I am HUGE!!

Well, it is official. With a little less than 11 weeks to my due date, I am ENORMOUS!! I hope to be able to post what I looked like the day I delivered my last baby, but I have to do some research and I am too tired for that today. I am about to bust out of this shirt and I am not sure I have much room to grow. Yet, the twins have to double their weight in the next 8 wks or so. So far I can still see my feet, but putting on socks and shoes is becoming a real challenge. There is much grunting...

Our State's version of spring

Spring for us

Although you can see snow, the sun is finally shining. Only 1 day in the coming 10 day forecast was predicted to be partly sunny, the rest were overcast. So, when the sun unexpectedly came out on this day and the temp was up to 40 degrees we had to go out and play. When I see everyone else's blogs the sun in shining and they are in t-shirts or jackets. We were still in boots and coats but we were happy to take whatever we could get!

Barber Shop and Dentist Office

I am so glad that my kids are so creative. With me sick and the flu rotating through the kids there wasn't much time to entertain them. I would love to have an imagination that is this vivid. Chopsticks are good dental tools, and it is just fine to put so much gel in someone's hair that it feels hard. They are quite professional too. If you look, Gabby has a paper towel on her chest just like at the dentist. Also, they try to make signs to direct us to their businesses. All over the house signs were taped with the words "dentist ofis" with arrows directing us to the boys' room. I don't remember being so realistic when I played. They are so fun to watch! It kept my spirits high through a rough ordeal!

Click on the pictures to see them larger. The sign on the chalkboard and the instuments for the dentist are well worth checking out.

Poor Little Crab Claw

Well, after 2+ days of vomitting & diarrhea we got to see Andrew at his weakest. Josh had changed 8 poopie diapers in 4 hours and I had sent him to bed when I started to change Andrew. After 4 diapers in one sitting I knew something was wrong. He was skinny, weak, white & shaking. I sent one of the kids for Josh and he took our little baby to the pediatric ER. (I was still fighting the stomach flu and didn't think they would welcome that in the ER) He was dehydrated so they hooked him up to an IV for 2 hours. He was so bad that they left in the IV heplock in and told us to come back today (Sunday). That is where Josh & Andrew are now.

I was surprised at how well Andrew handled not having a right hand. We called it the crab claw. They had wrapped his fingers over some sort of board and then wrapped the whole thing tightly so he couldn't bump or pull out the needle. He had to spend the day in his big brother's shirt because it was the only one with a sleeve that would fit over his arm.

The good news is that he actually ate some solid food today and the severity of the diarrhea has decreased. Hopefully when they re-evaluate him tonight he will get the heplock out and begin to be better. I really hate scary times like this!! Each of my kids is so important and precious to me that every time they get sick it just breaks my heart.

Barf-O-Rama at the Tillotsons

Well, we have three sickos at our house now. It seemed like we just finished having everyone feeling well from the last bout of the gamboo. Kim is sick and feels like throwing up; I told her it was because she was watching too many birthing shows on Discovery Health, and all those C-sections! Yuck! Andrew barfed three times today, starting at the convenient hour of 2-3 A.M. and continuing until after breakfast. Gabby barfed at about 2-3 A.M. and left it neatly on her pillow and again about an hour after that, and then again a couple of hours after that. I hope they can start feeling better. If we keep this sickness rotational thing up, we are going to have to write a book on Cronic Sickness Syndrome (CSS). Everyone is taking it in strides and seems to be handling it well. On a side note, Nate has been cleaning the house--mop the floor, clean windows, etc. on his own volition. He even made cleaning gloves from scratch by taking ziplock sandwich bags, putting one on each hand and then "zipping" them close around his wrists. He is so cleaver and smart, a lot more than I was at his age, which is saying a lot. :) J/K! We hope everyone is doing well.

I Lost a Tooth!!

After only 5 days of wiggling, Naters
was able to get his first baby tooth out. The best part is that his permanant tooth had already grown in behind it about 3/4 of the way. You can see that in this extremely unflattering picture of him. He was so excited that he could hardly go to sleep that night. We were awakened the next morning with a very excited Nate in our room. He got $5 from the Tooth Fairy!! Very exciting news for us.

Silly String!

It finally got over 40 degrees here. Hurray!! The sun was shining, our garage was flooded from the snow melt and we were ready to be outside. The kids had been begging to use the silly string they got from Andrew for Christmas. So we took them outside while we hooked up the neighbor's pump to clear our flooded garage and let them go to it. The whole thing was over in about 5 short minutes. Daddy was a good sport and helped little James. Instantly that made him the main target. I had the brand new camera while I was sitting on the porch so I was off limits. Don't worry, they got me anyway. It was so nice to see the sun. It is rare here for a sunny day--even in August when we moved here. The humidity makes it cloudy constantly so we have to enjoy any sunny moments!

Girl Names

We need help! We have no idea what to name these girls. We don't want anything that rymes or even 2 that start with the same letter if we can help it. We are looking for suggestions. Josh and I have always been terrible at choosing names (as many of you already harass us for James' 2 name changes). Please post any suggestions in the comments section. Josh doesn't seem to like anything that I do (i.e. Delilah). And I really hate the fact that he has the kids convinced the girls should be named Abigail and Tabitha so that together with their big sister, they will be Abby, Tabby & Gabby.

Birthday Party

Since we took our new camera back (it stunk) I have no pictures to record how great my 35th birthday was. Instead, I will have to describe it. The Saturday before, Josh surprised me by taking me to get my hair done while he took the kids to shop. Afterward we got take out from my favorite place--Qdoba, and then Josh had to study for the rest of the evening. That was fine because Sunday was my actual birthday. After what felt like 8 am church (I don't like daylight savings time) we came home and I was sent to rest after lunch. About 2 hrs. later I was taken downstairs with my eyes closed for my big surprise. When I opened my eyes the kids had all made me cards and gave me flowers. They had decorated our whole kitchen and family room with balloons and streamers. It was so cute. Daddy had lifted the kids up to tape everything in place and Gabby & Nate had even blown up some balloons by themselves.



We made and cooked our own pizzas for dinner and then made a birthday cake and had cake and ice cream. Gabby wasn't feeling well that evening so we opened presents in Mom & Dad's room. Wow! My kids did such a great job choosing gifts for me this year. Andrew gave me smelly body lotion. James gave me sunglasses which I needed since my last pair broke. Gabby gave me a scarf to help keep me warm now that I can't button up my coat. Nate gave me a little heart shaped pillow to keep me comfy since I have to use several pillows when I lay down now. Joshy got me the flat iron I asked for and the iPod hookups for the "burban". It was such a great day. My family made me feel very special. Even the twins kept the belly beating to a minimum on Sunday.

We got TV!!!

We decided recently that it was time to enter the 21st century so we ordered satellite TV. Wow. Up until now we haven't even been able to get local programming except for a fuzzy PBS. It came with DVR. After 1 week life at our house isn't the same. I have to spend several hours lying down and now I have something to do besides read every book in our house twice! My kids love the cartoons. One morning we found their favorite cartoon: Big Foot presents Meteor. Here they are soaking it all in on Mom & Dad's bed. They thought they were so cool watching TV from the BED!