Was going to write something last night, but just didn’t have the brainpower to do it.  Unfortunately, this morning, I can’t think of anything interesting to tell you.  Hmmm…let’s see what I come up with…

It is raining this morning.  I hope it ends by this afternoon, as I was planning to grill for dinner tonight.  And I have no backup plan right now…yikes!

We spent the weekend pretty much at home as a family.  That is very unusual for us, and it was truly lovely.

Saturday, we took the twins out for ice cream and a trip to the park. And Sunday resulted in a short trip to Sam’s Club, all 4 of us. It’s so nice to do those things with Eric’s help, so much easier on me! 

We were very productive this weekend. Eric worked on the garage ceiling (fixing a hole cut last summer to fix a plumbing leak), mowed, and started to fix our back patio steps.  I actually cleaned our bathrooms!!  And I had to totally clean the kitchen again yesterday in battle “Shannah v. Ants VII” – I am so ready for them to give up for the summer already…

Oh!  Alex discovered his shadow this morning.  The rain made their room much darker than normal at 7 am, so the night light actually showed his shadow on the wall when he stood up.  He was intrigued.  It was cute!

My parents came up on Friday night.  We went out to dinner and then they came over to play with babies for a bit.  My mom got to give them a bath, too, which I know she enjoys doing.  So it was fun all around.

And having gone to the restaurant, we were reminded again that the twins are just seriously good eaters.  They love salad and other veggies.  They eat most meats happily. They will try anything once.  It just makes my life so much easier.  I hope NLS doesn’t turn out to be insanely picky…

Our pastor preached on David and Goliath yesterday.  Actually a pretty good sermon, but my (rather-odd) mind went to a lesson I’ve never heard taught about that story.  Instead of “how David won the battle with his giant,” my brain created the outline to the lesson on “why Goliath lost the battle with a gnat-sized problem (and how you can, too).”  I should probably write it all down before I forget it.

We have a busy week ahead of us this week.  Tonight Kimberly and Kevin are coming over for dinner.  Thursday night a friend from college will arrive and spend the night, with the rest of our group arriving Friday morning for an all-day reunion party.  My mom is planning to come up one day to help me do some work in our bedrooms.  And I think Lindsey is going to come up, too (probably to watch babies while I run errands) – isn’t she great!?!  

Okay, I think that’s all I have for this morning. Alex has been happily playing with old phones and pda’s while Erin slept in.  But I’m hearing her jingle bunny, so I’d better sign off.  Happy Monday!

I have a random list of oddities to share.  The best word is probably “tidbits,” but as that word has been pretty commonly used this week in title, I thought I’d change things up a bit.  Aren’t you glad you have me?

We actually went to story time at the library yesterday for the first time.  I’ll admit, it was sheer cowardice on my part, not taking the twins before now.  But I figured we’d better start sometime.  And I knew Karen and Jason would be there yesterday, too, so that helped keep me from chickening out.

They did fine, too.  Erin got really clingy and cried a bit when we first walked into the room.  I think she doesn’t like big crowds.  But she got over it.  They mostly just watched the other kids participate.  But for a first try, I think I would call it a success!

We got some groceries on Tuesday.  I was super-excited to watch my total drop from over $200 to just over $150 with coupons/Kroger card applied.  Love that!

I’ve been pretty tired this week.  I’m having trouble getting comfortable.  Or I wake up and my brain turns on, so I can’t go back to sleep.  Last night, that happened, and both of the twins needed me between 11 and midnight.  I hope this doesn’t mean our cycle is heading back to nightly wake-up calls…

I tried a one-nap schedule yesterday (story time is at 10:30).  Alex barely made it home without dozing off.  And they did take about a 3 hour nap (noon-3).  But they were really whiny and needy by evening.  So they had an early bedtime.  I think we are heading toward the one-nap days, but we aren’t there yet.

I was going to think of some place to go today, but I’ve decided to stay home and try to get some chores done.  We’ll see what I accomplish…

Tonight, I get to go hang with some ladies from the Twins Club for supper.  Eric and the babies will have homemade pizza for dinner.  And he’ll handle bedtime.  Gotta love that!

I had to remind the ants again this morning why they should avoid my counters.  I hate ants.  I hope they give up soon…

This week started the new seasons of our favorite SyFy shows: Warehouse 13 and Eureka.  We watched W13 last night (recorded).  Eureka is on Friday nights, so it’s scheduled to record already.  Yay for funny/witty/well-written shows that I’ve had to wait 9 months to see new episodes of!

And that, I think, is the last of the factoids I’ve got to share right now.   Happy Thursday!

So we were going to have a playdate this morning, but our friends needed to reschedule.  So I’m on my own for the day.  I wonder what we will do…

The weekend was good. 

We left late Friday afternoon for the farm and stayed until Sunday night.  My MIL had created a great sandbox and had gotten a small slide and baby pool.  The twins loved them all.  Alex loved getting buried in the sand, and Erin even figured out how to use the slide by herself.  I got some great pictures (will post later)!

The hardest part of the weekend was that there is no AC at the farm.  So I was hot and sticky for 2 full days.  And being now about 7 months pregnant…well, that was less than exciting on my part.  It was especially hard at night.  I can typically deal better than I did…but I just can’t deal with heat and humidity as well when I’m expecting.  Oh well…we survived!

The twins also weren’t sleeping so well this weekend.  I’m going to blame the excitement, the playing outside a lot, plus the heat.  They were getting tired enough that they were starting be cranky, and for them, that is unusual.  So it was a little stressful for me in that regard, too.  But we all survived that as well…

We had a big family gathering on Sunday which was fun.  Almost all of Eric’s family on both sides made it.  And of course the food was yummy!  So, good times!

Coming home had been left a bit up in the air.  We had planned on Sunday night, leaving Monday as an option.  But it became pretty obvious that Sunday would be best.  So we left about 8:0 on Sunday evening.  The twins slept most of the way home and then woke up just before we arrived, which worked out perfectly because we could then put them into their jammies and do their regular routine for bed, even if it was at 9:30 at night.  And they slept like rocks.

Yesterday, Eric was off from work, so we just hung out at home (in the AC!).  I did nothing of value, really.  I should have done some laundry and such, but I decided I needed the rest, too.  The babies took two naps (2 hours in the morning, 3 in the afternoon) and went to bed happily about 8:00 pm.  And Eric got to do a bunch of work on a project he’s been needing to work on for his brother.  So all in all, a very nice, relaxing day.  

Which brings me back to today and our now open schedule.  Still too hot out to go be outside (zoo or park), but maybe we’ll go to storytime at the library.  Or maybe we’ll do a second day of good naps.  We shall see…

Happy Tuesday!

Thought I’d throw a few things down before the weekend wipes away all memory of them…

• Last night, the baby was trying to stick her foot through my skin.  Her kicking was totally visible, even Eric could see it.  So fun!
• We are headed to the farm for the weekend.  I’ve got a lot to do before we go.
• Can I just say how much I like looking at pictures of our kids…I know I’m biased and all, but they are adorable!
• Erin’s jabbering has more real words inserted all the time.  Trying to decipher her “language” is quite interesting, but fun!
• I think Alex might be heading for a growth spurt or something.  
  • He was just a little cranky yesterday and slept 5 hours (both naps combined).  And they slept all night.  
  • Yikes, he may sprout 3 inches at that rate!
• We are hosting a gathering of my best friends from college in a couple of weeks.  So excited to see them all!
• Our fireworks-loving neighbors are having themselves a blast (no pun intended) these days.  
  • So glad we’ll miss the worst of it being at the farm.  
  • I just wish they’d clean up all the burnt paper and debris from our yard…so not going to happen though…
• I have gotten a lot of cleaning done this week.  Last night, though, I ran out of energy at about 6:30.  Maybe a weekend at the farm will be a good thing for all of us!

And on that note…Happy Fourth of July!

For those who haven’t seen it yet (but want to), I did get an album of 18 month pictures loaded into Facebook yesterday.

I think this link should get you there. 

It’s 8:30 now, and I’m getting tired.  I got a ton of little things done today.  The babies played really well while I worked.  And we even turned off the AC and opened the windows for the day!  Lovely!  Much as I love summer, I am certainly enjoying this “September-like” weather for the week!

Anyway, I’m off to read in bed for a bit…hope you have a lovely Thursday!

Actually, just as I opened the weblog editor, my mail program dinged at me.  But you should all consider yourselves important.  I have not stopped typing this to check what (probably useless) email I just got.  I know, I’m a giver…

QUICK EDIT: It turned out the email was not useless…it was from Kimberly!  Yay for real email!  END EDIT

Sadly, I don’t have much to tell from this week.  Um…let’s see…

We went to the zoo for a bit with Karen and Jason yesterday morning.  A zoo pass is SO worth the money.  

I talked to more people I know (mostly from church) in the 90 minutes were at the zoo yesterday than I have in weeks.  How weird is that…

The babies sleep schedule is just strange these days again.  Not bad, but possibly changing.  I’m not sure where we’ll end up.

Sadly, my sleep pattern is also off.  I’m not tired at bedtime, but I’m exhausted in the morning.  Of course, it doesn’t help that Alex has been waking up 1-2 times the last couple of nights.  He doesn’t need me, but his fussing wakes me up.  

Last night, I got to do Sudoku puzzles in the middle of the night.  I was not exactly happy about that, but as I was unexpectedly called to the bathroom by my lower intestines for about 30 minutes, I got a couple of puzzles done.   Lucky me.  *rolls eyes*

I made cookies yesterday afternoon.  They turned out pretty well.  And the babies definitely love chocolate chip cookies…I split one between them and we had chocolate everywhere (on them…I managed to keep the house/furniture unaffected).  

NLS is quite the little dancer these days.  It won’t be long before I’ll probably be able to let the twins feel her move.  I’m kind of looking forward to seeing the looks on their faces when they feel her kick them.  Maybe I’ll try to get a video.

I do have pictures almost ready to post, but I may just put them in a Facebook album.  They did turn out really cute, some of them!

This morning I have started a load of laundry, worked on tidying in our upstairs spaces (loft/nursery/master bedroom), and taken the babies for a walk in the wagon.  Next I’m going to shower and then keep working on cleaning while they nap.  Maybe I will even get the upstairs vacuumed today (don’t hold your breath!)…

Okay, I guess I had more to say than I realized.  But I think that covers most of our recent comings & goings…happy Wednesday!

I don’t know how I have so much random stuff in my head just after 7:00 am on a Monday morning, but here’s a glimpse for you…

Last Friday, I looked up my posts from the 24th week of my twin pregnancy.  My belly was measuring 32 weeks.  Can I tell you how nice it is to be measuring only 24 this time?!

We had a really nice weekend.  We had no plans.  We just hung out together and worked/cleaned around the house.  This morning, the house actually looks good (I give it about 30 more minutes to change completely!). 

On Sunday, we tried to get some 18 month pictures of the twins.  It was an interesting attempt, but I think we found a few good ones (I’ll post a couple later). 

I read a blog this morning that a friend of mine linked to on FB.  The family has 10 children (about half are adopted).  I was reading about the Ugandan orphanage where the children go from the Baby Orphanage to the Big Orphanage at age 2-3, and once there, they can never be adopted.  It broke my heart, to be honest.  To be 4 years old without any hope of finding a family.  So sad.   Can’t think about it too much or I’ll start crying again.  It’s a good thing I know God cares about the orphans and widows…

So I have trouble with my hip hurting when I’m pregnant.  It feels like it needs to crack, but I can’t get a good angle to do it when I’m pregnant because of the belly. On Saturday, I ironed and washed dishes by hand, both chores that strain my hip.  Then Sunday morning, I was scheduled to work the crawler nursery (8-13 months), but ended up volunteering to move to the 2-year old room.  Needless to say, my hip was bugging me pretty badly yesterday afternoon.  So I actually tried to sit/lay down as much as possible.  Today, it seems to be better, so hopefully, we can keep it that way!

Eric made dinner for us all last night.  He made French Toast, using Alton Brown’s recipe (food network guy, if you don’t know) and bacon. It was yummy! Unfortunately, I had to clean up after dinner…so somehow that part didn’t work out in my favor…but the rest of it was good!

After a week of strange nap schedules, I made sure we had 2 naps a day all weekend long.  We are finally starting to return to a “normal” schedule again.  It is so strange how babies actually do sleep less, the less sleep they get.  Weird…

Oh, and lastly, thanks to all the comments and advice on Friday’s post.  I just needed to hear some “what worked for me” stories, so your comments were very helpful.  Still no clear plans, but at least I have some ideas!

Okay, I need to go play with my son (Erin’s still sleeping!)…happy Monday!

Here is a list of things I am pondering in regards to the arrival of NLS (new little sister) in October.  I’ll be honest, some of them are weighing heavily on me because I have simply no idea what to do.  So I’m going to write them down here to get them out of my head and to ask for any feedback or ideas you might have.

1. The car issue.  The issue is that we need to fit 3 carseats (2 convertible, 1 infant) into some vehicle.  Our Toyota…not an option.  Our Jeep…possibly an option with smaller convertible seats.  Pros to the Jeep: no car payments, decent cargo room.  Cons to the Jeep: awkward maneuvering to get all kids in/out, probably will need to buy new seats for the twins.  Pros to buying a new vehicle: more seats, potentially easier maneuvering.  Cons: cost, potential for loss of cargo space.  

2. The stroller issue.  I have to move 3 kids at once, none of whom will be able to walk unattended yet.  And I have no idea what to do about that.  Just no idea.  Do I stick with my double umbrella and just carry NLS somehow?  Do I buy a triple stroller?  Do I attach the twins to a single stroller (which we’d also have to buy) with those leash-things I see people use?  See…no idea.

3. The crib issue.  So this week’s recalls finally include our two cribs.  I knew that was coming, though our cribs have had no issues.  So now I have to decide what to do with two cribs that, by December, I probably won’t be able to sell to anyone.  Do I just get the “repair kit” and keep using the cribs until the twins are done with them (however long that will be)? Do I move them to toddler beds and get rid of the recalled cribs?  Do I move them to toddler beds and use one of the “repaired” cribs for NLS? Do I buy a new crib for NLS and let the twins continue as they are?  Do I just pitch the two recalled cribs and buy three new cribs, two of which may be used for only months more?  

4. The room issue.  The issue is that I have no idea how to rearrange my house to accommodate another child.  Do I make the guest room into the twins’ room so that NLS have the nursery and just do without any guest space?  Do I leave the guest bed but set up half the room as a nursery for NLS and let the twins stay in the room they have now?  If I get rid of guest bed, where to I sleep mothers who come to help with NLS arrives (typically our only real guests)?  Do I put all three kids in the same room and make the current nursery into a guest room?  And whatever I decide, how do I fit in another crib and dresser (which also needs to be found/bought) into either room (which are both currently maxed out in terms of space/furniture)?  

So those are the top 4 issues frustrating me these days.  I realize that we have 3 months or so to decide, but for some reason, not having any sort of good plans is stressing me out a bit.  And reading all the crib recall notice stuff tonight just added to my annoyance and sense of being behind.   So, feel free to offer opinions, advice, “here’s what we did” sort of responses, or just reminders not to get my panties in a wad about things that will take care of themselves eventually.  Any/all of your responses will be helpful, I’m sure.  And thanks for letting me vent…

So we went to the water park again today because my MIL was here.  I figured she would enjoy going with us (she did), and I’ve been wanting to take them with support to see if Erin might be coaxed to enjoy the water.  It really was a good time.  Alex loved it even more than last time.  And Erin actually spent more time standing on her own than being held.  She still had moments of being concerned, but really started having fun by the end.  By the end of the summer, I’m hoping she’ll be running around with her brother (though I won’t hold my breath for that!).  

Also, my MIL got some pictures of them, so here were a couple of my favorites:

In other good news, I had my 24 week appointment this morning.  All is well.  Blood pressure – good.  Weight gain – good.  Belly measuring exactly 24 weeks.  Happy little heartbeat at 150-160 bpm.  She’s been doing little happy dances morning, noon, and night.  So we are very happy with our progress.  

To my dismay, I also got my little bottle of glucose drink for the 28-week appointment diabetes test.  I am going to start praying now that we do not have to deal with gestational diabetes again.  Feel free to join me in that prayer for the next 4 weeks!

And…though I can reveal nothing…we have a front-runner in the “Name the NLS” game (NLS = new little sister)…very exciting!

From my editorial yesterday, I was surprised to hear how many of you have struggled/are struggling with fireworks-loving neighbors.  And while calling the police is certainly an option, as we had never actually talked to them about it, I didn’t feel comfortable just reporting it.  These are people who don’t know Jesus and it felt wrong to turn them in without asking them to stop first…but then turn around and ask them to church, you know?

So we had done nothing but mutter a bit to ourselves at the increasing frequency.

But last night, wouldn’t you know it, our worst-offender neighbor (who actually lives next door) came over and asked us about it.  Crazy, huh?

Turns out that someone in the cul-de-sac did call the sheriff last week, so he was talking to people to make sure he wasn’t “pissing people off” or anything.  His words, obviously.  We suspect we know who did call the cops (it wasn’t us), and they aren’t great neighbors anyway.  But he took the hint to talk to people personally, which I really appreciated.

So anyway, we did mention that they were really only a problem before the kids fell asleep (so far, they haven’t heard the sounds once they’re down for the night) and that weekends are better than regularly through the week.  And of course, he indicated that it’s just a build-up to the Fourth and after that weekend, he won’t really do it any more.   So as we agreed, there just had to be a balance.   And the issue seems resolved.  

And since I’d told you all about it just yesterday, I thought I’d share the new turn of events, too.  Happy Tuesday!