The good ole' buddies

We spent this past weekend at my mom's and visiting with my best friends from high school. I know it is amazing that after all of these years, my best friends are still from high school.

We typically (at least for the past 5 years) take a little vaca away together every year. No kids, no hubbies, no distractions - just good conversation and a bunch of wine! This year had been difficult because one friend had a baby in Feb. and two others are due in early Nov. (I, of course was ready to fly away) The greater challenge is that one of us lives in CA. (We used to all be in 5 different states but now all are back in MI but one) Soooo, we had the opportunity to all be together this weekend.

We started off Saturday with some fantastic kayaking down the river. I had never kayaked before and it was relaxing and hilarious. Within 2 minutes of entering the river, we had almost all crashed and one tipped. What a blast! We continued the day with an dinner shower for the two prego friends followed by a few late night brews for some! We were able to get the kids and moms together for the shower portion.

And...talk about some beautiful pregnant women! I loved pregnancy and thought I looked okay (until I saw pictures months later) but let me tell you, these girls are all tummy. Cute little bodies with a little tummy. So pretty!

What fun and super refreshing to hang out with these great friends, the best of friends! Mere, Tara, Kristin, Jamie - love you guys!

All is well

I haven't posted lately because there is not much updating to do. The Mitchell house is far from quiet but uneventful in the same token.

I will go from oldest to youngest~

Janie is having a busy summer with play dates, neighbors, gymnastics and trying to fit in all of the little kid stuff in. She continues to put me on a guilt trip daily as to why I have to work. Such a hard thing to listen to! She came back from our vacation with swimmers ear and just finished antibiotics for that! Overall, she is busy and well.

Owen is a little stinker. He was always the mellow baby and I feel that the roles with Kyle and him have reversed. I used to be able to do anything with him and he would not make a peep. I took him for a chest x-ray once and he laughed through the entire thing. Well, times are a-changin! He is now the fit-thrower (probably not a word). It is usually over a book that he wants off the shelf or a hat that he wants down from the coat rack. Nevertheless, no more mellow baby!

Kyle has turned into a pretty happy entertaining kid with an awesome disposition. He is constantly getting into trouble because he thinks it is so funny (and I am sure because we laugh at him).

Overall, all are well. We are enjoying some summer festivals, lots of projects and good ole family time. I am looking forward to a weekend at my mom's with my best friends from high school. It is always refreshing to catch up!

My nanny is 38 weeks pregnant, +45 lbs and ready to pop. I am pretty much on call all the time because who knows when this will happen! Scary!

We're Back

Some things about returning from vacation are refreshing - sleeping in your own bed, putting your kids and their beds, having the place child proofed and seeing friends again. However, returning to work is not one of them! I am back in full swing this morning (actually I came back to work for a huge event on Sat.), playing catch up and blogging while I should be calling clients.

Our vacation was great! We enjoyed the beautiful lake, did tons of fishing, ate lots of grub, had plenty of QT with family and chased babies. Overall the kids were great. Janie was at my side, as always, as much as possible. I tried to make this vaca as much about her as possible by taking her fishing alone, swimming a lot and including her in the evening smore making/bonfire. The boys were the boys. They slept great (past 6am) and enjoyed running around and getting into everything that was not for them (the fire place, cupboards, toilets, cleaning supplies, etc...) Kyle really liked the water and Owen still has the jury out. It was hard to have them just playing down by the water because Kyle wanted to be running on the dock or diving in the water, not building sand castles.


As always, Higgins Lake was beautiful. The clear was and blue line are just amazing. We voyaged out on the pontoon rental often for cruises and fishing. Janie caught her first fish and I added about 10 more total. The problem - nothing was bigger than about 6 inches. The satisfaction I get from catching is good enough for me!




I best get back to reality now...

We are outta here!

After I get things stable at work (right), stop the mail,grab a few more things at the store, mow the lawn, get through the evening of dinner, baths, etc..., pack the entire house, we will be off! We will leave tomorrow morning for our week at Higgins Lake. My mom, sis and hubby, bro and wife and the Mitchell 5 will officially be vacationing! Let's hope for good weather, well behaved children, and many good times.

Lots of pics and updates when we return!

Family Time

We had a wonderful weekend/4th of July. All of the days are running together and truly I have to think hard to remember what day is what as July 4 mixed me all up and now I am frantically trying to prepare the fam for our vacation up to Higgins Lake next week.

Let me start by saying there was a sad part of the weekend. My best friend Theresa lost her grandpa last week. He was 96 years old, married 68 years, had 4 children, tons of grandkids and and uncountable amount of great-grand kids. As Theresa always said, they take a tackle box of vitamins and eat grossly, healthy foods (like liver and wheat germ). It was a sad but happy celebration of an amazing life! It makes me think about the whole healthy life style and wonder if it really works. He was still riding his bike daily. In fact, he was on his way out to mow the lawn when he collapsed. What a great way to go and pain free! The hard part is now thinking of Theresa's grandma who is also a very healthy 90?? year old who has never lived alone and is used to doing everything with her hubby. Hopefully she will move into a senior community or something (as if it is so easy to just clean out 60+ years of "stuff" from a big farm house and pick up your life and move it).

So, once we got through the sad part of the weekend, we were able to enjoy our first trip to Detroit Tastefest. It was an opportunity for us to get out, enjoy some grub, people watch, let Janie rock climb for the first time (she was amazing) and see what it is all about. We often are very cooped up in the house so it always feels refreshing to take an outing. When Mike is working (which is always Saturdays and often in the evening) I can't handle the kids outside by myself unless they are in the stroller. The twins are out of control and for my sanity and their safety, we hang out a lot inside.









For the 4th we went to the cottage and met my cousins new baby. She is fat and cute and sweet! It was interesting to watch the boys response to a baby. There did not seem to be any jealousy when I was holding her. Kyle was so sweet and would put his head right down on her lap or stroke her leg (I think it was cute???). Owen however just smacked her. Twice! He still just not get the hitting thing and does it as he wishes.

So, that is it. I will begin my grocery shopping for our trip tonight and the packing will have to start tomorrow. I probably should be making a list for packing but haven't yet!

The Tempers are Raging!

Owen's demeanor is much more prone to temper tantrums. It is not uncommon for him to throw himself down, back arched several times a day. He usually is over it in a matter of minutes. I do know that one day in the near future, we will be in a public place and he will be on the floor screaming. Because of this, I will have to leave behind the great outfit that I was about to buy and depart for home. Worse, it could happen in a restaurant just as our food has arrived. Nevertheless, it is the inevitable!

Last night was Kyle's turn. I thought it would be a great idea to take both of the boys up to my bathroom and bathe them so I didn't have to do one at a time. (this upsets them to be the one left behind)Janie joined us and decided to get in the tub. Kyle did not want to stay seated so after washing him, I pulled him out to get dressed. Well, it didn't go over too well. He spent the next 15-20 minutes screaming bloody murder! I couldn't resist getting a few pics. My favorite is the one of him banging his head. Somehow he thinks that will resolve everything when he is mad!

No Bronchs Here!

We got great news last Friday. I took Kyle back to the Polmonologist for an eval before his 6am Bronch this Thurs. The Dr. listened, asked a million questions and concluded that we do not need to go through with the Bronch, at least not now! He is pretty sure that we are battling asthma and that there is not a blockage somewhere else. We will continue on the inhaled steroids for another month and then stop cold turkey to see what happens. He is still on Albuterol when needed.

Owen however continues to sound wheezie occassionally. When we go for their 15mth check up next week, I will ask their Dr. about Owen going to see the Polmonologist. He is also on Pulmocort (the steroid) and another med for the wheezing, as needed.

Anyway, I am much relieved that my baby does not need to be "put under" this week!

Quality Time

I started my Friday night as I usually do, tired and anxious for the kids to go to bed so that I can do the same. After reading to Janie and spending some time snuggling, she began the guilt trip! This happens every few weeks or so but this was the first time in over a month, I would say. She asked when the boys were going to go to a place like Grammie's for a while so that we could just hang out, watch a movie together, eat Hamburger Helper (her fav), make popcorn, do our nails and sleep together. Basically, she was referring to her life before-brothers. Yikes! This was followed by "why can't you just be a stay-at-home-mom?" A common questions that I have become fairly numb to.

So I spent much of my evening trying to figure out how to make this all work. How do you raise twin boys that demand so much right now while maintaining a relationship and the needs of a mature, intelligent but sometimes needy 6-year old girl? And truth be told, our schedule does revolve around the boys. It isn't always easy, in fact it sometimes hurts. You question whether you are doing things right, whether you are giving enough, whether you are selfish at times. As I always say, you just want to make thing great for your kids.

The great part is that we had a fantastic rest of the weekend. We spent some good time on Sat. night playing ball and bike riding after the babies had gone to bed. When I asked Janie what she wanted to do, she said "really??? - we can just do something?" Am I that neglectful? On Sunday, the day was pretty much about her. When the boys took there morning nap, Mike Janie and I hung out outside as she showed us all of her bike tricks. ( I do feel like I have missed a bit. I didn't know that she could skid out or pop wheelies)Then we went grocery shopping, Mike took her bowling, I went on a bike ride with her and then Daddy and she went for ice cream. We topped the day of with a little toe nail painting all while watching Little House on the prairie. She told me yesterday "it was fun hanging out with you today". Oh, and I forgot - Our conversation on the bike ride was all about the cars that she is going to have. Apparently, her first car is going to be a red convertible. Her second, a silver Saturn and her third a silver Jeep. She might get a black convertible for her second car but she is not sure yet. Who is paying for all of this?

No Eyeglasses for Us!

Our trip yesterday to the eye doctor resulted in a positive outcome! After chasing the kids down the hallway numerous times and trying to keep them from entering exam rooms, we met with the very nice doctor. She did a brief exam then dialated their eyes for further examination. The outcome is that they are both very far-sided and apparently this is good and normal for now. She did say that most likely they will both need glasses down the road (maybe school age). Since they are so far-sided now, they will probably become very near-sided in the future. For sure we should be home free for the next 2-3 years. I figure that if glasses are in our future, it is a lot easier to negotiate that with a 4 year old than a 1 year old.

Father's Day

Wow, two posts in one day. I am trying to catch up.

We had a great, simple Father's Day! Mike slept in (I did too until 7:30a yippee), I made breakfast, Janie and I grocery shopped, I made dinner and we went to bed. It wasn't really relaxing but it wasn't stressful.

Here is my favorite man with his kiddies. I am lucky to have such an awesome father to my children!

Summer is here!

It has been a while and that is mostly due to this crazy job of mine that has consumed all of my energy and most of my time for the past two weeks. I keep thinking that it will slow down tomorrow...

Let me begin with the updates!

Janie completed Kindergarten last Wednesday. She is now officially a first grader and mom is just trying absorb it all. I tear up every time I think of the future and my little girl growing up. I imagine sitting at college orientation with her remembering back to the first time I put her on the bus. I also worry. I worry about her making good choices in friends, making good decisions about whether to try things (good and bad), and ultimately I just worry about her always being happy. From what I can tell so far, she is a well adjusted kid, gets along with others and knows right from wrong. Maybe it is just my fear of knowing how to parent correctly. As we all know, there is not a book on this stuff so it is all just a guessing game. We do what is best and what we know, and hope that we learn from our mistakes. I try to tell Janie and will always tell my kids that mommy and daddy are not perfect and I don't expect them to be either. I only expect us all to give it our best in this lifetime! Okay, enough preaching!

So Janie is home for the summer and the phones are ringing! Not boys fortunately at six years old. Friends, friends and more friends. I love it but I am just not used to her being invited somewhere all the time. I sometimes feel guilt because I am at work and not having these kids over to our house as often. We don't have any other big plans for her over the summer. She is doing gymnastics two nights a week at 2hrs a crack and that is enough to exhaust anyone. We will vaca to Higgins for a week in July. Once our babysitter has her baby, it is back to Janie's preschool for the twins and her. Hopefully that will go well.

The boys are well but just trouble. Kyle is participating in frequent time outs for hitting. For some reason I don't think Owen gets the whole time out thing but I could just be softy because he hits also! They are so fun to watch and hang out with but if you leave them for just a moment, the house is destroyed. They are breaking saftey locks all ready! Yesterday Kyle climbed onto the toy box (where Owen can not get up, took both sippy cups and put them behind his back. Oh my, it begins!

I am hopefully through my crazy period at work so I can get back to doing summer stuff and enjoying my family for the summer.

A few things

I am going to be incredibly busy at work for the next 2weeks so I am sure my posts will be minimal. I just wanted to get a few things out here before they are out of my mind.

On Sunday Janie had her first gymnastics "fun meet". This is a little meet for her "Hot Shots" class that is supposed to prepare them for competition. Meaning, they think these girls have team potential. Anyway, it was fantastic! She did a great job, got some ribbons and most importantly seemed to love it! The kicker - the $45 leotard that we had to buy for one day! Amazing! Let it begin. Here is a pic of her before the meet. My friend Theresa took the rest of the remaining awesome pics but I can get them posted here.


On another note, Owen had his first haircut on Monday. He did a great job! I had been procrastinating taking him in to get rid of his Donald Trumpp look but instead, Daddy did it. Kyle, is still sporting the no-hair-on-top, curly-tail-in-the-back- look and I love it!

Boys will be boys

I have heard before that boys are different from girls. But, I only had a girl so I didn't really know and quite frankly, I didn't really care! Well, now I do. It is so different. I remember when Janie and I used to sit and play outside on a blanket with her toys for hours. Not an option with the boys! One goes for the street and the other for the rocks. Now, part of the problem is that there are two babies, not one to keep up on. Nevertheless, it is different. They are always in some type of trouble. Kyle usually the leader with Owen following right behind. I have included some pictures of them doing things that could progress into problem. (see the pantry picture where they actually ended up with large sweet tarts in their mouths somehow!)


I have heard that boys are easier during the teenage years???

A Beautiful Weekend

What a great weekend! Despite the fact that my hubby had to work most of the weekend and that the kids had a horrible night on Monday night (I am assuming due to pure exhaustion), we had a funfilled, what seemed like long weekend. This was much needed because let me tell you, Friday was an aweful day!

Kyle did his Barium swallow on Friday. He had to go to St. Joe Hospital on an empty stomach so that he could drink the chalky white stuff while the Drs. watched it go down. What have I learned from this? You can not negotiate with a 13 month old and tell them that they can have McDonalds after if they are good! They took my baby and strapped him to a 6 inch piece of wood with his arms up. Truly, he is very strong and I was just waiting for him to breakthrough and punch the nurse. He actually did very well and everything looked really good.

Following our hospital gig, I returned to work only to find out that we had to let 7 employees go. For reasons I can not explain in my blog, we are now have 7 less employees as we go into 3 weeks of HELL at work. Not fun and sadly one of these people is a direct employee of mine that I have worked and worked with to become the best that he can be!

To top it off, my friend Nick died on Fri. This is a 26 year old kid that I worked with for a couple of years. He had lung cancer and had been in treatment for 2 years. So sad! Amazing guy!

Sooo, a great weekend needed to be in store for us. We started Sat. with a trip to Costo. I was so happy to find out that two kids can fit in the front of the grocery cart. This makes it possible for me to shop with the kids and not have to push the stroller and pull the cart. The result, I bought more!

Sunday the kids and I took off to our cottage on the Saginaw Bay. I had no intentions of swimming or even being able to sit in the sun but fortunately I did both. The boys loved the water and it was super warm. They sat and splashed for 45 minutes while their sister swam and built sand castles. Sun, sun, sun! It felt so good.

Mike was actually off on Mon. so we ventured over to our dear friends house that have a beautiful new swimming pool. (Did I mention that they live 3 miles away?) Another day of swimming, sun, awesome BBQ and a few beverages. Yippee!

The problems started when we got home. Janie was beat. This translates to having night terrors. So, after 2 hours of sleeping she wakes up kicking and screaming and it takes about 20 minutes for her to come out of it. It is not fun and only happens when she is super tired. They boys also had a rough time. They both went to bed fine and then woke up screaming thinking that they did not need to go back to sleep. Finally at midnight, they were all down.

Now it is back to work. I may not be blogging much for the next two weeks as things get crazy at work.

A few pool pics!

Daily Life

My posts seem to be dwindling. This is mostly because I only blog at work and work is so busy right now. Anyway, here is a little catch up on our lives...

The kids are all great. They all have a little something, something right now. You know, the sniffy nose, cough so you can't sleep thing!

Janie is acting her all of six! I was just thinking yesterday that I just let her play outside now. No supervision, just playing on the swing set, the pogo stick or a little bike riding. If I don't hear from her about every 20 minutes, I will look out. She does have to stay in the yard (no street ventures yet)Did I ever think that I would be at this stage? She is so independent and responsible most of the time. Gymnastics continues to be her thing. We are entering the 2-a-week stage. Apparently he coach has "plans" for her and that scares me. I don't want her to become so immersed in one thing that she misses out on others. I guess it is most important that she is enjoying it!

Owen is walking! Yes, walking more than crawling. He appears a bit drunk as he reminds himself to make his feet move. He is so happy to be keeping up with his brother. In fact, I think that he plays on Kyle's sensitivity. When Kyle is having a "moment" (a breakdown usually because he has been told "no"), Owen goes into attack mode. This can mean climbing on his brother, hitting or removing his binky (that really pisses him off).

Kyle is well and pretty much running! He is having a little Barium Swallow performed on Friday so we are not looking forward to that!

The kids are really playing well together and for that I am so grateful. It gives me the ability to pee or fold a load of laundry (this is assuming that they are locked down in the playzone and don't have access to the steps, the toilet or the garbage)

Happy Monday!

Mother's Day

I have several things to write about today including, the boys second b-day (adjusted), my OBGYN and Mother's day. I am choosing to start with Mother's Day before it gets away from me. A friend of mine blogged about this the other day and I was so on the same page as her that I decided I wanted to add to her thoughts.

Bottom line, what is the meaning fo Mother's Day supposed to be? Is it a day to kick back and relax or pamper? Is it a day to realize that your are so lucky to be a mom? Is it a day for your husband to do all of the jobs around the house and caring for the kids? Or, is it simply just a day to make cards for and mothers to be let down?

For the past 5 years (my first Mother's Day was spent in the hospital having just given birth to Janie) my expectations were high and the let down was somewhat huge. Usually my family all comes in to celebrate Mother's Day and Janie's b-day together. This is great and I love my family. However, it means cooking, cleaning, shopping, entertaining and ultimately feeling sorry for myself because I did not receive any of the above. In fact two years ago, I remember sitting and eating brunch at my house and my husband going off on me for some comment that I made, in front of my family nevertheless. Of course I spent the rest of the day crying and super frustrated!

News report - This year was different for me! My family was mostly in Columbus and we could not go because Mike had to work. So, without many expectations, I rose from bed with kiddies and was sent back. I went back to bed until get this - 8:50am. Now I could hear kids crying and laughing and making all kids of noises during this unrestful time but hey, I was just happy with the thought! Truly it has been 1 year since I have slept past 8am and even 7a is super rare. After I got up, we went to breakfast at my favorite Coney Island (my choice because that way I don't have to worry about the mess that the kids make) So we had breakfast and then Janie and I went and had a manicure and pedicure or as she says "medicure and pedicure" This of course was planned by me. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I was surprised with a really cool necklace that I wanted (I purposely left the ad on the table for reference) and a huge card (huge because all others were sold out late Saturday night). So after the mani and pedi, the grocery shopping began followed by laundry, feeding and baths.

Here I am having had a great Mother's day, including time to reflect about how I am the luckiest mom in the world, and I still am making comments about the little things that I would have done differently. It isn't that I am not appreciative, because I am. It is not that I don't think that my husband is the bomb, because he is truly a great partner/team player. It is just that Mom's know best and what seems so simple to us, is just not simple to them! Until next year, I continue to be lucky!

Little Burritos

As we did with Janie, Owen and Kyle were always swaddled up as babies. They did it in the hospital and we did it at home. If they were tired, it was just a matter of re-wrapping them. In fact, the wrapping "like a burrito" as my sister would say helped to serve a great purpose when they could not keep their binkies in. You can just simply tuck it over the pacifier a bit!

Soooo, they are now 13 months old. We probably swaddled Janie for a month or maybe 6 weeks, but 13 months? Come on! These children still think they are in their mamma's tummy. So it goes, every night we "wrap" them up and put them to bed. If they don't go right down, we find ourselves taking a trip up stairs to "re-wrap" them. If they wake up during the night, we usually (there are definite exceptions) just "re-wrap" them. I guess you do what works!

The problem? The blankets are getting too small!

Finding time for everything

The reality is, our lives change! We choose to fall in love, have kids, and go about the chaos of what that all includes. It is not hard to keep your friendships as you can be in touch via phone, e-mail and maybe an occasional drop by visit. My friendships are very near and dear to me. My best friends have gotten me through many rough times - my Dad's death, having children, pregnancy, marital frustration and many, many other things that are not appropriate for this blog. But, I always miss them! Truthfully, I don't have much time for anything but a job, my kids and my husband. Anything else that I do seems to sacrifice these things. Don't get me wrong, I love an occasional outing with a friend for a glass of wine or a little shopping spree but it take what seems like days or even weeks of planning to do these things.

My best friends (from high school) and I started a tradition of going on a trip every year. We have tried to enjoy some fun areas - Chicago, Phoenix, Galveston, Las Vegas and last year we did Columbus (I was ready to pop and couldn't travel far). It has not always been easy coming up with dates, locations, finances, and coverage for children. Many who have had more flexibility have made sacrifices for those of us with kids and hard work schedules. Well, after some discussion via e-mail yesterday, we have come to the conclusion that we will not be taking a Fab 5 trip this year. Kristin and Meredith are prego, Jamie has a 3 mth old and two other kids, I would love to get away but as always have schedule complications and low funds and Tara is free as a bee! So, it will not work to bring us all together. For a while we all lived in different states -AZ, KY, CA, GA and MI. Not that all are back in MI except Mere (CA), it is not easier. We have entered the Mommy stage!

My point is not that I am mad, I am just disappointed. I completely understand that we will go through some hard years trying to make this work until we are all rich, have the kiddos shipped off to college, and take very lavish vacations. The thing is, I enjoy these people so much and our yearly outings are a form of therapy whether we realize that we need it or not. We laugher harder than ever, typically drink a significant amount, cry over the simplest things, and just realize that we have all changed and gone our different directions but ultimately, this is the real deal. This is a friendship that many will not experience in this lifetime!

I could blab on and on about these gals because they truly are the bomb! In the meantime, I will just appreciate any opportunities that we have together.

It's a 6th B-day Party!

For some reason I dread the planning of Janie's b-day party every year. I am not sure if it is because it is a really busy time for me at work, I am not creative or energetic enough to put on the whole hoopla myself with games prizes and a cheerful disposition, or maybe I just procrastinate so long that it always feels like a chore! Nevertheless, it always works out. I have decided that any party not at my house is a great thing. Since Janie is absolutely obsessed with gymnastics, we had a gymnastics party. It was perfect! A few friends, cake and ice cream, paid-for entertainment and no mess! Oh, and I think she enjoyed it also.

The sad and scary part...my baby is 6 years old. Yes, 6! That means that she can now talk back, give opinions, try to boss me around and of course she becomes less and less dependent on me every day.:( It also means that she can help around the house, engage in some great conversations, and do a lot or fun mommy-daughter things.

Here are a few pics of our event yesterday.

One fine day

Our March of Dimes walk was everything I dreamed it would be. We raised over $700 easily! Our best friends and my Mom walked with us. Our family team name was O.K. Twins and we walked very proud of our preemies. There were several kids activities, lots of free food and give aways, and tons of cool people! It was the best and next year I hope to have an even bigger team! Here are some photos.