Today's quote of the day...

So I'm a big Price is Right fan from way back. And I've recently started flipping it on in the background during the day for a little mindless entertainment and to fill my daily quota for flashing lights and beeping noises. But apparently Elliot is bored with it and just said "Mom, I don't want to watch Chance of Prizes anymore."

Well, at least he grasps the premise of the game.

Back and inspired...

Hello all!

Well, well, well - where has the time gone? Yet another month long lapse between posts. Many apologies. And still the time has gone on another front as well. I turned 29 last month and it suddenly hit me (who has NEVER been concerned with age) that I'm going to be 30 next year. That has never had quite the ominous feeling before that I'm having about it now. I suddenly really don't like the idea. But, I'll deal with it when it happens. In the meantime, I've started reflecting on things I'd like to get done before I turn 30. I might start compiling a list of some things. But first and foremost, I came up with an idea - a project. I came up with this idea several weeks ago but only just decided to start acting on it today. I guess the official inspiration came from two places 1) we saw Julie and Julia last night, about a woman turning 30 who decides to start a blog and document cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook for a year... and 2) my pants, which have started laughing at me.

So, I present you with - Brannon's 30 by 30! Yes, I am going to do my very best to drop 30 pounds by the time I turn 30. I have a solid (or not so solid, as it were) 30 pounds to lose - that would get me to my ideal weight and life would be good. This will not be easy, especially entering the cool weather months -but I am really going to try. I just rejoined Weight Watchers and hopefully with the kids going back to school I'll get into more of a regimen as opposed to the free-for-all that kind of takes over my life during the summer.

I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

In news NOT related to me, Riley AND Elliot start school tomorrow! Riley starts 1st Grade and Elliot starts preschool. This should be mildly chaotic, but I'm looking forward to it. I can't believe Riley will be gone essentially from 8:30-4. Not that I couldn't use the break, but it's kind of sad in a way. Elliot goes for 3 half days, M/W/F. I'm interested to see how Elliot reacts to being dropped off at school tomorrow, he is SO attached, and I could easily see him freaking out when I go to leave. But, I also think it will be possible that he will be okay and will go happily into school.

So, Liam's 15 month checkup is today - then after that it is home and GET READY FOR TOMORROW! I have a feeling a lot of pep talks are in order. I will update more as it transpires tomorrow!!

Breaking the silence with a story!

Hey all.

Sorry about the extended hiatus. Been wicked busy with the business. But that's not what I'm here to talk about!

Just had a funny conversation with Riley earlier and figured I'd post it here as a segue back into regular posting...

R: "Mom, Elliot won't stop copying me!
me: "Well, it's because you're his older brother, he thinks you're cool and he wants to be like you."
R: "But I'm not cool, I'm just really handsome."
me: "That's true, you are very handsome - but even if you don't think you're cool, Elliot always will. You're his big brother, he wants to do things the way that you do."
R: "But if he starts doing that it'll be too confusing about who's the real Riley!" (starts choking back tears) At this point I couldn't make out the rest, it was muffled into my shoulder as he was weeping a little.

Elliot was within earshot of all of this but neglected to comment.

From sibling day to the last day...

Sorry for a brief post after a LOOOOOOOONG hiatus... but I'm breaking the silence in honor of Riley's last day of Kindergarten. He received his 1st grade teacher assignment and class list already. I can't even believe that come September he will be gone at school ALL day. While I kind of liked the idea at first, just so I can have a little more time to focus on Elliot & Liam, housework, my business... now the idea is just horrifying. He's entering the phase of his life that he practically spends more time away from home than at home. It's eerie.

Anyway, busy times here - but I will update more soon. Thanks for sticking with the blog despite the huge posting gap!

Younger sibling day in Kindergarten...

Enjoying snack time!

and another...

Crash boom bang...

Riley is definitely all boy. Here's the library book he brought home from school today.

The new photo site...

Here's the link to the new photo site if you haven't already gotten it: http://5inthehive.shutterfly.com

Enjoy!

Holy heatwave!!

Well, we went from - "gee, would someone tell the weather it's April and time to warm up?" to sizzling scorchers overnight. We're on day 4 of some major heat here in NY. Actually turned on our whole house air conditioner 2 days ago. We typically don't have to turn that thing on until mid to late May. At least today is the last day of it, and then we're back to mid to upper 60s for a while. In the meantime, poor Casey is just leveled from the heat - greyhounds have almost no fatty layer under their skin, so they overheat as well as get cold very easily. Casey's potty breaks have been strictly business, not his usual lollygagging around the yard followed by a brief sprint. I'm sure he'll be glad when the weather breaks. In the meantime, it has dawned on me that when it's hot out, an untidy house bothers me about 10 times as much as usual. I've gotten into cleaning/organization mode because there is just something so totally discouraging about walking into my house (that is, on the few occasions I actually get out of it) and having it be both hot and messy. We actually did a little mini-renovation project in one room on Friday... well, actually we hired someone... Anyway, we had wood floors put into our dining room which has made a HUGE difference. The carpeting had become a bit of a canvas of memories for every meal consumed since we moved here in 2002, it is just not ideal to have carpeting in a dining area - especially with kids. So, this is a much welcome change, the funny thing is that now Casey won't walk in that room. Greyhounds are notoriously scared of shiny floors, and although we could train him out of it, it's just as well that now he's too scared to come in and raid the table. :) I'll try to get a picture taken of it so you see how it looks.
In other news, the kids together for a nice party on Saturday with a bunch of kids from other local congregations (14 to be exact). It was a fun day, the dad is a gym teacher, the mom a former english teacher - so they know just how to handle a crowd of kids! They did games, activities, crafts, played on the playground, etc. The boys both had a blast and made lots of new friends, some of whom they'll see at the Assembly this weekend.

I'm currently working on getting up a photo site since it's not ideal to post photos on Blogger (there is limited storage space) and sometimes I don't have time to put together e-mails to everyone with updated photos. As soon as I have a link for the site I'll put it here as well as try and send out a big bulk e-mail invitation. I'm pretty sure that once I put you on the e-mail list, anytime I upload new photos to the site, you'll get a message saying so.

That's it for now!!

Pardon me...

have you seen my Cheerio? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

It never fails...

Every year I get SO excited to finally see little green buds on the trees. In fact, the plethora of weeping willows on the adjacent property and in the way back of our property are finally awash with true spring green. But it seems that every year for the last several years, as soon as the buds all pop out, we get a WICKED wind/rain storm that knocks many of the buds off. Right now I'm listening to a ferocious storm outside my window, and it's been this way all afternoon, evening and night. I know it's going to be so disappointing when I get up tomorrow to see that the branches that were all filled with precious little buds this morning are now barren. I just hate being so close and then having it all dashed. Ah well, maybe a second batch of buds will come out soon. We've been having an awful lot of our share of April Showers, hopefully with our gorgeous Friday/Saturday/Sunday to come the sun will bring some spring beauty. The boys have a party on Saturday that was rained out 2 weeks ago, so it will be nice to have such a gorgeous day for them to enjoy.

The Latest Developments...

So let's see, what's new...

It would appear that Elliot has finally progressed to being nearly potty trained. This has been a LONG time in coming. (Obviously, since he's nearly 4 1/2) But in the end, what I've read from all the experts is true - the bottom line is, when they're ready, they'll do it. And not a day sooner. We're about 90% of the way there now, and thank goodness for it.

Our other new development is that Liam just started doing something that I'm pretty sure the other two didn't do this early. Liam might not be walking, cruising, saying first words, or anything like that... but he has started making "play" noises when he plays with his toys, I think in imitation of his brothers. Riley and Elliot ALWAYS have some kind of vehicle that they're pushing around, making all sorts of rumbling and vrooming and speeding noises for. And just yesterday, Liam started pushing around his little Fisher Price dumptruck and making an undeniable little growling/humming noise in his throat. He does it all day long when he plays with the truck. It's really cute!! I guess he's yet another little fella in this house who just loves anything on wheels.

Tell it like it is...

Forgot to post this last night...

So me and the boys were all just hanging around and playing, and Riley says "Awww, Mom, Liam is so cute. Thanks for pushing out a new baby for us, Mom!"

A belated thank you, but appreciated nonetheless!! And at least he realizes there was a little work involved.

Yay!! Finally got some photos done...

Okay, you can click here for a link to the album for the new photos... PHOTOS If you don't already have a Snapfish account, it's free and you only have to give your name and e-mail address to sign up. It takes like 10 seconds. I'm going to try and get more photos posted on there because I'm running out of space on my initial site I had them on. I think the best way to view them is when you get inside the album, click the "View Slideshow" button and then in the bar where the controls are to play, pause, etc. - there's a button with a big square and a little square. Press that and it goes to full screen with good resolution. Anyway, there's a little bit of everyone, even Nick's brother and his wife who just moved to Panama to preach for a year (give or take...) We miss you already Aunt Buffy and Uncle Pete!!!

Enjoy the photos. :oD

Patience is a virtue...

Sorry for the big posting lag, all...

At least in the meantime I've taken lots of photos, and I'm in the process of trying to get a few resized to put up. So, bear with me while I finish that process but then you will be rewarded!! We've had a couple gorgeous days which means fun outside... which means photo ops!

Hope it's warming up wherever you are. Despite some damp, raw days I think we're finally moving in the right direction here.

More to come!!

Gosh I love these things...

Seriously, whenever I load up this site, it has me literally laughing out loud for 10 minutes at a time. Here's one of my favorite from today. The word at the top that cuts off is "Thanks."

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I did it!

I exercised. And kinda liked it. Elliot did it right along with me and it was pretty fun. Fun enough I might attempt to do it again tomorrow!!

At the breaking point...

Okay, I don't know which is closer to the breaking point - me, or my waistband. Seriously. I've now become one of those people who tries to diet and actually gains weight. Remind me how that happens?? And no, it's not gaining lean muscle mass, I haven't been exercising, just watching what I eat. What's that you say? I should try exercising? Sigh. I guess it's inevitable. I actually enjoy doing the Pilates workout I have, and I bought a dance routine/exercise video. Today is rainy but tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful which means I can walk Casey!! I guess it's time to bust out the exercise videos in the meantime. Oh the indignities of exercise. Flailing and jumping and doing all kinds of goofy looking stuff. At least the Pilates video is somewhat civilized and controlled. Not sure how this dancing one I got will be. Maybe I'll get the kids to do it with me so we ALL look like idiots together.

Hopefully I'll see some progress. I saw a photo of myself the other day... and it reminded me of an episode of Friends from the late 90s. It was a throwback episode where they were watching a video of all of them getting ready for their prom. Monica is OBESE in the video. While they're watching someone says "Whoa, Monica you were REALLY fat." She replies "Well, you know they always say the camera adds 10 pounds." To which Chandler responds "Whoa, how many cameras did they have ON you?" That's where I'm at. I'm even debating doing a before photo.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my progress. And I'll try to get up some new photos of the gang soon.

But weight, there's more...

UGH. It's that time of year again. The weather is starting to warm up, and I realize that soon I'll be in short sleeved or even sleeveless tops, capri bottoms, and dare I speak it... a swimsuit!!!! Perish the thought. I shudder to think! My current weight is the heaviest I have ever been in a non-pregnant state. Not pretty. But with each subsequent child it has become exponentially harder to lose weight. Tried and true methods that helped me shed pounds fast in the past don't even make a drop in the bucket now. It is beyond frustrating. Still, I'm at the point now that if I don't drop some weight fast... well, you get the picture. I had big plans of starting a daily walking regimen of 1 1/2 miles - the first 3/4 mile with Casey at a leisurely pace (that's all he can muster - although he's an athlete he's bred for speed, not endurance), and then drop Casey off at home and do the next 3/4 mile at a good clip. But, the weather turned cold again, and I got sick again and I haven't even gotten out to walk ONCE!! Grrrr. But I'm hoping that we'll get a nice spring thaw soon, I'll be feeling better, and MISSION SLIM DOWN '09 will kick off soon. You all might have to deal with me whining and moaning through the process. Don't say I didn't warn you.

In his own write...

Riley can be quite the quirky little comedian. Sometimes when he writes his name on his homework he puts a real flair into it and the letters come out all sideways and angular and just... they have flair! So tonight he was getting all "flairy" again and I said "Riley, what are you doing with those letters?" To which he replied "I'm just givin' them a little jazz, man!" At which point we both burst into total hysterics. Gosh I love that kid.

Retired and lovin' it!

Funny overheard comment of the day...

Elliot making a mountain out of a molehill - referring to a small crumb on the floor:

"Mom, you have a piece of bread loaf on your floor."

Almost spring!!

YAY!! So glad it's almost spring. I'm so ready to dropkick winter the heck out of here. Good riddance.

Not much to report here. We've all been passing around a nasty head cold and Liam and I are currently "it." I thought it was just seasonal allergies starting at first, but it's now definitely a cold. Bleh.

All is otherwise well. Riley just had his book fair this week and bought two books, a SpongeBob one and one from an early reading series called "Biscuit." Riley has recently really started to enjoy reading more challenging stuff. He does occasionally get frustrated but will proceed with some encouragement. PARP (Parents as Reading Partners) just wrapped up, and if your child did all 3 weeks (which Riley did) they earned a $5 gift certificate for the book fair which I thought was a nice reward. We supplemented Riley with a couple more dollars in his wallet (he thinks he's big man on campus with that thing!!) and off he went. Normally he's really interested in any books with BRIGHT pictures of FAST things (sports cars, race cars, roller coasters, etc.) but I encouraged him to try to pick something he could actually READ this time! He chose well. :)

My little business that I started handmaking dog items has started to pick up so that's encouraging. I genuinely enjoy doing it, so it's nice bringing in a little extra money for something you like to do! One woman came to pick up two coats I'd done for two of her dogs today. She brought her Great Dane to make sure her coat fit (which it did, like a glove, such a proud moment!!) and Casey was out in the yard when the Great Dane came out - Casey was fenced of course. He was really putting on a show for this big girl!! It's funny, Casey is so sleek and beautiful, he looked like the girl, and the actual girl dog Cassie (yes, Casey and Cassie) looked like a big brute boy!! So funny. Anyway, he spent so much time running himself in circles to impress Miss Cassie that the big doofus is now totally sacked out on his bed. King Konk.

That's it for now - Riley gets off the bus in 15 minutes or so, he'll be excited to see that we got our grocery delivery from Peapod while he was at school and that we now actually have food in the house.

Have a great weekend!!

Ahahahaha....

more animals

The latest results...

Liam had his 9 month well-baby checkup today.

HEIGHT: 29" (exactly 2" longer than his 6 month checkup)
WEIGHT: 18 lbs. 15 oz. (exactly 2 lbs. heavier than his 6 month checkup)

He is 75th percentile for height and 25th for weight. All is looking well - next stop, 12 month checkup!

Our little fan in training...

He did this on his own today - honest!!

Happy 100 Day!!

For those of you (all of you) who don't know... today was 100 Day at Riley's school! Meaning, it was the 100th day of school. The school makes a huge deal of this, and it's part of the curriculum, counting to 100 by 5s, 10s, etc. The kids all bring in ziploc baggies with 100 things inside, etc. - and there are snacks and activities. Anyway, it sounded like a real fun day and Riley came off the bus this afternoon and enthusiastically greeted me with "HAPPY 100 DAY!!"

Here are some other photos as well taken in the last week. Click on them to be taken to the album and view them larger if you'd like. Enjoy. :)

One small step for (little) man...

Well, not so much a step... but crawling! Liam started the basics of army/commando crawling a week or so ago... and he hasn't looked back! He can now cover a decent amount of area in a little time. It's funny to see him coming peeking around the corner looking for you. He seems genuinely pleased with himself that he can now control some of his world. Watching your kids reach milestones certainly never gets old. From the day they first hold their head up, to first smile, to first grin... just pure bliss and awe.

One other thing that all kids seem to do is have they day where they discover CHEERIOS!! Liam has just begun his love affair with them and loves picking them up in his two little fingers and maneuvering them towards his mouth. So cute. Except for when they manage to fall on the floor and surround the high chair. That? Not so cute. Ah well. All par for the course.

Photos to come soon!

Soitenly!!

So my three boys have been called "My Three Sons", "The Three Musketeers", "The Conza Trifecta" (okay, I made that one up...) but here's what the new one should be - "The Three Stooges." Not just because they're all funny, but because Liam IS Curly! He is decidedly bald, occasionally spins on the floor, and last night - I kid you not- started making a sound that was awfully like that "nyock nyock nyock nyock" noise that Curly makes.

I suppose Elliot would be Moe.

And Riley? Does Riley EVER fit any classification?

Anyway, that's my little Curly for you. But seriously, if he starts doing that nifty Curly finger snapping fist pounding gesture/trick, I'm getting the kid an agent.

Liam's first highchair experience out to lunch with Nana and Pa!

Ain't it the truth!

For all you moms out there, I bet you'll agree with this little portion of a mommy interview that I just read...

Q: You know you’re a mother when (fill in the blank)?
A: Let's see, there's the first time you clean off your child's face with your own spit. There's those days when you dress up the baby in his fanciest coordinating outfit complete with useless little shoes and a bib that says something witty, then you throw an old maternity sweater over the jeans you've been wearing for 2 weeks and go to meet a friend without brushing your hair. Or there's the morning when you go to move the car holding a set of plastic rainbow keys.

Guilty as charged!!

I am woman...

I am SORE. :(

Well, the same hand I was using to pat myself on the back yesterday is now being used to rub myself on the back. Turns out I'm not the superwoman I thought I was, I'm woefully out of shape and now I'm hurtin'! Oh well. It's a good hurt. Kinda.

Before I forget - congrats to Tara and Alan on their new minivan! We knew you'd come over to the dark side eventually. Mwahahahahaha.

I am woman...

hear me ROAR!

If you live in this area, you know that today is a TOTAL bonus day weatherwise. It's currently 59 and SUNNY!! I just went and got the mail in a t-shirt. Hallelujah! I needed a day like this so bad.

Anyway, not one to waste a beautiful day and currently non-frozen ground, I grabbed me up a shovel and started digging in the backyard. (Liam was napping and the kids were right in the playroom looking out on me with the screen door open for all you safety nuts) We are having our septic tank cleaned tomorrow and they said it would cost $75/ft. to dig and find the lid for the tank. I didn't actually KNOW where the tank was located, but read a few good clues online... and after doing a little sleuthing, a digging I went. Found the tank itself right away, but it took a couple feet of clearing to actually find the lid, and then clear all around that. As I was digging, Casey was outside with me, and I started smelling something on the odoriferous side. I promptly scolded Casey, "you stinky doggie, I must've stepped in one of your deposits." He gave me sad eyes and sulked away. And then it dawned on me... I'm digging up my SEPTIC lid, not taking a tour through the botanical gardens. I apologized to the Case.

At any rate, 1 hour and some wicked muddy boots later, I have a hole in my yard and an exposed septic lid! All they'll have to do tomorrow is pry that baby off and let the septic vacuum rip. Something tells me I might have to light a few candles inside...

My observant son...

Two nights ago at the dinner table:

R - "Mom, why do you always have so much food on your dinner plate?"

*Silence*

Mom thinks to herself - "maybe I should start asking myself the same question."

Say WHAT?

So Elliot went today for part 1 of some evaluations to see if he qualifies for speech therapy. (Which it looks like he will) But today was the mandatory psychological evaluation which covers cognitive ability, behavioral analysis... all that fun stuff. Some of Elliot's responses had me cracking up on the inside, so much so that I started jotting a couple down. Here are the highlights.

Questions are all what the teacher asked, responses are all Elliot's.

What are shoes made of? -"Plastic."
What do you have to put on a letter before you send it? - "E." What else? "L."
What does polite mean? - "When you get happy."
What does swing mean? -"When you swing on a swing."
Can you name the seasons for me? - "Basketball." (I loved this one, I was waiting for him to say Football season next - a boy after my own heart)
Name the part of your body you walk on. - "Shoes."
Name the thing you plug in to clean the house. -"Broom."
What do you call it when you use your mouth to make music? - "Guitar."
What do you wear to keep your hands warm? - "A blanket."
What do you put on your finger if you cut it? - "Scissors."
What's something you chew that makes bubbles? - "A bubble wand."

Now, funny as some of those might be, they actually show that his language processing isn't totally up to par, he's only hearing parts of the sentence, and that's what he's basing his answer on. The majority of things he was tested on he did fabulously well with... but this was the one area he needed improvement with. And his articulation was without a doubt poor, the evaluator needed to ask him to repeat himself many times, and had to have me "translate" quite a bit.

All in all, it was a fine experience, and Elliot loved the idea of being in a preschool - the evaluation was held in Riley's old preschool. I guess in his mind he was actually attending class, and he then proceeded to fabricate all sorts of stuff to Riley about what he did "at school" and things that his school had that Riley's didn't. Riley bought it all, and started getting a bit jealous, finally blurting out "Yeah well what's 50+50?" Elliot replied that he didn't know and Riley smiled smugly.

At any rate, Elliot's now crying that his stomach hurts so I'm going to run. Will post more later.

Kids say the darndest things...

Just heard this... just what EVERY mother wants to hear...

R - "Mom, I have water gas. I have to go in my room to change."

Sigh. Something tells me I have laundry headed my way.

A dog's life...

What can I say, this dog knows how to relax!! He's got retirement written all over him.

My weird kids...

Yes, I love my weird kids. I love my 4 year old boy who pretends to be a girl dog, complete with socks over his hands for paws, and eating out of bowls on the floor. I love my 5 year old son whose new favorite show is "Homework Hotline" on PBS - a live show geared towards middle school aged kids for math help. Riley is obsessed with learning about how to multiply fractions and how to figure out probability. When the show is over he grabs a stack of paper and starts writing down his own "equations." I think I might get him a 1st or 2nd grade math book and try and start teaching him some basics since he's so interested.

Riley just got his 2nd quarter report card and he's doing great! To quote his teacher "Riley is a star." But then again, we already knew that. ;o)

Ahahaha!

I think I've mentioned before how much I love the site www.icanhascheezburger.com - here's one from today. For all of you cat lovers, you know this is how it goes!

A few REAL photos...

Took these on my real camera as opposed to my dinky camera phone. Maybe someday Riley will learn how to smile for the camera without making his face look wonky... Anyway, enjoy! (And can you tell I love stripes?)

Three's company!

Our new dog "Martha" complete with his/her dog food (Kashi) and water bowl. Sigh.

The long and short of it...

Riley says "I think I'll wear shorts today mom." Mom says "Those aren't shorts, they're Liam's jeans." Yes, Riley is that slim.

Testing out the ol' mobile blogging! Here's one of Liam from his hospital stay.

EDITED TO ADD: Yay, it worked! I can officially post to the blog from my mobile phone. Hopefully this will mean a few more pictures, because I often take pictures on my camera phone and then never get around to transferring them over and then posting them. This way is a snap. So now you all will just never know what captured moment I just might throw up at any given time!

Overheard conversation of the morning...

This one just transpired about 2 minutes ago.

E - "How do you spell 'baby poo'"?

R - "How do you spell what? Oh. 'Baby Poo'. B-A-B-Y then a space then P-O-O. Then a period. A period is a little circle that you put on the end of the sentence."

E - "Ohhhhhhhhhh, ok. Wait, how do you spell Y?"

R - "Well you do a slash, then a slash again under (aside in his room: 'Thank you for visiting Casey, I hope you had a splendid time. Come back again!') - orrrrrrrrrr, you could do kinda like a U with a line...."

E - Ok!

Liam's update...

Well, we had our follow-up appointment with the doctor yesterday for Liam. He said that if yesterday was our initial visit, with Liam sounding like he did, he would be admitted to the hospital directly. But it would be to try everything that was already tried and didn't work for Liam... so instead of going back into the hospital, we got an antibiotic to treat what is probably a secondary infection, and then some Pulmicort respules to put into the nebulizer. He is still not sounding great, but at least we must be making some kind of slow progress here. At least he is primarily happy and smiling.

I will post some new photos soon of the boys. Both Riley and Elliot have grown and both of them look so different than even just 7 months ago when Liam was born.

We're setting up for a quiet weekend in while Liam continues to recover. Hopefully I'll get to a bit of sewing and organizing.

Crouped up and cooped up...

Well ladies and gents - we are home!!

For those of you who didn't know... Liam managed to develop a severe case of croup last week and was admitted to the hospital this past Saturday morning. After 5 days in the hospital (almost to the minute) we were allowed to come home, and boy is it good to be back! However, Liam still isn't fully recovered, and I'm sure we'll be laying low for several days yet. The poor kid got SO sick Friday night -I had never heard a cough like that from either Riley or Elliot. Liam didn't respond to the saline treatment or epinephrine nebulizer treatment in the doctor's office, so they gave him a steroid shot of Decodron, and off we went to the hospital. I thought we'd be in for just the night, boy was I wrong! He continued to receive nebulizer treatments of racemic epinephrine, as well as oral Prednisone. That didn't quite do the trick though, so yesterday he received a second shot of the Decodron. Thankfully last night was one of his better nights, and so we were released today. He is still having a little bit of the hallmark stridor, this high pitched very distinct noise that happens when you inhale - and his chest is mucousy, and his cough is lingering. But he is definitely on the road to recovery... and thank GOODNESS we are home. You can only take so much of being in the pediatrics unit, listening to children of all ages crying and screaming at all hours. You can only see so many little sad faces with IVs, and hearing the word "obituary" the other morning nearly sent me into a tail spin, with an apparent death the night before. Things such as those make things like the fact that we had to switch rooms at 1AM this morning seem like true minutia.

So, for those of you who sent texts and checked in with phone calls and visits - THANK YOU!!! We were pretty much quarantined and I could barely leave the room, so seeing familiar faces and hearing familiar voices was much appreciated!! We can only hope that Liam will continue on his road to recovery and this will soon be all in our past.

In the meantime, I'm finally back home with all my guys... and no longer relying on my 3 hospital meals a day!! Hoorah.

I have a couple of photos of the ordeal on my camera phone. Somehow Liam's cuteness manages to make it look like it wasn't a big deal at all.

Okay - it's 9:00... on to bigger and better things... namely the season premiere of LOST!!! It's good to be home. :)

Brannon out.

The results are in...

Well Elliot had his 4 year physical last night. That was an experience. All was great until the shots... and let's just try and forget about those.

Here's his stats:

36 lbs. 4 oz.
39 1/2" tall

50th percentile for both height and weight. And yet not average by ANY stretch. The doctor said he's one of the top 10 most hyper/active kids he's ever seen. The only thing reassuring about that is that he's a young doctor, fairly fresh out of med school.

At any rate, glad it's all over until next year - he'll get 2 shots at his 5 year checkup and then be shot free until he's 12... yeah!!!

Oh, and thanks to Laura and Marty for the lobster lollipops from Maine. I kept those suckers (quite literally) in my diaper bag, knowing I'd need them some day. Sure enough, I pulled one out last night as Elliot was in hysterics after the second shot and he pretty much snapped it right together. He even still has a red mouth to show for it! So thank you for the gift that kept on giving. :)

Raindrops on roses...

...and whiskers on kittens--

So the other day I figured I would ask the boys about some of their favorite things. And here's the results.

Favorite Food:
R - Chinese chicken w/ broccoli, pork fried rice, egg rolls, dumplings, noodles
E - Oatmeal, chinese chicken, bread and butter

Favorite Color:
R - sky blue and brown
E - yellow and red

Favorite Shape:
R - hexagon
E - triangle

Favorite TV show:
R - How Clean is Your House? (on BBC America)
E - Little Bill (on Noggin)

Favorite Movie:
R - Wall-E
E - Wall-E

Favorite Song:
R - theme song from How Clean is Your House?
E - soundtrack from Wall-E

Favorite Book:
R - cookbooks
E - books about boats

Favorite Animal:
R - kittens
E - dog

Favorite thing about Liam:
R - feeding him
E - playing with him

Riley's favorite thing about Elliot:
Watching TV with him and petting George & Schere

Elliot's favorite thing about Riley:
Playing games with him

Favorite Season:
R - Fall, because you can jump in the leaves
E - Winter, because you can go outside and make snow angels

Favorite Drink:
R - cranberry juice
E - milk

Favorite place to go:
R - Chili's
E - To Target and then eat at the mall

Favorite toy:
R - electric trains
E - trains

Favorite flavor ice cream:
R - mint chocolate chip with no nuts
E - strawberry

Favorite thing about Casey:
R - giving him treats
E - giving him treats

Favorite thing about our house:
R - sitting under the blanket Justin's grandma made us
E - reading books with Riley


So there you have it - a little bit about the boys!