Bike riding with the "babies"

I never get her to smile for pictures...

 Parker posing for the camera...

She insists on the hat being backwards!

Her Strawberry Shortcake bike

9 months and 25 pounds

The 9 month old weighs as much as the 2 year old!!! At Paxton's last checkup he weighed in at 25 pounds (weighing as much as Piper does) but is doing well. He is still on his reflux meds and is probably going to have his tongue tie cut soon. We are in the process of figuring all that out with the doctors and the insurance company. It is a full on tongue tie that is causing trouble with swallowing (often results in throwing up) and will most likely result in speech problems.

I just want to eat him up!! :)

Time... where does it go???

I wish I had time to post everyday, there is so much I would like to share with you all - but the best I can offer is catch up days with piles of posts!

I thought I didn't have any more race day photos, but here are some of the kids and their face paint as well as one of me running taken just before the finish line.

 Piper isn't much for having her picture taken these days...

 I'm in the pink shirt, behind the woman in the blue shirt and hat.

A day at the park

As of late we have been spending just about every day at the park. Its nice because 3 of the 4 can do so much by themselves and can have the freedom to run around and play. Pax loves to sit in the stroller and take it all in or go for a ride in the swing.

I soooo need to run!!!

Jeff went to Chicago for work this past week - he left the day after my race so it was a whirlwind of a weekend with a lot of time spent in the car back and forth to Philly and then he left the next day. So we were already starting the week off on a bad note with the kids just bouncing off the walls and exhausted all at the same time!

I decided not to ask anyone for help the first night, figuring I could handle it. I wasn't completely stressed and figured, how bad can it really be?? Well, grabbing them dinner, going to Target to pick up formula for Pax, going to the park, and then coming home for bed, turned into one of the most stressful nights I have had in such a long time. Between a diaper leakage, Parker having an "accident" at the the park which resulted in my throwing the underwear away and not having a spare outfit (yes, I was THAT mom at the park with her kid who had wet pants and was still playing!!), Piper climbing out of her crib for the first time (and not the last time!), and another "accident" on top of the normal routine of taking care of them, I ended my very first night of 4 by myself in tears!!

If only it ended there.... it was just nonstop craziness for the next 4 days. As mentioned before, Paxton has a tongue tie which often results in him throwing up his babyfood because he can't control the food going down as well. The reflux also doesn't help this issue either. It just makes him more prone to throwing up at the slightest gag. So as you can see, this was a good one. I kept Jeff up to date with many photos throughout the week. :) This being one of them.... This was also just as I was about to walk out the door for an appt for Parker (will go into detail about that later). Thankfully Denise (Jeff's mom) was able to come over that night and help me!

Our poor little 3 year old with the worst allergies!!!! He is on Allegra twice a day, Nasonex once a day, perscription eye drops, and then Visine throughout the day as needed to wash away allergens he has been exposed to in high doses. Its never ending and exhausting for him and for me!! This resulted from playing at the park, getting allergens on his hands, and then rubbing them into his eyes. They said this will keep happening and there is nothing that can be done about it - we just have to do our best to keep him from rubbing his eyes. Sure, you tell a 3 yr old not to blow dandelion seeds all over the place, rub flowers on his face, roll in the grass and dirt, keep his brother from blowing them all over him, and then as soon as his eyes start to itch - keep him from itching them!!! Yeah right!!!! It means a lot of hand washing the second we walk in the door, shoes off immediately, clothes changed before napping and then again when he goes out again, faced washed constantly... Its heartbreaking to see him like this and to hear him ask for eye drops so that his eyes aren't itchy!!

All of this happened by Tuesday. If only I could say the week got better.  Piper climbed out of her crib three times in one night until she finally hit her head on the floor - I say finally because now she's too scared to do it again! At least that's what I'm counting on.

Thanks to Denise and my parent's for all their help!

Thankfully Jeff is home and despite him having to work on Mother's Day, it turned out to be a pretty good day which ended with a glass of MUCH needed wine and some time to relax with him.

Very anxious to get back to running to relieve some stress. Be careful Jeff, I might not come back!! :)

Finished!

10 mile race - check. Haven't run in a week - check. Eating everything in sight and not running a single thing off - check!!

Well, I did it! I may not have been the fastest, my butt may have been dragging across that finish line, but I can proudly say that I ran the whole thing and am anxiously considering a half marathon in Philadelphia in September!

As many of you mom's know, life usually revolves around the kids and nothing else, especially if you don't work outside of the home and doing this race was "my thing". My connection to the real world. Often, people would ask what are your hobbies? What do you do? Sadly, I didn't really have an answer... I worked myself through college, got married, and then worked 60 hr weeks right out of college and didn't really pour myself into anything. Then I found running after having Peyton. It has become my outlet, my stress reliever, my hobby.  I was so grateful to be able to do this, something for me. I am so thankful to Jeff for all the support and encouragement throughout the whole process. I'm so glad I got to share this victory with you!

Unfortunately, I don't really have any photos of the race, except one pre-race and one post-race taken on a cell phone.
My race buddies - Sandie and Faith                                          Awful picture - but post race in the car

Go Phillies

He surprisingly leaves this one and doesn't even reach up to touch it! We'll see how long that lasts!

Piper's beard! :)

Gotta love Emeril's Spaghetti and Meatballs (its like Spaghettios sauce almost - is orange and stains EVERYTHING - hence the reason she is naked!)

Its been a while...

Its been a while since I have updated you on anything that is going on around here! Peyton just started Pony B Little league and is doing well.

Paxton is into everything BUT baby toys now!

You see how he is reaching OVER all the baby toys to get the big kid toys?!

 My 10 mile run is less than 2 weeks away! Ahhhhhh!!!!! And we are anxiously waiting for the weather to warm up and stay that way!

Laundry, laundry, and more laundry

It feels like all I EVER do is laundry!! By the time I get done one weeks worth of laundry (I do laundry almost everday, but I also have a "laundry day") its time to do another weeks worth of laundry again!! Believe it or not, this is also with FOUR loads of laundry already washed!!!!

Easter preview

The boys...

Sissy - she would only sit still for a second but we got this one!

All four of them - the only one that turned out! Pretty good considering three of them are 3 and under!

Look who turned 3!

He's turning into such a little man. No more baby. :( I haven't updated professional photos with him since last year and he has changed sooo much! He has lost all of his baby looks.

This is the beloved "Fra Fra" (aka Zebra) that he sleeps with every night. We had a Fra Fra party for him too! (Fra Fra came about because that's how he learned to say zebra and it just stuck as his name)

This just makes me giggle!

Birthday party Part 1

We always celebrate with the kids on their real birthdays as well as have a party for them. It was beautiful weather out, so after dinner and chocolate cake we went outside for a walk and to play in the yard. We came back in to open presents.

 "Yes, I blew out the candle!"

Best buds...

Piper wearing her dinner on her shirt....

 Its not too clear in this photo, but Peyton has lost two teeth on the bottom...

 Jungle Book 1...

 Dragon car that goes with the castle they got for Christmas...

What's new?

What's new here at the Borchelt household? Well I'll tell you...

I'm training to run in the 10 mile Broad Street Run in Philadelphia on Sunday May 1st! I'm nervous beyond belief, but its something that I have been thinking of doing for quite some time now. The only goal I have set right now is to cross the finish line (and not in last place!) There's not a whole lot of training time outside except on the weekends, but I have been getting in some intense workouts on the treadmill too!

Parker is potty trained!!!! For about a month now he has been potty trained and is doing great! I tried to train him a few months ago with no luck, but just recently I got annoyed with 3 in diapers enough to just try again. It only took about a week or two until he was telling us all by himself and we RARELY have an accident. Now its only two in diapers!!! YAY!

 Parker and Peyton now share a room. It hasn't been going as well as I would like, but hopefully we will get there soon. Parker has a hard time falling asleep and is usually still talking at 10:30 and is up really early (for him anyway). Unfortunately he's waking up a lot in the middle of the night too. Its exhausting to say the least. It makes for a long night of not much sleep for me or him and a long day with a grouchy kid!

Paxton moved over to Parker's old room and Jeff and I got our room back, well sort of; there's now a treadmill in our room instead of a crib!