Killing time and burning energy

Wednesday evening after I got home from work I decided to take the kids out. I had to come home at 3 pm because Cheyenne had to go pick up her older boys from school so we had some time to kill. I was out of diapers and wipes so I loaded the kids up and headed to Walmart. I rarely ever take the kids to the grocery store especially alone. I can't push a basket if I am pushing the stroller and Paige still throws a fit if you stop moving whatever she happens to be riding in. I had no choice this time because it was Dallas' late night and I had to have wipes for the evening. Walmart went well even the check out lady was impressed. How did you get both kids, a large box of wipes, a large box of diapers, a large pack of night diapers, and two cans of pears to the counter without a basket. Twin Mommy Skills that's how!

Being at home made me think of Bruce and the kids were feeling very pent up being stuck at home all week. I decided I would head to the mall after Walmart. We have never taken them to the mall before mostly because we aren't really fans of the mall. We don't ever just go looking at the mall unless we need something from there. I decided I would be okay taking them to the little play area by myself because there was only one exit and the rest was walled in. The kids had a blast at the play area!

There were only three things that Paige couldn't play with and of course those were the three things she kept trying to do. The first was escaping through the opening into the mall. I somehow recruited a helper that was seated by the exit and she alerted me if Paige somehow got past me. It didn't help that the exit had a huge cut out elephant that looked like the one in her favorite peekaboo book. She was just drawn to the opening.

The next things she wanted to do was take every one's shoes and socks out of the little slots. Gross! Don't touch other people nasty shoes and socks.

At least this was HIS shoe and sock!

The last and most tiring of her adventures was climbing up on the padded bench that circled the entire play area for the parents to sit on. She would climb up on it and run as fast as possible. She did this over and over no matter what I did and of course eventually Ethan had to try it. Gees, come on! Please you can climb on everything else but that!!!

She also could not WALK anywhere she had to RUN. She kept dragging her feet on the mat and falling face first into the floor. She never cried but I imagine she will be especially bruised in a few days. She ran over one little girl and a stroller running wild and not looking up. I swear that child has no fear and a very high pain tolerance.

I could barely catch a picture of her at all because she was running so fast!

Ethan loved everything about the play area! He kept going back to the big tree and playing with the big movable lady bugs.

He thought the little fence you could crawl through was really cool too. He was a bit bravery than Paige in the climbing aspect. He climbed on everything he could. He figured out how to climb up the little slide and refused to climb up the correct side. He kept getting in the bigger kids way of sliding but they were all very sweet and patient with him.

This is the right way up the slide and this would be the wrong way up the slide!

He also tried to escape a few time but it wasn't his main objective like his sister.

After I was sweating and exhausted from the play area we went for a stroll around the mall. The kids loved looking around at all the bright colorful things. We watched the carousel as I tried to decide whether I wanted to sit with both of them on a bench and ride it or not. I opted to wait for Daddy so they could both ride on a horse.

We parked on the second floor at the glass above the ice skating rink and watched the people skating while they enjoyed some animal crackers and water. They both enjoyed putting their feet on the glass in front of them. Sorry about that maintenance. We made our way back to the car and headed home for dinner. All in all we had a great time at the mall and we will definitely be back to burn off some energy in the future.

See why I was tired when we left... both kids going different directions.

Surgery everywhere!

I never heard from Melissa on Tuesday night about how her surgeon's appointment went and I was really starting to get worried. I sent her a text on Wednesday morning and found out she never called because she was admitted to the hospital Tuesday evening. She was in so much pain and they found out her gallbladder didn't have any gallstones; however, it was only working at 9%. It was inflamed and literally poisoning her body. She had it removed Wednesday night and got to come home yesterday evening.

Cheyenne is watching the kids until Melissa is back on her feet. When I talked to Melissa yesterday morning she seemed optimistic about being able to watch the kids next week again. Oh sweet Melissa you are crazy!!! Can you imagine having a two hour surgery, resting for a few days, and then taking care of four toddlers all day alone. She is officially crazier than I first thought. Just kidding, love you Melissa!

Cheyenne has made arrangements to watch the kids next week so Melissa can rest but I hope to get to go see her this weekend. Maybe I can take the kids for a short visit just so they can see each other. Remember the week before we were home because of Ethan's surgery and this week it was Melissa's surgery. Everyone is just out of wack around here lately and we all can't wait for life to settle back down into a boring routine!!!

The Hardest Thing We Have Ever Had To Do!

This Tuesday was not a good day in the Mayfield home. Tuesday morning Cheyenne came over to watch the kids because Melissa had another appointment in the middle of the day. Melissa was meeting with a surgeon to see about taking out her gallbladder. She has had problems with it over the past two years and she has been in a lot of pain lately. I opted to have Cheyenne bring Kingston over and keep the kids at home so Melissa could rest until her appointment. (Well rest as much as she could with her own twins still at home!)

When I came home at lunch Cheyenne said that Bruce our Boston terrier wouldn't come inside the house. I went out side to check on him and had to carry him back in the house. Bruce's problems started about a month ago when he started yelping in pain. He was leaning to the right and it was obvious that something was wrong with him. I took him to the vet on Sept 4th for the first visit and they diagnosed it as two ear infections with bacteria and yeast in both ears. That explained his pain and the problems standing his equilibrium was off.

Within two days I was back at the vet because he was getting worse. He was now vomiting and shaking. They decided that he needed nausea medicine because the pain pills were making him throw up all his medicines. We also had x rays done of his neck because they thought he had a slipped disk or something that was also affecting his legs. He would stand and his front feet would cross and slide until they gave out from under him. It was simply not good.

Throughout the last month he was on antibiotics, pain pills, nausea medicine, anti-inflammatories, and steroids. We took him to two different vets and had him tested for most everything they could test for. We didn't want to give up on him until we knew we had done everything possible to help him. On Tuesday evening I took Bruce to the vet one last time to see what else we could do. By this time he was not doing good at all. He couldn't stand up and he was in so much pain. The vet said it was obviously something neurological and to do anything further would mean taking him to a neurologist. Yes they have specialist for animals too. The vet said he would have to have many test to figure out what exactly was wrong and even if money was not an option his chances for recovery were slim. They think it was either cancer, a stroke, or meningitis but regardless there wasn't much more we could do for our baby Bruce.

I took Bruce home to tell Dallas the horrible news. We got Bruce as Dallas' birthday present when we lived in Mansfield so many years ago. Bruce was our first little bubba and we have truly lost a family member. We decided we could no longer allow him to live in such pain and we knew we had to let him go. We put Bruce to sleep on Tuesday night and it was the hardest thing we have ever had to do. Today is one of the first days I can even talk about it without getting sick to my stomach. Our house has not been the same and probably never will be. Zoe and Brianna are just now starting to understand he isn't coming back home. In the weeks to come I imagine it will get easier but so far I am so deeply sad words can't even explain it...

Our first three children.

Bruce and Zoe were play buddies.

He loved to bark and hear himself talk.


He liked his sleep too!


When we had the carpets cleaned he just followed the furniture.

Rest in Peace Bubba Bruce. You were a great dog!

Swimming in balls!

I told mom that the kids were getting bored being at home and she might have to be inventive to keep them happy Sunday while we were gone to the Cowboys game. When we got home this is what we found.

How does she come up with this stuff? The kids loved everything about the swimming pool full of balls! The balls don't go everywhere like they do when the kids dump over the ball pit. They liked getting in and out, in and out, in and out. They loved walking around in the balls kicking them too.

They woke up Monday morning and watched their morning cartoon in the ball pool. Too cute!

Of course Daddy had to join the kids in the swimming pool when he got home from work on Monday evening. Daddy and Ethan made up a new game. They would go crazy and move all the balls around and then stop. They would wait a minute and say "go" and do it again. Ethan loved being the one in control of the "go" and it wasn't long before Paige joined in the game as well. Surprisingly she actually let Ethan continue to control when they went crazy. Enjoy!

Don't you hate it when you ruin a video by laughing or talking.
I couldn't help but laugh they were so funny :)



I couldn't chose between these two so you get both.

Cowboys game

Months and months ago I purchased tickets for the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Washington Redskins game this past Sunday. At the time I didn't know it was Kingston's first birthday. Cheyenne decided to do a Cowboys themed birthday party on Sunday and have everyone stay for the game after the party. I called her as soon as I found out the date and told her we had tickets for the game and wouldn't be able to come. She was of course disappointed since Kingston's best little friend is Ethan. Dallas and I decided that since the game wasn't anything special we would go to a different game, sell these tickets, and go to the birthday party instead. Well it was a good plan but it didn't work out that way.

I put the tickets up for sale on Stubhub but do to the high seller fees I had to charge more than I paid to even make most of my money back. They weren't selling on Stubhub so I moved the listing to Craigslist. I had two interested people but neither one of them worked out. On the Saturday before the game I was texting and calling everyone I could think of trying to get rid of the tickets. I helped Cheyenne get ready for the birthday party late Saturday night and I thought I had found a buyer but in the end that fell through as well.

At this point I started offering the extra ticket to people to go with Dallas and I would take the kids to the birthday party. My older brother didn't want to go and Dallas' dad didn't even want to go. I could not believe how difficult it was to get someone to go to a Cowboys game with him. It would have been no problem finding a taker if I had been giving the ticket away for free but we just couldn't afford to lose that kind of money. They were very good seats and I wasn't "giving" them to anyone.

Sunday morning I called Cheyenne and told her we weren't coming. I decided to go to the game with Dallas and called mom to come babysit last minute. She threw down everything and rushed over to keep the kids. We are soooooo spoiled with such amazing grandparents!!!! Cheyenne was disappointed but she knew I tried my best to make it all work out and it just wasn't happening.

Dallas and I threw stuff together to go to the game and headed out around 12:45 pm. We hit traffic and it was not moving. We decided to take a chance on a sign that said Gold/ $ parking. We debated for quite some time whether we should take the path less followed or continue to sit in the non moving line that we knew led to general parking. We followed the empty path and were told no way, no how by a cop guarding the entrance. It was apparently Gold parking only and some idiot put a $ for no reason. Yes sarcasm intended! We kept going and ended up parking in the University of Dallas parking lot for $20 and the stadium wasn't any further than it would have been from general.

We decided not to grill the hot dogs we had brought since we were on the side of a street. We sat out behind the car drank a few beers that weren't $8.00 a pop and talked with all the other fans. We headed up to the game and I realized immediately how badly I need new shoes. It was a good 10 to 15 mins walk to the stadium and in the gate. We got in the gate and realized we were on the opposite side of the stadium from our seats. We started the walk around the stadium to our seats. They were definitely the best seats we have ever had at Texas Stadium. We were only 19 rows from the field and they were aisle seats so we had extra room. The only problem was that the seats were in the sun for over half of the game but we both had wore hats so we were good.

Farwell Texas Stadium. Of course D had to add to the 'wall' of beer!

We had a great time at the game even though the Cowboys were not in attendance that day. You could tell from the minute the offense hit the field that they were not having a good day. Poor Tony Romo just didn't have his game together that day. He was over throwing people and receivers were dropping everything he did manage to get to them. Safe to say I wish they would have won but we did have a great time.

I do have to say that the 15 mins truck back to the car was like the walk of shame. I would say 3/4 of the entire crowd if not more were Cowboys fans and not a one was happy afterwards. It felt like we were walking Green Mile back to the parking lot. Oh and then the ride home with my Cowboys obsessed husband... we won't even go there.

And here come the boys... D can't stand Rowdy, ha.

Kneeling before the game. Witten's touchdown!

Sun anyone? Can you tell by D they aren't doing well.

Huddle up boys. Come on Tony... is Jessica here or what!


The ultimate fan. Witten what a man... he he

Touchdown! But it was just too late...

The birthday party went really well and I am eager to see pictures and video from it.
Happy 1st Birthday Kingston!

Friday after surgery

Friday after surgery we went ahead and kept the kids home because Melissa had a doctors appointment in the middle of the day. Dallas and I had both been off all week with Ethan and we needed to go to work. I worked half a day while Cheyenne watched them and then I kept them once I got home. Ethan was still cranky but he was running all over the house and we had to move all the climbable toys out in the garage.

Friday evening Melissa brought Addi and Landon over so they could visit Ethan. Melissa had only seen him one time that week and wanted to come check on him. When she walked in the door with Landon Ethan almost came unglued. He was so excited!!! Landon didn't know what to do first so he ran in circles in the playroom deciding where to begin. Melissa walks back in with Addison and they were off. The kids played like they hadn't seen each other in months! They played from 3:30 until 6! I was a little worried that Ethan was playing too hard but I figured if he felt like it then he was okay. He hadn't seen his friends in a week and he missed them very much. It was really fun to watch them all play together and Melissa and I had a while to chat as well.

Can you imagine taking care of all four of these kids 5 days a week!
Yes, Melissa is nuts!!! She calls them her quads :)


Aw how cute! The boys are both smiling and the girls look annoyed as usual.


Ethan was in the yellow bucket so of course everyone wanted in the yellow bucket. To avoid world war III we got everyone their own colored bucket. Then we realized- Photo Opp!!!

And the pain meds wore off...

At 4 am that morning we were awoke by Ethan screaming bloody murder. I ran in his room and got him. The pain medicine and epidural had obviously worn off and he was not a happy camper. He was on fire which they said he would have a fever. We tried to get him to eat some because we didn't want the medicine to make him sick. We gave him his pain medicine and laid him in bed with us. Before long he started throwing up from the medicine. We spent the rest of the night up trying to make him feel better. The only thing that would make him happy was being held upright and rocking. As soon as the time had passed we gave him some Tylenol for his fever and he went to sleep for about an hour before sister woke us all up.

I ran and took Paige to Melissa's and stopped by to get things we needed from Walgreens. By the time I returned he was miserable. The day after surgery was horrible. He was in so much pain and didn't know why. He would try to walk or bend down and cry. It was so sad. I didn't have to worry about keeping him from moving that day poor little guy didn't want to move.

By later that evening he was feeling a little better but still couldn't move very well so I sat him up on the couch with all the books he could read. He spent forever flipping through each one over and over. He was probably enjoying the uninterrupted book time. Paige was still at Melissa's and he could turn the pages as slow as he wanted without her doing it for him.

It was about 5:30 pm the day after surgery and Ethan still hadn't had a dirty diaper. He was obviously constipated from the codeine in the medicine and I called the doctor. I ran to Walgreens and got the supostiories he told me to and within 5 minutes he was finally able to poo. The poor little boy was so exhausted he passed out right then with no dinner or anything. All in all it was a long day but we made it through it.

The next morning he woke up all smiles! Yeah!!! He was still sore and cranky but on a whole he was a different child. Thank goodness it is over.

Ethan's insistion.
It's shiny because of the glue they used to seal the outside.
He had dis solvable stitches on the inside.

We made it through surgery.

Once he was in the operating room they gave him scented gas to put him to sleep. They did the painful things like iv and the epidural once he was asleep. The surgery didn't even take an hour.

Dallas had ran down stairs to get us something to eat while we waited and I chatted with other waiting parents. They called my name and took me to a consultation room. I started to panic and called Dallas. Most of the doctors had come out into the waiting room and told the parents about the surgery and how their child was doing. Why were we in a consultation room??? Was something wrong with my baby??? Why the hell won't Dallas answer his phone??? I tried to calm down and wait for the doctor. I was starting to pace in the room when I saw Dallas looking in the window over his strategically constructed food and drink tower. I was at once relieved that he was now in the room with me. Whatever they had to tell me I could deal with now.

The doctor came in and told us everything went well. Apparently he always pulls his patients in the room to give them privacy. Oh my goodness what a relief. We went back into the waiting room and waited for them to call us when Ethan started waking up. We ate our breakfast and all I could think was "Okay, just wake up and we are good."

It wasn't too long before they came out and called our name. We both jumped up and ran in the room. Our little man was in the very back of the room and was stretching like he had a great nap. I picked him up and held him. It felt so good to hold him as he held on tight to my neck as I rocked him. It took him a while to wake up and Dallas and I traded turns rocking him until then.

Once he was good and awake we needed to get him to drink something. He was not interested in his sippy cup so the nurse suggested a popsicle. She brought us one of those rainbow popsicles that you had in elementary school. He has never had a popsicle so he had no idea why we were trying to put that big toy looking object in his mouth. He finally decided to trust us and that was all it took. He ate the entire thing in a minute biting off an entire color with each bite. I thought he probably shouldn't eat this entire thing but there was no stopping him.

All we had to do now was wait to be checked out. At this point Ethan wanted to go exploring this new room full of gadgets so we were eager to go. The check out process took a little longer than I would have liked but we were fine. They ask us if Ethan would like a wagon and we said of course. I tried to prop his pillow up in the wagon so he could see but he didn't want it that way. He wanted to lay flat so he scooted down and laid flat on the bottom. I covered him with his blanket, gave him bear, and we were on our way home. He watched so intently while he was escorted out in his wagon. The nurse said he looked like one that would cry when she took the wagon and sure enough he did. We put him in the car and he reached for the wagon crying. He looked so funny laying on the bottom of that thing not moving one muscle.

We had to stop a couple of times on the way home because he kept throwing up different colors of the rainbow popsicle from the anesthesia. Once we arrived home him and I sat in the recliner and he ate crackers and watched tv. He ended up eating half of a package of crackers and two plain pancakes with water. I was sure he would sleep the rest of the day but I was so wrong. We got him to nap for about an hour and half then he got up to eat again. We pretty much laid in our bed and watched tv most of the day. He wanted to get up and run around and we couldn't allow him to. Once Paige got home their was no stopping him he wanted to play with her. I was so shocked! I thought he would be miserable not running around stressing us out about ripping stitches.

We gave him his pain medicine and put them both to bed. I was now very worried about what tomorrow would be like trying to keep him still...