Bad Mommy

I gave M&J both motrin when they got up at 7 this morning because they both felt warm.  I wasn't planning on going to swim lessons but after a couple of hours they were both acting and felt fine.  I really didn't want to miss a lesson so I called Chris's mom and she met us a the Y.

The pool room was pretty chilly and the water was even cooler.  It was pretty uncomfortable.  They both had fun except for a couple of hiccups.  They were both shaking by the end.  So we got them out of the pool and brought them into the locker room so we could all change.  That was like walking into a refrigerator.  The poor kids were miserable and crying.

We got home just before noon and I put them right down for a nap.  I went to sleep at 1:30.  Chris woke me up at 5 and the kids weren't up yet!  We ended up waking them up at 6 and I knew that Jackson was sick because he didn't jump right up.  He was very hot.  Maddie was chatty but also very hot.  I gave them more motrin and then I went grocery shopping.  I was fine when I left.  While I was driving I suddenly felt SOOOO achy.  Even walking through the grocery store was painful.  Every muscle in my body hurt.  I made it back home and took some tylenol while Chris made dinner and got the kids ready for bed.  They tylenol helped so we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Time for bed! 

Sickos

Chris came home from work Thursday night with a fever and feeling achy.  I stayed home from work so I could take care of the kids.  He was up all night throwing up.  Friday morning I took the kids to an indoor play place to get them out.  They were fine when we got there but after an hour of running around Maddie just stopped in her tracks.  She had a mad fever.  We got home and they took a nap.  When they got up Maddie and Chris sat like lumps on the chair watching tv.  It was so sad.  I stayed home from work again.  Saturday morning Chris was all better, Maddie still has a fever but she's not as active as usual, and Jackson felt a little warm.  He's not acting any differently though.  I don't think I've ever had a fever so I wonder how I will get this bug.

6 plus octuplets

When I first heard of the woman giving birth to octuplets and heard all of the criticism I kind of felt bad for her.  Then I found out that she is single, lives with her parents, filed for bankruptcy 1.5 years ago, and ALREADY HAS SIX CHILDREN!

I saw on CNN that she had 8 embryos transfered and all 8 took.  But then I read an article that said they weren't sure what kind of fertility treatments she had so I'm not sure although I'm 99.9% positive that fertility treatments were involved.

Why why why would she actively attempt to get pregnant when she already had 6 kids and obviously has no financial means to care for them?

Why why why would any RE treat her at all let alone transfer 8 embryos or do an IUI if there were 8 mature follicles?

It's so frustrating how Chris and I work our butts off to make money and be responsible and we still struggle when there are people out there living off the government.  I just don't see how that's fair (unless there is some sort of mental or physical handicap).

Update on Madison and other things

The last two days have back to "normal" for Maddie. No major meltdowns. Although the last two nights she's been up around 2 am. I've had to get her up but she goes right back down with no fuss.

My office is doing a biggest loser challenge. Since I weigh more than I did when I gave birth to twins I decided I had to join. It's just an initial weigh in, a middle weigh in, and the end to determine who lost the highest percentage. I'm really not good with changing my routine in any way meaning I'm incredibly lazy. So in order for me to make any kind of progress I'm taking baby steps. So far the only change I have made is adding exercise. I've been to the Y to work out every Monday Wednesday and Friday for the last 3 weeks. I started out on the elliptical only to realize that I would rather gouge out my eyeballs. So the last 4 visits I've been swimming. It's so much more enjoyable and the time goes so much faster.

So after the first week of elliptical I lost 4 pounds! After the second week of swimming I didn't lose anything. I'm going to continue with the swimming though and slowly start to change something else. I was thinking of adding an on demand workout at home on tuesday and thursday or attempting to tackle a diet change. The daunting thing about changing what I eat is that I really don't eat that badly. Yes I enjoy sugar but I really do make good choices. I don't drink soda or juice (well, if I'm out I might). I don't eat white bread. I hardly ever have pasta or white rice. So aside from maybe eating more vegetables I'm not really sure that I can do anything significant enough to make a difference. So exercise more looks like the best option at this point.

I've been fitting my visit to the gym in on my way to work. It's been making me late for work but other than paying for daycare at the Y it's really my only option. I do want to bring them with me occasionally because I think it would be good for them to be in that environment for a little while. The rate is only $3.50/hr but multiply that by 2 and on a consistent basis it would add up to an extra bill every month that we just don't need.

The wrangler is still at the shop being fixed. I swear my mechanic is the slowest person on the planet. We really like him though so we keep going back. I dropped the car off last Thursday to have a brake line replaced in hopes of having it back on Friday. As of today (wednesday) I hadn't heard anything from him. I called for an update but he was WORKING ON MY CAR so he couldn't come to the phone. Seriously? Almost a week later there is still work to be done? I'm HOPING to get it back tomorrow.

Photo link

I finally took some time today to update M&J's photo gallery 

It's also linked to the right.  All of 2008 is there now.  Now I need to work on 2007!

So if you have a few hours to kill head on over there and see all of the adorable photos that I don't post here.

Little People Farm

I think this is the first time M&J have ever played with the same toy at the same time.  They played for quite a while with only a few minor disagreements over who got to hold the pig.  Things did eventually get heated when Madison grabbed one end of the farm and Jackson grabbed the other and they pulled in opposite directions.  Luckily the silo separates from the rest of the farm.

They were both happy with the results

Weekend

Thanks to our membership at the YMCA (and Nana) I finally signed up the kids for swimming lessons. It's really more like a play group in water. Chris was pretty unammused by it so I'll be looking for volunteers to go with me on Saturday mornings. Let me know if you want to go!  All M&J wanted to do was play with the little toys.  They really didn't like it when it was time to put them on the deck and do something without them.

Walking in mommy's shoes

Madison walking with two HUGE bears, "mommy's bear" and a sippy cup.  These are the three (not the sippy cup) must haves at bedtime and nap time and when getting out of her crib.  They're usually discarded within the first few minutes of being up though.

Maddie

I'm afraid Maddie is going through a bad phase. She has always had a very short temper. If she can't get something to go where she wants it she will shriek! If Jackson touches her she screams NO! If I take more than 1.2 seconds to pour her milk she stands there and cries and jumps up and down. Yesterday and today she took it to a new level.

The kids were at my mom's house Sunday morning since Chris and I had a party the night before. Normally when I call my mother when she has them she answers the phone and says "Babies? There aren't any babies here" and hangs up. Yesterday she actually CALLED ME and said I had to come and get them. Madison had been throwing a fit because Jackson had a toy that she wanted. Once she gets worked up there is no consoling her. My mom tried to put her in her crib to get her to chill out but she ended up throwing up!

Then today my mom, the kids, and I went to visit my mom's friend Susan. Susan has two girls that were at school so M&J had full use of their toys! 

{This is a mission rocking chair that Susan's brother made by HAND.  It is the best quality furniture I've ever seen in my life.  And it's just a hobby!}

They were actually really good most of the time playing. Jackson was an absolute angel. He never cried once. 

Madison was trying to push a play stroller around the playroom and into the attached large kitchen. That stroller was like her nemesis.

{One of many tantrums}

{Her dress is soaked from drool and tears!}

 It couldn't do anything right, even when it wasn't even doing anything wrong (like getting stuck on something). A few times she even threw it over in a fit of rage. When the stroller wasn't causing her extreme frustration the little einsteins rocket ship was there to take up the slack. There was just no pleasing her. It was getting past their nap time so I knew that had a lot to do with it. We were packing up the car to go (we did a little "shopping" at Susan's house) and Maddie was just beside herself that we were not inside with her. Once we were done and back in the house she continued to scream bloody murder, throwing herself on the floor and kicking her feet on the floor. There was literally nothing we could do but chuckle. She wanted no kind of consoling from me. She. just. wanted. to. cry.

During the fit Susan's girls came home from school so we said hello to them quickly and then had to leave. She continued to scream literally until she fell asleep (which wasn't long).

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Stealing a quote from my mom

My mom was emailing a friend (Hi, Susan) and bragging about how smart her grandchildren are. She was telling her how Maddie looks out the window to the driveway and exclaims "daddy car 'no!" which translates to "Holy shit, look at all that snow on daddy's car".

22 months

Dear Madison and Jackson,

People ask me all the time if you two play together and get along.  I think they expect me to say yes but the truth is actually no.  As much as Madison seems to be annoyed by Jackson, she is always in the same room with him.  Madison, you are very independent in the way you play but you follow Jackson everywhere.

Your schedule has been great lately.  You wake up around 8 but are happy in your cribs chatting and laughing with each other until around 9.  We do all or our visiting, shopping and playing until 2 when it's time for a nap.  All I have to do is say "time for naps" and you both drop whatever you're doing and go to your room and try to climb into your cribs.  I really never thought I would see the day when that would work.  You both lay down on your pillow, I cover you with your quilt and place your bears and doggies in your arms.  You do chat for a little while before finally falling asleep but gone are the days of crying until you fell asleep.  That time was so stressful for me.  Even though I KNEW you would fall asleep I just couldn't relax until you stopped crying.

You'll sleep from 2-4 or 5.  Most days I sleep then too.

Dear Jackson,

You are still such a cuddle bug and I absolutely love it.  You have started to show a tiny bit of aggression in the last week.  Out of nowhere you'll come up to me and start hitting me with a funny angry face as you say 'grrr'.  It sounds like  you're misbehaving but really it's actually very cute.

You are still an awful eater.  Your diet consists of yogurt, applesauce, blueberries, any kind of cracker, puffins, kashi cereal, mac and cheese.  All in all not too bad but you won't even think of eating a vegetable.  I've had to start buying jarred baby food just so you'll eat sweet potatoes.

Your favorite thing to do around the house is ride your riding toys.  Daddy bought you a trike for chirstmas and you absolutely love it even though you can't reach the pedals.  It has a basket in the back and you love to put your cup in there and ride around with it.  The big dump truck that Daddy bought you for your 1st birthday is also one of your favorites.  You always put something in there to push around.

As much as you love to be active you also love to chill out and watch tv while sitting in my or Daddy's lap.  I absolutely love this time with you.

Your language is progressing. Some words you say a lot are bike, binky "bink", mama, daddy "da-ee", Maddie "ma-ee", kitty "ki-ee", cookie, more, please "peese".  You haven't put two words together yet but it's just a matter of time.

You're wearing size 18-24 month pants.  Anything 2T is too long for you.  Your shirts are 2T.  Diaper is size 4 and shoes are 6.

One thing I haven't talked about lately is your teeth.  You still don't have all of them in yet but there isn't a way for me to get a good look.

Dear Madison,

You are a little spitfire.  You go zero to 60 in an instant if you don't get what you want.  We're trying like crazy to teach you that it isn't appropriate for you to react that way but we still have a ways to go.

You got puzzles for Christmas and for the first couple of weeks it's all you wanted to do.  The thrill has worn off at this point but I was absolutely amazed at how quickly you learned to put them together by yourself.  Right now I'd say your favorite toy is Mr. Potato Head.  You absolutely love all the little pieces and putting them in and out of the body.  You also love your little people farm which I knew you would.  You gather up the goat, horse, pig, sheep and farmer and walk around with them.  You say all of those words except farmer.

You are obsessed with labeling things.  You say "mama boot, shoe, car, camera, keys, phone, cup, coat.  You know the difference between and say daddy car, nana car, papa car, gamma car, auntie car.  You are under the impression that the only person that wears sneakers is Auntie.  My sneakers were out the other day and you insisted they were "auntie shoe".  You said Jackson "dachen" for the first time today!  You also said Papa Leo today.  Daddy's grandfather passed away almost 6 years ago and we have a picture of him on the wall in the play room.  It's a picture of the first volkswagen beetle being lowered from a boat onto US soil.  Papa Leo is on the dock with a bunch of other men.  We have showed you which person he is in the photo but it's probably been a couple of months since I've pointed him out.  Tonight I asked you where Papa Leo was and you pointed right to him and said "papa reo".  The rest of the night you were randomly saying his name.  It was making me cry to think how sad it is that he never got to meet you and your brother.  He would have loved you so much.

One day I went into your room to get you up and you emphatically pointed to the floor and exclaimed "binky on the floor!"  I couldn't believe I just heard you say a four word sentence!

Other words you say often are coffee, mickey, minnie, daisy, duck, pluto "puto", pete, goofy, mac-cheese, pasta, i love you daddy, mama, auntie, stevie "a-wa".

You are teeny tiny.  I don't know how much you weigh but it's considerably less than your brother.  12 month pants are still the best fit but some 18 month pants will work.  18 month shirts are what fit you best.  You're a size 5 shoe and wear size 4 diapers.

Your hair is getting so long the curls are starting to weigh down now.  Your type of curl is just like mine where the front/top pieces are pretty straight but the back and underneath are super curly.

Coat

Maddie finally got a winter coat curtousy of Grandma.  I was so excited to find this color combination for her.  The brown inner part is attached to the coat.  The coat and matching snow pants are size 18 months and they are HUGE on her.  I know she's small but I definitely think the items are miss marked somehow.

First time sledding!

Uncle Mike called us yesterday morning to see if we wanted to go sledding with them.  Maddie still didn't have boots so we stopped at Walmart on the way to get some.  We had just had a big storm over night so the parking lot was a mess on top of a sheet of ice.  Cars were stuck all over the place including Auntie Kristen's car.  The walk to the top of the hill was treacherous too.  My parents joined us along with Chris's mom.  When my parents got there my mom fell on the ice.  It was totally her fault because she was RUNNING to see her grandchildren even though we all were telling her to be careful.

Chris went down with Maddie for the first time and I went down with Jackson.  Jackson and I laughed the entire way down.  It was so much fun but getting back up the hill was not so much fun.  Like the parking lot, under the 9 inches of snow was a sheet of ice from the previous storm.  I kept slipping and was actually afraid we would never make it back to the top and have to live out our days right there on the hill at the Colonial.  Carrying 30 pounds of baby in snow gear didn't make it any easier.  Somehow I made it back up but I was severely out of breath and there was no way I could do it again.

Grandpa took Jackson down twice and said he couldn't do any more than that.  Chris did quite a few runs but he was exhausted after that.

Raffe had NEVER gone sledding before!!!  He enjoyed going down but I think he didn't think it was worth the effort to get back up :-)

Kiss from Uncle Mike

Raffe and Jackson having a race

If you click on this picture you can see the expressions on their faces at the bottom of the hill.

I put their mittens on and then put long socks over them.  It served it's purpose of keeping snow off of their hands but the mittens wouldn't stay on their hands inside.

I think next time we'll try a smaller hill :-)

Dawn's baby shower

Shauna hosted a beautiful baby shower for Dawn (the one with the crown on in the below photo) who is expecting her second daughter next month.  Everyone pitched in and brought food and it was delicious!  The cake was yummy too :-)

Group shot minus the photographer of course

Dawn with almost 4 year old E.

E was so excited to help Mom open her presents.  The gifts were mostly diapers which are quite a necessity.

Shauna could NOT be left out on the tiara wearing so she grabbed hers (you know, cause we all have tiaras laying around the house) and modeled with E.

Amy, Danika and Shauna

The rest of the photos can be seen here

Kyle's 3rd birthday

My friend Brenda's baby turned 3.  The party was at an indoor play place that we've been to for a few other parties in the past.  Madison and Jackson had a great time.

They both were able to get up the ladder/stairs on the inside of this bouncy house in order to go down the slide on their own.  That was great for us!  We just stood there as they went up and down over and over again.

The birthday boy in the middle with his older brother and cousin.

Olivia

This was a new toy at the place.  It was springy so they bounced up and down and cracked up.  I love how you can see Maddie's pig tails in the air.

Jackson did have quite the meltdown when it was time to go.  It wasn't pretty.  He was "that kid".  They slept on the way home (45 minutes) but then wouldn't take a nap once we got home.

Pictures

Maddie wanted to sit on the potty again this weekend.  Nothing went in it but at least she was interested and even sat for a good 10 minutes.