The past week

We started on Sunday morning by participating in the March of Dimes Walk for Babies. We walked with Lisa's friends from her SJMOMs club. Here is a pic of the whole group: three couples and eight kids.


Today was the first day that the girls were able to go outside since we bought them a new playhouse for the yard. We got it on Friday, but it has rained just about every day since then.

All three in the house


Lila doesn't pose for more than a second



















Ava smiles



















Livi loves picture taking



















I also added some pics to the photobucket site.

Sickos

Mike and I have been called this (and worse) on several occasions in our life but this week we earned it! Lila kicked the week off on Tues by throwing her guts up in the Moorestown Mall food court. Yum - I was telling people "don't have the sushi"! Just joking. But it was really gross. The car smelled so bad that Olivia was looking like she was going to get sick on the way home. Of course this was after we spent an hour in the Sears portrait studio trying to get 18 month pictures. You can use your imagination to figure out how that went - Hint - you won't be getting any in the mail soon. Lila was sick all day and I took her to the pediatrician on Wed. I was not expecting the doc to tell me she had a respiratory virus. She had a breathing treatment in the office and they sent us home with a nebulizer. Then I realized that Olivia had the same cough and green stuff coming out of her nose. So I had to bring Lila back on Thurs for a follow up and made Liv an appt at the same time. Turns out at the second appt that Liv has the same virus. They are both on the same breathing treatment/steroid regimen. I prayed that none of the other babies would get sick to their stomach. Apparently, I was not specific enough. I spent all of Wed night throwing up and Mike had the opposite problem (if you get what I mean!). We were able to pull it together for the second dr's appt (third in a week if you count Liv and her croup - see other post). Lila's breathing had improved already so that is a good sign. Luckily today seemed to be the turning point and we are all on the mend. All but Ava, who never got anything!! So far, so good...

Never the ones to slow down, Sunday is our March of Dimes walk. We are adding two new little team members in our hearts this year. We will be thinking of Adam and Lily and walking for their future. They are my friend Lisa's twins who were born at 24 weeks. They are critical but stable right now. This is extremely early and they face a long road but with the great medical care they are receiving, we all remain optimistic. Hopefully next year they will walk with us!! If you haven't already, please consider donating to our team. There are so many babies that benefit from this money. We are extremely lucky that our girls are doing so well. Although Mike said it is because they got some of their mother's stubborness! What do you all think? On second thought, maybe I don't want to know!!!

www.marchforbabies.com/thezinkgirls

A busy weekend

It all started on Thurs when Olivia woke up with croup. The pediatrician told me to take her into the bathroom with the steam to help clear it up. So, into the bathroom went me, the three girls, puzzles and milk cups. Luckily I was able to call for back up and grandmom came to the rescue. Liv is feeling better, well, except for the canine teeth she is cutting right now. They are making her kinda miserable. But we tried to make the most of the nice weather. Friday Mike worked a half day and we went up to Washington's Crossing in the afternoon. Mike and I really like the state park up there, we used to bike ride all the time there. First we stopped at one of the picnic spots and played in the playground. After snack, we tried to relive the old days! We got out the bikes, the double bike trailer, and the bike seat. After switching girls between the trailer and the seat, we settled on Lila riding with me in the seat and Liv and Ava in the trailer. We got about 1/2 mile before Liv freaked out so we switched her with Lila. That was fine until Lila bit Ava in the trailer!!! Needless to say, we hightailed it back to the car to unload!!

After our Friday adventure, we decided we needed more fun on Sat. So, after lunch we packed up for Great Adventure! Mike and I have season passes and the girls are free until age 2. They have alot of kids stuff there. We went to Wiggles World and let the girls play in Captain Feathersword's play area. Then we walked around and took the girls on a ride. It was a little hot air balloon type ride, we went on it with them, they hated it when we were on it and screamed to do it again when we got off!! Lucky for us the wiggles show was about to begin. We sat down for snack (we often have to stop for snack!!) and watched the show. When the characters would go off the stage in between songs, Lila would cry! Like really get upset, the people around us were actually laughing! Of course, we have our share of bumps in the road. Like deciding to drive the girls through the safari at GA. That wasn't the problem, deciding to let them out of the car seats to see the animals better was the problem. We spent most of the safari juggling babies from the front seat to the back or putting the windows back up after they found the automatic buttons. We had our own safari in the truck!!

Saturday night, Mike and I got some "us time". We went to a fundraiser for our friend and trainer Dorothy. Her daughter has MS (and twin boys!) and they walk every year in a 30 mile weekend walk to raise money for research for MS. The team held a beef and beer and chinese auction. We actually won a basket, a gift certificate to a restaurant and movie tickets!! We also got to meet Dorothy's charming husband Don! Thanks Dorothy and Don for a fun night!!

Words at last!!

Ava's first official word is 'turtle'. Yes, she says turtle. They all say the usual mama,dada,poppop and mommom. But this is her first attempt at other words. Lila has been talking for a few weeks but it is quite subjective. We can usually interpret based on the situation. Like peeking her head around a corner and saying "eariam" which we assume is "here I am". Other ones are "earyougo" and "whatdat". And don't forget her famous "diggum" which has come to have many meanings. Olivia, as usual, is on her own schedule and when she feels like it i guess she will start with words. She really picked up the sign language and she usually uses that. I'm still teaching them new signs. We are working on "pretty" right now.

As far as play, the girls are totally into their baby dolls right now. They feed them sippy cups and we change their clothes. The best is when they put the little baby doll diaper bag on their arm and walk around with the baby. Liv is a machine when it comes to puzzles. She will sit and put the pieces in and then take them out and start over. Lila and Ava like the puzzles too but they just kinda put the pieces near where they go! I bought the girls play cell phones and they love those too. Ava walks around "talking" to daddy.

Today was the auction luncheon for my moms of multiples club. Just to keep the streak alive, we didn't win a single thing!! We had a good time anyway. A nice afternoon out with just the ladies!

Here are some new pics.



Liv looking cool in mom's sunglasses!


The girls at the petting zoo at the phila zoo. They love the animals!!
Rockin' babies in their rockin' ride!!!

Ava is giving somebody the business on her phone!!

Night at the Park

After dinner tonight we walked the girls over to Heritage Park. They love to climb up the jungle gym and go down the slide. Lila actually likes the shaky bridge. She also would not pose for a picture unless Lisa held her still.



Livi decided she was ready to go, so we packed up and headed back home.

Dad's new toy

I got a Macbook Air from work last week and started playing with some of its applications. They have a movie creator called iMovie that lets you create and edit home movies. I decided to take a bunch of the girls' pictures and make a little movie out of them. I added a soundtrack as well. The song is "She's the One" by The Ramones. I apply the lyrics to each of them.





We spent the weekend in Sea Isle and took the girls to the boardwalk on Saturday. Lila loves the rides. She pointed furiously towards the fire engine ride. Ava got upset before the ride started, so she didn't ride. Livi was a bit scared on the carousel, so we didn't want to push it. Here is a shot of Lila riding the fire engines all by her lonesome.