Brian

I'm sitting outside watching the kids play in the pool and hot tub while playing around on the computer, and I look up to see Nick pouring water over Brian's head. Brian is just smiling and letting his little brother have some fun. Then it hits me, Brian is a great big brother. He has patience and likes to take care of his younger brothers and sister, even Dylan. This reminds me of our road trip last summer to San Antonio, TX. Dave and I decided out of the blue to just hit the road at 5pm thinking the children would sleep for the whole 10 hours. As it turned out they slept for the first 4 hours and that was all we going to get out of them. Since Dave and I are now tired we pulled into a roadside motel hoping the babies would just cuddle up in on the bed and pass out. No such luck they were wide awake and made sure everyone knew it. Brian seeing our frustration and exhaustion offered to "take care" of the babies while Dave and I took a quick nap. He made a tent out of the blankets and table and used glow stick lights for entertainment. Unfortunately the babies lost interest and we soon found ourselves back on the road .
The other night we had a thunderstorm just as the babies had gone to bed. Nick and Brian share a room and when I went into their room to check on Nick I noticed Brian had Nick cuddled in his bed and was rubbing his head telling him everything was going to be ok. The thunder was just God bowling.
I can only hope that his willingness to take care of his siblings last for a lifetime.

next chapter

So I'm about 6mo to a year behind in the baby chapter, and I totally blame it on my parents. The babies will be 2 years old in 4 weeks, and they are still on the bottle. While brushing Ashley's teeth I noticed there was some decay, I took her to the dentist and she said take her off the bottle and the decay will stop. I never took her off the bottle because that's how they get to sleep, and my mom had to get up at 5am to go to work. Now a month later the decay has worsen and moved over to another tooth. I took her to the dentist who lays in on me and tells me Ashley and Nick should've been off the bottle since 9mo old, and off the sippy cup at 18mo old. Now Ashley needs caps and in order for the caps to stay on she can not be on the bottle. I came home and explained to my parents what was about to happen and that this was a good time because my mom is on leave from work for a few months so there is no more excuses. I told them that we have to let them cry themselves to sleep. It will take at least 3 days, but its something we have to do. The night started off just like I figured. Babies crying and the boys trying to talk to me over the crying, and my parents sitting outside so they don't have to hear their precious babies crying. Then comes the thunder and lighting and all hell breaks loose. The babies are now freaking out, the dogs are barking, the boys are running around excited and counting down until the next boom. So I did the only thing I could. I gave in. I put water in the bottles and calmed down the babies and fell asleep counting until the next boom.

Ashley

Ashley has been taking her clothes and diapers off lately so I decided to give potty training a whirl. After 5 days of misses she finally made pee pee in the potty! I jumped for joy and hooted and hollered. She looked at me as if Im crazy, but with a big proud smile on her face. I gave her a few gummy bears for a reward and now she sits on the potty chair for 10 min just waiting for something to happen. Im hopeful that she has figured it out. Nick on the other hand has no desire to give it a try. I'll keep you posted on her progress.

Mothers day

I am a day late. oops. My mothers day was nice. The morning started off with a wake up call at 630am. Then by a little fighting over who was going to bring me my cereal (fruit loops) then with a crash and bang as my mothers day breakfast spilled over the kitchen floor. I couldn't get mad because this was the boys attempt at making me breakfast. After I cleaned up the mess and thanked the boys for trying and for presenting me with the handmaid gifts from art class. I went to take a shower which was interrupted by Ashley knocking on the door saying "caca" She is potty training and enjoys sitting on the little potty chair. I thought I could get the kids ready to go to my Nana's house without any drama, but nope. It wouldn't be a proper Sunday if there wasn't any drama.
I did get a gift from my long distance husband. It is a mothers ring. It is a gold band with the birth stones of Dave and the children. I ware it proudly. Thank you D.