I know everyone is ditching Xanga for Facebook.  But I hate Facebook. 

Obviously, I’m on it.  I do the basics.  I occasionally update my status.  I post pictures there. 

But seriously, it hangs up on me all the time.  Every time they make changes “for my good,” I end up being less able to use the site.  I click on links which go to blank pages because it won’t load them correctly.  I try to see the message in my inbox, but it won’t let me.  It’s been two days since I’ve been able to use the program.

Arggh!!!

There, I feel better now.

Thank you.

Alex is doing SO much better! *relieved sigh*  We’ve had no incidents of anything since Sunday night.  Yay!!

Erin is teething, I think.  She’s got one of her top front teeth through and is working on her next (a canine, oddly).  And this one seems to be hurting her more than usual.  Yay for Motrin and Tylenol!

Sometimes, Erin gabbles at Alex like she’s ordering him around. 

Both are pulling up like crazy.  Erin will pull up on things (or me) and then lean out to reach for another chair or something.  She’s going to be cruising between furniture soon.

Alex actually stood up next to me the other day and then LET GO!  It was the first time he’d purposely stood unassisted.  He’ll be walking before I know it!

We are really, really enjoying this stage of the babies’ lives.  They are so fun and interactive and creative and investigative.  They are little sponges and love to try new things. 

In other news, because of the events of last week, the babies eating pattern changed multiple times in a few days.  My poor little boobies seem to be confused.  They don’t seem to be making as much milk ahead of time as they were early last week (even after all night, I’m not even close to full).  I guess we may be closer to weaning than I thought.  Or maybe tomorrow the milk will return in force.  We shall see…

After two weeks of sickness, I think we’re starting to come out of the woods.  Thankfully.  Seriously, this is the second round of illness that started with a minor cold and ended up taking 2-3 weeks to move on.  It could be a long winter.

Anyway, I told you about PoopFest 2009 last week, which fortunately ended about Friday, but unfortunately degraded into Alex throwing up entire meals at least once a day by Friday.  It was not fun.  Not fun.

We are still convinced it was all the sinus drainage (the poop and the other stuff), but it was not a fun few days.  For him or for us.

It was especially complicated when, on Saturday night, I realized that he hadn’t wet a diaper since I got him up that morning.  So we called the pediatrician who gave me some ideas for getting liquids into him.  He was better on Sunday, thankfully.  But it was a little scary for a while there.

It was also a little funny because he got really annoyed at us for trying to put cups and bottles into his mouth.  He’d clamp his mouth shut, pull his head as far away as he could get it, and give us a look that said, “What is your problem…I’m NOT thirsty…Go away!” 

But I do think we are on our way to complete wellness again. Yesterday he did not get sick once, and he acted hungry again.  For the first time in days.  And he was drinking again on his own.

And, good for me, we are finally well enough to go to Bible Study this morning.  Yippee! 

Our weekend is insanely busy (again).  I don’t know how things get scheduled so fast, but it seems like we’re totally booked every time I turn around.  Here’s a quick overview: 

Today, I need to get some work done cleaning my house (floors, kitchen, tidying, etc.).  I’m also doing baby laundry in the next size so my children have winter clothes to wear…since apparently, winter decided to come in October this year.  Sheesh!

Tonight, there’s a girls night for our small group.  I’ll be honest, I’m not terribly excited about going yet.  But I’m sure I’ll have a good time once I get there.

Tomorrow, I have a haircut in the morning and a family gathering in the evening.  And I have to get more stuff done in preparation for Sunday (making room for everyone, making pies, getting groceries, etc).

Sunday is Baby Dedication at church, which we are participating in (obviously).  So we have a bunch of family coming for the service and dinner/hanging out afterwards.  Thus my cleaning and preparations!

Monday night my Moms group at church has scheduled a “Mommy’s night out” for dinner.  I haven’t decided if I’m going to that one, too.  Right now it just feels like another thing to make me too busy.  But I also haven’t made it to a single other meeting or activity because of sick kids and schedules.  So I’m sort of feeling like I should go.  We shall see.

Okay, enough of writing my weekend to-do list on Xanga.  I’m sure it’ll be a good time…I’ll let you know on Monday!  Hope you all have a marvelous day!

That is the best way I can think of to describe yesterday.

For some reason (pardon my description), the babies had…um…runnier poop than normal.  And they leaked out of diapers ALL DAY.

Alex was leaking out of his diaper into his pajamas when I got them up (and smelled wretched!) and then leaked on his cute little cords later in the afternoon.

Erin, however, went through FOUR, count them, four outfits through the course of the day (and the smell was bad every time).  I was most sick of cleaning up poop and changing clothes yesterday.

So hopefully, today is less smelly, poopy, and all that.

Happy Wednesday!

Just a few things to share on a Friday:

• We’ve had colds all week.  I think I got it from working in the nursery last Sunday and brought it home.  I’m a good bit better today.  Hopefully the babies will be fully back to normal in a day or two.
• It’s hard to be a good mommy when you don’t feel good.
• We had to miss our church’s mom’s group this morning because of runny noses.
• There is another meeting we have to attend tomorrow morning as well, but thankfully, my MIL is going to come watch the babies so I don’t have to worry about the nursery.
• Erin is pulling up on everything: chairs, couches, end tables, gates, you-name-it.  She can now reach the top of the TV cabinet, which is where we’ve been storing diaper supplies for easy access, and can pull off the diapers up there.  I guess I’ll have to find a new place for them now…
• Alex is my climber.  There’s no doubt about it.  He wants to get on top things.  He’s got the right motions for pulling up, and will stand assisted if you put him next to the couch or chair, but he is still a bit away from pulling himself up. 
• As for getting back down from a standing position, Alex has Erin on that one.  She just falls on her bum (looking surprised, of course).  He can actually lower himself using his hands a bit more.  Whatever works, I guess!
• Eric fed the babies lunch yesterday.  They had grilled cheese sandwiches for the first time (totally his – very good – idea), and they loved them. 

I can’t think of any other significant updates, so I’ll call that a post.  Happy Friday…and Happy Weekend!

So I’m starting something new with this post.  It is called Blogging for Books with the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.  It should be a fun way to do something different on my blog every so often.  And today is the first day!  So here we go…

Welcome to my addition to the Blog Tour for the new book Extraordinary: The Life You’re Meant to Live by John Bevere.

I’ll be honest, from the title, I was expecting a book about discovering and doing what you love.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Using Scripture as his foundation, Bevere builds a significant case for starting to live the “extraordinary” life God calls Christians to and explains why so few Christians are actually living that life.

Bevere describes the extraordinary life as one that is well-pleasing to God.  It is a life empowered by grace, not just saved by it.  We are to do more than we “naturally” can do because we are to be living out of the supernatural power of God (grace).  And we access this extraordinary life of grace through faith.  Faith, as Bevere describes it, is simply believing what God says and then speaking and living according to His Word.  It’s that simple. 

Of course it isn’t easy (and Bevere explains why and how most Christians miss this mark).  But it is that simple.  And Bevere uses verse after verse, passage after passage, from the Old and the New Testaments, to prove and support his claim.  The book used so many Scriptures that it was sometimes almost overwhelming.  But with so much of God’s Word packed between the covers, there was little room to doubt the truth of the book’s thesis. 

There were a couple of criticisms that I had, of course.  First, he jumps between translations too easily, and it was hard to switch from KJV to the Amplified Bible to the New Living Translation and back while reading. Second, I did struggle to really get into the book for the first 100 pages or so.  The writing was too verbal in places, as if he was trying to talk to his readers instead of write to them, and this was distracting for me.  Also while Bevere starts with the basics and builds on them, which is good, he started so basically and built so slowly (and for me, disjointedly) that I kept losing sight of where he was going.  Looking back at the book as a whole, the flow made sense, but at first, I struggled to see how the ideas were fitting together.

However, once he got to his main idea, the book really took off for me.  I found myself getting excited about the ideas and the possibilities for my life if I really lived what the Bible clearly teaches about living extraordinarily.  Without a hesitation, I would recommend this book.  The biblical ideas woven together on its pages can change our lives, our families, our churches and our world.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

That’s where I am. 

Here’s the quick version:

Last Friday: Mother of Twins Club sale in the evening.  I bought 3 bags of clothes for both kids across 3 sizes for under $150.  And I still liked everything when I sorted it out at home.  Nice!

Saturday: A long day at CU for Homecoming, seeing old friends, having a special reunion with my closest college friends at my parents’ house.  Burgers/dogs, lots of little kids, no rain, good talks.  It came off SO beautifully (thanks to Jesus and my wonderful mom – Thanks MOM!), but I was exhausted by the end of the day.  As were the babies.  And Eric.  He’s such a great husband!

Sunday: Church, babies’ nap, lunch, play with babies, babies’ nap, enlarged the ‘baby pasture’ to give them more room to play, back to church/work in Talker nursery room (I think I pulled a muscle in my back), home to crash

Monday: drove back to C-ville to watch my youngest 2 nieces while my SIL prepped the new house for tomorrow’s big moving day activities.  Me + 4 yo + 2 10 mo + 6 mo = long, tiring day. 

The rest of this week:
Tomorrow: morning Bible study
Wednesday: no plans
Thursday: doctor’s appointment
Friday: Moms group meeting (at church)
Saturday: Parents’ meeting for Baby Dedication Sunday (on the 18th) from 9-11 in the morning.

One of these days maybe I’ll get a break and maybe Alex will sleep all the way through the night and I won’t feel like I’m barely staying on top of the basics.  I hope.

But on a better note, Alex climbed the stairs tonight by himself (with Eric behind him to keep him from falling).  He’s definitely going to be my climber.  And Erin has started clapping along when you cheer.  Both are too cute!

And I have the best-est babies in the world…in all the craziness of the last few days, we’ve had maybe 2 meltdowns.  Thank you Jesus!

And now I’m going to bed. 

Apparently, I went missing from Xanga this week.  I didn’t mean to, but suddenly it’s Friday, and I have hardly been on all week.  I guess spending some time IRL isn’t too bad, though.

What have we been doing?  Mostly trying to get the babies’ nap schedule back on track.  After Sunday’s craziness and then another huge schedule shift on Tuesday, they needed some time at home to recover.  So that’s what we’ve done.  They’ve been getting 3 naps a day (when they’re tired, their optional late-afternoon nap becomes a must) and they’ve needed it. 

Unfortunately, Alex is now waking up in the middle of the night (right around midnight somewhere) and screaming and screaming.  Night before last, Eric and I were both up from midnight to 1:00 am trying to get the babies to stop crying.  They did, while we were holding them.  But as soon as we put them down, they’d start again.  So finally, we just let them cry.  It took about 15 more minutes for both to be asleep.  Then last night, Alex started in at 11:30.  I just let him cry without ever going in.  And he still cried, on and off, for over 30 minutes.  I just don’t know what to do anymore.  And I’d like to get some sleep again.  So if you have any ideas or input, feel free to share!

Other than napping, I’ve played with babies (they’re so fun these days!), done some housekeeping and paperwork, had a friend and her baby over on Wednesday morning, and gotten some groceries. 

Today, I really need to do some more cleaning and laundry.  And our Mother of Twins club sale is tonight, so I need to make a list of the stuff I need to buy.  And I need to finish prepping what I can for tomorrow.  It’s my 10-year college reunion in C-ville, and I’m hosting a little get-together at my parents’ house for some of my best friends from college.  I’m looking forward to it (I’m not sure Eric really is), but I’ve got a lot of work to do before tomorrow. 

Anyway, I hear babies now.  So I’d better run.  Happy weekend!