Summer is finally here!

Most have started their summer but we have just begun! June is an insane month for me at work(I think I have mentioned this one or 100 times) so I am just getting back to a normal schedule with my first weekend off since May. On top of work, Janie has had two softball games a week (three this week), camp two days a week and gymnastics three days a week. Needless to say, when I am not a work I am running Janie and towing the boys along. I look forward to a slowing pace with softball over and work mellowing.

We have done a few fun things lately, not sure when, but we have! We roasted marshmallows with the boys for the first time.


I received free tickets to a Mitchel Musso concert that Janie and I went to last week. If you don't know who Mitchel is, you are crazy! He of course is Hannah Montana's friend on the show. Great time!




Janie has been playing softball since May. This was her first time and she loved it. She made the all-star team and we had her game on Friday night. Lot's of fun watching these girls.





Today we went to the cottage and hooked up with my sis for the day. It was fun to see my 18mth old nephew that does not stop for a second. It is more fun to see my pregnant sister constantly following him around!

Happy Fathers Day!

It was nice to spend my first day off in two weeks with the hubby and kiddos. We went to the park, had a picnic, visited some animals and then got rained out. Fortunately the afternoon cleared for some swimming and BBQ!

Happy Fathers Day to my husband and father of my fabulous kids!

End of 2nd Grade!

Today was Janie's last day of 2nd grade! She ended with flying colors and is ready for 3rd grade. She met some great friends and had an amazing teacher. Here is to summer!

Half way there!

I think I have been pretty consistent with all of my children when it comes to scheduling, sleeping, eating, bottles, etc...They were always on a fairly strict feeding schedule (it worked wonders!), they have always gone to bed on their own (my sanity) and I followed other orders pretty much by the book. Janie stopped the bottle right at a year and Owen and Kyle stopped as soon as they could drink out of a sippy (14 months). I do however certainly have my downfalls and the main one is the binky. Janie did not give hers up at night until 4yrs old.

My goals for the summer are #1 getting rid of binkis (the boys are now 3yrs and two months old) and #2 potty training. I am proud to say each has accomplished one. Owen has been about three weeks without the binky after losing his last and final one at Janie's softball game. Kyle is officially 7 days into potty training and has had 3 accidents, none of which have been in the last 3 days. So, so far so good. Owen continues to show no interest in the potty and Kyle will be dependent on the binky until I take it away or he loses it(we are down to 2).

Now let's see how the other half goes...




This is Kyle showing me tricks on hes skateboard, aka - xylophone

Happy Memorial Day!

We enjoyed a weekend full of relaxation (yes, I slept 9 hours every night), swimming and fun with friends. We also dove big time into the potty training. Kyle is doing excellent and Owen won't have anything to do with it. He still has never gone on the potty! We are giving Kyle bribes (M&M's) everytime he goes. Tonight he was squeezing and saying MMMM&MMMM! Bad mommy or desperate?

Update from the Mitchells!

It has been a bit since I have had time to blog so I thought I would send an update out before I hit my 20 days straight of working 12-20(yes, 20) hour days!

Owen - The cast has now been off almost 3 weeks. Owen is doing wonderful. He improves every day. He really started walking on Monday. He looks like a duck and I sometimes find myself explaining (although I shouldn't) why he is walking with a HUGE limp. I expect this for at least another month or so. Hopefully the foot will turn in again. This is not stopping him from jumping on the trampoline or climbing out of bed(the net is now back up). He is a champ and I am so proud of how we all handled this. The support we received from family and friends is so appreciated!

Kyle - Kyle, Kyle, Kyle...Ya know, he is crazy! He is almost ready to have the training wheels off of his bike, he has mastered a front flip on the tramp and he continues to test me every day. Actually, he is very sweet most of the time.



Janie - Gymnastics competition ended last weekend. She had a great season and has mastered her back handspring on floor, cartwheel on beer, front handspring on vault and kip on bars. This doesn't mean we are done for the year. We now start 4 hour a day, 3 day a week practice for the summer in preparation for next years competition (if we stay with it) which will include out of state travel.

She started softball so we now have two games a week. It is so fun for all of us. Despite the crazy schedule and games not getting over until 9pm, we have a good time and she enjoys it. Soon she will be done with school for the year and officially be a 3rd grader! Crazy!




Mike and I are both good. We feel that we have entered into a new stage of life - running kids! We are looking forward to some good time together this weekend before I depart to work for the next month.

B-day and Mothers Day

My baby girl is officially 8 years old! We celebrated with family this past weekend and she will have a couple of girlfriends over for a sleepover this weekend. I am so proud to be the mommy to such a great girl!

Speaking of moms~did I ever say that I have the best mom in the entire world? Seriously I wonder sometimes how I got so lucky. I can't imagine a day without her to share my happy times and my challenges. I love being a parent with the guidance that she has given me. She is truly amazing I am so blessed to be the daughter of such a wonderful person!

This is what happens when you try to get a picture of Grammy with the three grandkids three and under! Happy Mothers Day to my hero, my mother!

The Cast is off!

The cutting of the cast

Owen did get his cast off Monday and he is now the lightest thing I have ever lifted. He did well and the Dr. was happy with the progress. Of course in the X-ray, I still think the leg looks broken! Here is the outlook - he will start to move around quite a bit in a week or so. He should be walking well and living "typical" in about a month. He will walk with a limp for about 3-4 months. For now, he is pretty slow going. It is kind of similar to when we brought him home with the cast. He is sitting now and actually army crawled about 3 feet today. He is super cautious and has to gain a lot of trust in himself and his leg. No folks, he is not walking, yet! Honestly, if one more person asks me "is he running around yet", I think I may lose it! I know, it is a valid question but since he is soooo far from walking, I guess it frustrates me. I mean he broke the biggest bone in the body. If an adult did this, they would be hospitalized for 1-2 months and down for 6months. I think we are doing really well! Okay, off my soapbox!

Did I mention that he has bathed and is super clean now? His skin looks awesome and almost back to normal. He is not in pain! To top it off, he gave up the pacifier last night after we lost it at Janie's softball game. Life is good!

NO CAST!

Hey, hey, hey GOODBYE!

We can only hope that our Dr.'s apt. goes well tomorrow and the cast comes off as planned. Again, I have to say that this was definitely doable. He is however beginning to stink a tiny bit. Today I actually did one less diaper change than normal because I just did not care. It he leaks a bit (and he did), so be it! If the Dr. says "two more weeks" tomorrow, I will be bummed.

Here is a pic of the small opening in the front that we have to work with. You can see how the diaper is stuffed in. We will not miss the tons of Depend pads that we have gone through (3-4 per diaper change).

I think he is ready. I think we all are!

Tag - 7 Random Facts

My friend Billie, who I met through St. Joe Hospital, and has two amazing girls, tagged me to do the 7 Random Facts thingy. I am not a very interesting person so I will do my best here. The funny part is, I don't have 7 bloggers to link to and I forgot how to link!

Here are the rules:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.

2. Post THE RULES on your blog.

3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.

4. Tag 7 people and link to them.

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Random Facts About Me:

1. In Junior High and High School I was in choir. I think I was in choir because my dad was very musical and my sister was a great singer. I, however was very unsuccessful and should have known to stick to sports.

2. My dad was the smartest, most giving person that I have ever known. I lost him at age 61 of cancer. He has now been gone for 7 1/2 years and I miss him all the time.

3. When I went to college I had no idea what I wanted to do. I think I was just young and not ready to make decisions yet so I got a degree in communication (you can do anything with that degree correct?). My dream now is to go into social work. The challenge is that I will have a bunch of undergrad work to do plus receive my Masters to make a lot less money than I do now.

4. I love gymnastics! I love to watch it, I used to love to do it, and I love that my daughter now does it. I competed several years in my younger days and always dreamed that I could compete in college. Now I see the expense and commitment it takes and I hope I don't pressure my daughter at all.

5. I love to fish. I think it is so relaxing to sit in a boat (sometimes with a cocktail) and fish. The thrill is pretty great when you actually catch one!

6. I loved being pregnant. I loved eating what I wanted, I loved wearing maternity clothes and I even enjoyed my c-sections (I know, crazy). I wish I could do it again but it is just not realistic for me to have another child!

7. I cry very easily. I cry because I am happy more often than sad. I really cry at touching stories. I don't like people to see me cry but truly, I think I love to cry.

That's all folks! Liz, Shannon (because she has not done one yet), Greta and Amanda!

Tricks

Four days and five nights and this beast of a cast in coming off (hopefully)! I honestly don't have any complaints at all about it. It may still be a bit premature to say this but the cast had been perfect. It is not rubbing, itching or hurting. He is in a good position to sit (in the wheelchair), lay and have tummy time. It doesn't even really stink. The Doc warned us that he would absolutely "hate this thing" and after two weeks, it would really stink. Well neither is true. He still thinks his cast is cozy and is not sure he wants it off. He doesn't smell like lilacs but he certainly doesn't stink. Truly, outside of the diapering, a bit of constipation, a few verbal demands and getting up in the night, I think this was a positive experience. I have learned a bit about the life of a child with a physical disability, my arms are stronger and I have known for 5 weeks where one twin is at all times!

Owen spends most of his evenings doing tricks now. He is pretty good and a great show off if you want to stop by! Here are some pics of his latest moves!

March for Babies 2008

What a great day! Once again the March for Babies Walk was a HUGE success. The OK Twins Team officially raised over $1500 for this amazing cause. We had 13 walkers on our team this year. The weather was beautiful, the activities were perfect and the purpose close to my heart! I hope that through research, more and more babies will continue to be born healthy.

Thank you dear friends and family for your generous support again this year!

Cookie Monster and Clowns!

What a great Saturday we had! While daddy was working and then out of town for the night, the kids and I filled our day with fun. First, Cookie Monster arrived in the morning for a visit. My assistant at work has a dear friend who owns a costume shop. They decided that they wanted to bring some cheer to our home and have a character come and visit. The kids have not stopped saying "cookie monster came to my house"

Then, after hearing that the Shrine Circus was in town, I got tickets late Friday night for the Saturday show. I convinced a few friends and my bros family to come with because I knew I could not do it alone. Despite the sore muscles I have today from carrying Owen about a mile, it was a fabulous idea and a grand time! The kids were GREAT and we even got some one-on-one time with a clown named Jo-Jo who stopped by our seats and signed Owen's cast.

I had forgotten how fun the circus is. As a child we went every year with my grandfather who was a Shriner. I have great memories of this and the little goody bags that my grandmother packed us so we wouldn't spend any money on junk!

March of Dimes

We are officially two weeks out from the March of Dimes walk. We will be walking again this year with friends and family to celebrate the healthy lives of Owen and Kyle and the other children around the world that are born premature.

As I state daily, we are the lucky ones! We have crazy healthy little boys who thrive. I do realize that many others' lives are different. I have close friends who deal with severe side effects of prematurity every day. The irony is that these children would not be alive at all without the advances in medical care that March of Dimes has supported the research for. So, on April 27th, we will walk with the hope that these advances will continue and that more and more babies will be born healthy every year!

Please help us to achieve our fundraising goal of $1250. Please, please!

Inside or Outside?

I suppose that it just depends on the day of the week these days. Owen has started to motor along by using his arms to pull him. For some reason he is still waking up every night 4-5 times!

We are still hanging in there - 2 full weeks down!

Happy 3rd Birthday Owen and Kyle

What do you do for a 3rd birthday? I am sure for Janie we had an extravagant party that I started planning for months in advance. For the boys we booked Chuck E Cheese on Thursday for Friday. I have sworn off kid parties at my house simply because I am not creative and do not have the patience. Besides, why do it at your house when there are a million other places! I can't use Owen's accident as an excuse for not planning because it was only a week ago. Isn't there something they say about the best times are those that you don't plan? Anyway, our family, my mom, my bro and fam went to Chuck E Cheese last night. It was great! Outside of the few adults that seemed annoyed that they had to move to let our wheel chair through, I think it was perfect. Owen rode on the little cars with me and we had a grand time. Tonight, we celebrated with some gifts and cake.

I sometimes think about my life before the boys and this is what I have come up with:

Before the boys...

I thought I was sooooooo busy
I thought it was hard taking a child with me to the store
I could watch a TV show that I wanted EVERY night
I knew who Oprah was
I sat and ate entire dinners, in peace
I never knew how many things in my house could get destroyed
I thought that I could never love anything as much as Janie
I never knew how fun it is to sit at dinner and hold hand with your most precious gifts and say a prayer
I never realized what an accomplishment outings could be
I never understood how great it is to give love to 3!
I had never heard someone say "look mommy, you have two baby boys"


Love you boys and I am so proud of you!

Doing Fine

We are exactly one week post surgery with Owen and we are doing just fine. Days are great! He is such a trooper. He never complains or asks why he can't walk. He ask for things, smiles and constantly tells me that I am doing a good job.

The nights this week have not been great. We started the week with 2 almost sleepless nights. Nothing would make this child happy. Truly I don't think he is in a bit of pain! I just keep imagining waking up in the night and not being able to move anything but my arms. The last few nights he has woken a few times but only needed water. I can handle this! The difference may be that we put him back on Valium before bed and a stool softener.

Our Nanny is doing amazing with him. Being pregnant, she never complains or acts like she can't handle things! We realize how fortunate we are because if he was in school or daycare, I would most likely have to take a leave from work.