Thanksgiving Day Timeline

5:00am Wake up
6:00am Driving into NYC
7:00am Standing in NYC waiting for parade to start
9:20am Parade arrives at our spot
11:00am On the subway back to our car
12:00pm Eating lunch in the hotel and packing up to head home
2:00pm Leave New Jersey and head for home
9:45pm Yay! We're home.
10:30pm All the boys are in bed.
11:45pm I'm at Wal-Mart waiting for wrapping and boxes to be removed from piles of toys and I'm thinking "Wow! 12 hours ago I was in NYC at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade." Crazy? Yes! But I did get what I went for.

3,018

That's how many miles we've driven in the past 9 days! All that mileage has put us in 6 states and almost as many hotels. And I have to say that Cullen is the one that added all the mileage up to find out how far we had driven!
Unfortunately our first trip, which took us to MN, was to attend my grandmother's funeral. It was 2 days of driving, 2 days in MN, and 2 days back to Erie, but it was definitely worth it to be there with family.
Our second trip was a planned trip to attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC. We did have a last minute opportunity for Cullen and Aiden to skate with the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, NY, so we headed to Buffalo on Tuesday evening, so they could do that. They had a great time! They got to meet some of the Sabres and got Tyler Ennis and Tyler Myers' autographs. We left Buffalo at about 8:30 on Tuesday night and drove to Syracuse to stay the night. We left Syracuse Wednesday morning and drove to NYC.
We drove straight into the city over the George Washington bridge and parked north of Central Park right at the top of the subway stairs. We took the subway to the Museum of Natural History to see the balloons inflated. It was CRAZY! The first row of balloons went quickly and smoothly, but then we got stuck in a MOB of people and there was no way to get out. After moving about 500 feet in 30 min. we asked a policeman if there was anyway to get out of the mess. Thank goodness he was kind enough to move the barricades to let us out! It was CRAZY! I know I already said that, but it needs to be said twice. We quickly ran to the subway stop 4 blocks down and hopped on the subway back to our car before our meter expired. We went back to the hotel and had some dinner and went to bed.
The next morning we got up at 5:00, threw some clothes on and hopped in the car to drive back into the city. We parked right at the top of the subway entrance again! We made it to the parade route at 7:00 and started to scope out a spot. The beginning of the parade route was jam packed already! It was already about 10 people deep, so we headed back to Columbus Circle. We picked out a great spot, or so we thought. We had a perfect view of the parade as it turned onto Central Park South; however, someone eventually let people stand on a corner, which partially blocked our view and then the police parked their cars across the road, so that cut our view down even more. All in all we were probably in the best spot for us, because we had bathrooms easily accessible and although it got crowded, it was nothing like the mob scene along other parts of the parade route. So we were there 2 hours before the parade started and then the 20 minutes more it took the parade to reach us and we had 4 boys to entertain. Everyone did really well for the first hour and a half, but after that things we're pretty hectic. Owen started non stop crying, because he was tired and didn't have his stuffed animal to suck on. Then in the midst of his 45 minute melt down, Cullen had a melt down. He said he was cold and wanted to go back to the hotel and he wished we hadn't come to the parade. Well at this point we were about 30 minutes from the parade starting and there were 10 layers of people behind us, so there was pretty much no getting out. Cullen got over his melt down pretty quickly, but Owen continued on. Then right before the parade started a film crew came over with Melissa Jaret Winokur, who is a host on "The Talk" and asked the crowd if we wanted to be on TV. Of course Owen is screaming and I'm thinking "great"! I would have run if I could, but again, we were trapped. We may or may not have been on TV. It was a very quick crowd scan, but it was interesting anyway. What are the odds???? Then as we were watching the parade an ambulance pulls up and stop in front of us. We all have to move aside and they take a guy out on a stretcher. Again I'm thinking "what are the odds..." Anyway, Owen finally took a nap and the balloons started coming and everyone hung in really well. Hudson was ready to go at the end, but we kept him going by telling him we had to wait for Buzz Lightyear and he was right near the end, so that worked well. When it was over, we hopped back on the subway, got in our car and drove back out of the city. Really a pretty easy experience, barring the mob scene from the night before.
Thankfully, we didn't have to check out of our hotel until 2:00pm, so we were able to go back to the room, eat lunch and pack up our things before heading back home. Thanksgiving Day Food: poptarts, leftover Subway sandwiches, beef sticks, cheese, chips, more sandwiches from the Flying J and cereal when we got home. Yummy!

Vacations, Accomplishments and A Birthday

We've covered a lot of miles and a lot of firsts in the past 2 months. We began homeschooling the boys in July and that has been an interesting road. I love having them home and spending time together. Aiden does great at getting his work done for the day, so he can do other things, but Cullen is the complete opposite. He would rather whine, complain and dilly-dally, so it takes him 3 times as long to do his work. Our schedule is still a work in progress and our days our pretty hectic, but I’m hoping that we’ll eventually settle into a routine that works for us.

Tony finished all of his pharmacy classes and began his rotations, which is a fancy term for working for free while paying tuition. He works full-time from 9 to 5, which is a big change for us, because we have never worked a 9-5 job as a family. He was right by the house for his first rotation, so he was able to come home for lunch and that was nice. His next rotation is further away, so he won't be able to come home for lunch and we will miss him.

We took a trip to MN in August. We drove and Owen was not into it. He whined and complained about 85% of the 14 hour trip, which we did over 2 days. We had a great time visiting all the relatives and were very sad to go(some of which had to do with riding in the car with a whining 11 month old again).

In September we flew to FL to visit the beach, Disney World and Sea World. Tony, the boys and I flew down on the 15th and we stayed at Cocoa Beach until the 18th. We were a 2 minute walk from the beach and we had a great time relaxing and playing at the beach. On the 18th we drove to Orlando and my mom and Larry came into town. The next day we headed to Disney World and spent the day meeting characters and riding rides. Tony's mom and dad came into town that afternoon, so we had both sets of grandparents with us. The 20th was Owen's 1st birthday and we celebrated with cake and presents at the condo before heading out to Disney World again. Owen was hilarious with his cake! He just wanted it off his hands after he touched it and it took him about 5 minutes to finally try it. After we cleaned him up, we headed to Disney World. We met some more characters, rode some more rides and stayed for the Main Street Electrical Parade and the Fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. We had a great time! We spent the next day relaxing at the condo and swimming in the pool. On Wed. we went to Sea World and really enjoyed the shows and the smaller crowds. On Thur. we went to the Ohana Character Breakfast and met Lilo, Stitch, Pluto and Mickey. The food was great and the boys loved seeing the characters. After the character breakfast we went to Sea World again and ended our trip with the Shamu Believe show. It was so good to spend time with everyone and very special to have both sets of grandparents to share the memories with.

A few days after we got home, Owen took his first 3 steps! He took his first steps before the rest of them, but he is way more cautious then any of the other three were. He's only walked a handful of times since then and only for less than 5 steps at a time. When the other three started walking, they just took off. They just stood up and walked and never looked back! It was also time to get his first big boy haircut. We had his hair cut just a little before we visited MN, but it had gotten so long and grows so fast that it was time to go much shorter. So now he looks like the big boy he is!

Big Accomplishments

We've had a busy month for firsts! Aiden learned to ride his bike without training wheels AND he finally gets to move up to the next swimming class. He's been in the Pike class at the Y for 2 years and finally he gets to be an Eel. Yeah! He is really enjoying riding his bike without the training wheels. We got to go on a family bike ride and it was a lot of fun. Owen also had a busy month. He began standing up on his own, crawling on all fours, climbing the stairs and he got his first haircut. I was trying to wait until he was 1, but his hair was so long. I only had a tiny bit trimmed off(I'm not ready for a big boy haircut yet!), but he still looks like a big boy. He loves being able to stand up! It allows him to get into so much more than he could before. His favorite thing is taking the kitchen towel off the oven. He's also discovered Dixie and loves to crawl at warp speed to get her when she's near.
Hudson continues to exasperate and entertain us! He is such a bully to Cullen and Aiden and plays way too rough with Owen, but at the same time he can be super helpful and say the funniest things. When you ask him how old he is, first he says "my sic"(6), then we say "no" and he says "my seven", then we say "no" and he says "my four", then we say "no, your 2" and he says "I not 2". I've started homeschooling Cullen and Aiden and today Hudson and I were talking about books and he said I needed to get him a book for homeschooling. He has a huge vocabulary and still loves the big words. We told him that we were going to Florida and we were going to fly on an airplane to get there, so now he likes to ask everyday "We go to Florida?", "Fly on airplane?"
Cullen and Aiden have been doing great with homeschooling! They like doing their worksheets and really love the reading part. It's really fun to learn along with them!
Cullen is still a great big brother! He loves to get Owen up from his nap and carry him around. He'll even pick Hudson up when he wants to be held and I'm holding Owen. He also does a good job of watching out for Aiden when they are together. We went to Marineland and they were so cute running off to the rides together, holding hands to make sure they stayed together. They are really great buddies!

Owen is...

Not so little anymore! He was standing up in his crib yesterday morning when I went into his room. He was so excited! He continues to try to do it again, but hasn't quite figured out how he did it. He's gotten very good at getting up on his knees, so that keeps him happy for now. We got a huge watermelon last week and weighed it to see how much it weighed (it was 36lbs!)and then we weighed Owen and Hudson. Owen was 21lbs. and Hudson was 27lbs. Hudson better watch out or Owen will soon weigh more than him! I don't know how long Owen is, but he is wearing a lot of 18 month clothes (he's only 9 mos.) and some of the one pieces are already too short in the torso length. He has 5 teeth in, he's gotten 3 more since last posted, and another one almost through. He has also been doing WAY better at night. He's still getting up in the middle of the night, but he's been sleeping all night more than not and he's also been staying up a shorter time. I'm sure now that I put that in writing, he'll be up for 3 hrs. tonight. It just seems to be that way.
Owen loves crawling under the dining room table, trying to get through the gate in the kitchen and trying to get into the pantry. He's also loves army men! He moves FAST when he sees something he knows he's not supposed to have. He's figured out he can crawl into Cullen and Aiden's room from his room, so he always heads in there to see if there are any goodies on the floor. He is definitely a character and he keeps me on my toes!

Owen at 8 months

Owen is everywhere and into everything. He's started scooting all over the place and he has become very fast! I set him down and he's halfway across the room before I know it. He's got blisters on the big toy and pad underneath it on his right foot, because that's the one he pushes with. He's starting to arch up off the floor more, so maybe regular crawling will come soon. Of course his scooting allows him to get into everything, so I'm constantly darting around the house picking up small toys, cords, food, whatever is laying around. Yesterday he bit off a piece of foam sword and was chewing on it!

He is hilarious too! He gets the best "Heebie, jeebies", you know when something just makes you involuntarily shudder. He's got the noise down and everything "Bbbbbbrrrr"! He graced me with some of that hilarity last night at 1:00am when he was not sleeping. He also loves to smack his spoon of food and he is fast and comes out of nowhere. His arm looks like a comedy movie where someone else's arm comes out of nowhere and smacks them. He's also a clicker. When he's hungry, he clicks his tongue. He's been doing it since he was about 5 months old and it is too cute! He's started eating cheerios and gerber puffs, along with his teething biscuits. It's so nice to be able to keep him occupied with cheerios during meals.

He has 2 teeth now and some REALLY long hair. It's light and fluffy, just like everyone else's was, so he gets some good crazy hair. He's also figured out how to turn his crib toy on, which is awesome! I can't believe he'll be one in 3 1/2 half months.

And then there's Hudson...

Ahh, Hudson! Hudson is a whirlwind and we can barely keep up with him. His word skills and physical abilities are CRAZY! He is a motormouth, which he repeated after hearing the first time, that repeats any big word he hears. Overseed, Chiropractor, Ibuprofen, Motorcycle, Onomatopoeia, Cincinnati, the list goes on. You name it and he immediately repeats it. He's got our roles down too "Mommy kean(clean) up, Daddy fik(fix) it". He loves M&M's and calls them "mnmnmnmnms". He can also fix himself a bowl of cereal, well not really, but almost and has already mastered the child proof doorknob in his room. He knows his ABC's and can count to 10, and sometimes beyond. Yesterday he climbed on top of the toy box and took the hungry hippo game down from the shelf, just like he sees his big brothers do.

He has used the potty twice (hey, you gotta start somewhere!) and loves to brush his own teeth. He loves to play pretend guns and has the sounds down perfectly. He has recently started waking up during storms and does not like the thunder, "It's too woud", so we have some Mommy and Daddy snuggle time and then he goes back to his bed. He is such a character, but also 2, so I'm either laughing hysterically or wanting to pull my hair out! He is so lucky to have two awesome older brothers that do a great job including him in all their games and playing, even though he makes it hard sometimes.

Hudson is also very OCD. He turns all his frosted mini wheats the same way, sugar side up, before eating them. He also wants all the groceries put away immediately when we get home and continues harping on it until you do it. He reminds me of Cullen when he was little. I'm so excited for Owen to get big enough to be Hudson's little buddy, because I know Hudson will be a great big brother!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Aiden is 5! He had a stuff your own dinosaur party and invited 4 of his friends from preschool. We made a dinosaur cake for him and they hunted for dinosaur egss. Everyone had a great time!

Aiden has grown so much this year! He is writing very well, knows his phone number and address pretty well, is learning to spell and read and has started riding his bike without training wheels. At the beginning of the year, we didn't even think he knew the alphabet. In the learning/sponge analogy, he's the kind of learner that only wrings himself out occasionally. We never think he's learining anything and then all of the sudden he says something and we're like "Wow! Where did that come from?"

Aiden is very happy go lucky, but also very sensitive. He's always got a smile and a million thoughts to say and he says them very quickly, because he's afraid he's going to forget them. He really enjoys Owen and the fact that Owen enjoys him so much. He loves to read and be read too and also loves listening to story CD's. He also loves playing with army men and legos. He is enjoying hockey and is becoming a good skater. He actually stops better than Cullen! He also seems to be really good at baseball. I can't wait to see what the next year brings for him

Cullen is 7!

Cullen turned 7 over a month ago and I can't believe how the time has flown. He had a great birthday party and invited 4 boys and 2 girls. It was CRAZY, but everyone had a good time.
He's lost 5 teeth this year and his new teeth are HUGE. He loves playing soccer and hockey and wants to play basketball too. He's doing great with his piano lessons. Of course, he has to "practice" and put effort into playing, which he's not used to, so we hear complaints every once and awhile. He does great in school and without much effort I think. He regularly gets the challenge list in spelling and attempts the challenge in math and usually gets it right.
I saw a great analogy about kids and knowledge on another blog that perfectly describes my kids too. Kids are like sponges. They soak new knowledge up easily. Some of them wring themselves out often, so you know exactly what they're learning and what they know. This is Cullen. He continually rewards you by regurgating knowledge that you have taught him. He is always very concerned about other people getting into trouble, which continually gets him into trouble! He knows he needs to mind his own business, but he can't seem to help himself.
He is a great big brother and does not seem bothered by the fact that he's the oldest of 4, not yet anyway! He tries to help Aiden, loves to cuddle with Hudson and likes to carry Owen around. He's a great helper, when he wants to be! =)

*Update* Cullen had his 7 year well visit and was 58lbs and 4ft 4in. tall

Did I fall off the face of the earth...

No. But I feel like it. It has been more than 8 months of broken sleep for me and my mind feels it. Things are so busy and it's hard for my sleep deprived mind to keep up with them. We have had some promising signs of normal sleep returning for me, but nothing permanent as of yet. Besides the sleep issue, Owen is a great baby. He is very happy and content. He's not a big formula drinker, but he loves to eat, so he makes sure he eats plenty of food. He began rolling everywhere when he was around 7 months old and finally started sitting up on his own. He also got his first tooth, lower middle right, at 7 months, which means the pattern of each child getting teeth later than the first is broken. Cullen got his first at 8 months, so Owen even beat him out. He's now working on his second one at 8 months. He's eating teething biscuits and puffs and is really good at mashing these up with his gums. He should be able to try other table food soon. He loves to shake his head "no" and started dancing to the music from one of his toys. He seems to already copy our motions when we shake our head or pat him on the back. He's also started doing push ups and can almost push himself up to his knees. He'll be crawling soon and I hope that exhausts him enough to help him sleep all night. Fingers crossed!!!

4 months for Owen

Owen is four months old! He's 16 lbs. and 26" long. The time has gone by quickly, but sometimes not quick enough. Owen is adorable of course and also very happy as long as I'm holding him. I really don't think he would ever cry if I could hold him 24/7. Of course we all know that's not possible, so cry he does! He is very quick to let you know that he is not happy. No warming up, just straight meltdown. It's getting better as he gets older and can do more things and I know the next few months will bring a huge improvement in that area. We already put him in the stationary entertainer and I was prepared to put a blanket around him for stability, but he didn't need it. It was amazing! He had total control over his balance and never flopped around once. He can even stand on his legs and lean over to chew on stuff. High needs babies are a lot of work, but they are also so amazing! He has been grabbing at things for over a month now and I mean seeing something and grabbing it in his hand before I can move it. If you put it in front of him for more than a second, then he's got it in his hand. He's also had his first food! He was going crazy one day at lunch and I couldn't stand it anymore, so we gave him some rice cereal and he went to town on it. Now if I could only get him to sleep! He seems to be more interested in playing than sleeping, so he goes to bed for 20 or 30 minutes and then wants to get up and play. So bedtime has been a VERY long process! I think he went to sleep and woke up 7 or 8 times in a 2 hour period tonight. Not the easiest thing to deal with when I'm trying to put 3 other kids to bed. The past 2 nights he actually slept from 1/1:30 until 7:30, which is a HUGE improvement! Hopefully he'll at least keep that up, so I can stay somewhat sane while we work through going asleep and staying asleep at bedtime.

Hudson is 2 (But he thinks he's 6!)

Hudson turned 2 a month ago, nothing like being right on top of things. He is both hilarious and exasperating at the same time. The terrible 2's have definitely hit us hard! These are the things he cannot do without throwing a fit...Oh yeah, that's everything! The problem is, he thinks he's 6. He runs around with Cullen and Aiden like he's the same age they are. He talks, walks, and whines like them! It's quite entertaining, except when he discovers he's not their age, then we have a meltdown. Hopefully when Owen gets a little older, Hudson will become buddies with him and get to enjoy being HIS age.
His 2 year well child checkup went well. He only had to have 1 shot and he didn't even cry! However, in his zeal to keep up with Cullen and Aiden, his weight gain has slowed down. He was in the high 20% for his weight and the mid 30% for height.
He is still a great little helper! He loves to throw trash away, unload the dishwasher, give Owen his pacifier, put books away in the bookshelf and get dishes out for snack. He's also become quite the linguist! He has learned so many words so quickly, that we can't keep up with him. He does well with some suprising words like avacado, tomato and hockey. Watching them learn and grow is so exciting and it never gets old!