i'm pretty much done.....

....with this whole blog thing. it was just a phase, and, honestly, i'm quite bored with it. you can check out updates on my myspace (www.myspace.com/afwifeandmon) and bailey's myspace (www.myspace.com/baileybetz) and leave comment there for us. i will periodically be posting interesting news and new pics there.

Naked Irbing

Caden: "No, call me Naked Irbing."

me: "What?"

Caden: "My name is Naked Irbing."

me: "Who?"

Caden: "Naked Irbing."

Cam: "Yankee Irving, mommy."

Caden: "Ya, Nakee Irbing from my baseball movie."

Caden's all-time favorite movie is Everyone's Hero. It's about a little boy named Yankee Irving who follows the Yankees to take Babe Ruth his baseball bat. It's totally cute, and Caden wants to be him! The bad guy in the movie (a pitcher from another team) has his famous "booger ball" he throws. Caden even named his hampster "Booger Ball."

He now insists we call him "Nakee Irbing" throughout the day :o) Very appropriate for the kid who loves to show everyone his "nakee" parts :o)

cheers....have a good day!

given up

i hate to admit it, but i've pretty much given up this whole blogging thing. it is way to time-consuming, and to be honest with you, i really hate the idea of re-living every day. believe me, some days i wish never would have happened to begin with.....like the day caden told me to eat his "fucking food"....yes, i know, my own fault. i told him to eat his fucking food (after asking him nicely at least 25 times) and he preceeded to tell me, "No, you eat my fucking food!" that is just one example.



my days are so full. bennett now goes to pre-school with caden and cam on mon, wed, and fri. that leaves me going to the gym, taking tennis lessons, and having coffee/lunch with my girlfriends. i lead a rough life....what can i say? tues and thurs are my days to hang out and play with bennett....we always get a nap together also. again, rough life :o) let me add i STILL get up at 4:00 am every morning to get my early-morning workout also. THAT is why i still take naps!
todd usually gets home from work around 6.....we give the boys baths and throw them in bed by 7:30. i'm usually asleep on the couch by 8 or 8:30. todd goes back to work for a couple more hours or studies. we are boring :o) we manage to have date night once a week and hit the club a few times a month though :o)


enough of me, let me add some pics of the boys.....

here they are dressed up for their christmas program at school

cam with his prize possession! the ladies at the photo lab loved this so much, they are using it at the bx as a demo picture :o)

little boo is getting so big. he is going poopy and peepee in the potty every day now. he is still in diapers, but he wakes up dry from nap and goes straight into the potty room :o)

more to come later today :o) todd is golfing, and i've got to get these little monsters outside before they drive me nutso!

I'm finally back

Blogs came two or three times a week, then once a week, then once every two weeks, once a month.......now hardly ever! Once I get behind, I get SO far behind. I hate playing catch-up, and I hate to skip anything. Well, I have to skip now that it's been 6 weeks!


Things have been so busy! The kids are growing so quickly, I can hardly keep up with them. The twins teach Bennett everything, good and bad. He is so smart (and devilish) for his age. I can't believe he will be 18 months old next week. His dimples are so big, they are like craters in his cheeks when he smiles :o) He is working on potty training and doing very well. He doesn't tell me when he has to go, but when I sit him down he pushes and will usually do something in the potty :o) He is well on his way and should be diaper-free well before his second birthday! Can't wait!!!!


Caden is turning into my little love bug. He is such a great buddy when Cam is not around. He is so helpful and well-behaved. He is a great big brother to Bennett and just an all-around sweet boy when he's solo.


Cam is my charmer. He knows what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. It's hard to tell that little cutie pie "no" for anything. He just opens those baby blues really wide and stares innocently into your eyes. Speaking of Cam, I got to go on a trip with him to Nagasaki last week. He had a modeling job for Maclaren strollers, and I had to go with him since he's only three. It was fun to spend time with him alone. Todd took leave to hang with the other kiddos! Bailey also had a modeling job last week. He shot for two days with Nike for their spring line. We found out he had the cover shot, so we are very excited to see the catalog :o) Aside from missing two days of school to model, Bailey has been hitting the books hard. He always has lots of algebra and Japanese homework, but those are his favorite subjects, so he doesn't complain too much. He might get his first B this year.....he has a teacher who's out to get him! She even told me during parent/teacher conferences, "I'm afraid he defines himself by that A. What's going to happen when he doesn't get an A?" I felt like saying, "Well, Bitch, let's not find out!" I just smiled instead. I know she wants to "break" him so badly. She's a B-I-T-C-H, and I'm just waiting for the day for the big battle between momma and teacher! Oh, I will SO win!


On a happier note, next week is the promotion listing. We are very excited to see Todd's name on it!!!! Of course, it will still be at least another year before he is actually promoted, but we'll know he's been selected :o) Whoo hoo.....pay raise for momma!!!!!


The boys are super spun up for Christmas. They are ALL about Santa Clause and the presents under the tree! They want to go see him EVERY day to remind him that they want a transformer movie. The little weirdos don't even know what transformers are......they hear Tristan (a friend at school) talk about his transformer movie, and they want one too. Santa will bring it though, because SHE is a good Santa and loves to see them smile and get so excited, but she also knows it will scare the pee right out of them! Live and learn, right?


Still hittin' the gym hard.....no buns of steel yet, but I feel good :o) I'm really addicted to it, actually. If I miss a day, I totally freak out about it and beat myself up. If my muscles aren't sore somewhere on my body, then I know I've been slacking and need to step it up :o)


Well, I'm going to go for now, but here are a couple of pics for you to enjoy!

Here's Cam with his "model" mommy. I took this during one of the shoots. He really liked Megan :o)

Here he is showing off his "press" pass he had to wear all day when he wasn't shooting. He thought that was pretty cool.

Should've known I couldn't get all three of them happy at once. Bennett walked right up to Santa, but as soon as he leaned towards him to pick him up, he lost it!

mmm, mmm, mmm......my little mini-me. He is my little darlin', sugar booger, honey bunny, cutie patootie!!!!!

......last but not least, Shaggy, I mean Bailey. His tennis coach tells me ALL THE TIME (he's my tennis coach also) to please get his hair cut. I want to SO badly! Bailey had to rub it in my face that Nike likes it long and he wouldn't have got the job if he got it cut short. So, now it will take some real bargaining to get him to cut it!

toodles for now :o)

cocktails

It's been rather uneventful around here, aside from the standard black eyes and bloody noses. Last night something blog-worthy happened though......hang on!

Todd has been working 15-16 hour days/nights this week, so the evening ritual is a little off you could say. Well, the baby finished dinner first, so he got thrown in the tub. Caden finished moments later and headed into the bathroom. He stripped and jumped in with Bennett. I left the room for less than 30 seconds (just enough time to take their dirty clothes to the laundry room). Sounds like a traumatic drowning or near-drowning story is about to happen, right? In some ways, I wish it was....but it's not. Okay. I walk back into the bathroom to find Caden still standing there....the baby staring at him, him staring at me. I stopped and asked, "What's wrong?" He started coughing and throwing up immediately after I asked him what was wrong. I thought, "Oh my gosh....poor kid....what happened?" When he was done puking he looked at me and smiled. I asked, "Are you okay?" as I preceeded to drain the tub with "chunks" of dinner (chili, of all things!!!!) in it, as the baby started fishing for pieces. Caden started laughing hysterically and said, "I ate pee!" I thought I misunderstood him and gave him my puzzled look. He said it again. "I ate pee!" By now, Bailey was in the bathroom laughing so hard I thought he was going to pee himself. I asked him how he ate pee and he showed me. He stood there and showed me how he peed in the cup I use to rinse out his hair......"then I drink it" he says to me. I asked him if it tasted good (trying not to throw up myself). He said, "No, it make me puke."

As I tucked him in bed later that night, he hugged and kissed me (anybody else out there ever kissed someone who puked pee??????) and said, "I'm sorry I ate pee, Mommy."

Have a good week, y'all.........I hope I survive mine!

a few last pics before i go to bed.....

We are finally getting into coloring. It took a while, actually mommy didn't think we'd ever be able to sit still long enough to color a picture, but we're coming around.

I can only assume they spend a lot of time coloring at school. They went from never coloring at home (maybe a scribble here and there on some scratch paper) to coloring IN THE LINES! Cam is so very careful when he colors (Caden, not so much) that he takes forever to color something....it has to be perfect! I love it! Caden tries hard but doesn't have half the attention span that Cam does.
Caden is trying to open his eyes for the camera here. Every time I grab the camera, he smiles so big that his eyes close. I keep saying, "open your eyes", byt then he opens his eyes and stops smiling. Here he's trying to do both. You can see by the forced look on his face that he can't do two things fully at once.
I got these cute little racing helmets for the three LITTLE ones, but Bailey has more fun "racing" around the house with them than Bennett does.
Cam and Bennett taking a ride on the carpet roll :o)
Cam loves to sit on the counter and eat "pup cakes"..........they are really just muffins :o)

my munchkins

Little boys in such a big world. When we go to the aquarium, they get "lost" in amazement. They love seeing all the wonders of the ocean up so close. Seeing that excitement and curiosity in their eyes makes we wonder what is going on in their little minds. Anytime I watch them experience something that requires so much of their senses, it makes me feel so lucky and blessed to have healthy children. It breaks my heart to think of children who are either unable (physical or mental disability or handicap) to experience or just not afforded the opportunity (for whatever reason) to experience that sensory overload that is so important for little creatures :o)


Japanese people (especially teenage girls) love American kids.....especially blonde hair, blue eye kids. I think blonde hair is lucky or something. They love getting their picture taken with them.....wish I could say the same for my kids. I think they are used to it, because they do it everywhere we go. I don't think they understand why strangers take their pictures all the time though. Caden took the time to humor these girls though. They must have taken 20 different poses!
Now that the boys are in the 3-year-old room, they don't nap anymore. It's crazy, because Bailey was still taking naps in Kindergarten in the states. Not here.....at three is when they really start learning in school.....no time for naps. They fall asleep in the car on the way home from school every day when I pick them up at 3:00. They are still easily transportable from the car to the couch.....never wake up! They usually wake up just before dinner at 5:00 and still go to bed at 7:00. If only I could get them to sleep past 5:30 in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Skipping naps and going to bed later doesn't make a difference.....whether they go to bed at 7:00 or 10:00, they are still up EVERY morning at 5:30......it sucks!

a few of my favorites

Not many things can stand up to an Oreo grin :o) As much as I hate messes, I can't help but smile when I see something yummy "left-over." The funniest is when they've "found" (aka - stolen) something and tried to "deny" (aka - lie) eating it when there is evidence from nostrils to chins. That wasn't the case here though :o)

Bennett loves to go to the aquarium. There is one place that is a huge tunnel.....thousands of fish and sharks (including an enormous whale shark) swim all around and over you. You can see from the million dollar smile that he's probably peeing himself he's so excited!

Crayons are for coloring, Bennett, not eating! You'd think they taste pretty yummy though, judging how often I find him eating them. It's so hard to correct him when he flirts with me like that :o)
Oh my gosh, we love bathtime. It is by FAR his favorite activity at home.We like it in the morning, the mid-morning, the early afternoon, the late afternoon, and at night. I find him in the bathtub all day long begging me (grunting and pointing) to "fill 'er up!" He likes at least one bath by himself every day when the brothers are at school and then again with them at night. We have so many animals in there that love to be washed! We line them all up, then knock them down into the water.....over and over again :o)

brotherly love

Every once in a while, I'll catch them being nice to each other :o) They are usually competing for EVERYTHING, but sometimes they're caught just being friends. That makes all the stress worth it. They were actually all three sitting down on the couch watching tv, and Caden reached over to put his arm around his baby brother.
Bennett was begging for cereal, and Caden actually fed him HIS cereal. It almost brought tears to my eyes. Seems like something all siblings do, right? Not my Caden.....this was notable behavior for him :o)
Somebody got into the winter drawer and decided to dress up the baby! They were all laughing, so I didn't care. They could be drowning each other, but all long as they are all happy, it's all good!
Bennett loves loves loves to hang on his biggest brother :o) He thinks Bailey is the best buddy in this world.

I couldn't imagine being one of four brothers. I bet in some ways it would totally suck but in other ways it would so much fun. Even though Bailey is so much older than the midgets, I hope they are all close when they grow up. The three little ones have the opportunity to be best friends all through school and life, and I hope Bailey doesn't "grow out" of them when he gets into high school and college. I know they will look up to him so much and look forward to his visits home. Right now, I think they think of him more of another parent than a brother, but I hope that will come later :o)

first day of school

Here's my little heart-breaker on the first day of school. I'm glad he looks younger than he is, because once the girls start flocking I won't be able to keep them off him. I'd like to postpone that as long as possible! I don't think any girl is good enough for my Bailey. He's truly awesome:o) He's very bored in school. He has over 100% in most of his classes, and it just isn't challenging. Even algebra is easy for him. At open house, his algebra teacher was telling me how Bailey is his "go to" man. He said if anyone important (ex. principal) comes in the room, he always calls on Bailey to answer questions because he's always right. He'll ask kids to answer questions, and after a few of them have answered incorrectly, someone shout out, "Why don't you just ask Bailey?" The eigth graders give him gum and candy to borrow his notes :o) That is funny to me......not that he is the nerdy 7th grader in the class full of "advanced" 8th graders, but that people give him stuff. Bailey bargains with them too.........."What's in it for me?"

He asked me today if he should go to an Ivy League school or the Air Force Academy. What 7th grader worries about that kind of stuff???????????????????????????? I told him the AF Academy is free if he is accepted, and he informed me that he planned on getting a scholarship to Princeton. hahahahahahahaha......smart, but still naive :o) gotta love him....he's a doll!