Friday, March 31, 2006

It has been so long...

It seems that we have so much going on that I never have time to blog! What was supposed to be a couple of slow weeks a work (the only location I blog from), has turned into a busy frustrating time. Needless to say, my "special projects" at work and at home have not happened.

Kyle and Owen have now been sick for a week. They have that stuffy nose, cough, can't-sleep-so-you-can-rest-medicine. Oh no, not the medicine, just the stuff. The problem is that everytime Owen gets a cold, he begins the wheeze (sp?). This of course leads us to the Dr. So, the classic - no antibiotics, just a virus that has to run it's course. For Owen however, this means breathing treatments every four hours and steroids. After we get though all of the gunk, he will begin a daily inhaled steroid, indefinitely. The Dr. is predicting 1-2 years. Supposedly this will help to strengthen his lungs and prevent future severe asthma. So yes, they think he has asthma. Somehow since the boys have been born, Owen seems to get everything and somehow Kyle is the escapee!

Just to top off this really fun virus, the boys are both getting 4 teeth. Yes, that is 4 each. Owen has broken his top two teeth and they look like they could eat through a tree trunk they are so big.

So...Tylenol, sleepless night and whining babies sums up my daily routine right now. Fortunately Janie has been an angel. She loves being able to get outside, is suddenly obsessed with reading, and helps out as much as possible. I feel so lucky to have an older daughter that is capable of helping. My goal continues to be not to take advantage of that and treat her as if she is older than she is. I can hear her saying 25 years from now - "It won't be a problem being a parent because I raised my twin brothers" Not gonna happen!

We are also planning for the boys little first birthday party this weekend. I say little because it will just be family and one close friend. I say planning because I have not done a damn thing for it yet but buy a cake mold. Mike is going to make these little bear cakes for the boys so they can just go at it and don't have to share. Other than that, I have not grocery shopped, I have not bought any gifts, and I have not cleaned. Truly, what do you need for a 1st birthday. They could get diapers with a bow and be happy about it. Well maybe not right now as they don't seem to be happy about much.

As we were woken up at 4:30am to the crabby babies this morning, Mike turned to me and said "I think this is the hardest that it has been so far" Meaning that the boys are tired, we are tired, the boys are not eating well, we can't get anything done and it just does not seem like chaotic bliss right now! As always we are so blessed and will make it through this too!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

A bad mommy moment!

I have come to realize that I am a pretty routine person. Despite my effort to break this and try to be more spur of the moment, fly by the seat of my pants, the reality is that I like routine. My day goes pretty much the same way every day with the exception of little wrenches that are thrown in the way. I guess I like it that way. Yesterday was different. What is different to me may not seem unusual to most but nevertheless, it threw me.

I got home from work at about 3:15pm. Janie was outside kicking the soccer ball and the boys were inside playing with the Krissy (the Nanny). Usually they go down for their afternoon nap between 3p-4p. Aparently they took a 2.5hr morning nap so Krissy was holding them off. So, at about 3:45p I went to put them down for a nap. The boys still get swaddled (I am sure that this is not normal for almost 1 year old) and then laid down to bed. Well this was just great for Owen who fussed for a few minutes and then went to sleep. Kyle however cried for the next 45 min. I went in several times and re-wrapped him and gave him his binky but he was just not going to go down. This just does not happen to me! Fortunately my babies are good about going to sleep. They may fuss for a minute or so but nothing more. Not the case yesterday. After 45 min., I got Kyle out of bed and tried to rock him a bit (I think Krissy is rocking them to sleep sometimes during the day). No luck! Meanwhile Janie is in need of attention with her computer program. She came up screaming that I had to come now (as if a fire had started) and would not tell me why. I could not get her calmed down so finally told her to SHUT UP! I don't talk to my kids this way nor do I have any plans to ever do so. She went off to my bedroom crying and started to watch TV. Oh my...

My point is, my children pretty much follow the same routine every day. I had trouble getting Kyle down (he never did nap) and then 30 minutes later, Owen was back up. So, I did not get dinner made, I did not get the boys dinner ready before they woke up, the laundry did not get started and I seriously neglected Janie! Uugh! It was so frustrating and fortunately Janie and I had a talk and some tears and I explained that I was having a "bad mommy moment" She in turn told me that I was the best Mommy ever and to stop crying.

All is well and I realize how incredibly blessed I am to have really great children who most of the time follow "my routine"!

Monday, March 20, 2006

The reality is....

IT IS GOING TOO FAST! Every day I find myself wanting to stop time. As the boys 1 year mark is just 2 1/2 weeks away and Janie's 6th birthday at the beginnning of May, I find myself wanting to hold on to every second I have with these kiddies while they are young.

Last night we did our usual bedtime feed about 7:45pm. At this point we are exhausted and truly ready for a break from the kids. So, we feed them and then can not put them down. Kyle spends the next 30 minutes entertaining us with misc. objects hanging out of his mouth as he crawls around and "tries" to walk. He has many crash landings into the couch. (I really think he does it on purpose because it is fun to bang you head on the soft couch) Meanwhile, Owen just snuggles in and gives lots of loves while watching his brother put on his comedy act. Next thing you know it is 9:00pm and finally, we resort to putting the kids to rest.

Now, it is Janie time! I feel that so much of the evening is focused on the boys that we need to take time to do something with our big girl! So, it's a game of Trouble. 30 minutes later, Janie takes the championship. A very long book (I am so not a reader) and out like a light she is.

A great Sunday! Lots of quality time, no tifts with the hubby and amazing kids. The reality still is, I can not stop time and these moments won't last forever. I have decided to just enjoy all that I can for now and not dwell on the fact that "soon the kids will be gone off to college" or as I hear from someone everyday "they grow up so fast" or "enjoy it now, mine don't want anything to do with me". I AM ENJOYING IT NOW!

Happy Monday!

Friday, March 17, 2006


Happy St. Patty's Day!

They don't really know the real meaning yet but hey, when is a green hat not fun?

Tuesday, March 14, 2006



I couldn't help it~you have to love a naked baby!


Let's try a picture here. This is my first attempt at putting a pic up so hopefully it is viewable. My little help Kyle can now get pretty much anywhere, including in the dishwasher. Owen is not far behind as he discovers mobility!

Monday, March 13, 2006

I will try to get better... I spend more time reading everyone elses blogs instead of writing in my own. Another week has passed and finally I am here with another entry. So here I go with the family updates~

I had a great Friday night with the kiddies followed by a few glasses of wine alone and some Michigan State basketball. Does it get better? It would get better if my kids would sleep past 6:30am. I may sound selfish as I know many others who are having much bigger challenges getting sleep than me but when the weekend comes around, I want 8 hours of sleep damnit! And, I want to do so without going to bed as soon as the sun goes down. I get up at 4:30a everyday so 7am sound fair on the weekend doesn't it? After all, I spent the first 4 months up every night, every feed, 7 dys a week. Like I said, I must not complain because the babies do go to bed at 8pm and sleep through (most of the time) but I just figured since Janie slept 8a-8p at 6mths, then why can't the twins...Enough on this soap box (I know my friend Amanda, who is also my only reader, is cussing my name right now)

Sat. was great! Janie and I ran off the the Michigan gymnastics meet on Sat. night and watched some amazing gymnastics. They competed against Georgia who is ranked #1 in the country (U of M is #4) Michigan lost but it was still awesome. Georgia has an olympian who is just unbelievable. We had Janie's two little friends come back and stay the night. They had fun and I realized that 5 children could be draining eventually!

Yesteday I spent two hours meeting with my new found love. This new found love is the NICU family advisory board at the hospital. We are a fairly new organization so we have a lot to do but our goal is to essentially help families who have children in the NICU. It is truly the volunteer angle that I need in my life! If I could make a career of it, I would drop it all in a heart beat! We struggle to get any work done because we have so much to talk about. Everyone's story is so different and interesting to me. Our chairman had triplets at 24 weeks and one lived. It sure makes my 18 days with kids hooked up to tubes and monitors very minimal. We have so much to do I want to be a part of it all!

A few new things ~ Owen is now crawling! Well I say crawling but what I really mean is heaving. He is also breaking his first upper tooth! Kyle took 2 steps about 10 times this weekend. He usually crashes on the 3rd step. He also managed to climb out of his saucer. Don't ask how because I don't know how. I was putting groceries away in the other room, thinking that he was safe and sound. He somehow climbed out, siletly nevertheless. All is good!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Darnit! I still can not put a title on my post but if I could, I would title this something like "Oh Monday" or "Eleven Months"

We had a fabulous weekend. Well, I did anyway. Friday evening was spent at a few local watering holes followed by a trip a more exotic (or so we could call it) club. It was my bosses last day at work so we had to take him out for an adventure. I stayed at a friends so I would not have to venture across the city in an obliviated state. Sad thing is, I never hit that point. I actually drove since I am the proud mini van owner!

Sat. was catch up day at home with the kids and laundry. We could have done something but instead just played hard and didn't get out of our jammies until after 1:00pm. What fun! More of the same on Sun.

The boys turned 11 months yesterday. I never imagined that we would get here and I might even add fairly smoothly. I can say that now that the hospital stays and middle of the night feedings are far in the past. In fact, you even begin to forget about those times. I am so tired now, how did I ever get up, warm bottles, change diapers, wake my husband - twice? I remember some days not going back to sleep after feeding and being up at 2:30am. Now it's all coming back!

Anyway, now I feel comfortable in my life. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy. It is non-stop from the second I leave work until the last goes to bed. But, it is a great busy! I love making dinner. I love feeding my babies. I love playing a game with Janie. I love just watching them all smile or fight or wrestle or
poop or whatever! I love motherhood (minus the tummy that is still lingering)!

So here it is Monday. My day is going well and I truly believe that I can say that because I had an amazing weekend with my kiddies! That's all the rambling for now.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Well, here we go! My friend Amanda showed me how to create my very own blog today. I am very excited about being able to blog my daily happenings and also reflect back. I have a lot of expermenting to do before I will invite guests in but for now, I am just excited to have my own!