Right now I am in Richmond enjoying a long solo weekend — no kids, no housework, no play dates, no doctors appointments — just me in my hometown, relaxing and hangin’ with family.
April kicked off with rampant sickness, minus Daddy, who must have the constitution of a super-hero. Last weekend was really rough for me, as an ill mother finds it nearly impossible to tend to her motherly and household duties. Daddy tried his to pick up the slack and even took that Monday off from work, but it was still a struggle for us all.
Clan Dillingham in all of its glory.
As if his super-dad performance from that trying weekend weren’t enough, Stephen insisted that I take a break from Clan Dillingham and get some-needed R&R to regain my strength in mind, body and soul. Thanks for the mini-vacation, Beeler … hope you and the 3 Amigos are delighting in your boys-only weekend!
Cough containment, vamoose vomiting
Last month, Zeke underwent an allergy test of 50 skin pricks and, thankfully, has no allergies. However, he has been diagnosed with cough-variant asthma. Luckily, Zeke’s new oral Rx is working wonders and the poor kid hasn’t had to use an inhaler or a nebulizer. If all goes well, he will just stick to his yummy-tasting nighttime meds and eventually outgrow the condition — not a rare thing for kids to do, says the asthma doc.
Z-bird had what we hope to be his final appointment with his gastro-intestinal specialist. The doc and I agreed that it is time to take Zeke off the Prevacid to see if his acid reflux is gone. Today was his first day without the meds and the doc says it takes a while to get it out of your system, but Daddy and I are optimistic that Zeke has outgrown the condition.
 Our mad hatter Zeke is a lover of all headwear.
“Baby bobble” banished
Now that Zeke’s cough is under control and everyone is getting a good night’s sleep again, we did the cold-turkey approach and took Gabriel’s baby bottle away for good. Tomorrow will be two weeks that he has been without his sleepy-time comfort item. The transition hasn’t been easy for the G-man, but he has handled it like a champ!
Next bad habit to tackle? Kickin’ Zeke’s thumb-sucking, which will undoubtedly be a bit more challenging.
Swinging solo, biking boldly
Houston can now swing all by himself. Although he needs a little push start get going, Houston has mastered the technique through lots of practice and can confidently keep up with bigger kids.
Just this week, Houston also made huge strides bike riding. He’s still a bit wobbly and unsure of himself, but Houston can now handle the peddling, braking and steering without assistance, and even made it all the way around the block yesterday morning.
The boys have some rainy-day fun in their cool fort.
Next physical feat for big bro? Learning how to swim. I was going to teach him myself, but I think it’ll be more effective for him (not to mention much easier for me) to learn from someone other than Mommy. He starts swim lessons at the Y next month.
The terrible twos x2
It was difficult enough when Houston was going through this stage, but the dynamic duo of Gabriel and Zeke are certainly a formidable foe some days. Luckily, these occasional bouts of double trouble are usually followed by expanses of pretty-darn-good behavior.
And then there’s triple-trouble, like the afternoon that Gabriel hurled an unopened soup can into Zeke’s forehead, Zeke dumped out two full bowls of cat food and proceeded to eat some of it, and then Houston and Gabe stole all of my clothes pins and scattered them in their outdoor fort. What a crazy day.
Other stuff
Our little chatter boxes Gabriel and Zeke are making awesome progress with Miss Pat. They are right on track.
Houston helped Zeke master the seesaw just this week. I’m sure Gabriel will soon follow suit.
Gabe doesn’t like cake, doughnuts or ice cream cones. He does like ice cream straight up in a bowl and plenty of other sweets, like juice, candy, popsicles and chocolate. Weird, huh?!
Gabriel does like some sweet stuff, like dippin’ sticks.
We moved Houston’s bed into the twins’ room, since he was sleeping in there every night anyway. The dudes love being together and we love having our computer out of the bedroom and into Houston’s old room.
“What did you learn about tonight?” we asked Houston after Adventure Club at church. “Oh, somebody dying.” Priceless.
Some recent activities: Matthew’s Thomas-themed birthday party at a bounce place; checking out cool critters at the Natural Science Center with Haylie and Savannah; and neighborhood fun, including trampoline jumping, fighting light saber battles, and toasting s’mores and hot dogs ’round a backyard campfire.
Happy belated 33rd birthday, Daddy. We love you!
Charitable giving
Being that April is Multiples Awareness Month, GMOM is having a spring fundraiser. If you are interested in buying bulbs or seeds for your garden, please consider supporting our group.
Darth Dillingham fights bad guys … or is he on the dark side?!
And don’t forget to contribute to the Clan Dillingham team for the March For Babies. We would like to thank the following people for their donations: Stephen’s co-workers and pals Melanie, Sandra, Carol and Linda; Uncle Tommy and Granny; Miss Lorrie and even an international donation from Becky and Steve in Switzerland!
Click the top pic to see re-shoots of fam photos from September and check out a couple basketball re-shoots of Houston (note how much taller he is than the other 3 year olds). Click the above pic to view March – part 1 photos and Zeke to check out part 2.