less, but annunciates better. That all happens right now, I’m sure in two weeks, they will flip-flop and do things exactly opposite. I just think this proves that all children are different and they are going at their own pace.

The boys know their alphabet already and are really picking up their numbers too. They aren’t even 21 months, I can’t remember when Owen learned this, but I know it wasn’t this early! Regardless, I know those little brains are working hard trying to learn all they can. I know that they are developing at their own pace, but it is so cute when they talk that I want it to be all the time. I will probably regret that when our house becomes exponentially louder than it already is…but oh well.

Update: Just today, Jen was singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Jack and he was saying the last word of each phrase (star, are, sky, high). Out of the blue, he knows this? I guess they really are picking up every bit of information that we are putting out there and they will express it whenever they darn well feel like it. Way to go Jack, you made an awesome face when you said each word...you were so proud of yourself.

My Little Computer Nerds

Just watching some vids

See Jack, this is how you download music.

Owen has always had a fondness for technology, tapping away at our phones and laptop that used to live on our end table. He used to say it was his and he had to "go to work" so we would open it up and he could type on it. Once we replaced the old laptop, Owen frequently got mad when we didn't let him play with our new one. He knows what a mouse is. He used to help PawPaw "work" by typing different letters into a command prompt. At an early age, he could say "unrecognized command verb" because that was the error message that came up when typing with PawPaw. At school, they have "computer class" but neither Jen nor I really know what they are doing in there...but we think it is funny that a 3 year is taking computer classes.

Owen got a play laptop from Emily and Adam (our two most computer friendly friends) and he loves playing with it...and taking it away from Parker and Jack who also love to play with it. It is a really great toy but it causes many fights in our house, so we may need to get another one (or two, or three). I guess Parker and Jack are following in Owen's footsteps...

It is funny to see how they are growing up with all the technology in their lives...just think, they won't know the world without the internet, TiVo, and smart-phones. Now that is awesome.

UPDATE: Jack is now bringing me the laptop and asking me to "o-pa" after Owen closes it on him.

Ben's Baptism!!

Ben was baptized this yesterday at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church by Father Paul Schott. Father Paul married Jen and I, and performed the baptism ceremony for each of the boys. P and J were co-baptized in BR with another Priest at St. George Catholic Church (and also with their cousin Kevin).

What I like about HNJ, is that the ceremony is after mass, where it is just your family and the priest. This is nice because you get to focus on it being a ceremony and not the fact that they are squeezing it in the middle of mass with everyone looking at their watches (oh, am I the only one who does that?). I know there is good reason to bring your child into the Catholic community during mass and all and I like that concept, but we have 4 kids, and corralling them all for the ceremony is no small feat.

Owen and Parker were in attendance while Jack proceeded to have a fit and was ushered to the church nursery by Pops (though we are pretty sure that it was probably his full diaper that was causing his fussiness). Park decided it was time to smack my bald head like a drum and spittle all over me as he chirped out some words into the echoing empty. Thankfully Owen and Ben were angels as Father Paul went on with the ceremony.

We all went back to GaGa and Pop’s house for a little party where we dogged out those delicious BLT finger sandwiches and awesome cake from Whole Foods. Vincent and Antoinette were excellent Godparents performing their duties for Ben, but I am still unsure why they left with Ben’s most awesome baptism present ever…a 2010 Chevy Avalanche. Vincent, I’m gonna need you to bring that back, I plan on teaching Ben how to drive soon!!

Here are some pics of the blessed event.

Halloweenies

I think we need to give some credit to Sissy for coming up with this idea, but much credit goes to Jen for designing and making these costumes a reality - One Dat (Parker), Two Dat (Jack), Who Dat (Owen), and New Dat (Ben).

We were all in NOLA for Ben’s baptism and thought it would be easier to have some help hitting the streets so we stayed until it was time to go Trick or Treating. We all took the dudes walking down Octavia ready to get some treats. Jen had been practicing Owen’s routine over the past couple of days and when the pressure was on, he shined. He went right up to the first house and said “Trick or Treat” with his little pumpkin out ready for some candy. He needed to be reminded (as he does with so many other things) about his “Thank You’s”, but he did great. We went to a few houses, and ended up at a block party on S. Rocheblave where they had the street blocked off and everything.

Owen cleaned up, which means I cleaned up. You see, I’m five years old and I love candy. Since Owen only likes DumDum lollipops (and of course M&Ms for pottying), we don’t need to give him any more sugar so I pretty much get to take the rest of the candy to work. WAHOO!! I guess Sour Patch Kids and Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups are an acquired taste.

He really loved the whole event, he was so excited to show us his candy. After we put him to bed last night, a few minutes later, he came out because he “had to check on his treats.” The same thing happened in the morning; he just carried around his basket of treats and didn’t even care to eat them. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if he is even related to me…

More Halloween Pics!

Two Are Better Than One

Here is a quote that I found on a twin mom blog and I really love it, not only for Parker and Jack, but all of our boys.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down,his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
--Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Doing Life

Jen and I are running the Crescent City Classic. There, I said it, now we have to do it. I feel better about it already. More importantly, we are "Doing Life", like this guy. He is awesome and inspiring. Reading his blog, watching his video, and seeing him all over TV and on active.com. has been super motivating. He just decided to do something and did it. I have been starting to run more and more and quite possibly, I am catching the fever. It is addictive when you start running and you get better and better at it because you want to run more and farther and faster and you can’t wait until your next run. I want to get back to that point. I was there right after Jen and I got married, running the lakes after work, entering 5K races...I was addicted.

It certainly isn't easy with a newborn, but now that Ben is sleeping longer, I want to get back to a good running routine and working out consistently. Jen and I have been making the time to let each other get out to run or go to they gym or whatever. It isn't always easy or convenient, but we are making it happen. Today was day #1 of getting back to the gym in the morning (I have only been one other morning since Ben was born). Needless to say, 5am was pretty early...but I know it gets easier.

Let's hope this doesn't jinx it.

Ben is awesome, really awesome. We have always had good babies; Owen, Parker and Jack have all been great, but I think Ben takes the cake. For each kid, the dynamic obviously changes; we had to only care for one baby, and then needed to worry about two babies and one toddler, and now we have a baby, two toddlers, and a legit big boy. First, we were new parents who didn’t know anything, then it was a learning experience with P/J at the same time, and now that we are professionals having such an easy baby is a blessing from the Big Guy. It isn’t all peaches, he has his moments, but it is usually related more to what else has to be done when he is getting fussy (all the meals – kiddo and parent, bath time, nighttime, potty breaks, injury timeouts, whatever). If Ben is tired of hanging out and wants to be held, by all means, he deserves some quality time by himself (but he doesn’t always get it).

Even at nighttime, he doesn’t wake up fussy and screaming FEED ME MOMMA!!! It is more of muffled grunts that are just enough to wake us up. The point is he eats and goes right back to sleep. He is two months old and sleeps from about 9:30pm-5:00am. We couldn’t be happier with that because we know that the key to our sanity is definitely getting enough sleep. That gives us enough sleep to be able to deal with anything that our days bring us. Again, he is awesome.

Thanks Ben, Mom and Dad really appreciate how accommodating you have been in this crazy house filled with dudes.

The Card Queen

Dats a lot of Dats

It takes a half hour just to write down all the Masters in the house!

Sissy is ridiculously good at giving cards. We got one for Halloween…a week early. Now that is impressive. What is even more impressive is that she inserts her awesome artistic ability into all her cards for a personalized touch. She has the uncanny ability to draw stick figure representations of all the Connisons. She even dressed us up in Halloween costumes! Somehow in the past 3 years, it became hard for us to find the time to get to Walgreens to get cards for holidays, birthdays, etc. let alone have enough luck to find a stamp in the house and send it on time. Yet, Sissy gets them, draws all over them and sends them early! Needless to say, we are thoroughly impressed by her card giving/drawing skills.

If I were to have a conversation with Drew Brees

Me: Hey buddy, congrats on your new addition Bowen! Glad everyone is doing well.

Drew: Thanks man. We are really excited about the newbie.

Me: I bet, but now we need to talk about his name...I understand your hesitation to use Brett Owen, but I would have been honored if you named your second child after me.

Drew: Yeah, we wanted to, but thought it would be a little weird with you and Owen and us always hanging out and stuff. We didn't want anyone to get confused or think we were trying to copy off of you.

Me: Now worries, but if it’s cool with you, Jen and I are just going to call him "Bo" for short.

Drew: Sure thing, we are probably going to call him that anyway.

Me: Well, congrats again! We are really happy for y'all. Jen and Brittany can set up a play date with our dudes when we come see you at the Dome on Sunday.

Drew: Definitely. We will see you then.

The High School Years

In my obsession with planning things I plotted out when all the boys would be in school together. I worked the numbers and different scenarios that could take place depending on our decision when to send Owen and Ben to kindergarten. With their August birthdays, if Owen and Ben are to start kindergarten after just turning 6, we will have all 4 boys in high school at the same time for one year (unless they go to a high school with an 8th grade, then it will be two years).

There are 4 different scenarios that can happen. Parker and Jack are smack dab in the middle of the school year, so they are going when then are 5:

1. Owen and Ben start school at 6. (grades = 12, 11, 11, 9)
2. Owen starts school at 5 and Ben at 6 (grades = 12, 10, 10, 8)
3. Owen starts school at 6 and Ben at 5 (grades = 12, 11, 11, 10)
4. Owen and Ben start school at 5 (grades = 12, 10, 10, 9)

This discovery prompted me to cruise the interwebs and look up Catholic school tuition…I want to throw up now.

Moving up to a Big Boy Bed

We bit the bullet and put Owen in his very own big boy bed. He is over 3, but has never tried to get out of his crib so we never pushed the issue. Now that Ben is in our room we knew that we would be making this transition soon, eventually putting all the big guys in the same room (2 cribs and one big boy bed). Gaga and Pops got Owen a new mattress and box spring for the transition (it is currently on the floor because we want to wait to put in on the actual frame since it is pretty tall). So we just decided to try this out, well, there is no going back since I am not moving all the cribs to and from each room in our house again, so we are just doing this and making it work.

After Owen fell asleep on the car ride back from NOLA Sunday (following a lengthy excursion with Gaga to the Aquarium/French Quarter and no nap), we were a little worried about how the nighttime switcheroo would go. Jen read O some books and said their prayers and then he was out like a light. Midway through his prayers though, he asked Jen to "turn the light off cause I want to go to bed now." He sure is something... At 7am, he ventured out of his room when he heard Parker and Jack get up and told me that he LOVED his new big boy bed.

Night #1 = SUCCESS!!!! Let's hope the rest of the week goes just as smoothly!

UPDATE - Owen required to be tucked in twice last night before falling asleep and then he came into our room about 4:45, telling Jen that "he needed a hug." Sure thing, big guy...I carried him back into his room and snuggled him up in the covers and he went right back to bed. I think this is going to work out just fine...

The Next Top Food Toddler

On those occasions where Owen decides that he doesn’t feel like taking a nap, Jen puts his behind to work in the kitchen!!!

Note to Owen: Opt for the nap buddy, you will thank me later.

Ms. Heather’s Pumpkin Patch

They will never all be looking at the same time.

Pumpkin Head

Pumpkins!!

Jen is surrounded by dudes

Saturday, we packed up the troops and went to Hammond to visit the Pumpkin Patch!! Last year, Owen and Josie had a great time, but P & J were under the weather (and a bit small to enjoy it). This year, only Ben was too little, so the big guys played on the hay, in the patch, and on the big inflatable jumper. Jack absolutely loved that thing. He found himself a cougar (ok, she was a 7 year old, but still a much older woman) who wanted to jump with him and he was having a blast, a smile from ear to ear.

We ate lunch out there, though the weather was a bit warmer than it has been lately. The boys got to run around and play, we took home some pumpkins and got some great pictures. It was definitely a win and I think we will be back again next year!

Surprise…you’re 30!

My wife is a liar. Jen told me that she didn’t have anything planned for my birthday. She said “I’m sorry, but when do you think that I would have had time to plan ANYthing?” (with quite a tone in her voice might I add). We had already discussed no surprises and I didn’t really want anything because I just wanted 30 to come and go and it not be that big of a deal.

I got home from work on Friday where I was surprised with my sister, her boyfriend, and MM and PP at the house. She got me, I didn’t expect that. The next day, we grabbed Ben and packed up a few adult beverages to peruse campus and see the sights for the Tennessee game while MM and PP watched the big kiddos. “Let’s go visit Katie and Rob over at the Parade Grounds first” she says…another lie. We walked up to a big tailgate filled with a bunch of my friends and food and the whole works – SURPRISE!!! She got me again. Jen was able to round up as many of my friends as she could and with the help of David and Regina, was able to pull it off. She must have also coordinated with LSU and God to have a home game with spectacular weather on my birthday. She is good, real GOOD.

We were out there tailgating for a while when we closed up shop to head to La Carreta to eat and watch the game (and have cookie cake). 4 quarters later, a ruckus ensued where LSU lost, then…SURPRISE, LSU won the game!! It might have been the most retarded 30 seconds I have ever seen in college football. I told you she was good, Jen wanted to give me that one last surprise on my birthday, an LSU win.

I said it in my last post, but I will say it again. She is amazing. Thanks so much Jen, for all your planning and everything else, and also my family and friends, I had a great 30th birthday!!

SAHM/Homemaker/Superwoman Extraordinaire

If Jen needed to write a résumé, this would be an appropriate job title, though I don’t think the last one does her enough justice.

Jen is amazing…AMAZING. She has the toughest job in the world and she seems to do it with ease. Jen’s 4 bosses are way more demanding, unreasonable, and unforgiving than mine. She handles them like a champion and I really don’t know how she does it. Regardless, she was meant for this job. Don’t get me wrong, she is a terrific wife and excellent nurse, but her mom-a-bilities are phenomenal.

I could elaborate on a hundred different instances of how she makes our lives better, but I will spare everyone the details. It boils down to this: I love that Jen stays home to raise our boys. Almost daily, I get different picture messages of them doing whatever they do all day and it is great knowing they get to spend all day with their Momma. I know it isn’t an easy job, but having Jen around is the best thing for those little dudes. I can’t thank her enough for all that she does and I want EVERYONE to know that she is the center of the universe for all 5 boys in our house.

We love our Momma and all that you do for us!
B, O, P, J, B

Toddler Tailgate

The boys are huge Russell Shepard/Joseph Addai fans

Ok, so it wasn’t exactly a tailgate, but we did all venture out to campus last Saturday. We parked at Uncle Doose’s house and walked the guys around campus. We stopped for some photo ops with a stuffed Mike the Tiger and again for a juice box break at the amphitheatre.

Owen got to see the LSU clock tower, the parade grounds and the tailgaters eating jambalaya just like in the Born to Be a Tiger book. It was a short lived trip to campus, about 90 minutes total, but it was a win and it was fun to soak up the atmosphere and the smells of football season. Now, we need to figure out how to buy that RV so we can make this happen on a regular basis!

Here are some other pics of our guys in their LSU gear - http://picasaweb.google.com/brett.connison/FutureTigers#

School Days

On Monday's and Thursday's when he goes to school, Owen makes sure I take my lunchbox and sippy cup to work too.

just the twins.

So today was the first day I brought Owen to school with all the offspring in the car by myself. Previous school days I've had the wonderful help of grandparents.

This is what I learned about doing it all alone: start getting ready for departure as soon as my eyelids open. We did somehow make it on time. Just in case I forget the logistics of this procedure one day.. allow me to elaborate.
Daddy out the door. Breakfast over. 7:45am.
Owen to potty after moderate coersion. Owen dressed. Smiling and crying at the same time when he realizes its a school day.
Jack and Parker dressed and changed.
Mommy dressed listening to Ben fuss.
Nurse Ben while watching each twin poop in new diaper. Perfect.
Change dudes, again.
Ben in carseat.
Park in car first. Owen second. Jack on the hip while carrying Ben in carseat.
All buckled.
Run back in house to get Owen's stuff, my stuff, COFFEE.
Throw Owen a banana in backseat for brainfood on the way.
Mommy buckled. 8:29am. Thank you Lord.

Nearly impossible to get Owen to his second story classroom by myself with all 4 in tow. Could be done with the double stroller, and sling for Ben, and Owen holding hands but seriously? By the time I did all that, dropped Owen off, went back down the elevator, and got them all back in the car.... it would be time to go back inside and pick up owen. So I need a helper. Katie drops Mack on the same school days at the same time but today Mack was sick and wasn't going to school. I bribed my poor cousin with CC's coffee delivery to throw the sick kids in the car and meet me at school so I could have her watch my kids sit in the car while I walk up with Owen.
IS. THIS. ALL. WORTH. IT!???
Yes. yes it is.

Never you mind about all that.
What is the point of this blog?
The point is my sweet little independent twins got to hang with their mom when we got home all by their lonesome. Well, after Ben went down for a nap.
The last time this occured was during the summer when Owen was with MawMaw and PawPaw. But they weren't talking yet. And since they've really commenced utilizing the English language, I have had yet another child, was unable to pick them up for two weeks, always have a baby suckling the teet, or a 3 year old who requries more attention than all 4 kids combined. So for once, the baby was asleep and the human constantly answering for them was away. and it was just us chickens. So we turned off the nanny tv. and read books. played with toys. tickled. laughed. ate cheerios. built a tower.

and then a miracle occured.

i picked up the doodle sketch. and began writing the alphabet. one letter at a time. I'd write one. then erase it and write the next one. and guess what? those two little people knew all but a few letters. i'd write it. and they would say it.
so i'm laughing because i was so surprised and so proud of them. and also i'm crying because i feel so guilty that i didn't know they knew the alphabet. how long have they known it? what else is in their heads and i don't know its there? is this the ultimate curse of having 600 kids in diapers?? i need more minutes in a day. i hate that i didn't know this and it took until now for me to realize it.

i knew they that knew SOME of the letters when MawMaw would sign the letters which started last week. but they knew almost every letter when they actually saw them written. and no one had ever asked them. and i felt so terrible about that. there's always so much action around our house and if its not the baby needing me, owen needs something and the twins are literally the least needy little souls and they end up left in the middle. at least they are together in the middle? poor guys.

no matter how much fuss it is to get owen to his little preschool for a measley 8 hours a WEEK... i will be so grateful for that time with the twins having my undivided attention.
what a crazy wonderful life =)

Diaper Trouble...

MawMaw didn’t put pants on Parker OR Jack for their nap the other day... It also happened the next day with PawPaw!! Lesson Learned: Put pants on P and J for naps.

Outfit and sheet changes were needed all around, but it was totally worth the pictures to show their prom dates.

Parker

Jack

School

He looks like he likes it...

Owen started his Mother’s Day Out program last Thursday. It didn’t go so well. It started off great and he ran into class ready to play with the ice cream cones (apparently something he played with during his first visits there). After he realized that Mommy wasn’t staying at school, he broke down. We received a call that Mrs. Marilyn couldn’t calm him down and focus on the other children so Jen went to pick him up early. Jen found him sitting by himself on the playground where he didn’t want to play with the other kids.

He came home and said that he cried at school, but we kept telling him that he didn’t need to cry at school and we were going to try again on Monday. In order to prep him a little bit more, we were letting him know what was going to happen when he went to school. We are hoping this helps him with expectations and he won’t be so sad when Mommy leaves.

1. Mommy is going to drop you off.
2. You are going to go play with your friends.
3. Then you go learn some stuff.
4. Mommy is going to pick you up.

Fast forward to today…Jen dropped him off and he cried at the door, which we expected, but we were hoping that if he cried at first, then he would be able to then get over the initial separation and be happier at school. Jen was ready to pick him up early but hopefully he would last longer than on Thursday. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case, at roughly 11am, Jen was there to get him.

It is tough to know that he is sad at school, but we know this is good for him and he needs to get adjusted. Let’s just hope this doesn’t last too long…

Tubs and Tubs of Clothes!!

We spend a lot of time right after Ben was born organizing the Rubbermaid tubs in the boys’ closets. They have been unpacked and repacked with corresponding sizes for upcoming seasons for Parker and Jack and mostly Ben who will be right in line with both sizes and seasons to fit in all of Owen’s old clothes. Seriously, Ben won’t need one article of clothing…but something tells me that we will be seeing some monogrammed “Benjamin” clothes!! Here is his first one courtesy of Big Lea and Sydney.

Our Family of Six

6. Our family now has 6 people in it. Wow. I would have never guessed it, and certainly not before my 30th birthday, but it happened and we have the Big Guy to thank for it.

To put things in perspective, here are a few of the things to consider when you have 6 people in your family:

Included gratuity. We were out at a restaurant recently and I glanced at the bottom of a menu and it required parties of 6 or more to have gratuity included. It is funny to think that your family satisfies that requirement.

No small cars. I am not really a fan of small cars; they are nice, but I am an SUV person and don’t necessarily prefer to drive a smaller car. Now, we have no choice. The Swagger Wagon is currently serving us well, moving all of us around town, but I’m sure we will one day have to get a Suburban or other large SUV. Who knows, maybe we can have a second car that is small??

4+ bedroom house. We currently fit in our 3 BR/2 BA, 1700 sqft house, but will soon outgrow it. We have plans for the future to move Ben into his own room and triple up the boys with two cribs and a big boy bed for Owen. Not ideal, but we are making it happen. Ultimately, I would like to have a 4th bedroom (as a spare) and an office. I see visions of 2 bunk beds in our future… How long do boys share a room? I’m thinking until they go to college.

Catholic school tuition. Dear Lord, thank you for all of our continued blessings. We know we are blessed and are very grateful for everything, especially our beautiful healthy boys. Please bless us with a multiple child discount for school tuition. Amen.

Sam’s Club. We are already members, and frequent Mr. Walton’s glorious warehouse, but I feel that we will be doing a large majority of shopping there, just for convenience. We recently went through a box of waffles in one breakfast…wow. Sam’s has a 60 pack…bigger wow.

Disneyworld. When we eventually make the pilgrimage to Walt’s place, we are driving for two reasons: 1.) It will be a long time before I want to get on a plane with 4 little children. 2.) See reason #1.

I never thought I would have 4 children. I’m not sure why, I just never thought I would. We are so blessed with all of our guys, now I can’t imagine it any other way.

TFTA: Texts From This Afternoon

(225) A certain small turd informed me that he didn't feel like taking a nap today and instead would like to sit up in mommy's bed like ”prince charming”. What does this mean and WHO TAUGHT HIM THIS?

Mother's Day Out

We went to our first school Open House last night. Owen is going to Jefferson Baptist for a Mother’s Day Out program 2 or 3 days a week. It is a nice school and Owen’s teacher, Mrs. Marilyn, seems really great. I think he is going to get adjusted quickly and it is going to be a good change of pace for him. He needs the time away from the house, where he can do things related to his age. He loves to play Candyland, Play-Doh and color; sometimes P and J unintentionally wreck the situation by trying to take all the game pieces. With Ben’s arrival, there is even less time for one on one "Owen time" in the house and getting him out and adjusted to the world is going to be good for all of us. It was strange being at an Open House ready to send our 3 year old off to preschool. It feels like only a short time has passed since Owen was born. I have a feeling this is what all of parenting is going to feel like and the time we have with P/J/B will seem to quickly pass and then y will be going off to school...

*tear*

Baby Presents

After returning home from the hospital with baby Ben, we were blessed with….a new Sony TV and Blu-Ray player!!!! Gaga and Pops were very gracious with this “baby gift” for Ben’s arrival (turns out that Pops didn’t like PaPa’s old TV and was tired of looking at it when they were at our house). They figured that we wouldn’t be getting out of the house too much with our new addition and what better way to celebrate being indoors than to have an awesome TV to look at!!! It is a great picture and we are super excited. The Blu-Ray is WiFi, can stream Netflix and YouTube and connects to our home network. We are already enjoying it and I can’t wait to watch the LSU games on it!!!

Thanks Gaga and Pops!!!!!! We are super excited for our new gifts!

The Connisons

I had to write everyone's name down in order to add Ben to my insurance. I love seeing all of our names written down. I think our family is complete.

Vacationing in BR

Having our family in town has been such a blessing. Jen and I have been able to "relax" at Woman's Hospital with our only focus on Baby Ben. The room is much quieter than our house and we don't have to worry about our dudes, we know they are in terrific hands. It's like a mini vacation...

The minute we get released tomorrow and we are all back at home, I'm sure it will be a rude awakening. With 4 boys 3 and under, I doubt there will be many dull moments so we are taking advantage of the quiet time while we can! 

Like Jon and Kate said, it's a crazy life, but its our life.

Benjamin Daniel Connison

It's a BOY!

Baby Ben was born on Friday, August 20th at 12:51pm.  He weighed in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 inches long.

The section went perfectly and Jen was such a trooper through the whole thing.  Momma is an excellent baby maker!

Welcome to the world big guy. We love you so much already.

Sick Again (2)…

Parker got sick too... crapnapper.

He was negative for strep, but had a fever and generally wasn’t a happy camper. Why my kids get sick on the weekend is beyond me, but it actually works out a little bit better since it is easier to get to the doctor/urgent care on a weekend than it is during the week! Fianlly, he is back to normal after a round of antibiotics.

Just when I was hoping this was the last of the illness in our house, Owen hasn’t been acting his usual self. He was a little warm and a little fussy, but it didn't seem like anything major, and then…RALPH.

I heard him crying in his room last night and I went in to see what was wrong as that is really out of the ordinary. I went to give him a hug (still in the dark) and he smelled like putrid hotdogs. Lovely. I turned on the light and saw his bed covered in tonight’s dinner. A few more hurls and he was done, but a full change of clothes, sheets, and pillows were in order. Thankfully MM was helping with the laundry and Jen took care of cleaning up O while I got his bed back together. He was happy as a clam after that episode, we brushed teeth again, read books and he was back in his clean bed.

Not sure what that was about, but we are definitely glad he was feeling better after that mess and went back to bed without a fuss.

Things Owen Says

I walked into the house, home for lunch after just spitting out a piece of gum; I gave Owen a hug and kiss, and he said “You just finished brushing your teeth?” Jen has obviously been pushing the oral hygiene while I have been at work.

In an effort to be funny and get a laugh out of Owen, I like to put on my super deep, trying to be ghetto fabulous voice and say ““What up O-Duuuubs!!??!?!??” He quickly responds with No, No, You don’t call me O Dubs. I’m Owen, then he spells it, O-W-E-N.

In an effort to curb any inappropriate talking back, Jen and I have had to explain to Owen that he can’t say certain things ever again. He is apparently listening because the other day he told me “and you don’t say that to me…ever again.” Great. He is 3 and I'm already catching lip from him.

My two favorite words Owen is saying right now:
Clothwash
Mushtash

Party Time!!

For Owen’s 3rd birthday party, we went to The Little Gym. Jen took him there for a free class one day to see how it would go. Needless to say, he LOVED it, so that is where his birthday party ended up. They take care of everything and we didn’t have to deal with entertaining a bunch of people at our house. I love to have people over, but it is such an ordeal that it is worth it to be able to walk away and be done with an entire party.

Basically, I want that place to be my living room. Padded everything. Park and Jack fell down numerous times and they didn’t even care. Owen had a blast with the two girls who were helping with the party and all the activities they kept doing. BLow up this, padded that, balls, hoops, bubbles, it was great. We were all running around yelling and having a good time, he had a smile on his face just about the entire time. After all that running around, the kids dogged out some ice cream and cookie cake…ok, ok, so did I.

O’s b-day presents from Gaga and Pops were classes at the Little Gym so we can have some one on one quality time with him. Classes are all during the week, but we will probably make it a Saturday thing so we each get a chance to take him. It will be his very own special thing. Jen and I are really looking forward to that. He is such fun to be around.

3 years old. Ridiculous. Happy Birthday Buddy, We love you!!

Potty Training Update

Ok, so we have been at this a while now. Owen knows what to do, he knows when he has to go, he knows that he should be always going in the potty, he knows that dry is better than wet, he knows that we don’t pee pee in our pants, he knows we poop in the potty, he knows mommy and daddy and MM and PP and Gaga and Pops use the potty. He knows it all. HE DOESN’T CARE.

There are many ideas on potty training out there. Here is my new one…having and older kid in diapers is terrible. Pull Ups are terrible. Accidents on the floor, carpet, etc are terrible. It’s all terrible, until the child decides that they don’t want it to be terrible anymore.

Recently, our method has been focused on praising him when he does something good (using the potty) and shrugging it off when he doesn’t (accidents happen). It has been working for us. Jen got new boxer briefs for him (just like daddy) and that was great, for a few hours (we praised and potty danced), then it wasn’t (so we had to shrug it off). He has #2 down but we are still trying to master #1. We are pretty sure if it is a matter of being too busy, not wanting to stop what he is doing. Hopefully with enough time, he will want to stop being wet and just want to go to the bathroom regardless of what he is doing.

It is aggravating to go through pull ups, but we have been pretty good time keeping it to #1 so we have been happy with that. The long and short of it is, that Owen currently doesn’t care that he is wet, but he does care if he is dirty. He says he is dry, probably because he is pretty dry in a pull up (stupid absorbing technology). So we figured that switching him to just underwear would get him to hate being wet…until he ate his entire dinner in wet underwear. So we continue to try, going from the standard pull up to big boy pants, to big boy pants underneath a pull up (to give him the wet feeling, but not having to clean up an accident), to “snakey” around the house…that is actually the most successful. He knows he can’t pee anywhere if he doesn’t have anything on!! We are keeping up the routine, going after we get up in the morning, before and after his nap, before and after we go anywhere, and before his bath and at bedtime. Any other times, he is on his own to tell us he has to go (or just go himself) and we are making progress, but aren’t fully there yet. He has good days and bad ones, but we have figured that he will get it eventually and we can move on to potty training two at a time…which will also be terrible.

Nesting

I’m not sure it is called nesting because a super manly garage was involved, but that is what it felt like this weekend. I got out all the stuff we need (single stroller, baby car seat, bouncy seat) for Quatro and rearranged all the other baby stuff that we are never going to use again (baby swing, 2nd bouncy seat, glider thingy). Plus what is manlier than sweating profusely in a Louisiana summer because all of the baby stuff is covered in the garage under other baby stuff.

Come to find out, a single stroller is WAY more maneuverable than our double stroller. Since it has been almost 2 years since we have used it with Owen, I was reacquainted with the awesomeness that is our Graco. It is smaller, fits through doors, and …wait for it…holds one kid!!!! Sorry, I’m excited that there is only one this last time…I love P and J more than anything, but feeding, changing, holding, lifting, and soothing one child is going to be a cakewalk (I know, that is going to come back to haunt me) compared to the first couple months with those guys.

I can’t wait to meet you Quatro, but I’m gonna need you to keep cooking until 8/20.

Cars, cars, and more cars

Owen has a love for cars and it is serious. It has been like this for a while, but we have reached a new level. He used to be able to spot a mail truck from half a mile away. He would run to the window to see the garbage truck on trash days. We thought this was pretty impressive for a 2 year old but kind of normal since he was learning about all the different types of vehicles. Now that he is close to 3, he knows the following specific cars and he tells you EVERY time he sees them.

· Daddy’s car (black Chevy Trailblazer)
· Mommy’s car (gray Honda Odyssey)
· Mommy’s old car (gray GMC Acadia)
· Our old car (Gaga and Pop’s black Suburban)
· Gaga’s Car (black Volvo stationwagon)
· Pops’ car (white Volvo)
· MawMaw and PawPaw’s car (gold Toyota Prius)
· Sissy’s Car (black Volvo)
· Uncle Lea’s white truck (white F-150)
· Aunt C’s car (silver 4-runner)

The funny thing is that he isn’t easily confused. On occasion, he mixes up similarly colored minivans for mommy’s car, but he nails a Trailblazer and an Acadia every time. If he sees a black Ford Explorer or Tahoe, he doesn’t flinch, he says nothing. I know plenty of adults (my sister included) who couldn’t tell the difference between any number of black SUVs!!

He looked at the race car in his Bless Me book and thought that it looked like MawMaw and PawPaw’s car. Come to find out upon a closer look, it has a flat back like their car…a Ferrari isn’t a Prius, but the drawing in the book made them look similar in shape so I think that is what he was going for.

“That’s Owen’s car”

“I’m gonna drive that car”

“That’s a nice car”

He wants to know whose car I am taking to work. He wants you to know you that our “vini-man” is parked in the garage. We recently passed a big truck going to a dealership and he yelled out in the car…”look at that car transporter!”

The kid is a car genius.

Paging Dr. Connison

Owen came with us to Jen’s OB visit before Quatro was born. This was the last ultrasound that we would have and we got our favorite ultrasound tech, Kristy. She scanned Owen and was the one who informed us of our double blessings. She changed our lives and will live forever as a memory in my mind. Since Owen was with us (as he was when we found out about P and J), we politely asked her to not surprise us again with any more news!

All was well with Quatro’s scan and we moved on to see Dr. Cheree. Owen had some fun playing in her exam room. I can definitely see the medical profession in his future.

Sick Again...

Crapnapper, Jack got strep. At least it wasn't an ear infection...?

After a quick trip to Urgent Care this past Sunday, we got him some meds. With two other little guys and Quatro still cooking, we had to make a valiant effort to keep everyone healthy. Owen was already in NOLA hanging out with Gaga and Pops and I was headed there so Jen could help her cousin Katie with a party at our house. I left Parker down there and came back with the Jack-ster so he could get better without infecting anyone. Jack was fine after a day or so of antibiotics, he really only had some fussiness and wasn't the best eater, but no need to tempt fate and get all the guys (and Momma sick).

It was strange to go back to only one kid. It was quiet in our house. REALLY quiet. We were able to spend some quality one on one time with Jack and it was pretty nice. We definitely missed the other guys and were wondering if Jack would act any different without Parker around and vice versa. Here is what we concluded...we don’t think they even noticed!! I’m sure they did, but neither Jack nor Park had any separation issues without their bro. They have always been more laid back and independent little guys than Owen ever was, I am not sure if that boils down to a second/third child issue or a twin thing. Either way, it is nice to know they aren't dependent on each other.

After all the boys were back together, Owen was hilarious, he was making Jack and Parker laugh histerically. You can tell he really enjoys having his brothers around and he misses them when they aren't there. Now that everyone is back together, the noise in our house has returned to its previous "little boy screaching" levels. Ahh, welcome back guys.