Embracing Life

Yesterday, Keira had her follow-up with her orthopaedist (we go every 6 months). He is only at the local hospital on certain days, and her appointment was at 10 a.m. so I took the day off to take her.  The boys went to school.  First of all, we started the day off great because the boys left at 6:10 a.m. and Keira slept in until 7:30.  So I got to go back to bed! ;)  We got to spend some quality mother-daughter bonding time, something we really haven't done before, unless she was actually sick. And then it's not so fun. We went to the doctor's and got a good report.  The doc is great in his field, just kind of dorky and long-winded.  Then we headed to Kohls for socks.  Just socks.  We walked out with Dora underwear for my non-potty trained daughter, Minnie pajamas which she technically does need, and Minnie toss-and-go cups.  Of course I had to buy Mickey ones for the boys.  And Halloween socks for myself.  ;) And yes, I did get K...

This is Colin the other night at dinner.  (Sorry it's blurry.) The twins like to pretend they are sleeping at the dinner table, usually while they are eating.  (I've mentioned before my kids are weird.) Colin had been wearing his cousin's blue fairy slippers (don't ask), so he took them off and put them on the table, and pretend to sleep.  If he wasn't grinning, it would be hard to tell he was faking it. I'm playing along with Leigh today. Speaking of Colin, he has developed an obsession with his pajama shirt.  If he wakes up in it, it is hell trying to get it off.  This made for some crabby mornings at 6 a.m. when I was trying to get the kids dressed for school.  Did you know that my children only want Mommy to get them dressed? Change their diapers? Put their shoes on? Put their coats on?  While Daddy gets to stand around and do, well, nothing. Anyway, I started putting Colin's shirt that he would wear to school on him the nig...

Today over at Mama Kat's , one of the prompts is: "Tell us about a day you were sure you wouldn't get through." I keep thinking back to one summer day in 2008.  I had newborn twins, and a just-turned two year old. I was getting roughly 5 hours of sleep a day - however, it wasn't a consistent 5 hours, rather it was dispersed throughout a 24 hour period. Colin had spent 14 days in the NICU, to come home and be colicky.  I was nursing and bottle-feeding and trying to pump. And changing diapers for 3 kids for what felt like 80 times a day.  My abdominal muscles separated during pregnancy, so it hurt to walk up and down the stairs.  And we live in a tri-level, so there was a lot of running up and down the stairs during the day/night.  My husband was at work from 6:30 a.m. to roughly 4 p.m., unless it was one of those days were he worked late.  Which happened a lot that summer.  Jobs would run over and he might not get home until 8 pm that night....

Before I start playing along with Julia at Work, Wife, Mom...Life,  I thought I'd mention Colin. RSV in March +  reactive airway disease in July = wheezing and 48 breaths a minute in September.  Monday night found us in Urgent Care, having his O2 levels (it was 95) and his breathing (wheezing) checked.  We came home with albuterol, steroids, and an antibiotic.  But the most important thing: we got to come home! Rather than spend another night in the hospital, like we did the past two times he had respiratory issues. I am very thankful to all my facebook and twins club friends who prayed for us. (Also, in an attempt to be overly prepared, I actually packed a bag for the hospital should it come to that.  That might have helped too.) Ok, so over at Working Mommy Wednesday , we've got two prompts: 1. You know you're a working mom when.... 2. A time you said something inappropriate (a bad joke, a snarky remark, a comment to your boss, etc.) ...

I had plans for a great post today, but I woke up with a horrible headache, and it's still here, at 11:24 a.m.  Despite tylenol, allergy meds, caffeine, water and excedrin, it's still here.  Working and staring at the computer do not seem to be making it better either. Being that I had this exact headache last week, just on the other side of my head, I assume it's somehow weather/allergy related. Anyway, I will leave you with this: I hope the sounds works.  You have to turn up the volume a lot because it was recorded on a cell phone.

is going to be a smart one like her Mommy. I can see it in her eyes, in her attitude, and in her cute little voice. She knows all the words to Twinkle, twinkle; Are you sleeping; the ABC song; to name a few.  She speaks in two, and sometimes three word sentences now.  She likes to point out who are boys and who are girls.  When you try to dress her, or change her diaper, she tells you: I do .  She is on her way to being potty-trained.  She loves to help you do things, and carry a purse, and play with her babies.  She loves loves loves Dora. And "Bell" which refers to both Tinkerbell and Belle from Beauty and the Beast . She collects her favorite things, and tells her brothers: Mine . If they try to take something, she screams and goes to bite them or hit them to protect her precious goods.  BUT if you say to her: Keira, can you please share that? She stops and says: Share . I share . Then politely hands the toy over, usually with a "thank you" i...

Like I said, last weekend we went to the zoo.  Normally we do not go into the animal houses because we can't take strollers in and once the twins experience freedom, they don't want to let it go.  But this time, we had my parents, along with my niece, who really really really wanted to see the Australia House.  The first room had info on Austrailia and its animals.  As well as a statue of a wombat head sticking out of the fake Australian desert. My mom called the twins over to see the FAKE animal. They screamed! They ran away! Keira went to my dad, who had to carry her through the rest of the exhibit.  Colin found me quickly and I had to carry him as well. We headed to the next part, which included live wombats, which again freaked out the kids.  The next animal was an echnida, which looks just like a porcupine, but has shorter quills.  I kept hearing Keira say "scared, scared".  Colin just grabbed my shirt and held on tight. Fas...

Recently, Keith and I were able to steal away from work and see a movie while the kids were at school/daycare.  Because we use family for daycare during the week (in addition to the place that we pay for them to go), we have a hard time getting babysitters on the weekends.  There are a lot of movies that we really wanted to see this summer, but we never had the chance to go.  Luckily, "The Expendables" was still playing. My understanding is that Sylvester Stallone wanted to recreated the big action films of the 80s/90s, so he put together a bunch of action guys and made this movie. Lots of guns, explosions, and fight scenes.  And a lot of this guy: Keith knew my reasons for wanting to see this movie. ;) Honestly, I grew up watching this kind of movie, mostly with my dad on those nights that my mom worked.  If I had to pick between a sappy romance, or something with bullets and explosions, I'm going action every time.  And Jason Statham just...

I can laugh at this because it was not my kid: Yesterday we went to the zoo with my parents, my sister and her two kids.  Reid just turned one at the end of July.  He was in the back of the double stroller, which my sister pushed between two other strollers to park it outside of the dolphin exhibit.  We informed her that you could take strollers in, so she backed it out again and we went in.  She was further down from the rest of us, and all of a sudden I look over to her holding a half-empty orange soda bottle that Reid had been playing with and chewing on. She kept saying, "IS THIS YOURS?" to each member of our family. None of us drink orange soda. Apparently Baby Reid had swiped the bottle from someone else's stroller. Our next outing will be to a jewelry store, where we hope he will steal something of value, rather than a gross, germy pop bottle.

My facebook status last night read: "went to check on Colin who was fussing in his crib. Then went to cover up Keira & noticed she was naked." In my head, I'm already preparing for Hallowe'en. It's the best time of the year.  I had a credit for Amazon that I used towards this book:                                                                   I can't wait to read it. Our plan was to go to the zoo this weekend, with my sister, my niece and my parents, but due to this stomach bug that is making it's rounds, I'm not too sure. Connor seems to be better at school, at least he was yesterday.  However, he told me he can't brush his teeth there because h...

Last week was a stressful one.  Connor, who loved going to school the previous two weeks, had apparently changed his stance on the subject.  Keith takes all the kids to daycare/school because it's a block from his work.  The children all go into one room for the early morning snack, then later, Connor goes to his classroom.  Keith always sends me a text or will call me when he is leaving the school.  This usually happens around 6:40-6:45.  By 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, I was getting worried.  Turns out, Connor had a fit when Keith tried to leave.  He cried.  Which in turn upset the twins, who then cried as well. Blah. Wednesday and Thursday were more of the same. At night, Connor would seem ok with going to school.  On the car ride there, he would be ok.  But he would suddenly change his mind once Keith tried to actually drop them off. Yesterday went better than last week, at first.  Then Keith called me to ...

I'm setting my sights high this month - I'd like to read 5 books.  (You never know when life, or sick kids, are going to get in the way of your best-laid plans.) **************************** I'm unsure of what the fifth book will be - torn between: Just finished Kiss of Midnight, first book in the Midnight Breed series         OR