Apparently Randy and I lost our minds yesterday when we decided to go to the mall as a family. It was packed! Do that many people really leave their Valentine's Day presents for the last minute? Which reminds me, Randy yours won't be here until Tuesday. Should we celebrate then? Anyway, the trip started out pretty stressful but ended up being a huge victory for us!
We left for the mall with dry diapers and full bellies all around, but Mitchell and Callum were obviously freaked out by all of the stimulation. We got sympathetic looks while trading babies in and out of the stroller as they screamed. Then we discovered that Mitchell had a leaky diaper and that I am a poor diaper bag packer. We would have thrown in the towel right then, but Sophie was so psyched to go out to dinner. Plan B. Randy runs into Target for a new outfit for Mitchell while I nursed both boys in the car. Lucky for me, Randy parked right next to a spilled box of popcorn and the girls enjoyed watching the birds fight over it! After another round of full bellies and dry diapers we decided to try Romano's Macaroni Grill. We realized just a moment too late that we went to a romantic type restaurant on Valentine's weekend. The ten minute wait turned into 30 and, no kidding, our little buzzer thingy went off to tell as we had a table just as we were about to throw in the towel. Randy and I remembered the rule of "don't order anything you need two hands to eat" and actually ended up having an enjoyable meal, though I don't recommend the lobster ravioli. I was so proud of how well behaved all the kids were, especially the girls. Romano's is genius for letting the kids draw on the table cloth too!
And to top the whole story off, here's a list of things we over heard yesterday:
"whistle THAT's a lot of kids!"
"one...two...three...four! Four kids!"
"Is that three in diapers? How old do you think that one is?"
"Are they twins? That one looks older."
and my favorite, someone actually came to our table and said "I'm impressed you guys even leave the house!"
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
And now, an update!
I wish I could have figured out how to put those pictures in the last post in order before I published it, but too late now!
Man, where should I start? We just went through the hardest four weeks of my life. Yes, that's right. Having this many kids is way harder than boot camp. I have scowled at numerous people who have said "Twins! I've always wanted twins!" or "Man! You sure do have your hands full!" Being back to work though makes me realize that I'd rather be at home with two screaming babies than at work crunching numbers on financial statements. I'm always grateful to have my job though. But that's enough of the negative, lets talk about all of the fun stuff!
My mom and Aunt Pattie came for a wonderful visit. I enjoyed having my mom in town, she really is my best friend. We had a great time telling stories of things she didn't know Brian and I got away with growing up. Sorry Brian, cat's out of the bag on a few of our secrets. We also celebrated Josie's birthday for the first time and set up her big girl bed! We wouldn't have needed to leave the toddler bed so soon if my pregnant butt hadn't sat on it once. Those things definitely have a weight limit. Josie's favorite gift was the little basketball she got though. Go back to the pictures and see the look on her face!
After that we made a visit up to Fort Worth to see Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Christopher. We had a Happy Birthday Josie and Chuck/Welcome Boys/Merry Christmas party. It was way too short of a visit and I always leave wishing we lived closer. I can't wait to have Chris for a longer time in the summer, though I think all of his little brothers and sisters drive him a little bit crazy!
Sophie's doing well in school and girl scouts, as usual for her. Her latest achievement is that she goes by herself to get the mail down the street. One day last week Sophie came through the door crying her little eyes out, though. She had stopped to talk to a friend when the wind blew and some of the mail flew out of her hand. I can only imagine her scrambling around trying to get all of the pieces. She was crying so hard while she tried to explain that some of the coupons had gone down the storm drain and she was afraid she was in trouble. It was so hard for Randy and I to not crack up laughing though. She just has such a tender heart! Randy assured her that he was grateful that he didn't have to throw those coupons away himself and everything was a-okay again. That being said, if you sent us mail last week, you should probably send it again just in case!
The boys are growing by leaps and bounds still! Mitchell weighs in at 10.5 lbs and Callum is right around 9lbs. I enjoyed boxing up all of their newborn sized clothing and sending it off to my new nephew, Westley. They are smiling and cooing and holding their heads up, just like they should be. I love coming home on lunch to nurse them and getting all of their smiles. It really keeps me going for the rest of the day. We did have a bit of troubling news, it turns out that Mitchell needs some mouth surgery. He has an anomaly in his lower gum that is very similar to a cleft in the upper gum that most people are familiar with. The tissue (and possibly the bone and teeth) are missing in a small place and the cheek attaches in an odd way there. He'll have surgery in late March or early April to release the band of funky skin in there and they will investigate what the situation looks like for the future. Doesn't seem too serious right now. Keep your fingers crossed that there won't be any major road bumps ahead.
I feel like I didn't get to tell you guys all of the funny stories I've saved up. You should hear some of the things that come out of the girls' mouth's these days. Now that I'm settled back in at work, I hope to be able to jump on here every once in a while just to tell you a funny story!
Man, where should I start? We just went through the hardest four weeks of my life. Yes, that's right. Having this many kids is way harder than boot camp. I have scowled at numerous people who have said "Twins! I've always wanted twins!" or "Man! You sure do have your hands full!" Being back to work though makes me realize that I'd rather be at home with two screaming babies than at work crunching numbers on financial statements. I'm always grateful to have my job though. But that's enough of the negative, lets talk about all of the fun stuff!
My mom and Aunt Pattie came for a wonderful visit. I enjoyed having my mom in town, she really is my best friend. We had a great time telling stories of things she didn't know Brian and I got away with growing up. Sorry Brian, cat's out of the bag on a few of our secrets. We also celebrated Josie's birthday for the first time and set up her big girl bed! We wouldn't have needed to leave the toddler bed so soon if my pregnant butt hadn't sat on it once. Those things definitely have a weight limit. Josie's favorite gift was the little basketball she got though. Go back to the pictures and see the look on her face!
After that we made a visit up to Fort Worth to see Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Christopher. We had a Happy Birthday Josie and Chuck/Welcome Boys/Merry Christmas party. It was way too short of a visit and I always leave wishing we lived closer. I can't wait to have Chris for a longer time in the summer, though I think all of his little brothers and sisters drive him a little bit crazy!
Sophie's doing well in school and girl scouts, as usual for her. Her latest achievement is that she goes by herself to get the mail down the street. One day last week Sophie came through the door crying her little eyes out, though. She had stopped to talk to a friend when the wind blew and some of the mail flew out of her hand. I can only imagine her scrambling around trying to get all of the pieces. She was crying so hard while she tried to explain that some of the coupons had gone down the storm drain and she was afraid she was in trouble. It was so hard for Randy and I to not crack up laughing though. She just has such a tender heart! Randy assured her that he was grateful that he didn't have to throw those coupons away himself and everything was a-okay again. That being said, if you sent us mail last week, you should probably send it again just in case!
The boys are growing by leaps and bounds still! Mitchell weighs in at 10.5 lbs and Callum is right around 9lbs. I enjoyed boxing up all of their newborn sized clothing and sending it off to my new nephew, Westley. They are smiling and cooing and holding their heads up, just like they should be. I love coming home on lunch to nurse them and getting all of their smiles. It really keeps me going for the rest of the day. We did have a bit of troubling news, it turns out that Mitchell needs some mouth surgery. He has an anomaly in his lower gum that is very similar to a cleft in the upper gum that most people are familiar with. The tissue (and possibly the bone and teeth) are missing in a small place and the cheek attaches in an odd way there. He'll have surgery in late March or early April to release the band of funky skin in there and they will investigate what the situation looks like for the future. Doesn't seem too serious right now. Keep your fingers crossed that there won't be any major road bumps ahead.
I feel like I didn't get to tell you guys all of the funny stories I've saved up. You should hear some of the things that come out of the girls' mouth's these days. Now that I'm settled back in at work, I hope to be able to jump on here every once in a while just to tell you a funny story!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Grand Slam!
I joked the other day on Facebook that we call it a "grand slam" when all four kids are crying at once. It's rare, but it happened this weekend! It had a pretty good cause though: Sophie and Josie were sad that my dad, brother and sister had left and the boys, well, they were just screaming. Sophie's tears were quiet but Josie went to sleep sobbing "pawpaw! pawpaw!" into her pillow. As sad as that sounds, in hindsight it's pretty darn cute. I love that my kids have young grandparents to play with. My dad wrestles and chases just like he did when I was a kid. He says he's turned grumpier with age, but I just don't see it. And Caitlin and Jacob are the most loving aunt and uncle, even at the ages of 11 and 8! Wonderful visit, wish it could have lasted longer.
After they left we tried to make it for "Dollar Day" at the Texas State Aquarium yesterday. We rushed to get up and it only took us a short TWO HOURS to get everyone fed, dressed and loaded into the car. It's like watching clowns pile into a clown car. I'll take a pic next time we load Josie in through the hatchback of our crossover SUV. Anyway, we were there only a half hour after they opened and the line must have been a mile long OUTSIDE. It's relatively warm here right now, but I don't think any of us would have enjoyed standing in line for an hour. Next we tried to head to the Corpus Christi Science Museum, but it was closed! Who closes their museum on a school holiday? I bet they could have made a killing. After all the effort to get out of the house there was no way I was headed home without doing something, so we went to the mall. In the end, I think the kids preferred playing on the indoor playground and riding the mall train more than they would have liked the aquarium anyway. All in all, not a bad day.
Lots more visits coming up before I head back to work. My mom and Aunt Pattie are coming to visit this weekend and we're headed to Fort Worth to visit Chris and the Meeks' the weekend after that. I should have some pretty good pictures to put on the blog soon!
After they left we tried to make it for "Dollar Day" at the Texas State Aquarium yesterday. We rushed to get up and it only took us a short TWO HOURS to get everyone fed, dressed and loaded into the car. It's like watching clowns pile into a clown car. I'll take a pic next time we load Josie in through the hatchback of our crossover SUV. Anyway, we were there only a half hour after they opened and the line must have been a mile long OUTSIDE. It's relatively warm here right now, but I don't think any of us would have enjoyed standing in line for an hour. Next we tried to head to the Corpus Christi Science Museum, but it was closed! Who closes their museum on a school holiday? I bet they could have made a killing. After all the effort to get out of the house there was no way I was headed home without doing something, so we went to the mall. In the end, I think the kids preferred playing on the indoor playground and riding the mall train more than they would have liked the aquarium anyway. All in all, not a bad day.
Lots more visits coming up before I head back to work. My mom and Aunt Pattie are coming to visit this weekend and we're headed to Fort Worth to visit Chris and the Meeks' the weekend after that. I should have some pretty good pictures to put on the blog soon!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Ideas on how to become independently wealthy...
1.) Have some sort of celebrity type scandal and write a book about it.
2.) Have at least ten more children and a reality show.
3.) Invent something. I don't know what, but something...
Obviously independently wealthy isn't happening for me anytime soon, which makes me pretty darn disappointed. I was talking to my dad tonight about how I'm sad that this is the number of children that we can reasonably afford. The boys will be six weeks old tomorrow (can you believe it?!) and I head back to work in only two more weeks. This realization has gotten me pretty down today. These are the last few days I'll ever stay home with a newborn baby. I don't think I wish that I could be a stay at home mom, though. I find my job very fulfilling and genuinely enjoy what I do. I'm what the military folks might call a "dig it". I guess it's pretty hard to put all of my feelings about this going back to work situation together, but I know I need to focus on enjoying this last two weeks.
On a much happier note, this has been a really great week! Sophie was learning about rocks in school and she really enjoyed telling us about the petrified turtle poo her teacher brought in. Last week was recycling and we got chastised all week about our light bulbs, so rocks made for better conversation. Josie started talking in sentences and I really think she has an awesome sense of humor. She spends most of her time yelling at the dogs, but every once in a while she fake sneezes and then tells herself "Bess youuu!". Mitchell is fattening up so well I think he's got a second chin and poor Cal has lost all the hair on top of his head!
Randy and I spent the week trying out some new recipes to add to our dinner rotation. The worst idea, by far, was linguine with collard green pesto. It's now official that I don't like collards, at all. I think the best of the week was either a fresh cod recipe we found or the tasty ground turkey meatballs that went with the gnarly collard pesto. A few more weeks of watching food network all day and I might actually become a better cook!
Here's Cal taking a nap under his new blankie that my best high school friend Randi made!
Josie playing Mr. Potato Head for the first time:
2.) Have at least ten more children and a reality show.
3.) Invent something. I don't know what, but something...
Obviously independently wealthy isn't happening for me anytime soon, which makes me pretty darn disappointed. I was talking to my dad tonight about how I'm sad that this is the number of children that we can reasonably afford. The boys will be six weeks old tomorrow (can you believe it?!) and I head back to work in only two more weeks. This realization has gotten me pretty down today. These are the last few days I'll ever stay home with a newborn baby. I don't think I wish that I could be a stay at home mom, though. I find my job very fulfilling and genuinely enjoy what I do. I'm what the military folks might call a "dig it". I guess it's pretty hard to put all of my feelings about this going back to work situation together, but I know I need to focus on enjoying this last two weeks.
On a much happier note, this has been a really great week! Sophie was learning about rocks in school and she really enjoyed telling us about the petrified turtle poo her teacher brought in. Last week was recycling and we got chastised all week about our light bulbs, so rocks made for better conversation. Josie started talking in sentences and I really think she has an awesome sense of humor. She spends most of her time yelling at the dogs, but every once in a while she fake sneezes and then tells herself "Bess youuu!". Mitchell is fattening up so well I think he's got a second chin and poor Cal has lost all the hair on top of his head!
Randy and I spent the week trying out some new recipes to add to our dinner rotation. The worst idea, by far, was linguine with collard green pesto. It's now official that I don't like collards, at all. I think the best of the week was either a fresh cod recipe we found or the tasty ground turkey meatballs that went with the gnarly collard pesto. A few more weeks of watching food network all day and I might actually become a better cook!
Here's Cal taking a nap under his new blankie that my best high school friend Randi made!
Mitchell hanging with Daddy:
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Coming out from under our rock!
The boys are really settling in to more predictable routines and I finally feel like we're coming up for air! Mitchell and Callum hit 7 and 8 pounds, respectively, this week and now eat every 3 or so hours instead of every 2! I feel like a new woman.
So far this weekend, we went to Peter Piper Pizza (we're calling it the "cheap Chucky Cheese"), organized all the junk I had let pile up in the nursery, purged the playroom and found some new recipes to eat healthier. Have to fit back into my ODU pants in only three short weeks! There's something to be said about getting up off your butt and just doing stuff. I feel great and I think the whole family does. We really get into a rut of saying "I'm too tired" or "Maybe later" and forget how good it feels to accomplish something. On that note I'd better return to the mountain of laundry I vowed to tackle today. You would never believe how much laundry a family of 6 can produce!
Here's the girls enjoying some nutella and banana sandwiches today. The lady in the Nutella commercial says they're healthy and I'm going with it!
So far this weekend, we went to Peter Piper Pizza (we're calling it the "cheap Chucky Cheese"), organized all the junk I had let pile up in the nursery, purged the playroom and found some new recipes to eat healthier. Have to fit back into my ODU pants in only three short weeks! There's something to be said about getting up off your butt and just doing stuff. I feel great and I think the whole family does. We really get into a rut of saying "I'm too tired" or "Maybe later" and forget how good it feels to accomplish something. On that note I'd better return to the mountain of laundry I vowed to tackle today. You would never believe how much laundry a family of 6 can produce!
Here's the girls enjoying some nutella and banana sandwiches today. The lady in the Nutella commercial says they're healthy and I'm going with it!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Wait a minute. I'm raising adults?
I cried like a little baby last year on Josie's first birthday and Randy had a talk with me about the fact that we have babies to raise adults, not to play with babies. Pretty hard pill for me to swallow because man do I love babies. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy everyday that I watch Sophia and Josie grow and learn new things, but it's never really hit me like it did today.
In that first picture my first baby is reading a book to herself. With chapters. As I took that picture of her I was nursing Mitchell and Callum, who don't even make eye contact with me yet. Then it hit me that in six relatively short years Sophie had gone from picture two to picture one. Amazing.
We're done adding babies to our family and I'm a little sad about that, but it's fun to think now about how many cool things I'll get to watch my kids learn.
And for a little gratuitous humor: Josie has decided that dog hair is gross. That's too bad for her, considering it's impossible to keep dog hair off our floors. Today while she was holding Dottie, our little dog, she was pulling hairs out of her coat one by one and saying "eeeww" and "groooosss". Poor dog's going to be bald soon I'm sure.
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