A Terrible Day.

Last Thursday evening the boys started running fevers.  They had been having runny noses and watery eyes due to which we guessed to be allergies.  So on Friday we made the trip to the pediatrician's office to see what was going on.  Well the boys had officially developed a bad case of Pink Eye, AGAIN!  On top of that Levi had a very yucky sore throat and Will had an ear infection.  They all looked terrible.  Their eyes were very red with gunk coming out nearly every time they blinked.  (I read that you can contract Pink Eye from wiping your snot upwards and getting it into your eye, which I am assuming is why they contracted it yet again.)  Well we were home from the Doctor for an entire two minutes when Will was running up to the couch and our dog Sally just up and snapped at him biting him in his face.  She gave him one little puncture on the nose and three little punctures under the eye as well as two significant scratches below both puncture wounds.  This is the 3rd or 4th time that Sally has nipped one of the boys, this time having the most significant injuries.  Not that they were major, but they easily could have been.  So after careful consideration and a conversation with the veterinarian, Sally is now staying at my in-laws.  We are going to see how she does away from the boys and how she acts around them when we come down for visits before we ultimately decide what to do.  We are in the process of putting a fence in our yard and that could possibly help the situation because she could be outside, but she's done this before and I am afraid what will happen when she does it again.  I feel terrible about the entire thing.  Sally is a very sweet dog.  I think she just can't handle the stress of three boys antagonizing her all the time and that she just may be one of those dogs that needs to be in a house without children.  I feel like a bad dog mommy, but we also have to consider our boys and their safety.  I hope whatever we ultimately decide, that Sally will be happy and less stressed.

Here is a picture of the aftermath.  He has a scab on his forehead from a fall while playing outside a few days before, he has terrible pink eye, and then the bite wounds from Sally.  He looks pretty miserable, but I promise he already looks much much better!

The Barn!

We recently purchased 5 acres in Orchard Farm.  It has a house, 2 sheds, 2 barns and a well house, but the only thing worth keeping is the 2 sheds.  We now just refer to it as "The Barn" (I have no idea why since we will be tearing it down).  It will be used primarily for the business for the next few years and then we will eventually build a house there.  (Hopefully before the boys start Kindergarten so we won't have to change schools.)  We may see if it is worth fixing the house up a little to rent out, but it is in really bad shape.  There have been skunks living under the house adding to the already lovely aroma!  The boys now refer to it as the "Skunk House".  The barns are falling down, which saddens me as it's my dream to have a barn, but the property itself is beautiful.  Dale began grading the ground to level it out and we will soon get rock for the drives around the sheds.  In the meantime, on nice days I have been bringing the boys down there so they can play.  They love it!  There is just so much space for them roam and it's nice to not have to yell at them to get off the street.  We all look forward to living there some day!

A panoramic view of part of the property. 

The big barn. 

The little barn. 

So much room to ride 4-wheelers!

Will 

Levi 

Max 

So many places to explore!

Levi 

Will 

Max 

Lately the boys, especially Max, are obsessed with sitting on it!  It does not matter what it is that they see, they want to "sit on it".  Max wore motorcycle pajamas the other day and he was mad when I put them on because he wanted to "sit on it".  He sees a bike riding down the road, he wants to "sit on it".  There's a new toy car at grandma's, he wants to "sit on it".  So the boys were ecstatic when we let them sit on the Highlift!

Max 

Will 

Levi 

A picnic lunch.

Dale, Will, Levi & Max

We took a walk in the field and Max took a spill when he tried to walk through a water puddle.  Well at least he got to "sit on it"!

The aftermath of the fall!  

The Highlift at work! 

Papa Hackmann, Max, Levi & Will

Exhausted!

The transition from Cribs to Big Boy Beds has been very interesting.  This past week has been very long and we are all very tired.  But, I think we are starting to get it.  The past several nights it has only taken about 10 minutes for them to fall asleep (knock on wood!), but naps are another story.  It doesn't matter how tired they are, they keep refusing to give it up.  We put them in their room, close their door and let them play until eventually they get tired enough that they fall asleep wherever they are at the moment.  They also wake each other up.  Whoever wakes up first must go around the room and wake the others because they have all been very sleepy.  I don't understand why they don't get it.  Someday they will wish they got to sleep as long as they could!  But for the time being Dale and I rely on caffeine and try to have a lot of patience, but some days the patience runs very thin and for those days we rely on a nice cold beer!  Ha-ha!

Max and Levi fell asleep in front of the door during nap time.  

Will finally gave in and fell asleep in Max's bed.  

And this was too precious!  Last night they all fell asleep in Will's bed.  It was the cutest thing ever so I had to get a picture.  We ended up moving Levi and Max to their own bed so they wouldn't roll over each other during the night.

Operation Big Boy Bed!

The past month or so has been quite an adventure when it comes to sleeping and napping. The boys have learned to crib hop and then eventually get out of their bed. We are able to subdue them for a while by moving their cribs apart a little bit. It was an obstacle to get through their room, but it worked for a little while. Well today it took them 3 hours to fall asleep at nap time. Every time I went up there they were out of their bed, then out of their bed and stripping, and this went on and on and on. They are able to climb on top of their cribs like they are some Ninja Warrior and it scares the crap out of me. They can so easily fall on their head and break their neck. So we made the ultimate decision that it was time to switch to the toddler beds. I have a feeling that our good nights of sleep are gone for a while, but at least I know they won’t be falling from 4 feet in the air. Dale took the fronts off the cribs tonight as the boys helped daddy get their “Big Boy Beds” ready to go. They were very excited, until it was time to actually go to bed. We let them cry it out for a while, but had to go in. They were all in Will’s bed smashing him. I had to sing to them, which finally bored Will to sleep. After about an hour I was finally able to leave while Max and Levi were still awake. Hopefully I won’t have to go back in there!

With this decision I became aware that I have never taken a picture of their Nursery. So here are a few pictures of their room before switching to toddler beds. Of course these pictures were just taken so the cribs have been chewed on, no not by beavers, but by 3 teething boys. The carpet has stains of formula spit up that I thought I had cleaned, but apparently cleaning spit up in the dark at 12, 3, and 6 a.m. just didn’t cut it! Their cute John Deere blankets with their names on them are no longer hanging sweetly over their cribs. Instead the blankets are ratty with holes chewed in them by Max (I will post on that another day). But, these are still pictures of their room that we can cherish forever!

From left to right: Will, Max then Levi's cribs. 

From left to right: Will, Max then Levi's cribs.

BIG BOY BEDS! 

Let the chaos begin!  Levi, Will and Max! 

Max, Levi and Will 

Bedtime at last, Will, Max and Levi.