Front Page (above the fold)
Headline: Family Survives Weekend…Barely
Photo: Twins in meltdown mode, complete with ginormous tears and runny noses (photo courtesy of elhogue photography)
Story Synopsis: The weekend was one of the most difficult in recent memory.  The babies were not sleeping, which meant that Mommy and Daddy (but particularly Mommy) weren’t sleeping.  And with the colds and other physical ailments of the weekend, the twins were pretty needy and whiny.  We were, it seemed, about a half second from a meltdown for 48 hours straight.  If these two days had happened during the week, I would have been hard-pressed to make it through.  Thankfully, our parents both came unexpectedly and helped out.  My in-laws came on Friday night so that we could have a date night, and my parents came up on Saturday just to hang out and hold babies.  Those breaks were exactly what I needed!  And on Sunday, since we didn’t make it to church, I got a nap, and Eric and I could focus on babies on their schedule.  That worked out better, too.  

Front Page (Right-hand column)
Headline: First Ear Infections
Story Synopsis:  Because Alex had a miserable night’s sleep on Friday night, I decided (while awake in the early morning hours) to have both checked for ear infections.  I figured Alex had one for sure, but it wouldn’t hurt to check Erin, too.  So off we went to the pediatrician’s office for an appointment at 11:15 (which, of course, they were running behind for, so it turned into an 11:45 appointment).  Still, when it was done, it turned out that Alex’s ears are fine, and Erin has a double ear infection.  Poor girl!  So now we’re on antibiotics and Baby Motrin and watching to make sure Alex doesn’t start showing signs, too. 

Headline: Date Night
Story Synopsis:  Friday night, Eric and I went out.  It was last minute (as my MIL called on Friday morning to see if they could come out), so we hadn’t really gotten time to plan.  And then because of a really bad accident on the East side of the city, they were later getting here than they had planned.  So we still had to feed the babies their dinner.  But c’est la vie!  We were out of the house by 6:30 and headed to Grandview. We ate at Noodles & Co., browsed in a camera store, and went to Target (where we bought a rice cooker and a new game for my Nintendo DS).  We got caught in a downpour in the Target parking lot (on the way out to our car) and stopped at the Steak N Shake drive-thru for milkshakes to end the day.  Then we headed home to chat with the in-laws for a bit.  For being off-the-cuff (and despite my bad head cold), we had a very nice time!

Heath Section: Q & A
Headline: Treating Colds in Babies
Story Synopsis: While the recent removal of all baby cold remedies may have been in the best interest of babies, it was not very helpful for parents!  So this weekend was a case study in alleviating discomfort in babies with a meager arsenal of Tylenol/Motrin, tissues, saline spray and aspirators, three of which the babies hate with a passion.  Of course, we’ve added a vaporizer and inclined mattresses, which has helped some with sleeping.  But the daytime hours have been much more difficult to manage.  What remedies or methods have you tried that have worked when dealing with colds (and mild fevers) in your infants and small children?

Life and Arts Section
Headline: Engagement Pictures Taken
Story Synopsis: Eric spent Saturday morning with Kimberly and Kevin to take some engagement pictures for them.  They went to a small park near us for some lovely outside shots (thankfully, the sun decided to shine despite the meteorological predictions of the newscasters for the last week) and then came back to our house for some more formal shots.  I, sadly, missed the whole thing because of a trip to the pediatrician (see front page), but I was told it was a good time for all.  And the pictures did turn out pretty cute.  Maybe Kimberly will post some at a later date…

Headline: Found…A Small Fortune
Story Synopsis: Late last week, when pulling a box of diapers out from under one of the cribs, I discovered that I had already opened it (which I remembered) and tossed a card into it (which I had not remembered).  I opened the card to see who it was from and found that it still had two $20 gift cards to WalMart in it, one for each baby. I’m sure the cards are about 6 months old.  But yay for finding free money in a box of diapers!

Headine: Fun/Funny Things of the Week
Bulleted List

• Erin just discovered today that she could reach the baby monitor that has rested on the side-by-side ends of their cribs.  She pulled it down, unplugged it, and was upset when I took it away.  I guess we’re done with baby monitors now for good!
• If you haven’t seen it…go look at this blog about bad cake designs.  Some of them are too funny!
• Erin sneezed this morning and blew a ginormous snot bubble which then just hung there without breaking.  Gross, I know, but also very funny!
• Alex is starting to get much more mobile.  And we introduced him to rubber balls a few days ago.  The boy was in heaven.  Absolute heaven. 

So last night at 7:00, I was fine.

By 8:30, my nose was running and my throat was starting to hurt.  And I had a rough night as a result (as well as checking on Erin who was whimpering in her sleep).  So yeah…I’ve caught Erin’s cold.  Alex hasn’t yet, but I suppose it’s just a matter of time now…with both of us breathing on him!

Other than that, the day was actually quite productive.  Eric came home at 1:30 in the afternoon.  He’d worked his 80 hours (pay periods end on Thursday) and doesn’t get overtime.  So he decided to just take the rest of the day off! And it was fun to hang out with him for a bit.  And I got to run a bunch of little errands that are just easier to do without babies.  So nice!

We grilled out for dinner.  And then played with babies, put them to bed, and watched clips from Tim Hawkins, a very funny, clean comedian.  If you have a minute, watch his clips on Chick-fil-A and Fast Foods in the “Videos” section.  We laughed a lot!

Our weekend is looking pretty good, too.  My MIL just called and asked if they could come out tonight to watch babies while we have a date night.  Um…YES!  So they’ll be out later in the afternoon.  And Eric is taking engagement pictures for Kimberly tomorrow morning.  That should be fun, too.

And in some sad news…Reading Rainbow is ending its 26-year run on PBS.  Honestly, I didn’t realize it was still being made, but it was outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers.  And I used to like hearing about all the different books.  Apparently, shows about books that kids might love to read are giving way to shows that try to teach phonics skills because, and this is even more sad, too many kids don’t have the basic skills to be able to read the books that RR recommended to them.  I’m so glad my sister is teaching little kids how to read!!

Other than that, I don’t have much to say, I guess.  I’ll be doing some baby laundry today.  Nothing too exciting.  But it’s Friday.  Yay!  So…Happy weekend!

My little Lady Baby (ie, Erin) has a really bad cold, poor thing!

She’s had a couple of colds already, but they were mostly drainage/congestion types that didn’t really impact her activity levels or anything.

This one, though, is a whole new ball game.  She was just a wet little monster yesterday: runny nose, drooly mouth, watery eyes.  And of course she hates to have her face wiped off.  And she hates when I use the saline spray.  And she hates the aspirator (don’t all kids?). 

Also, by the afternoon, she was also running a low-grade fever and was content to just hang out on my lap and lean on me (she’s usually too busy for that during the day).  She was better after some medicine and the afternoon nursing.  But still wanted to be near us.  And she was about half an inch from a meltdown all day.  The littlest things would set her into a full red-faced crying fit.  And that is totally not like her at all. 

And I think Alex was responding to Erin’s unusual neediness by being needier than usual, too.  That meant pretty much staying close to them, trying to avoid germ-sharing (as much as possible) and managing the neediness.

Anyway, today, Erin’s nose isn’t running so much and no fever, but she has a bit more of a cough.  Hopefully, it’s not a virus thing that will get worse as the day goes on.  And hopefully, we aren’t dealing with our first ear infection.  But I am keeping a pretty close eye on her and getting done whatever else I can do. 

Sick babies = not much fun!

I’m working very hard at not having one of those days.  My attitude is teetering on the precipice, and I’m longing to fling myself headlong into the chasm of crankiness. 

After all, since yesterday, I’ve had to deal with things like:

• still itchy hands because I haven’t had time to actually go to the pharmacy to get my Rx filled
• a weird bottle from the pharmacy out of which it is nearly impossible to get the proper dose for my infant daughter’s Zantac
• ants crawling up the wall to ransack my spice cupboard
• my son who had trouble settling to sleep in the evening
• my daughter who had trouble staying asleep last night
• my husband’s new morning schedule which is not the best for me
• my daughter being at the tail end of a new tooth coming in AND the beginning of a cold/runny nose
• having to run to the basement multiple times this morning for things I should have brought up in one trip
• needing to take a meal to friends who’ve had a new baby, but who live 30 minutes away, and now I can’t take the twins because of a runny nose (thankfully, Eric is coming home a bit early so I can take the meal)

But I’m also trying to keep a bigger (and more godly) perspective, too.  Because after all, none of these things are truly problematic.  And God is so much bigger.  And my babies are so rarely difficult.  And my husband is so great with the babies and with me. 

And really, now that I’ve written all these things down, I can stop running down the list of them in my head which will help tremendously with getting over it, even though I’m tired and Erin is already up from her nap. 

So maybe (hopefully) it won’t turn out to be one of those days after all…

The theme for today’s blog will be “hands”

The other day I bought a 2-pack of Meijer brand rubber gloves for cleaning.  I opened the pack to discover that I’d gotten 3 left-hand gloves and 1 right-hand one.  Ummm…that doesn’t seem right…

My hands still itch, but using lots of lotion regularly at least makes them less calloused.  And that’s nice.  I hated touching my babies’ skin and feeling my hands ‘catch’ from all the dryness. 

I got my engagement ring back on this weekend…yay!  It fit okay.  But it has always been a little tighter than I’ve liked. So I think I’m going to get it sized up a tiny bit before I start wearing it daily.

My fingers were killing me yesterday from all the apples I peeled to make applesauce.  I’ve been trying to get to that for weeks, but wasn’t brave enough to try it without someone home with me.  And since Eric worked on Saturday and we had company on Saturday night…yesterday was the day.  Sadly, I added too much water to the second batch, so now I have to figure out how to get it to cook down more.  We shall see…

Because we were having company on Saturday, Eric helped me clean the house when he got home from work.  He vacuumed, dusted, vacuumed again, tidied the loft and cleaned up the kitchen, including sweeping the kitchen floor.  I put away clothes, tidied the upstairs rooms, cleaned the half bath downstairs, hand-washed the dishes that didn’t go in the dishwasher, and cleaned up piles of stuff in every room.  Very busy hands…but a very nice-looking house when we were done!

I think that’s all the “hand” stories I have to tell you today.  So happy Monday!

I finally went to see a doctor about my itchy hands.  They’ve been better, but not healed.  It’s exzema.  I’m supposed to try not to wash my hands as much and put lots and lots of lotion on (as well as a topical cream at night).  We shall see!

The babies are cute.  Really cute.  Really good, too.  I can take them anywhere and they are just good.  Love that!

I love, too, that other people think they’re cute. 

We watched a recorded episode of Warehouse 13 last night.  That show makes me laugh. And is well-written.  And original.  Nice.

I think I’m going to make a pizza for dinner tonight.  I seem to have been on a “make-a-real-dinner” strike this week.  I didn’t mean to, but it happened anyway.  I’m sure I’ll get back to reality soon…

I’m reading Julia Child’s memoir My Life in France.  It’s really good…she was quite a character.  I’m reading it because I was curious about her after finishing Julie and Julia last month.  I liked it, too.  So now, I guess, I’ll just have to see the movie to see how it compares to the books. 

I think that’s all the interesting things in my life right now.  Have a lovely weekend!

To force myself to be quick, you get bullets today (like that really helps me…but whatever!).

• I think I’m going to like teaching a class online.  And the little bit of extra dough won’t hurt either.
• It poured down rain here yesterday, taking a break only when we went to DQ for a friend’s b-day party in the evening.  Yay for not having to haul babies around in the rain!
• I thunderstorms.  But not the accompanying power outages…
• When I went in to feed babies at 4:30 this morning, they were both wide awake and peeking at each other (sans laughter, oddly) through the crib slats again.  When I walked in, they both turned to look at me, big grins on their faces, at the same moment.  Yup…I’m in trouble.
• Thankfully, they’re sleeping now and went down without playing. 
• We’re going to meet a friend of mine and her kids at a park when the babies wake up.  Should be fun.
• So my slideshow yesterday got a lot of hits…some from people I don’t know (nor do I know how they found my post!).  I haven’t decided if that makes me nervous or not.  I mean, I certainly don’t have a problem making new friends.  And I haven’t done friends lock because I send my parents here to see pictures sometimes.  But then again, I don’t want the babies’ faces just showing up on the internet either in ways/places I don’t approve of…hmmm…something to ponder more, I guess…

Okay, I need to run.  Happy Thursday!

The babies have figured out how to “talk” to each other in their cribs.

This picture was taken at the end of their morning nap.

I put them down for another nap about 20 minutes ago.  I realized after 10 minutes that I was still hearing a lot of laughing.  Yep…they were at it again, peeking over their bumpers this time.  They are just now starting to quiet down.

I may be in big trouble…

Eric headed back to work this morning, not happily, and I am on my own with the munchkins again.  Can I say how nice it was to have someone around last week?  I didn’t realize how lonely I was getting.  It’s a good thing the fall brings some extra opportunities for interaction…

Things that are going on these days…

• Alex is already cutting his second tooth.  The first one is barely through, and there’s a little point poking up right next to it.  No wonder he’s been livin’ on Tylenol the last few days!
• Erin is so close to crawling.  We are enjoying watching her push up on all fours and almost get her knees moving.  She may need a little more arm strength, but she’s super close…
• Alex is starting to move himself places, mostly rolling, I think.  I actually haven’t seen him do much moving, but he has moved when I come back into the room.  So I’ll have to keep a closer eye on him now, too.
• Both babies are starting to pull down the crib bumpers to peek out over them when they wake up.  It’s too cute!  I’ll have to try to get a picture for you…

And CU’s classes start this week as well.  I’m adjuncting an online course from the comfort of my own home (love that!), but I’d better get my syllabus done and sent out to the students.  They probably want to know what they have to do for the course!

Okay, I need to get back to some other “real” chores.  Happy Monday!