The Tooth Fairy...

We had a great couple of weeks being in Wisconsin... It's been since August and the girls have certainly changed a lot (and seemed to be more challenging to keep in one spot). We were pretty lucky and we got some decent weather. I traveled for work both weeks so I was really only around on the weekends, but it was so nice to be home and have some extra hands with the kiddos. Andy and I also closed on our house in Atlanta while there and took Declan with us to pick out his room (his is the biggest of course and I'm certain he will be terrified to sleep in it).

We've got one more month in New Jersey and then we are heading out... I'm not sure I want to go anywhere in the car with our kids again, but I'm looking forward to only an 11 hour trip to WI from Georgia versus the 14 hours it takes for us from Jersey. The ride home yesterday had a lot of water, both from the rain and the tears...

We did arrive back home with one less tooth in the family. And unfortunately it was Bria... Yes, too young to lose a tooth, so she did it the hard way. She fell and cracked it all the way up to the gum - how she wasn't in excruciating pain is beyond me... She knocked most of it out actually. The whole thing was a bigger deal than we all thought and she had to be hospitalized to have it removed by a pediatric dentist (and was put under for it thankfully). Thank goodness for my folks because they were able to take her in and to the hospital all the while Andy and I were in Atlanta... And it doesn't seem that she's missed a beat. It's a little sad because she won't have a front tooth for the next several years of her life (until her permanent tooth comes in), so I thought it was good that we are moving to the south - at least our little hillbilly will fit in there :-)

This was post cracking her tooth, but pre having it pulled... You can tell she basically knocked most of it out. She already had a gap between her two front teeth, so it looks pretty funny now :-)

Grandma Judy getting swarmed by butterflies!

And Grandma Sally being tied up by Declan (who was tying knots all week long...)

Aven running off somewhere...

Declan, cousin Simon and the son (Jacob) of a friend of mine...

Our kids and my friend Jill's kids. Notice my kids freaking out and Grandma Judy trying to corral them...

Stevie hugging another friend Olive (they were so cute!)

Poe, Levin and Declan (Declan LOVES these kids and we do too!)

Aven and Olive having a convo... Love these pics with the helmet and hello kitty of course!

L to R: Bria (with tooth), Stevie & Aven

Stevie mimicking me by trying to take a picture with her brother's iTouch.

Stevie and cousin Landon hugging it out...

Declan on Easter morning... The Easter Bunny was goo to him!

Bria our movie star reading her book while on her way to Easter breakfast...

Bria on the Easter egg hunt at Andy's cousins house... I think I am still exhausted by this day. I wish I could just walk around with a portable fence around the girls all day long.

Stevie walking away from me....

Stevie & Bria...

Declan and his cousins loving each other!

It was a great couple of weeks and looking forward (minus the car ride) to going back at the end of May again Hopefully we can see the people we didn't get a chance to see this time!

29 Months (Almost)!

Since we've got a busy week I thought I'd get a jump start on reporting on what the girls are up too... On a bright note, the girls seem to have dodged bullet on the stomach flu... Andy wasn't so lucky and I think I had a little something, but so far so good on the girls (but time will tell).

Aven: Aven continues to be the dominating sister... But, she's a huge lover too. I call her my little monkey because when I'm around, she won't let me out of her sight and wants me to hold her all. the. time. And when I'm paying attention to anyone else, she will make sure that I shift my focus to her. However, I will say, she's gotten a lot more independent and will play on her own and loves her "crazy" time with her sisters. Her and Bria become the best of friends when they know it's bedtime and they want to be cute.

• Nicknames: Avie, Ave
• Favorite thing to do: Climbing (everywhere), coloring, reading books, playing with her castle and her yo gabba gabba dolls and play in the laundry room
• Favorite food: My lasagna and any type of breakfast food (i.e. waffles, hash browns)
• Favorite toy: yo gabba gabba dolls
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• What she doesn't like: She doesn't like when people tell her "no," her diaper changed and when her sisters take what she is playing with (or get in a 1 ft radius of something she is playing with)
• Morning or Night: She is just like her brother and dad and is a night owl... She (and her sisters) are becoming increasingly challenging at night and at nap time. I'm sure we could start taking naps out, but that sounds like a terrible idea, so we'll deal with it for a bit longer... 
• Things she likes to say: She has been saying more and more... She regularly says mama, dada, no, more, eye, nose and she repeats a ton of things that we ask her to say.
• Funniest thing she does: She loves to dance (like the rest of the girls) and she spins around in circles with her eyes closed (every time) and she gets so dizzy that she looks like a drunken sailor trying to walk around... 
• Therapies: Aven is still getting DI and it is going great! We've seen tremendous progress with her speech and overall communication. Mostly because I think they have a great therapist... I'm anxious to get them started down in GA and am hopeful we'll be fortunate enough to get

Bria: Bria is still our sweetheart, but she has been getting the terrible 2's lately... She wants to make sure we know she's not okay with everything and our "easy" one :-) She plays great independently and you often find her playing by herself singing. She especially likes Old McDonald and her own made up song. One could say she beats to her own song...

• Nicknames: Bri, Bri Bri, B-B, B
• Favorite thing to do: Sing, dance, wear her big brothers shoes and clothes and play in the laundry room
• Favorite food: She pretty much likes everything... 
• Favorite toy: yo gabba gabba dolls, books, puzzles, jewelry and her brothers shoes
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• What she doesn't like: Her diaper changed and when her sisters take something that she's playing with
• Morning or Night: She is getting more difficult at night like her sisters... She still is our best sleeper, but she become a tad more difficult to get down at night (and at nap)
• Things she likes to say: She pretty much will say anything you ask her too, it's not independent yet, but she is saying more and more to get the things she wants. She's also saying "mommy" now (vs mama), which is so adorable... She will also say a few two-word commands like "no mommy"
• Funniest thing she does: She has the cutest dance move where she swings her hips back and forth (I've been trying for weeks to get it on video with no luck)
• Therapies: Bria gets DI with Aven, once a week and similar to Aven, it's going great!

Bria wearing her brothers PJs (on top of her clothes) and his shoes... 

Stevie: Stevie really does beat to her own drum. Although she tends to follow her sisters, she also wants nothing to do with them. When they play ring around the rosie, she never wants to hold their hand. She wants to dance and sing on her own, without their "help." She is full of hugs and kisses for anything and everything - seriously, I often catch her kissing the fridge.

• Nicknames: Sweet Pea (that's what Andy calls her a lot)
• Favorite thing to do: Dance, run and chase her brother (or sisters)
• Favorite food: She actually won't touch bananas now. I'm assuming that's because of the thousands that she's already eaten... So as far as favorite foods, she's a bit up in the air. But she does love yogurt.
• Favorite toy: Magnadoodle and playing dress up (usually in her rain boots)
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• What she doesn't like: When you don't give her what she wants (which can be challenging she can't always tell us what she wants)
• Morning or Night: See above, she's similar to her sisters here... 
• Things she likes to say: Her speech is getting much better... She says "mama" and "dada" regularly and she has started to imitate people or repeat something you ask her to
• Funniest thing she does: She loves to dance and it's cute, it's funny and it's adorable... 
• Therapies: Stevie's still getting PT and speech. We will likely stop the PT when we move to GA, but continue with DI or speech - overall both are still helping.

Declan is getting excited for the move. He's excited about his new room, which he will get to pick out when he comes with Andy and I in a few weeks for our closing. He's also starting baseball in a few weeks, which should be interesting.  Declan enjoys drawing, singing, being outside, playing ANYTHING and any kind of game.

Declan and Stevie while we were playing outside this weekend...

Bria playing in puddles...

The kids getting ready for the badgers - too bad we didn't have a good result on the game :( L to R: Bria, Aven, Declan and Stevie.

I was trying to get them to hold up #1, but only Stevie got the hang of it and wanted to cooperate...

Declan meditating while Bria looks on :-)

First ride in the choo choo this year...

L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven...

Playing outside today... L to R: Bria, Stevie & Aven

Waiting...

After 3 weeks of traveling for me, I get a week off and am working from home this week... And what better way to welcome me home than the stomach flu :-) Declan work up this morning with it and now Andy and I are just waiting for the rest of the kids to get it (and possibly both of us too). I can't explain the feeling that we get when one gets sick and we just know that we have 3 more to go... It's like every bit of food that the girls ate today, I thought to myself, well I guess we'll be seeing that again... It's like a ticking time bomb... So it's not a great feeling :-) I thought for a moment that perhaps it wasn't going to be so bad because Declan only puked a few times this morning and hadn't for several hours. But then he just did. So now I'm anxiously awaiting vomit sounds from the monitor. Awesome. I'd like to say we might be lucky, but this isn't the first rodeo that Andy and I have been too and we both know it's just a matter of time.

On a brighter note, we did have a fun weekend up until this morning. Andy took Grandma Mary to the airport and then Declan and I went to the mall and had some bonding time... He really wanted a wallet, so that's what we got. And he hasn't let it out of his sight since... I mean, really he hasn't.

Declan and I at lunch with his new wallet!

And in not so happy times this afternoon, sick in bed, but still with his wallet...

Bria getting ready for the game with her cool new headbands on...

And the girls in their favorite place in the house, the laundry room... Not sure where they will play in the new house. L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria.

While we were out Declan wanted to get he and his sisters new sun glasses, so we did. Here is Stevie and Bria trying them on with Declan...

Still having fun in the laundry room.

And while Declan was in our bedroom, the girls still wanted to have fun, in the laundry room of course... Although Stevie had had enough with all the fun...

I've been trying to take more videos lately... Here's a cute one from tonight... The girls got ahold of the TV remote and turned the TV off. We kept asking them who did it, and no one ratted Aven out (cause I'm pretty sure she did it). Stevie was telling us a story and Bria kept saying "I don't know"

The girls love getting rowdy right before bed, it's hard not to laugh and think it's adorable, because honestly it is. And it's one of the rare times that they all get along really well. I think it's their way of making sure they extend their bedtime... Please ignore my horrible singing voice (and laughing)...

Changes!

I know, it's been way, way, way too long... It's been a busy few weeks in the Lawry household... Just over 2 weeks ago, I had my last day of work with my previous employer... It was very bittersweet and I already miss all my former colleagues. Andy and I jumped on a plan that night (while my Dad and Judy came out, with little notice, to graciously watch the kids for the weekend). We arrived in Atlanta Thursday night, drove around and explored on Friday, looked at houses Saturday and put an offer on a house on Sunday. Nuts I know. But strangely enough, when it comes to big decisions, they are very easy for Andy and I to make. I am SOOOO excited for our new house (in the meantime our offer was accepted and we close in mid-April) - we have more space, we are in a great neighborhood, and did I mention we have more space? Can't wait for the kids to see the place!

I then started my new job and have been on the road for the first 2 weeks (and one more to come), which hasn't been easy, but it will slow down soon. This weekend Andy and I headed to NYC, while his mom watched the kiddos and I ran my first half-marathon... What an awesome (yet painful) experience... I found it to be a very emotional experience, one because I never thought I would do it, two because I got to run it with my sister and three I got to run it with a good friend of mine who has lost 70 pounds in the last year and before 6 months ago had never even run a mile. Amazing is all I have to say...

Because I'm tired, sore and sleeping, I'm not going to make this long... I promise when things slow down I'll blog more... Here are a few pictures from these past few weeks...

Bria has been OBSESSED with socks lately... Here her sister Aven is helping her put them on. She has my sock on her left foot, her brothers on the other and then she puts them on her hands...

Sock lady!

Sweet Stevie...

Aven & Stevie...

Declan being a good big brother and helping Stevie draw...

L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven... They were on time out - well technically only Bria and Aven were, but Stevie felt bad for them (notice her pout). I'm pretty sure Bria pushed Aven  off a chair, but Aven was being mean and hoarding in this instance...

Silly Stevie!

Post race smiles! Me and Em with Neal (Left) and Justin (the one I referenced above)

Em and I...

28 Months!

It's hard to believe that the girls turned 28 months yesterday... And their adjusted age of turning 2 happened last month and it blew right past! It could be that the kids are keeping us crazy busy or we are starting to forget just how "old" they really should be. Both are good in my book though! So here's their monthly update...

Aven:

• Nicknames: Avie, Ave
• Favorite thing to do: Per Andy, she likes to do whatever she wants, when she wants. I think she likes to color and spend time in the kitchen cooking with me.  
• Favorite food: My lasagna
• Favorite toy: Yo Gabba Gabba stuffed animals
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• What she doesn't like: She doesn't like when people tell her no and her diaper changed
• Morning or Night: Night - she's usually the last one to go to bed and her and Stevie often mess around for a good 30-60 minutes while in their cribs. She's always been the most restless of the girls and not much has changed. 
• Things she likes to say: She is saying more and more... She likes to say "Hi." She says a lot and has full fledged triplet talk but we don't understand a lot of it.
• Funniest thing she does: She sticks all her stuffed animals between her crib and the wall, so they are all just sitting there looking at her (or you when you go and get her)
• Therapies: Aven is currently getting DI (development intervention) once a week and is doing really well!

Bria:

• Nicknames: Bri, Bri Bri, B-B, B
• Favorite thing to do: Climb and dance
• Favorite food: Everything
• Favorite toy: Books, puzzles and Yo Gabba Gabba dolls (which presents problems with Aven)
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba (but she's always been the least interested in TV)
• What she doesn't like: Her diaper changed
• Morning or Night: Neither - she's always the first to go to bed and the last to wake up.
• Things she likes to say: She is pretty much a little parrot now, you say something and ask her to repeat it and she will... She has recently said sister ("sister") as a new word...
• Funniest thing she does: She makes funny faces and she likes to wear her rain boots all.the.time.
• Therapies: Bria gets DI with Aven, once a week and is doing great!

Stevie:

• Nicknames: Stevie
• Favorite thing to do: Dance, talk jiberish
• Favorite food: Bananas (still - she literally wants to eat bananas for every meal)
• Favorite toy: Blankets, Yo Gabba Gabba dolls (which presents problems with sisters A and B)
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• What she doesn't like: Her diaper changed
• Morning or Night: Both, but is happy in the morning (mostly) - she will trade off with Aven on who wakes up first. 
• Things she likes to say: New words that she is saying "no" and "mama"
• Funniest thing she does: She loves wearing blankets or towels over her head. She will literally go to bed with them wrapped around her head (don't worry, no breathing hazard because her face is free). She just likes to be cuddled by them I think.
• Therapies: Stevie gets PT and speech twice a month

Recent picture of the girls, thanks to Jessie who is in town with Mary and her boyfriend this week... L to R: Bria, Aven & Stevie... 

The Energy Project...

Last year at one of our leadership meetings at my work, I went through a workshop called "The Energy Project." It was basically around creating balance in your life to fully optimize your energy, etc. It's the basics, like getting solid sleep, exercise, etc. Everyone took a survey to see what their "number" was and I was a 13, not bad, but the lower the number the better. Anyway... Back to my normal topic... Well today, we took the girls to Declan's learn to skate class. We took them once before and it wasn't so bad because there are two hallways with dead ends so they can't get far. Well a few months later now and they are FAST! And there are stairs everywhere... I know they were there before but I didn't notice it as much. At least we planned ahead and Em agreed to come with us to help while Andy was on the ice with Declan. Well today, I got a new meaning of The Energy Project :-) Meaning how fast the girls zap me! Aven was the ring leader and she wanted nothing to do with keeping still or staying in the guarded hallway. Then Bria followed her. Then Stevie... It was insane to say the least and there was a moment when I didn't think we were going to make it... There was one point where I was following Bria and Aven and I swear they looked at each other laughed and ran opposite directions. Aven to one set of stairs and Bria to the other. Em in the meantime was hysterically laughing, because it was pretty funny. We got them still for a bit by going into my bag of tricks and finding some coloring activities. Then we occupied them for about 20 minutes with a game called "running back and forth from mommy and Aunt Em and giving us hugs." It. was. fun. But I'm thinking we might just continue with our quite Saturday mornings at home :-)

Then we came home and Stevie got ahold of the TV remote and purchased a $18 movie... At first I thought it was a porn movie, but thankfully it wasn't and it's actually a movie that Andy wanted to watch - win win, but I would have preferred she rented it versus bought it. Never a dull moment :-)

Before our big adventure, I took a few pictures of the kiddos (mostly because they had actual clothes on today versus our normal stay at home attire :-))

Declan, Aven (telling me something I'm sure) and Stevie (with her oven mitt on - which she took to the skating rink as well)

L to R: Bria, Declan, Stevie & Aven

Declan and Bria having a serious chat...

Sweet Stevie...

Declan and his favorite...

Aven wanted to sit on Declan's lap, Stevie didn't understand why :-)

At least Declan was having fun...

This would have been great, if we could see Declan (L to R: Aven, Stevie & Bria)