Kickapoo State Park

Since it was such a beautiful Sunday we decided to take advantage and hit the trails. Austin shares his love of hiking with his Mom and has been hounding us to take him into a "forest". Unfortunately there are not that many forests in Central Illinois. So we went to Kickapoo State Park (before the governor tries to close it down) and found us some trails! We even saw a deer.

Hagen and the cat fiasco

I decided to take the boys to Curtis Apple Orchard because I had heard that my favorite Honey Crisp Apples were in and hey a donut apple didn't sound bad either! When we got there Austin was so excited because he realized that they had characters from the Wizard of Oz around the play area. He saw Dorothy, the Lion, Scarecrow, and then started freaking out because he couldn't find the Tin Man. Luckily we spotted him a few minutes later. It's amazing that last fall, he never even noticed them and this fall he couldn't contain himself.

After exclaiming over all of the characters the boys went into the play area and Hagen ran straight for the kittens. He had a blast just picking them, holding them, walking around with them, putting them down, and picking them up again. He was so gentle with them. I was very happy to see him petting and holding the kittens so nicely. When he put them down and they ran away he would yell, "Come back kitty". It was so cute! He even carried one of the kittens through the maze.

Of course, we couldn't leave the orchard without some sort of incident. After carrying them around so nicely, he decided one of the kittens needed a bath. On Saturdays they have this sluicing station where kids can "mine" for rocks and water flows through a trough into a bucket and then get recycled. Well, Hagen thought it would be a nifty idea to put one of the kittens into the bucket filled with water. Luckily, one of the employees got the kitten out in time. The poor kitten was sopping wet but otherwise okay. I figured it was time to go after that.

Garren also thought it was pretty neat to chase the kittens. Here he was just learning how to stand by himself.

Changing of the guard

It seems that Hagen will not be the only one pushing that damn yellow cart around the neighborhood. Garren has decided that he wants to push it around too. I just had to get a video of it. I have a feeling Hagen is not going to let Garren usurp his yellow cart so easily!

Go Illini!

Aunt Kara made these shirts out of one of her old Illini shirts. I got so many compliments when the boys wore these on the first Illlini home game day. You can see how proud they were when I asked them to point to the letters. Go Illini!

Two runners?

It is official....Garren is walking!! I finally got some video. It is amazing how much improvement he made even in a day. We went to the indoor playground (boy I wish I had video of that) and he just went to town. He was walking all over the place in this scarecrow/frankenstein/drunken sailor type of walk. It was so cute. I actually had tears in my eyes when I saw him just take off walking. My baby is growing up!

Here is video of Garren two days later!

The audio you hear is Hagen crying because he tripped on something. I can never take a video without one of the boys yelling or screaming about something. It's just like the phone. The house can be quiet and calm and the minute you get on the phone it turns into a zoo!

Climb much?

Garren will no longer sit still and must be on the move. Preferably up. The kid loves to climb! Too bad he can't get himself down. Unless it's a slide.

Converstations with Austin II

"Mom, I have to ask you a question".
"Yes?"
"Do sponges have a penis?"
"No."
"Then how do they go to the bathroom?"
"I don't know. "
"Do they go out of their butt like you do Mommy?"
"Sponges don't have butts"
"Spongebob does. "

Good old Spongebob. Did I mention that he found a sponge (used for cleaning) and played with it for a whole hour like it was Spongebob? Oh yeah, this is also the boy that in the scene from the Wizard of Oz where the Wicked Witch of the West dies, he gets water and flicks it on the T.V. I guess he wants to get in on the action of killing "that mean witch". He named his puppy stuffed animal Toto as well.

When Mommy isn't paying attention to us!

This is what the boys do when I am on Facebook.

(Yes, Austin is naked)

What a day!

Saturday was a pretty crazy day. It started off nice though! Hagen and Austin got up early (you know, like 6:00 am) so Tom decided to take them on a long walk to a donut shop somewhat near our house. It was actually a very long walk and the house was quiet for 1 whole hour!!! The boys and I did our usual Saturday grocery shopping trip. Then I woke Garren up from his nap, called to remind Tom to get home, and got everybody ready for a birthday party. So we get to the party and there are no cars in front of the house. Immediately I thought, "Oh shit!". It was
deja vous. Just a month before I had done the same thing and got everybody ready for a party I thought was Saturday but was really Sunday. Luckily, no one realized what an ass I was (unless they read this blog!). Of course Austin, who was looking forward to some birthday cake threw a fit (in a way only a 4 year old going on 5 can throw a fit) and screamed the whole car ride home and wanting birthday cake and not being able to wait until tomorrow.

Then we made plans with friends of ours who were watching 2 boys for another friend of ours. We all decided to meet at Monicals for a nice family meal. Well, the nice family meal took over an hour to get to us and the whole time the waitress kept messing up our order. The boys all did surprisingly well but by the time we got our food we were all ready to get out of there and head to Meadowbrook Park. Once we got to Meadowbrook Park Tom got a frantic call from one of our tenants that there was a fire and that the fire department had been called. Tom takes off immediately leaving me with the three boys. No problem..I'm pushing Garren in the swing, Austin is off with his friend, and Hagen is playing nicely on the play structure. I do a Hagen check every minute or so to make sure I can spot him. Do you sense any foreshadowing here?

Tom finally comes back and is telling me about the fire that wasn't really a fire (Thank God) and I do my Hagen check but don't see him. Tom goes to find him. He comes back a few minutes later and says he doesn't know where he is. Shit! I am thinking how far can he get in just a few minutes of seeing him last? I run towards Windsor (busy road) and check both ways. No sign of him. Other people pick up that we are looking for a boy and start helping us. I check the bathrooms (a particular favorite of his) and didn't see him. Unfortunately, there are a few trails by the playground that he could have gone down. With the prairie grass so tall there wasn't much visibility. Tom takes off down one and I take off down another.

Turns out that a woman walking her dog with her son kind of wondered why a little boy with Down Syndrome was running by himself. Thankfully, she stopped him and made him sit with her. She figured that someone would come looking for him and it would be better to stay put. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

I have to say, I wasn't seriously worried. (maybe I was a little worried) I kind of knew Hagen was okay. Of course Hagen never realized how far he actually got from us and that he was even "missing". He probably just had a great time with the dog! But it got me thinking about a location tracking device or at the very least a medical type bracelet I can put his information on.

So that was our fun Saturday!!!

Playdates for Austin

While my life is less crazy now that Hagen is in camp in the afternoons, I didn't realize that Austin might be kind of bored. So I figured now would be the perfect time to line up some playdates for Austin. Today he and his friend M from preschool are playing at our house. Somehow they ended up in my room on the bed. It is just so funny to hear them talk to each other. I know Austin is in seventh heaven since his friend shares his love of anything "Cars" (from the Dinsey Pixar movie). It just amazes me to hear them "pretending". They each just add on to what the other suggests. And they do it so seamlessly. And they get so excited with each idea.

"This garage is going to be closed today"
"Okay, but we will have to fix it and then it can be open tomorrow"
"Yeah, and then a lot of people will come to get their car fixed"
"I know, I will get some money so they can pay us"
"They can pay us twenty dollars"
"Oooh, that's a lot of money"

Then just as quickly they switched gears and started playing Ninja Turtles.

Conversations with Austin

Mom, what are these called again? (Pointing to his nipples).
Those are nipples
Does Daddy have nipples?
Yes
Does Hagen have nipples?
Yes
Does Garren have nipples?
Yes
Do you have nipples?
Yes and some animals have nipples too.
Do pigeons have nipples?
No


Pigeons? What the heck? Of course then we had to dicuss the difference between mammals and reptiles.

Sick of shit

Literally, I am sick of shit. Just today as I was typing up a note to send with Hagen on his first day of camp about his toileting needs (of which there are many!!) I heard Austin scream and yell, "Hagen put poop on me". Yup, welcome to my world. At least it didn't look like he had eaten any. Yesterday he pooped twice on the toilet and today he drops a big steamy load into his pullup. The kind that goes up his back, gets on his shirt, and leaks down his legs. So it absolutely kills me that Hagen will tolerate that and not say anything but then when I go to put him in his bath he freaks out when he sees a piece of his poop (that came off his butt) float by in the water. Just another day in the Barker household!!!

3 way crawl

It's kind of funny how Garren has adapted his crawl to wherever he is. He started out doing the typical crawl on his knees. Then when we put him in the pool or on our driveway he resorts to the bear crawl. Hagen was the one that had this one mastered. Then recently I noticed he does the crawl where he uses one knee and drags the opposite foot. He will do this for a few feet then go into the typical crawl. He has also now mastered stairs and just the other day went from downstairs to our third floor all by himself. He loves it and is so proud of himself!

Just today at the pool Garren was obsessed with crawling up the baby slide and trying to go down. Once before I got to him to help him go down the slide, he went down on his stomach. He loved it! No matter where I put him in the pool he would just crawl back to that slide.

On another note, Austin is also doing great in the pool. He is actually putting his head under, kicking his legs, and moving his arms...at the same time! This is huge. Last year he would only dunk his head under for a second. This year he is trying to dive into to the water to get dive rings. He is also really into cannonballs. I am excited to see how he does when he starts his swim lessons next week. Of course that being said, he is scared to down the blue water slide while last year he went down it.

Fun in Madison

We just got back from a trip to Madison to see Nana and Papa. One of my friends asked me how I managed the 4 hour road trip by myself with 3 boys. Well, we finally got smart and bought separate DVD systems for the two older boys. They each had their own screen and the best part was they had headphones. I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier. I didn't have to hear "Cars" for the hundredth time and the backseat was totally quiet. I could talk on the phone and listen to my music. Of course they usually crash at some point on the car ride. I snapped a shot of Hagen in SpongeBob heaven.

The boys are always excited about going to the Madison Zoo. They especially love the new "treehouse playground". Too bad it was one of the hottest days of the summer. But the boys had fun riding the zoo train and carousel.

On the day we left, Nana yelled at me to get my camera and said there were two baby deers in her backyard.

4th of July

Well, I guess it wouldn't be a party if somebody didn't go the the Emergency Room. Too bad that somebody was me!! After Tom made a mess trying to separate frozen hamburger patties, I haughtily commented that it was not that difficult and then proceeded to slice my thumb open. Luckily we had a nurse at the party and she thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to head to the ER. She called ahead to see if there was a wait and I guess since people hadn't started setting off fireworks yet the ER was empty. She was nice enough to take me and luckily I didn't even need stitches but I did get a Tetanus shot. (Ouch). So even though I missed about an hour of the party it seemed like everybody had a good time. It was definitely one big baby and kidfest! Hagen and Garren at the 4th of July Neighborhood Parade at Eisner Park. Hagen had a blast waving his flag to all of the people on the route. He even said "Happy 4th of July"
Austin is very proud of the bike he decorated!
It's hard to believe we were pregnant with these babies last summer!
The Barker Boys in matching shirts from Na Na!

Notice my hand on Garren's leg to keep him from crawling away.

He refuses to sit still for pictures now.

Cousins

My sister in law and family came in from New York over 4th of July and we got a chance to get all of the cousins together. It was great seeing them play together. Trying to get a picture of 3 baby/toddlers sitting down is kind of hard but these turned out cute!I also got some cute video of Fiona playing with Austin. It was so cute to see her laughing at Austin and trying to imitate him! BTW in case you were wondering, the conversation in the background is about Custard Cup.

Who's the bigger baby?

Austin is not taking too kindly to Garren being able to crawl and wanting to see what his big brother is doing. Austin likes to arrange his cars, trucks, airplanes, etc behind the couch and play. Garren likes to see what is going on. Even if Garren is merely observing his brother (and not chewing on his toys), Austin has a fit and wants me to move Garren. He tells me that Garren is bothering him. After telling Austin that Garren could stay and play, Austin decided to take matters into his own hands and move Garren himself (all the way across the house). Of course Garren thinks it is all a big game and crawls back for more. After realizing that Garren wasn't going to stay put Austin decided he needed to "barricade" his area. He spends more time trying to protect his area than he does actually playing in his area. He starts crying and whining (like a big baby) when Garren starts getting close.

Nana and Papa

My parents had a wedding to attend in Champaign this weekend and were generous enough to watch the boys Friday night so Tom and I could spend the night in Chicago (by ourselves)!!!

I had a friend's baby shower to go to and Tom was taking an exam in the same area so we were able to get a night alone. It was pure bliss to sleep in and wallow in bed!

Of course when I got home from Chicago and walk in the door and my life becomes chaos once more. Hagen starts yelling for Daddy and runs out the back door to look for him (Tom came home the next day) and then I was trying to pay the babysitter (because my parents were at the wedding) who was telling me that Austin was sick (my phone had some weird network error the whole time I was in Chicago and I couldn't send or receive calls and didn't know this little tidbit of information) and then Hagen runs out the door again. Then I retrieve Hagen again (and lock the door..duh!) and Garren is squirming in the babysitter's arm and Austin is laying on the couch not feeling well and I am once again in the thick of things.

Anyway, here are some cute pics of Garren and his Nana and Papa!

Austin's star performance!

Austin went to Vacation Bible School all last week and loved it. Each day they sang songs related to the theme of the week (God's Big Backyard). On Sunday night they had a performance for the parents. Well, last year Austin really got into the songs and had a great time performing on stage.

This year was a little different. See the picture below. Austin stayed like that the entire song.

When we asked him why he didn't want to sing he said, "I hate singing". Okay then!

Growing Too Fast

Well, the first of the Mothers and More baby boom is turning 1! We went to his birthday party today and it hit me how fast time is flying by. In a few short months it will be Garren's turn. I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday (and like 10 years ago) that we had all of the babies on a blanket at the fall hayride.


Today when we tried to get a picture they were all crawling around and wouldn't sit still for very long. We did manage to get a few shots in though.



There are so many things that I hope I remember about Garren as a baby....

• how he lunged for his bottle when he saw it


• how he would always pat his hand on his body or mine


• how his face would light up when he saw his brothers


• his beautiful smile (love the dimples)


• how people were always asking if he was always that happy (yes!!)


• Hagen playing peek a boo with him


• how he loved to jump up and down on my lap


• his squeals of happiness


• how he loved to hear "Wheels on the Bus"


• how Austin would sing the nap song to him in the car


• the sheer joy of seeing him in the morning
• how he would kick his legs whenever he was excited (which was a lot!)

Barker Boys did Chicago!

Whew...Deep Breath...We made it! The amount of crap you have to pack for one night and one day is staggering. We decided to take the boys to Chicago and do Shedd's Aquarium as Tom had to be up there to take an exam Saturday morning. Our hotel was downtown and after checking in we walked to Pizzeria Duo's and had some Chicago style deep dish pizza. Then we went back to the hotel and checked out the pool. The kids had a blast and Garren absolutely loved it! Of course then Tom had to go study so it was just me and the boys but luckily Ants was on TV and finally Garren went to sleep.

In the morning, Tom was up bright and early (no need for a wake up call when you got three kids) and headed off to his exam while I got ready for a Chicago excursion. After making sure I had everything...swimsuit, towels, snack, juice, bottle, hats, sunscreen, change of clothes for everybody, etc the boys and I set off for Michigan Avenue. Our destination: Millennium Park. I had heard they had a pretty cool water fountain that kids could play in so I thought this would kill some time. The boys did a great job walking and navigating the stoplights. Hagen only made it into 4 revolving doors along the way. I thought that was pretty good. Well, the fountain wasn't quite what I thought it was but it was still pretty cool. After some technical difficulties (had nothing to do with Hagen) they were able to project the faces onto the walls. The boys loved it when the water came out of the people's mouths!

They also loved "The Bean". Except for the fact that we couldn't find a playground (and believe me we tried) the boys had a great time. On the way back Tom met us at a McDonalds and we had lunch. We also walked by several street performers and of course Hagen had to check it out. Luckily, the guy thought it was cool that Hagen enjoyed playing the drums. Austin was entranced by the "Golden Guy" and we had to stop there too! Then it was time to head to Shedd's Aquarium.

I was feeling pretty good about the day until we got caught in downtown Chicago traffic. There was some parade for Puerto Rican Day and there was a float behind us blaring what I can only assume to be Puerto Rican hip hop. Then the baby started crying and then Austin started screaming because the baby was too loud. Hagen just had his hands over his ears. Then, when we turned the wrong way and found ourselves caught in more traffic I thought that Tom was going to lose it but luckily the baby and Austin fell asleep and we finally got to Shedd Aquarium.

Of course by that time Austin was getting a pretty whiny but we thought a little 4-D SpongeBob would cheer him up. The boys really got a kick out of the flying objects, water squirts, bubbles, and gusts of wind. We walked around a little and got to see the coolest exhibit. The aquarium had 7 Beluga Whales, 2 of which were babies. You could hear the sounds they were making and the swam right by the glass. It gives new meaning to the song "Baby Beluga". Then we made our way to the dolphin show which was pretty amazing too. We were all exhausted and I couldn't wait to make it back to the car. Austin was pretty upset when he realized we weren't going back to the hotel and that we were leaving Chicago.

Officially crawling!

It's official! Garren is definitely crawling. One day he isn't and one day he is. Ahhh, the pure joy of a typically developing child. For some reason he is really motivated by money. Hmmm, is this a bad thing? He loves the fake change that goes in our toy cash register. That was the first time he crawled across the room. I have a short video snippet. I also got some crawling video of Garren at the pool. I guess he is also motivated by empty cups. Note that I brought the cup and it wasn't just left by some stranger with germs!

It was one of those perfect days at the pool when it was beautiful outside but hardly anybody was there. This made it much easier to keep track of Hagen. When I was at the pool a few days ago he got down to the slide pool without me seeing him and made some friends with some lifeguards. We were leaving the baby pool area and I saw Austin and Hagen walk into the big pool. After glancing down to adjust Garren's hat I looked up to spot the boys (thank goodness they have bright orange UV shirts) and I didn't see Hagen. I thought maybe he went back to the baby pool because he didn't want to leave but he wasn't there. Then I looked by the lazy river (because that is where he was the last time he took off) and didn't see him. Then I had the awful thought that he walked out of the pool. I checked out front and didn't see him so then I finally went to the office to report a lost child. As soon as I said he was wearing an orange shirt the lifeguard said, "We have him". Luckily, an acquaintance of mine (thank god for Mother's and More)recognized him and told the lifeguards who he was.

What's funny is that later that day I met up with a Mom who also has a child with Down syndrome who was at the pool that day. I guess her daughter fell off the innertube (but she can swim) and the lifeguard went in to help her. He asked the mom if she was Hagen's sister. Now, does he not realize they both have Down Syndrome and just think they look alike or does he assume if you have one with Down Syndrome your other children would have Down Syndrome too? We both got a kick out of it!!!

Here is some video of Austin doing his version of a cannonball!

And some cute pics of Garren at the pool

Almost crawling

Garren is soooooo close to crawling. It's so funny because he goes backwards and gets stuck under the couch just like Austin used to get stuck under the bed. It amazes me how much Austin and Garren resemble each other.

Although, I am starting to see more of Hagen in Garren. But Garren is definitely becoming his own person. Thankfully he is has a real laid back personality. It should be interesting to see what kind of personality he will have as he gets older. I probably said Austin was laid back too. Now he wants something and he wants it now!!! And if he doesn't get it he knows how to throw a big tantrum. Tom met me and the boys at a park for Austin's school barbeque and when we left, Tom took Hagen with him. Well I guess Austin thought he was going to ride home with Daddy (he is such a Daddy's boy) and was pissed off. He literally screamed and cried, "I want to ride with Daddy" the entire way home. It was warm out and I had my window down and at one of the stoplights I swear the people in the car next to me were looking at me funny. Oh well, it won't be the last time!

Rub Dub Dub, Three in a Tub

This was actually the first time we had gotten all 3 boys in the tub at the same. Usually Austin wants to wait until after "the baby" is out. I should have known that Hagen would want to "help" wash Garren. It's a good thing Garren doesn't mind having water poured over his head! In our house at Florida Hagen would grab the hose on the back patio and literally hose Austin as he was crawling around. Hagen definitely has a thing with water. But the boys had a great time and Garren does not seem to mind.

Blue is gone!

You got to hand it to Kleenrite...they got the blue paint out. They even took before and after pictures. Maybe it will be on one of their brochures! Cleaning up the carpet has motivated Tom to finish some stuff on the third floor. So maybe blue paint was a good thing.

Blue on Carpet

Of course this would happen on Mother's Day weekend. I was getting ready to scrapbook for the day (yes all day!!!) and had gotten out my scrapbook suitcase. Unfortunately it was on the third floor and I left it by the stairs planning on asking Tom if he could carry it downstairs for me. I was getting the boys dressed and ready to go to Hagen's first Challenger League Baseball game and I forgot all about the suitcase upstairs. When I went to go find Hagen to get him dressed I heard him playing on the third floor. I went upstairs to get him and realized two things at once (it's funny how your brain works sometimes). One was that the suitcase was still sitting by the stairs and looked untampered with and two that Hagen was covered in what looked like blue paint. Oh yeah, so was the carpet, the trampoline, the plastic kitchen, and the wall. I'm thinking, where the hell did he get blue paint? He was holding what looked like a blue marker in his hand. After rushing over to grab it from him I realized it was a bottle of blue acrylic paint that must have been in my scrapbook suitcase. As this is slowly sinking into my brain, I am yelling for Tom (and yelling a certain curse word). Tom didn't even get mad. He just took Hagen and walked him downstairs (until I realized he was putting blue footprints on the floor) and started running the bath. Well as usual I didn't think about getting a picture until afterwards. The full effect is kind of ruined because we had already cleaned everything else and moved all of the toys off the carpet in preparation for the carpet cleaners. Other pictures I should have taken were of the time Hagen got into the baby vaseline, cracked a dozen of eggs on the kitchen floor, found the baby powder, and when I was in the hospital after having Garren smeared feces in his bedroom!!!!

This happened on a Saturday and the carpet cleaners couldn't come out until Monday and this picture was taken when they were trying to see if they could get it up. The test spot turned out pretty well so they are coming back to clean the entire carpet. We'll see how it turns out!