Finally!

Finally we are all well...except for the fact that Tori got a little fever this afternoon, but still. No hands, feet or mouth are blistered. And finally Ian and I got to celebrate our birthdays. So fun! All because of sweet Aunt Diranda (aka Miranda, Ian's sister). She lives in Hawaii and came to visit for a few days this past week. It was so fun to have her here. She just jumps right in and helps, plays, cleans, cooks, talks, laughs, drinks wine with me, and naps. She was a great houseguest - not really a guest because she's family, but it was really easy and fun having her. Don't you just love it when people REALLY love your kids? It makes me smile.

It also made me smile that we got to go out Saturday night and didn't have to pay someone $70 when we got home. Let's hear it for Aunt Diranda. Ian and I had the best time. It's not like we did anything that special, but it was so so so great to be out of the house and by ourselves. We went to dinner, then went out for dessert and a movie. We didn't get home until 1:30 - we're such crazy kids.

It's Monday now and Ian's back to work, Miranda's back in Hawaii, and I'm here feeding chicken quesadillas and pineapple chunks to my kids. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Seriously. All I need sometimes is just a few hours to myself, you know? Long enough to remember how to put on mascara, how to eat with a fork instead of shoving food one-handed into my mouth, and how Ian and I ended up together in the first place! It was a great weekend.

Oh yeah, and if you're wondering, it only takes a split second for a child that you've taken out of the tub to poop on the carpet. I won't say which child, but let's just say that she's starting to get a little rep for herself around here. At least she didn't eat it, so I've go that going for me.

Couldn't resist...

I just got this email from my sweet friend Melyssa. She has four boys ages seven and five...yes, the five year olds are triplets! To add to it, she's single. Wow. Anyway, she just emailed me this morning with this story and after laughing my head off I asked her if I could include it in today's post. This is just too much...

"......I have waited years for this to happen and it has........all 4 of my boys are playing Monopoly together, correctly without fighting..........they are getting it! It has happened.......I am having coffee, sitting and not having to play the game myself.

Let me tell you all a funny story as well, yesterday afternoon, I was making dinner when I heard Hunter scream and start to cry. I go running into the bathroom, where he zipped his little winkie in his pants. It was okay, no blood, nothing, but he was in pain. He started screaming, asking me to "kiss" it............UM....HELL TO THE NO! While I felt bad that it hurt, um no. I tried several times to explain to him that I cannot kiss winkie, that it would feel better in a short time. He finally thought a bath might help him, which was a good distraction. Good lord........really? I laughed for a while about that one when he went to bed.


YIKES!"

I mean seriously, these are the things in our everyday lives. Press on, Mommies!

The Plague

Not sure why I haven't posted in a while, especially since I've basically been homebound since I last wrote. As I mentioned, Thursday the twins came down with crazy kid virus and Saturday their fevers finally broke. Man, was that fun. So I kept them home on Sunday and Monday, while sending Maggie to Bible School with friends on Monday. This morning I wake up at 6:30 a.m. with Maggie staring at me with a goopy pink eye. Great. So we call the poor folks at church to tell them I won't be there again today to help like I planned, and Mag and I head to the doctor. When we get there I realize that she also has a fever. Fun. So we get some ointment for the cold in here eye, dose her up on Tylenol (thanks Johnson & Johnson), and tuck her in to eat ice cream and watch her 15th showing of "Camp Rock."

My church is starting this cool deal where you learn how to care for your kid spiritually at whatever stage they are in at the time. One of the things from the program that we do now with Maggie is share our "highs and lows" every day. Well, I must say that my high so far over the past few low days of sickness in the house has been reading a book called "Same Kind of Different As Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. A friend sent it to us and it really is incredible. I know my sister in law, Leslie, blogged about it a while back and I'm quite sure that I am behind the times as far as this book is concerned. It's so good, though, that I had to post about it. I even emailed the big O (yeah, that's Oprah) and told her people they needed to get the authors on her show. Just an incredible account of two men from different worlds who come togther through amazing circumstances. I highly recommend it. It's moving, poignant, stirring and a quick read. I have a feeling it's one of those books that is going to stick with me. Get it, blogettes!

Something about being home for six straight days really zaps my creativity. You'd think it would be the opposite; that I might have time to think without the distractions of the "outside world." Ha. I am just not sure if my mind will ever be clear again, but that's ok. I love that I am able to stay home with the girls, though I must say an evening at starbucks with an ipod, my journal and a grande something sounds pretty good right now.

At least my kids are snookies. Just had to include this pic of Tori - I wrestled her really short hair into pony tails just for this picture.

Happy Birthday to us

So today is Ian's birthday and Sunday is my birthday. And for our gift this year we get...are you ready...twins with hand, foot and mouth virus! Not to be confused with hoof and mouth disease that cows get. This is a virus that little kids get - Maggie had it years ago - and basically they just have really high fevers, blisters in their throats, won't eat, barely will drink, and are extremely fussy and puny. Fun. It lasts from 3-7 days and we really can't go anywhere because it's super contagious to young children. Oh I forgot to mention that sometimes they get bumps on their mouths, hands and feet and the virus can be followed by an all over body rash, just to top it all off.

I guess we're one better than last year this time, though. Ian was out of town for his birthday, my mom and Sandy were here and the twins were only a month old and we were up all hours of the day and night. At least last night I slept from 2:30-7am. In the middle of the night when I could barely keep my eyes open and was getting a little ticked that I had to get up again, I kept thought about my parents and Ian's mom and the fact that they did this for us numerous times as well when we were little. Thanks Moms and Dad! Seriously, parenting is hard - it's not for weenies.

I probably should go. The twins have been in their cribs "napping" for an hour and what that really means is that they are lying there moaning. So sad.

By the way, tonight at 8 pm is the premiere of Camp Rock on Disney. Just thought you would all want to know that. After all, the Jonas Brothers are so DREAMY! Hilarious. I'll be previewing it before Mag gets to watch it and I must say that I am not looking forward to that preview.

Get it girls!

More Birthday Footage

I realize more and more how conceited I must be in continuing to blog videos of my children along with our wonderfully exciting daily habits . I mean, I just think they're so adorably hilarious that I feel like I just have to share it. I know every parent thinks these things about their kids. Like today I was driving the hoop-d van, looked back in my rearview mirror at my three wide-eyed princesses watching a DVD and thought, "seriously, my children are the most precious, adorable, beautiful little angels ever." And if you're a parent please don't try to act like you haven't thought the same thing.

On that note, here is another video clip from the twins' first birthday party #3 that we celebrated at the beach a couple weeks ago. I just love watching anyone shove chocolate in their mouth - especially if they are one year olds.

More stuff I thought of...

*Don't buy your baby any shoes, unless they are those robeez kind. Once they get old enough to really wear shoes they will either pull them off or eat the rubber off the bottom like Zoe does.

*Definitely buy enough bottles to get you through one or two days. Believe me, you won't feel like washing bottles every night. Another tip I heard about bottles - just go ahead and start your dishwasher every night whether or not it's full. That way you will have fresh bottles ready in the middle of the night or the morning. This will save you much frustration and will keep you from losing your religion when you are ticked about being awake and digging through dirty nipples to try to find the cleanest one to rinse off.

*You definitely need some lotion right beside your kitchen sink. You need to slather your hands every time they come out of the water...and even that won't be enough. My fingers look like they have scales on them. You will do so many dishes and wash your hands so many times that you may need to invest in real lotion, like Aveeno. As we all know, Vaseline Intensive Care does NOT smoothe the healing right in.

*Just go ahead and know that your husband will curse every time he tries to snap the snaps on the baby's pajamas. And you'll want to too, but hey someone's got to get the kid dressed and chances are your scaly hands are smaller and more snap friendly than his.

And now about the whole "green" movement. The way I see it that whole deal doesn't apply to new mothers - at least for the first year. Ian's aunt Susan reminded me that there are so many moms right now who are doing the cloth diaper thing (and she was praising me for being reasonable - thanks Susan!). That's true, though. There are a lot of parents into the cloth diaper thing and that's all fine and good, but I just rationalize that I am saving the earth in other ways during this first year. Like gasoline, for instance. Think of all the ozone layers I have kept in tact this year by basically being homebound for 6 straight months. Don't get me wrong...I recycle with the best of em and I try to remember to turn off the water when I'm brushing my teeth. But I just can't do the cloth diaper thing. Seriously, we produce so much laundry already that cloth diapers would put me over the edge - and does the environment really want to have that on its conscience?

I'm sure there's more to come, whether you want more tips or not. It's just my way of debriefing this past year while trying to help out you ladies who are just beginning the journey. Have I mentioned lately how happy I am that my tubes are tied?

Just some stuff new moms should know...

OK, I've been compiling these lists in my head and one of them is a list of stuff that you need to know if you're having a kid anytime soon. Feel free to add to this list, mommies.

1. NO NEED for a Diaper Genie of any kind. It just stinks up your whole nursery. Just do what we do and buy some of those scented bags from Babies R Us (I think it's called "Especially for Baby" brand), wrap up the poopy diaper, tie it up in the bag, and go ahead and put it in the trash. Even the kitchen trash can is fine because the bag masks the scent and if you're anything like me you empty that blasted trash can a couple times a day anyway. I mean, just the thought of a Diaper Genie is ridiculous if you give it some thought. I mean who wants to leave rank diapers wrapped up in your kids' room for a week until the bag is full and you take it out. It's a waste of money, new mommies. I'm just sayin.

2. You have to try lots of bottles to find one that your kid likes. I personally fell for the "in" kind and bought all these expensive Avent bottles. What we found early on is that they leak like the dickens (what does that mean exactly? Don't know, but my Dad says it all the time). We used Playtex bottles and they worked fine. Of course they just came out with the info about how terrible plastic bottles are, but to apparantly I've already ruined my children anyway by not breastfeeding. And, true confessions, I heated those puppies up in the microwave all the time. I know, I know, I'm terrible.

3. Get some Baby Einstein or Baby Signing Time videos. They are crucial. Once they hit the stage where they can roll in the Johnny Jump Up then you can put on a video, let them jump around, and you, my sweet friend, can take a much needed shower. I know, I'm still terrible.

4. Have a wonderful five year old daughter to help you. Seriously, it's awesome. Maggie is a diaper fetcher, bottle holder, and a constant source of entertainment for the twins. Sorry folks, she's not for sale.

I can't think of any more right now because Mag is curled up on my lap begging me to read "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" to her. She keeps moving her head in my way so I can't see the screen and I have to pay attention to her. Maybe I should run? Later blogettes.

What time is it...summertime!

As Troy and Gabriella are fond of singing, "School's out, scream and shout!". And man, have we done some of that. Yesterday was the beginning of the first week of staying home with all three kids - no preschool for the Mag. I had all these high hopes and dreams of staying put, baking cookies with the girls, reading Chronicles of Narnia with Maggie while the twins napped simultaneously each day. Suffice it to say that by 1:00 yesterday afternoon I had signed Maggie up for day camp this week and next week. Whew. We do have some fun things planned this summer and some friends are coming to visit so that'll be great, but Maggie just needs more than I can give her right now. That's not a cop out, it's just the truth. Although we have turned quite a corner with the twins, I am still just one little ole mommy and I can only do so much without losing my mind. So now Maggie gets to play with her friends three mornings this week and next week and I get to pretend the twins aren't crying and ready to get up after a 45 minute morning and afternoon nap.

As I mentioned, we spent the past two weeks at the beach with my parents and my brother and sister's families. Ian's mom got to come for a few days, as well as Mr. Alvarez, a sweet friend of our family, so it was really fun. The pics are from the past two weeks. The twins had birthday party number three up there and it was hilarious. Maggie learned to swim like a fish while we were there, and she also got a boogie board which she mastered in a couple days thanks to Uncle David. It's just so fun to see my kids interacting with their aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. I'm not kidding - it just makes my heart so happy.

So now we're back. Back to fencing in the twins, cleaning up poop from the floor and my daughter's mouth, listening to the girls as they crack up at Maggie, watching them crawl-race for the same toy, answering Maggie's questions about everything under the 95 degree heat from the Florida sun. It's good to be home - we really love it here. It's always hard, though, to leave family. And I know, I'm very blessed to be able to say that and mean it.

Sometimes my life just screams out for a post...

We've been gone for two weeks to the beach with my family. More to follow on that. However, the events of the morning are just too unbelievable to let pass by.

It's 7:55 am. Already both of the twins have been bathed because Zoe spit up and Tori crawled through it. Zoe, however, has been bathed twice already this morning. After their first bath I had to clean up the spit up on the floor so the whole ordeal wouldn't happen again. After starting a load of wash with the throw up rag, I walked back into the living room, hoping to find that my two naked babies (who I had not yet had a chance to diaper) hadn't peed on the floor.

Hey, a girl can hope.

Not only had Zoe peed on the floor, but she pooped as well. And not only had she peed and pooped on the floor, but...you guessed it...she was EATING her poop. While fighting back my favorite expletive and stifling my gag reflex, I picked her up and plunked her in the bath. Then RAN back into the living room to make sure Tori didn't crawl through or try to sample said poop. She didn't, thank goodness.

Did I mention that it's not even 8 am? And I haven't even had a chance to take my Zoloft yet. Welcome back.