Haley's new toys!

After much promising and practice, the time finally came this weekend for Haley to get what she's been asking for.... her own set of golf clubs! :)

We all loaded up and went to the PGA Superstore where she picked out a pink and blue set. James wanted her to go for the red/blue, gree/blue or yellow/blue combos so Eli could use them one day too, but she wouldn't hear of it! (Plus Eli swings the clubs we have now left-handed, so he might golf that way anyway)

She's in heaven and was out today practicing by herself! :D











Here's what Eli thought! ;)

Day at the lake

We went to the lake yesterday with James' family. They rent a cabin at least once a summer and we go up and spend the day with them. I'm sure when the kids are older we will spend the night once, but for now, a day is about all I can take.

But the kids have fun, especially Haley. We got there and I got everyone in their swimsuits and went to change into mine. When I came back from the bathroom, James and Haley, my bil, niece and nephew, and Nanny and Papa Perry were all in the lake. I looked around and asked, "Where's Eli?" Then I hear, "Hi Mom-mom!" and see Eli standing in the door of the cabin. I asked, "Don't you want to go into the water?" "NO!!!" "Come on, Eli, it'll be fun!! Daddy's in there and Haley!" "NO!!!! I DON'T WANT IT!!!!" So, here's how Eli spent the first few hours at the lake!



We spent the next few hours eating hot dogs, hamburgers, brownies and smores, watching the kids run and play, catching up with each other and loving the kids. It was a nice time. Blake did really well. Thankfully I had the bright idea while at Target to pick up a cheap $30 3 man tent. We pitched it under a huge tree and put his toys in there. We took off the "hood" but it still had netting. We zipped him in, but were able to keep an eye on him. Eventually, Nanny stripped him down and he LOVED that! I guess he liked to feel the "cool breeze". ;) Then I layed down in the tent and nursed him and he took a little nap. Sweet boy!

Eventually, I actually got hot enough to venture out into the lake. Oddly enough, I can swim in the ocean all day, but I really don't like to go into lakes. Something about it oogs me out. So, when I say I went in, I mean up to my knees! ;) It was at this point that Eli decided it was safe enough to come in. Maybe he is just like me! Once he was in, of course, he loved it.

All in all it was a great day. We were there for about 5 hours and would have stayed longer but the boys were loosing it quickly. Here's a few pictures from our day!

Haley and Daddy



Haley and Daniel



Gracie and Nanny



Eli and Daddy, finally happy in the water!



Blake



Getting tired now!! (little nature boy!)



Sweet, sleepy boy!



Why did you leave me in a tent!!






Ok, I'll pick you up!!!


Eli chasing after Haley and Gracie and the kite



And for my friend Shannon! :D



Sorry, the pictures are small! I uploaded them as "small" thinking they wouldn't be so huge when you click on them. But I think they just made them small in the blog.

Wii Fit!!!

We pre-ordered this new Wii exercise "game" and it came yesterday. I was so excited. So was Haley! ;) She loves the W.I.I. as she calls it. We got it set up last night and soon we were exercising away! James really likes the ski jump and Haley loves the running. I did a little of everything today. The hula hoops are fun and man, they work your legs and abs. Considering I hate all forms of exercise, I'm pretty happy with this so far! Now, if I start dropping the pounds, I'll be really pleased.

But, doing the Wii for 30 minutes and following it with a handful of M&M's might not be the best idea, eh?

I hate the dentist!!!

I know and have known for a while I needed work done. But I kept getting pregnant! Then, I had little babies to take care of. Eventually, of course, I couldn't stand the pain any longer and gave in. I went to the dentist.

I'll leave out the details of the amount of work that needs to be done. The biggest is I need 2 root canals for sure, possibly 3. :(
I came home and found a dental discount plan that the dentist was on. Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a discount, but better than it was.

I headed there today. I had to talk myself into it. I had my iPod loaded with songs and a book (which is a great is idea by the way). I spend 2 hours on my back being drilled and poked and prodded with my eyes closed. Everytime I opened my eyes, I saw one of the tools, freaked me out. At the end, I was told, "Oh, we weren't able to finish. One of your root canals is an S shape, so you'll have to go to an endodontist!" :( So, I have to go and sit through it all again!!! I want to cry!!!

Sick, sick, sick!

Uggh!!! We feel terrible here! James came home from golf Saturday morning saying his back hurt. We didn't think too much about it, since his back has been bothering him for a couple of weeks. We loaded up the kids and went to a friends house for a barbeque that afternoon. Once we left there, James started feeling really bad. That night, he had a fever of 101. I got the boys to bed and took Haley out for a Mommy/Daughter time. (we went and got pedicures :) ) When we got home, James was still feeling bad.

This morning, he woke up with his throat hurting and I had a terrible headache. It lasted all day and tonight, James' fever is back up. My headache is a little better, but my throat is starting to hurt! Great! So far, the kids seem fine. Haley's already on antibiotics for a sinus infection, so maybe she'll be spared. If my throat hurts in the morning, I'm headed in for a strep test. Poor us! It's bad when your kids are sick, but worse when you are! :(

Blake's surgery

Blake went in this morning to have his tubes put in his ears and his tongue clipped (the little piece under his tongue was too far forward). He did great. His only issue was the fact that I couldn't nurse him. I woke up at 3:30am to feed him because the latest he could eat was 4:00am. We got there at 7:00am and they took him back at 8:10. The doctor came to tell me they were done at 8:23!

After a few minutes of listening to another little boy crying, I heard Blake's cry. Then they came in to get me. They said he came out of the OR already waking up and MAD!!! :D Actually, he was really hungry. As soon as I sat down, he started eating and ate for 20 minutes straight! He was still cranky and groggy, but we got the ok to go home. The doctor said she got a lot of fluid and infection out of both ears. Poor baby!

When we got home, he sat up with me and James for a bit, then went down for a 2 1/2 hour nap. He's almost back to his old self now, just still a bit clingy. He's napping now and hopefully we will start to see a "new" baby soon!

Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes!

First water play time of the summer!

It was hot today. I don't know exactly how hot. I think like 90 something. So we decided to let the kids play in their pool outside. Of course, we live in a neighborhood with 6 pools, but we were too lazy to take them to one of those. Plus, they honestly don't care! Haley declared this her "best day EVER!!!" after playing. So, we'll stick with the cheap Wal-Mart pool for now. James did put it at the end of the slide, so they were having a blast sliding down into the water. Blake didn't get to go in though. He's not feeling well as it is and the kids were going crazy playing, so he watched from afar!

Here's a few pictures! :D

















Then tonight we were in the back part of the lot, where we actually have trees and I snapped a couple of pictures. This was the best of that bunch. (Eli would not sit still and Blake was asleep already)

What's this.........an update?

I know! It can't be, right?

Don't rush off to the eye doctor just yet, I am posting a new blog entry!!! Sorry I've been so off lately. Things have been a little crazy in Casa de Mathews. But here's a brief update on the kids and how life is treating us!

Haley is doing great. She's growing like crazy. I swear she shot up a foot in the last month alone. She's getting very excited for summer. Because we all know that summer not only means her birthday (the big number 5!!)and trips to the pool. But, more importantly, it's her last summer before KINDERGARTEN!!!! I don't think I've seen a child more excited about going to school. She's already quite good at math and sounding out words.

She loves her little brothers. She says she loves them equally, but I think she's partical to Blake. Of course, she thought Eli was the best thing since sliced bread until he turned 1! So, I guess Blake's got a good 3 months left to stay on the "good boy" list! She is a big helper for mommy, most of the time. Her new favorite phrase to say is "I have to do EVERYTHING in this house!!!" I don't know where she got that one from! ;)

Eli is doing wonderfully. His speech has improved so much these last few months. He had his second set of tubes put in at the end of November. We are still working with ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) on a weekly basis. We love our teacher, Ms. Katie! His newest phrase is "I luuu you, Mom-Mom!!" :D He'll add whose ever name at the end he needs to.

His favorite pass time is to follow Haley around and do whatever she's doing. He LOVES her so much. He gets upset if she goes to play at a friend's house. When she gets up in the morning or comes home, a big hug awaits her! It's really sweet! He's crazy about Blake too. He love to hug "Baby" and you can see that the two of them are really starting to bond.

Blake is 9 months now! He's been out as long as he was in! :D He's finally sleeping through the night. We bought a crib for him a few weeks ago. Up until now, he was sleeping with me. Eli is still using his crib, so we bought one for Blake. I have it in the guest room. Our plan is to eventually move the boys in a room together, but we didn't want to do that until Blake was sleeping better at night. After much trial and error, we finally decided that it was time to just let him cry. We did for a weekend at naps and night time. By Tuesday night, he was going to bed at 7:30pm and sleeping until 7:30-8:00am the next morning! He will wake up a couple of times, fuss a few minutes, then put himself back to sleep. His nap times aren't as good yet, but he's still doing great!!

The only problem Blake has right now are his ears. He, like Eli, is having multiple ear infections. We've been in and out of the dr.'s office several times the last few months and finally decided to see the ENT. We went yesterday and decided to go ahead and do tubes in his ears on Tuesday. They are also going to clip his tongue while he's under. (He's slightly tongue-tied) Unlike Eli, Blake's speech seems to be right on target for his age. He's already saying Mama and Dada and Hi. So, hopefully once the tubes are in, we won't have the same speech delay that we have had with Eli.

That's our life in a nutshell! There's never a dull moment, but we're pretty happy!!

Here's a recent pictures! :)