Embracing Life

We attended the NICU reunion picnic recently.  (Colin spent 14 days in the NICU after he was born working on his suck reflex.) It was a lot of fun.  There was a train ride, pumpkins, and treats!  Also, lots of these inflatable things to run around! The twins are attempting to be free more often when we go places.  They are tired of sitting in their double stroller; however, they are not the best at walking beside us, and enjoy running away from us.  This was a pretty open place, so that was ok because it was easy to keep an eye on them.  Although it's hard when you have 3 kids running in different directions and only 2 adults to catch them.

I'm a lover of all things Hallowe'en.  Back in May, I saw this necklace on etsy:  It was at a cute shop called Gradum Gypsies  . My husband, being the wonderful man he is, bought it for me. I have waited rather impatiently for it to be October so I could wear it to work. It's the little things.

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.