If only this was scripted.

Scene:

Jen and Owen are grocery shopping at Albertson’s. Jen is 8 months pregnant and Owen is almost 3 years old. They approach the cashier and place their things on the belt to be checked out.

Cashier: Well, how old are you?

Owen: Almost 3 (holding up 3 fingers).

Cashier: (Looking at Jen's preggo belly) That’s great, that is the perfect spacing between children.

Jen: Yeah, you should tell that to my 17 month old twins.

Cashier: Ooooooh guuuuurl, no you DIDN’T!!!!!

Adventures in Homeownership

Parker Connison AKA "The Plumber"

Last week, we had quite the day on Thursday. On Wednesday night, we determined that the AC was running hot and not cooling down the house at all. After some research on the “interwebs,” I determined that it was probably the fan motor (my handy-ness stops with Google searches). After a long story I would rather not get into, it wasn’t the fan motor, it was my “flux” capacitor Anyway, in order for 3 little boys and an 8 month pregnant wife to survive, almost everyone was “snakey” (naked in Owen’s terminology). After 16 hours and a top inside temp of 87 degrees, AC man Leroy got it fixed and our house is back to normal. I don’t think the kids really minded, but Jen and I weren’t happy!

Also, we had two plumbers show up. One to take care of the mess another plumber didn’t fix, and the other one is pictured above. Awesome.

Lastly, we had a contractor come by to give us a quote on covering our back patio. The sun sets back there and really hurts us in the afternoon hours. We thought with a patio cover, we would get some much needed shade, and create a little more inviting outdoor living space (in the months where we can actually bring the kids outside anyway). We are a little torn getting the quote back as we are not sure how long we will be in the house to enjoy the addition. It isn’t terrible (< $4K), but I am not sure I will get all of that back when we sell but we would probably be able to sell the house faster. I'm still not sure what we are going to do about that...

With all these guys coming to the house, it was a little chaotic with naked kids and contractors running around. We really need a sign “Welcome to Connisonville.”

Signing the alphabet

MawMaw and Jen have been trying to teach Owen to sign the alphabet. We have been practicing and I am pretty sure that he knows more letters than I do.  Thank goodness Jen knows what to teach him. 

It is a proud moment that O is really learning his signs and a little depressing that I can't remember the "g." 

Parker's Tubes

Can you hear me now?

Well, we bit the bullet and went ahead with Parker's surgery to get his tubes put in and his adenoids taken out. We had a little issue with his ears last month before he and Jack left for SC. Everything got cleared up but we knew it needed to be done. Jen was worried that we were doing this just as a precaution, but having talked to Dr. Scallan (the ENT), she said that it was almost always done if one twin had it done. Dr. George (our Ped) said if it was his child, he would have it done as well, so we both felt better for putting little P through the surgery. We know that this is going to be better in the long run. As we look ahead to the flu season when 4 little Connison's will be here, we are hopeful that we can avoid all of them getting sick at the same time!!!

Similar to Jack, P had constant fluid in his ears, but the doc said he wasn't completely under water like his brother. The procedure was only about 15-20 minutes, and the Dr. said that his adenoids were huge. P was super fussy coming out of the anesthesia, he didn't want to eat, drink or anything. Once we got home, he took a pretty good rest and soon after, was back to his old self. It sure ins't fun to see your kids sad after going through something like that, but I hope that he can finally hear us!! One funny side effect to having his adenoids removed is for about 2 weeks, Parker will be a drool machine. It is hilarious to see him drooling all over the place!!

T - Minus One Month

Today is July 20th and we have one more month to go before Quatro is here and our lives are once again turned upside down and we are thrown back into the newborn stage. I think when you are raising your first child, you constantly think that the current stage is your favorite, but now that I can think more clearly about the subject, the newborn phase is definitely not my favorite. I know, Parent of the Year again, but I’m secure enough to admit that. Don’t get me wrong, I love Quatro so much already; I think that I have felt him/her kick more than all the other guys combined. We got to visit Parker and Jack quite a few times having to get ultrasounds so often with the high risk doctors, but Quatro has been a little jumping bean so it has been fun playing high fives on Jen’s belly. I don't really know which phase has been my favorite, they all have their advantages and disadvantages; I am pretty sure about this though - I don’t think any of the phases that require me to be up in the middle of the night are my fav!

It is definitely different this time around; no nervous jitters, no prepping the entire house gathering furniture, baby stuff, or supplies to get ready. We are just sitting around waiting for Quatro to grace our presence. HA, if we were only just sitting around!! A new baby isn’t anything to take lightly, and it will definitely be different than before, but the only unknown this time is how P and J will react to being dethroned as kings of the castle. The dynamic in the house will soon be changing, but I think that we can roll with the punches as well as anyone so we can handle it.

Hopefully, all the guys will welcome Quatro to Connisonville with open arms (and try not to smother him/her like Owen did with his brothers). Let’s hope for the best…

Relaxation

So I  dont think I elaborated enough about how relaxing our trip to NC was last week.  Over the past 3 years we haven't really been able to relax on vacation. 

As new parents years ago (haha, it really wasn't that long ago), we headed to the beach and our vacation was anything but relaxing. Trying to keep sand out of your child's mouth, sunscreen out of his eyes and lugging enough baby crap down to the beach, was enough to drive me mad.  Add in a teething Owen who gave up his pacifier that week, it was not great. Every vacation since then has gone along those same lines of non-relaxation. Some better than others and some with breaks here and there, but usually as hectic as our daily life, just in a different location. Don't get me wrong, vacations are fantastic, mostly because you are somewhere else and not in your normal routine, but they have proven anything but relaxing. 

This past week, Jen and I were really able to relax, sit back, and enjoy the time we had without the kiddos. MM and PP really came through to help out.  I know they love taking all the guys just to prove they can and they really enjoy playing with each of them.  This was great because we got to spend time with each other and were able to enjoy the festivities knowing the dudes were having fun. 

The weather, the boat, the scenery and being surrounded by family and friends was truly relaxing and Jen and I are so grateful that we have MM and PP who let us have this awesome vacation.

We definitely missed the guys, especially seeing how much fun Owen had in the lake.  I know we (and GaGa and Pops and Mini and Uncle Jack) are looking forward to future summers on Lake Summit.  Hopefully future trips to the mountains will be as relaxing as this one was!

Biking with my boys

Today was Parker and Jack's first bike ride. It was unbelievably hot outside but we got out early so it wasn't unbearable...ok, yeah it was. We must have been going so fast cause the wind was blowing nicely in our faces...ok, no it wasn't. I ended up drip sweating at the end of both ridee and I remembered how summer in Louisiana is awesome...I'm going to stop now.

Anyway, I've been waiting for the little guys to be more sure footed before I took them out, and since O is still in SC, I wanted to take advantage of the downtime.

They both seemed to like the ride; Park wasn't too thrilled about his helmet at first, but he was easily distracted. I am looking forward to taking P and J out more regularly, but with them and O, by the time I take all 3 guys out, its gonna be lunchtime!

The 4th

After a car ride that started at 5:20am from NOLA, we finally arrived in NC on Lake Summit at Mimi and Uncle Jack's lakehouse.

Jen has been coming to the mountains of western NC for a long time and I am so glad that I am now able to go up there as well. It is such an awesome part of the country and being on a lake in the mountains is the best of both worlds in the summertime. The weather was fantastic; we were able to take the boat out a number of times to wakeboard, ski, kneeboard, and tube (ok, I can't wakeboard or ski, but others are cool enough to get up on them). Owen was only there for one night but he loved the lakehouse (even though Jen was a scared mess with him on the deck). The smile on his face was priceless, as was the look on Pops' face when he had Owen in his lap "helping" him drive the boat.

With wedding celebrations at Hendersonville Country Club and the gorgeous sunk in gardens at Hillgay (Mimi and Uncle Jack's place), a 4th of July party at the lakehouse and perfect weather for the whole weekend, it couldn't have been better. Put all that together with Hubba Hubba BBQ, scones from the Wrinkled Egg, some sunburn, a pet snake, water balloons, fireworks on the lake, a broken kneeboard, and enough burgers, fried fish, and liquor to serve a small army, it was a great holiday/wedding weekend and we have to give a big thanks to Mimi and Uncle Jack for hosting an a excellent weekend of festivities.

Also we have to send out a big congrats to Bryan and Tiffany and many long years of marriage. We had a blast and I know that yall did too. Congrats from Connisonville and Happy 4th of July!!

Vacationing

Jen and I made a pact with each other, that we would go on a vacation to celebrate our anniversary every year. We are going to do our best to keep it up, but so far, we have hit Crested Butte, CO (honeymoon), Perdido Key, FL (1 year), South Carolina (2 years), Perdido Key, FL (3 years) and NC/SC (4 years). They have included visiting family, being with family, and 2 of them were us expecting more family. I don't think this is what we had in mind when we had that conversation about vacations, but they have been fun nonetheless. This year, watching Owen out on the lake, in the golf cart, and at the pool, I got a glimpse at what our family vacations will be like when everyone is old enough to enjoy them. That is better than any vacation Jen and I could have gone on by ourselves.