Lily climbing the slide

When the weather got nice and we could go outside to play again, Lily discovered the steps on the play castle and that was all she wanted to do for a few weeks when we went out. It made me nervous and I thought that most of the summer I would be standing guard to make sure she didn't fall off.

Well, it has only been about 2 months and since then she goes up the steps and plays up there and then slides down with no problem and I let her be and don't worry about her doing it anymore. She has now figured out, in the last week, that she can climb up the slide.

Lily's first vomit

It was not caused by being sick though. I've mentioned it before...my kids for what ever reason do not chew their food. Yesterday I was eating an apple and as always all 3 of them need to have some. I of course share, but this time Lily decided she didn't want to chew it up before swallowing it.

Soooo, what happens? I see she has a mouth exploding with food so I reached in and took out what was in there. She then proceeded to keep having a blotchy face and make odd noises. Then there was drool, her nose kept running and she kept rubbing her face all over. I then shoved my fingers in her mouth to see if I could get anything else out. I didn't see or feel anything but she kept being very blotchy, couldn't stop rubbing her face, was yawning a ton and wasn't talking like she always does. She was breathing but something wasn't right. I knew that something had to be stuck somewhere. I gave her many back blows to try and get out whatever was in there, if anything.

After 15 minutes she was still the same (mind you she could breathe and wasn't blue or anything). I then took her to Brandon to see if he could see anything, sometimes she does things easier for him, like brushing teeth. He didn't see anything but she wasn't changing in her appearance, better or worse. We gave her more back blows and still, nothing. I took her in the toy room where the boys were and sat her in my lap and tried to get her to have some juice to maybe wash down something that might be in there. She wouldn't have any and was still all blotchy, rubbing her face and yawning like crazy. She climbed off my lap, laid on her belly for a second, stood up and then, VOMIT. Finally, after 30 minutes (she was breathing of course during this time) it all came out. And sure enough NONE of her food in that vomit was chewed!

I knew something was stuck. It wasn't in her wind pipe, but that apple was stuck way down for sure.

Lincoln Park Zoo

We took a family trip into the city to the Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday. We went with our friends the Leungs, who will also be moving to Texas. The kids had a blast, even though it was sprinkling the entire we were there, which then turned to rain about an hour before we left. It wasn't too bad because there were a lot of trees and we went to an inside exhibit for the last half hour or so we were there. But it made it a fun adventure.

I was bummed that we didn't get to one of the exhibits because the kids were ready to go and then there was the rain. Its called the Edible Garden. Corbin would have loved it because of the tractors. Its an organic garden that the kids can go in and "work" in. They sell the produce from it at the Green City Market (an organic farmers market).

We were lucky enough to have a family picture done.

These monkey's were going crazy, it was quite funny.

Rowen looking at some Alpacas.

There was even a great little train for the kids. Rowen of course LOVED it! Corbin did until it started moving and thought he was going to be taken away from us or something. He was very happy when it was over.

Boys and some Lions.

Lily and Mommy looking at Meerkats. She called them doggies. Most anything that moves is a dog to her.

We were even lucky to have a bear come over to the close viewing window. I wasn't fast enough with the camera so I got a nice shot of his bum.

Ahhh...the aftermath of walking around the zoo all morning.

If I'm asked one more time...

when I'm due, if its a boy or a girl, when the fourth is due, or if I'm having twins I'm going to flip my lid! Yes, I need to loose some baby weight but its not like I'm gigantic or anything. And give me a break, I was pregnant 4 times, had 3 kids back to back and all C-sections!

I think all things considered being 125lbs at 5'2" isn't all that bad. Yeah, I would LOVE to lose weight, and all I need to do is lose 10lbs to be the weight I was before having kids, but I think I could lose 40lbs and I'd still look pregnant! Plus, their isn't much time with a 1, 2 and 3 yr old to workout all the time.

Let me see your stomach go from this...

to this 3 times in a row and see what you look like. And this was only Corbin, I think Lily was the one that did it. It was just out there and super saggy.
OK, so I'm a little bitter, can you blame me? I guess maybe its just a mom thing. Well, for those of us who aren't so lucky to have it go back to the way it was with no problem.

Mini Muffins

Yesterday Rowen and I made some super yummy organic Banana Oat Bran muffins. He didn't want to take a nap, which he is starting to outgrow, so its a hit or miss. But we had fun together and got to have some one on one time.




He has been wanting mini muffins for some time now, but I didn't have a pan, so I finally got one. I usually cut a regular muffin in half for them but its great that now I can just give them the whole thing.

We made them using flour, oat bran, oats, bananas and yogurt. I used 1/2 the amount of sugar it called for and they were still great.

Rowen's first commuter train ride!

Today Rowen had his first commuter train ride, and on a Double Decker to boot! He was SO excited. Since Brandon has a couple days in between jobs it was a nice to go at time where it wouldn't be too crowded.

We thought it would be both boys going but has they were walking to the train it intimidated Corbin and he decided he didn't want to go. It was also his nap-time so he was a little tired.

Of course for some reason we didn't think to have to Brandon take the camera after I took the picture of them...duh. So we have no pictures of him on the train.

I dropped them off at the station down the road and they went for about 5 stops where I then picked them up. It was a nice 25 minute ride. Rowen was not too happy when he got in the car though because that was not long enough for him. He wanted to go for a longer ride, naturally, the boy is a train freak :) We decided that towards the end of the summer one of us will take him for a ride all the way into Chicago, maybe walk around the city for a bit, then ride back.

Past few weeks...

have been pretty mellow. We haven't done a whole lot of outings or anything since I had my ablation (for the most part I am doing pretty well now). We've been playing it low key and hanging out at the house. We've done a lot of playing in pools and such with it being SUPER hot here the past week. Its been in the high 90's with the heat index up to 105!

I felt daring one day and took them all to the community pool. Lily was happy to be playing in a warmer pool. When we use our pool she doesn't really like it because it's SO cold. Though it wasn't very refreshing because it was quite warm. I'm not sure what Rowen is doing here.

I wasn't too worried about the boys since they took swimming lessons, plus the pool doesn't get deeper than 1ft 3in. They have a nice separate kiddie pool off from the big pool.

Our new pool since
last years was not fixable.

Lily's new favorite thing to do is eat with a bowl and spoon. Its nice because it will keep her occupied for a bit, but of course the spoon part doesn't always last too long :)

Lily checkin' out the Basil

Our Tomato plants have grown a TON! This picture was from a couple weeks ago so they are even bigger now. You can check out under the blog archive in May and see what they looked before.

We have a good dozen or so of long vines full of tomatoes.

Rowen just looks so grown-up to me in this picture.

We have discovered tiny frogs (which is that tiny speck to the right near the edge of the grass) down the street that has become a regular walk everyday to go see them. We noticed today they installed a Tornado siren there. Which is good cause now we can hear it better.

Lily walking around barefoot looking pretty!

The new siren will come in handy as we had our first Tornado scare last Friday. The boys are practicing good safety here. Corbin HATES thunder, so he had his hands over his ears almost all day. There were funnel clouds spotted just down the road from us. Not fun.

Clouds gearing up.

And Rowen is still all about his trains. I think more than he ever has been in the past. Everything is or looks like a train to him. Clouds, bubbles from his pee in the toilet (oh yeah), drawings, EVERYTHING!

And a BIG Congratulations to our friend Shayne and his girlfriend Jenny who had a baby girl, Violette, almost 2 weeks ago.