i’m already proving to be a “tester.” i just don’t like to make things easy for people. i’ve decided mom can’t eat dairy (at least until we figure out of that’s the reason for the allergic reaction all over my body!). i also kindly decided to give my first photographer a run for her money. and boy did we go at it. she just didn’t give up on me. when you see the pictures below, you’d never believe that i cried 60% of the time, screamed 10% of the time, stared blankly into space for 20% of the time and pooped and peed on mom (no diaper!) the remaining 10% (no joke!).

enter the miracle worker - jenny lee. this woman has some good timing (and amazing talent). she perfectly captured my “in between” moments. those oh-so-sweet moments that were in between two meltdowns and make for awesome photos. and she captured the meltdowns too, but that’s the reality of my life as a colicky baby, so it was appropriate. i only get this time once in my life, so i’m glad it was documented so beautifully with my family.

i know good talent when i see it people, and this woman’s got it. and it’s not only photographic talent… this woman knows her way around kids. at one point during the day, she asked for mom and dad to leave the room and took the huge risk of being left alone with two rascal 3 year old boys and a 1 month old girl. now THAT takes talent. and nerve. check out her site here and her blog here. and make sure you have a box of tissues when you check out the galleries on her site. mom cries every time she watches them (those hormones!).

I was telling my brothers that I refused to post here until my name was in lights in the URL, but I caved. Mom’s been tied up a bit doing other stuff (like feeding my porky self), so I’m going to let it slide this time, but I fully expect to see the site renamed in the very near future. We could do BellsBloggingBoys.com… or BloggingBoys+Bell.com… we’ll see where we net out, but know that there will be a launch party not unlike the lavish Silicon Valley start up launch parties in the late 90’s.

Now on to me… I’ve been on center stage at the Carmichael house for a full month now and gotta say, I’m a pretty lucky gal. I’ve got two brothers who love to tell my mom and dad every move I’m making… I’ve got a dog that has become my watch dog by planting his 130 lb self right in front of my swing when I’m cold chillin… and I’ve got two parents who wait on me hand and foot. So all in all, I don’t have any complaints. Except the gas. The GAS! Mom says it’s not ladylike to talk about gas, but Lord have mercy! My brothers get a big kick out of it and mom keeps threatening to take me to the doctor about it, so it’s quite the talk of the town. In other gross news, I’m starting to get baby acne. Mom is hopeful we’ll keep it at bay until my first big photo shoot, but not sure we’ll be so lucky.

So that’s it, fans. Thank you for all the well wishes and welcomes. I’m psyched to be here and have big plans for this life of mine.

Until next time…
-baby bell

Home Depot didn’t know what hit ‘em. Nor did dad. He decided that it would be a fun bonding thing for us to go to Home Depot today. You see, they do this special building seminar for kids our size the first Saturday of each month (that’s the burbs for you!), but we decided to do our own thing. What 3-year-old wants to sit and listen to some old guy with a tool belt telling us how to build a race track? Hey, I got an idea - call us when it’s done!

Like father, like sons.

Today we met our baby sister. Quinn and Daddy were right all along - a GIRL! Her name is Campbell Joy Carmichael, but we call her “Bell.” At 8 lbs flat (and 20.5 inches), she weighs more than 3x what we weighed when we were born! Crazy to think about.

She’s also smart. In a stroke of genius, she got us a present for our first meeting with her. Now, if that ain’t smart, I don’t know what is. We, too, brought her little gifts - Valentine’s cards that we made (mine red and of course Quinn’s was blue), as well as little baby table decorations found at the party supply store. I found a baby carriage with a teddy bear in it and Quinn found a bell that is meant for weddings, but he though it was most appropriate. We were really gentle with her as we dropped her presents into her little hospital bassinet.

One confusing thing is that mom and dad have been telling us for ages about how babies cry - a lot - but she didn’t make a peep the whole time we were there. Maybe it’s because she likes us a little.

BIG BROTHER (finally!),
Cooper

No… this is *not* OUR baby… this is Miss Terra Blue McDonnell - “Uncle Jackie’s” baby. She and Uncle Chris were at the hospital all day and we got a new cousin this evening. Can’t wait to meet her.

We’ll have an update on OUR baby soon!

Seriously - how lucky did we get with Emma? Check out our castle made out of FlyingPeas boxes and whatever else we could find!

This whole “nesting” instinct is fascinating to me. I didn’t have a chance to go through this process last time given the boys’ severe prematurity, but boy is it in full effect now! My maternity leave started yesterday, and my list of things to do actually inspires me instead of exhausts me! Who knows how much time I have before the new little muffin makes his/her grand appearance, but I can assure you of one thing - I’ll be busy every second. I’m going to try to get my fair share of naps in so I can rest up and get well before baby (been sick for 2 weeks!), but really feel happy to have a few days to get ready for the baby as well as have special time with the boys.

39 weeks pregnant! WHOOHOO!

Note that this post is a more about me documenting this pregnancy versus something that I think will be interesting to others… so I won’t be offended if you move on to the next post now.

While more people are saying they think it’s a girl than a boy, I’m dead set that this little babe has a penis. Yes, it would probably be healthy to even the hormones in the household a bit and a lot of fun to have a little lady friend in the house, but I also find myself romanticizing about a house full of boys… so either way, I’m one lucky gal.

Chris has been a saint, as usual. Making me shakes whenever I want them, cooking dinners often, getting us settled into our home, letting me sleep in, and just being a great sense of support. I often think of how lucky my boys are to learn to be good men from the finest.

This pregnancy has generally been a piece of cake (here’s to the same for delivery!). But I guess it’s unfair to compare it to my last one. Yes, I’ve been tired, but I’ve not been sick, can still get around pretty darn well, been eating like a horse and still staying at a healthy weight, had no water retention/swelling, etc. So, once again, counting my lucky stars. Hoping this luck continues by being blessed with an easy baby! :)

Emma (our au pair) continues to be an angel in our lives. One of my favorite stories from this pregnancy involves her. She was talking with the boys and they were telling her about how STRONG daddy is… and how “he’s the strongest person in the whole wide world!” They then continue to talk about how strong she is as well since she carries them as pirates and throws them in the dungeon (her bathtub). Cooper then said softly to her, “mommy’s not very strong.” Emma, being the fabulouso person she is, thought “oh no… this is not the impression they should have of their mother!” So she started asking them about my belly… how big it is (”soooo big!”), and what’s in my belly (”a HUGGGE baby!”) and what it must feel like to carry that HUGE baby around in my HUGE belly all day long… well, long story short, the boys ended the conversation saying that “mommy is the strongest person in the whole world!” Warms my heart everytime I think of it. Love that she even thought to make that point with them. Her creativity with them on a daily basis has contributed enormously to their growth this year, and I am sickened at the thought that she will be leaving us in July to go back to South Africa. WHAH!!!

Ok - enough of my update. I want to close with a pic of the muffin in my belly at 9 months… I know these shots are not always the most attractive, but just think it’s incredible. Can’t wait to meet you, little one.

P.S. Any suggestions on a new name for the blog if we have a girl?!

Mom realizes she’s been ultra lame at updating our blog. In fact, she was just telling Cooper and I today that she’s GOT to document some of the funny things we’ve been saying. I’m not sure what’s so funny about things we say, but here goes:

–Cooper asked mom the other day where the door is for the baby to come out of. What’s funny about that? She said she didn’t know whether laugh her boom boom off or be impressed with how smart that question seemed to her for a 3 year old.
–Cooper and I are also really into talking (ok, laughing) about who is going to “gobble that baby up” faster when it comes home.
–I, out of the blue, started telling mom (with one finger in the air), “don’t bother me with details.” Again, not sure why this is funny because I mean it, and use it correctly, but adults seem to get a real kick out of this.

And as for a general update:
–I think our baby is a girl and Cooper thinks it’s a boy. We love to kiss mom’s belly. Cooper, in particular, enjoys pulling her shirt up to expose her bare belly in public and kiss it. I save her the embarrassment.
–Things are going awesome for me at school, though I did get into trouble the other day for calling my teacher Sarah (whom I love) a poo poo face. The potty talk is all the rage in our house these days, but mom and dad are putting their foot down (and doing everything in their power not to laugh).
–Cooper, as usual, fit right on in to the new school. Mom and dad absolutely ADORE picking us up because they see the huge smiles on our faces from being so happy at school all day.
–Mommy’s belly is HUGE. It’s hard for her to play pirates with us these days - or anything rough for that matter - but she still manages to run around with us all day and give us baths and story time each night.
–Mom bosses dad around constantly and he’s a champ for taking it.

Well, that about wraps up the Carmichael household for the month of January. We also did a lot of settling into our new house (feels like we’ve been here for gazillions of years), and trying to keep warm (those who said the East Bay had warmer weather than SF are liars! Oops… didn’t mean to name call).

For months and months, I’ve been into dressing like mommy. So much that I’ve got running in high heals nailed and carry a purse like I have my whole life… Dad has been a champ about this and only drew the line when I was requesting to wear mom’s heals in public (more for my safety than anything) - but I’ve rocked a purse (granted, with pirates in them!) many a days out and about.

Well… I’ve put all of that behind me. At least for this week. And it appears dad is more than happy about this change. I’m all about being daddy, and working on getting Cooper to join me in my daily quest.

Oh yeeeeahh! I love Christmas morning. Despite my insistence all morning that I had asked Santa for a trumpet, I was the happiest boy in the world. Well, maybe next to Cooper. My funny brother has wanted a train for months. Literally. Frankly, I was getting kinda sick of hearing about it, so I’m so glad Santa came through for him (big time with a Thomas train set/trains, etc.). ‘Twas pretty funny because when mom would pull out toy magazines for us to admire, all Cooper said he wanted was a train set. Meanwhile, I wanted something on every other page. That’s when I learned the word “greedy.” And so did Cooper. I couldn’t so much as ask mom for a glass of milk without having Cooper say I was being a “little bit greedy.”

But let me get back to Christmas. My main requests were a computer, pirate things and wizard things. And I got a computer, pirate things and wizard things… so I must have been a really good boy! I also got a DRUM SET! Needless to say, I’ve been jamming all morning. And Cooper literally hasn’t left his train table. Not even for a second. I’m sure he’ll grow hungry or tired at one point, but I think he’s got to be breaking some kind of record at this point!

Loving Santa,
Quinn

P.S. Mom says the only bummer about Christmas being over is that she can’t use him as a bribe for good behavior. But she’s started to talk about the Easter Bunny… but I don’t think he gets the same kind of reaction!

It’s on, people! I guess we passed the Santa “good boy” test because we caught the reindeer in our backyard today checking out the stability of the roof. Seriously!

After baking cookies for Santa and his reindeer and talking to elves all day long, we prepared for Christmas Eve celebration at our house. Mom is a new believer in Diablo Foods and prepared (ok, heated up) the holiday turkey dinner for our family, grammy, Tia, Uncle Chancey, Emma and Milena (Emma’s friend).

The highlights of the night included some great toys, dressup clothes, books - and most of all, a family tree that Tia and Uncle Chancey made for Grammy that showed a baby cousin on the way! Weeha!

Today was a big day… it was our holiday school celebration, our last day at the only school we’ve ever known, and moving day.

The day started singing to our parents. Well, neither of us sang, but all the other kids in our class did. Mom was just impressed that we sat in one place for the 10 or so songs the other kids sang.

We also hosted a brunch for our parents, which took a new meaning for our family since it was our last day of school at Montessori Children’s House. While it was not a great fit for me, I did love my teachers very much and will definitely miss them. Cooper, on the other hand, fit in like a glove, and I’m sure he will miss the great, safe environment (as well as his teachers)provided for us here.

After a long morning at school with us, mom packed us up, picked up Emma, waved “so-long” to the only place we’ve called home and took us to a place called the “East Bay.” Daddy was directing traffic with the movers at our house, and mom dropped us off with Emma at an indoor playhouse so she could help get the new place organized before we took over.

We really like the “new place” very much - we love having more space to run and play hide and seek - but do ask from time to time when we are “going home.” The big selling point Mommy is using on this house over our “old house” is that we have a chimney (two, actually) that Santa can use to go down on Christmas. Boy, does that woman know how to talk to her audience.

We’ve only known city life - and we’ve loved every minute of it - but mom and dad have decided to take us out to a place called the suburbs. It comes with the promise of more space, a yard, swimming pool, awesome schools and something they call “sanity.” The first three sound pretty good, so we’re willing to give it a whirl. We reserve the right to come back if we don’t like it though.

It’s all happening pretty fast. We closed today and are moving next week. Given mom’s belly is getting HUGE, she’s convincing us to pack our own boxes by rewarding us with gummy bears. SCORE!

Yeah, yeah yeah… dad is my hero and all that jazz. He can definitely take on any other dad on the court, gives horsey rides with the best of them, and is flat out fun. But today, we were both rookies. Mom said it’s probably one of the few (if not only) times that we’ll both do something (especially somewhat athletic) for the first time together. Yup, we both got on ice skates for the first time today. While dad did slightly better than I did at standing upright, it was very much like the blind leading the blind. Mom was doubled over laughing because she’s not used to seeing dad in a situation where he’s not on fire. But he held his own. And my own. He held me up during multiple attempts at falling, but all good things come to an end, right?

Cooper and mama were great observers, cheerleaders and comforters (to both dad and I) after our big spill that ended our adventure. Oh well… it was fun while it lasted. And we’ll do it again soon. And will definitely rule that arena.

So… mom says this one will embarrass him years from now, so I couldn’t resist broadcasting it in a way only a brother can. :) What you probably can’t tell from looking at this shot is that Quinn and Piper are in matching Princess dresses (quinn in purple, piper in pink). Takes this make out scene to a whole new level!

I just love these shots of all my boys at a little lake near Mount Tam in Marin. Such a great day with the Pomeroy ladies.

So… mom has been crazy held up on updating our blog because she was so overwhelmed with how to even describe the fun we had in Disneyland. There are so many pictures to choose from, so many memories and character meetings, so many laughs… she didn’t know where to begin. So rather than hold off another month to put up this post, we’ve removed ANY and ALL pressure do justice the fun we had. Just take a look at the Flickr set she created of some of our favorite photos. Highlights include:

–Meeting Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. We didn’t meet Donald or Daisy, but got to go in their houses. Cooper LOVED Minnie’s house and I was way into Mickey’s. Cooper was a bit apprehensive about going up to meet all the characters, which is why some pictures just show me.
–Mom had to be in a wheelchair (doctor’s orders) because of the baby in her belly and concern of premature birth. Cooper held her free hand all weekend and I held on to the arm of the chair (since she needed to use the hand to power the scooter). We were both OBSESSED with the scooter and wouldn’t take a step without being attached to her/it the full 3 days. A consequence of this attachment was mom running over us (well, more like me!) multiple times. At first, it scared her, but then she figured “if I stayed close to her after being run over, it must not hurt that bad…” She was right. My foot had a couple bruises, but that’s about it.
–One of the things that brought a good laugh (after the fact. not necessarily during our stay) was that we all squeezed in a 2 bedroom suite! Mom, Dad, me, Cooper, Grammy and Emma. It was tight to say the least.
–We were scared of most rides, but showed strange bravery with others (like Pirates of the Caribbean and flying rockets). Many of the “chill rides” scared us though - like the one with the big jaws mouth, and the caterpillar cars. Oh well… you can’t win them all.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. it was simply an AWESOME time, and Cooper and I can’t wait to go back!

Hello all,

Let me introduce myself. My name is The Muffin… at least that’s what mom calls me. I’ve not made an appearance to the world yet - and I’m planning to hold out until gestational week 40 - but wanted to introduce myself and tell you about my first milestone achieved in life.

So… mom, dad, cooper and quinn have all been talking with me (a lot) about the importance of staying in mama’s belly until they tell me it’s time to come out. I’ve decided to comply - at least for now. For a while, I thought that in order to exert my independence, I should give a little scare (AKA contractions), but now I realize that I can do things my own way while still being “compliant” (a word used in our house often…). Which brings me to my first major milestone…

Today is a particularly important day. It marks the day that I am the gestational age my brothers were when they were born. 27 weeks, 5 days. It’s the first of many milestones that my family and I have agreed upon… and I gotta tell you… it feels pretty good to make and achieve these goals, so think I’ll stick around here in mom’s belly for a while.

Mom and dad have been talking about how it’s particularly “nutty” to know developmentally what we look like, given they can easily look back at the pictures of Cooper and Quinn on the day they were the same gestational age as I am today. So, they know that while my skin is still translucent and that I have no nipples (yet), I very much have an innate personality, strong heart and an incredible will to survive.

So with that, I’ll close with this: I’m told that a goal is not a goal unless you tell people so they can hold you to it… so I’m hereby committing to staying put for at least another 4 weeks. Mom is doing everything she is supposed to do to keep me where I belong, and Quinn and Cooper have been threatening me only the way big brothers can, so think I’ll stick around these dark, warm parts for a while.

Thank you for your support and great thoughts - keep ‘em coming! I look forward to the day in February when I can say hello to the world - and to you.

The Muffin

I promise that mom and dad have not pushed Obama on us, but both Cooper and I have developed a fascination with him over the past couple months. Ok… maybe they did teach us about 9 months ago to answer “what does Obama say” with “YES WE CAN!” but other than that, they’ve been pretty low key with us about this historic election. Despite this, we’ve recently noticed all the Obama signs in windows in San Francisco, and have developed quite an obsession with counting them and pointing out each one (!). In fact, Cooper and I were walking with Emma the other day on the panhandle to Golden Gate Park and having a chat with her about all the signs we saw. A nice couple stopped to ask if we were talking about Obama and we both shouted out “YES WE CAN!”

Needless to say, we charmed the socks off of them. :)

Go Obama! (Ok, mom threw that in)
Quinn

Oh my… what a weekend it’s been! It started out at our friends’ house in Burlingame - those people are nuts, man! The decorations in the yards are whacked! But we loved the effort, and loved the candy they gave even more. Mom gave us the tip of the night that usually got us an extra piece of candy. She tipped us off to say “trick or treat PLEASE” (emphasis on the please), and boy did we score.

Mom and dad even let us have THREE pieces of candy on Halloween night (since we are three years old!) - and we got more as the weekend went along. We also packaged up a bunch of candy and took it to “Quinn’s hospital” to share with the kids who were too sick to trick or treat - and the nurses. That was a lot of fun.

Mom also convinced us to share with the baby in her belly, which is a little weird since it doesn’t have teeth yet, but guess she knows what she’s talking about.

We haven’t quite figured out yet that Halloween is over (especially Quinn, who demands daily that he’s a pirate), but mom keeps telling us that’s the case, so maybe soon we’ll be able to grasp that hideous concept.

Boo!
Coop

Even though I’ve been wearing my costume for weeks, today was the first official kickoff of the Halloween celebration. 1 party down, 4 to go. We had the California Pacific Medical Center annual NICU party today and got to see some of our old pals from our youth. Everyone looked awesome and healthy, so we were happy to see that. And even got to see one of our old favorite nurses, Jo! What a treat that was.

Mom dressed up as a fairy (at our request) and the best part: COOPER WORE HIS COSTUME! We didn’t know if it would ever happen, and he decided he was ready! YIPPEE Cooper!

This is just the start though, people. Expect to see many more photos on this blog of me as a pirate and Cooper as Percy.

Ahoy Mateys!
Quinn

If you parents are looking for something that will put you in a 2 hour trance, tell them to take you to the Disney on Ice show. Just remind them that many Disney stories are somewhat violent… yes, our mom is somewhat overprotective when it comes to these stories - and changes the story slightly to take out the bad/sad stuff, but we even found it a bit alarming when one of the men took a sword to an animal in the show! We got over it.

It was extra cool for us since we took the BART train to Oakland to see it. Check Quinn out below with daddy. Fun times!

Seriously, I can’t think of a cooler place on earth. Mom and Dad took us to Half Moon Bay to check out a pumpkin patch. Despite the insane-in-the-membrane traffic on the way there, it ruled! Not only did we get to see pumpkins galore (we joked we were “pooping” while sitting on top of pumpkins the ENTIRE day - go figure), but they had a petting zoo where we fed little goats and rabbits, took horse rides, rode on various trains, slide down a crazy fluffy slide and jumped in enormous jumpies. We’ve heard about a fab place called Disney, but if we’ve got this place around the corner from San Franciscisciscisco, who needs it!?!

Mom thought this picture was particularly funny b/c dad’s head is sticking out the top of the train. Not sure why this strikes her funny, but it does.

Pirate till the end,
Quinn

So… about a month ago, mom decided it probably made sense to tell us about her growing belly. She kept telling us she couldn’t pick us up because she had something in her belly… and when we asked her what, she would chicken out and say, “food.” This wasn’t a lie (mom’s don’t lie), but it wasn’t the whole truth, we’ve come to find out.

So finally, at about 5 months pregnant, she told us the big news. We’re going to be big brothers. We’re still not sure what that means - and ask her to tell us the “story” about the baby over and over, but we’ve realized that she really likes it and thinks it’s cute when we say we want to kiss or rub her belly, so we keep doing it.

Here’s one of the first shots. Looks more like an alien than a baby if you ask me, but we are obsessed with planets right now, so I guess that’s ok.

Oh - and for the record, we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, but when Quinn is asked what he wants, he says, “a BABY,” (nice and diplomatic) and when Cooper is asked, he says, “a boy AND a girl.” Yeah, no thanks! Not again. Only one this time around. :)

I am now, after much time fantasizing, a real pirate. Captain Quinn, thank you very much. People keep saying this is a great Halloween costume and that this is a “sneak peak” of Halloween in September, but I’m just being me. The sooner people can come to terms with that, the better off we’ll all be.

Aye Aye, Mateys.
Capt’n Quinn

So… we’re officially putting our house on the market and we’re showing our flexibility like nobody’s business. Not only have mom and dad up and pulled our bed out from under us and made us sleep in a hotel for 5 nights while floors and walls were being redone, but they’ve got us sleeping on a new make-shift bed each night. But we’re being total troopers and rolling with the punches. Wherever they lay us, we sleep (well, for the most part) - this particular shot is us sleeping on nothing but our duvet! Kinda like camping on carpet. For two people who slept in the same crib nearly every night for 3.25 years, I think that is pretty impressive!

Here’s to hoping we can sell this house relatively soon (open house this weekend!) so we can get on with our lives in our new house (wherever that may be!).

Side note: While it appears we are rolling with the punches at home, my buddy Quinn is having quite a hard time at school. We have had a LOT going on, so I’m sure there are many contributing factors, but we just keep cheering him on each day and hoping for a great, fun day. Please send the same vibes his way!

Later days!
Cooper Looper

Ok… so as I write this post, I realized - TO MY HORROR - that we’ve not introduced Emma yet! So, please allow me…

Emma (AKA Suga-lump) is our incredible aupair that arrived from South Africa in July. It’s amazing - given how incredibly important she has been in our lives the past few months - that a proper introduction has not been made to BloggingBoys. I blame my mother.

Emma is a total rock star. We love her so much. And while I gave her a run for her money the first few weeks (and still do from time to time), she hung in there with me and Cooper and has been one of the most patient, kind force in our lives.

To celebrate her birthday, we got some AMAZING cupcakes from That Takes the Cake in San Francisco, and had cupcakes and tea on Sunday morning. I know the celebration was for Emma, but what a TREAT this was for us!

Happy birthday, Emma. We love you so much.
Quinn

What a beauty, eh? We love her so much already that we were willing to “allow” mom a trip for 5 days to visit her and help Uncle Dustin and Aunt Kim. Mom said it was such a treat to get to know her. She is such an easy-peasy baby… and we can’t wait to meet her ourselves!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Uncle Dustin. :)

So we did it! Not only did we FIND a school in San Francisco that would take our children (and a ridiculous amount of money), but they - and we - survived the first day!

Cooper definitely shed some tears when Chris and I were leaving, and Quinn surprisingly was a-ok with it. I’m not sure he fully realized that we were leaving, despite my telling him and asking for a “hug-kiss.” He was a little preoccupied with sorting beads into the proper containers.

I think I let a full hour pass before calling school to see how they were acclimating. “Just fine” was the first report. And while I wanted to call every hour thereafter, I resisted until about 2:00 when I got a bit of a different report… It went a little something like this:

“Well… things went pretty well for the first day. Cooper had a couple rough patches, but was easily distracted and convinced to join the group. Quinn, on the other hand, had a bit harder of a time than usual. He was not compliant for a good part of the day.” Ugh. My response: “Yep, that sounds about right.” Oh boy. No surprise about Cooper. But not compliant? I can’t think of a better, more diplomatic way of saying “he didn’t want to do was he was supposed to do and threw an insane fit for 90% of the day.”

But honestly, if “not compliant” is as bad as it gets for the first week for Mr. Quinn, I think we’re in good shape. I mean, he was away from home for the FIRST time and separated from Cooper for the FIRST time (except for hospitalizations), so I suppose this behavior should not be too surprising.

After all, doesn’t “non-compliance” turn to “independence” down the road?

Hopeful,
Terra

So… we were at the Zoo this weekend with mom and dad and, to our surprise, we were told we were about to get ice cream! But there was one catch: we needed to take a “nice picture” together. We weren’t totally sure what this meant, but found ourselves in this position (yes, I’m wearing pink and proud of it):

It was a big hit. Mom calls it our prom pose. Needless to say, we like it too (see below)…

So… after 5 days in the hospital, I’m breaking free! I’ve still got to be on oxygen at night (good luck keeping oxygen on a 3-year old!), but other than that - and the steroids that are still running through my system - I’m in good shape! A couple things mom wanted to share as “memories” from this hospital stay:

–my nightly wakings in the middle of the night asking “where’s cooper?”
–”mama bear” also kicked in quite regularly when she would feel the need (very regularly) to explain to the onlookers wondering why the nut job running the halls was in the hospital that “yes, he’s high energy, but it’s exaggerated by steroids!”
–cooper’s nightly visits to the playroom. mom said it’s CRAZY how easy it is to have each of us alone… confirming the twin effect of us egging each other on and getting into more trouble when we are together!
–sleeping with mom is a huge treat since we NEVER sleep in mom/dad’s bed at home… mom was laying down with me one night (pretending to sleep so I would) when I took her face gently into both of my hands and kissed her lips, nose, then forehead. She never opened her eyes so I didn’t know she was awake, but it is one of her favorite Quinn moments of all time.

I’m putting this all behind me and just want to get ready to start school next week!

Later Skater!
Quinn

Here’s my theory: Why wait for school to start to begin the year of sickness! I mean, we’ve known this time was going to come (of Cooper and I catching and spreading every germ known to man), but I figured why should I wait until next week when preschool starts?! I may as well start the drama now.

Mom took me into the hospital Friday night with 104 temperature and labored breathing. An x-ray initially showed some early stage pneumonia, but doctors have since changed the diagnosis to “severe respiratory distress.” Sounds better to me. I’ll take that over pneumonia any day of the week.

The coolest part is I got to take an ambulance ride from one hospital to another… while I didn’t think it was cool at the time, I sure do now.

My days have been spent in the hospital playroom hyped up in a HUGE way on liquid steroids (much stronger than the inhaled ‘roids I took daily for almost 3 years) - so basically I start running like a maniac around the pediatric unit the second I wake up and literally don’t stop until I crash at 10 pm. That’s when the problems start (though mom and dad would say me going on one steroid binge after another during the day is quite problematic!): at night, my saturation levels (oxygen in my blood) drops to unsafe levels, requiring me to have oxygen through a nasal cannula. I thought my days of this lung stuff was over, but am told that even though I am a total stud and continue to grow strong lung every day, I still do have “compromised lungs” from my premature delivery.

So, back on the juice I go. Coop and I thought we were drug free forever back in June when the doc took us off the daily steroid inhaler, but given this little stint, and given our upcoming germ-filled school days, they’re taking no risks! While other kids will be carrying lunch boxes with the Hulk on them, I’ll just look like him. Rock on.

Q-doggy-dogg

So… the pressure was on. Before August 6, we were sporting diapers all day with no diaper training interest whatsoever. That’s until mom and dad realized we needed to be potty trained for preschool on Sept 2. Let’s just say, they got down to business!

Mom went out and bought calendars with star stickers and an enormous jug of animal crackers (which we call alphabet cookies) ready to take on the world.

As you may recall, we’ve been down this road before back in February where we teased mom and dad by being potty trained for a month, just before regressing to diapers after the novelty wore off. Well… that’s not an option this time. Or at least that’s what mom says.

In hindsight, the calendars were genius. We get to show mom and dad at the end of each work day how great we were (or not) on the potty and it’s quite a production! We love looking back at our calendars full of stars. Quinn’s is full of blue stars and mine full of red (naturally, our favorite colors).

We still have accidents every now and then, but are at about 90% success rate, so that’s pretty solid!

Peeing machine,
Cooper