The Sheehan Blog Has Moved!

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We didn’t want to offend Baby B (Girl) so we created a new blog. For new updates, please visit http://thesheehanfour.blogspot.com/.

A Future Bassmaster?

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Scott promised that he would take Sam fishing at Hermann Park this week and it has rained every day since. We got a slight break in the weather this morning so Scott & Sam put on their fishing shirts, got worms at Academy and headed to the fishing hole. Ben and I fed the ducks while Scott and Sam tried to catch a fish. I don’t think it helped their fishing ability that we had a few aggressive squirrels and ducks that REALLY wanted Ben to give them some bread. Every time one approached us, Ben took off squealing in the opposite direction. He definitely preferred the calm ducks & turtles that swam peacefully in the lake. Literally as I was packing up Ben to give the older boys some quiet fishing time, the prized fish was caught. Such a proud moment for Scott & Sam!

Brotherly Love

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The Shifting of the House

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Wow! Scott and I are exhausted. We’ve spent the past 2 weeks rearranging our house to accommodate 4 kids. The formal dining room has been converted to a playroom (already loved by the boys…as you can see from the pictures) and Sam & Ben are officially sleeping in the same room (in their new twin beds). Naps have been very smooth as they’re usually both exhausted from playing, but Scott and I have gotten a huge kick out of listening to the boys giggle each night as they fight going to sleep. So far they both love sharing a room. We still have some work to do on the twins’ rooms but we’re making progress! We’ll post pictures of their room once we get it looking like a baby’s room and not a storage facility.

Now THAT'S a Workout

I don’t think Scott ever imagined that by teaching Sam to ride his bike without training wheels that he would be lucky enough to run the streets of our neighborhood in 100 degree weather. In the beginning, we had to BEG Sam to practice riding his bike. Now that Sam has gotten good (and fast) on his bike, he asks to go for a ride all the time. We’re still a bit nervous of the ending/stopping of each ride so poor Scott runs next to him to make sure he doesn’t fall when he stops. For now, Scott should say goodbye to the treadmill and hello to running the streets of Braes Heights…but that’s coming from a very pregnant wife who has a hard time walking the block to video the whole thing. You guys rock!

Camp Sheehan in Austin

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Sam (and Ben) keeps telling us about the fabulous time they had this week with Mimi and Uncle Jim in Austin. They swam at Barton Springs & Deep Eddy, had play dates with new friends, ate at lots of yummy restaurants, learned about birds & dinosaurs at the Nature Center, destroyed the playroom at the Sheehan’s house many times over & enjoyed many other fun activities. Jim seemed a bit tired when he arrived back in Houston with the boys, but I think he had a great time regardless. Thanks guys for allowing us to have a kids free week. Sam & Ben miss you both already!

Our Little Chef

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Sam had so much fun making a pizza at Andrew’s BDay party at the Young Chefs’ Academy this morning. It was his 1st time to eat pizza and he loved it! We might have a future chef on our hands.

Just a TINY bit scared

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While Scott was in Austin picking up our new bus…I mean Suburban…I took the boys to the Houston Zoo to check out the Dinosaur Exhibit. They were really brave until we approached the 1st dinosaur and it starting roaring at them. I barely got them through the exhibit and only with a bribe of a snack (and Ben back in the stroller) did we make it through. As we were making our way through the regular zoo exhibits, Sam saw a ton of kids with dinosaur chompers and started lobbying for another trip through the exhibit (with their eyes covered, they completely missed the tent with all the dinosaur keepsakes). I told Sam that if he allowed me to take his picture with the T-Rex that I would get him one. He agreed…though you will see in the picture that he still kept his distance. Finally, we made it through round two, the boys got their chompers and we bolted to the safety of the train. When we got in the car, Sam told me that he preferred the dinosaur bones at the Natural Science Museum and could do without the animated (real life) version. At least we know our limits for the future. We heart dinosaurs!!!

VBS Rocks!

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What a wonderful week at VBS! Sam loved meeting new friends, singing bible songs at the top of his lungs & doing lots of crafts that revolved around the outer space theme. Ben enjoyed hanging with old friends (Miles & Oliver from W Cottage Street) and running around on the playground each day. I also enjoyed hanging with a great group of ladies and eating lots and lots of snacks from the break room. Overall, it was a wonderful, family oriented & fun filled week.

Our Newest Fish

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Sam and I observed from the side of the pool while Ben had his 1st swimming lesson on Saturday. Scott and Ben seemed to have a great time singing songs, blowing bubbles, floating on Ben’s back (Ben wouldn’t say this was his favorite activity), learning to get in and out of the pool from the side, going under water and many other fun activities. What a great start to a weekend. Swim fishy swim!

Twin Update - 27 weeks tomorrow

We had a wonderful appointment with our OB yesterday. I’m 27 weeks along starting tomorrow & the babies look healthy and big. Baby A (boy) is 2 lbs while Baby B (girl) is 2lbs, 2 oz. The combined 4 lbs, 2 oz of babies is making my tummy measure the size of a singleton pregnancy at 34/35 weeks. They are currently head to head with their heads towards my feet. This made for some great (yet cozy) images that we’ve shared below. We go back in 2 weeks for another peek at our cuties!

Side by side head view

Baby A looking at us with Baby B's head right next to him.
Baby B looking at us.

Off with those EXTRA wheels!

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Scott and Sam removed the training wheels on Sam’s bike this morning. After two fairly successful trips up and down the street Sam decided he was too scared to continue. So, Scott patiently (on the outside at least) waited and put the bike up. After nap this afternoon we headed up to the pool. After some splashing around we headed home and Sam decided to give it another try. He did great! Go Daredevil Go!

Family Day at the Little Gym

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Today was family day at the Little Gym. I’m not sure who had more fun, Sam or Ben. Ben loved hanging on the bars while Sam wanted to walk on the balance beams the entire time. What a great morning with my boys.

Fun in Austin

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Pre-K Here I Come!

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Sam had a great year in Ms. Brandt and Ms. Bentsen’s class this year. He made a lot of new friends and continues to amaze us with his wit, charm & huge heart. He loves racing bikes around the playground during recess & enjoys guessing “what’s in the bag” at chapel on Thursdays. His favorite weeks are those when he’s assigned “recycler” and “Patches Pal” duties in class & he loves days that he gets to jump around in motor class.

It’s hard to believe that Sam starts Pre-K in the Fall. We look forward to his last year at St. Luke’s Day School!

A Popsicle Disaster

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Aunt Deta was kind enough to have lunch with us today at Lupe Tortilla. We had the entire outside and playground to ourselves so the boys had lots of fun. It was hot out there so I let Sam get a popsicle after lunch. Of course, Ben wanted one too once he saw Sam’s popsicle. All was fine until we needed to leave to take Deta back to work. Ben didn’t want to give up his treat so I ended up snatching it out of his hands and giving it to Deta. Ben had a complete meltdown and definitely let us know that he was NOT HAPPY with how lunch ended. Once I finally got him buckled into his carseat he was so exhausted that he didn’t say another peep for the rest of the trip. Thanks Aunt D for dining with us. I hope you enjoyed the added drama of the day.

Congrats Grad

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I cannot stop laughing at this picture of Ben from school. I can only imagine the “behind the scene” insanity that his teachers went through to get this adorable photo. Congrats Ben!

Bounce House Fun

I already know what is going to save me from the heat this summer…our bounce house. Sam & Ben have spent endless hours jumping around and wearing themselves out over the past few days. They love spending time throwing the balls around and going down the slide and I love that they are confined in a space that allows me to sit in a chair and supervise. Jump, jump!

Bye bye Bears Class!

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I’m in slight denial that Ben’s last day of school was today. I wasn’t sad at the time but looking back at the party pictures from this afternoon made me tear up a little. He had such a great class and has grown up so much over the past year. I can’t say he was very fond of going to school in the beginning and now (9 months later) I just say “who wants to go see Ms. Marshall & Ms. Anderson” and he takes off running to the car. He knows the names of all his friends (though he still refuses to say Sam's name out loud) & loves to give them kisses & hugs before he leaves each day. We’re definitely sad to say goodbye to his absolutely amazing and nurturing teachers…and to wonderful friends that I know we’ll continue to see over the years. Now I just need to have the twins come around the same time that Ben was born so they can be in the same class in 2011. So long Monday/Tuesday Bears class. Ben loves you all!

Twin Celebration

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Some really great friends threw me a wonderful celebration today in honor of the twins. It was the perfect afternoon. This is a picture of 3 of the 4 hostesses. I’m so blessed in so many ways!

What a GREAT Mother's Day!

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It’s been a great Mother’s Day. Scott and the boys gave me time off yesterday which I used to get a pedicure & manicure, the gift of sleep this morning (there’s no better gift in my opinion) and took me to lunch this afternoon. Plus Sam made a beautiful necklace (I’m wearing it in the photos) and card for me at school. The babies have been very active today so I think they know it’s a special day as well. Thanks boys (and baby girl & boy in my tummy) for making me feel extra special today. xoxo

Cheese!!!

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MMMM...I love cotton candy...I mean baseball!

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Scott, Sam, David & Kate went to the Astros game tonight. They enjoyed hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream and 8 innings of baseball. Sam was exhausted when he walked through the door tonight but he did give me a brief overview of the night. He said, “the Astros didn’t win but they tried really hard”. What a great way to look at it, Sam!

Zoo Insanity

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Ben woke up pretty happy and healthy today, so we dropped Sam off at MDO and headed to the zoo. The animals are always so active in the morning and Ben loved watching the meerkats, seals, cheetahs, giraffes and elephants. Once we finished watching the elephants he was pretty bored and was only interested in eating his goldfish. I decided to make a turn through the longhorn and lion exhibit before we headed home.

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As we were making our way to the longhorns, Ben grabbed my keys. Well, you guessed…my sweet 20-month-old made my keys part of the exhibit (see below...the white arrow points them out)! After 5 minutes of trying to figure out how I was going to get them out, a nice dad came up with a stick from a tree and fished them out for us. At that point I decided it was time to call it a day.
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After 2 minutes in the car, Ben showed how the excitement of the trip had worn him out and went to sleep. Night night my crazy angel.

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Ben is on the mend!

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This has been a pretty tough week for Ben. He had pneumonia, a double ear infection and a busted chin. Luckily, the pneumonia was caught amazingly early and since it was bacterial (versus viral), they could treat it. He’s still a bit fragile & cranky but we managed to get a little food in him today which has made him a lot spunkier. I honestly think he’ll be back to “normal” by the weekend. That will make for the best Mother’s Day present ever!

22 weeks, 4 days & counting!

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We had a great appointment with our high risk OB this morning. Both of the babies’ stats are in range with singleton babies. They both weighed roughly 1 lb, 2 oz and have a heartbeat of 148. Baby A (boy) wouldn’t cooperate in getting his profile picture taken so I’ve opted not to put Baby B’s (girl) picture on here for fear that someone might think I’m already playing favorites. We can’t wait to meet these little munchkins!

And I decided to post the above picture because I promise that this is what I looked like when I gave birth to Sam. I can’t wait to see how big my belly gets over the next 15+ weeks.

2 Ways to Play T-Ball

Sam's Way...

&...Ben's Way...

Palestine Fun

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Even though we had to cut our trip a little short (poor Ben is sick), we still had a great time in Palestine. We spent lots of time visiting with family and ate lots & lots of Mexican food and steaks. The weather was perfect so we spent most of our free time outdoors and only came in to sleep. Thanks for a great weekend everyone! Hope to see you all again soon.

The Love of Food

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I’ve never seen someone love to eat (in mass quantities) as much as Ben. Dig in!

Water Fun

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Sam convinced himself that it was warm enough to pull out the baby pool and water table for a little water fun. I got the boys changed into their swim gear and headed outside. Two feet in the water and Sam declared it was too cold. Ben never got more than a hand in the water but they still had a great time. I guess we need to wait a few more weeks to try it again.

Boo Bear - What's Wrong?

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Ben has gotten so much personality over the past month. He definitely expresses his opinions and desires. He can yell NO like we’ve never heard before. He used to laugh at everything that Sam did. He still thinks Sam hung the moon most of the time, but there’s a lot of drama during those moments that Sam ticks him off. We try not to laugh when these dramatic moments occur but sibling rivalry is just funny sometimes.

Weekend Fun

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The rain timed itself perfectly today. It came during naptime and then again after the boys were down for the night. But the rest of the day was full of sunshine. We took full advantage of this fabulous weather. I sat in my Scott assigned post, a chair, and observed my 3 favorite boys play baseball, mow the lawn, blow bubbles & run off a lot of energy. What a perfect ending to a crazy weekend!

Future Nobel Prize Winner?

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After a year of planning, the fundraiser is finally over! While we were wrapping things up this morning at school, Scott let the boys run around on the playground. He took this video of Ben trying oh so hard to get a drink of water out of the water fountain. I think he's still thirsty!

Bluebonnet Time

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I won’t go into details about the process the entire family went through to get these photos taken this morning (lost keys, walking through our old neighborhood to try and find a friend at home so I could use their phone to call Scott, etc)…I’m just so happy that our 2 hour ordeal ended with a few pictures of the boys enjoying the wildflowers. I just LOVE this time of year!

Hoop Time

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The boys discovered our neighbor’s basketball hoop this past weekend. Soon we might have enough boys in the house for a full team!

Colorful Eggs

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Each year I insist on dying Easter eggs…and each year the process is such a disaster that Scott and I wonder why we even did it. Ben wants to throw the eggs and Sam is getting more patient but he wants to immediately put the stickers on the recently colored eggs and isn’t happy when the eggs are too wet for anything to stick. But the boys had a great time for 5 minutes and we still have a few eggs to show for their hard work.

Fun in the Sun

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Though there is pollen on every inch of this city (and we have the coughs and runny noses to prove it), the guys still managed to spend a lot of time outside today. They played soccer and football on the baseball fields and ran around on the playground. They were so sweaty, tired & dirty by the end of the day that they ate dinner, took a bath and collapsed into their beds. Night night, boys!

DA-DEE!!!!

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There’s NO question that Ben is in LOVE with his Daddy! He knows how to say a lot of words…but the one we keep hearing over and over again is DA-DEE! Scott is, of course, eating it up...and I don't blame him for one second. You guys are adorable together!

Easter Egg Fun

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This morning, St. Luke’s held their Easter Egg “Hunt” and celebration. The boys ate hot dogs, jumped in bounce houses, danced to live music & ran around on the playground. But the highlight was definitely the egg hunt. There were SO many eggs that no one truly needed to hunt for eggs, so Sam took it up a notch and became very picky about his eggs. I noticed that he carefully choose the eggs to put in his basket but I wasn’t paying too close of attention to which ones he selected. It wasn’t until the end that we peered into his basket and noticed they were ALL BLUE! Ben, on the other hand, selected a few eggs and then proceeded to dump them all out. He did stop to examine 2 eggs that got stuck together by a common sticker but otherwise didn’t really get the whole experience. Overall, I think the experience was a great success! Happy Palm Sunday!

18 Months Old!

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It’s hard to believe that Ben is already 18 months old! Here are his stats though Scott and I question the height measurement as he’s the tallest & youngest in his class.

Height: 31 ½” (25%)
Weight: 23 lbs, 11 oz (25%)

The Luckiest Mom Alive!!!

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I know all moms (and dads) have days where their children eat all their food without complaint, take long naps, say please & thank you without being prompted, throw zero temper tantrums, share the bathtub faucet without pushing, carry their own bag into and out of school without a fight, ask for a hug and a kiss before bedtime, etc. Well, I had one of those heavenly days today. I couldn’t ask for two better children! Now let’s repeat this behavior tomorrow…

Hey batter, batter!

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Sam and Ben really want to play t-ball together. The problem is that Sam really wants Ben to hit it directly to him which NEVER happens & on the rare occasion that he hits it near Sam, Ben wants to run and get the ball himself after he hits it (which doesn’t please Sam at all). Should playing a fun round of baseball produce tears? If not, don’t tell Ben!

Can you feel the love?

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There’s nothing like a little hair pulling & tormenting to show your brother how much you truly love him. The thing that shocks me most is that my usually reserved 18 month old is the one that always starts it.

Bubble Insanity

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The boys are obsessed with bubbles! And now that I’ve finally located blowers that are cheap (so they can be destroyed without any concern), easy to use and produce lots of bubbles…life is one big beautiful bubble.