First Few Days at Home with 4 kids

On Friday morning Kasi came to visit/help us for the weekend.  It was all her idea and she came back from college just to be by us and help us.  It was a good thing too, because we needed it!  Friday morning she watched the kids so Brad and I could take Dean to the doctor.  He had lost some weight and was down to 7lbs 11oz and his bilirubin levels were up high enough that they wanted him on a bilirubin blanket.  Which meant he had to wear only a diaper and be hooked up to this light blanket all day and night.  We started calling him our little glow worm!  Unfortunately we couldn’t walk around and hold him because he was plugged in.  Friday we didn’t do much except hang around the house.  Brad and Kasi tried to keep the older kids busy so they weren’t hanging all over the baby.  Our big event for Friday was Kasi, Brad, Joel, Vincent and Cecilia completing the ice bucket challenge for ALS.  They used our Hagie sprayer and I got to run it and the GoPro camera as my part in helping.  We also went online and donated money as well!

Saturday Brad, Dean and I headed back to the doctor’s office to have Dean’s bilirubin rechecked.  We had to leave at 7am in order for the test to get back to the doctor in time for her to call me with the results before they were gone for the day.  When we left Vincent and Joel were awake and Kasi and Cecilia were sleeping.  We gave the boys breakfast and the iPad and told them to wake up Aunt Kasi if there was an emergency or when the timer went off on the iPad.  I had sent Kasi a text telling her we were leaving, but I didn’t want to wake her up because I heard Cecilia awake and crying several times Friday night and Kasi took care of her so we didn’t have to.  Cecilia tends to cry in the middle of the night, she isn’t usually awake when she does it, but she does wake a lot of us up!  We also told the boys if they saw a text message on the iPad it was from us and would say to go wake up Aunt Kasi.  The boys got the text message from us later and Kasi sent us a text saying Joel came and woke her up!  I was impressed that the boys followed our directions 45 minutes after we gave them and worked together to follow through on the directions.  My boys can be responsible!

Soon after we got home from the doctor we had to pack up and head to Vincent’s first soccer game.  I didn’t really plan on going and was just going to send Vincent and Brad, but Vincent was so excited that Dean was born and was going to get to see his first game, so we all went.  It was the first time we took all 4 kids somewhere.  We had the double stroller for Cecilia and Joel, the single stroller for Dean, and two chairs for us to sit in on the sidelines.  Our trunk was filled!  When we pulled up to the field Kasi was able to walk Vincent to the field while Brad and I unloaded everyone else.  Eventually we will have a system, but we are still working on that and having 3 adults to manage the 4 kids was really great.

This is the first year that Vincent has played soccer.  He seems to really like it but gets a little distracted out on the field, especially if he is playing defense.  He actually was talking to the goalie on the other team and the goalie got in trouble for socializing during the game.  When he is on offense he is too busy running to be distracted and start talking to people.  We shall see how the rest of the season progresses!

The rest of the day the kids painted and played play-doh and the boys fixed my bedroom door.  Brad’s shorts got caught on the strike plate on the door jam and bent it, so he had the boys help him fix it.  Vincent and Joel got a screw driver, took it off, Brad straightened it and the boys installed it by themselves.  The first time it was upside down, so they had to fix it, but they had fun and were so proud of themselves.  They also spent a lot of time playing with Brad in their “hideout” up in our closet playing legos, being boys, and then wrestling in our room.  Because everything ends up in a wrestling match!

Saturday night we got the kids to bed early and Brad, Kasi and I decided to watch some Duck Dynasty.  I think I made it through one episode before I fell asleep on the couch with Dean.  Not sure if anyone stayed awake. 

Sunday Kasi left us after lunch and after helping with a newborn photo shoot for Dean.  I had gotten a free photo session from a photographer who is trying to build up her business and start doing more baby sessions.  We were all sad to see Kasi leave and Brad wanted to tell her to quit school and come be our nanny.  I do too, but she should really finish school and not just be our nanny.