Headaches

I went to a neurologist yesterday for my headaches I've been having. I get them everyday and it's been 9 weeks now, so I wanted to get them checked out. The doctor thought that I have a chronic migraine, which explains why I'm sensitive to light, nauseous, and dizzy from time to time. He gave me a few different options as far as medications go. One medication would make me gain weight (ummm...no thanks, cross that one off the list), one would make my low blood pressure even lower, and the other option would be to get IV medications for a few days and still have to go on one of the preventative medications. Let me see... gain weight or feel dizzy. I'm going to try the propanolol, which is the one that will make my blood pressure low. He said I'll be on this medication for at least 2-3 months. I can come off the medication when I'm getting one headache or less a week. I had an MRI of my brain today, so I'm hoping to find the results out in the next couple of days.

Forgot to Add

I forgot to mention that Mia's shirt was also inside-out! :)

Interesting Outfit

Here's the outfit Mike dressed Mia in today. Quite interesting, wouldn't you say? You should see some of the things he dresses the girls in when I have to work. Here are some of the weirder things he's done: he dressed Mia in a pair of pajamas that he thought was a dress. It was 20 below outside and he dressed Mia in a short-sleeved shirt and capris. He'll put Mia's clothes on Riley and vice versa. I need to start taking more pictures of his creative outfits. Ethan usually looks pretty normal, it's just the girls that look strange! :)

Her "pants" are actually underwear for a dress.

Dance Party

Ethan and Mia showing off some dance moves. This makes me dizzy just watching!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the father's out there! I was put on call Saturday night, which was a nice surprise. I didn't have much planned because I thought I was going to have to work. Mike's parents came Sunday morning and brought us breakfast. We did some yard work and bummed around Scheel's and Lowe's for a little bit. We grilled out Sunday night and had a nice dinner. It was a pretty quiet father's day for us!

15 Month Update for Riley

I forgot to make her 15 month well-baby check appointment, so she'll be going in July. Their pediatrician usually books out a month at a time. He's an awesome doctor, so I don't mind waiting but it's kind of a pain at the same time.

Riley is walking everywhere now. She hardly ever crawls. It still cracks me up to see her walk. She sticks her butt up and kind of waddles. She's gotten pretty fast too. Riley can't quite keep up with Ethan and Mia, but she sure tries.

She is saying some new words. She'll say, "thank you" when I hand her something. I didn't realize at first that she was saying thank you but after a few times, I finally caught on. She also says, "nigh nigh" for night night.

Riley is sleeping a little better these past few days. I let her sleep with that doll they all fight over. She gets the hugest smile on her face when she sees me grab it. When I go to get her in the mornings, she lays there and plays with her belly button and hugs the doll. It's pretty cute. Riley is still taking one afternoon nap a day for about an hour and a half. I can lay her down for her afternoon nap, but I sometimes still have to rock her at bedtime.

She is still a good eater. Riley usually out-eats Ethan and Mia at every meal. She loves bananas, Lil crunchies, grapes, strawberries, hot dogs, peanut butter, cookies, sweets. She'll try about anything. She's quick to throw whatever she doesn't want to Elsa. Elsa now sits right below Riley. She is still nursing. When she wants to do it, she says, "more boobie." I know, kind of weird. She also pulls at my shirt. She actually pulled it up when we had company over one day. I was a little embarrassed, but I don't think anyone noticed. I'm hoping to wean her when we go to Washington DC.

She is still a major mama's girl. I don't go anywhere without her closely behind. If I leave for an afternoon, she'll go over to my bedroom door and bang on it because she thinks I'm in there. Whoever is watching her has to open the door and let her see that I'm not in there. She'll also walk around the house saying, "mama?" Riley doesn't like it if Ethan or Mia are on my lap. She will also make Elsa or our cat get off my lap. Can we say a little possessive? She also HATES it if I am on my lap top. All the kids hate it when I play on my computer. They purposely try and push buttons and turn it off.

We don't have much planned this summer, but our days always seem so busy with the day-to-day stuff. I would really like to get a day job to have a more normal life, but the day care expenses wouldn't make it worth it. I'll have to keep doing my weekend nights for now. I've started doing a job share with a co-worker. The benefits are that I work every 4th holiday, so I'm looking forward to that.

I don't know if I ever posted anything about my headaches, but I had a migraine about 7 weeks ago, and have had a headache ever since. I've gone to the doctor a couple of times, but nothing has helped. I'm going to see a neurologist in a couple of weeks. I hope they figure out what's going on. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Bucky, as Mike calls her because of her two front teeth.

Having a blast with the side-walk chalk. She also likes to eat it.

At Uncle Steve's birthday party. She enjoyed the chocolate chip cookie cake. Yes, a grown man asked for a chocolate chip cookie cake for his birthday. Haha!

Riley and her friend, Brenya. They play really well together when Riley isn't pushing her down or taking stuff away from her. Riley can be a bully! The really funny thing is is that Brenya is HUGE compared to Riley. Riley may be short and squatty, but she's tough. I guess with two older siblings, you have to be.

Riley kept trying to feed her Lil Crunchies. Riley is a month older than Brenya.

Little Miss Personality

Mia has such a funny personality. She's very sweet and loving but can be very sly at times. I had to use the restroom, and like usual, all the kids followed me in there. Just as I was reaching for the toilet paper, Mia grabs it and runs out of the bathroom. Of course, it was the last roll in there. Mia handed the toilet paper off to Ethan and he started shredding it as fast as he could. They would not give me the toilet paper back so I had to chase them down. They both earned time-out for that one. I was ticked at the time, but now it brings a smile to my face!

Speech Eval

The coordinator for the state came back today to finish Ethan's evaluation. They tested him in fine motor skills, physical tasks, and developmental skills. He passed the other categories they tested him in, so he'll only need speech therapy. He didn't do too well on color matching, which would be my fault since I've never worked with him on that! That and the nesting cups is what he needs to work on.

They're going to set up his speech therapy times starting next week. It was fascinating to watch her work with Ethan. She knew exactly what to do to get him to cooperate. I'm surprised he did all the things she asked. If only he listened to me that well!

My Piggies Have Piggies

Mike said she looked "girlie." I asked what he meant by that and he said she doesn't look like a girl to him, but with pig tails in, she looks like a girl. What?!? Some of the things that come out of his mouth!

Ear Plugs

I am such a light sleeper that I wear ear plugs every night. Otherwise, the smallest noises wake me up. I keep them on my night stand and Ethan snatches them whenever he can. I don't know why he likes them so much. They're really soft and squishy, so I guess that is probably what appeals to him. I've gone through almost an entire container in a year. Usually, a container would last me a few years. Well, I've found where Ethan has been keeping part of his stash--in Mia's bedpost of her bed. I happened to look in the little hole and there were 8 stuffed in there. Our dog, Elsa, likes to eat them, so I'm guessing that's where the rest goes!

Having Fun!

All three kids are miraculously sleeping at the same time, so I thought I'd post some pictures of them. Ethan and Mia are doing well. They are just getting over their spring-time cold. I've been wiping runny noses for about 3 weeks now, so I'm glad they're all feeling better!

I'm going to take another stab at potty-training on my next weekend off. I know a lady who works with autistic children and she teaches them (and their parents) how to potty-train. She told me to flood the kids with fluid and take them to the bathroom every 15 minutes. If they don't pee immediately, take them right off and take them back in 15 minutes to try again. I think that's where I went wrong the last time. I had Mia sit on the potty-chair for a few minutes if she didn't go right away, and she quickly got sick of that. Wish us luck!

Mike and I have actually planned a vacation in August. The last vacation we went on was to Rocky Point, Mexico, shortly before I got pregnant with the twins. It's been 3 1/2 years since we've gone somewhere together, alone, for an extended period of time! Mike needs to go to Washington DC for a work conference, so I'm tagging along. We'll be gone 4-5 days. There's so much to see and do there, we'll barely scratch the surface. I'm so excited for our trip! I've all ready checked and the motel has a spa. Hello full-body massage. And maybe a facial. I can't wait! My mom and sister are graciously going to watch our little punks while we're gone.

Mia fell asleep on the couch with her baby. This is the doll they all fight over. I need to get a couple more of these! Ethan won't leave clothes on it.

Not sure what this face is for!

Playing with Dad on the floor.

Yes, Ethan has another black eye. He did it the day before his big speech evaluation. Nothing like a big black eye when people from the state visit! The evaluators asked me if he falls a lot. I'm not exactly sure where they were going with that. Maybe they saw all the bruises on his legs? For the record, he falls ALL of the time. I made sure to tell them that his doctor said he has flat feet and that could be the reason why he falls all of the time.

As Mike always says, "the twins that don't look like twins."