monkey see monkey do

We went to the Zoo (the one with live animals, not my house!) with a friend yesterday. I think it was bring your neighbor to the Zoo day cause it was the busiest I have ever seen it! We had to wait in line for almost 10 minutes just to get into the parking lot! Then when we got in they directed us to the back parking lot and told us to park on the sidewalk! I was tired from walking before we even got into see any animals! The kids had fun though! I took this picture in front of the lions. My friend, Karyn, and I looked over at the kids and noticed they had gathered at the fence in order by age! I thought it was too cute to pass up! We stayed for a few hours and left when the kids started to fall apart from being too tired to walk anymore! I think they all had a good day! It was fun just to hang out ith friends!

My boys

My Boys are the coolest! In the top picture they are showing off their cool sunglasses. They can be so sweet with each other at times. They can be the best of friends, then someone does something the other dosn't like and we come to picture #2. That is Zachary pinning Bobby down just in case you were wondering! Zach has discovered that he can pin Bobby and Bobby can't move! It is funny to watch! Bobby usually is laughing the whole time and Zach has this evil little grin/laugh he does! It is fun now but I think it is a prview for rougher times to come!!! I better start wrestle proofing things now! I hope they will always be able to play around like this with one another and not end up sending each other to the hospital!!

Hurricaine Zach strikes again!

I know I mentioned before that my youngest, Zach, was a catagorey 5 hurricaine, but just listen to how our morning went....
This morning sarted like any other school day, I got up, got Zach up, started waking Bekah up, poured Zach a cup of his "milk" and gave him a cereal bar, called for Bekah again, poured Bobby Choclate milk, made Bekahs lunch, called for Her again and this time she emerged still half asleep asking for her fruity pebbles in milk, filled her breakfast order, filled her water bottle, hear Zach following behind Jason "helping" him ready for work, give Zach 10g lucky charms in little bowl, packed Bekahs backpack, hear lucky charms spill decide to find out where later, put in a load of laundry, locate clothes for Bekah, hear Zach being told to leave stuff (computer cats, Jasons books all ready to take to work, alarm clock...) alone and go eat his cereal, find cereal spill on my bedroom floor, pick up cereal and make sure Zach still has some left, fill out Zachs diet record to mail later, say good bye to Bekah and Jason, make a cinnamon toast for Bobby, mix todays supply of milk for Zach, refill Zachs cup, switch over laundry from earlier, make myself a bagel and pour a glass of grape juice, give Zach a graham cracker and we sit down and eat together, Zach flings rest o lucky charms off the table one by one with his cracker (Brownie our dog happily eats!), gets down and eats rest of cracker while watching power rangers with Bobby, I get dressed, pick up and have to stop when Zach comes to me with a bloody hand, wash it and find a scrape by his thumb?, put a band aid on and try to disover where he got it (boys aren't telling), find a broken glass on living room floor (no idea where Zach found it), pick up glass and vaccuum floor, add a few diaper changes, dishes, letting dog in and out and you have my morning from
7:15am-10am! I love Zach and I love his love of life, I just wish i had half his energy so I could keep up!

WANTED: full nights sleep!

I haven't been getting much sleep lately, so I am really tired! I am either up with the kids or they are in bed with us which makes for some very restless nights! We only have a double bed so there is not a whole lot of extra room for kids! I don't know what their deal is lately? I think Zach is teething...again! Bekah and Bobby I have no idea! Bekah is very sneaky about crawling in our bed too, she will just all of a sudden be there! I will try to roll over and can't because she is on my arm or leg! Bobby is not as sneaky but he will all of a sudden be there right in my face! Scary!! I hate the feeling that someone is staring at me and to wake up with someone 2 inches from your nose is not a fun way to wake up! Zach just stands in bed and cries till i come get him, he is still in a crib! he knows how o climb out but for the time being has forgot and we don't rmind him!! I was lulled into a false sense of reality when all three of my kids were sleeping through the night by 2mos! Somewhere around 9mos they all forgot how! Once in awhile they will sleep through the night..just not all the same night! Well its bed time and I think I might try to get the kids to bed as well!

My PKUer

This is Zach, my PKUer. What that means is Zach has a metabolic condition called Phenylketonuria (PKU). Having PKU means he is missing an enzyme that breaks down Phenylalanine (PHE) a building block of protein. So every day I have to count/weigh everything he eats! He is allowed 250mg-270mg of PHE a day right now. Just to give you an idea of what that means is for every gram of protein in a serving of food there are approx 50mg of PHE! It adds up really fast! He is not allowed to have meat, fish, eggs, milk or dairy products. his main source of nutrition comes in the form of a formula, Phenex 2, or his "milk". He needs to drink around 24-28 ounces a day to help keep his blood PHE levels between 2-6. To monitor that we do bi-weekly blood draws from his finger and send them to the lab and his dietition calls us later in the week with the results. If his levels are too high or too low we will adjust his daily PHE intake. To supplement his diet with food we purchase lo-protein products from a few different companies that make them (all based outside of MI). I am able to order him bread, cheese, noodles and flour that are all lo-protein. These products are expensive compared to the high protein versions at the local grocery store..ex..our bread $1.29 a loaf vs Zachs bread $9.99 a loaf + s&h. Why am I telling you all of this you may ask? I am telling you first to spread the awarness of this condition, which is tested for on all babies born in the US by a simple heel poke, and its treatment ( strict lo-pro diet for life) and second to let you all know that May is National PKU awarness month! People all across the US will be having special events throughout the month to raise money for PKU research. Michigan is having a walk on May 13, 2006. I will keep you all posted on the event details and information on how to give to PKU research as the month goes on. Please consider giving to reserch in the hope that they will soon find a cure for PKU! Please check out my PKU link or for another good site go to www.michigan-pku.org.

My Guys

I love my guys! They are so special to me! The little guys love to follow their dad around and do everything he does! They have even learned the art of spitting! Last week we were t the park and Bobby had climbed up the play structure and looked down and started to spit! When I told him it was gross he just smiled and spit again! Boys! they are so different than girls! I love to watch Jason with the boys,especially when they are doing "guy" things. I can still remember the day he found out he had a son...my whole pregency he was convinced we were having another girl then the doctor said "its a boy". i think he was in shock all day, he kept saying.."we hae a boy"., "I have a son"! He was so proud, especialy when he got to introduce Bobby to his Dad whom Bobby is named after! The boys love to hang out with their dad! bobby told me on friday I had to pick Bekah up from school so he could hand out with daddy! They are always wrestling or practicing their throwing! I love my guys, plain and simple!