Christmas Party

We attended the LCMOMs Christmas party this year. Zach was all over Santa this year, a big change from the year before. Emily still wasn't so sure.

Zach couldn't wait for his turn with Santa.:

Emily, still very hesitant.:

The cubs together.:

Emily wants to know, "If I smile for the camera, can I go back to my cake??".

Emily's priority. CAKE!!:

Zach, probably trying to give Santa directions to the house.:

Christmas Party

My multiples group had a Christmas party on Saturday, December 12. I couldn't believe it when Steve told me that he had the day off, so the four of us went to a group function together. A very rare occurrence. The cubs did pretty well. They weren't too keen on Santa, did pretty well cleaning up their chicken nuggets, and then they had a blast in the bounce house.

Z checking out the tree.:

Emily checking out the tree. Monkey see, monkey do.:

The only picture of Emily with Santa (or rather, Santa in the same photo with Emily).

Cute cubs.:

Zach and Dad at the arts and crafts table.:

This is the closest Zach would get to Santa. Maybe we'll have better luck next year.:

Hands down, the bounce house was their favorite activity. It ROCKED!! We had to drag the cubs out later.:

Reversed roles

Last Saturday my LCMOMs group hosted a pool party. I thought Zach would love it. He loves water. He loves to wash his hands and take baths. He loves to play in the pool and with the water hose. He's a fish. Emily doesn't like any of those things as much as Zach does. She's getting there, slowly but surely. However, on this particular Saturday, Emily did far better than Zach. She went right into the pool with Daddy. She even fell into the water face first, which I thought she would have come back up screaming, but she just wiped her eyes and kept going. Zach screamed the whole time. He did not want to be there. I really think it was just too cold for him. The party started at 10am and the water was really quite cold. I think if it would have been an evening pool party, Zach would have loved it since the water would have been warmed by the sun. I am not discouraged. I know he loves water and will eventually love the big people pool. Right now he's perfectly content with his little people pool.

Emily in the big people pool (I can't believe she left her hat on!!):

Screaming Zach:

The best part of the day for Zach....anywhere OUT of the pool.

We go all out.

So I haven't "officially" blogged since May 19th. Hmmm. It's funny that I don't think we've done very much, yet I feel like we've been so busy that my head is spinning. Perhaps it's because the cubs are getting older, are more active and taking shorter (if any) naps. I feel like I've been going non-stop from sunrise to sunset and yet I don't have much to blog about. We've been spending a lot more time outside and taking walks almost daily around the neighborhood. The cubs really like their stroller now, and when I bring it out they climb in all by themselves.

We've had some of our friends over now too. I always felt like the old house was too out of the way and the apartment was way too small to have our friends over. Now that we actually have some room to move, I thought it would be a good idea to invite over some of Emily and Zach's friends that have so graciously invited us over to play in the past. So we've been busy with playdates too, three in the last eleven days. I thought I better start out small so I have only invited one set of twins over at a time, but I might just get wild and invite over more than one set. Won't that be a huge circus of fun??

I've been pretty busy during the evenings too. My LCMOM meeting was May 19. My dinner with the THC girls was on May 21 at The Covey Restaurant and Brewery. Yummy. Next week is just as busy. GNO on Monday and my "scrapbooking" meeting on Tuesday. Steve's been really great about letting me get out and enjoy some adult/girl time while he stays home and puts the cubs to bed. Sometimes he'll even give them their baths. Way to go Stevie! It just seems funny that I have more of a social life now than I did before the cubs were here. Steve and I even have to use a calendar to plan out all of the week's events. HA!

The cubs both had a speech therapy visit last week as well. I obviously didn't expect much on the first visit and I wasn't disappointed. We didn't get much. In just a few weeks we'll be starting the feeding/speech clinics at TWU. I am still so excited and hopeful about it.

We had a surprise visit from our friend Brad on Saturday (the 23rd). He currently lives in Minot, ND, so we were really shocked when we received a call from him that he was here in town. Luckily Steve was off so we both were able to enjoy a short visit with him.

We purchased booster seats for the dining room chairs this week. So far Emily has done pretty well. Unfortunately they seem a little short so Emily's elbow is up to her chin as she tries to shovel in her food. Soon we'll move Zach into his and see how he does.

Today Zach treated me with what I would classify as one of his top three temper tantrums of all time. In public. In the witness of some friends, no doubt. NICE. We were at the park and he was in the swing which he just loves loves loves. When it was time to go, he threw a colossal fit. COLOSSAL!! Embarrassing. At least it was big enough to be note-worthy. Why not go all out?! If you're going to pitch a hissy fit in public, you should definitely make it a good one. Good job Zach. Maybe Mommy can convince Daddy to go swing-set shopping this weekend.

I'll try to post some fun pictures over the weekend. Stay tuned!

The long awaited catch-up blog.

I'm looking over my calendar and thinking to myself "Boy, is the reading public going to be disappointed with this one". So fair warning to all...while I have been off-line "forever", not much happened while I was gone.

Moving day:
April 9th was moving day. I struggled to get as much packed as possible before the movers showed up. Steve met them first at our storage building and then brought them to the apartment. As soon as it was confirmed that they were on their way(around 10am) I packed up the cubs and headed out. There was no way I was going to witness this move, especially with the cubs under foot. We drove by the old house, grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-A (we ate in the car), I treated myself to a vanilla latte and a chocolate donut from Starbucks, and then we headed to the mall. Thankfully I took Husky (Em's dog) and L.E. (Zach's elephant) with us so the cubs actually behaved better than I expected. Sadly, though, there was no nap. By 3pm I was begging to come home. I couldn't wait to see if things were put where I wanted them....such a control freak. I must admit that everyone did a good job. Later that night I was smack dab in the middle of suffering from the worst sore throat I think I have ever had. I was MISERABLE. I had taken Emily to the Doctor the day before and she was pretty miserable too. Poor Zach and Daddy didn't escape it either. We all spent the next few days under house arrest. I even missed my parenting class. No one felt like doing anything and the boxes remained stacked up all around us. By Sunday (Easter Sunday) Zach had a fever and by Monday he was suffering from the pink-eye minus the pink too. Steve called the Doctor early that morning and we were able to get in within a matter of hours. Little Emily Bear was diagnosed with her very first ear infection. Both cubs were prescribed antibiotics for sinusitis (I wish I could have had some too) and we took our sick selves back home. What an enjoyable way to spend our first days in our brand new home.

Easter:
We missed Easter morning services because Zach had a fever. I was so disappointed because I had bought Zach the cutest little Easter outfit to match a dress that one of Grandma Shirley's friends had sent us for Emily and I couldn't wait to take pictures. We missed out on every Easter activity this year....we didn't make it to a single egg-hunt and I was disappointed about that too. I really think the cubs would have had a lot of fun. The cubs did open their Easter gifts from Great Grandma Betty and Grandma Shirley and Grandpa John. Emily thinks that all gifts are hers. She loves opening gifts and she's good at it, even if they don't belong to her. We had fun playing with the puzzles, reading the books and watching the DVDs they received. Not to mention how cute they will look in their new pajamas. Pictures to come later.

Services:
We have had our fair share of people coming by...the refrigerator was delivered, the security system set up, the painters were here numerous time, the tile cleaners and installers, the TV guy to install the TV/Internet, blah blah blah. We've had a revolving door of service people through here lately.

March for Babies:
April 18th was our local chapter March for Babies. Our friends Kristi and Donna drove all the way from Abilene to join us. Wow! They were also our very first house guests. We were a little worried about the weather, but despite all of the talk about severe storms, we made it through the walk without more than a few drops of rain. It was actually very pleasant. Last year was hot, so I much preferred the cooler morning. Debbie and her daughter Sydney also met us there. I was sad that Steve had to work and was unable to make it. We want to thank everyone for their support! We are very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends.

LCMOM meeting/garage sale:
Tuesday the 21st was my LCMOM meeting. A speaker presented information to us about college planning. I don't even want to think about it. Two words: Golf SCHOLARSHIP. I also chose to participate in the garage sale, so I've spent my spare minutes gathering and tagging items. I had to work the sale on Friday for several hours and was glad to get that out of the way. I have yet to get the final sales total but was happy to free up some space here at the house. I sold the swing that Zach spent most of his first year in due to his reflux issues. That was a sad moment. He's grown up so fast.

Grandma and Grandpa Bear's visit:
My parents arrived on Friday. We were very happy to see them and I was excited for them to see the cubs again. They have changed so much. I was sad that I had to work at the garage sale while they were here, but the alternative was to postpone their visit for two more weeks and I don't think anyone wanted to do that. The cubs opened their birthday presents...we have a band in the making....Emily got a keyboard and Zach got an electronic drum set. I'm going to sit in a quiet corner and read some of the books they received. We cooked out on Saturday, the first time here at the new house. I am really enjoying the patio and watching the cubs play in the yard. I must admit that they are sleeping much better since the move, probably because they are so exhausted after all of the running they are doing. I think they are adjusting rather well. I know we will be happy once all of these boxes are unpacked.

Pictures:
We will be posting pictures as soon as we find the missing cable. UGH. It's either buried in a box or still at the apartment. Moving is such an inconvenience sometimes.

I guess that sums up most of what has happened in the last 18 days. We spent most of the time in voluntary quarantine battling this horrible illness that just drags on and on and on. The rest of our time has been spent scheduling service people and unpacking boxes. Steve took a few days off but unfortunately we didn't get as much done as we had hoped since he was under the shroud of illness as well. We didn't allow the cubs to attend any play dates until this past Thursday. We didn't want to risk infecting any of our friends. I did take them to Paradise Pond since our tile was being cleaned and sealed and we needed to be out of the house. They were still on their antibiotics so hopefully we won't have a relapse. It will be such a relief for things to get back to "normal".

Things that happened in between fevers....

Tuesday night was my monthly LCMOM meeting. We had dinner and a white elephant gift exchange. I always enjoy getting out for an evening. The Doctor had given the "all clear" for Zach to attend his therapy session on Thursday even though he still had the lingering fever. She said as long as he wasn't exhibiting any other symptoms it should be ok. One of the moms from my LCMOM group graciously invited Emily over to her house while I took Zach to his appointment. Emily played with Kim's boys, Nathan and James, while I sat with Zach in his therapy room while he screamed at the top of his lungs for 30 minutes. Emily obviously got the better end of the deal. This was the worst session yet. Last week he managed to eat his yogurt in the middle of all the screaming. This week was nothing but screaming. Except he would stop screaming if you put a toy on the table. Of course afterwards he ate his yogurt up in the car without any problem. So frustrating. On Thursday night I went to dinner with the girls from THC. We went to Rio Mambo for mexican food and a nice strong Margarita. A desperately needed Margarita after that therapy session. My dear friend Debbie invited us over for lunch on Friday. She took time off for the week because her daughter was out of school for Spring Break. Sydney is seven and just the most beautiful little girl...Debbie is going to have her hands full when those boys start knocking on the door. We spent most of our visit outside. I'm glad it was pretty outside because I was very nervous that the cubs would break something if we stayed inside. The cubs are very curious and have to touch everything. On Friday evening we took the cubs to the Cotton Patch for dinner. It is pretty loud there and even with all the noise I think Zach's squeals were still the loudest. He loves to hear his echo even when the rest of us don't love it so much. Matt and Beth Ann came over on Saturday. It has been too long since we saw them last. We all went over to the old house together for one last look. It was a bit sad. I remember being so excited when we first bought the house and now I am so excited to sell it. I actually gave my keys and garage door opener to Steve today so he could give them to our realtor for closing. Closing is scheduled for 1:00 on Wednesday. Zach did impress me this weekend by trying some new foods. He ate a Pringle potato chip. It sounds silly to blog about that, but it really is huge for him. It was only one half of a chip and it took about 10 minutes, but he ate it on his own and that's all that matters to me. On Sunday he actually put a Mum-Mum (a rice cracker...Emily loves them) in his mouth. He didn't really eat any of it, but he put it in his mouth numerous times. Even Steve had to admit that it was exciting to see him do this. We had Taco Bueno for lunch on Sunday and Zach gobbled up his refried beans. I even added some sour cream just for the added calories. Last night I made chicken with pasta for dinner and he tried some of the pasta too. He has learned to push things out with his tongue if he doesn't like it. This is huge progress because before he would try to swallow it, gag, and throw up everything. I'd much rather he spit it out than throw it (and everything else) up.

Making up for lost time

Since we were sick last week and had to cancel most of our activities, we certainly made up for it this week.

On Tuesday I took the cubs to register for PRESCHOOL. I have heard that this preschool can be difficult to get into. The doors opened at 8am, you were given a number, and then registration would start promptly at 9am. I was number 14. We waited for over an hour before our number was called. Emily was fussy, Zach was noisy, and I figured they would take one look at us and send us on our way. I sat down, the Director asked me what classes I was needing, and I held my breath. They offer two programs. The half-day program which is from 8:45 - 11:45 and the full-day program from 8:45 - 2:30. Both programs are two days per week. I wanted the half-day program simply so I wouldn't have to worry about someone trying to feed Zach. My preference was Monday/Wednesday, but would obviously take Tuesday/Thursday if it were the only class still open. When I told the Director my preference, she opened her book, and said the magic words "you got the last two spots". WHEW!!! We got the last two spots for the entire two-year old class....and we got the days I wanted. Thank goodness, because if she would have told me that there was only one spot left or no spots at all, I think I would have broken down into tears right there at her table. My second choice preschool had already had their registration a few weeks prior so I gambled a little by waiting. For once things went my way.

Tuesday night was my last board meeting with my MOMs group at Buca di Beppos. I had volunteered to do the secretary duties that night since Jennifer was unable to attend. Note to self: never volunteer to do things that I already know I'm not good at. I felt a little like being back in college, 1.5 hours of note-taking. I was starving and wanted to eat and by the time I finished my Italian Margarita, who knows what I was writing. Poor Jennifer is going to have to type up my notes and submit them for approval. I sure hope she can muddle through them and make sense out of it all.

I took my muddled mess of notes to Jennifer on Wednesday and the cubs had a play date with her twin boys. It was a pretty morning and we spent some time with the foursome in the backyard. Her boys are so cute and they are talking so well...we need to hang out with them more so the cubs will learn to talk too. Nothing like a little peer pressure.

Thursday morning the inspector came out to inspect the house. We accepted an offer and now have a contract pending. WOO HOO! They have until midnight tomorrow (Monday) night to submit their request for additional repairs or back out of the contract completely. I am holding my breath and watching the clock. So far we haven't heard anything, so hopefully no news is good news. I talked to our realtor on Friday and she agreed that the best thing would be to hear nothing at all and then we will push forward to closing on March 25. So today Steve is emptying out the garage and the attic and moving everything out to storage so the house will be completely empty and ready to transfer to its new owners. Part of me is a little sad. It was the house we first brought the cubs home to, and I'll miss their nursery. It was my favorite room! Now they will have their own rooms at the new house with much more space to play, but you never forget bringing them home the first time.

Thursday morning was also Zach's first feeding therapy appointment. Our copay is $40 per visit, each session lasts 30 minutes, so I paid over $1.00 per minute to listen to Zach scream. All I could think of was that I could do this at home for free. Needless to say, his first session did not go well. He HATES the little booster chair and he screamed almost the entire time. Plus I had to take Emily, so she was a huge distraction. She wanted to be in the middle of everything, she wanted to play, she wanted to eat, and she stuck her fingers in Zach's food. That was thirty minutes of my life that I don't care to repeat. I ushered the cubs to the car, finished feeding Zach, who by the way eats like a champ in his car seat, and took them to Paradise Pond for some fun time. They played for an hour and half and took a nice long nap after we returned home.

Saturday was "Girl Day". Kelli and I spent the entire day together doing what girls do best. Mani/pedis, lunch and shopping. Dad kept the cubs, and I left right after breakfast and came home right before bedtime. I had a ton of fun and it was so good to do things without my two shadows in tow.

This morning I am trying to adjust to this ridiculous time change. Not my favorite time of year, I hate giving up an hour of sleep.

Stopping a roller coaster with your face is not recommended.

Last Thursday I bravely took the cubs back to Paradise Pond. I find this task simply exhausting but well worth it to get the cubs out of the house so they can burn off some of their endless energy. It is impossible to keep my eye on them every second since they absolutely refuse to hang out together in public. So while I was tending to Emily, my friend (who also has twins) was bringing a bawling Zach to me. The flood of guilt overwhelmed me because I knew my little man had gotten hurt and I wasn't there. Apparently he had been playing by the little roller coaster. It is similar to the picture below.

It's large enough for toddlers to ride on and has a little ramp. According to my friend, a little girl was playing on it and Zach decided to lie down on the track. Of course there was no way for the little girl to stop and she ended up running into Zach's head. Poor Zach had a nice little red spot on his face for several hours. We're very thankful that Zach wasn't seriously hurt and hopeful that he has learned a very important lesson. Don't try to stop a roller coaster with your face...the roller coaster will always win. Now there's a phrase I never imagined I would ever say.

We think Emily picked up a little bug at Paradise Pond. During lunch she was so tired she could hardly hold her head up. I just figured that she was exhausted from all the playing, that was the whole point of going. When she woke up from her nap she was burning up. I took her temperature and it was 103.1 so I called the Doctor and her nurse gave me some instructions to try to relieve her fever. She asked me if Em had any other symptoms and she did not. At least not until I hung up the phone. Then she threw up all over me and her Husky. This is alarming. I am very accustomed to throw up...Zach has made me an expert on this...but when it's Emily, that is different. Other than the normal baby formula spit up, Emily has never thrown up. So I called the nurse back and got a different set of instructions. We alternated between Infant Tylenol and Infant Motrin every three hours and then tried to get her to drink and keep down 2 teaspoons of Pedialyte every twenty minutes. This was going to be a long night. Luckily we managed to get her fever down and by the next morning she seemed perfectly fine, so I guess she just had a 6 hour stomach bug. Which she gave to her Daddy. Just great. Thank goodness Daddy can take care of himself.

On Monday I received a phone call from Baylor to schedule Zach's feeding evaluation for this Thursday. After explaining Zach's behavior to the therapist I am optimistic that they may be able to help us. At least she said that there was something else going on other than reflux, wich I had tried unsuccessfully to convince the other therapist of. Hopefully our new Doctors and new therapists will be able to help.

I went to my LCMOMs meeting on Tuesday. We elected the new board so I am looking forward to passing on my position to one of the newer moms. I didn't run for a position this year. With Steve working so much it is impossible to make any commitments. Especially since he works most weekends and we never know his weekend schedule until the Thursday before. It makes it so difficult to plan anything.

Emily has been very fussy yesterday and today. She has refused to take her naps even though she is obviously tired. I finally just let her cry herself to sleep since nothing I did was calming her down. She would take a short nap and wake up in the same mood. Then she would cry and fuss some more. It makes the afternoon drag on forever and I literally count the seconds until Daddy gets home, and then she's fine. Daddy thinks she's an angel. He sees her at her best, I see her during the time she has her halo off.

Potty training has also been put on hold. She did awesome the first two days. She was successful three times and I was so very proud of her. On the third day she started crying each time I took her in to the bathroom. I don't know why this was suddenly different but I decided to put off potty training for now. Maybe we'll try again after we get back from Grandma and Grandpa Bear's this weekend.

Tonight was my monthly dinner with the girls from THC. Patti was able to join us for the first time and she always makes me laugh. Mom loves the adult conversation and the absence of temper tantrums.

What a week! The good, the bad, and the ugly.

***SIGH*** Where to start??

We'll start with the good. Last Tuesday night was my LCMOM's meeting (Mothers of Multiplies). Basically I love any excuse to get out of the house. Unfortunately it was scrapbook night. I'm not a big scrapbooker. I have tried and just don't have the time to do it. I made a scrapbook for my Mom of the Cubs' first six months. She will probably see the Cub's second six month scrapbook when they are twelve. I have the greatest of intentions, but never the time to fit everything in. Anyway, it was still good to get out and visit with the other moms. On a side note, I was asked to be the Social Chairmom. Planning parties and such. Obviously they are unaware that Steve plans everything for us. He has planned every one of our vacations (except our Honeymoon). I have never planned a single party in my life...not one. This is totally beyond my limitations and I respectfully declined. On Wednesday night, Mom got to enjoy another night out with the girls from THC. We went to a Mexican restaurant and I stuffed myself with enchiladas. Yum! The Cubs and I went to Kelli's for a playdate on Thursday. I always enjoy our playdates and I think the cubs had a great time too. It was such a beautiful day that we took a nice walk around her neighborhood. Zach had his eyes closed most of the time. He is a little vampire and doesn't care much for the sunlight. I keep trying to get him to wear sunglasses but he won't stand for it. They are more fun to play with than to wear. Emily found that the stroll was the perfect opportunity to squeeze in her nap. So we extended our walk for a few more blocks so Emily could snooze. I learned that I am out of shape. By the time we were finished I needed a nap.

Now for the bad and the ugly. Zach is sick, sick, sick. We're not talking the usual sniffles. Friday night he had a slight fever so I gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed. On Saturday he still had a fever, so Steve took him to Care Now, an urgent care clinic, that afternoon. The Doctor said his tonsils were a little swollen but his strep test came back negative, so we were instructed to keep giving him Tylenol. Saturday was horrible. I couldn't get him to eat or drink anything. I freak out when he doesn't eat, but I know how important fluids are when you are sick with a fever, so I really freaked out when I couldn't get him to drink. I tried water, juice, Pediasure, Pedialyte in sippy cups, straw cups, bottles (UGH), and even in Mommy's cup....nothing. Tylenol didn't seem to help and his fever wasn't coming down. He threw up everything I tried to feed him. Sunday didn't start out as bad, at least I got him to eat a little yogurt, but that was all, and he still had his fever. I called the care clinic as soon as they opened on Sunday morning and asked them why an antibiotic wasn't prescribed. After two phone calls with the nurse explaining that we have now passed our 36th hour of fever, we got our antibiotic on Sunday night. However, Sunday night was even worse. He wanted to be held but squirmed when you held him. If I put him down, he screamed. He cried and cried. Still no eating and even less drinking. Poor Daddy was up with him most of the night. I was in the other room crying out of frustration because little man still wouldn't drink or eat. He even threw up his medicine. I was so relieved when he finally fell asleep around 2 am. Monday morning I finally got little man to drink some water and eat some yogurt, but his little lips were so chapped that they started bleeding. I know he's lost weight because the skin over his stomach is loose like little old man skin. We called our new pediatrician and got him right in. Steve took him while I stayed home with Emily. The Doctor said that his tonsils were still very swollen but the antibiotics should start helping him. (I'm still peeved that we weren't prescribed this on Saturday. One shouldn't have to fight so hard to get treatment for their child.) Steve said Zach liked her and that he gave her one of his flirty smiles. Great. Never too sick to flirt. He is doing a little better now. He ate some fruit at lunch and his favorite Gerbers chicken at dinner. He still isn't drinking his Pediasure, which is his main source of nutrition, but at least he'll take a few sips of juice and water. It took forever to get him to go to sleep, but once he did he slept most of the night. Steve and I even got a few hours of sleep. It was a really rough weekend, we were all sleep deprived and exhausted...except for Emily. That little girl can sleep through anything. She wasn't phased by this at all. I'm jealous.

It is now Tuesday morning at 4:30 am and I am praying that things go better today. The crazy weather here isn't helping one bit and I know that we are going to be cooped up inside all day. It was 80 degrees on Friday (absolutely beautiful) and last night and today we are under an "Ice Storm Warning". I didn't even know it was coming. I received an email from work yesterday morning with an inclement weather number to call and didn't know why I got it. Now I know. That's what happens when you don't watch the news. We can only get Handy Manny, Curious George, and Sesame Street on our TV, and it's always a beautiful day on Sesame Street, "sunny day, sweeping the clouds away, on my way to where the air is sweet". Lesson of the day: don't get your weather report from Sesame Street. Unless it's from the Grouch News Network....Oscar would say the weather is "Crummy. I love it. Now SCRAM!"

LCMOM Christmas Party

After Matt made me feel guilty about not getting the cubs' picture taken with Santa, I debated whether to take the cubs to the LCMOM Christmas party without their Dad. Emily is getting much better about standing next to Mom. Zach, on the other hand, is a runner. If I don't have a firm grip on his paw, he is off and running. What a challenge it is to take the cubs anywhere without their Dad unless they are contained and strapped down into their stroller. I knew Santa would be at the party for just an hour, so I thought since this would probably be our last chance (I refuse to go to the mall with a double stroller) I loaded the cubs up and off we went to see Santa. Emily did a great job at staying put. Zach was a different story. Two of the other moms had to help me corral that little stinker. Huge thanks to Chris and Dana for helping me keep an eye on him. He is quick. Amazingly so. He's not the only one. While manning the door, I caught a few other escapees myself. All boys. What does that tell you? Boys are a handful!

The cubs weren't a big fan of Santa. Poor Santa. What a patient man he is. I threw the cubs in his lap and tried to stand back quickly enough to snap a photo. Screaming ensued. Just great. I rescued Santa and took the cubs to sit down on a couch across from him. After 15 minutes or so Emily and Zach started taking things to Santa. At first Zach would stand a few feet away and throw his goody bag at Santa, and eventually he would walk all the way to him and hand over his goody bag. Progress. So again, I threw the cubs in Santa's lap and again, screaming ensued. So thanks Matt! I owe you one. I had a great time taking the cubs to get their picture taken with Santa. I can't wait to do it again next year.

Here are the only pictures from our Santa visit (I never did get one with them together with Santa):

Such a slacker!

I pulled up my blog this evening and was amazed that I have not updated it since November 16. What a slacker! How am I supposed to remember all the way back to last week when I'm lucky to remember what I ate for lunch today? I will reference my trusty little calendar and try to update the world on what has been going on with the residents of Cub Central.

Last Tuesday was my LCMOM meeting. I always enjoy getting out and mingling with friends. Kelli and I even went to Manny G's afterwards for some adult conversation over a glass of wine.

Wednesday was my monthly dinner with Jackey and Cathy. This month we chose to go to a Mediterranean restaurant, so we ended up at Hedary's, which serves mainly Lebanese food. I'm really glad we went because I like trying new things, but I'm not sure I would go again, at least not anytime soon. It was definitely different.

Steve and I took Zach back to the GI Doctor on Thursday. He is still having issues with keeping foods down. It is so frustrating because he is finally taking the initiative to put things in his mouth all by himself and then ends up throwing them back up. Over the last few days he has tried some shaved ham and sliced cheese. It is wonderful to watch him put solid foods in his little mouth....FINALLY! Now if we can just figure out a way for him to keep everything down.

Two weeks behind....how did that happen?

So I guess the last time I blogged about the going-ons of Cub Central was two weeks ago. Shame on me for not keeping up!

I had a girls night out on Monday, Sept. 29. These nights just don't come around often enough.

Steve participated in a charity golf tournament on Saturday, Oct. 4. I'm really glad that he was able to do something for himself, but it sure made for a really long day. He worked that morning and teed off that afternoon, so he was gone ALL day.

We had our pre-construction meeting on October 6th. I can't believe we are really going through with this. Very exciting, yet very scary at the same time. So we've reviewed the floor plans, put in our change orders, put down more $$ (UGH), and now we're waiting on permitting. In the meantime we've reserved an apartment. I'm not looking forward to apartment living again, but it's an easier pill to swallow knowing that it is temporary. The apartment will be ready on November 22, so I have a lot to do before that. Then we'll put the house on the market and pray that it sells quickly.

I have volunteered to take over the Librarian position on the LCMOM board. Should be interesting juggling that responsibility with everything else we have going on. It's always a circus here at Cub Central.

This past Sunday we took the Cubs to the pumpkin patch. I think they had a lot of fun running around and burning off all that energy. We tried to take some pictures of the cubs together (I'll post later) but that didn't happen very often. Emily would run off in one direction and Zach would take off in the other. So it pretty much consisted of Steve chasing after Emily and me trying to keep an eye on Zach. All while trying to snap some photos. I think we got a few decent ones, but by the time it was over I was exhausted. Our Emily is going to be a power lifter when she grows up. She actually managed to briefly pull Zach around in a wagon. We were impressed. Photos of that to come later as well.

Of course now Zach is suffering from the runny nose/sniffles. Little man must have some allergy issues. UGH....so I'm still chasing Zach, only this time it's with a handful of kleenex. It's a tough job being the circus ringleader.

An exhausting week and it's not even over yet....

We were very fortunate that Hurricane Ike took a northern turn earlier than expected, so we only received a little wind and rain here at Cub Central. It has devastated many of our coastal areas, including Galveston and Houston. It's almost unbelievable when I see the news stories on TV.

On Monday I took the cubs to Gymboree. I thought I would give it another chance since they are walking now. I think it will be another long while before we go again. The cubs have a five second attention span and they were both taking off in different directions. This is definitely an activity that takes an extra set of hands. I was exhausted by the time it was over. Emily even embarrassed me with her first public temper-tantrum as I tried to get her to go to the next station with the rest of the group. It will be a long while before we try that again.

On Tuesday I had a million errands to run. What would normally be a quick in-and-out trip becomes quite an ordeal when you take the cubs. In and out of car seats and strollers made for another exhausting day. Tuesday evening was my monthly LCMOM meeting. A speech pathologist was the guest speaker. Twins are notorious for being delayed when it comes to speech, most likely because they don't get the one-on-one 100% attention that a singleton gets. It was very interesting but right now I'm more interested in getting them to LISTEN to me. They can talk to me later.

On Wednesday I had one of my monthly girls' night out. We went to a quaint little Italian restaurant (Piola's) that I had never been to before. I love going to new places and this is the only time I get to do that since Steve prefers going to places he is familiar with.

Wednesday night (or should I say Thursday morning) was not very pleasant here at Cub Central. Emily woke up screaming at 1:30 AM. We tried everything to calm her. We fed her, gave her some milk, changed her diaper, gave her Tylenol. She was fine as long as someone held her, but the minute you put her down, she would start screaming again. UGH.

Zach is still having his usual issues. He's still pretty cute though. Somehow he managed to sleep through Emily's episode last night. He was the only one. I'm really jealous!

Couch climbing is still a favorite activity although it is not allowed. They are stubborn little monkeys. They just keep trying. They have now moved on to the love seat and the recliner. Again, very exhausting.

The house issue is still a big topic here. Now we are considering building a home. We have selected a floor plan, and as usual, the only lot Steve and I both agreed on was TAKEN! I tell you the Housing Gods are against us. Now that the financial sector is in the pits with AIG, WAMU, and Lehman Brothers all having trouble, we are too afraid to do anything. What a hopeless feeling.

It is now Thursday evening and we are desperately trying to get Emily to go to sleep. So far we are starting off with a repeat of last night, so this isn't looking good. It must be a full moon!

Catching up on Cub Central news

It's been a week since I've posted a detailed cub update, and people are letting me hear about it, so here you go:

We'll start with the bad. Zach has been throwing up at least once per day since last Monday, so Steve and I have decided to restart his Prevacid on Tuesday to see if that might help. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Emily has found a new way to let Mom and Dad know that she is finished eating. Instead of turning her head or pushing the food away, she has decided that spitting it out is her preferred way of expressing herself. She slowly oozes it through her teeth. YUCK! Mom is not very impressed. I'd prefer a head turn or a push away. This is a real adjustment because Emily used to always eat everything, so it was quite a shock for her to refuse food. I guess she's in that stage.

Emily and Zach have both managed to take head-first tumbles off of the couch. The couch is for sitting...it is NOT a trampoline. Try telling that to two 16-month-olds. Sorry Mom, it's a trampoline! Thus, some falls, some bruises, and some heart attacks. I'm sure there will be many more for years to come.

Now some good news. Zach had a nutrition visit on Monday. Considering that he has been throwing up more than usual lately, plus he has been sick twice since the Nutritionist's last visit on July 10, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. He is now 30 1/4" tall (previously 29") and he now weighs 20 lbs 14.3 oz (up from 19 lbs 1.5 oz on 07/10/08.) Whoo hoo. Mom is doing the happy dance. We are so proud of our little man. Keep it up Zach! So these latest stats put him at the 8.58 percentile for weight (previously 3.93), and 28.68 percentile for height (previously 18.31). PROGRESS!

On Tuesday, I escaped Cub Central for a few hours to attend a going away dinner for Sally at Uncle Julios. I met Sally through my LCMOM group. She and her family are moving to Japan, so I'm glad I was able to see her before she left. Steve didn't mind even though it was our eight year wedding anniversary. He was fine with it since we had our big family day planned for Saturday, which has now been cancelled thanks to Hurricane Ike. I guess we'll have to plan our anniversary/family fun date for another weekend....minus any hurricanes.

Emily and Zach both have started twirling to music. Very cute, except it knocks their equilibrium off balance, and therefore creates more bruises for them and more skipped heartbeats for mom. But it's still very cute.

Our friend Donna's dad passed away this week, so our thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.

That sums up this week at Cub Central. Now we're just awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Ike. I'm getting ready to claim my all expense paid trip to the coast, courtesy of my favorite bear. Yeah, right!!! I feel the love!

Randomness

My Uncle from New York state used to send emails sharing the prices of the basic necessities, such as gas, milk, bread, etc. and I was always fascinated by how things were always so much more expensive there. Tonight was one of my girl's night out and on my drive home I noticed that the price of gas was only $3.34 at our local station. I'm already pocketing my savings. So to all our out of state readers, you are always welcome to come to Texas!

Last night was my LCMOM (Mom of multiples) meeting. Another chance for Mom to enjoy conversation with people not under the age of two.

Steve and I have given great thought to whether or not we should continue with the Nutrition visits for Zach. In all honesty, the only reason that I have kept doing them is to keep up with his weight, and he's really been doing pretty good. At our last visit, the Nutritionist said to just keep on doing what we're doing. Most of the things she's recommended haven't really worked anyway. (I think I sound a little frustrated.) Her visits have been so sporadic, and she's missed three already, plus I just found out last night that apparently we had an appointment for this morning. NICE! Sure wish someone would have told me. Luckily, the message last night was to cancel this morning's appointment. Go figure! I think we'll cancel it permanently.

I also have decided to let go of some of my OCD issues. I have been keeping track of every milliliter of formula that Zach has eaten. I've done this since the first day we brought him home, when he weighed less than four pounds. I have been totally trained by the NICU and I've been so concerned about his weight gain (or lack thereof) that I haven't been able to let it go. Every doctor appointment or nutrition appointment, the first question is "How much is he eating?" That's a hard question to answer when you are in a "twin fog". So I kept track all this time. Last Thursday I let it go. I don't really think my OCD was helping anyone. Zach is a happy, active little guy and I need to worry less about his eating issues. I guess it's ok (for now) that he doesn't eat solids. The Doctors don't seem to be concerned even though I bring it up at every appointment. I'm sure he won't enter Kindergarten without knowing how to eat, so he has 3 1/2 years to figure it out.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to our dads! We love you Grandpa Bear, Grandpa John and Dad!


On Saturday, we went to a Father's Day picnic given by my LCMOM group. I was very happy that Steve was able to get off work early to join us. It was really nice to finally meet the husbands and finally see all of the babies that I have heard so much about. It was brutally hot outside, so thank goodness for the covered tables and the nice breeze. We munched on fried chicken and biscuits. Emily even tried some chicken and banana pudding. Zach had chosen to skip his nap, so by the time we arrived he was quite the fuss-bucket. He didn't want to try any foods (probably a good thing as I'm sure he would have thrown it up anyway), and if I put him down, he wanted to be picked up. And if I picked him up, he wanted to be put down. FUSS-BUCKET!!

Steve and I put the cubs in the park swings for the first time. Emily didn't seem too impressed. And Zach didn't want to even sit in the swing, but once we got him in there, and gave him the first push...SMILES all around. He LOVED it! He laughed the whole time. It's such a shame that it was so hot outside because we had to end his fun early. Then it was back to FUSS-BUCKET! Finally Steve took him for a ride, hoping for him to fall asleep (didn't happen) so that I could stay and visit just a little while longer. Adult conversation does wonders for Mommy's spirit.





Matt and Beth Ann came over Saturday night for "game night". We used to have game night often before the cubs arrived. Now that the cubs are here, game night is now considered a special occasion. We played a board game called Sequence. Of course, as always, Steve and I lost 2-1. It's a good thing that we are gracious losers (um, yeah, I'm not at all competitive...I HATE to lose). We have lots of losing experience, I'm starting to get used to it!

Steve's request for Father's Day was to watch the US Open. So that was our big exciting Sunday. GOLF! Steve is so excited to teach the cubs to golf. He's even started working on showing them the proper golf grip. GOOD GRIEF!

Steps, teeth and cheese

I'm in trouble because I didn't write about Emily's first steps. Apparently she took three steps on Sunday. The reason I did not write about it was because I did not see it. No videotape, just Daddy's word. So, via second-hand information, our little Emily bear took her first steps. Still, just to egg on the competition, Zach took five. For once, Emily has a little catching up to do.

We did a tooth check tonight. Emily now has two bottom teeth and four top teeth. Little man has his two bottom teeth and three top teeth cutting through. He has been incredibly fussy today, so I imagine it's because he's hurting a bit. So with a friendly proactive dose of Tylenol, I'm hoping we all get some sleep tonight.

Last night was girl's night out with my LCMOM group (Mom of Multiples). We met for dinner at The Melting Pot. Yum! What can be better than good conversation, cheese fondue, wine and chocolate?! And it's always nice to come home and find the cubs sleeping soundly in their beds.