Elek had a coughing fit at 12:30AM.  August went down at 8:30 and slept till 3:30, then till 6:30 and then till 7:30.  When he woke up at 7:30 he was a mess.  Seemed like his belly was really bothering which may or may not have been the result of the gobs of Ben and Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream that I shoved into my mouth at 9:30 last night.  Kids woke up around 7:45 and I finally got August to go back down around 8:30.  Then took the kids for a walk (Elek biked) to Orlando park for a while so Andrew could catch some more z's.  Elek has been in a coughing fit since we left the park about an hour and a half ago :(  He's doing a breathing treatment right now.  Might give Zyrtec a  try today.  HATE the guessing game!

Elek has had coughing fits for the past two nights which has meant two middle of the night breathing treatments.  He also had a fit right before bed tonight and something tells me we will get one or more throughout the night.  I must call his doctor on Monday to ask about an oral steroid.  I guess I keep putting it off because he always seems to have a good night the night before I plan on calling and I convince myself that it is best to keep him on as few drugs as possible.  But waking up this often is not good for him either.  He's not napping anymore and he really needs his sleep!  Not to mention, the coughing disrupts mine, Andrew's, and August's sleep as well.  Little B usually manages to sleep right through it!

Today was a good day.  Whole fam went to Blue Lemon Cafe for breakfast, then Andrew purchased a Nexus tablet from Office Depot, then we went to Halloween City at the mall so the kids could get their first taste of scary decorations this year, then we came home and had Abby come over and sit while Grace, Andrew, and I went surfing.  Unfortunately, I didn't stand up once today.  For some reason I have been very fearful of getting hurt again.  I think maybe because I just had the baby? Not sure.  Despite my fears I still managed to get jostled around quite a bit though.  Got thrown off the board on one wave and Grace said the board flew so high up in the air before coming back down that she totally expected to see me flying up in the air with it!  While the board was taking flight I was underwater being flipped around with my arms blocking my head and thank goodness because when it came down it hit my forearm!  I also stepped on what I am 99% sure was a crab that proceeded to pinch me.  Which doesn't hold a candle to what happened to Grace and I after Andrew went in (the waves had gotten kind of crappy but we were still having fun and wanted to stay out longer).  I had JUST finished telling Grace that my worst nightmare is seeing a shark and then having a big wave come in that would threaten to throw me off of the board.  This conversation took place literally 10 minutes before this exact situation to place.  I was paddling north with Grace behind me when all of the sudden I saw a bait ball ahead of me and a fin cutting through it.  I immediately yelled to Grace that I saw a shark and put my arms and legs up on the board.  Then I looked behind me and thought, "oh shit," as I saw a  large wave approaching (ok, so maybe it wasn't huge by the typical surfer's standards but given my lousy surf skills, let me tell you that thing looked intimidating!).  My fearless little sister rode the wave in but I chickened  out and freaked out.  It took me forever to get back to shore and I could see the bait ball creeping closer and closer behind me.  Finally I reached the beach and ran out next to Grace and we and another family watched as 3 freaking sharks went ballistic on a huge school of fish in the same exact spot where we had just been trying to catch waves!  It was crazy!!

As we were walking home I told Grace that as long as I am going out surfing with her I will never get any better since all I do the whole time is laugh.  At her.  At myself.  But mostly at her.  At this point we both suck but I'm pretty sure that she is going to advance way past me soon if for no other reason than her fearlessness for attempting just about any wave.

Elek is obsessed with having me feel his muscles.  I took Sara's advice and told him that his breathing treatments would make him stronger and faster so now every time he completes one (and sometimes during) he asks me to feel his muscles and gets this really serious face as he flexes.

Beata has changed her mind 3 times in the past week or so about what she wants to be for Halloween.  First it was Pocahontas (she practiced the "Colors of the Wind" song over and over and is now pretty good at it with a few prompts), then it was Cinderella, and as of yesterday it is Snow White.  Her indecisiveness didn't stop her from getting sassy with me though when I asked her again this afternoon what she was going to be for Halloween.  She said in a very teen aged tone, "I already told you!  Snow White!"

August continues to be super smiley and laughed quite a bit today.  He is becoming a bigger fan of the exersaucer every day as he figures out how to manipulate the little toys that are attached to it. Last night he slept from 9PM to 4:14AM which was AWESOME!

Andrew has been working just about every night on his flying wing plane and was thrilled to see that it glided today when he threw it back and forth with Christena's husband Chris, even though it is not yet finished.  He says his next plane will be a pod and boom glider.  Whatever the heck that is.  Just trying to document the daily going ons of our household.  He also continues to spend ridiculous amounts of time playing bug house chess on fics each night.

WE ARE BACK TO HAVING SOLID POOPS!  No more diarrhea in this household! And I forgot to mention that August finally had a big poop last night around 8 which is probably why he slept so much better last night. Oh the joy that can be found in bowel movements!  No coughing fits from Elek today.  We will see what tonight holds but I was very grateful for all of the progress that took place today!

We stayed at home all day today (a rare occurrence since I usually feel like I am going to pull my hair out if we don't escape the confines of our home at least once each day) but it was actually really nice.  Elek and B got along really well for the most part.  Elek pushed B on the baby swing that's on the porch, they goofed around in the playroom, we did some color by numbers worksheets, and Grace came over with Carrigan and Brogan for some play time and a dance party.  August was in a smiley mood all day.  I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies to prevent the same unanswered craving situation that occurred last night after the kids went to bed.  Elek and B sneaked some from the counter when we weren't looking.  Being sneaky together really seems to bond them so I usually don't mind them "stealing the cookies" even though I pretend to.

Randoms:  Beata recently learned to say "pajamas" and "adults" correctly.  She used to say "tuh-jamas" and "tuh-dults."  Sad that we taught her the right way :(
Elek is learning to use his /l/ sound.  Used to say "wuv" for "love" but I started to tease him saying, "you WUV me? what the heck is WUV??" He'd crack up and would say, and continues to say randomly, "mommy, I don't wuv you I luh-luh looove you!"  Again, wish I'd never corrected him now.

I love my babies.  All 3 of them so much.  They are so frickin' sweet and I want to eat them up!  Was just telling Andrew tonight how it is so crazy to me that their adorable, tiny little bodies will someday be big grown up bodies.  Wish I could slow time down because we seem to be getting there too quickly.  August will be 4 months in 24 hours and 10 minutes.  Where does the time go?!  Somebody posted this article about remembering your child's lasts (as in, the last time they do something...like the last time that they ask you to cuddle them in bed) on Facebook today and it nearly brought me to tears:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devon-corneal/parenting-lasts_b_1874086.html

Must remember to cherish even the craziest of times.  Diarrhea, coughing, sleepless nights...Because it will be over sooner than I realize and much sooner than I'd like it to be.

Mom, you are going to kill me if you read this.  But I really feel like I can see how people like that woman from 19 Kids and Counting can get addicted to having children.  I get so frustrated and overwhelmed sometimes but I just don't want this part of my life with these silly little kiddos to be over.  No need to worry, I wouldn't go as far as the Duggars have, but you can see how it can happen.

HALLELUJAH!  For the first night in over two months we had regular baby wake ups and no coughing fits! Put August down at 9PM and he woke up at 1:30 and 5 and went right back to bed.  Then he was up for good at 7:30!  Before having kids I would have thought this a nightmare but after the recent weeks it feels like a Godsend!  Elek had about 2 and a half major coughing fits yesterday so I had totally planned on waking at least once for a breathing treatment last night but it never happened!!  Ok, time to go feed these rascals.  Hooray for sleep!

Elek sits down on couch for breathing tx.  B scoots up right next to him to watch TV.
Elek: "Why do you always want to sit next to me?"
B: "Because you're my best buddy and you love me."

Another rough night last night with August waking at 11:30, and pretty much every hour after that.  Brought him into my bed at 2.  He was awake from 3 to 4 babbling next to me.  Finally really settled down at 5, which was precisely when Elek started coughing.  Did a breathing treatment for 20 minutes and then crawled back into bed.  What a night!  I texted my friend Leela whose son Brady is a couple weeks older than August since I had remembered her saying that Brady wasn't sleeping well.  She told me it lasted about a week and that she did a whole bunch of research on sleep regression online and found out that good sleepers  turning bad was pretty common at this age.  Of course I immediately ran to my computer to do the same search and sure enough, my misery loves company self was pleased to see that I am not alone!  Hundreds of moms reporting the exact same torturous sleep schedules!  We are at about a week of poor sleep now so fingers crossed that there will soon be a light at the end of the tunnel!  Also, no clue why Elek's coughing fits are back.  Doing everything the exact same as I had done previous nights.  Shower, breathing tx, Benadryl, raised head of bed.  I'm stumped!

August started sucking on his fingers a couple weeks ago.  Usually his middle and ring finger, leaving the other 3 to form the "I love you" sign :)  Neither Elek nor B ever sucked their fingers and while I think it is just so cute when Gus does it now, I know I am going to be HATING it when he is a toddler.  Oh well, will cross that bridge when we come to it!

Luckily August had one medium poo and one big one this morning....finally!  (as you can see I am using this blog to document my children's bowel movements as well so that I can keep track of their poop schedules if I ever need to report anything to their Doctor).

Time to clean the house!  Don't worry, it is actually pretty cathartic.  Especially when Beyonce Radio is playing on Pandora :)

- Yesterday while on the pot Elek said to me, "Mommy, I love you.  I wish I could stick to you."  He has actually said this whole "stick to you" thing before and every time it makes my crush on him grow.  Such a sweet boy :)

- Andrew came home a little early from work today so that he could meet us at the beach.  I tried surfing and nearly stood up once on a pretty large wave.  Since having August I've been out a handful of times.  Some outtings have been more successful than others.  Today was a nice day to be out but overall the waves were larger than I would have liked for a retraining session and the shore pound was pretty bad.  I got pretty jostled around trying to make it back in.  Feel pretty lucky to have a husband that will watch 3 kids on the beach for me while I go out on my own!


- Elek had a coughing fit last night but luckily the breathing treatment that I gave him took care of it.

- August woke up at 12:50 last night, much earlier than his usual 3AM-something initial wake up.  Then he woke up again at 3 something and I was so tired that I just brought him in bed with me, where he slept for the remainder of the night.  Waking up two more times before being up for good.  Poor little guy just keeps trying to push those poops out in vain.  He has had two very light poops in the past 9 days or so :( Still having good pee diaps though so I know he is taking in enough milk.


- Andrew told me today that I always say negative things.  He said I might be a "negative person."  To which I responded, "try getting up a thousand times in the middle of the night to do breathing treatments and nurse and soothe a baby and then try waking up at 7am to feed two kids and get them ready for school 3 days a week and then see how many positive things you have to say throughout the day!"  I told him we could switch rooms (he sleeps on the other side of the house in the playroom) and nighttime and morning responsibilities (he has none) and then see how his outlook on life fares.  Not surprisingly, he declined my offer. Therefore, I will continue complaining as much as I see fit until I am getting some decent sleep again.  And just for the record, I did some serious reflecting on his accusation while I was trying not to get killed by giant waves and I do think that my recent negativity is indirectly proportional to the amount of sleep that I get each night.  Overall I would consider myself a pretty positive person.  Just don't eff with my sleep schedule!  Oh, and I will also say that I have never minded being the one to get up with the kids in the middle of the night or the one to help them get ready in the morning since I know that Andrew has to actually be able to use his brain the next day.  I don't resent that he gets to sleep in....as long as he doesn't give me a hard time about being cranky the next day.  Then he'd better watch his back!

- B didn't poop today but Elek still had diarrhea.  Both are on a diet consisting of toast (with just the slightest hint of preserves to make it appealing), bananas, applesauce, water, and Gatorade.  They are both pretty stoked about the whole Gatorade thing since getting juice around here is a pretty big deal.  So far not too much complaining about the bland diet which makes me think their stomachs must really be bothering them.

- August gets a kick out of his feet if you put them in front of him.  I also dipped his legs into the pool on Sunday and he seemed to like it.  Tried it again today but it was too cold and he wasn't a fan.

- Beata did her first somersault today!  She was very proud.  Will eventually post pics on Lamoureuxlife.

- One of my favorite things is how Elek and B always sit right next to each other on the couch.  There is a whole huge couch for them to spread out on but they are always butted right up next to each other whenever they are watching TV.  So cute how they are little buds. Oh and apparently at school whenever they are on the playground they always want to play with each other and aren't really interested in hanging out with others.  Which, while it kind of stinks for their social development with other kids, is so frickin' sweet to me!

- About a month and a half ago we were about to pull out on A1A from Tampa Ave and we saw our friends Frances and Damien biking with their kids.  We waved and then turned onto A1A.  Well, shortly after we pulled away Beata says very excitedly, "mommy!  I just saw Jesus!!"  "What Beata?" (not sure if I heard her correctly).  " I just saw Jesus!!"  Then it hit me.  This is our artist friend Damien:

Two seconds later it hit Andrew and neither of us could stop laughing.  Then I played into it.  "Oh yeah, B?  What was Jesus doing?"  "He was riding his bike with some kids!"  "Would you like to ride on a bike with Jesus?"  "Yes!!!"  Absolutely priceless.  I can't even tell you what I would give to see Beata's reaction to Damien showing up at our door to take her for a bike ride!  

-  Previous random story bring up a recurring topic in my and Andrew's conversations:  how much are we willing to let our kids be brainwashed for the sake of convenience?  Elek and B's school is located literally right behind where Andrew works.  And I will say that the teachers there are very nice.  But meanwhile, we will randomly hear Elek in the backseat of the car singing "I love church! I love church!"  and Beata exclaiming, "God made me!"!  Now don't get me wrong, I really don't mind them being exposed to Christianity and I realize that we knowingly enrolled in a Baptist school so we have to play by their rules.  And I expected some lessons about God to be sprinkled into the curriculum.  But when nearly every piece of artwork that comes home has a Bible verse on it, the homework is for mom and dad to write down their favorite verses, and the Christmas program contains not a single song that does not contain the words "baby Jesus,"  I think it's a little overboard!  But oh the location is just so damn convenient :(

Gem from yesterday:  Elek and B were playing on back porch.  I noticed that they were kind of hidden behind an umbrella turned on its side on the ground next to the pool so I went to the playroom window and peeked through the blinds to spy on them.  And what do I find?  Nothing other than my dweedle dee and dweedle dumb children playing a version of pat-a-cake in which you clap once and then hit the head of the person sitting in front of you and repeat.  While I was watching the hits looked pretty harmless and they were both laughing each time they hit and were hit.  But by the time I ran and grabbed Andrew so that he could see what our two goofuses were up to, we observed Elek knock B square in the nose with a fist!  She started just barely crying and went to go look for us but we were already outside.  We asked them what they  were doing and why Elek hit her and he said they were playing a game.  So Andrew asks, "Elek, why did you punch B in the nose?" and he said, "because that's how you play the game."  Very matter of factly and in such a way that Andrew and I both had to turn our heads to the side to hide our laughter.  Of course a lecture on why it is not right to hit and that they must play nicely ensued (we may be immature but we're not THE worst parents, after all) but man did the whole thing leave Andrew and I laughing for a while.

All day yesterday kids hardly ate a thing.  Elek still had diarrhea.  Sped shopped at Old Navy for about an hour until August lost his shit (poor baby was tired) and Andrew had to bring him to me.  Amazing what you can do in an hour alone though!  Earlier in the day Andrew went to boxing class with Fadoul and I got Abby to come over and watch older kids while I took Gus to Publix with me.

Today started like most have in the past week or so:  August wakes up at 5:30 (after having woken up twice before in the middle of the night to eat) and tries in vain to push out a poop.  Is very unhappy until 7 AM when he finally passes out in my bed.  At precisely 7:01 AM Beata walks into my room, taps me on the shoulder (I pretended to be asleep to see what she would do...I like conducting mini-experiments on my children), and asks for some food.  Fed B and talked to her for about a half hour before going back in bed and trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep.  About 2 minutes after my head hits the pillow, Elek emerges from his room and I roll out of bed to make him breakfast as well.  Breakfast consists of apple sauce and toast, both of which they hardly touched.  Guessing today will mark day 3 of crazy bowels in the Lam fam.  You can't make this stuff up.

So since I am so bad about posting pics on lamoureuxlife and for some reason feel like I cannot post new pics on there until I finish all old posts, I have decided to start this extra blog which will be more like a journal  to record the day to day happenings in our household.  So much happens and is said on a regular basis that I hope I won't forget but know I won't remember given my notoriously terrible memory.  I plan to think of this blog as a no-pressure place to jot down a rough sketch of what happens each day in our house, random things that are currently on my mind, and random silliness that the kids have done or said whenever I get a spare moment.  Posts here might stop mid-sentence or thought since, as anyone with kids knows, children seem to have a 6th sense for moms having spare moments and they find joy in spoiling them.  This time in my life, while hectic and exhausting, really has been wonderful and I don't want to forget it!

So here goes:

- When August was just a month old or so I was driving all of the kids home from Publix and August was wailing in the backseat.  During these times I usually wouldn't even attempt to talk to the older kids because we'd all just get frustrated that we couldn't hear one another.  Well, I glanced in my rear view mirror and noticed B leaning her head against her seat and looking sleepy.  So I semi-shouted, "awww B, are you tired?"  To which Elek exclaimed, "Tired of this baby, crying all of the time! Be QUIET baby!" Hilarious.

- I took Elek and B to a ballet class about a month ago.  I sat behind the two way mirror and watched while the teacher gave each of the kids name tags.  I knew instantly that Elek's would say "Buzz" as he and his sister refuse to go by anything but their nicknames.  I wondered though what the teacher would write for B since her articulation of "Hit Girl" almost always requires my translation.  So after the class I sure enough see "Buzz" come out of the door and then I see...."Nicole." Later I asked B, "so Beata, did your teacher call you 'Nicole'?" and she goes, "yeah, she said 'Come here, Nicole" so I went."

- Elek just got a nebulizer on Friday for a cough that he had had for 2 months.  The cough showed up primarily at night and would persist for an hour straight.  Sometimes he'd have two coughing fits in a night.  The cough was dry and LOUD and kept the whole house up...or at least me, the lightest sleeper of the bunch.  Between his cough and the baby's usual wake ups, it's been a particularly exhausting past several weeks.  Luckily though the albuterol seems to be doing its job and while he still coughs, we haven't heard much at night.....pretty sure I probably just jinxed myself :(

- Two days ago the kids seemed to have some kind of stomach bug.  Elek had some crazy diarrhea and B had poop tooted in her pants when I picked her up from school.  So we put both to bed in diapers as a precaution.  Well, as I was getting ready to go to bed at midnight (I know, no right to complain about the exhaustion thing), I smelled a horrible smell coming from their room.  Andrew and I grabbed a flashlight and checked both of their bums.  Nada.  Andrew left to go back to his room and play some more online bughouse chess but I knew that SOMETHING nasty must be waiting to be discovered in there because the odor was just too overpowering to be a lingering toot.  So I continue to search the room with the flashlight and as the light passes over B's face I see that she is covered in vomit.  Her hair, her pillow, her sheets, her face, all covered in frozen corn (one of her favorite snacks) sprinkled putrid puke!  And there she lay, fast asleep and dreaming.  We woke her up and Andrew showered her while I changed her sheets and pillows.  Then she crawled back in bed and said, "ooo this bed is so cozy."  Just a little story to convey while Gigi has always said that "B is crraaazy!"

- Yesterday we tried to go to the Cocoa Beach airshow.  After about 45 minutes in the car we finally walked the long walk to the beach (distance-wise the walk wasn't that long but when you've got a stroller to push, a 3 year old in his first pair of flip flops and a 2 year old who just doesn't feel like walking, trust me, it's a long walk), pushed the non-beach-friendly stroller through the sand, and sat down....in the sand...because we forgot to bring something to sit on.  We also forgot sunscreen (which I had asked Andrew to apply before leaving the house...in my defense.  Luckily this is my blog so I can state my defense.  If Andrew wants to start his own blog he can state his).  So, I went on about a half mile hike in the pounding heat in search of sun protection for my kiddos, only to discover that the hotel that we were located right behind was selling sunscreen in their gift shop.  Just as I approached the register, sunscreen and a Gatorade in hand, Andrew calls and says, "let's get out of here!"  He didn't have to tell me twice!  This time we were smart I parked it with the kids while he ran and got the van.  Then we went to Cocoa Village and enjoyed a yummy pesto pizza at Osarios.  And after that we headed over to Harmony's dad's pool in Viera for a BBQ.  On the way home, all 3 kids passed out (the true sign of a fun-filled day....or at least a heat-filled day).  When we got home, Andrew went surfing and when he got back, I went for a jog.  Good day :)