The weeks leading up to Christmas!

Peter, Joe, and Tom on the ladder wanting to help decorate the tree!


Here she is in all her beauty....aka over 1300 lights....no wonder it kept blowing the fuse! Don't worry I have it all figured out for next year already. This year was the trials and tribulations of our christmas tree. It took over a week to put up due to non-working multi-colored lights from the previous years and my initial refusal to use the white lights Brian just happened to have on hand. Then we needed to buy more lights anyway because we didn't have enough, of course. Once we got the lights working, they worked for approximately 2 days when I noticed they weren't working at all....Called Brian at work crying.....he, of course, laughing. Long story short, my amazing electrician was able to fix the lights just in time for Peter's 2nd Birthday celebration.

Best Buds (Tom left, Joe right)


Tom in his GQ pose
No Nativity seen would be complete without a construction cone.


Peter and his special lamby! Never leave home without it.
We were invited to our neighbor's house to meet Santa Claus.

My little Peter Pie has officially turned 2. He is not so little anymore. He is only a pound behind T & J and not too much shorter. Tom and Joe are being great big brothers by helping him blow out his candles.


"What cake? I don't see any cake!"




"I wish for a garbage truck from Santa!" Tom

The boys helping grandma and I bake sugar cookies!


Tom and Joe starring in their first choir concert for preschool. Not so much into it.

Joe loves to be outside.

Tom and Joe's second debut singing in their Sunday school Christmas program.
Joe, Peter, and Tom after church.

The twins giving Peter lots of love!

The Evolution of Peter: Year 2

On December 16th we celebrated Paeter's segundo birfday. It was crunk. Balloons, frosting eating contests, and a boat load of toys, all within two weeks before Christmas. The month of December will forever be splendid for this young lad. Actually, Peter's birfday (an intentional mispell to phonentically salute to both 50 Cent and Coach Willingham, and my high school tennis coach who always emphasized the "fuddamentals" of the game) is great from a consumers perspective as the retailers we frequent throw at us latitudes upon longitudes of great deals.

Anyhoo, this post is supposed to be about Peter, the person, the brother, the babyof the family. He continues to age like fine wine. Being the young brother of twin brothers demands a lot of Peter, and he takes charge no problem. From a parents perspective, it is both good and bad. He plays well with and commands the respect of his brothers, but also has created the expectation of being entitled and capable of everything that Tom and Joe do. Lest we not forget, Peter is 18 months the junior, so he is not as "entitled" as he expects, which adds for plenty of screaming (and not of the quiet varietal). Physically, he's 30 some pounds and only a pound or two shy of his brothers. It's not that he is a large so much as Tom and Joe are just smaller, so this keeps him physically equal to Tom and Joe. All three share the same clothes now. Peter is an angel though and still is sweet as can be. Bedtime prayers still end with "Faader, Son, Hoohie, Spurt, A-Ben!". He loves to high five and dance away. After dinner he dances the Conga and spins in circles to "ring around the rosy". As the pictures below tell, though, I postulate whether he is headed for eternal geniusness or the simpler life. Let's employ a 3 question test.

Question 1: Is he handicapped or incredibly creative?

Peg leg Peter never looked so....peg legged. But a creative use of extra X-mas light boxes nonetheless. I award one point for the ingenuity. (As a personal note, this is probably my favorite picture of the year, makes me laugh every time.)

Question 2: Peter, what do you do with a garlic press?

Hmmm, that's one Par 5 of a Garlic pod if you ask me. Simpler life here we come. (Although, the mouthful of drool almost makes me reconsider).

Question 3: What does Peter share in common with the rapper 'Lil John?

It's official, you are unanimously awarded a genius point. Game, set, match, you are a genius. Yea-yeah! It's incredibad, any yes/no question is answered in the affirmative with a guttoral "Yea-yeah!" Give it to me Ursher!

The future is bright, here is to year 3!

PS: I hope you all enjoy the foreshadowing and subjective context of this post. I did.

3 little Pigs

Tom, Joe, & Peter with Great Auntie Dee
Joe looking to see what goodies he has in his trick or treat bag.
Tom (The pig who built his house out of sticks).
Ding Dong! Treat or Treating at Grandma and Grandpa Vnak's house
The 3 little Pigs, the BIG BAD Wolf and little Red Riding Hood trick or treating at Grandma & Grandpa McClanahan's house.
Peter (The pig who build his house out of straw).
Showing off their carved pumpkins.

"We are so proud of our pumpkins!"

Results

Yesterday, I received a phone call from the hospital saying Peter's H1N1 culture came back NEGATIVE!!

We are gearing up for HALLOWEEN!

Stay tuned for halloween pictures...

Trip to the Hospital

Passing the time by counting "donuts" with daddy.
Grandpa get me out of here!!

Tis the time for the flu season

Fa la la la la la H1N1!

H1N1, meet Peter Vnak.

On Tuesday evening around 5 pm Peter woke up from his nap with a fever of 102.9 axillary (under the arm) and coughing. I gave him a dose of ibuprofen and dropped him off at my mom's house to play while Brian and I took the Tom and Joe to their swim lesson.

After swimming we picked him up and took his temp before bed. It was 99 something. Around midnight, we went to check on the boys before going to bed ourselves and Peter was tossing and turning and had a fever again. We gave him more ibuprofen and I rocked him for a while. I noticed he was breathing faster than usual. I laid him back in his bed and set my alarm to check on him through out the night. He continued to breathe fast during the night and had intermittent coughing spells.

When he woke up in the morning, he had a temp again was breathing fast and wasn't interested in eating. Not like our Peter Pie at all!! I called the clinic and got him an appointment at 12:45 pm. Brian's dad came over and watched Tom and Joe while I took Peter to the doctor.

At the clinic his temp was back up to 102.3, and was breathing approximately 50 times a minute and retracting. The doctor walked in the room and said, "It looks like he is having some trouble breathing." I said "yes, since last night." The doctor ordered a chest xray, cbc (complete white blood count), and wanted to give him an albuterol neb to see if that would help his breathing. His oxygen saturations in the clinic were 93-94% on room air.

Let's just say Peter hated the xray machine contraption they put him in, survived the blood draw and was pooped out by the end of his neb. That is when the doctor came in and said, "he does not look good." "He's wiped out." And I say, Oh no! I hear and use these words/phrases all the time at work and they never lead to anything good.

The doctor tells me that Peter is on the fence of going home or being admitted to the hospital for observation overnight. I sit and wait while she pages the hospitalist on duty to see what he thinks. In the meantime, cbc is normal and chest xray is streaky....typical of something viral.

A little while later, she comes back in to tell me that Peter will be admitted to Children's Center 5a and he will have a private room and they would like you there by 3pm...it was 2:30 pm when she told me this.

I think to myself, "you've got to be kidding me. We are going to the same floor I work on."

So I packed Peter in the car and headed HOME first to grab all the essentials. I called the charge nurse working to let her know that we weren't going to be there at 3 pm. While home, I laid Peter down for a quick nap because I knew he wouldn't get one in the hospital and then proceeded to get Tom and Joe down for their afternoon nap.

Brian and I packed up Peter and headed to U of M Children's Hospital. We arrived around 4:45 pm to our private room for the night. Peter was placed on a continuous pulse oximeter to monitor his oxygenation saturations. Upon initial assessment, his nurse stated that he was really diminished on the left side. (meaning she couldn't hear very well in his left lobes of his lung). He was also breathing fast and retracting in a couple of different locations. His heart rate was in the 170's for most of the evening and early parts of the morning until his fever broke around 3 am on Thursday. The nurse came in to obtain a influenza A & B swab to send for culture. They also started him on tamiflu.

Brian had left around 9 pm and around 9:30, I had gotten Peter to drink 5 oz of milk prior to falling asleep. He slept for a 1/2 hour and then woke up around 10 pm coughing to the point of almost throwing up and then had some audible wheezing. He was also again breathing fast, had a high heart rate and was retracting. The nurse and doctors came to look at him and ordered a neb. They were going to talk to the attending physician on to see if they were going to start antibiotics or just wait and see.

Around 11pm, Peter says to me "mama, poopies potty." I brought him into the bathroom and he went on the potty chair!!! Respiratory therapy then came to give him his neb. Peter got the neb and his lungs sounded better after.

The rest of the night consisted of attempting to sleep next to Peter in a pull out sleeper chair because he wanted nothing to do with the crib. I or he would just doze off and then someone would come in to take vitals, give meds, recheck temp, give more meds, or receive another neb at 4 am. I will say that there was a period of time to sleep from about 4:30-7am, but I was SO OVERLY tired that it was impossible to sleep!!

Thursday was a wait and see day. His temp max was 100.2 and was still breathing fast and had a higher heart rate 140's-150's. He also wasn't too interested in drinking or eating that much.

I spent most of the day convincing him to drink. Luckily Grandma McClanahan came and brought some Yo-J and a few treats which seemed to perk him up a bit. I also ordered him a powerade for dinner and he seemed to like it. Around 8pm, the attending came in and said it was up to us if we wanted to stay another night to watch him. I/we made the decision to go home so we could all sleep in our own beds and get the rest we needed to recover for this illness. They sent us home with a neb machine just in case. We arrived home from the hospital around 10:15 pm....just in time to take a shower and hop into my own bed!! I slept from 11 pm-8am with no interruptions!!!

Brian's mom came over in the morning to help out so I could sleep longer since I hadn't slept in 2 days!

We are on the mend, I believe. The rapid results of the influenza came back negative and we won't know the results of the culture for another week maybe. Tom and Joe were started on tamiflu as well. Joe has been coughing so we will have to watch him. It's CRAZY STUFF!!

Peter was a popular guy at the hospital. All the nurses, said he is not 22 months old!! He acts so much older and he goes poopy on the potty!

It was so funny, Peter's highlights were being able to go poop and calling for his nurse to come in and flush them down the toilet. After going, he would run out shouting for the nurse. He even hollered "Hey Sunshine....poopies potty!"

So that has been our crazy week....will keep you posted on the results of his culture.

Pooping All-Star

Yeah! Yeah, yeah!

Mr. P is a pooping all-star. Gawd, this is awesome. So, Peter is 22 months old and he has gone poop trey times and tinks twice in the last two days.

Yeah! Yeah, yeah!

Tom and Joe were three years old before they were interested in going nombre deuce on the potty and it was a group decision between them. It seemed like it took forever, but I guess the big advantage was that Peter got to watch them learn.

So, now my bro-bro is dishing it out. It's really the cutest thang ever. He grabs our hand, walks us to the pa-tay and says "Poopies".

Yeah! Yeah, yeah!

Let's hope it keeps up!

Actually, I think his timing is not ironic, nor coincidental.

Peter is ready to poop on USC!

GO IRISH!

Peter Goose

So this past week Peter has become more mischievous. The safety latch had broken off the snack cupboard a couple of weeks ago and has lead to trouble ever since. Monday morning, I was drying my hair just like any other morning when Tom and Joe come running into the bathroom screaming "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY.....PETER POURED OATMEAL OATS ALL OVER THE KITCHEN FLOOR!!" Sure enough, I got into the kitchen and there is oatmeal poured into a large bowl as well as all over the floor. Ahhhhhhh!

Tuesday it was puffs that spilt all over the floor.

On Friday, Peter broke a record of how many things he could get himself into. It started early in the morning when I was busy picking out the boys clothes....I again heard Tom and Joe "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY PETER IS MARKING UP OUR DUMP TRUCKS WITH MARKER!" Somehow, my little guy had gotten into my bin where I keep my work pens and id badge. He had gotten a hold of my black sharpie! Before I could stop him, he had definitely marked up T and J's trucks pretty well. AHHHHHH!

Mid morning the adventures continue. I was trying some pants on Tom and Joe to see if they fit or if I needed to return and get a different size. Peter was pretty quiet....so I called his name. He eventually shows up in Tom & Joe's room with the maple syrup bottle open, all over his clothes and hands. I then go into the kitchen and he had smeared it ALL OVER my kitchen floor!!!!! Double AHHHHHHHH!

Late morning more fun. I was helping my sister get her boys shoes on because they were getting ready to leave and I look up at the kitchen sink. Peter had crawled up on the stool and had hand soap ALL OVER himself, the stool and the floor. Enough right?

Then in the early evening hours when Brian was on his way home, I was in the bathroom trying to get ready to go out, when Brian comes in asking....."Is Peter suppose to have a sucker?"

Ah no. He was back sitting on the stool eating a sucker while trying to surf the internet.

Needless to say this little man keeps us on our toes. He is almost 22 months old already! Today he asked me if he could sit on the big potty. So I put him on the big potty and walked into our bedroom for a minute and I heard a ker-plunk....I run back in to the bathroom "Peter did you to Poop?" "No"....I walk out again. Ker-plunk! I told Tom and Joe to come in and ask Peter if he went poop. Tom and Joe attempted to look in the toilet and they said " I can't see any poop, but I smell it." By the time I went back in to get him off the potty, he had flushed the evidence. Peter went poop on the potty!! Tom was quick to get him 2 "meenuts" peanut m&m's. Way to go buddy!!

More Pics from ND

Here is our Peter running to the van with his cookies in hand!
Joe, Peter, and Tom sitting on a ledge near some dorms on campus.
Peter and the rock!
Peter dishing out the cookies to his big brothers. Who do you think is running the show?

Joe, Peter, and Tom playing in the fountain
The guys playing their own version of football
Tom and Joe with dad watching the band march by.
Tailgating crew
Joe enjoying Angelo's homemade sausages and sipping on a juice box
Tom chillin' in his chair while eating a delicious honey crisp apple
Peter devouring his apple while chillin' in his chair
Men's club
Hi, Grandma and Grandpa
Go long!

Trip to ND

Brian and I packed up the family and headed down to St. Charles, IL to stay with my Aunt and Uncle on Thursday night. It was a lot of fun. They have a little dog now, which the boys loved playing with. Whenever we visit them, we usually have our tradition of going to portillo's for yummy chicago dogs and french fries with melted cheese!! Sounds healthy, I know. After dinner we headed back for a bedtime snack of homemade peanut butter bars with hershey kisses on top....very tasty!

On Friday, we woke up to special animal pancakes! Then the boys were appropriately dressed for the ND atmosphere and we set off for the fun adventures that would await us. Once we arrived in South Bend, we ate lunch at King Gyro's...one of Brian's favorite places to eat in college. After lunch, we headed to campus.

We had talked up our trip to ND for weeks prior and the boys were thrilled when they could FINALLY see the Golden Dome!!

Brian had a lot of fun reminding the boys where all the important buildings were on campus. The stadium was open to the public so we took the boys down the tunnel and they got to see the football field and pose for a picture. Then we headed to the bookstore to, of course, buy some new ND clothes for T and J. After the bookstore, it was off to the golden dome to watch the marching band. Tom and Joe were naming all the instruments as they marched by....I must say they were pretty good at it.

After rehearsal, we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant with 6 adults and 6 kids (2 sets of twins) all 3 years and younger!! It was great to see Julia, Jason, and Eli again.

We lucked out on a hotel room Friday night. We had received a free night stay in a Holiday Inn and Brian was able to get us a room in Mishawaka.

On Saturday, we headed over to Angelo's tailgate. It was a lot of fun! I do have to admit, not as much fun in previous years because I was the ONLY female for at least the first hour. Of course, the food and drinks were spectacular and the boys had fun relaxing in their own size tailgating chairs eating their goods.

After watching the band march to the stadium, we headed back to chicago to watch the game with our friends Nick and Jess. Good times had by all there....good food, good drinks, good friends.

I'll post more pics on the next blog!