Movin' on Up

Breanna started crawling - official good crawls - not the sort of half-baked crawling she was doing for the last month. Friday night, she showed off her moves, and is now pretty awesome. Not one to be out-done, Lillian has started pulling herself up from sitting to standing, and holds on to the coffee table, the outside of the exersaucer, whatever. She just loves to stand up, and is taking little tiny steps as she goes.


Needless to say, our weekend was busy. My DH was gone all day on Saturday, and I was on the go all day, playing with the girls - and completely beat by dinnertime. When he came home, he asked if I wanted to rent a movie, and I bailed out. I just wanted to climb into bed.


We still didn't get the second crib up, but at least we rearranged the baby bedroom to make room for it. And the new mattress pad and bedding are on. Now we need to actually make time to put it all together. If it's not one thing...


After the exhausting weekend of parenting, I let DH take Breanna in for her 1-year checkup. It's a week and half early, but we figured we'd get it in while we can. Lillian goes in for her appointment on Wednesday. I'll let you know how it goes. Fully clothed, Breanna weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds and is 28 inches long. How is that even possible? And she's perfectly healthy! Just remembering back to how little and red she was at birth, I have no doubt that God has blessed us with incredible abundance.

Superstitious

All day long yesterday, my mind was focused on the date of one year ago. Last April 19, I was enjoying a lovely dinner at the Cork & Cleaver with my husband, babies kicking delightedly, when an unwelcome Bell's Palsy invited itself into our lives. It was the day that turned my lovely pregnancy into the start of what ended up becoming a very complicated pregnancy. It was the one day in my life where I can truly say that all hell broke loose.

Boy, we've come a long way!

I've never considered myself to be very superstitious, but yesterday, I kept wondering how the universe would right itself in my world to make up for the awfulness of April 19th a year earlier. I even thought about going to the same restaurant and ordering the same thing to see if that would be the magic to completely kill off the Bell's. It's still hanging on a bit - barely - but stubbornly, nonetheless. I kept waiting for an exciting phone call - or something wonderful to arrive the mail.

Turns out, my superstitions were justified. Though my Bell's Palsy didn't suddenly disappear, I did have several very wonderful experiences that I have to believe are not just random goodnesses.

I'll be starting a new writing project on Monday that should carry me through a few months. I found out within 24 hours of the initial meeting with the client. It looks like it has lots of room for taking it where I want, with no one to squash me. I'm excited about it! So, today I'm not going to "work." It will be my last free day of vacation for a while. I think I'll go get a facial, pick up some party hats for our girls' birthday, take the dogs for a long walk, take part in noon mass, and enjoy a latte from Atomic.

Happy Friday, friends! And happy weekend, too!

No more hotel stays for a while

Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

I'm beat, as I'm sure everyone else is who stayed at the Best Western in Chaska on Saturday night. My DH and the babies and I hitched a ride with DH's favorite aunt on Saturday afternoon for a quick trip to witness a First Communion on Sunday. DH and his aunt (who is also his godmother) are the godparents to their niece, so there was no getting out of this roadtrip.

The drive down was great, but once we arrived at the restaurant Saturday evening, the tone changed - too subtle for us to realize that it was a whole tonal shift. DH decided to see if our babies liked baked beans. Let's just say that all it took was two bites to learn that Lillian barfs from beans. No crying or anything, just really gross. When we returned to the hotel, the babies went to sleep in the pack-n-play in the other room of our suite.

We were all tired, thinking bed sounded good, when DH's brother decided to bring his fiancee to the hotel at 9:50. They left at around midnight. Once they left, we sat up and visited a bit more and then took turns doing bathroom routines. (I finally found someone who takes longer to get ready for bed than me!) As DA (Darling Auntie) headed off to bed, the babies awoke soon after. For the night. And not just one at a time. DH and I didn't want to wake up DA and the rest of the hotel, so we were both up, trying our darnedest to keep everyone quiet.

Our room was extremely warm - both babies laid around wearing only diapers - no blankets. And Breanna popped a new tooth during the night. And Lillian had barfed up beans. And while the hallway traffic outside of our room was rather entertaining at times, it got annoying when it kept the babies up. There were about a dozen green glowing lights in the room - smoke detector, microwave, clocks, etc. I ended up taping diapers over the ones I could reach to try to remove some of the spaceship feeling.

We even tried just leaving the girls in the pack-n-play with the TV on (if they don't sleep fine, but at least we can sleep through the TV). Didn't work. They just wanted to be held. So held they were. The last time I looked, the clock was 4:49. We got up at 7 in order to make to the First Communion - and we made it just in time.

The First Communion was lovely and the family gathering was nice. On our way out of the cities, we met up with some very dear long-time friends for a quick bite to eat and visit. Both DH and DA grumbled a tiny bit as we pulled into the parking lot, but once we left the restaurant to officially make the rest of the trip home, both of them admitted that they were glad we'd stopped. It was by far the highlight of the trip for me - old friends breathe so much life! We arrived at home by about 10:00 and quickly put the babies to bed and then collapsed.

This morning, we all slept until 9, which is a small miracle in itself. I think I'll take a quick snooze now and then get back to work. This is a week full of fun writing/consulting projects on my docket. Happy Monday, everyone! May you be rested and joyful!

What goes around...

In case anyone is wondering (and I know you are because of all the phone calls/emails), my life is really good. Business is coming in and the projects are all fun so far! In between, I've loved spending some time with my family!

As I've finally had a little down time to reflect during these past few weeks, I've noticed that when you live your life with purpose, choosing to live with a conscience and awareness, with good intentions and the hopes of being a good example, you get it back. Goodness returns to you, sometimes in ways that surprise, sometimes in teenie little niceties.

Nonetheless, it pays to hold your head high, resist clever opportunities for revenge, and be proud of being nice. To those who encourage goodness, thank you. For those who egg on the negativity, please stop. (It comes back to you - avoid it at all costs.) Life is so very much lovelier when you can concentrate on being the kind of person your kids look up to. The kind you know your grandmother can be proud of. The kind whose spouse says they love you not just because you're a "looker," but because you're genuinely nice.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. On this beautiful Friday afternoon, I encourage you to go out of your way to share the love.

Easter Dresses

In case you're wondering how cute our girls looked in their Easter dresses, here are a couple pictures. I can't help it - I just have to show them off. My folks recently returned from Playa Del Carmen, where they spent a week on the beach. My sister and I both agreed before they returned to the US that Dad and Mom most likely picked up some pretty little dresses for the babies. Do we know our folks or what?
The dresses are hand-made, a little different from one another. So intricate, so delicate. So fun! Thanks, Gramma and Grandpa!



(Breanna is in sleeves - Lill is showing off her teeth.)

Babylegs

Just a quick photo to share - this one's for Newzgirl. Breanna loves being a ballerina in her Babylegs.

Sorry it's a litte dark.

The Good Life

We enjoyed a mellow Easter weekend, with my family here Thursday through Saturday and over to DH's folks' house for Sunday. About half of the people originally expected to join us at the in-laws didn't show up for various reasons, so it was actually pretty nice. Not too chaotic or noisy, and not too drink-y. As a bonus, no one tried pushing drinks on me. I enjoyed my wine at Easter dinner at my own pace. : )

My DH tried playing a joke on my family Friday night, but no one fell for it. He crayoned an egg in line for dyeing "Unborn Baby" and then our last name. Then he calmly went back to the couch to continue visiting with my dad and brother-in-law. No one noticed until my sis pulled the turquoise egg out, and she and my mom quickly discussed it - very quietly. And then I heard someone say "No way. She had a glass of wine." So, while no one actually fell for it, we all had a laugh.

As to be expected, we had a few more new moments over the weekend. Our girls both fell asleep during church. Holy cow! What a joy! And they both mastered "Soooo big."

It looks like it will be a nice week ahead. I have several business dealings in progress right now, and lots of exciting decisions to make. Plus, I have a few social dealings to look forward to, as well. (Our Mothers of Multiples meeting is tomorrow night, and I have a few other get-togethers now that my schedule has relaxed a little.)

The girls are in daycare M-W-F this week, so I'm going to get back to work while I still can. Happy Monday, friends!

Busted

Whenever I hear that Breanna is awake in her crib, but not crying, I have to laugh. Thanks to a video monitor, I've been able to see what she's been up to. She's wagging a tail.

My pen pal from Pequot Lakes gave us some adorable pillows for the babies. One is a lion and one is a sheep. Each has a biblical saying embroidered on it and is super cuddly. For the past several months, I've had the animals stuffed between the crib and the wall, sort of looking over the girls as they sleep.

Lately, Breanna has been reaching through and grabbing the lion's tail and wagging it. Whenever I come into the room and see her doing it, she lets go and acts like she was just laying there doing nothing.

Already a sneak! Well, I finally busted her on camera tonight!

Graduated

The girls have moved up from the infant bathtub to this super-deluxe duck! We tried it out this weekend and my goodness was it fun!



P.S. This is the first April Fool's Day where I didn't come up with a prank to pull on anyone. What's happened to me?

Baby Fever

Pregnant women are all around me and I just can't help but feel... really happy for them. (Bet you thought I was going to say jealous. Nope. Not yet anyway.) But I can surely relate to their excitement!

My cousin is expecting a little girl the same time my girls were due last year. We're going to have three little girls within a year of each other running around at the lake. Yay!

Another girlfriend is due with her third in the end of August. I lunched with her last week and she's looking awesome! Complete with the glow. There really isn't anything much sexier than the glow of pregnancy.

Our accountant is due in July with her first, trying to plan ahead for quarterly taxes and the likes already. She's so funny about it all! They'd been trying for a long time, so I'm really glad their family is finally starting.

Our electrician and his wife (who happened to be one of our nurses while I was in having my babies) are expecting now, too.

With so many due, it's hard to believe that we have so many friends who have recently had babies, too. Baby fever!

Shyla's little guy was born in late November and he's already almost the same size as Lillian! And Shari's tyke arrived in January and is growing like a weed, too! My girls had better keep on eating to keep up with those fellas!

I've been trying to figure out great baby gifts for all these little ones - unique ones that I've loved where I won't have to worry about duplicates. I have a few in mind for the coming babies, but I won't share my secrets here. : )

This week was a blast with our babies! Lillian's top two teeth are officially through. And the girls have kicked their colds/ear infections. (Unfortunately, I picked up their colds on Monday and have been wiped out! Today is the first day where I haven't woken up from a fever. I'm considering this a change to "on the mend" status.) Breanna is all over the place - she keeps rolling into the dining room and getting her legs stuck in the chair legs. They're both just smiling like crazy and talking up a storm. I love being a mom. Even when I'm hacking and wheezing and exhausted, I love it so much!

I hope all of you readers who are also parents are enjoying your kiddos this weekend. What a great time to stay inside and get silly together!

Spring Fever

I have great news to share! I'm back to the world of self employment for a while. After 9 long months at a company that didn't fit, I'm free to run again! I'm going to refrain from posting the gory details in writing, as I still remember my mom's famous words - Don't burn your bridges. Who knows whom all my readers are? I will simply say that I feel like a million bucks!

My darling husband is convinced that improving my environment will alleviate enough stress that my Bell's Palsy will start to diminish much more quickly. In fact, I think I can see even more of my teeth on my right side. Yay!

I now finally have time to finish ghost-writing that book I'd been working on and had planned on finishing prior to the birth of my babies. Their early arrival threw that whole schedule out of whack, so now the book writers have reason to celebrate with me.

New season, new opportunities, new reasons to smile! Happy spring!

Liberated

I had an awesome day today! The details are private for now, but please join me in a little happy dance!

Mellow is Good

The babies are on the road to recovery, though still hacking up every now and then. Lillian is saying Mama and Up, and Breanna is still stuck on Poke. Though she does say BaBa when she sees a bottle.

We had a lovely weekend at home, relaxing. My folks returned to the US from their vacation, and it was nice to know they were home and safe again. Even though they travel to fairly safe vacation destinations, there's always the fear of the weird stuff that sometimes turns tourists into victims. I sat up late Friday night, sewing adorable velcro hair bows for the girls. Their hair is so fine that barrettes would slide right out, but velcro is a whole different story.

While the babies napped in carseats on Saturday, DH and I drove around and looked at window trim color. We had great conversation, and even hopped out to wade in the mud a little bit. We returned home to the wonderful aroma of porketta in the crock. It was fantastic, although, our skin and breath were pretty "Iron Range-y" - even the next morning after brushing teeth. I've finally found a butcher shop that has real porketta seasonings! (I've tried others, and their version of porketta is just rosemary and pepper. Lots of pepper.)

On Sunday afternoon, DH's folks came over for a visit with their grandbabies and a roast dinner on the grill. We even got in a round of pinochle, which was pretty fun. DH and I didn't win, but we enjoyed playing nonetheless. I'm still learning.

It was a great time to relax.

Little Sickies

It's official - spring has sprung, and so have ear infections. Our poor little darlings are sick - down and dirty sick. Breanna has a double ear infection and Lillian has a single one. And both have terrible deep coughs. And I feel awful for them!

When they started with a little cough, I blamed myself. You see, the girls attended their first parade on Saturday - the downtown St. Patrick's Day parade. The sun was shining, the babies were in snowsuits, and DH and I each snuck a green beer into our coffee mugs to make the outing an official Irish event. (About the only Irish in either of us was the Irish Cream we sipped in a coffee last month.) Anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves.

Since this was the first time we've really had the babies outside for more than a quick run from a vehicle into a building(first time in snowsuits anyway), I figured the winter air must be what brought on the coughs.

The doctor we saw today reassured me that the parade was not the culprit. In fact, when she was going through our records and talking about prescriptions and whatnot, she congratulated us on getting them this far without ear infections until now.

I had no idea it's practically mandatory for infants to get ear infections. I certainly don't remember having any of my own, or even hearing stories about them. But what do I know?

Anyway, my dear sister met me at the clinic because DH is out of town. Thank goodness. The babies kept us both busy, and since our regular physician wasn't in, the one we saw was pretty slow and had lots of questions. The girls are now on antibiotics and will hopefully kick this all really quickly. Keep them in your prayers. And if you're reading this before bed Thursday night, please say a quick prayer for me to get at least a little sleep since I'm single-parenting tonight.

I'm signing out with a yawn. G'night, all.

Poke

In her darling hoarse voice, Breanna has started trying to copy me when I've encouraged her to poke her arms through the cute little sleeves of her cute little clothes. Each morning we put on a onesie and then a shirt, so that's four times I tell her to poke before we even have breakfast. Sometimes, we have pantlegs to get into, too, so that's another two pokes. In the evenings after baths, we poke again into onesies and jammies. I guess she hears it a lot. Tonight after her bath, I was dressing her for bed and when I told her to poke, she looked at me and squeaked a "poke" out. I said "poke" again, and she repeated again.

My darling sister was here to help out, and she, too, heard the "poke." Ladies and gentlemen, we have a talker! Of all the first words! At least it wasn't "toot" or "poop" or "exhausted" or something else we talk a lot about at our house.

(For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that she was looking at me and repeating "Mama" last Saturday morning. She hasn't said it since, so I'm not counting it. It melted my heart nonetheless. But since my DH swears that both girls' first word will be "Dada," I'll keep all this a secret. He was practicing "Dada" with them even when they were still in the womb. Good thing he doesn't read my blog or his heart would be broken.)

Identical? For Sure.

Besides their survival of TTTS, I've only come across a few other instances when I've been certain of my daughters' identical status. Take this morning at 2:11. Both girls woke up crying at the same time. Both felt warm, and the thermometer read 100.6. Exactly the same temperature?

I wondered if it was the thermometer, so I tried a second one. I'm still not quite sure how we've accumulated 4 thermometers. Anyway, the second one said the same thing. So I took my temp (98.1) and then took my DH's (who was asleep and will never be the wiser) and his was 98.7. For the record, I put the thermometer under his armpit, just like I did for myself. No mischief at that time of night.

Our poor little pumpkins have their first chest colds and now fevers to boot. Their hoarse little cries are heartbreaking, and yet a moment later they smile and laugh (and then pout again). They take after their auntie with their adorable Lissy Lip. One thing that I did notice as I was pouring some Pedialyte for Lillian is that when she cries (more of whining than actual crying), you get a good look at her top gums. She's going to sprout those next two teeth any day now. No sign of them on Breanna yet.

I hope they recover quickly - for everyone's sake. DH is heading to his sister's house south of the Twin Cities tomorrow and will be there through Friday to do some remodeling work for her. So, not only do I get to fly solo, but possibly with little sickies. : ( Keep your fingers crossed for me.

For the Sake of a Flake

Many brain cells have disappeared. I fear it's a permanent loss.

Just this past weekend, I was reminded about what a social flake I've become. I nearly blew off a relatively new friend, all for the sake of being absentminded. AP is a fellow writer, as well as a new mom. Her little princess is a little over a year old. We have terrific fun when we visit!

It all started a few weeks ago. We'd made plans to meet out for coffee one Saturday evening several weeks ago, and I didn't remember until the next afternoon. For the first time in my life, I stood someone up. The horror I felt as it dawned on me was unbelievable.

After a heartfelt apology and some well-deserved ribbing, we made new plans to meet up - this time for pie. I joked that if I'm not there by 10 after 8, she'd better give me a call. This time, I put it on my calendar. And in my cell phone. And I told my hubby. Only I'd planned for Saturday. On Friday evening, at 8:10, the phone rang. AP asked if I was still interested in pie, and as I could hear the restaurant noises in the background, it dawned on me. Ugh! I dropped everything and ran to meet her. Sure enough, I later went back to my emails, and clear as a bell, she wrote Friday.

Talk about shame! I might as well just go hide in a cave. My brain cells that disappeared during pregnancy have most certainly decided to stay away for good.

Heavy Breather

Yesterday I killed a spider on the wall for a man that I work with. Although I don't particularly enjoy handling spiders, I'm not afraid to approach them. (Except for the jumping wolf spiders - those are huge and super fast!) As a kid, I was the girl in the neighborhood who kissed a frog on the lips as a dare. He didn't turn into a prince - must have been a she. I once tried to make a garter snake into a necklace. Couldn't get the snake to stay still, though. I may come across as being a little prissy - a girly girl, but at heart, I'm just as tough as the big boys. (And in the case of the spider in the office - I'm tougher.) If you mentioned this to my in-laws, however, they'd swear you're crazy. They think I can't even swat a mosquito. If they only knew...

Anyway, I'm pretty tough, but not macho to the core. Even as a grown-up, there are a couple things that give me the heebie jeebies. Live fish and mud puppies, when it comes to animals. But breathing toilets are the worst. Blechssckk!

I recently noticed that the toilets in our office breathe. That heavy, slow, deep breathing that sends the water level up and down a couple inches. I can't bring myself to use them when they're breathing. I've even cut down my liquid consumption until the hour before lunch, and then I leave the office and find some place to go. Even though my logic swears up and down that the toilet won't suck me it nor will it produce some big slimy sea creature, my imagination can't simmer enough to get me to go.

Years ago when I was living all alone in my new house, I had a toilet that breathed for about a day. I called the plumber to come see what was wrong. When he arrived, he asked what the problem was. so I told him about the breathing. He chuckled and asked what the problem was. I told him it creeped me out. When he realized that there was no functional problem, he laughed harder. He basically said, "Toughen up. That's city water for you." I asked him why it started out of the blue, and he said that it happens because of something with the city water setup. It's more common in the winter, but doesn't hurt anything. He got such a kick out of my "issue" that he didn't charge me for the visit to my house. Thankfully, the breathing stopped the next day and I was able to "go" in my own house again.

So, now I've come out. How about you, dear readers? Does anything give you the willies?

Numbers Overload

All my life, I've preferred letters to numbers. Even in 8th grade, when I made it into a State math contest (I still think that was a fluke.).

As tax time is upon us again, I'm weary of looking at numbers and we're still not done yet. 2006 was complex for us - owning a couple of businesses... going to work for someone else... throw in a couple babies and some massive medical bills and it's a mess.

On top of tax season has been some heavy budget crunching at work. Plus, we've been comparing prices on everything as we prepare to start building the house next month. (Does anyone out there realize what an earth-shaking time this is in terms of buying OSB? Record low prices - yahoo!) Numbers have been floating across my dreams these past few nights. Seriously.

I look forward to the days when I dream of words, letters. Especially the letter "k." It's always been my favorite letter to write.

Mood - What an odd word if you repeat it often enough

As all the locals (and even my out-of-state clients) are talking about the weather, I am going to rebel. No snow talk here. Except to say that I love it. That's it. Done.

Now on to a much more important topic - how to spend my $25 iTunes gift card. Dan won it in a Christmas gift exchange, and kindly passed it along to me. The big question is what to download - Madeleine Peyroux or Norah Jones or Ella Fitzgerald or Hank Williams Sr. or... OutKast? My taste in music varies by mood, as does my taste in reading materials, food, aromas, and textures.

Today is a cotton-wearing, nutmeg-smelling, pasta-eating, Patricia-Cornwell-novel reading day - with Madeleine Peyroux in the background. Unfortunately, since I'll be in the office all day, I won't be indulging in most of these mood-makers until we hunker in tonight. I do have a cotton turtleneck and jeans picked out, though, so that's a start.

How about you? What's your mood today? And if it's a snow day, how are you spending it?