A fun day with the Sullivan boys!

We had such a fun time today with our friends from Michigan. Sarah and the boys came over for the day and boy did my Nicky have a great time with Owen. Alls I heard about tonight was, "Owen this and Owen that......." :) The babies did well-no major meltdowns or anything, which is always a good sign! :)

Thanks, Sarah, for coming over and hanging out with us! (and babysitting us, too!) :)

Emma close up!

Look at all those teeth! :)

Katie close up!

Lexi sent me this pic of Katie from her cell phone. I am not sure why it is in black and white-but still, sooo adorable I thought!

Who's hiding???

Again, not the best pic, but Austin was so cute this afternoon. He found his own "hiding space" in the backyard-underneath the slide/swing. He was happy as can be-sitting down and eating his bologna and cheese sandwich!

Bathing Beauty!

I couldn't find the top to Emma's tankini, so I pulled this bikini out from some hand-me-downs I received from a friend. Emma was looking too cute in this blue two piece-here eyes were really shining!!! (Although you can't see her eyes here...)

Pictures!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street???

Yes, we ventured off to Sesame Place

today.............what a beautiful day we had! I am so proud of my little ones-they did GREAT!!! And we were very lucky to have Aunt Patti join us on our outing today. 3 adults to four toddlers seemed to work out well! :) Can't wait to go back!

Early Intervention re-evals

Matty and Katie had their re-evals today. I am happy to report that my Matty, who was non-verbal just ONE year ago, is now being discharged from EI !!!!! He has come such a long way-I am so proud of him!!!

Katie is going to continue with EI for Speech Therapy. She is similiar to Austin and Emma, where she just says a bunch of "jargon" so to speak.

So, Katie, Emma, and Austin will be receiving Speech Therapy 2x/mo each. So exciting-I know this will be great for them and it will give them the extra push they may need.......... :)

Pretty Princesses!

Not the best pics of the girls, but you get the idea. Emma has been FASCINATED with "dress up" lately. She will find random socks, shorts, hats, shirts and put them on various parts of her body. She LOVES doing this and it keeps her occupied for some time. Soooo, on my adventure today to Jackson Outlets, I picked up two "princess" dresses from the Disney Store (marked down to $7!!!).............We came home and I put the purple one on Katie and the pink one on Emma. As soon as I put Emma's on, she got so excited. She started saying, "ooooohhhhh", and like twirling around the living room. She loved it! Such a g irly girl! And then my Katie kept staring at me, making sure I was calling her a "pretty princess" too! Sibling rivalry already! :)

What a day.............

Oh, it was surely one of those exhausting days. I am sooo tired.

We took the kiddos for their 20 month checkup today. Nick woke up in the mid of the night burning up with a fever. We gave him Tylenol and he seemed to be doing better today. In any event, we had Nick checked out at the ped also. It turns out Nick has a throat infection, Emma has a double ear infection, and Matty has a sinus infection, croup, and a throat infection with puss-like polyps on his throat. Lovely, huh?

We were going to attempt to bring the kids to the fireworks. I know, crazy, but they all seemed to be doing fine, and Nick was really bugging us. Sooooo, we took them to Friendly's for dinner and all HE** broke loose. Matty would not stop whining, Nicholas' fever came back. So I was holding Nicky b/c he truly did not feel well. Then I had Matty on my other lap b/c he was crying, and I was getting one of "those stares" from another prissy-like customer. You know, one of those "stares" that are a little too long, kind of saying, "Shut your kid up." I think we've all had them, but I was getting quite annoyed with this woman-
Anyway, obviously, we decided to not go to the fireworks..................We came home, put everyone to bed, and gave everyone their meds. We are having a picnic tomorrow with my family-I sure hope everyone is feeling better! :)

My ornery girl............

Katie has definitely become the "ornery" one.........She has such a strong personality about her. You would have never known this one year ago. Last year, we were afraid the other babies would continue to walk all over her. She would let them do whatever they wanted to her. She was quiet and a ver content baby. NOT ANYMORE!!!! :) Katie lets you know she is there. IF she doesn't want her diaper changed, you know! She will kick, scream, hit, and throw herself on the floor very easily. She throws fits left and right to get her own way. She will be kicking her legs and screaming-I will pick her up in the air, and she will still be kicking her feet!!! As I have said before, I am so proud of my little miracle girl-ornery or not!!!! :))

One of those nights..........

Yes, it was one of those nights in the Wilke home. I was alone with the four babies and it seems all He!! broke loose. Emma was crying like crazy, Austin only wanted his "blankie", Matty was being a crazy man on Nicky's rocking chair, and Katie, well Katie was being just too cute! Never a dull moment!!!

Back to the Doctor's office

Yes, we were back at the pediatrician's office today. Matty has had this horrific "croup-like" cough the past day or so. Then, when Austin woke up from his nap this afternoon, he was burning up with a fever. So it turns out Matty does have "croup" and Austin has an ear infection. We have an oral steroid for Matty and an antibiotic for Austin. Then, tonight, Emma came down with a wicked fever-so we may be back at the ped's tomorrow.............oh, and by the way, Nicky came with me to "help" me with the boys.........(as long as I bought him some KFC on the way!!!!-he always has an angle!) :)

Check out my "white rapper"......lol

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Summertime pics..............

Early Intervention evaluation

Sorry I did not update sooner..........I came down with a nasty stomach virus on Monday morning and it has lasted till just about today. The poor ladies that came to the house had to deal with me clutching my stomach and making nasty faces while they were there! :)

Anyway, both Austin and Emma DO qualify for Speech therapy. One of the criteria apparently is being able to say SEVEN words, and mine do NOT. As I said before, Austin just virtually mumbles under his breath, and Emma, while she understands the most out of the four, doesn't say much more than "mama" and such.

So, it is my understanding that EI will begin to come out bi-weekly for the kids. I think it will help them tremendously and I look forward to seeing and "hearing" the results! :)

EI evaluation tomorrow!

Early Intervention is coming out in the morning to evaluate Austin and Emma for speech. I have been a bit concerned at their lack of true "words". More so Austin than Emma, but I figured it couldn't hurt to have both evaluated. All four are great at "receptive" speech, and my Matty has come a long way with his "expressive speech". I think he may be discharged soon, he is doing so well. Matty will say "hello", "bye", "mommy", "dada", and "lexi". Now my Emma understands a ton. I really feel like she is advanced. She was the first one to point to her designated brothers/sisters=always knew who everyone was. She was the first one to go get something I ask her to........etc. But she doesn't talk much. She says "mama" and "dada" and "nana" and that's about it. As for Austin, he doesn't even say those words. He kind of just mumbles under his breath like "derrrr derrrr derrrrr" and I swear he's saying something, just not sure what it is! :) So EI is coming out at 830am.............I am anxious if both qualify for services..........I'll keep you posted!

Pediatrician appointment

I took the kids to the pediatrician today. Katie had a weight check and my Nicholas was having a "croupy" cough again. Soooo, Katie gained 6 oz in two weeks-good enough for me. Again, the nutritionist would like to see her gain close to ten ounces in one month. Sooo, we're headed in the right direction. Then the ped checked out Nicky. I *thought* Nicky had "croup" again.........NOPE. Ped thinks he is in the beginning stages of ASTHMA! So off to CVS tonight and we ordered the inhaler along with two different prescription medicines. He took his first dose tonight. He is NOW finally sleeping soundly........he's been up the past few nights with that horrendous "barking" cough........

Matty's GI appointment

Nicky, Matty and I ventured down to CHOP this afternoon for Matty's GI appointment. Matthew is up to 21.11 lbs and is 30.5inches tall. He did not have as significant gain as he did last visit, but he still gained and I am happy. Matty is in the 5th % for his height for his ACTUAL age, and is in the less than 5th% for his weight for his ACTUAL age. No adjusting for his two months premature, so that is a great sign that he is on the charts!!! :) Anyway, I expressed my concerns of Matty's height (or lack thereof!)........Doc assured me that Matty is within the "normal" guidelines, and basically told me NOT to compare the four babies. It's hard NOT to-Austin is like 27 lbs and at least 36 inches tall! That's a BIG difference-you can't help but compare! :)

Let me outta here!!!!

Dance Recital time!!!

Cutie pies.................

Pool time!

Boy did the Wilke kids enjoy the hot weather today!!!! Nothing like getting wet in the baby pool and eating LOTS of Rita's Ice and Cheese Doodles! :)

Good news!

Pediatrician called today and gave me good news! :) Katie's repeat bloodwork came back NORMAL. Yahoo!!! I never liked the word NORMAL better than I did today. :) So, the ped was brief, and that is all he said, so I am not sure where we go from here. I assume we just will continue to monitor her weight gain and go from there. Yeah, Katie girl! ;)

Katie's weight check..............

I took Katie for her weight check today at the pediatrician's office. Unfortunately, she ONLY gained two ounces in two weeks. :( However, we did get her bloodwork results from last week. Ironically, her bloodwork is showing "hypothyroidism" I believe, which is actually an underactive thyroid which contradicts Katie's problem. An underactive thyroid would make it hard for Katie to LOSE weight, instead of gain weight. Ugh-so no answers there. The next thing the ped is concerned with is her Carbon Dioxide level. Apparently, hers came back low. A low CO2 level could indicate kidney problems. Ped was talking about how the Ph in her urine is acidic, therefore causing the CO2 to be low for some reason. Something about fat being lost in her urine, I g uess why she isn't gaining weight. IDK-in any event, the ped wants all the bloodwork re-done (we're going tomorrow.........) before we start putting her through massive tests. Ped did mention maybe there is lab error with the results. Let's hope so! :)