Thundery Thursday

Well, I got up this morning and did my hair, despite the forecasters warning that today would not be a good hair day.  Hey, at least I tried.  I am not sitting in my parent’s living room wearing a visor that I am pretty sure my nephew left here.  I arrived at my parent house in a deluge of some of the heaviest rain I have seen in a long time.  Well, the hair couldn’t be saved…..

My parents are driving to Massachusetts and I am sitting with my Grandmother.  It is really kind of sad.  It seems like she is just sitting around waiting to die.  She asked me earlier if these “were my kids?”  Ummm, yeah….These are my kids, Grandma…….I mean…she is 95 but seems to be fading faster and faster all the time.  I don’t ever want to get that old.

Meanwhile,  I am still trying to figure out how to get all the movies of the babies off of my harddrive on my video camera.  I want to burn them to DVD.  So far, I haven’t had much luck.

Tomorrow, I am having an electrician (friend) come in to install the ceiling fan.  The hubby took one look at it and it was “over his head” and he didn’t want to short out the rest of the house.  Electricity has never been his strong suit.  I remember one time when we were first dating and he was talking to me on the phone while trying to wire some lights in the basement.  Well, something went buzz and he flew halfway across the basement, while I was on the phone with him.

Yeah…..

We did go to Dorney Park and had a good time.  The kids enjoyed it.  The hubby, not so much.  He doesn’t like rides. so he spent most of the day holding the bags of stuff that we dragged around instead of paying $15 to rent a locker for 4 hours…….but I did manage to get some sun, and am sporting some tan lines for the first time this year.

Hump Day

The kids slept through the night.  Without a middle of the night bottle.  I am so proud of them.  And I think I know what did it.  They have full run of Grandma and Grandpa‘s house.  They are expending tons of energy.  And yesterday, They only each got a cat nap.

They are in baby jail right now, and they are “lounging”. I think they are still tired. (tee hee hee).

I spent the day at my parent’s house yesterday.  The kitchen remodeler was here.  I sure wish they would have told me that they were taking out my kitchen sinkon the first day.    have planned things a little differently.  So, I will be using plastic or paper cups since I really don’t want to wash dishes in the bathtub.  I will take the kids’ bottles to my parent’s house and run them through the dishwasher.  I also do not have any counter tops, or drawers, or doors on my cabinets.  The kitchen just looks weird…..

The hubby has decided to stay out in North Dakota until Friday.  My father in law is still hanging in there.  They had him on some kind of “CPAP” thing and had him intubated.  They took him off of that yesterday and the old man sat up out of bed.  He is just on oxygenthrough a nasal cannula right now.  He keeps stretching his arms out for hugs.  He pointed right at the hubby so at least there is some degree of recognition and appropriate response.  The doctors still don’t know what is going on.  They want to watch him for another day or two, and then they will see how he is doing.

The best part of all of this, if there is a positive, is that the hubby is seeing family that he hasn’t seen in 20 years.  He reconnecting with a family that he pretty much walked away from.  He is the only one that made it out.  Everyone else stayed.  And there is nothing wrong with that, I guess.   I just can’t imagine having the whole world out there, and staying in Fargo my entire life.  I have been blessed that I was able to travel when I was young, and then as part of a job, and on my own as a hobby.  I have been to the UK, Mexico, and Canada.  I have been to 49 of the 50 states.  I have been there and done that and I have no regrets.

But I miss my hubby.  I didn’t sleep well at all the last two nights.  I might even miss his snoring.  It is just not the same when he isn’t around.  He did call me about a dozen times yesterday….I can’t wait to pick him up at the airport and give him the biggest hug.  I feel very helpless right now when it comes to finding ways to support him.

I am hanging in there.  All the prayers and well wishes are greatly appreciated.

Oh…. and here are some pictures of the kitchen so far…..

18 months and 1 day…..

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So we survived 18 months…..

We didn’t end up doing dinner with Mom and Dad since the kids ended up getting 3 shots at the pediatrician.  Daniel is 30 lbs and Melissa is 27 lbs.  Melissa is 34 1/4″ and Daniel is 34 1/2″ tall.  Melissa is maintaining her 97th + percentile for her height.  What can I say….maybe she will get a basketball scholarship.

Today, I am going to venture to home depot to buy wood for the front garden. We bought a red hydrangea and blue Nikko hydrangeaplants and are giving up on our sickly roses in the front yard.  So, I will drop the kids off with Mom, borrow Dad and off to home depot I will go.

The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend and I really can hardly wait to get the kids out to the park or at least for a nice long walk.  And my sister will be here this weekend…yee ha!

It was a rough night for Melissa overnight.  I think her teethwere really bugging her, so (bad mommy), I brought her in bed with us.  She was really restless and so I am a little tired this morning.  Thank God for good coffee.  I really can’t wait for the teething to be done…..really….enough already!

 

And This Is What Happened Today

1) I paid Mom and Dad’s contractor.  Done.

2) I went to the gym.  Had a great workout.

3) Drove to the new house to take hubby something to eat.

4) Saw house and realized that hubby would be there all day.

5) Spoke to Mom and Dad as they were getting on the road, driving east, across the state of Pennsylvania.

6) Took a bath when the kids were “napping”*

7) *Kids did not nap, but Daniel did remove his diaper and peed all over his crib.

8) Took laundry to basement to discover that an entire bottle of tide had tipped over into a basket of clean, dry, folded clothing.  Decided that washing stinky sheets and blankets way more important than trying to rescue my clothes.  Daniel needs something to keep warm tonight, and I can always use an excuse to buy new clothes….(or new to me…since I am the queen of thrift, second hand, and consignment).

9) Got “deposed” by the  insurance company of the (long,stringy blond haired, sweat pant wearing, trailer trash…and yes, she lives in a trailer)woman who backed her car into mine at the wal.mart yesterday.  Her version of what happened is ever so different than mine.  I told her insurance company’s adjusted that she was telling a bold-faced lie.  So next week, a field adjuster will come out sometime next week to look at the damage she did to my car.  That should be fun considering that we have an allergy appointment for Daniel and I have a mammogram appointment.  You know they will show up at the worst time.

10) My parents are finally going to be close to me.  Close to my babies.  I am very happy.

So Much Happened…..

Ok, just so I don’t ramble on toods much, here is the wrap up of our “surprise” trip to Western PA.

Wednesday:

I spent the day packing and loading the car with 2 pack.n.plays, a walker and our suitcase.  We decided that instead of cooking and making a mess in the kitchen, we would go to Son.ic.  I found one not too far from our house (about 14 miles or so) and off we went.  The hubby had never been to one and I think he really liked it.  There are very few things that cost less than $3 that make me happy, but the Butterfinger son.ic blast is pretty much at the top of the list.  We came home and put the kids to bed and tried to get some sleep.  I had this idea that if we travelled overnight, there was a good chance that the kids would sleep.  So, we woke up at midnight, loaded the kids, and off we went.  I drove the first leg of the trip….about 12:15 am to 4:30 am.  Most of that time, the kids did NOT sleep.  They fussed.  And fussed.  And fussed.  The hubby saw most of the state of PA looking out the rear view window.  When my eyes finally gave out and I started to see double, I asked the hubby to drive.  He hadn’t had much of a chance to sleep as the kids didn’t putter out until nearly 3:30 am.

Thursday…(the wee small hours)

The hubby drove and I woke up about 5:45am after a much needed nap.  I have always had the ability to fall asleep anywhere…(I used to train software and travelled nationwide….I slept on airplanes…sleeping through take offs and landings)  We arrived at 6:15 am.  I called my mother and asked her if she saw any turkeys in her front yard.  She was perplexed.  Then I told her, “you have two big turkeys and two little turkeys in your front yard”.  Again, she had no idea what I was talking about…. (please keep in mind, my mother had surgery on her foot in October and has been in a chair since the surgery and is forbidden to bear any weight on her foot until January.)  Then I asked her if she saw any headlights in her drive way.  And then she got it!!!!!!!!!  She squealed with delight!!!  My Aunt was visiting and helping Mom out and knew we were coming…Mom was really surprised!!!  We got the kids unloaded and despite them wearing overnight diapers, they were SOAKED!  So, we changed them into pajamas.  We set up the pack.n.plays (one in each of the gues rooms) and prayed the kids would go back to sleep.  Yeah right………..no such luck.

Thursday….

The hubby got a nap.  I dealt with the kids.  Daniel was extra fussy….he managed to pick up a cold….go figure….he was just at the pediatricians office, of course he would come home with a cold….(I swear they do not wipe down the toys in the waiting room…..and why should they….they are in business too….)  And Daniel was also cutting two more teeth…. Yeah! So a cold, two teeth, chicken pox and eczema.  He was a real delight.  Melissa was just crabby because she was tired.

Thursday Afternoon…

Dinner was a treat. (please note sarcasm…..) For whatever reason, my aunt decided to throw the traditional menu out the window and do her own thing…..so, we had turkey, potatoes and then she made stuffing from a box, Sweet potatoes from a box, and brussel sprouts.  OMG………….yucko!  We have ALWAYS made homemade stuffing.  It is a tradition.  And no one eats sweet potatoes.  And brusselsprouts…..is their a yuckier food out there?  If there is, I have never tasted it.  We also had an apple pie and my aunt’s version of a chocolate pie.  It was no where near as good as my mother’s cooking and not to brag….but I could have made a tastier meal with one arm tied behind my back.  ( We are going back from Christmas and I have made a deal with my Dad that I will do the cooking, make the coffee, etc…..)  There is always a coffee war at my parent’s house.  Dad makes it too strong, my aunt makes it too weak…..I normally try to just leave the house and go to the coffee shop around the block so no one’s feelings get hurt.

 

The kids had some turkey and some potatoes and seemed to enjoy making a mess.  I was just exhausted by this point and wanted to do nothing but sleep.  The rest of the day was kind of a blur….

Friday:

It should have been a nice relaxing day, but Melissa managed to pick up Daniel’s cold so we had two sick babies.  It was a rough night for Daniel (who slept in bed with his Daddy in one of the guest rooms while I slept on the world’s most uncomfortable single bed while Melissa slept in her pack.n.play)  The hubby went out and picked up a nasal aspirator for the kids (the one item I did NOT pack).  The day flew by and we decided that we would have Chinese food for lunch….(again, not a tradition….what the heck ever happened to turkey sandwiches?)  The Chinese food was kinda yucky…the fried rice was YELLOW!!!!  I ate my sesame chicken and some of the yellow rice and tossed the rest in the trash.  Well, Miss Melissa, who was tooling around in the walker, found the trash can, and the Chinese food container…and well, she liked the yellow rice…

Saturday:

We got up and got the kids dressed and loaded and hit the road.  I am glad that we left on Saturday instead of waiting until yesterday like everyone else.  We had a nice drive home, in bright sunshine, but it was cold.  We stopped once to change the kids and were like a nascar pit crew.  We each grabbed a kid, a diaper and a wipe, put the kid on the front seat, changed, redressed and put them back in their carseats.  Wham, bam, thank you ma’am!  We got home and the kids were so happy to see their doggies and more so, all of their toys.  Melissa crawled into the toy box………

And the best part……….

Saturday night the kids S L E P T   A L L  N I G H T  L O N G!    FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, we just relaxed.  The weather was crappy.  We were going to do some Christmas decorating but I think we were all just too wiped out.

 

So there you have it…..

Shoes For Big Feet Babies

Yeah, so I neglected to mention that I bought shoes for the monsters yesterday.  Size 5 shoes.  Giant shoes.

Daniel has these square, wide, brick shaped, Fred Flint-stone feet.  So, he ended up with these navy blue (bo-bo’s…sorry, not spending a ton of money on shoes for the kids…no freakin’ way…$10 is the limit!!!) sneakers with 2 Velcro straps.  Daniel always stands on his toes and I really need him to stop doing that…It just looks like it hurts.  So I put them on him while he was in the jumper and he managed to get one of them off.  He then proceeded to jump on the unshod foot.  And screamed.  He now knows that it hurts.  Some lessons, Mommy has to let the little man learn on his own.

Melissa ended up with little white high top boots.  She loves them.  She is “practicing” walking with help.  I am a little concerned about her feet as well as it seems she is turning her feet inwards.  I was a pigeon toed kid and they ended up putting this device on me with a bar across it to “straighten” my feet out.  To this day, I blame that thing on my multiple knee and ankle issues (and I am sure that all the sports I played had something to do with it).

My parents and 94 year old grandmother are currently on their way here.  They are house hunting over the next few days for their retirement home.  This should be an adventure…

The kids had me up a bunch of times in the night.  But I wasn’t really sleeping.  I made the mistake of watching “Ins.ide the T.win Tow.ers” on D.iscovery channel.  That is not something to go to sleep to.  So, I eventually shut it off and put the old ipod on.  That didn’t work either.  By 3 am, when I was up with Melissa, I just decided to go down on the couch and watch TV.  I couldn’t very well vacuum or anything.  I suppose I could have done laundry, but that is hard in the dark too.  So, I watched TV.  Hubby got up and ready and was out the door to work.  He called a few minutes ago and is not sure hwat time he will be getting home tonight.  Funny how “crazy things are” at work whenever my family is around.  They should be arriving at supper time so I have taken a nice roast out and will “attempt” to make dinner for everyone.  That is going to be up to the kids…..

3D/4D today : Family Connections

Today is a day that both hubby and I have been looking forward to almost since we found out that we were pregnant. We are having our 3D/4D ultrasound this afternoon. We will finally be able to see the faces of our children. My parents are driving in today from Pittsburgh to share this amazing experience and then will stay overnight. Hubby has to work tomorrow, so I am sure that Mom and Dad and I will do some more baby shopping. I think they are getting really excited.

Keep in mind that they do have other grandchildren. My sister, who lived in Massachusetts, has a son and a daughter (almost 8 and 3 1/2 years old respectively) and Mom was very used to getting to spend time with them prior to their move to PGH. My parents are only 19 months away from retirement and hopefully, will settle closer to us so that they will have the opportunity to spend some quality time with our children when they are growing up. I t is important to me that the kids know their grandparents. When I was growing up, I had a Grandfather who lived in Florida and Grandmother who lived in Washington, both of whom, I never got to spend too much time with. I have had to deal with that my entire life, not feeling a real close connection with them. I got close to my Grandfather a few months before he passed away, but that was because for the first time, he was living under our roof. Hubby’s mother passed away years ago and his dad is in a “old soldier’s home” in North Dakota, so that chances of the kids making a really meaningful connection there are pretty slim.

Must go and have my cup of coffee and start some laundry (much overdue) and do some last minute straightening up around the house before the parental arrival.

Oh, and I will post some pictures later this evening of Rumble and Tumble…..

Did I mention that their favorite time of day is between 2 and 5 am. Lots of kicking, punching, general mayhem. And these kids are strong…

I think I am going to be in a lot of trouble when they finally arrive.