Oh the Dream...

That is exactly what it was, a dream. I had the most amazing vacation to Mexico that I could have ever asked for. It was exactly what I wanted and more. Really I had just wanted to relax, enjoy my hubby, bask in the sun and eat good food. That all happened! We did do a few other things during our short 4 days! We enjoyed Isla Muejes, went snorkling, had a boat ride, checked out several beaches, ate some serious good grub in downtown Cancun, shopped a bit, road a lot of city busses and had a blast talking in Spanish.
I have made a list of things that I did not know about Cancun before I visited:

-You can go and not have to be part of the spring break partyfest
-Apparently if you are into the "bar scene", the more wrist bands you have, the cooler you are
-The city busses are cheap, take you anywhere on the main road, a good people watching tool and like a visit to Cedar Point!
-There is some seriously poor housing in Cancun but once you arrive back to the resorts, it is like being in an entire different world
-Real Mexican food is nothing like Chi chi's
-15sp sun screen is like wearing baby oil in MI
-Happy hour starts at 2pm
-Mexican's are so nice, friendly and hard working (I kind of already knew this) and therefore I offered about 5 jobs while I was there
-You can really use the Spanish that you learned in High School 15 years later
-Cancun airport is much more efficient than Detroit
-This is a place that I would definetly take my children

Also on this trip I discovered a few personal things -

-I love spending time with my husband
-I can have an adult conversation with my husband about something other than bills, kids and jobs
-I can read! I can read something other than childrens books
-I don't just sit around well. As much as I wanted to be lazy, if I was not reading or sleeping, I enjoyed being active.
-My kids were okay without us for 4 days
-I want to take a trip with Mike every year. Is this possible?

I feel refreshed with a bit of the blues. I love my life here. I love my kids. But...I LOVED THIS VACATION!

We're leavin on a jet plane

As of Thurs. morning, Mike and I will be on our way to Cancun for some fun in the sun, hopefully! I am in the frantic prep stages right now. This is something that my husband just doesn't get! He asks - what do you have to do? Right...the grocery shopping, shopping for last minute items for us, packing, medical forms, planning the kids schedules, work, money exchange and on and on. It is nothing to complain about but he just doesn't get it! He thinks he can just wake up on Thurs. and leave for the airport. Truth be told, he probably can.

Every thing else is fine in our lives. Mike continues to work 24/7 and I continue to juggle! I am so in need of this vacation.

On a sad note - if you ever look at the links to my blog, you will see one that says "Pray for Dara". This is a good friend of our Nanny. Dara passed away on Friday after a hard battle with breast, liver and lung cancer. She was 37 (I think) with a 2 1/2 year old. So sad.

Kissing Brothers

Don't have time but wanted to post this cute pic!

Balance

I am not sure if I am not making time or if I have surrendered to my life of work, kids, running kids, maintaining a house and blah, blah, blah but what I do know that I never blog anymore. I think part of it is that I used to have some time in the evenings after the kiddies went to bed. Now, my hubby is just getting home then so I spend time with him.

There are not really any big updates in our lives. Mike has been at his new job a month now. It is challenging and very time consuming. He gets home from a 12-14 hour day at about 8-9p most nights. He follows this up with more paper work. Not to complain but it is sometimes hard working full time and doing everything at home. It is not that he isn't helpful, he just is never and I mean never available!
I am finding myself getting very busy at work, needing to make a lot of upcoming Dr. apts, keeping up with my NICU gig (which is highly neglected), running Janie to gymnastics, going to gymnastics meets, needing to plan an upcoming b-day party, and #1 on my list right now is preparing for our trip to Cancun at the end of this month. Can't wait! I do love my life and don't mean to complain but I wonder how I keep it straight some days.

I am in amazement of how our lives fly by us. The boys will be 2 in one month and Janie will be 7 the following month. Crazy, just crazy...

Time Away

Gosh, I haven't blogged in forever. Most because I was planning my trip away and now I am away. I am at an 8 day conference in Charlotte, NC where our corporate head quarters are.

So far, so good. We are 4 days in with 4 days to go. It was really hard to think of leaving the family. Janie was absolutely devistated even though we have been discussing this for a long time. I am not sure if this was a bad or good mommy thing to do but I wanted her to have something to look forward to every day while I am gone so I wrapped up a little gift and note each day for her. So far it seems to have helped. Everyone is doing fine. I have had an army of people to help me. MY mom came in for several day, my bro is covering one evening, and my aunt and uncle come in to finish off the week. Wow! My friend is transporting to and from gymnastics and on and on. Remember, this is only Mike's second week on the new job so the flexibility is not there yet.

The training has been intense, challenging, super time consuming and annoying at time. I am trying to keep an open mind and learn tons as this is truly to prepare me for my bosses job. The challenge is that we have new hires in our class! Stupid, stupid, stupid. Anyway, my days are consisting of training from 7:30a-6:30p and often followed by dinners and hours of homework. The good thing is that this craziness has made it easier not to miss my kids and hubby every hour of the day. Anyway, that is all for now from Charlotte...

The day has come

Five days before my birthday Mike left his job. It was a crappy day, a crappy week, a crappy month. I chose to try and be a supportive wife, knowing that this too would end at some point. He had been unhappy for a while and I knew that ultimately, it would be a good thing once he found a new job. So a month later he started working at a really great restaurant. He learned some new things and really found his enthusiasm for food again. The problem was that he was basically working as a line cook and certainly not making enough money to pay the bills. Once he started I would often not see him for 5 days in a row since I was working days and he nights. Somehow, we have maintained. We didn't create and enormous amount of debt,our kids haven't suffered and we still love each other. What else can you ask for?

And so the interviews finally began. He has spent the last 3 weeks interviewing with 3 entirely different companies. The great news is...he recieved offers from all 3! Mike will start in a week at a Marriott property as the Executive Chef.

I have to believe that this whole journey happened the way it happened for a reason.
Five days before his birthday, the offer came...

My New Nephew

I was able to take a much too short trip to meet my new nephew this past Monday. I should say to meet the mini-brother-in-law. It was such a great time, just too short. My husband working nights certainly cramps my style sometimes and my ability to go anywhere.

Anyway, the new little family seems to be doing great. They have their good and hard days but overall this little dude, named Joey, is pretty scheduled and happy. I, of course snuck in a few of my secrets (like a little more food and a really tight swaddle). He is just over two weeks old and is sleeping a good 3-4 hours in a row (in his car seat, in his bed).

My Sissy is doing great! She is experiencing everything that first time and second time moms experience. She is learning her baby's need and loving him with everything she has. It is so fun to watch.

Until I get back there, I will continue to remind myself of this cute little dude that snuggles so well and that peed on me two times!

Hesitation

I am scared to say this but we are finally all healthy! Janie went through a horrible round of strep last weekend. Truly I think this is the sickest that I have ever seen her. By Saturday morning, when I finally took her in to the Dr., I had to carry her to the car and into the Dr.s office. I was bad! So, except for a black eye that Kyle got today from a fall off the sofa (no pic yet), we are all well.

This weekend plays out to be very busy. Tomorrow is Janie's first real gymnastics meet followed by a holiday party for my NICU board. Sunday I am departing for Columbus to meet my new nephew. I can't wait to hang with the little dude and give my Sissy some relief. I am sure I will also look forward to coming back home to my insanely structured household!

My exciting news is that I have officially booked a trip to Cancun for my hubby and me. I know that I can write this because he never looks at my blog. He turns 40 at the end of this month and since he is not one to throw a party for, I decided to plan a trip. I decided this a year ago and started saving my pennies in June. I had planned a long weekend to Florida but wanted to avoid and spring breakers because my only goals are good food, wine, relaxation, sun and a reconnection with my hubby. We have not spent a night away since Janie was born. So, after a lot of research and convos with a travel agent, we have decided that Cancun is the best for our money (I should say I decided). I think I may have to get it to him earlier than his b-day because he still needs to get a passport! Anyway, we go in March and I can't wait!

I thought I would include a picture of Kyle here. He hurt his head several months ago and we used to say "does you head hurt?". Now he just grabs his head everytime he wants attention. The scary thing is, now he hurt his head again. Check out that after bath hair - gotta love it...

Christmas

I haven't posted because I have been trying to get some better pics of our holiday. No such luck so far so I will just post what I have.

We had a great time! The boys enjoyed tearing paper and Janie loved her surprises. We traveled to my Sissy's house in Columbus on Christmas day to spend time with the rest of the family and prepare Sissy to give birth 5 days later. Yes, I am an Auntie for the first time! She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Joey, on 12/30 (just in time for the tax deduction). It has been really hard not seeing him or being there for this amazing thing I now have called a nephew! I will post a pic once I visit which will hopefully be in the next two weeks.

So back to Christmas - We ate a bit, drank a bit and played with kids. Of course the trip would not be complete without sickness. The boys both started with fevers on Christmas Eve and vomited a few times over next few days. That all seemed very minimal compared to my tragic moment with Owen. I was holding my little guy upstairs in a large room in my sister's house. It was just the boys, me, the TV and some good running space. Owen was at about 102 fever so he was cuddled up to me. Kyle started playing with a half full pop can. I proceeded to get up to put the pop can on the other side of the gate before it was a huge mess. As I leaned over the gate, with Owen in arms, the gate collasped. We fell forward and his head slammed between the step and me on the landing (the back cement side of the step). He hit hard! I know I cried longer than him but it felt as if I had just picked him up and threw him down the steps. It was awful. So here the kid is sick as can be and then his mom crushes his head. He seemed fine through the night. The next morning I was checking him out and noticed that his entire inner ear was black and blue. Of course I thought he was now bleeding from the brain! We left early that day and stopped at our Peds in Ann Arbor on the way home. He is fine, no broken bones, no bleeding and no head trauma. I however am still not quite over it.

The boys are now healthy although I am hesitant to say that since I came down with strep this week and will be taking Janie in to the Dr. in the a.m. becasue she is feeling awful and has been at 102 for two days! Oh sickness...

A Few Random Pics

I am working on Christmas pics to post but here are a few that I had on my camera before it died in the middle of Christmas.

Here is Janie meeting her first reindeer. Actually, I think it was my first also. We went to a festival in our little town and they had some great things for the kiddies!





This pic is of Owen and his older brother. Well not really but this is my girlfriends son that Owen looks a lot alike. We always joke that maybe he is there baby. He has the same mannerisms as Grant and certainly resembles him more than his twin!





Here is Owen again. When Janie came home from gymnastics one night, he begged to put her leotard on. He slept the entire night in it.


And for some reason I have trouble lining up the pictures with the photos but I tried!

Doing Christmas Twin Style

Preparing for Christmas with 20 month old twin boys is exactly what you can imagine it would be. We waited two extra weeks to get the Christmas tree, have limited our decorations, have not put presents under the tree and still it is not easy. The boys love the tree! They love to touch it, they love to point and say "ball", they love to take the balls off and throw them and soon they will love climbing it! Notice the tree does not have any ornaments under 3 ft.

Most other decorations are fine. They can play with them or throw them or eat them - I don't care! We didn't hang our stockings in fear that they would pull down the stocking hangers and knock themselves out. We didn't however worry about the 5 pieces of Dickens Village on top of the mantle. They some how got a hold of a cord brought two of those crashing down too! I should be happy that they didn't get hurt correct? Notice that nothing has been done with it since the accident!


Christmas morning should be interesting...

Same Ole Kid

I am a bit frustrated after just writing a long entry, I lost the entire thing. Anyway, I have a few more minutes so here are the Cliff notes...

Kyle had inguinal hernia surgery on Monday. They asked us to arrive 1 hour early, dress him in loose clothing and bring his favorite blanket or toy. Well, we didn't take Owen and that is his favorite toy so who knew what the outcome would be!

We met with a team of Dr.s and nurses and then they took our little one away to be "put under". After spending 30 minutes talking to the surgical nurse, the Dr. came out and we were called into recovery. Everything went great! The Dr. even said that his reproductive system all looks good. Grand kids, here we come!

Anyway, recovery was a bit hard. He cried a lot which I guess is normal. We got him home and after a bit of lying aroung, we put him down for a nap. Three hours later we went up to get him and only to find him diaper and pantless. He hasn't missed a beat since. He eats like a champ, sleeps like a champ and I am constantly having to stop him from jumping off the couch!

Once again, I am very blessed with the amazing Dr.s and nurses that we have. I talked to the surgical nurse yesterday and she told me that she has the best and easiest job ever because of the great kids. Amazing, just amazing...

What's new!

I thought I would write a little update on the family. Tis the season and I am busy finishing shopping, wrapping and doing Christmas cards. I am trying to stay ahead so not to stress myself out!

The kids are great! Janie is doing so well in school. She is reading like a champ and I love it. The only hard part is that I am struggling with her homework already. Uugh! She has her first gymnastics meet this weekend. It is a fun meet to get the girls used to competition. I will take advantage of having a babysitter and do a little shopping!

The boys are crazy as ever. Their new thing is taking off their pants and diapers. I caught Kyle peeing on the floor tonight. I guess it is onsie time! Kyle is really struggling with his exema right now so we are trying to get that under control. He has his surgery for his hernia on Monday. They told us to bring his favorite toy or blanket. The problem is that his favorite toy is Owen and he will be staying at home with Grammy. Hopefully all will go well. He is such a strong kid!

Owen is sweet as ever following his brothers lead. He is talking a lot and will repeat almost anything you say. I am so happy that he is talking more than Kyle just because Kyle does everything else first.

Mike and I are fine and continue to try to balance schedules as he works mostly nights. We see each other 3 times a week right now. Somehow, it is fine. I am just grateful for what I have!

I think that is all for now...

Tis the season

I am trying really hard to stay ahead of the game this year and get my shopping done, wrapping completed and Christmas cards written. Blogging doesn't seem to be a priority but neither does decorating. I don't have a sign of the holidays in my house. I think I may not be motivated to do it because the boys will tear it up. Literally! The Christmas tree is waiting at least one more week.

We did have a good Thanksgiving. We went to my Aunt and Uncles in Ohio. We enjoyed spening time with family and eating and eating and eating...My aunt has a house full of country nick nacks (not sure how you spell that because I don't own a nick nack). I was very concerned that the boys may destroy. We brought 2 gates and they did pretty well. Well enough that I really ejoyed myself. However, bed time was a different story! They were able to climb out of their pack n plays in a matter of seconds. One night I put Kyle back in 16 times! Being someone who enjoys putting children to bed and not hearing from them again, it was rough! When we got home on Saturday, I did the you-can't-get-out dance with a glass of wine in hand after putting them to bed.

Here are a few shots from the day. Back to wrapping...

Here we go

With cold weather comes sickness, as we have experienced the last few weeks. Our strep, sinus infections and flu have minimized to coughing, green noses and wheezing. Owen is officially back on steroids for the winter and breathing treatments as necessary (3 a day right now). Not so fun and he did not get better at it over since we stopped in July. Meaning, he fights us through the entire treatment!

We are close to being done with antibiotics. It has been a fun week trying to get those down. I hold an M&M in one hand and shove it in their mouths with the medicine in the other. It is actually humorous to me that bribing works at this age.

We attempted to get our Christmas pictures taken yesterday. My dear friend dealt with us for an hour as we had tears, chased kids and cleaned up kitty litter that they thought would be fun to play in. It was not my idea of a good time. Our Christmas card could easily end up being a hand drawn picture by Janie!

Seriously?

Apparently my parenting skills are to be tested right now. I am not so sure that I am coming out with flying colors. In fact, I almost threw the towel in today!

Yesterday was a rough day with very irritable children. I had to hold and pamper the twins all day. Janie on the other hand was just highly neglected and watched entirely too much TV.

Today was much of the same. Owen however woke screaming and did not stop. I finally took him to the urgent care at 9:30a. Yep, strep! So we had one healthy day between the stomach stuff and strep.

Of course Kyle will get this, if he doesn't all ready have it, since they swap cups and pacifiers all day and I have no control over it! So, although I feel a bit under the weather also, I had a brilliant idea. Owen fought me to take the Penicillin from the get go. I called the Dr. back to see if they would prescribe amoxicillin instead. He did and now I have two antibiotics! This means no taking Kyle to the Dr. Bad mom or brilliant?

The kicker is that our nanny called today and her child is now throwing up and she will not be here tomorrow!

Uugh, make it go away!

Caged or Safe?

Here they are- the nets, the bed bras, the cages, the best thing ever! As I said a week ago, I am not ready for the boys to be out of their cribs at 19 months. Since they think they are ready, we are telling them otherwise. These things are great and they seem to be fine with them. It is like they are camping all the time!

Anyway, they are now safer and we are buying some time before the move to bigger beds!

I think I can, I think I can...

This seems to be my slogan over the past few days. I will try not to go on and on about my pitty party here but I must update on the Mitchell adventures.

It all began on Friday night when Owen started not feeling well and it has continued still to today. Owen has had 103 temp since Saturday and spent all night Sunday vomiting followed by the few random vomits on Monday. I joined in on Sunday night with the adventures of puking my brains out. Meanwhile, Kyle has not had a fever but did one random cover-half-of-the-living-room-vomit on Saturday followed by filling-up-Daddy's-car-with-vomit yesterday on the way to the Dr. Yes, the Dr. We found what seemed like an egg-like thing in Owen's testicle. Mike took him in yesterday and he does have to have surgery to remove what is a hernia. We have our pre-opp appointment next week to see when this will happen.

So I got side tracked! I took Monday off to spend 30 minutes babying myself because remember I have the flu too! I came to work yesterday but then left early because Owen was not any better and the Dr. thought we should bring him in. I called the Dr and after much discussion and me informing them that Owen's heart rate was at 160, they decided to send us to the ER. Remember Owen was born with an SVT of the heart which is an irregular, rapid heart rate. He has been doing very well and has been off of meds for almost 1 year.

So we go to the ER for the next 5 hours. They gave him an IV, took all kids of blood, monitored his heart and we left with a virus. Yes, the unexplainable virus! At least that is what we think for now. He was dehydrated and has low levels in several areas but nothing that points to anything other than a virus. Poor little dude!

We arrived home around 6:30pm. My best friend Theresa graciously watched Kyle and Janie and put off going to her daughter's gymnastics class to help me out. Did I mention that our house is full of vomiting germs that will clearly make their way now through their house. Of course I came home to some yummy pizza, breadsticks and salad that she had ordered. Really is there a better friend than one that will stay with your sick kids, miss their kids activities, infect their kids with germs and have dinner on the table. Honestly, I am so lucky!

I am almost done...

So after getting kiddies drugged up and in bed last night I finished cleaning carpets and washing puky and poopy clothing. I signed off myself at about 10:30p. Janie arrived in my room about 11:30p and spent the rest of the night praying to our in need of cleaning toilet. I called Mike at 11:45p to see if he was on his way home. He had spent the 4th night on a new job vomiting in the sink, all over the stairs, and in the garbage.

Sickness go away! There must be an end soon....

The above pics are of Owen in his usual position for the last week and Kyle not realizing that he is sick!

The NICU Fashion Show

On Thursday night the entire family participated in a fashion show fundraiser for the NICU at the hospital where the boys were born. It was great! Despite having to chase the little guys around for a couple of hours before the start, it went perfect. A couple of really great stores were generous enough to sponsor the clothing (that we don't get to keep) for the show. We all looked hip and ready to hit the town. The best part - the boys were awesome! The walked out holding our hands, smiling and capturing the crowd forever. It certainly could have gone the other way so we were so proud that they were happy (especially since the whole thing began 30 minutes after their bedtime). Enjoy the photos!

Hopefully we raised tons of money for our group, the Family Advisory Board, so that we can continue to pursue positive things for the NICU!

Halloween

Halloween was good. We went over to our friends the Fishes. The boys did great in their cozy frog costumes. Janie thought she was pretty hip as a Rock Star. On to eating candy...

For some reason this picture is posting black but if you click on it, you can see the image.