seeing double

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-05T15:09:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I had a chance to pull out the camera and play around with the manual setting. I was so thrilled that I figured a few things out, AND got it to do what I wanted it to!

(G wasn't feeling good yesterday, this is as much as I got out of him)

This year I feel like Christmas is creeping upon me and I don't feel prepared for it. Which, is truly silly because I actually have all my shopping done. And then I realize its also only the 5th of the month. There is still time for me to make peanut butter fudge and Christmas tree cookies.

Now, why do I feel so unprepared?

4 Months Difference

2011-12-03T15:45:00.001-06:00

yesterday I put this up on facebook.

I truly did not expect the overwhelming response to it! I was so hesitant to put it up, but I wanted people to know that I did not achieve this just sitting still. It has been a lot of hard work. It hasn't been easy, but it has been worth it.

So many of my friends asked me to share my secrets to success, so here they are!

My Tips and Techniques

#1: Running. Year before last I discovered running and I fell in love. I was not a runner by any means, nor did it come easy to me. The first time I went out for a run (and attempted to follow Couch to 5K) I couldn’t even make it half a block. I stuck with it (the running... I quickly modified C25K and ended up ditching it after week 2), and quickly fell in love. There is strength and power in running. Even after the worse run possible you walk through the door feeling like you can take on the world, or in my case… 2 toddler boys. By the time I got pregnant with Milee, 7 months later, I could easily run 5 miles. I will never be able to shut-up about my love of running. Now with 3 kids it’s harder to find time to get out and run, but my goal is 1 run outside a week (which right now is more like 1x a month). I do now have an elliptical, and I am running on that 4-5x a week. (Miles is going to read this and be like “what?!”… OK, I’ve only had the elliptical together for a week. I WILL be running on that 4-5 times a week during the winter.)

#2: Insanity. A week after my 6 week check-up I started Insanity (www.beachbodycoach.com/nodakhotmama). And it was truly insane. No person in their right mind (especially one that physically can.not exercise beyond yoga while pregnant) should do Insanity at 7 weeks postpartum. But, I once again stuck with it… well, at least until week 6. After rest week at week 5, it was hard for me to get back into it. Workouts had to be pushed until after the kids were in bed and I had finished up everything else that had been neglected during the day. Not to mention that was when it decided to be ridiculously hot here. At 10pm the last thing I had the mental energy to do was make myself sweat and cry for 60+ minutes depending on the night. No lie, Insanity is brutal. You will cry (actual tears), you will curse, and you will hate your life. But oh, the sweet results! Even though I didn’t finish the program I saw so much progress and change in those 5 weeks. I highly recommend it to anyone that has it in them.

#3: Tabata. A few months ago, after being completely unsatisfied with the lack of runs I’d been able to squeeze in, I discovered tabatas at fithealthymoms.com. And my life was made complete. Tabatas are a high intensity interval workout. The short of it… you push yourself as hard as you can for 20 seconds, you rest for 10 seconds, and repeat for 4 minutes. You can either just do 1 tabata (4 minutes), or take a minute break and repeat. The most I’ve accomplished at a time is 3 tabatas (15 minutes). These are the BEST workouts for me. I can always find the mental energy to force myself to do a 4 minute workout. This usually leads to 2, and then 3. After 15 minutes though, I am most times completely drained, muscles shaking, nothing left to give. Favorite part of tabatas, I found a HIIT app for my phone. So I can do my work out with the timer set on my phone and watch whatever TV show is on, that I don’t admit to people I watch :D I do these on average 5-6 times a week. I found I like them better if I do 2 different moves per tabata, for example I’ll do 20 sec. Mountain climbers, 10 secs rest, 20 secs jump squats, 10 secs rest, and repeat. Different exercise moves I’ve done include mountain climbers, jumping jacks, jump squats, heismans, pretend jump rope, sprinting, flutter kicks, high knees… a lot of things I learned while doing Insanity have been put to VERY good use with these.

#4: Core Firing System. Shortly before I had Milee I found momsintofitness.com, and quickly fell in love with her approach and style of exercise. I had originally intended on buying her 60-day slim down after Milee was born, but since someone offered to let me borrow their copy of Insanity I ended up doing that instead. BUT, I discovered her Core Firing System. As a woman that has had a twin pregnancy and a singleton pregnancy in just over 2 ½ years, my abs (and skin) are/were shot. Her CFS method teaches you how to work your abs from the inside (and also has tips for if you have diastasis recti, or separated ab muscles). I am a person that HATES exercise DVDs with a passion. So I bought her download. It seems so much better using my computer. And, another favorite, its only 8 minutes long. I try to do this 3x a week, though lately it’s only been about once a week.

#5: Diet. Now, I hate the word diet. What I do is not a “diet”. It is not something that is just temporary. It’s a permanent way of life for me. I ate like this before I had children, and will mostly likely until I die, or am too old to eat solids. On an average day I eat mainly vegetables, fruits and lean proteins. It is once again so second nature to me, that it’s hard to describe it as anything extraordinary, so I’ll try and break it down.

Breakfast: coffee (with fat-free half & half and 1 packet equal); and a handful of almonds.

Lunch: it could be a large salad with a little cheese or meat on it; a plateful of vegetables; or a green smoothie w/protein powder (which I love because I don’t really get to sit down and eat most days)

Snack: mostly always almonds or an apple with natural peanut butter (‘normal’ peanut butter usually has some type of sugar added. And the less sugar I consume the better. For me, sugar is the enemy after having kids.)

Supper: is a wild card. I’ll either have another salad, with what I’ve made for Miles and the kids as a topping (if they have tacos, I’ll have taco salad type of thing). Or, if it’s a meat and potatoes type of meal I’ll fill my plate with 75% vegetables, 15% protein, 10% whatever the side dish is. And if it’s something there is no way to healthy up (we’ve all made those casseroles when we’re in a hurry), I just watch my portions.

I am not a person to truly deprive myself of anything. I think those that have spent time with me know that. I’ll eat that birthday cake. Or enjoy that meal out. But, I don’t prolong it past that. Moderation in everything. Two key factors for me since having kids are cutting out as much sugar and starches as possible. I very, very rarely eat bread or pasta (I don’t believe in whole wheat pasta… gag). But, nor do I miss it. It could be because I’ve cut it out of my everyday diet for so long that I don’t notice that it’s gone, or maybe I’m just not a huge fan of it. Sugar on the other hand, no lie, I’m an addict. I try to keep as much of it out of the house as possible. I can’t say I avoid it 100% (I did 2 years ago for 7 weeks, go me). I just try to limit my intake.

And lastly,

#6: Motivation/Determination. This is the hardest topic to discuss, in my opinion. Each person is driven by something so individually. For me it is to feel like I did before I had the boys. I felt amazing way back when (hard to believe it has been 4 years!). And it has been a driving force since. Now, as for short term motivation… well, my secret is to find something I really, really truly desire for every 10lbs ($25-$50.00 price limit). And when I hit that goal, I buy my reward. Ahh, all the pretty shoes I’ve got this year! It sounds silly, but for me it works. I love shoes. Shoes motivate me (to some extent). I also have a board on pinterest that I pin every motivational picture or saying to. And I don’t just pin it and forget it. I look at that board all the time. Being reminded of what I want consistently helps me to remember that short term satisfaction (whether it be the comfort of a skipped workout or the indulgence of chocolate cake) is not worth the long term goal.

chocolate pumpkin spice caramel corn

2011-11-06T13:37:00.004-06:00

a few weeks ago I hosted a halloween party playdate. I had found a recipe for pumpkin spice caramel corn that sounded truly amazing, but it called for pumpkin spice hershey kisses. Now one, I have never heard of such a thing. And two, there is no way I could go somewhere to see if I could find them thanks to our lovely middle-of-nowhere-location (I have left town since then, and still have been unable to find them... I don't think they really exisit).

On the website that I had found this recipe there was also a chocolate caramel corn. Which looked and sounded amazing. But, I was sold on the pumpkin spice idea (since it was a halloween party and all... it needed pumpking SOMETHING).

And then I decided to create my own. Lo and behold.

Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Caramel Corn.

(yes, yes, you're welcome)

1 batch of perfect popcorn
1 cup. nuts (if desired)
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Place popped popcorn and nuts on large rimmed parchment paper lined cookie sheet (or that has been lightly sprayed with non stick cooking spray).

2. Place remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a light boil (once the ingredients have been melted together I usually taste it. Some days I feel a little more pumpkin spice is neccesary). Remove from heat and pour evenly over popcorn and nuts. Gently stir to coat mixture evenly over popcorn. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Stirring after the first 15 minutes.

3. Remove from oven and cool. (If you have used parchment paper you can just slid it off the pan onto the counter to cool. If you just sprayed your cookie sheet, lay parchement paper or wax paper on the counter and pour popcorn onto it cool). Break into pieces and ~~stuff your face~~ enjoy!

4 Months

2011-10-02T17:02:00.002-05:00

Lil' Miss M turns 4 months old today. I have to admit I'm in a little bit of disbelief that its already been that long.

She is growing like a weed. Literally. We zoomed right out of 3M clothes and are now nicely filling out the 6M stuff. I'm beginning to wonder if we aren't going to be in the next bigger size before winter hits us here in the NoDak. Which, if you remember should be anytime now because we do live in NoDak.

(total side story BUT it was actually 84F here yesterday. 84! It was warmer here than it was in FL. How the heck does that happen? I'm pretty sure today is like 80F too. Not that I've left the house. Or, I'll admit it, even gotten dressed.)

Back to lil' M.

She is sleeping decently. Though she's discovered that Mommy will run and plop the paci back in her mouth at any given time during the night. She likes to take advantage of that every now and then (more like every other night).

The teething monster is paying us a visit right now. The drooling

and the chewing.

I'm not sure the poor little thing will have any hands left by the time she gets teeth. I wouldn't say she's a miserable baby, but she does seem a little more grouchy than normal (read: she fusses for like 5 minutes a day now).

I got her highchair delivered the other day, and she is without a doubt ready for solids. Bottles just aren't doing it for her anymore. 5-6 ounces every 2-2 1/2 hours. And its just not enough anymore.

She has rolled from her tummy to her back 5 times. But its been about a month since she did that. She seems to have decided its just not for her. She's this close rolling from her back to her tummy.

I actually thought she was going to do it while I was siting here typing, but she changed her mind at the last minute.

The boys love her to death. Some days I'm afraid they will literally love her to death. Now that she's a little bigger Z is much more involved and interested in being around her.

G couldn't be bothered to join us for pictures, but he does love his little sister dearly and spends a lot of time talking and 'playing' with her.

I honestly thought (when pregnant) that having a 3rd child would be pretty easy-peasy. I mean, I've already done this once times 2. But what I didn't expect was to have such an easy child. She is happy. Like almost always.

And when she isn't. I have not.a.clue. what could be wrong. With G it was easy. He was crying. Oh well, what was new? And as I'm typing this I realize I have no clue if Z cried a lot or not. Hmm. He's kind of whiney and cries a lot now if that counts for anything.

I'm beyond thrilled that this time around I knew 'how to do it' and have been able to lose almost all the baby weight. As of this morning I have 8lbs of lil' M weight to lose and then another 7lb of G&Z pregnancy weight. I think in some ways knowing that lil' M is our last child motivated me to get back on track running and eating healthier again.

I'm attempting to paint the dining room. The last room downstairs that I had plans to paint (I'm not touching the kitchen or bathroom until I can completely remodel the). I've worked on it for 6 hours over 3 days. And have the trim cut in. At the rate I'm going I'm figuring it will take me 12 days to get the room painted. Though I am hoping to have the energy tonight to get the first coat on the walls. Highly doubting it though.

Play Dough!

2011-09-09T22:48:00.001-05:00

Today Z and I made some play dough while G and lil' M napped. He very carefully dumped all the ingredients into the pan. He helped me put everything away. And even pretended to wash the dishes for me. Which was only a little disastrous, but no major damage was done.

I did discover that using whole wheat flour in your play dough... well, I thought the spoon had splintered through out the dough at first. Note for next time... no whole wheat. It was a mistake, the whole wheat. I forgot I had emptied it into the flour canister.

The boys were very excited to play with this new creation. I pulled out the safety scissors and let them practice their cutting skills. G was all about the scissors. He grabbed onto them (the right way!) and started "snip, snip, snipping" away.

Z wasn't so thrilled with them. OK, he was. But after he tried to cut his cheek, finger and arm repeatedly, each time getting yelled at by yours truly, he ditched the scissors and decided to just play cars.

I love to see their imaginations coming out. And the new discoveries they're making. The little tales they make up as they sit there and play. Even though, G some how manages to make every. single. conversation turn into one about Thomas the Train (really G? can't we give Thomas a day off?)

Lil' M is discovering her hands. She spent the entire afternoon devoted to the research of her hands.

look at those cheeks! and yes, she is kind of busting out of those jammies but I'm trying to wait until the weather cools down to pull out the next size.

And of course, a little taste testing too.

Today was a good day for me. I got to the end of the day, and I still felt like I had it together. I didn't accomplish as much as I secretly wanted to. But at the same time, I accomplished a lot more than I realistically thought I would. I was able to catch up on a ton of work. And should be able to finish the rest of it up over the weekend.

I've been wracking my brain lately trying to figure out how to make this all work. Between laundry and cleaning. Work. Cooking 3 meals a day (as unhealthy as they are... there has GOT to be a plus side to having drive thrus semi-close to where you live.). Taking care of lil' M. Trying to make sure the boys get the attention they deserve. Making sure M gets the attention he deserves. Feeling like I am a human too... I've felt like the flood waters have been slowly rising around me. And there won't be much time until I'm in over my head. I decided earlier this week to devote a section of every day to one certain task. I was doing it housework in the morning; work in the afternoon; boys after supper. But that hasn't worked for me. Too many days my housework takes up more than just a few hours of the morning. I think that next week I'm going to switch it around so work is in the morning and house stuff is the afternoon/evening. Before we moved, I felt like I had it all conquered. Granted, I was minus 1 child and a job. But there is this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I can still conquer everything. I'm just missing a secret link. I will find that link. I will find it, and I will conquer again.

highlights

2011-09-04T20:00:00.001-05:00

1. We went grocery shopping in Minot (aka: we now have FOOD!)
2. I was given supermom props repeatedly through out Wal-Mart (that darn cape must have been hanging out)
3. The good behavior ended between Wal-Mart and Target. (I was given 'worse mom of the year' looks while in Target. We left quickly.)
4. Z kept his undies dry the entire time we were gone.
5. I pass-blocked someone who annoyed me for over 15 miles. (yes, I'm that kind of driver. Do.Not.Try.To.Pass.Me.When.I.Am.Already.Speeding)
6. All the littles napped in the truck on the way home (YAY peace and quiet for me! Much better than the screeching "CHOO, CHOO, WHOO, WHOO" from G and the screamed response "BE QUIET YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE UP MILEE" by Z I had to listen to the entire way there.)
7. We had our first potty training casualty. (OK, it was a fatality. I just threw those suckers out. Come on already, tell me when you need to poop Z)
8. No one learned a lesson yesterday. G rocked his chair like a crazy man at the table (can I maybe blame this on Grammy's obsessive rocking habit? its genetics, they can't help it, right?) must also add that while G was doing this, Z was throwing milk soaked lucky charms across the table at him.
9. The boys have been playing for an HOUR together. (they're still happy. and not killing each other)
10. Lil' M is already asleep. And 5 minutes until the boys are ~~dragged~~ whisked away to bed (YAY for me again!)

Another discovery of the day. Pretty sure caffiene has become ineffective. Give me an energy drink and I am one happy lady. Or maybe it is the effect of coffee and energy drink on a mostly emtpy stomach. Either way, I feel awesome. And its the end of the day. Something could possibly be wrong with me.

maybe not such a great idea.

2011-09-03T20:56:00.000-05:00

Today I found a recipe for homemade 'edible' finger paint. Edible as in, it won't kill them. Not as in, it tastes yummy. But hey, G will pretty much put anything in his mouth (I believe it was jet dry he wanted to suck down today). I thought it would give me a chance to finish my grocery list.

Or not so much.

And then the fun was over.

Z decided it was WAY too messy for him.

G decided to tear his paper into bits (which he then threw all over the dining room).

It was definitely a fun project. Something I'm sure we'll do again. But just not when I'm attempting to get stuff done.

Tonight we also had a first almost major boo-boo. After the 500th + time of telling the boys to not rock their chairs at the table, I gave up. Wouldn't you know, Z rocked it too hard and flipped his chair backwards. Unfortunate for him Thomas the Train was laying on the floor at the exact point his head was to collide with it. Gave him a nice little split (man, oh man do head wounds bleed). I was afraid at first that I'd have to take him to the ER. But the bleeding stopped prett much as soon as I put a cold wash cloth on it. It dribbled a little more before a scab formed, but I decided we could get away without having to make that first, dreaded trip. And, of course within minutes of climbing back into his chair he was rocking away. Lesson learned for.sure.

3 Months

2011-09-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

Its been 3 months since lil Miss M joined our family.

So many thoughts and emotions running through me right now. Its been an exhausting day. A day that I've finally reached the end of. And I'm drained.

2011-08-31T22:23:00.000-05:00

I've recently discovered that I can do my workout dvd while the boys are awake. They LOVE to 'exercise' with mommy and ask me all the time if we're going to exercise or go for a run. This morning they found their skidders upstairs, and after putting them on decided they were going to exercise.

2011-08-24T14:08:00.000-05:00

Today we said goodbye to a dear old friend. One that has saved my sanity many, many times. Someone that has been a part of our household for over 2 years.

the gate

Yes. That's right. We took the gate down.

About 2 weeks ago G figured out how to open the gate. And our life hasn't been the same. They've been doing pretty good staying out of the things they shouldn't be in. Well, they're doing good. Now. That we've repeatedly told them not to do something and enforced time out, etc. They love the freedom. And its helped me really focus on getting the piles of "stuff" organized and put away. And I'll admit. I do kind of enjoy having them running around with me (at least part of the time).

I kind of adore seeing their toys in random places. Like a parking lot on the kitchen counter.

:(

2011-08-23T22:36:00.000-05:00

Beginning to wonder why I still have this. I really want to keep this updated. I want to be able to write down my thoughts every day, and be able to look back over the past few years and have the memories.

Lately its been rough in our house. The boys have been in a foul mood for days. I think its because they had a nightlight in their room and weren't sleeping good. I took it out. We'll see how they do tomorrow.

Z has been potty-trained. It took 2 days. And he's been pretty much accident free. G. Not so much. He went through more undies in 3 hours than Z did in 3 days.

Lil M is aahhmmmaaazzzziiiinnnngggg. She's sleeping 11-12 hours at night. And is just the happiest, smiley-est baby ever.

Maybe tomorrow I'll feel inspired to write again. I hope so.

2011-07-22T07:08:00.000-05:00

the boys' first pony ride

Z LOVED it! G, not so much.

peace

2011-06-28T21:11:00.000-05:00

All the little loves are in bed. M is working a double shift today, and won't be home to midnight. The house is quiet. And it seems that my mind has slowed down for the day as well. I thought I had a lot to say, and yet I'm at a loss for words.

I'll try again tomorrow.

I had a dream...

2011-06-28T09:28:00.002-05:00

that I wrote a nice long blog. Guess that means its time to update this. Which I will do tonight, after all my little loves are in bed.

Once Again, Neglected

2011-06-17T12:56:00.000-05:00

My poor ol' blog has once again been neglected. But, this time for good reason.

Lil' Miss M joined our family on June 2nd at 5:21am. She weighed 7lbs 9oz, and was 20" long. A perfect little girl if I do say so myself.

Life since she joined us has been wonderful. She sleeps amazing, and when she is awake is a very content, happy baby.

There was a time when I was unsure if we would ever have our own little family. And here we are, blessed with 3 amazing children. Our little family is finally complete. My heart is full, I couldn't ask for anything more.

Best Part

2011-05-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

of my Mother's Day

first time they've both napped at home in a very, very long time. Guess the little guys were tired.

Spring! It's here!

2011-04-27T14:39:00.000-05:00

It would seem that spring has finally decided to visit NoDak! We have been spending a lot of time outside in the backyard. Every time we actually need to go somewhere its a fight to get the boys from the house to the truck because they want to go play.

It feels so good to be able to open the windows. The sunshine and fresh air can totally brighten a person's day. Unfortunately I think the boys have allergies, and too much time outside results in runny noses and slightly miserable little men.

my turn

2011-04-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

well, here it is. Me. And the bump.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt cute today. And I decided to take advantage of it. M took the first picture before he left for work. And then I decided to see how well I could do using the timer on my fabulous fancy-shmancy camera. I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed with how well my self-portrait-ing came out.

As you can see, Lil' M's room is coming along! In truth, that is only completed part... and even that isn't 100% done. I'm waiting on a few more packages to arrive. And the weather to improve a little so I can do some spray painting. My goal is to have it done in the next 2 weeks. And then I'll be washing all the adorable little baby{girl} clothes, packing my hospital bag in case she wants to come early, and waiting (very eagerly) on her arrival.

2011-04-17T19:10:00.000-05:00

this evening after bath time and supper I decided to pull out the camera and have some fun with it. The boys were more than willing to cheese it up for me, along with insisting that I cheese some of their cars.

I feel so proud and honored to be their mommy. I keep looking at these pictures in amazement that they are really, truly mine. This little family I've been blessed with... there is no better thing...

2011-04-16T20:38:00.000-05:00

I've been having the most fun trying new recipes lately. I've realized that I can save a lot on our grocery bill if I have every meal and snack planned, instead of just having our supper planned and figuring out the rest as needed.

This morning we had yogurt parfaits for breakfast. And for lunch I made delicious pesto pasta.

Both the boys are either coming down with something or allergies have descended upon us, so G didn't really eat anything. Z on the other hand LOVED it! He told me over and over that it was "dewicious", and ate all of his. Part of mine. And all of G's.

Other fun new things I've tried lately are sweet potato muffins.

Another thumb's up!

And then there are the bologna and cheddar muffins. I've always been afraid of muffins. I have problems mixing them just right almost every time. But I've realized what an amazing thing they are, and what a great quick meal they can make in a pinch. These were supposed to be ham and cheddar, but it was a "I need to go shopping, what can I make with what's in my fridge" meal. And ta-da! Bologna Cheddar muffins!

are they not the cutest little boys ever?!

Some more things on the menu for the next few weeks that I'm excited to try include....

bang-bang chicken salad
ham and cheese crepes
egg pesto melt
and
homemade graham crackers

2011-04-15T08:46:00.000-05:00

We got the Jeep back on Wednesday. It seems to have been an electrical problem. The codes that came up said that the fuel injectors were ALL bad. And that there was some problem with the throttle making connections with something. The mechanic cleared all the codes out, cleaned a few things and it seems to be fine. Of course, only M has drove it so far. And it only has problems for yours truly.

Yesterday was a very long day. I had training in Minot for the apartment complex I started managing. Which meant getting me AND the boys out the door by 7am. What a chaotic ordeal. I dropped them off at the daycare I used once before. They immediately started running around and playing. And didn't even come and tell me bye =(

After a long day of training, which ran late, I went and did my grocery shopping. And then went to pick up my little men. Oh, how I missed them. 10 hours without hearing or seeing them is way too long. I was so anxious to get them I could have cried. They were at the basketball game, completely passed out in the stroller. The daycare lady said they did amazing and played and ran all day long. Only a few times they asked where I was, she told them I had to go bye-bye, and they were fine.

It was good to have a day away. It made me realize how much I love being able to spend every day with them. And how much I miss them when they aren't around.

I need to go back to Minot sometime in the next week to get some training and certifications, and I'm already dreading having to leave my boys.

Taking A New Turn

2011-04-13T08:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's post started the new turn of my blog. When I originally started this, M was in Georgia. The boys and I were in New York. I wanted to make sure that I wrote down the little things of our day so M could be part of it.

But now here we are quickly coming up on our 2-year anniversary of living in North Dakota. Together, as a family. Our life is changing again with the arrival of our little girl.

While this blog will still talk about my adorable children, because they are indeed my world, I'm also going to start taking the time to just write. Write whatever it is that I'm thinking about. I realized yesterday that my facebook status has been an outlet for a lot of this. Only, there is so much you can post on facebook.

And so a new chapter begins...

2011-04-12T22:33:00.001-05:00

I have decided. That I should just stop going to my OB appointments. This entire winter, every single OB appointment I have coincided with bad weather, or just plain old bad roads.

Last appointment (2 weeks ago) had a special spin to it. I had failed my 1-hour glucose test and had to take the 3-hour test. This test requires you to start fasting at midnight the night before. Getting your blood drawn once after you've been fasting; drinking this special, 'yummy' orange potion (which really I don't find so bad... a lot like flat orange soda); and then having your blood drawn at 1, 2 and 3 hours post-drink.

I already had an appointment scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon, so I decided I'd just do the test then. M had just come off of working 3 double shifts in a row, and I wanted him to be able to sleep as long as possible before I left him with the boys to head to Williston. The roads were, of course, bad and it took me longer than planned to get there.

Going to jump over a bunch of minor details. Important facts: I'm pregnant. I hadn't ate in 14+ hours.

Between my 2nd and 3rd blood draw I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up the groceries I needed. I RAN through the store, and successfully got everything on my list in 30 minutes. And then got the slowest cashier in the world. Who felt the need to make a comment about every single thing I was purchasing.

"Oh, I need some of this."
"Hmm, I haven't tried this yet. It looks good."
"I love fruit snacks too."
"Do you like rice? You must like rice. I don't like rice."

And so it went. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I'm tapping my fingers on the counter. I'm ignoring her. I need to be out of this store and back to my doctors office at exactly 4:32 PM.

Finally she was done. I run (literally, run) through the parking lot with my cart load of groceries and start to unload them. And then the guy who was behind me in the checkout walks by. 2 seconds after I've picked up the dog food. He offers to put the dog food in the truck, and then says he'll unload all my groceries for him. We talk about how SLOW the cashier was. And I mention that I have to be somewhere in exactly 7 minutes. He so very kindly offered to push the cart back for me so I could get on my way.

I walked through the doors to the office at exactly 4:32 PM.

After the blood draw I grab something to eat and happily head home. Once home it was a little while before M started unloading the groceries. After one trip in the house he asked me if someone had helped me. I told him yes, and how wonderful and sweet this guy was. M had a funny look on his face. I asked if something was wrong. And he handed me a set of keys. This poor guy had dropped his keys in the bed of my truck. And I didn't know. Until 2 1/2 hours later.

Fast forward again... I ended up having to get back in the truck and driving the 1 1/2 hours back there to bring him his keys. He had just moved here, knew no one, and had been sitting in Wal-Mart hoping I'd call.

And then today's appointment. It was all going fine. Just a quick check-up. Yes, the numbers on the scale are still creeping higher. My blood pressure is good. Lil' M's heartbeat is good. All done. Grab a few groceries and head home. 2 miles out of Williston the Jeep starts acting a little weird. Not too weird, same problem its had on and off for the past 3-4 years. And then it got worse. 20 miles outside of Williston the 'check engine' light came on. And then engine/RPMs started doing crazy things. It would be in the normal 2000 RPMs @ 65mph, and all of the sudden the engine would rev and shoot up to 3000 RPMs. So I called M, told him what was going on, and to be prepared if I should call back saying I needed a ride home. It was if it was losing power and then overcompensating to keep the same speed. Eventually if I was going 60 MPH it was shooting up to 4000+ RPMs. And hills did it in. I was able to drive it all the way to Crosby, where M met me, and we left it at the garage. The best way to describe it, is it felt like it was running out of gas. Even though there was 1/2 a tank. And I drove it 60 miles. We'll see what they say about it tomorrow.

But it has lead me to believe that I should just stop going to these little, quick check-ups. They don't bring good things.

The Things They Say

2011-02-18T08:26:00.000-06:00

yesterday...

"Gavin, where is your hoodie?"
"o'er there", he points across the room
"Go pick your hoodie up and bring it to mommy, its too cold to not wear it"
"I stuck Mommy. My tail stuck."

this morning....

"Mommy, put shoes on?!"
"No Zane, we don't need to wear shoes"
"Awww, man" (looks disapointed)
(eyes light up) "Pweasse, pwease, pwease!!!"

Smarty Pants

2011-01-24T00:06:00.000-06:00

M and I were so proud (and slightly) amazed at the boys earlier today. We were playing cars on the floor and Z picked up one of the cars and says "Nissan!" Sure enough, it was the Nissan. We then proceeded to ask him what every car laying on the floor around us was. Every, single one of them he knew! Chevelle, Nova, Porshe, Mustang... without a beat he could tell us what they were. He even went into the playroom and found specific cars we were asking for ("where is your black nissan?"). G did really good too! He wasn't 100% on like Z was, but he could tell us what the majority of their cars were.

They aren't great a counting... usually goes something like "2,4,2,3,6,7,2,7,8,2". But at least they know their cars!

And So It Begins

2011-01-18T22:52:00.000-06:00

This morning I was getting the boys dressed for a playdate in the afternoon.

Z looks at me and says "going bye?"
I tell him "No, we're having friends over!"
He gets a big smile and says "GIRLFRIENDS?!"
I laugh, "Girlfriends? You want girlfriends over?"
He giggles, "yyeeaaahhh".

Ahhh, my little ladies man.

potty {deep breath} training

2011-01-05T18:39:00.001-06:00

This afternoon we had an impromptu potty training session. Its something that I've been casually working on with the boys, but not really pushing it yet. Basically I'm getting them used to sitting on their potties and hopefully getting the general idea of what is supposed to happen in their heads.

I had been in the kitchen making the boys lunch. And I hear from the living room "MESSY!". Now, I should have known then that something was going on. In fact, I even had the thought "I'm probably going to regret not running in there right now to see what is going on". But I wanted to get lunch made and some dishes washed before we sat down to eat.

15 minutes later they were still both shouting "MESS!". And I finally made my way to the living room. And there were 2 adorable little boys. Completely naked. They had managed to unsnap the placket on their jammies. Unzip their jammies and take them off. And take off their diapers.

There in the middle of my living room floor, along with 3 obvious locations where they had peed, was a poop. Which they were squatting over, pointing at and yelling "MESS!"

Its one of those moments that you either cry or laugh hysterically. And laugh I did. It was just too funny to see their little nake-y bums squatting over this random poop in the middle of the living room.

I brought out the potties and told them they were supposed to go pee and poopy in their potties.

And then decided they could wear undies at least until naptime and I would see how they did. They actually did really good. They both stayed dry through lunch. It was quite an amusing lunch in my opinion. Every 5 seconds I found myself saying "Tell mommy if you have to go pee or poopy. Don't pee on Elmo. Don't pee on Spongebob."

After lunch G did pee in his potty! I was so proud of him, and he was so proud to dump his pee in the toilet, flush the toilet, and best of all "wash!" The child LOVES to wash his hands! They both then had one accident before naptime when I put them back in a diaper. But I felt that for 2 hours in undies 2 children, 1 success and 2 accidents wasn't that bad.

After naptime Z discovered the clean undies that were still in the living room. And he felt that he should be wearing them (and yes, he did this himself with no help from me!)

G was again naked when I came to get them for supper. I'm not sure if he's trying to tell me he doesn't like his wet diaper and wants it off. Or if he really just likes to strip and run around naked. I'm really leaning towards the later.

Milestones

2011-01-03T18:45:00.000-06:00

I put up a post on my facebook earlier today and a friend mentioned I should journal my super woman moment as its a milestone. It only took a split second for me to realize she was right. So here it is.

Today I needed to run to the grocery store. Now 'running to the grocery store' isn't the same as most people. M is working the horrid shift of noon - 8pm, so I had no choice but to bring the boys with me. It involves the whole ugly process mentioned in 'the decision' along with a 30 minute car ride to the grocery store. I only had a short list today, mainly we needed milk and produce. Easy, peasy. For most people. In general I get to the store, unload the stroller, take one boy out of the truck, buckle him into the stroller, get the other boy out of the truck, buckle him into the stroller (that one usual screams), grab my purse and list and head inside. Lately, I've been branching out and letting the boys walk (while holding my hands) into the store, and then I put them in the basket of the cart. I'm not fond of doing it at this particular store because they have these odd little carts (no lie the sides of the basket are maybe 12-13"), and the front of the cart actually drops open.

Today I decided I will let the boys walk in the store. I discussed with them in great detail what we were going to do once we got in the store, and what sort of behavior I wanted to see. Sometimes that actually works.

I came out of that store feeling like super woman. They listened perfectly. There were no tantrums or meltdowns. No one ran away. They did try to get me to buy marshmallows and pudding. But after I explained to them that we already had that stuff at home and it wasn't on the list, they put them back on the shelf. I let them each pick out their own cereal. Originally they chose strawberry yogurt cheerios and banana nut cheerios, but after they realized I was actually letting them pick out what they wanted they chose cookie crisps and Reece's puffs (which sounded pprreeetttyyy good to pregnant mommy, and was NOT denying them those!) They marched around that store so proud to help me get the groceries off the shelf and push the cart. And we came out of the store with the only extras being 3 kinds of juice instead of just one (again, a side effect of being pregnant... they ALL sounded good to me!)

There were some potential difficulties getting out to the truck (2 toddlers, 4 heavy bags of groceries, 1 me). But, thankfully the store has baggers who also help you carry the groceries. I did get the one creepy person, but I was feeling on top of the world at that point and didn't care!

It made me so proud to see my little men behaving so big. I also had another proud moment where someone commented on how good they were talking.

It also gives me hope. Maybe, just maybe when this new baby arrives we will be OK. I will be able to do this after all.

Happy Boys

2011-01-03T14:30:00.000-06:00

Snow Fun

2010-12-26T19:24:00.000-06:00

"mommy, snow is fun!"

"peek-a-boo!"

"look, now I will run out of the fence"

"whhhaaaaaaaa. I wanted to run out of the gate"

"oh boy, here we go again"

The day these were taken we had to leave the house early in the morning for my OB appointment. I thought and thought the night before what was going to be the easiest and fastest way to get them ready and out of the house in the morning. The next day, while we were out, I got so many comments on how cute the boys outfits were. I don't think one person realized that they were wearing their jammies with a puffer vest and rain boots over them! And I have to agree, they were so incredibly cute, I may just bring them out in public again like that!

Wishing You...

2010-12-26T19:14:00.000-06:00

A Very Merry Christmas

Its a day late! Oops!

A Decision.

2010-12-22T09:57:00.001-06:00

I finally got around to my Christmas cards this week. They will be late, I apologize. But, they are finally in the mail. I hate to even admit that I've had them sitting in my kitchen since Thanksgiving. Why couldn't I have got them out in the mail then? We will never know. Or, maybe we will...

Yesterday we needed to go to the post office to get stamps for the cards. Going to the post office, or anywhere for that fact, is no easy matter. First, I have to figure out timing. Yesterday I desperately needed a shower before we could leave the house. So that right there puts us in the afternoon since the only chance I usually have to shower is while the boys nap (unless I make the boys take one with me, which works out OK... but completely ruins the whole point of escaping to a hot, peaceful, silent shower). The boys wake up from their nap, I'm ready and off we go to the post office.

We were working on potty training yesterday (which is a WHOLE other story in itself) so neither of them were wearing pants.

Mission 1. Put pants on boys. Tantrum 1 (times 2).
Mission 2. Put boots on boys. Tantrum 2 (times 2).
Mission 3. Put jackets on boys. Tantrum 3 (times 2).
This is where G discovers his cup and goes into complete hysterics because he needs water. Now. Get water, solve problem.
Mission 4. Put hats on boys. Tantrum 4 (times 2).
Mission 5. Put mittens on boys. Tantrum 5 (this is a tricky one. Zwas happy to have his mittens, and G wanted his mittens faster than I could get them on him so he still had a tantrum).

There. Now we can go out to the truck. I had started the truck before this whole process. I knew it would take awhile to get ready, and its usually enough tine for the truck to warm up.

Open the door. Z runs outside, excited to see snow. G refuses to leave the house (where is that child who was so excited to be going 'bye'?). So I pick him up.
Tantrum 6.

In the middle of carrying him the 2' out of the house a boot falls off into the snow. And, here we go again. Sobbing, screaming. "MESSY!". They aren't a fan of snow on their boots. I get G's boot cleaned off and back on his foot and set him on the porch so I can grab the keys (which is an improvement over normal. I usually forget the keys. Get the boys out to the truck, realize its locked, have to make a mad dash back to the house to grab the keys and get back out to the truck before a child goes missing).

And now no one wants to go down the stairs. I convince Z to hold my hand and get him down the stairs. I go to hold G's hand, but it was the wrong hand (more screaming). Switch hands and get him down the stairs. I realize at this point its a LOT colder than it looks outside.

Now we need to hurry.

Go to open the gate. Our gate has been having issues. So I decide to stop wasting time and I just pick it up off the hinges. Not a problem anymore. Turn around, Z has fallen in the snow. Its way too cold to be sitting in the snow. Run, snatch him up, run him to the truck while brushing off the 1" of snow that is stuck to him and toss him in his car seat. Turn around to get G. He doesn't want to get in the truck (big surprise). Carry him to the truck and put him in his car seat. At this point I realize the truck is COLD inside. Its been running. Why is it cold? Oh! Someone turned off the heat the last time they were in there.

Buckle a crying G into his car seat. Run around to the other side. Buckle a crying Z into his car seat. Turn the heat in the truck on. Run back into the house to grab the Christmas cards (oh how horrible would it have been if I had forgotten those... or I should say more horrible?). So there. We're set. We're ready to go. Its only taken 30-45 minutes.

And we drive the 3 blocks down the road to the post office. We don't even have a TURN between us and the post office. A straight 3 blocks.

While I was in the post office I saw that Santa Claus was going to be in town at 3:30! We haven't been able to see Santa this year. We've been snowed in more or less for a few days now. The weather has been bitter cold. And I just can't bring myself to drive to Minot just to see Santa.

For just a moment I thought "we should go!". And then I realized that it was only 3:00. Which means, we'd go home and repeat. And that wasn't happening.

And I feel, that I shouldn't fail to mention that upon arriving home the boys, who were still crying because they had to get in the truck, started crying harder realizing that their trip is over and we were home again. G had taken his mittens off by now, and of course fell numerous times into the snow while making his way from the truck to the house. Screaming, sobbing. "SNOW COLD, SNOW MESSY. COLD. COLD. COLD."

In the midst of this I came to a decision. For the rest of the winter. If the drive to our destination doesn't take us longer than it took to get into the truck. We just are.not.going.

{Merry} Christmas Tree Cookies!

2010-12-19T18:41:00.000-06:00

I'm back, though this blog will be mostly pictures, I do intend to start blogging more frequently again!

Christmas is all about traditions to me. And you must always have 'christmas tree cookies' at Christmas. The only time a year I would even think to make buttery spritz. I decided that I would be brave today and let G and Z help me with the cookies.

Have I Mentioned...

2010-10-03T13:29:00.001-05:00

I really despise moving?

Chaos is everywhere. I hate chaos. There are odd, random items that never seem to have a perfect place to be packed. Do you shove them all in one box and say the hell with it? Or do you have 500 little, tiny boxes each labeled with the 3 specific items that are in it? I prefer option 2. Only I've about ran out of boxes. Right now I have 3 boxes left. 3 huge boxes. I should probably save those to pack our clothes in anyways.

Gah. I hate moving.

To add to our moving woes. I can't find a sitter to watch the boys. I was planning on having a sitter. The local daycare is understaffed. So I can't drop them off for the day there. That was my back-up plan. Oh, and did I mention? We can't get a hold of the guy that has the U-Haul rentals? Mmhmm. No one has answered the phone. No one has called me back.

And. We wanted to get the boys' room painted before we moved in. There was an old popcorn ceiling in there that was starting to fall down. M went to remove it, and found out that its not just the texture falling down. The plaster has pulled away from the lathe. Looks like someone is going to learn how to drywall a ceiling. Hopefully in the next 2 days, before we move (ha.ha.ha.). Pretty sure we're going to need to be on DIY Network's "Renovation Realities". We will be the next couple the world laughs at as they tackle impossible renovation tasks with having no clue as to what they're really doing.

I could just put them in a different room. Yes, that is true. There is the room that has a door to a rooftop. Hmm, doesn't seem like a good choice for two little boys that will no longer be in cribs. Or, there is the other room. Except, there is a walk through closet into a different room. And a linen closet. And the hallway door. First, two twin beds don't really fit that great in there. Unless I float one basically in the middle of the room. Second, these little boys can now open doors. There are too many escape routes for them. I am going to take a closer look at that second room tonight though. Maybe I can make it work. Because I certainly don't see getting a ceiling ripped down, drywalled, and painted before Wednesday.

Blah. Moving.

There Goes That Time Thing Again

2010-10-01T14:45:00.001-05:00

Time has once again flown by since I've been on here. I can't tell you how many blog entries I've wrote. In my head. While driving down the road. While cooking supper. While walking the dog. And yet, by the time I'm able to sit in front of the computer, the thoughts are gone.

Our little men are growing and changing so much the past few weeks. The words they can say. The ideas they come up with. The things they do. Its hard to get it all down, and capture every moment like I want to. There are just too many moments.

One of G's new words is "gosh!" Its adorable to watch him say. His little chubby face lights up. He throws his hands up to his face. Squishes his rosy cheeks and says "GOSH!". Where he picked it up? Who knows. Me? Possibly.

Z says many more words than G does. And while the word count itself may not be greater, he says a lot more unprompted. He's started putting together little sentences - "what happened, gabvy?" He also has started saying "I love you"! Only he says "I wuv ou". Ah, it melts this mommy's heart.

I'm currently teaching them to say "two" when I ask them how old they're going to be. Z says "free", more than "two". But, hey, its something!

Motor skills and muscle development, they are off the charts! They climb, they jump, they dance, they run, they throw, they sometimes catch. Z has started doing a crazy run, he'll hike his pant legs up and run while leaning side to side. Its hilarious to watch him. They also LOVE to make silly faces for me, and put their fingers up by their mouth and try to wiggle their tongue. G loves to color, and his fine motor development has really impressed me lately. He's attempting to hold his crayons and markers the proper way, and is really quite good at it and almost there.

Another area that I'm so proud of them in is how well they are recognizing the alphabet and numbers. I always love it in the car when we're driving down the road and I hear "duppu, duppu". And then realize that they're looking at the compass display and recognizing that there is a "W". They'll also say the numbers of the temperature that are displayed.

It is true that these precious boys are turning TWO! I'm amazed at how fast those 2 years have gone by. And at the same time, amazed that it was only 2 years ago that my life was so incomplete but I didn't know it.

We're also moving again. This will be the boys 4th move. Seriously, I think M and I are crazy just no one has realized it yet. Not have we just moved ONCE but FOUR times with twins. Under the age of 2. Yes, officially insane. This move should be a more permanent one for us. I say should. We would like to believe that this is the end of a long line of moving. And yet, part of me knows better. I've always said that M has a gypsy side to him, and doesn't like to stay in one place long. Hopefully this time will be different. The process of buying a house has been a horror story for us. And I'm thinking that alone should keep us tied down here for awhile.

Z and Mommy goofing off for the camera

G intent on coloring while we're goofing off

Fall Begins

2010-09-12T10:14:00.000-05:00

Here in lovely North Dakota, its definitely turning to fall. You can smell it in the air. You can certainly feel it as well. Without fail I'm ready for apple pie, pumpkins, beef stew, piles of brilliantly colored leaves, and big cuddly sweaters. The epitome of autumn (my favorite season) in my mind.

Last weekend we had, what I'm guessing to be, one of the last picnics of the year with our 'canada friends'. Crackers and cheese, cut up veggies, and juice boxes never tasted quite so good as when shared with my little boys, a good friend, and her two boys.

All Boy

2010-09-12T09:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning when the boys got up, I decided for a special treat we would watch cartoons in the living room. When I turned on the TV, there was an off-road truck race on whatever channel it was we had been watching the night before. And being the little boys that they are, they insisted that a truck race was SO much better than cartoons!

Bath Time!

2010-09-08T20:13:00.001-05:00

Bathtime has become a fun adventure in our house. The boys have discovered how to squirt the water out of all their bath toys. They've discovered they can splash with their hands. And kick the water extremely far across the room with their feet. But their favorite part is when I pull the plug...

wwooooaaahhhhh!

What Makes....

2010-08-27T15:42:00.001-05:00

A runner? Bet you didn't see that one coming! Earlier this year. Before winter had fully ended here (OK... winter didn't really end until about June this year, but before that), I decided that I was going to start running. I was not a runner by any means. I never have been. At best I would go for short power walks. Even then, I preferred the nice, leisurely stroll over that. But, I got it in my mind that I was going to start running. Somehow.

I eagerly waited until we made a trip down to Minot, and picked out a pair of running shoes and a sensor for my shoe that would track my runs on my iPod. I really wanted an adorable outfit to run in, because lets face it, I was going to look like I was dying so I may as well be dressed awesomely. After looking at the awesome running clothes and seeing how much they cost (did you know a Nike tank top alone is almost $30?!) I decided that I should wait to see if I really could do this before investing a lot of money into running clothes. I settled on a pair of cheap athletic pants and a t-shirt from Target.

And then of course I had to wait out winter. In the middle of March we finally started to have some nicer weather. And I was ready. I set my alarm, and got up first thing to 'run'. Run is a loosely used term in this case. I walked for 5 minutes. And then I tried to run. 1/2 a block. I made it half a block. I was gasping for air. My legs felt like they would collapse under me. But that was were this all began. I finished that first 'run' by alternately running for a 1/2 block, and then walking for 2 (I'll be honest, it was possibly more). 20 minutes later I was back at our doorstep, exhausted.

Since then I have pushed myself probably harder than I ever have for anything. The first day I ran for 10 minutes straight on "my loop" around town, I was so proud. I had gone from running half a block, to a full 10 minutes. In July, I successfully ran my first 5K. I started running at the start line and didn't stop until the finish line (minus the brief pause at the water truck). To that point, it was officially the furthest I had run without stopping.

I have developed a love of running. Most mornings I'm eager to get out of bed, get my sneakers laced up and hear the thud of my feet against the pavement. Some days, I just can't run far enough. My legs just want to keep going, even though there is no road left to run in our tiny town. I love that I can get lost in my thoughts. Those moments when I'm on the road, that is the only thing I need to focus on. The next stride, the next breath. There aren't many moments like that in my day.

I still consider myself a beginner. I'm not the fastest. I still don't run very far most days. I want to call myself a runner. And yet, I don't really know. What makes a runner? Do you have to do it for so long before calling yourself a runner? Is it the fact of just doing it no matter how pathetic an attempt? Or is it the love of doing it? Regardless of what or when, I know that tomorrow morning will find me out on the road falling in love with it all over again.

crossing the finish of of my first 5K - July, 17 2010

33:08

What An Ordeal!

2010-08-26T17:15:00.000-05:00

Ugh! I decided it was time to revamp the blog again. Update the background, especially considering my last one had disappeared somewhere. What an ordeal! Completely more time-consuming that I thought it was going to be. Thankfully the boys are 'reading' right now, and perfectly happy and content.

We are all doing well in our little corner of the world! The boys are developing and changing SO much every day. They are both starting to say a lot more words. Many of them very clearly. Z's new favorite thing to say "Want T-B on." Said, with a lot of determination, that if he says it sincerely enough, it will indeed happen. "V" seems to be a letter neither of them can pronounce!

I am very proud of my little G-boy. Over the past 2 weeks he has almost learned the entire alphabet. He spends many, many minutes of his day bringing me the alphabet magnets from the fridge and telling me what the letter is. He isn't 100% right all of the time, and there are a few letters that he can't quite get (V being one of them). Z attempts to do the same... though his version of telling me the letter is repeating the same letter over and over while pointing at different letters. He knows that eventually he'll get it right! I did realize while reading an alphabet book with G the other day that our magnet set is missing "H", and he hasn't the SLIGHTLY clue what that letter is!

We're still in the middle of buying the other house. Its a long, slow, agonizing process. It wouldn't be so horrible if I knew for sure that at the end of this we would actually have a house. As it stands right now, the appraisal is set for September 21. My understanding is that if the appraisal is good (needs to be high enough to cover the cost of some repairs in addition to the actual house) then our income will have to be reviewed to verify if we still qualify. The last step isn't something we had planned on. When we put the offer on the house, we assumed that it wouldn't be over 160 days before we were able to close. But sadly, it will be. And our income will need to be reviewed. That is the main stress for me. To get this far into the process, and this close... and then not have a home to call ours. It doesn't help that I eagerly packed half of our household thinking we'd be moved by the beginning of August at the latest! At this point I'm trusting that everything will go through, and we'll be moved by October 1. I sure hope so. Otherwise I'm going to have to start unpacking things before we even got to move!

Little Loves

2010-08-18T10:43:00.000-05:00

Having children brings out emotions in me I never knew were possible. Its a love beyond words. Now, there are certianly moments that I question the wisdom of me having children. But those moments pass quickly (most the time, hour long screaming tantrums over simple things like giving your child the wrong color cup do not feel 'quick'). And I'm left with this sense of wonder and awe. These two little creatures are truly mine?! Mine to love. Mine forever.

kisses

Just For Laughs

2010-08-14T17:34:00.000-05:00

Personally, I think this little boy has the cutest laugh ever!

Random Shots

2010-08-14T17:25:00.000-05:00

Here are some clips of our life from the beginning of August through now.

I made a hat. Which no one really wanted to wear... but I did get a few pictures!

I then recreated the hat. Z liked it a little better.

Sleepy boys before bed.

Headed to the pool one sunny, hot afternoon

posing for Mommy

walking around the house in his new boots (more commonly known as freezer containers)

Mommy loves her babies blues

Once Again

2010-08-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

Once again, my poor blog has been ignored. Partially due to lack of inspiration to write. Partially because the things I find inspiration about, I don't feel like the rest of the world would want to read. I fear I have forgotten the original purpose of my blogging. Writing has always been an outlet for me. A way to express my innermost thoughts. To get the last word of the day out. Either way I look at it, I'm not doing it anymore. And I miss it. So here's to forgetting about who's reading this, and just writing whats on my mind.

Have no fears though. Most of my world revolves around those little boys. There will still be many, many updates about them I'm sure! Including this one even.

August has been flying by for us. I mean, here we are half way through the month.

A week ago, I had had enough of the boys' long straggly hair. It was getting in their eyes. And heaven help us if they decided to put their plates covered in syrup on their head. M was working a double shift, but I just couldn't wait for a day when he'd be home and could help me cut their hair. I put them in the booster seats, put the laptop in front of them with "The Gummy Bear Song" playing, and had at it. Z was first. And he did really good. Only a little wiggling. Once he was finished I gave him a lollipop for doing so awesome. G saw Z's lollipop and insisted that even though it would get covered by hair, he didn't care and had to have it BEFORE I finished cutting his hair.

A pre-hair cut picture

And post-haircut

the pile of hair afterwards! (Z's is the darker hair, G the slightly lighter)

And since they did such a good job with the haircut AND the shower afterwards, I let them have supper in the playroom!

Rockstar!

2010-07-30T10:32:00.001-05:00

I recently got some clothes in a never before tried brand for the boys. And, OMG am I in love. It is the softest, silkiest cotton you have ever felt. The quality of the clothes are beyond amazing (even with the ones I bought being used) and even though they're more pricey than what I normally buy, I have to say they are completely worth it. Naartjie definitely gets a thumbs up from this Mommy!

Now the shirts are, of course, too big for our little shrimp-y boys. But the shirts have matching beanies. And upon discovering the beanies, while scaling up the desk and pulling all the clothes out of the shipping box, two little boys insisted they MUST wear beanies.

(I really wish I had noticed the peanut butter on G's face before taking these pictures! I had cleaned them up from lunch, and then he ran and found all the sandwhich he had thrown during lunch and ate them off the floor)

They have wore the beanies for at least 5 minutes a day since getting them on Monday! I can't wait until the grow into the shirts as well!

Shooooooes!

2010-07-26T12:05:00.000-05:00

A wonderful former co-worker of mine recently sent me an e-mail saying she had a huge box of outgrown clothes from her sons, and would I like it if she mailed them to me. I eagerly replied and said I'd love them, amazed and touched that she thought of us, and her generosity (I offered to pay shipping, but she wouldn't even let me do that). We received the box last week. It sat in the back of the Jeep for a few days, and then it moved to the garage floor. I was FINALLY able to get to it today. And there inside with a HUGE pile of clothes were shoes.

Now if there was ever any doubt that these boys were not mine. Their love of shoes would complete put your fears to rest. The second they saw the shoes, they had to HAVE the shoes. And WEAR the shoes.

and this is further more proof that they are indeed my children.

ahh that last picture... it makes me so happy! I love to see my babes make neat little straight lines of their belongings!

Thank you Sarah for the box of clothes and shoes. You have totally made the boys' day! And, I assure you they will get plenty of use in this household!

Baby Beethoven?

2010-07-22T21:51:00.002-05:00

Well, not quite. But they sure are a lot cuter than Beethoven!

(Z was so fasinated to watch G through the video camera... you can hear him jabbering on about the whole time)

Swimy-swimy

2010-07-16T20:16:00.002-05:00

Mommy very bravely took two little boys swimming last week!

freebie fabulous!

2010-07-11T10:44:00.002-05:00

this is a delightful stroller I am trying to win. 5 free entries just for placing this on my blog!

Thank Heavens

2010-07-03T13:53:00.002-05:00

The cleaning crew showed up this morning! It certainly was starting to get dusty around here.

As you can see the boys are getting bigger and changing every day. They love to be involved in almost everything I'm doing and are cute even if they aren't quite helpful!

Attack Of The Hairbrush

2010-06-28T17:04:00.003-05:00

"Z, I want to brush your hair"

"BUT I DON'T WANT MY HAIR BRUSHED!"

"MOMMY, SAAAAVVVEEE MEEEE"

"I'm so sad. Why did you pick him up Mommy?"

"OH! Bubba!!!!"

I would also like to add, that should G get a hold of a hairbrush now, both Z and dog run as fast as possible. Dog into hiding, and Z to me screaming to be picked up. World beware if G gets a hairbrush!

"h-aht"

2010-06-28T16:55:00.005-05:00

Moving 101

2010-06-13T20:48:00.005-05:00

I like to consider myself the expert on moving. And I like to think I could give some advice to those who are facing a move. My first piece of advice... just don't move. Put the packing tape down and step away from the box.

Now my first move of married life was amazing. Newly married, moving in with my husband (yes, there was a 2-week gap between our wedding and when I moved in). It was exciting and romantic. And easy. Let's face it. A 20-year-old who was still living at home with her parents just does not have a lot of stuff. I remember it clearly. I crammed it all into the trunk and backseat of my Jetta. And the hardest thing I had to move was my goldfish. Which, in retrospect, eh. They were both flushed by Christmas. I had moved the first week of December...

And then there was Move #2. Ahhh, if only more moves could go like that. It was a military move. Well, M was leaving the military, but they paid for it. I stood around our tiny apartment directing the movers what to do. What items needed to be packed and what items were staying with us. They loaded it all into the truck, and it was gone. 2 weeks later when we arrived in Florida they showed up and unloaded it all. They even would have unpacked it for me. But I figured I would need something to do in a new town, in a new state.

And shortly later we decided to buy a house. Move #3. That is the first time I realized moving could actually be stressful. I was working full time at that point, and we had exactly one Saturday to move. I wasn't on the up-and-up with this moving stuff, and didn't know that you could really pack 75% of your household up early. Now there was quite a bit of stuff that I had never unpacked still. It could have been a lot worse. So I was about to learn.

.... to be continued

A First

2010-06-10T22:23:00.004-05:00

Last night we had a first. A first 'major' boo-boo. Only I didn't know that it was major at the time. G and I were in the playroom and Z was doing his silly little run through the kitchen/dining room/playroom. They both do it often. They'll run into the room I'm sitting in. Throw themselves in my lap. Laugh hysterically. And then run a circle through the three rooms, back into my lap. And while Z is in the midst of his run, I hear a thump. It was an obvious big toe catch. And then there was screaming. I assumed it was just a little bump like normal and called out to Z to come see mommy. And, then my traumatized, screaming, sobbing little boy walks into the doorway where I can see him. At first I didn't notice the blood. And then I noticed the blood. Coming out of his nose. Dripping of his lip. Oozing around his teeth.

I'll admit that not much as a mother has made me panic. But this did. Do you know when the last time I had to deal with a bloody nose was? Years and years ago. I don't think I personally have had one in over 10 years. If not longer. My brain raced as I tried to remember what you were supposed to do for a bloody nose. I grabbed a washcloth and ran it under cold water, knowing that I at least needed to get something on Z's lip and teeth. And then I remembered. You pinch the bridge of the nose and tilt your head a little bit back. Or at least I think that is what you're supposed to do. In any case, that is what I attempted to do. Has anyone else ever had a screaming, sobbing, slightly pissed off 1 1/2 year old with a bloody nose and try to tilt their head back, pinch their nose, and keep a cold washcloth on their mouth? I'll tell you now, its impossible.

I did finally realize that the blood was mostly coming from his mouth and not his nose (which thankfully must have stopped bleeding on its own). After a few minutes of trying to shove the washcloth in Z's mouth (why oh why couldn't he have been like G at that instant who LOVES it when he has a bloody lip - yes this is a common experience in our house - and gets to chew on cold wet washcloths?) the bleeding did finally stop. But the screaming didn't.

Z is in a bit of a mood this week anyways with Daddy being gone. And to have a boo-boo with NO daddy to comfort him. Oh dear. It was just all too much. And the screaming and sobbing continued. For I'm guessing 30 minutes. We were getting to the point that I was thinking maybe there was something more seriously wrong and we needed to go to the emergency room. And just when I was convinced that yes, maybe we should. The screaming stopped.

G, was an angel the entire time. Normally when one of them needs me, the other demands he needs me as well. And there is a lot of fighting over it. But not last night. Last night G knew that Z really needed Mommy. And he grabbed a book. Went over in a corner of the playroom with a pillow. And laid there on his back ever so sweetly "reading" his book out loud. Once Z stopped screaming, G came over and sat on my lap behind Z and petted Z's head and kissed him.

It was a moment that melts a mother's heart. A moment that makes you feel like you're doing something right. Your child has compassion and love. A very, very brief moment. Z did not appreciate G's gesture. And it required more screaming to get the point across. And then he was done. He jumped up out of my lap and started playing like nothing happened.

Until this morning. I wanted to make sure his teeth were OK since I couldn't really look at them last night. So I just barely touched his lip to peek in his mouth and it started bleeding again. At that point, I needed a professional opinion. I was able to get him in to see his FNP (where both boys gleefully ran around the clinic, climbing on chairs and pulling all the magazines out of the racks until our appointment, and G discovered how to open the door with the handicap button..). After "Mrs. J" looked at Z she assured me there was nothing wrong with his nose, and his teeth were all solid. The only thing that had happened was the frenulum (little piece of skin) between his upper lip and gum had torn. Not a bad thing though. She said that some dentist are actually snipping it now, and Z took care of it for himself.

Needless to say, both Mommy and far-away Daddy are very relieved that nothing more major happened. And Z will be very, very happy to see his Daddy tomorrow and "tell him" all about his boo-boo I'm sure.

Mommy's Birthday

2010-06-04T10:57:00.002-05:00

In celebration of Mommy's birthday we got to eat breakfast at their little table in front of the TV.

We had a delightfully lazy day yesterday. I have nothing left on my to-do list for the week, so we spent the day doing nothing! Well, we did puzzles. And played cars and trucks. And took naps. And went out to eat. I couldn't have asked for a better day!

Pudding Face

2010-06-04T10:20:00.001-05:00

Who loves pudding?!

We love pudding!

Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

2010-04-30T17:52:00.001-05:00

But your dog can teach your children new things...

Like eating rice off the floor JUST like Bubba!

Scrub, Scrub, Scrub

2010-04-25T20:42:00.003-05:00

Somehow yesterday I ended up washing down the walls in the dining room. It wasn't something on my to-do list to get accomplished. I hadn't been planning or thinking about washing the walls (ever). And yet, there I was with a bucket and rag scrubbing walls from bottom to top. Z was having a hard time with the thought that Mommy wasn't going to be playing with or holding him, and I decided to give him a little rag of his own. I wet it down with some water and showed him on the fridge how to go "scrub, scrub scrub". He gleefully grabbed the rag out of my hand and started running around the house. He'd rub his rag on every random object he saw and would go "sccu, sccu, sccu".

Helping mommy scrub the walls.

Roscoe looked a little dirty too

My happy little helper

Why, Of Course!

2010-04-25T20:34:00.003-05:00

Mommy's bum IS the best pillow to use while watching cartoons!

Officially NoDaks

2010-04-25T20:27:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago we had our first picnic at the park with friends.

You know you're officially a North Dakotan when you have a picnic and its only 36 degrees out!

I was too busy chasing the boys at the park to actually get any pictures of them playing. But they are very excited that they have learned to climb ladders. Ladders to the slides. Ladders to the monkey bars. Ladders to no where. Climb, climb, climb!

Neglected, again.

2010-04-25T09:10:00.002-05:00

I have neglected my poor blog again. It isn't that I can't find time to write. Goodness knows I spend enough of my day in front of the computer. It just that I can't seem to form my thoughts into words lately. And when I do - well, lets just say it is less than poetic and isn't to be shared with the world.

Both boys are starting to say more distinct words. I find it incredibly amusing that neither of them show any sign of recognition when I ask them about eyes, ears or nose. But they can proudly say socks, shoes and as of today shirt. And know exactly what they mean. Ahhh, they are my children! They know whats important in life!

Last week they had their 18-month check up. We didn't get to see how tall they were because they wouldn't hold still long enough to measure them. I'm thinking of doing it one night while their sleeping. G now weighs 24lbs and Z weighs 21lbs. Both boys are right on track developmentally, being leaps and bounds ahead on their physical development.

Z has started jumping. Off the floor. And forward about 1 1/2 feet. He's so adorable bouncing through the house going "jju" "jju". G tries very hard to jump. Very, very hard. He finds it isn't easy to get that big tummy to cooperate and it weighs him down.

Last week we took away the pacifiers. It hasn't been the easiest. They're still crying when they go to bed. But, I'm hoping soon they'll forget all about them and the brokenhearted sobbing will stop.

As the boys grow, we go through stages. There was the newborn oh-so-hard stage. And then they got a bit bigger and it was easier. Then 6-months came and they were sleeping through the night. And it was easy-peasy. Then they became mobile. Around a year it seemed to get easier. And now at 18-months we've hit a hard patch again. They are so active. Constantly in motion. Add to that the fact that they've discovered their will. And along with it a temper.

They've started fighting with each other. Some fights are truly amusing to watch. The battle cry scream that leads to hitting, pushing, chasing each other. And then the pathetic fights. Where one just gives up in despair and either sits his bum down and sobs. Or stomps around the house screaming. As a mother - I admit I don't know how to handle these. Its usually over a toy. Of which there is only one. I've tried taking away the toy. Which just leads to more tears and screaming. Along with them trying to climb up my legs. And evil glares should I chose to pick up one boy over the other.

Thankfully, not all moments are so trying. The hugs and kisses. The look on their face when they discover something new. How sweet they are sleeping peacefully in their cribs...

Look At Us

2010-04-11T18:29:00.002-05:00

Look at how our midgetmen have grown!

And 1 year later those sweet precious babies have turned into this!

Save Me!

2010-04-11T18:26:00.003-05:00

I do believe I am going to need ear plugs soon.

The boys have screamed like this on and off the entire day. Aggghhhhhhhhh!!!!

Updates Coming Soon

2010-04-08T20:06:00.003-05:00

I know I have been slacking off on here lately. I promise that updates will be coming very soon!

Just Because

2010-03-20T18:18:00.000-05:00

I can't have a post with only Z, and not have one of only G!

Daredevil

2010-03-20T18:11:00.003-05:00

Watch out world. Z has learned how to climb. Very well I may add.

(Note: see that adorable shirt?! Someone has finally learned to put some thought and effort into boy clothes! I'm sure there will soon be a post about my new obsession, Crazy 8! And the eyes... they're GOOGLE eyes, that really google!)

Readin' Books

2010-03-20T18:00:00.004-05:00

The boys love to 'read' books. I always love it when I walk in a room on them, and there they are laying on their tummy reading. G will read his books outloud to Z. And Z will come and steal G's book. "That's not my puppy..." and "That's not my monster..." are two of their very favorite books. There have been many, many fights over those books. They have been torn apart and taped back together more times than I can remember!

Amazing Injustice

2010-03-18T16:42:00.003-05:00

One of M's co-workers recently had a baby girl. And this Sunday they are having a baby shower for them. First, I need to say that baby showers and wedding showers (and weddings for that fact), are more 'open' than those you are used to. They involve bulletins pinned the post office, and ads in the newspaper saying "You Are Invited", with names, time, date, etc. Since I have met this co-worker, and the shower is being hosted fairly close to home I decided that I will attend.

And off I went to find some girl stuff. Oh, the dilema I had when I got to Target. I knew that I wanted to make a diaper cake. So first there was the debate over what type and brand of diapers to get. Pampers BabyDry? Huggies Pure & Natural? Pampers Swaddlers? Huggies Little Movers? Pampers Sensitive? Huggies Little Snugglers? I finally decided on Pampers Sensitive, because I only needed to buy one package to have enough diapers, and they were on clearance.

And then the girl stuff. The overwhelming amount of cute girly-ness. It was just almost too much. And I spent just a tad more money than I intended, but I couldn't resist!

Midget Picassos

2010-03-15T15:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I attempted to go to church for the very first time with the boys, by myself. And it went surprisingly well. The time change worked in my favor, since Canada doesn't have daylight savings time, it was 10am our time when Church started instead of 9am. We were all dressed and ready to go extremely early, and I avoided feeding them breakfast before we left the house. That way during the service I could bribe them into silence with cheerios and sippy cups full of milk. There were a few moments that I wasn't sure I would be able to hold onto both of them as they tried to make their escape, but I did and there were no runaways. Half way through the service I was asked if the boys wanted to go to Sunday School. I figured, why not give it a try?! So off they went to the little side room, G carrying his book and Z clinging to my old MP3 player that I knew would keep him quiet and happy. I told the Sunday School teacher that I'd come running if I heard too much screaming and thought she needed to be rescued. And left. I did hear a few little screams. But nothing that seemed to need my attention. The door was cracked open at one point by one of the parent's checking on their child, and Z escaped. I caught him, and carried him back into the room. And there kneeling on a chair at the table was G. Painting. Oh, he was so concentrated on his work of art. And absolutely adorable. Bless the Sunday School teacher, she had brought water color paints for a Sunday School activity. And the class consisted of 5 boys - the oldest being 3 and G&Z being the youngest! She was a very brave woman. G and Z did love it though, and only came home with minor paint stains on their clothes, which all washed out. I am such a proud mommy at how well they behaved.

Toddler Time

2010-03-11T17:51:00.003-06:00

For the past few months the boys and I have been going to a wonderful toddler/mommy group in North Portal.

We've done all sorts of exciting things. Including coloring with markers -

eating lots of yummy food -

playing on gym mats -

and playing dress up -

This was our last week before spring. Its been a lot of fun to watch the boys learn and develop in new ways. One of my favorite things is that they are learning the hand motions to "The Wheels On The Bus", and when sung they will both wave their arms in front of them trying to make the wheels go round, and round. They love to dance to the Hokey Pokey, and play 3-2-1 Blast Off. We will miss going every week, and can't wait for the weather to 'cheer up' a little more so we can meet at the park.

Cool Ride

2010-02-28T10:29:00.003-06:00

I was looking through my pictures and videos this morning, and realized that I had never posted this picture from a few weeks ago. We had went to Minot shopping and left the stroller at home (intentionally). They loved riding in the super-cool-double-decker-firetruck.

Wait. What?

2010-02-28T08:42:00.003-06:00

Earlier this week I went in the playroom and discovered that G had pulled his socks off. It was a pretty chilly day so I wanted him to wear his socks. I was looking and looking around the room for them and couldn't find them anywhere. I kept saying "Now where could those socks be?" The little boy I was watching said something, but I didn't really catch what he said. So I just laughed and said "mmhmmm". Later that evening after L (the little boy) went home I checked G's diaper for a stink. And there, stuffed in his diaper, were his socks.

And then it sunk in, L wasn't lying, he really DID say "The socks are in his diaper."

A New Love

2010-02-25T20:29:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago I found out that there was a Toddler Time just meeting blocks away from our house. All I had to do was go to Canada. So I faced my fear, gathered the boys' birth certificates, a letter from M, and my passport, and braved the border. First let me say, that for some reason I had this huge fear of crossing into Canada. Why? I have no idea. I mean my husband is "one of those people". You know, the scary people who peer in your vehicle, ask you interrogating questions about firearms, money, where you are from, where you are going, and how long you're going to be there? And then, on the day I finally decide to go. I have Logan, the little boy that I watch. So I need his car seat, his paperwork, and a letter from his parents as well. And I am terrified. I pull up to the window, and feel like I'm going to get sick. I am shaking, sweating, stuttering nervous. I roll down the window, and hand the officer my stack of papers. He looks in the car and says "Oh, I know him", nodding at Logan, "you're good, have a nice day". And hands me my paperwork back. I look at him and say "you need to see the letter from his parents?", he says "No, I said have a good day, you're fine." And that was it. My first big scary border crossing. Let me add that when you start to really think about it, it is scary. My paperwork was never looked at, my boys' paperwork was never looked at, nothing was. He let me in because he saw a 3 year old he recognized sitting in the front seat.

Anyways, so later that week when M had a day off we made the trip up to Estevan, SK. And I fell in love.

The Toddler Time group that is on the other side of town (literally the other side!) has been the best find yet. There are 7 other moms from that side of town that attend (I'm the token American) and between them there are eight children under the age of 4. Its so nice knowing that we have something to get out of the house for at least once a week.

Though, the past few weeks we have been very busy. All those trips to Canada. I've made many wonderful discoveries in Estevan, thanks to a new friend, Emily. She has introduced me to Tim Horton's, which is a better Canadian counterpart to Dunkin' Doughnuts. And she introduced the boys and I to a place called The Family Resource Centre (ahhh, I love how they spell that!), a huge play center for children. They have every toy and every thing any little child would love to have and play with for your use. For free.

And my newest, most recent discovery is The Leisure Centre (again, love!). A HUGE community (everything) center. There is a library, which we haven't been to yet, but I'm hoping to visit soon. And there is a hockey rink, two squash courts, a tennis court, a BMX park, weight rooms, a gigantic lap pool, a huge children's wading/splash pool, a steam room, a hot tub, and an indoor water slide of water park proportions. Emily and I were able to go up there Monday night for a deep water running class. Its an amazing work out in the deep end of the pool.

I am so happy to have discovered civilization so close to home. So happy, I have in fact, been to Canada 4 times since Monday! I am excited at the new opportunites the boys and I have had, and the new friends we're making.

Fuzzy Wuzzy

2010-02-25T20:23:00.002-06:00

Z helped me with laundry the other day, and fell in love with my fleece robe.

Playing With Chairs

2010-02-25T20:19:00.002-06:00

Here is a video from the other day when we had the boys' little chairs out in the living room.

Cleaning Crew

2010-02-25T19:48:00.002-06:00

G and Z, especially Z, love to "clean" for Mommy. They have different methods depending on their mood. Some days they'll go around and pick up all the little toys and put them in a tote. Or, we have this funky sink cabinet where there is what looks like a drawer, but actually hinges open and is just a nice little drop slot to the cupboard, and they will put any and everything that fits through the drop slot. Today they chose to throw the toys over the radiator covers which are again blocking the living room off until we finish rearranging the furniture.

Post Bath Curls

2010-02-25T19:09:00.002-06:00

Z has 'broke out' with the craziest curls when his hair is wet. Tonight I wanted to really capture them, so I admit, I put just the tinnniest bit of my curl mousse in his hair after bath. Just look at the craziness!

Finally a smile!

When Mommy's Away..

2010-02-25T19:00:00.005-06:00

the boys will play! Here are some pictures that M snapped last night while I was off in Canada doing an aerobics class.

They absolutely love to wear M's hats. Much more so than their own hats. They will run around for baby eternity (a.k.a. 10,15, 20 minutes) putting the hat on and taking it off.

Belated Christmas

2010-02-13T09:44:00.005-06:00

For Christmas Nana and Papa sent us money to get G and Z a table and chair set. I had problems finding exactly what I was looking for, but have been searching for 2 1/2 months. Last week I finally found the right set on ebay. I purchased the table. Only to then realize that the chairs that matched were no longer listed, or available. I sent an e-mail to the seller, and they graciously switched out to the other perfect set that I had found. Which just happened to be sold by them as well!

It arrived here yesterday afternoon. I excitedly pulled it out of the packagin and put the table together. Within 2 minutes, M and I realized that G and Z might not be quite ready for such a big boy item. The table was pushed all around the dining room, completely tipped over and many attempts were made to climb up on it. So we hid the table. And then I put the chairs together. And while they may not be quite ready for the chairs either, they sure are cute sitting on them! And then standing. And then dancing while standing...

Watching cartoons last night

I pulled them out again this morning, to see if we'd have any better (safer) success. But no such luck. Within seconds G was standing on his little chair, dancing his heart out to the Imagination Movers.

(I also just want to mention, that when they are watching TV is the ONLY time I can get a picture of them still... which is why all pictures are in front of the TV!)

Just a Bit of Quiet Time

2010-02-12T15:14:00.002-06:00

The boys are getting to a point where they don't always need a nap in the morning, but I've still been laying them down with a couple books. A few minutes of quiet time seems to do wonders for them, and they can then happily make it to nap time.

Just Pictures

2010-02-10T22:06:00.003-06:00

Officially - A Big Boy!

2010-01-26T13:02:00.003-06:00

Z's big boy car seat arrived today! He is OFFICIALLY a big boy. He was so excited to climb in it and let me adjust the straps. I do believe I could have left him in there to watch cartoons all afternoon. G was very excited as well and didn't want to miss out on the action.

Not to steal Z's thunder... but OMG, look at that G boy's tummy!

Baby, Its Cold... Inside

2010-01-25T13:49:00.004-06:00

This morning we woke up to no electric. It had been going on and off for a few hours, and then went off permanently around 7:30AM. Which means, we had no heat. It wasn't too bad at first. A little chilly, but not horrible. So I put the boys puffer vest on over their jammies. When I put them in their highchairs for breakfast I noticed that their ears were a little cold. So after breakfast, we added a hat.

But then the house kept cooling down. A 109-year old house does NOT keep its heat very well. So we added the fleece lining of their snowsuit to their outfit.

They were toasty warm, sweating even, until the heat came on 3 hours later!

Feeling Better

2010-01-22T18:03:00.003-06:00

The stomach flu hit us earlier this week. Thankfully, the boys didn't get the throwing up. They were just effected at the other end, if you know what I mean.

After a sleepless night, one achy miserable day, and another day in which I felt better but still didn't dare to eat, I determined that M and I were completely better when something finally sounded good to eat. And I made a chocolate cake at 10:30 at night. Because I knew I would be able to stomach it.

It is the ugliest cake you have ever seen in your life, but hey, what do you expect at 10:30PM?

It Works!

2010-01-17T15:35:00.002-06:00

I finally got the uploader to work!

Where Does Time Go?

2010-01-17T09:08:00.002-06:00

I realize that I have been doing very poorly at keeping this updated. I'm not sure where time seems to go lately. And it isn't that I don't have a chance to get online, I just never seem inspired to write when I sit down in front of here.

Let me think, as for updates on our precious boys...

Z recently popped his first three molars, and 3 eye teeth. All on the same day. Bless his tiny little heart, I didn't even know he was teething. He has been a little bit whiny, but nothing close to what he normally is while teething.

He is now a running, dancing, twirling machine. Constantly in motion. I love to watch him dance. He waves his arms, and bounces up and down. If he's really into he'll twirl around in circles until he falls over. Another new development is when he's super excited he walks on his tip-toes. He's also started walking backwards.

No real words yet other than Da-Da occasionally, and Mmmmmmmmommmmmmm-mmmmommmmm when he's extremely upset about something. I think he's said "Bubba" a few times as well. He babbles constantly though, and I definitely think that he and G have their own special language between each other.

I just ordered his big boy car seat yesterday. Its now time to get him out of his infant carrier, and forward facing. I know that he's going to be very excited once its here and installed in the Jeep.

And moving on to G. He recently got his final eye tooth. I'm thinking we may be done with teething for awhile for him. He now has 16 teeth! He's always been a good teether, and like usual I didn't know his last few were coming through until they were there. And some of them had been there for awhile.

He is also constantly in motion. He doesn't twirl like Z does, but he does climb more. He'll climb on anything available if it helps him out. Recently Roscoe's face has been the step stool of choice to try and climb onto the couch.

He 'talks' constantly, though he doesn't say many words yet. I do think he's said "don't", "all done", and "what's that" a few times. He has a little phone that he carries around at least 25% of the day talking on it. No doubt he'll be my social butterfly. He also loves to 'read' all his books out loud to whoever will listen. And will only listen to me reading for three pages, then he must take the book and read it by himself.

G also recently learned how to "share". And if asked to share, he will hand you whatever he has. Unless he's not supposed to have it, and then he runs away as fast and far as he can.

They are both fantastic eaters and will eat whatever we are having. There are a few things that seem to bother them (orange juice and pepperoni), but other than that they'll eat anything. New things that we've tried recently are fruit loops(they say "yum!"), and their new addiction (thank you Daddy), sour cream and onion chips. I switched them over to milk after their birthday, and after a few painful days realized that the milk must have been bothering G, so he is now on soy. I don't know HOW he does it, because it makes my stomach churn. They're also eating more and more things without me having to cut it up. Learning to use a fork/spoon is still going slowly. They usually end up holding the fork in one hand and eating with the other. G has taken a couple bites with his fork, but not many. I've also attempted to get them to eat off of a plate, but that usually doesn't go to well either. Z instantly dumps it into his lap. And G will eat about half of his meal, then dump it. We did have success a few days ago and G ate all but one bite off of a plate! I also packed up their bottles last week. We are completely bottle-free. I have to say it was the easiest transition ever. One of those things that you don't realize you've done until its done. I was emptying the dishwasher last week and realized that there had only been one set of bottles washed in two weeks. And figured that we might as well just pack them up.

They interact wonderfully with each other. I love to see them playing together, and my favorite is when they just sit together and snuggle. A few weeks ago they were watching cartoons, G was sitting in their little rocking chair, and Z was on the floor in front of him with his head leaning back on G's leg. Of course by the time I got my camera Z was sitting up. Also, last night Z tripped, fell on his face, and started crying. G ran over and patted Z's head, and when that didn't help he hugged Z. Which didn't help either, but he was trying.

The bond they have is something special. And while they do have their moments of hair pulling, screaming and kicking at each other (have I mentioned that they both have tempers?), the hugs and giggles more than make up for it. I am so proud to be these little boys' mom.

In other news, we have Roscoe back. He was being a meany towards the other dogs at his new home, and was caught with one of the little weiner dogs in his mouth, pinning him to the floor, over a bowl of food. We decided that we could take him back since we have a larger house now. Its gone pretty good so far. Bubba and him still get pretty hyper at times, and have occasionally knocked one of the boys over. I've threatened to send them both to Canada a few times as well. Its nice to have him back though. I did miss my pup.

I was going to add some pictures to this already very long blog, but the uploader isn't workin for me, so I will attempt them later.

A Very Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T21:44:00.002-06:00

From (most of) our family to yours!

Today couldn't have turned out to be a more perfect day. The past couple of weeks I've been feeling slightly dissatisfied with Christmas this year. There were many things that I intended and planned on doing that just never happened. Our "12 Days of Christmas" calendar never quite came together even though I did have our 12 days planned. Watching a special, new Christmas movie on Christmas Eve ended up not being feasible, besides the fact that I never was able to purchase the movie. I never got the Babka made.

Instead, my cookie press broke and I wasn't able to make Christmas tree cookies. The only time we saw Santa was at the Christmas Train. The weather turned too bitter to take the boys sledding. And money was too tight to buy the presents I wanted to get for the boys.

I had a picture in my head of how I wanted our first Christmas together as a family, and here in North Dakota to go. And it just didn't happen. It left me feeling disappointed and ready to have the not-so-jolly-season over with.

And then yesterday came along. And even though I had felt no energy or motivation earlier, I decided that it just wouldn't be Christmas Eve without pierogis and set about to making them. As the day progressed and I started getting things prepped for today's meal the 'holiday spirit' came back to me.

While its something I've always known, I really felt for the first time this year that the most important thing is having those you love and cherish close to you. Our Christmas was nothing spectacular. M worked 8-4 yesterday and then started midnight shift so went back to work at midnight and came home exhausted, just as the boys were waking up. We opened presents, M went to bed, and the boys and I watched A Very Merry Muppet Christmas on TV, and I made a big ham for supper. Other than that our day was almost like any other (besides the fact that the boys had a ton of new toys to play with and were happy almost the ENTIRE day).

It was a quiet, peaceful day. And it helped me once again see, and appreciate the most important thing in my life.

And with all that being said... M did get me the most gorgeous watch and necklace for Christmas! Thank you love, for the beautiful present, for everything you do for the boys and me.

Christmas Morning

2009-12-25T21:22:00.006-06:00

One of the most exciting moment of their christmas morning: getting to spend time loose in the living room. And not just because the babysitter didn't know better, but Mommy and Daddy let them!

The Story of Daddy's Snack

2009-12-10T21:34:00.004-06:00

Once upon a time, Daddy tried to eat a snack. And then there at his feet two little boys showed up. These little boys wanted to have some of Daddy's snack. But one little boy didn't like to take turns

And the other little boy thought he should just take the snack, and very swiftly grabbed the spoon (with a glob of peanut butter on it)

So then Daddy decided he'd had enough peanut butter and moved on to snacking on Life cereal.

And the little boys were very happy, because the love Life cereal

"oh yum, yum" said the little boys

"Pwease give me more Daddy"

But then Daddy was done with his snack. And he told the little boys that they were all done. And at the words "all done", one little boy had a meltdown.

And it just kept going

The other little boy was very sad, but didn't think it was worth shedding tears over

And the other little boy just couldn't be consoled.

The End.

Look At ME!

2009-12-08T18:21:00.004-06:00

[As I was uploading these I realized what a mess the house was that day... please ignore everything you see in the background.]

"Ohhhh Mommy"

2009-12-08T18:17:00.000-06:00

"You should never leave us alone!"

Latest Project

2009-12-08T18:13:00.002-06:00

Here's what I've been working on the last few days

I decided this year that I wanted to give our tree a new look. After seeing these in a magazine I thought they would be just the thing we needed. They aren't exactly easy to make, but for just a few bucks I've freshed our ornaments. I just need to pick up just a few more ornaments and I believe our tree will be perfect.

Just A Little Mess

2009-12-08T17:56:00.005-06:00

Why, oh why did I think it was a smart idea to give them a container full of cheerios?

Traditions

2009-11-29T17:30:00.003-06:00

Now that we have a family of our own I'm excited to pass on the traditions from my childhood. As well as start some of our own.

Somethings I will never give up, and pass on to the boys, is having a Polish supper on Christmas Eve with kielbasa and pierogis. Thanksgiving should always include green bean casserole and fall fruit salad. And ham is eaten on Christmas.

This year I'm going to introduce a "12 Days of Christmas" Calender, which will give us something Christmas related to do the 12 days before Christmas. This year I plan on including making cookies, babbka, and pierogis in our calender. Another tradition that we're starting this year is getting a new Christmas movie every year and watching it on Christmas Eve.

We recently decided that we're going to have a pizza night every Wednesday.

And when the boys are a little older we are going to have a 'sleepover' night, where the boys get to watch a movie and sleep in bed with us.

I hope when G and Z are older they will look back and have happy memories of our special traditions and time spent together the same way I look back on my childhood and smile.

Thank You Nana and Papa!

2009-11-27T11:35:00.003-06:00

For the boys' birthday Nana and Papa gave G and Z money to get some new books. A few weeks ago when we went grocery shopping we went into Barnes and Nobles and picked out some books. I had a blast reading the books to the boys in the store and seeing which ones they liked the best. It was easy to tell which ones were their favorites. Their eyes would light up when they saw the cover, and they'd giggle hysterically when I read them.

Thank you Nana and Papa for helping to expand our little book collection!

First Car

2009-11-13T17:52:00.002-06:00

The other day we recieved our diapers, and today I finally pulled them in the house and took them out of the shipping box. I left the box in the dining room, and of course the boys found it. They started pushing it around and playing with it, so I thought I'd introduce them to the joy of a box.

(it is VERY hard to draw on a box with two-one year olds trying to grab the sharpie!)

After I took the pictures we zoomed around the house, did a few 360s, fishtailed a bit, but came out unharmed. After all, their favorite supper of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches were waiting for them!

Our Every Day

2009-11-06T17:33:00.002-06:00

Here is a glimpse into our morning.

I know it would be easy to assume that I only portray our good, happy moments in pictures and video clips on here. But our days are actually like this 99% of the time. These two amazing boys are so happy and content. I wake up every morning to giggles and, if I actually get out of bed when they first wake up, smiles. I usually lay in bed listening to them until the yells of protest begin, and then get them out of bed. There are no smiles by that point.

There are so many times during our day that I look at them and am amazed. How did this happen? How is it that I have not only the cutest boys in the world, but also the happiest?

Every where we go I get comments about how happy and well-behaved they are. I have moments when I feel that motherhood is so overwhelming, and to hear people applaud us for how wonderful our children are helps to reassure me that we're doing something right.

What Is A Family?

2009-11-02T08:41:00.008-06:00

The family is a haven in a heartless world. -attributed to Christopher Lasch

A family unit is composed of not only of children but of men, and women, an occasional animal, and the common cold. -Odgen Nash

In a houseful of toddlers and pets, you can start having a bad day, but you keep getting detoured. -Robert Brault

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but seperable - each segment distinct. -Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Family faces are like magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. -Gail Lument Buckley

To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. - Barbara Bush