Thursday, November 17, 2011

Comparison steals our joy

Yesterday I came to an astounding realization. A realization I posted on Facebook:

there comes a time in your life, sometimes all at once, where you realize if you spend your time being envious of the stages other families are at, you completely skip the precious stage you're currently living (enduring?). Vowing from this moment to live in our stage...and embrace the beautiful chaos it evokes.


Um, yes. A wise friend there shared this quote with me:

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Ummmm, yes. Isn't that so true??? Think about all the times when you thought "life is good" and then 2 minutes later you hear about something someone else has and you're wishing you had it, too. You've completely lost the "life is good" idea and gone straight for, "I want more out of this life. Other people have MORE, I want it, too."

I am CLASSIC for doing this. It's something I spend a great amount of time in prayer about. I think it's a tool the devil uses to pull us away from all the beautiful things God has given us and our thankfulness about those things...and to pull us toward negativity, bitterness and resentment. Who wants to live like that? Who would sign up for that? None of us, and yet we gravitate toward it daily, sometimes even minute-ly (I made it up, go with it).

So yesterday I made the decision to stop doing that. And yes, it's a process. And no, it won't happen overnight. And yes, I will have to make the decision time and time again. But I can do this. It's about my attitude. It's about being able to say, "I can't get to the gym more than once a week because my kids are little." and not seething inside because others can go whenever they want. There is absolutely no need to be pissy about silly stuff like that. I am thankful for my kids who need me, even though they NEEEEEEEEED me with more urgency than I can tolerate some days. I am blessed to be able to be home with them and snuggle them when they're sick (which they have been this week).

Really, it boils down to realizing that you can embrace the stage your family is in without giving up any joy. In fact, I think embracing that leads to greater joy indeed! I've always said it's when we compare ourselves to others we don't allow ourselves to feel deep emotions (so and so has it worse than me, I'll shut up); and when we compare ourselves to others we don't allow God to bless our socks off in the moment.

So today I've been watching for little moments and enjoying them. I hauled in a lighted snowman that's taller than the twins (doesn't take much) and plugged it in near the kitchen. Macey, the twin who always covers her eyes (LOL) when something might scare her (like any sort of animated toy at Walmart) hid in the laundry room but Maddy was right there to see. And within a few minutes, my girls had pure JOY over this little fellow! They were chatting it up with him, "Hi no-man!!" and I felt honored to be a part of it. I was glad that I was nowhere else and I wanted to be no one else other than the mommy of these 2 beauties. Not gonna give up any more of these moments.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Parenting Rule #49567

Do not, under any circumstances, think it's ok to let your 7yo (plauged with generalized anxiety) watch the movie "Soul Surfer". I had watched it previously, and really didn't think the shark biting the girl's arm off was that scary. I loved the story line, loved the fact that it had a Christian message complete with Christian music, loved the story of triumph and hard work. I really thought it would be a good family movie for us to watch together.

It's 9:13 and Avery is still awake. She just chatted with James from the stairway. I asked him what the problem was and he summed it up in one word: "movie". Grrrrrreat.

Monday, September 05, 2011

Happy holiday!

Why is it that we think we must jam-pack holidays with stuff? Today has been spent doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING so far...and James and I are feeling like we're not getting anything accomplished. That should be a good thing, right? We're trying to just enjoy the time with our kids (and the ahhhhhhhhhhhmazing weather to boot) but it's hard when you know there's projects that need finishing up.

After lunch my awesome father-in-law will be coming over to help us tackle our pack porch project. It's more of a covered cement slab with a few plants and our hottub on it, but it needs some painting and a post covered to look nicer and some finishing touches like that. It will be great to have done, I'm excited! We also bought a ceiling fan/light for outdoors that will go there that I cannot WAIT to have put up!

I have a few other little projects I'm working on, but there will be time. I just get so caught up in the fall frenzy! Forget spring cleaning, I am all about fall projects!

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Some facebook sharing

You know, just in case you think you want to be on Facebook but can't quite make yourself. There are some funny things happening over there! Ok, so mostly it's because I am nosey and want to know what's going on in everyone's lives.

I shared this tonight on Facebook (shorter on FB than here):
Tonight Macey took her diaper off and was walking around the living room, patting her bum and shouting, "NAKED! Naked butt!" I really couldn't be much prouder, honestly. But it's all about the fact that she was walking!

They walk more often than not anymore, and I absolutely love it. Madelyn is still a stronger walker, but they're pretty confident. They still love to reach out and grab your finger (or an older sib) to walk more confidently, but they're doing it.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

So cute

So yes, the twins are now officially walking. I say "officially" because I announced it on Facebook, thereby making it "Facebook official" and that is big. Madelyn is still out-walking Macey, but Macey only just started taking steps last week and went straight to full walking, so that doesn't surprise us. We made them walk hand-in-hand one night and that was all it took for Macey to realize she was more confident than she first thought!

In other cuteness, Madelyn now says "yeah" when you ask her things. For example, just now I said to her, "Do you have a blankie?" and she replied, "yeah" - precious!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A week out from surgery...

and I am amazed at how well it went. I didn't do so great with the anesthesia part. They gave me a lot of anti-nausea stuff while I was still out, but I wonder if that actually made me more dizzy and yuck feeling. It took about 24-48 hours to recoup from that.

The pain has been quite minimal. I am surprised, however, at how often my kids whack me in the chest. That becomes PAINFULLY obvious once you cannot have them touching you there!

We're gearing up for school to start! I simply cannot wait. Caden will be entering 2nd grade and Avery 1st grade. We'll meet the teachers on Friday and school starts for both of them on Monday!

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

"Peanut butter starts with J"

This was Caden's proclamation while helping me put groceries away last night. I was initially extremely proud of him for all the connections, but I did have to explain a bit to him about brands and marketing. "Mommy chooses from all the peanut butters, and mommy chooses JIF [y'know, cuz choosy moms choose JIF]. And yes, JIF starts with J." After I asked him what Ppppeanut butter actually does start with, he told me "P!" He amazes me so often.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Breast specialist, she is!

I have to say, she knows her way around a boob. James wondered if he could go back to school to do that. Heather says it's probably too obvious - school wouldn't let him in. I have to agree with Heather on this one.

So yeah, I had my appointment with the doctor today. Honestly, we don't know much more. Well, that's not entirely true. We know it (the mass) is coming out. We know that's going to happen on August 8 at 11am in Des Moines. What we don't know is if it's completely benign or not. It sure appears to be, and the doctor felt pretty confident about that today. But sometimes, pathology can find something else. And that is where I'm praying the fear away. I can call to find out pathology results on Aug 11 after 1:30pm. Do not attempt to call me or speak to me at 1:30 and 01seconds.

My mom came with me. Glad to have her there because they asked a whole lot of questions about grandparents and family members, many of which I did not have the answers to. And glad to have her there because sometimes, a girl just needs her mom.

Thank you for supporting us! And thank you for supporting my boobs. I know, I just, in one measly second, made you feel as if you were a bra. But I really do mean it. Thanks!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

My turn for medical

Normally I spend my time planning my kids' next doctor visits, from well-child appointments to a tonsillectomy for Avery coming up in 2 weeks. I'm pretty good at keeping track of all that, and used to worrying about this, that and everything.

It's now my turn to worry...about myself.

On Thursday I went for my routine physical. Now I want to be upfront and let you know that it's been over 2 years since I have gone, and in that same time span I have lost the equivolent of a 2nd grader in terms of weight. At the breast exam part my doctor paused. Then came the question, "Have you always had this?" Uhh, apparently not, because I have no idea what you're talking about. But I felt it myself - big, BIG lump there.

Then begins the dance with medical imaging at the hospital. I finally get scheduled for Wed (today) in the morning. So I had 5 days to obsess and "pinch my boob" as Avery kept asking me why in the world I was doing that.

Heather came to watch my kids and to the hospital I went. While I was waiting in the Women's Imaging Center this guy walks in. This guy is my husband. He got off work to come be with me!!!! And then he got kicked out, because men can't be in the Women's Imaging Center...but it was really stinking sweet. Then came the mammogram. People, it does NOT hurt. All the horror stories, all the reasons I was nearly pooping myself, all for naught. It doesn't hurt. Does it feel like a tickle? Sheeeeeeeeeeetno, but come on, you knew it wouldn't be comfy. After that I went to the ultrasound, where James was allowed. Incidentally it was the same ultrasound room where I was when I was shocked to learn we were having twins! Good times.

The important doctor came in then and gave us the news. I have a very rare thing called a hamartoma. Apparently it's an encapsulated growth of junk - I dunno what's all in there but it's fat and tissue and more fat and more breast tissue. I've likely had it all my life and it just grew as my boobs grew. It grew lots though. He said it's the size of an ostrich egg. I looked that up. It's 7inx5in. Holy..... He made sure to tell us that it wasn't cancer. And he made sure to tell us that it was very rare. Multiple times. Which doesn't surprise us in the least. That's just how James and I roll!

On my way home my family doctor called. He was more honest with me, which I love. He said it CAN be cancer, but we won't be totally sure until I see a breast specialist, which is scheduled for a week from today. It will likely need to come out, which could make for a rather pancakey shaped boob on the left side. I mean get real, removing something the size of an ostrich egg from a breast would pretty much leave...nothing. I couldn't tell you how I feel about this, other than I've always called my boobs "rocks in socks" because they hang so low, so maybe I'll end up getting perkies with insurance paying for it all! Always a silver lining, friends.

I'm scared. I have to be honest. I don't want to have cancer. I don't want to be sick. I don't want to have surgery. But I'm trusting and praying and leaning on supportive family and friends. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. Amen!

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Yep, it's us

Tonight it was our turn for bedtime on our own again (aka, no Heather). Declan did fine at first and after about 15 minutes the screaming began. I had him talk to Heather on the phone, but that didn't work either. The screaming lasted for (only) 30 minutes, so I'd say it's a real success. Here's to hoping we're on our way to scream-free bedtimes!

Pretty sure it's us (the parents)

So after the 2.5 hour screaming fit on Tuesday night we came to Wednesday. Declan woke up in a very good mood (normally he wakes up screaming, but Wed morning he did not) and we went about our day. Our friends came over for supper and Heather blessed me by giving all 3 of my little kids a bath and putting them to bed for me...have I mentioned I adore her? Well wouldn't you know it, she put Declan to bed, laid down the law (he was thinking of crying) and that boy didn't make a peep. No crying, no screaming, no chaos, just right to sleep and out for the night.

Guess what? The problem lies with Declan's parents. I think we knew that already, but it's always good to get reinforcement. LOL!

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

It's 10pm

and yes, he is still screaming.

Declan, sweet Declan

This boy. He can break my heart and piss me off in the same second...much like he's doing as I type. I am currently blogging so that I don't go in there and regret my actions later.

Apparently there's an issue with bedtime. The issue is that Declan does not want it to be bedtime. So he's taken to screaming for an hour or more each night at bedtime. I wouldn't mind so much, but the twins "sleep" directly next door to him while he shrieks out "mommmy!!!" "daddy!!!!" at the top of his lungs. How he can keep that up I simply do not know. There must be some sort of 3 year old code that allows him to perpetuate the unwanted behavior for hours at a time. Such pleasantries.

We moved Declan to a big boy bed in April. Things were actually going very well until about late May. By late May we had some issues with him coming out of his room at bedtime. We have the rule that you do not have to stay in bed, but you do have to stay in your room. To combat his coming out of his room we put a pressure mounted gate across the doorway to his room, but we ONLY put it up if we found him meandering around the house after bedtime. He KNEW it was coming and always ran directly back to his room...we just put the gate up without saying a word (we talked with him about it every night at bedtime). The gate ALWAYS caused a huge meltdown. I'm not talking just crying but full blown screaming in anger. He knew it was coming, but yet he flipped out every time. The screaming usually lasted over an hour.

Now he's taken to crying and screaming every single night after we leave the room. He has 2 nightlights, he often sleeps with the overhead light on (his choice, he gets up and turns it on), and we leave the door open. There is absolutely NOTHING that works to get him to stop screaming. We've tried the threat of the gate and then had to follow through with that (which is somewhat backwards and confusing to him, I would guess) ... you name it, we've tried it. He doesn't nap at all during the day. One day last week he DID nap and then the screaming lasted until 11pm. NO NAPS. He goes to bed around 7:30-8 (this is moved back from winter time, when they're all in bed around 7pm). When you ask him why he's crying he says it's because he doesn't want to go to bed. Fine, I get that, but quit the screaming!!! I cannot CANNOT get him to be quiet about it, and he sleeps right next to the twins, so I HATE how it all plays out.

I think it's a phase. I think he'll stop doing it in a few months. I think we need to NOT go in there AT ALL so he gets no reward for the behavior. Or do you have any other thoughts? We're an hour into the screaming at this point. All the other kids have been quiet for a solid 45 minutes. Declan, you challenge me.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Helllloooo blog!

I am horrible about blogging. Mostly it's because I feel like nothing exciting is happening, so not much new to post really!

Summer is in full swing. Mornings are spent at home, or hanging out at Heather's or driving around running errands where the vehicle is always in full sight so I can run the errand and not have to haul everyone out - this morning was garden centers which worked out perfect! Then we came home and planted which was fun for everyone.

Declan is basically fully pee trained, down to now telling us when he has to go. Pooping is another story, but we're getting there. Somewhere along the lines he learned the phrase "I promise" and he always tells me that after saying he won't poop in his underwear anymore. Very cute, but very obvious he has no idea what "I promise" actually means.

Avery is a big helper to me with the twins this summer. While I planted this morning she had both of them up on the trampoline and was bouncing them, rolling with them, just plain entertaining them for almost an hour while I was working. Avery is learning that mommy is not going to do everything for her anymore, and that comes with a bit of resistance. She "doesn't want" to do things, and she tells me that very matter-of-factly. Having Caden as our oldest has allowed all of our kids to be babied a bit in terms of how much mom and dad help them with...we're slowing making Avery do more and it's been interesting. :)

Caden is having a good time riding his outdoor toys this summer. Caden has an extremely hard time leaving his hands off people (including strangers) and while it's not typically a rough touch it is apparently EXTREMELY annoying to younger siblings. He spent a week at Vacation Bible School and it went very well. I'm always a bit anxious about how he's going to do but he did excellent!

Macey and Madelyn will be turning TWO on July 8! I can hardly believe it, either. No, they still are not walking but do take lots of steps when motivated. They are chatterboxes, too. Macey out talks Madelyn (there's not a word Macey won't try to repeat, note to yourself). They are very fond of routine and give you quite a screaming fit if you change things up.

James is really enjoying work at Vermeer! It is so wonderful to have him in good spirits (almost) all of the time!

I'm just doing the mom thing! Still sllllllowly losing weight but I try not to let that be my entire train of thought. I am, however, enjoying buying new clothes in sizes I haven't seen since high school. James isn't as thrilled about that as I am. I've learned I have to tell him my excitement about the size first, so that he can act happy for me BEFORE he knows I had to buy new to realize the new size. That worked the first few items, now he's on to me.

I feel like I just wrote a Christmas letter or something. That's a quick recap of our lives!!

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

It's happening again...

I'm potty training someone again. I've decided Declan is ready and we are going for broke. Yesterday was day 1. After a long battle I finally got underwear on him. After a few hours he was standing in the living room and he hollered out, "I spilled! I spilled!!!!!!!!!!" No, you peed buddy. Accident #1.

After lunch he came running up to me and said, "Mommy, I have to go pee." I praised him and took him to the potty and discovered that he had already GONE pee. Accident #2.

He then had some wetness in his underwear but nothing major until about 7:30pm...

I had him sit and try before bed. A lot of crying and tantruming went on from him. He also likes to PUSH really hard which I think keeps the pee from coming out. Regardless, he had SUCCESS, and a lot of it!

Today we have had no success but also no accidents!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Lost some motivation

So it was over a month ago that I made it to ONEderland. Sad part about that is I am still there at 199. It's like I got there and decided to quit. I know HOW to do it, I just am tired of it I think. I want to eat. I want to eat like there's no tomorrow. I want to do that because it feels good and because I've always done that. It's hard to give up my good friend, food.

I've started adding exercise. It's fun, because I am walking with my bestie Heather. It's not fun because it's exercise. Haaaaaaaaa! I also have something on the top of my foot that makes walking painful a bit - a ganglion cyst, from all my web-md'ing. I really don't want to have that removed, but it is causing quite a bit of pain and I think it needs to be drained. *shudder*

So. I'd like to get back into the swing of things. I'd like to see that scale start moving down, down, down. I just need some motivation back. It's hard to find it!!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A first

You may think this means the twins are walking. You would be wrong.

This is another first for our family. It's medical related. It's having all 5 kids on an antibiotic for the same condition at the same time. We officially hate strep throat.

It all started last week Monday. Avery came down with a big fever and said her tummy ached. I waited until Tuesday when I finally took her in. Sure enough, strep was positive. Antibiotics for Avery.

All was smooth sailing until Saturday. Saturday morning Madelyn had thrown up when I went to get her out of her crib. She was super hot with fever as well. So I was getting her ready to go to Urgent Care a few hours later when Macey started being really fussy. I picked her up and snuggled her and she.was.hot. Sure enough, 101.6. So I started getting Madelyn AND Macey ready for Urgent Care. At the hospital I explained that Avery was being treated for strep and the dr simply looked in their throats and said it was enough for him. Antibiotics for the twins.

Saturday afternoon brought Avery's dance recital. We were gone to that and James came home while Avery and mommy went for supper with grandma. While we were still gone, Declan threw up all over. James said he thought he felt hot as well. Oh joy! Mind you, this is after 7pm on a Saturday. So when I got home I called the ER and talked with a nurse. They simply called a prescription in for him that we could pick up on Sunday morning - yes! Antibiotics for Declan.

Caden is my healthy one. After his first few years he sorta owes me that. Sunday night we couldn't find him. James finally tracked him down in the bathroom - vomiting all over. ARGH! So I called back to the ER and they told me to go ahead and give him some of the twins' meds as they were calling in the same stuff for him, and then when I picked up his antibiotic Monday I could replenish theirs. Antibiotics for Caden.

Today is Tuesday. Everyone is back to school. The twins are still sleeping. I'm praying we're on the road to full recovery!

Monday, April 18, 2011

I made it to ONEderland!!!!

Yesterday morning I hopped on that scale and it said 199.8!!!!!!!!!! I haven't seen the 100's in probably 10 years. Awesome milestone! Here are some pictures taken by Avery, the first in July and the 2nd just yesterday. I don't know what I weighed in July but holy...no one tells a girl she's fat until later, huh?


I have lost just over 67 pounds since starting to give a crap about 15 months ago. I still have another 60ish pounds I'd like to lose but now I know I can do it!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

He won. He won? He won!

Caden went to district qualifiers today for Special Olympics (which will be held at the end of May). Caden was set to compete in the softball throw and the 50m dash. I honestly thought the 50m dash part was hilarious - have you ever SEEN Caden run? It's more like a trot, an adorable trot but still just a trot. I've never seen him with a full-out, unabashed run.

His teachers have been telling me how it all works: they time/measure him at school and send the times in to Special Olympics. He is then grouped with other like-abled individuals (ages 8-11) and then he competes against those kids today. The best time today wins. Gotcha.

So first up was the softball throw. We were able to sneak him in line a touch early since we were there and ready. I noticed that the kids who were throwing before and after him CHUCKED that ball. Caden? Not so much. That's because it wasn't quite time for his group yet, but we got him in early. If he would have been throwing at the same time as the kids who threw as far as he usually did I would have been able to better compare. I didn't really realize that at the time, but it started to make sense as the day progressed. So at this point we have no idea how he did...

Next we moved on to the 50m dash. There was a lot of waiting for this one, but it gave his teacher time to show Caden just what to do and what was expected.

It just made me so emotional to see all these kids with sheer joy on their faces running down the track! Some of them walked, some didn't want to go at all, and some stopped halfway and turned around. The crowd was so supportive, clapping for all racers. I had Macey and Madelyn with me and they liked watching all the racers, too.

Caden's time put him nearly at the end of all the heats with only 2 other little boys. Here he is over to the right, making fast friends with all the young lady volunteers, lol:

The shot was fired, and Caden ran. He ran! He ran all the way to the end without stopping, even as mommy was right next to the track, cheering him on! I know you can't zoom in, but I was able to on my camera and there is a HUGE smile on his face!

I got down to the end to get him and he really didn't seem that proud, just more of his usual "leave me alone mom, I'm strutting my stuff!" His teacher got down to me at the end of the track and said, "He won!" and it dawned on me - he came across the finish line first! I was so dang proud of him for running without quitting that it never occurred to me that he WON! I started crying over that...wow, he won! Next she said, "This means we go twice in May, first day for cycling and the next day for track and field!" WOW!

So we headed back to the gym to get Caden's sack lunch and watch his friend Miss K participate in her events. The gym is also where each school has a box and they put ribbons in there for the kids who earn them. His teacher came walking back to me, wide-eyed with 2 blue ribbons in her hand. She said, "They're both his." I thought, cool! And then I looked at them. They say FIRST PLACE. (And now I stand here at the laptop bawling again.) He also got first in the softball throw! So on track and field day he will compete in TWO events!


I can't explain to you what I'm feeling, but I knew I had to get home and write about it. I wanted to process it and see if I could figure out what I'm feeling. I'm proud, of course, but more than that I stand in awe. I'm so glad I went along today...it was one of those things I wasn't totally sure I needed to be at but I NEEDED to be there. I can't believe that this little boy, the one I wasn't sure what to do with as a newborn, the one I wasn't sure I WANTED as a newborn, the one who I have cried buckets over and prayed over and stressed over - this little boy is nothing short of spectacular. Just when I begin to forget that, God reminds me, and today He did so in a huge way. We live in a world that just can't help it - first place is a BIG deal. And today I got to feel the beauty of my kid being a winner in the world's eyes. For once he wasn't the last to walk, last to talk, last to potty train. He was first. And he was first twice over.

I so clearly heard the words to one of my favorite Signing Time songs as today has played over and over in my head. Here are some of the lyrics. It's a perfect way to describe Caden and how he SHINES. You shine, Caden. Love you forever.

Sometimes I see you stuck
For such a long time
A daily nothing new
Pretend I don’t mind
With lists of things you’ll never do
Until somehow you do
And you do — you do — you shine

The days and months and years,
they run together
Is it just one day? Or is this forever?
You’ve taught me in your lifetime
More than I’d learned in mine
And you do, you do, you shine

Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
Shine your light on me
Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
everyone will see
Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
I’m so glad you are mine
And you’ll shine in your own time

Well, maybe I’m too close to see you clearly
Or is it now my role to simply believe?
You’re just one of those mysteries
That may never be solved in time
But you do — you do — you shine

Monday, April 04, 2011

Brutal mommy honesty.

If we aren't honest, then what are we? And if we aren't honest about how hard it is to be a mom, then we're lying only to ourselves.

Being 3 is hard. It's hard for the 3 year old's mom. Declan breezed through the first few years of his life but hit 3 in January and his horrid-ness vomited all over our lives. Honestly, he was my BEST baby, most laid back, easy going, a pleasure to be around. Now I don't care for it when I hear him in the mornings. I know soon after breakfast I'm going to hear, "I wanna snaaaaaack." Actually, I will probably hear that while he's still eating breakfast. It's habit for him, one I want to break. Badly.

And he's just generally whiney. And I mean whiney in the most annoying, baby-talking noise you can imagine. Fingernails on chalkboards seem like Kindergarten play to this kid.

This weekend I was talking to my BFF and I (jokingly) asked her which of her kids was her favorite. I knew the answer would be "I don't have a favorite" - which is the correct answer. All moms know that. I replied simply with this: "I couldn't tell you who my favorite is, either, but I'm certain it isn't Declan."

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

FYI - Purex 3-in-1 sheets are not meant for front loading washers

I went hog-wild at Wal-Mart about a week ago and bought tons of packages of the Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets. I had 20 of the $3/1 coupons and ended up getting each package for free, and then they owed ME $2.03...on each one. It was an awesome deal but my friends and family mocked me mercilessly because it took about 45 minutes to check out (the store didn't believe me at first, but then found the new policy so accepted it) and they thought it was ridiculous. I thought I was brilliant. I ended up MAKING $40.60 and walking out with 20 (trial sized) packages of Purex. Score one for the extreme couponer wannabe.

Fast forward to today. There were probably at least 5 loads of laundry that went through our machine yesterday. Today I started early with the boys' sheets. I noticed that the washer was taking forever to get done and it kept switching over to pause and then finally just turning off and not draining or spinning. We've only had our washer/dryer set for 10 months so I called the appliance store and they were literally here in under 2 hours (go, them!). He figured out right away that the draining was the problem, and said it was probably the drain pump. Not an easy fix. He also said that sometimes kids' socks will get stuck in the pump's basket and once you pull that out it functions fine so we'll hope for that (although THAT'S not covered by warranty, sigh). He pulled it apart and there was something stuck in there...I'm guessing you can guess what it was...

Yes, a stupid Purex 3-in-1 sheet plugging it up! Aauuugh! He showed me where things can slip between the seal and the machine, right down into the pump and sure enough, those things are just thin enough to do just that. He said this isn't the first time he's seen one of those stuck, either, and it will probably cost us more than the $40.60 I "made".

SO! Do not use those if you have a front loader. He actually told me to just stick it in a mesh laundry bag with socks or something and then I'd still be able to use them all up so I don't have to just throw them away - brilliant! But I'd like to save you from a repair bill if you're thinking of using them.

= evil

Monday, March 07, 2011

A bit of a setback

So I posted about how I wanted to reach ONEderland by my birthday. Fail. Today is said birthday (and it's snowing, that is just wrong) and I am not there. I did sort of set my goal a little lofty, especially for someone who loathes exercise. I'm not disappointed, but I want to remain accountable to myself. I've had a wonderful weekend of traveling with my 3 oldest and James to Wisconsin Dells and visiting with the other midwest RTS families, but it was not good for the calorie aspect. Today I am giving myself the day off (I had malted milk balls for lunch, darn that Easter candy!!) but tomorrow I am back on track. The next time I talk about weight loss I will have reached 199.x. Ta-ta for now!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Holy health-related craziness

Sooo, I guess we can count on February being a banner month for our family. Last year it meant whooping cough for James and both twins, leading to an ambulance ride for Macey and several hospital stays. The twins also both had RSV last Feb. Which leads me to THIS Feb...

All 5 kids have been sick with one thing or another. First it was strep, which made its way through the ranks. Now it's the tummy flu, which started with Madelyn on Wednesday, then moved to Macey Thursday and also to Declan Thursday night. This morning (Friday) Macey has thrown up a few more times but Madelyn and Declan seem to be doing ok...though Declan hasn't had a thing to eat or drink. I'm being cautious, especially considering the fact that he's laying on our bed watching cartoons right now. Here's a picture of Madelyn from earlier in the week. All she wanted to do was lay down and sleep, wherever she was:


Which leads me back to Monday (still in Feb, noted). Avery fell off the monkey bars at school, hurting her wrist. Her teacher called me when Avery was on the bus and told me about it, so I watched her when she got home - I could tell there was a problem. Off to the ER we went and she has a buckle fracture to both bones in her wrist! She got a splint in the ER, and she wore it proudly. We had to amputate one of the sleeves of a pair of winter jammies but I'm ready to amputate winter anyway:


She was ready to go to school the very next morning! All smiles, what a trooper:


And on Wednesday she had a regular cast put on. She wanted RED (daddy's favorite color) and she is so proud of it. I finally talked her into letting me write on it and I wrote "mommy loves you!" with a little heart. She loved it and is taking the Sharpie to school today to let her classmates have at it! We'll see what it looks like after school. Here's yesterday, after I wrote my message:

Monday, February 07, 2011

As of this morning...

I now weigh what I did when I got pregnant for the very first time (found out 9 years ago on Valentine's Day)! It's good to see that number on the scale and know that I am so close to the 100s. Down over 55 pounds and still going. I still am reaching for ONEderland by my 33rd birthday (Mar 7) - best gift I think I could give to myself. That feeling will be amazing!

Thursday, February 03, 2011

A time for everything...

and apparently it's finally my time to be sick. I went to the doctor yesterday and I have a sinus infection and more than likely I also have pneumonia. I started on an antibiotics yesterday and today I am honestly feeling better. Thankful for that!

What makes me feel bad is that Caden is also sick, Avery is sick and they are both feeling pretty miserable. Caden has a fever more than anything else and Avery is struggling with the same awful runny nose/head cold that I have. Today we finally had school after after the blizzard and everyone is here at home with me. We just put the twins down for a nap and the big kids are upstairs watching iCarly with me. Ok, so they're watching and I'm blogging.

I have a feeling no one will be going to school tomorrow, either. It's a time to recover. If you recall our whooping cough episodes of last year at this time, we'll take what's going on now over that for sure! If that doesn't put things in perspective, I don't know what will. (It was Feb. 5 last year I had to call the ambulance to come get little Macey because she coughed SO hard I was worried she wouldn't breathe!)

James got an unexpected day off yesterday due to the weather so he was home to help me and allow me to get to the doctor. Rumor has it he now might be working on Saturday all day...cooooooooooooooooool. You'll have to forgive me, I just feel like complaining today.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Connecting with your spouse

I still have questions about this arena, and we've been married a while. Right now, James and I would love nothing more than to go away overnight for two nights: eat when we want, sleep when we want, talk without interruption and just basically do a whole lot of NOTHING. Because let's face it, when we'd come home (if we decided to) there'd be a whole lot of EVERYTHING to do.

We feel weekends away are crucial but it is just not a reality for us at this point in our lives. I mean I'm not blind, we've "done it to ourselves" by having more kids than is really necessary. (Yes, I did just say that I will will NEVER say who the unnecessary one/s is/are/mightbe.) The burden of asking someone to take 5 kids for a weekend is just, well, it's a lot. And we take it very seriously. That being said, we can't help but long for it because this is a season of our lives where it's not happening. We always want what we can't have. Just ask Declan (who turned 3 on Monday, had a "monkey cake!", and always, alllllways wants what he can't have).

Which brings me back to the title subject. How do you reconnect with your spouse when you have lots of children or when you maybe only have a few children but don't have reliable babysitting? And I want your feedback on this, because I want to know, too!

All too often after our kids are in bed (they are good about bedtime, everyone's down and out by 7:30 and no one makes surprise visits out to the living areas, bless them, I've scared them well) James and I just want to catch up on our favorite things and enjoy the silence. We've joked that our ears ring and almost hurt from the silence after our kids are in bed and that's really not too far from the truth. I tend to gravitate toward the computer (I know, you're shocked) and James grabs his iPod and crashes in front of the tv. We don't MAKE time to just be together, and this gets to be a problem. We miss each other, but we don't work at spending quality time together. So maybe, connecting with your spouse has a lot more to do with behaviors than it does with the knowledge of what to do to reconnect.

Some little things we do, in case you're looking for a little morsel of something from all this rambling:
1. We serve the kids supper first. Yes, they all sit down and eat around 4:50-5:00 while we run around like crazy getting refills and seconds and MORE APPLESAUCE PLEASE! Sometimes James will sit down with them and I'll do what James has named "The Negative Calorie Meal" - if I've eaten too many calories already during the day I won't eat and will just do all the running for supper. I actually burn calories during a meal and don't take a single one in. ANYWAY! We serve the kids first so that when they are done, WE can sit down together as two and eat food that's actually still hot and have a semi-decent conversation. We are able to chat entirely about the kids' days while they eat and we don't feel POed that we can't talk to each other. Win-win-win-winner on dinner!
2. We put a tv in our bedroom, and got an electric blanket for Christmas. It works for us. We're drawn to the bed because it's allllll cozy and warm, plus there's the added benefit of tv viewing, connected to our DVR so we can catch up on all the important shows. Lordie, we sound so pampered!

So there's some ideas to get the ball rolling. What do YOU do?

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Two babies and a banana.

You'd swear I've never given my kids fruit. Ok, so I am terrible about it and I'm just now incorporating them into the twins' diet regularly. Sue me, they're 18 months old but I've been sorta busy - they had them as infants but I've gotten out of habit. My older kids eat them fine so I'm doing something right. Annnnnyway yeah, just now giving them to the twins.

Madelyn has this *precious* habit of taking whatever she doesn't like and throwing it straight to the floor. To be more correct, she actually takes whatever she doesn't THINK she'll like (without sampling) and throws it straight to the floor. Macey will usually just politely ignore it and eat all around it. I'm appreciative of Macey at mealtimes.

So a few days ago I introduced banana at a snacktime. They both sampled - Macey put it back on the tray without sampling again and Madelyn's taste buds can apparently decide in .05 seconds that she doesn't like banana. Down to the floor it went. I ignored. I tried again yesterday morning at breakfast. To my amazement, Macey sampled again - and she liked it! She is eating banana with no problem! Which leads us to Madelyn...

She tosses. And tosses. And honestly if you put it on her tray before anything else, she will become angry with you. Downright honked off, thank you very much. I tried that this morning at breakfast and she.was.mad. I guess I just keep trying!

We go to their 18 month well-child checkups this morning! I'll update with how they're doing later. Ta-ta!

Thursday, January 06, 2011

A teacher who believes in your SN child...

is worth more than any gift I've ever been given. Caden's 1st grade teacher this year is nothing short of phenomenal. I literally just hung up the phone from her calling me to tell me about some big successes Caden has had in the classroom. They (the students) were going around in a circle, telling her what sound each letter group made - ir, or, etc. It came to Caden's turn and he had "er". He nailed it. They went around again and he nailed it a second time. No fluke. Came around again and she challenged him with a new one - qu. "Qwah," said my boy!!!! I literally have tears running down my face. She just believes in him so much! She said she just feels so confident he is going to read. I'm so excited about that, too!! I just feel so blessed, so very blessed that God has given us this amazing woman to spend the year with him. He's doing so very well!!

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Happy 2011!

I just can hardly believe it. 2010 was a great year really, aside from whooping cough, multiple hospitalizations, job changes, money uncertainty...ok so it really wasn't that awesome.

However! I did lose 50 pounds in 2010 so that's awesome!

I'm excited about 2011. I plan to lose as much weight as possible (another 75 is my goal) to reach my goal weight. I want to see the twins (finally) start walking! I want to see sir Declan potty train. I want so many things and we'll see how God sorts it all out!

I am not the kind to make New Year's Resolutions. Mostly that's because I never want to be disappointed! But I can promise you this much - I am determined to make 2011 a year that I remember...for lots of good things!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Bragging on my Caden!

Today Cay came home from school early - fever. Didn't surprise me as one of the twins has strep throat (I know, don't ask - how does a 17mo old get strep before any of the other kids??). I brought him to the dr after calling for an appt because he's also had a lot of peeing accidents as of lately. He's *mostly* trained but we still have some accidents, but it's been a LOT of accidents lately and I wanted to be sure everything was ok.

Anyway. I brought urine along, it was clear. We battled through a throat swab (he actually essentially punched our awesome dr in the face, gotta love kids who don't understand and have oral defensiveness) which was negative for strep. We started antibiotics as he DID have an ear infection.

ANYWAY! He's been out of sorts all day, but I asked him to get ready for bed. I always ask him to get ready for bed, and I always help him all the way. Tonight...he put his own pullup on and pulled it up. He put on his pants. He put on his shirt. He came to me FULLY DRESSED for bed and I didn't have to do ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! I have waited 8 years for this with him! I am just so proud I could burst!!!

Ni ni little man. I hope you feel better in the morning.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Ave's thoughts on singing for the old folks.

Today Avery's class is going with the other K class to sing for the "grandpas and grandmas" at the old folks' home. I'm not sure if there was a rather rousing conversation that went on at school or what, but both James and I have heard these exact words out of her mouth about the whole situation (on many, separate occasions):

We're going to sing for the grandpas and grandmas. They're deaF, not deaD. Do you hear that F at the end? Yeah, they're deaF. We have to sing really loud so they can hear us.

Holy mother of hilarious.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Bye-bye ba-bas!

No more bottles! Quite frankly, the twins did it for us. One day they refused the naptime bottles. The next they refused the nighttime bottles. And they BOTH refused on the SAME days/times! I really thought they needed the formula to make it through the night but I was totally wrong. It's been well over a week since they've had a bottle. It's bittersweet, because I loved watching them take that bottle with both hands and suck it down, but I'm so glad we're done with it as well.

The twins are 17 months now and pretty good about getting where they need to be. They still motate via army crawl for the most part, but they are doing more up on hands and knees crawling every day. Macey pulls to stand a LOT - you often find her standing next to something, even transferring back and forth to things next to her. Madelyn will pull up as well, though not as often. Both girls like to climb - they go all the way up our stairs and will get on top of boxes or on the bottoms of tables if they have an extra shelf at the bottom. Madelyn has also figured out how to go down stairs - she spins herself around on her tummy and goes back, one at a time. Macey followed suit just today and went down, too!

Thursday, December 09, 2010

And now, for something to lighten the mood...

There's always hope. And I find an immense amount of hope in humor. Enjoy this!

TRUTH for mature humans:

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Budweiser than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important. (Ladies.....Quit Laughing.)

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Merry Christmas?

It should be merry, but things are stressful for us. While money has always been tight, we've never before been worried. Now, James would tell you that I am worried more than I should be, but isn't that what women are supposed to do? :) It is a very good time for us to learn to trust in God. A trusted friend told me this week that God isn't going to let us fall. That made me feel so much better because I know it's the truth. There's something to be learned in every situation, something that God needs you to hear or know. The hardest part is the patience through the journey - we want to know what life holds for us on the other end.

James worked for years in a job that didn't fulfill him. He was miserable, unhappy and lost. We finally found a job (albeit on a part-time basis, but would still provide for our family) that seemed like the perfect fit. And the job itself IS a perfect fit. The problem lies in the fact that this job currently doesn't have enough hours available, and no one saw that caveat coming...least of all, us. Initially they had to work hard to keep his hours low enough because there was so much work. Now...well now that isn't the case. At all.

It's one of those things that I'm sure thousands of people have been through, are going through, are fearing. You just don't assume things will work out that way for you. And let me say this - you do NOT understand what it is like to be in the situation until you are in it. I thought I was so compassionate, so understanding, so able to put myself in the place of someone going through this. And I was not. At all.

We covet your prayers. We are positive God is rowing our little boat with us, but we are learning to let him take the oars more. And we fully agree with this quote: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

Monday, November 15, 2010

When your 2 year old asks you...

"Where's your bra?" you know it's time to:

a) put one back on
b) stop using adult language in front of your tot
c) get your jammie shirt on MUCH quicker
d) all of the above

I'll let you decide.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Hello, daddy? 'Dis Macey!

Sometimes, a picture says it all:



and sometimes, Tena still needs to say stuff. No, Macey doesn't talk that well yet (she doesn't talk at all yet actually, and neither does her baby sister) but that was a cute title, no? Yes. Love my babies!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Food battles ala Declan

This boy is something else. He would survive on Pop-Tarts alone if we would allow it. We fight him to eat. Period. It's not about battling for fruits and veggies (forget those), we have battles of will just for taking one bite of something. I decided to capture one of our usual mealtimes with him in pictures. It's me, sitting across the table from him, asking him to eat one half of a chef boyardee ravioli. NOT HEALTHY. Super kid friendly. You'd think we were asking him to eat asparagus. Raw. His motivation? An early piece of Caden's birthday cake (this was the day before C's 8th birthday on Sunday).

"Take a bite and then you can have the cake!"


The cake was pushed right up in front of him as motivation...he took the bait!


Now I can use the fork for cake! (Note the leftover ravilolis - he didn't have many to begin with and only ate that one half.)


I believe he thinks he has won.


It's baby steps with this boy. We are working HARD to make sure he's hungry at mealtimes. limiting snacks, etc. He's a buggar.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Mischief is brewing

It's so cute with two. Like today, they were both scooting forward, army-crawl style, and they bumped their heads together. They looked at each other and laughed. It was priceless. And when one takes off across the room the other follows behind. I'm also now catching them sitting up when they had been scooting around. Most of the time that's because they pull up on something low and then can't get back down, but still, they're figuring it out! Here's a few pictures of them getting around lately:


Madelyn left, Macey right. Should we or shouldn't we...try the stairs...


Macey tries, but thinks better of it.


Madelyn left, Macey right. Macey was here first, and Madelyn thought it looked like fun...


until Macey started pushing her away.


And another of Madelyn, because I think it's absolutely adorable!!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Do I need to post with more pictures?

I do, don't I. You can say it. I know it's true. It's like one of those things that I know is true but I don't want to do anything about. It sort of like someone walking out of a bathroom stall with toilet paper hanging from their pants. You know you should say something but you really don't want to. Or it's like when you *toot* silently in a large group of people and you know you should say something but you just simply cannot admit that you did it. Not that that's ever happened to me or anything.

More pictures. Ok, working on it....

Friday, October 15, 2010

More milestones for Macey and Madelyn

Now they're pulling up on things like steps and fireplace hearths and stepstools. They don't get up on their feet but up on their knees to whack at what's above. It is TOO cute!! (If I do say so myself.)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wanna see some pics of my crew?

My friend (and talented photographer) came over Saturday morning to get some pictures of the kids. I decided to get in on the action a bit, too - you know those awesome pictures you see of a mom all in play with her kids? Yeah, we didn't get a lot like that but we both had some good ideas! Caden and Declan were seriously SERIOUSLY uncooperative. You can see that in a lot of shots. I'm sporting myself down 40 pounds from January (go, me!) and am determined to love me and the mommy I am to my beautiful children! They light up my life. Let me know what your favorites are - I'm going to have a hard time choosing!

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=235481

password: fall

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Up on our knees...

not in prayer, but UP on their knees! The twins, that is. Macey has been getting up on all 4s for quite a few weeks now. Madelyn has just started today. Macey is even lifting one hand up off the floor to reach for things while she's up on all 4s! It should be soon that we see the moving forward with "real crawling"! Right on time for our kiddos - they'll be 15 months on Friday! Go little ladies!

In other news, the school called me around 1:30 - had to go pick Avery up from school. Her fever was only 99.9 (which isn't really a fever for my kids) but she was coughing a ton as well. Thankfully Heather happened to be out here so she stayed with my 3 littles who were sleeping while I ran and got Ave from school. It was picture day for her but she told me she did have her picture taken so we've got that out of the way!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Ever felt REALLY bad about how a morning went?

I am feeling terrible right now. Avery got up this morning and was all dressed. We did her hair and then she literally sat on the couch waiting for her bus to arrive. Time to kill. So the bus pulls up and she gets up to run to the door and stops dead in her tracks to shout, "MY SHOES!" She didn't have any on. (Last night when I was putting her clothes out for her she told me her shoes were downstairs, and she knew where. Mmmm hmmm.)

So I run to a few places in the house and the bus honks a few times. I run out to the front porch and tell the driver that we can't find shoes but we'll be RIGHT out. And may I just mention that Avery is following me around, doing absolutely NOTHING to help?? I run a few other places and Avery tells me they're out by the trampoline. I glance out there and I do not see them. So I finally run upstairs to her bedroom and grab a new pair, run downstairs, cut the tags off and try to get them on her feet. They will NOT go on. I know they should fit because they are the same size and style of the other ones, only these are new. I grab the shoes, grab her hand and head out the door. Yes, I sent her on the bus, in socks, with her shoes in hand. Felt bad about that but here's where it gets worse....

The driver calls me just a few minutes ago. "We can't get those shoes on Avery." Uhhhh, seriously?? Crrrrrrrrrrrap! So I told him she's probably worked up - send her inside with the shoes and let her try in Miss Amber's room. Which he already did, whew. So now I just pray she got them on.

I feel just awful! And I sent her out the door after saying to her, "I'm not happy with you right now." Ok Tena, so you've NEVER made a mistake before??? Good grief. I hope she has a better day. I'd like to call school and tell her I'm sorry. I'm just going to have to pray that God holds her heart and hand today while I can't.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Have you heard??

Caden is now sleeping outside of a crib! Yes, you read that correctly, he has been in a crib for almost 8 years. The other day I got sick of looking at the crib and decided to take it apart. We had tried leaving the side of his crib down with a step stool next to it in the past and it didn't go so well. I'm not sure what made me think he was ready this time but I had a feeling it might be ok (that, and Heather told me to suck it up and give it a go). We put his crib mattress on the floor and his blankets and special things on there. When he got home from school he did this adorable, arms-up shrug and said, "Where my bed went?" I showed him the pieces on the front porch and he really was ok with it (he tends to get upset about big changes in his normal, so I was a little apprehensive about it). Yes, he gets out of it from time to time and bugs Declan or whatnot, but I have come to a stunning realization that I tend to underestimate Caden. I truly don't believe he is capable of certain things and by doing that I am setting him up to fail. His teachers believe in him. More than I do at times! So I said enough. I'm believing in Caden. I'm trusting that he and God will work things out and that he will show me what he can do. And so far, they're making a great team!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

IEP - rousing success

I just really can't say enough how good today's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting was. Really. Good. Fabulous, even! We feel beyond blessed that Caden has teachers, friends, associates and advocates who rally behind him when he is at school. They believe in him. They think he is capable of so much, and they are right! They told us things he says and does that honestly blow our doors off - he is correctly numbering numerals and speaking them as well. He's doing things for them at school that he wouldn't do here at home. And trust me - I am fine with that as long as he's making progress. Every kid deserves to be obstinate about certain things when they're at home, right? We are so proud of you, Caden! Keep on shining, little star.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know...

Today is a day when Avery is home - no Kindergarten on Thursdays. We've been noticing more and more that Avery and Declan play very well together. It's a nice break for me at times. I can go tell them to play together and they will - no fighting, only minimal bossing from Avery. It's great, and really it's our first glimpse of a typical sibling relationship with built-in playmates.

Today I was getting the twins ready for naptime and Avery and Declan were in the boys' room directly across the wall from the twins' room - Caden and Declan share a bedroom and are both still in cribs (so yes, if you do the math we have 4 cribs set up in side-by-side bedrooms...probably 4 cribs in 200 sq ft or so, lol!). When I had the twins settled in went in to the boys' room. Avery said, "Mommy, I promise I will go to sleep if you let me get in Caden's crib for Declan's naptime." I'm smarter than that typically, but I went along with it, telling her that if she is noisy or anything then mommy promises she'll have to go upstairs to her bed.

I've since been in there 3 times and neither one is sleeping. And after the last time I went in there, Avery started quietly singing "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so...." and Declan started echoing her. I'm melting. I mean, how can I be upset when they're singing THAT???

But in all honesty, the twins aren't going to take a good nap at this rate, and we need to have a talk about what it means to keep a promise. Mommy's going to keep her promise - here you go to your bedroom Miss Avery! Ta-ta!

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Ever wonder what you're missing if you're not on Facebook?

Here's today's update from me:

Tena...

tried for 45 minutes to hang a faux wood blind in our bedroom - wanted to surprise James when he got home by having it all done. I've completely stripped the screw heads and the drill has slipped off the screw so many times now that there are multiple (extra) holes in the wall. I'm sweaty and POed. Epic fail.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Do you have a good internal clock?

I felt like the mother of the year this morning. Caden's bus comes at 7:30. I awoke from a dead sleep to hear a horn honking in my driveway. Looked at the clock and it was 7:33. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one was out of bed yet. I called the bus barn and told them to radio the driver and tell her to move on.

Worst part? This is not the first time this has happened. At. All.

Caden loves buttons and dials and the like. So he turned down my radio all the way. Oh the alarm was still set, but when it "went off" the radio turned on which was turned...all the way down. You'd think by now I would know to check that before bed. I checked to make sure the alarm was on, and that was all. (I know you're going to suggest turning the beeper on the alarm, but I cannot wake up to that. I will crap the bed. Serious.)

My DH James and BFF Heather can't believe that I don't wake up earlier without the help of an alarm. They use alarms, but only as panics if they don't get up with their internal clocks. I don't seem to have an internal clock. I have a hard time falling asleep, but once I do it takes darn-near an act of God to wake me in the mornings. Or a radio. But still, I have to have an external force to rouse me!

What about you?

Saturday, August 28, 2010

First day of school 2010 - 1st grade (Caden) and K (Avery)

Here's a few pictures I snapped the morning of the first day of school. I have one from last year of all the kids sitting on the front porch and it would be fun to see the changes this year, but it's on the upstairs computer (we have GOT to figure out how to link the 2 computers):

My big kids!!! I should've put the twins there but in usual Tena-fashion I was running late because it was morning.

If I'm being honest I struggle with this picture because I see that Caden looks different. But you know, it is what it is - I think this is an absolutely PRECIOUS one!!!!

Caden is signing "bus" here - he was SO ready to see Diana!

She's here!!! Look at that adorable admiration!! I love this picture!!!


Strapped in and ready to GO!

First one off bus #6 at




Some of her older cousin Tressa's 5th grade friends walk with Avery to her classroom since they ride the same bus.

Welcome to Miss Amber's Kindergarten classroom!

Miss Amber helped Avery get her name tag on.



And then she had to color a picture to look just like her!

I was so proud of both of my kids - this day and always! So hard to believe they're growing up. They have done very well this week and we can't wait for more!

Monday, August 23, 2010

We survived!

The first day of school, that is. Caden did wonderfully. He has the same bus driver again this year and we.love.Diana. He spent a lot of time with his special ed class as the first few days are always so hectic and they didn't want to overwhelm him. He got to make mac n cheese at kitchen time and had to clean up afterwards. He told me it was fun and when grandma called to talk to him he told her LOADS of stories about it as well. I guess we had first grade success!

Avery did beautifully. I put her on the bus and then drove into town to meet her at school off the bus. She found her classroom and did the work she was supposed to do - coloring a picture of a little girl to look just like her. I got a few pictures and then headed back home. She only had a half day so was home around 12:45 or so. Some good news is that the bus is going to pull all the way up our driveway now and turn around close to the house, which means we don't have to run down the driveway to meet up with the bus down at the road. Bonus!

Pictures to follow. Anyone care to guess how long that actually takes me??

Friday, August 20, 2010

A first - with a 2nd

Think it doesn't make sense? I'd have to agree with you. I'm struggling with something...I'm struggling with sending my 2nd-born to Kindergarten. It's sort of like she's my first to go. I'm having a very hard time letting her go.

I remember it was difficult to send Caden, but Caden had been attending some sort of schooling since he was 2. I knew school would be good for Caden. I knew he would make great strides there and learn things that I didn't have the skills (or the patience, if I'm being perfectly honest) to teach him. I was ok with sending him off....yes, even though he wasn't speaking and couldn't come home and tell me all about his day, I felt confident that he was "ready". As ready as he could be at his developmental level. (And today we met his 1st grade *sniffle* teacher - she is fabulous and he is going to have a great year!!)

And then there's Avery. Maybe it's the girl thing. Maybe it's the fact that she's my little mini-me. She's my sidekick, my big helper, my incessant chatterbox. Avery is so excited about Kindergarten. She got the teacher she wanted (and she'll tell you this). We went tonight and had a whole scavenger hunt to find the different things in her classroom, to meet her teacher and to bring her classroom supplies. She LOVED it. (I was even a suck-up and had her bring a decorated apple cookie for her teacher. I know, throw rotten tomatoes.) But the whole time I could not be excited for her. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the idea that she is going to be gone from home 3 days a week, moving to 5 full days a week by the end of the school year. I could cry about it so easily and if you know me you know I am NOT a cry-er. Avery is going to ride the big yellow bus to and from school. I have set up a set of identical twin 5th graders on her bus route to help her get to class, so she's covered there. I just can't help it - I feel like she is not ready and won't be able to handle it and cannot possibly be apart from her momma.

Perhaps this is one of the greatest downfalls of being a stay at home mom. Perhaps it's just me. Either way, I think Monday is going to be harder on Tena than on Avery. Yes, I am looking forward to having "just" 3 kids here at home during the day, but no one can talk to me or argue with me (efficiently, that is - Declan sure tries but his vocabulary consists of "noo!" "mine!") or otherwise bug the tar out of me at every turn. Honestly, I don't even know what to say. I'm positive it's going to be ok but my heart feels heavy at the same time. I'll miss her! She's growing up...right before my very eyes and quite literally without my permission. Bittersweet.

Friday, August 13, 2010

I have nothing interesting to say...

but one of my goals in life is to become a famous blogger, and I'm not going to do that by not posting anything for weeks on end, right? Thought so.

Right now it's thundering outside and we're preparing for about the millionth inch of rain this summer. We have been so blessed with no water in our basement, but many of our family and friends haven't been that lucky. It's really a mess for some people and it's so frustrating! I'm ready for next week - they're calling for temps in the low 80s with low humidity and no rain almost all week! Which is really great news considering it's been in the upper 90s with mega humidity. It's also great because...

Next week we are going camping all week! It's our little staycation. We're camping locally as James has to work at The Scooter Store in Des Moines on Monday and Tuesday, but then he has work off until Saturday, so that will be a fun family time after that. The first night camping is always hellish, but then the kids get used to sleeping somewhere else and bedtimes go much better. They don't sleep in at all, but we can handle that. After that week is done...

School starts!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't wait, I really can't. Caden and Avery are driving each other nuts. Caden needs the structure of school in a bad way. The only hard part is that Caden's 1:1 associate took a different job for next year and won't be with us again. I cried buckets over that one, but I know Caden will be just fine and God is working out the details so that we'll have someone else special to work with our little man. He's going into 1st grade and he has an awesome teacher (we've heard) so we're happy. Avery will be starting Kindergarten, but she is going to the Christian school instead of the public school where Caden attends. Avery could not possibly be more excited! She gets to ride the big yellow bus and she got the teacher she wanted (this teacher student taught when Avery was in preschool and now is starting her teaching career in K!). She is absolutely certain that she is ready, but I have a feeling that she is going to be more homesick than she realizes. She will be going full days, 3 days a week - MWF. The worst part is that Avery's personalized backpack hasn't arrived yet, and it says it won't arrive until Sept 4. I'm praying it'll be early, but hope is waning with each day. We'll see!

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Ready for some cuteness overload?

A sweet gal from our church offered to take some pictures of Macey and Madelyn as a "survival gift" - we all made it through the first year! Here are the pictures she took. Megan did an AMAZING job and I just can't believe how adorable my girls are!!! I know, that sounds totally braggy but I really don't care - they ARE adorable!!

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=235481

password: twins

Monday, July 26, 2010

Madelyn is scooting forward!

It's exciting stuff people. Madelyn can get on her tummy and then pull herself slightly forward! She uses her arms but some her legs, too. It's not full out army crawl and it's certainly not hands and knees crawling, but I'll take it! Macey is still content to roll where she needs to go. Madelyn also now has all 4 top teeth which is quite cute to see. Macey has 3 of 4 - she's missing her right, true front tooth.

We were gone this weekend to Cincinnati for the RTS Family Conference. It was an amazing time of meeting people we'd only ever emailed with for years and hearing experts talk about RTS and other things related to RTS to help us out. We brought Caden and Avery, leaving Declan, Macey and Madelyn back home with my parents. We truly did have a great time! Avery got very confident in the pool - she was jumping in and swimming halfway across (under water) to me! We spent as much time as possible in the pool. On Saturday and on Sunday morning the kids went into childcare and James and I attended speakers and seminars about RTS. We got some great information from those and were able to have breakfast and lunch in a revolving restaurant - one of only 32 such restaurants in the world I think! The trip there didn't go so well...it took us 10.5 hours to get there. On the way home, though, we stopped less often and made it in 8.5 which felt much more tolerable. It was so fun to see other RTSweeties and meet their families!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

An amazing encounter!

I had an amazing encounter this weekend. James and I were camping with our little tribe. We nearly backed out about 10 times because it was so blasted hot and it was supposed to be just miserable, but we decided to go anyway because we had reservations. After setting up camp I took a walk with the twins in the stroller, Avery on her bike and Caden on his special bike that school made for him. Just 3 campsites away from us a mom smiled and commented on Caden's neat bike, and then signed "baby" to her daughter and asked if she could see the babies. I glanced over at her daughter and my heart literally stopped for a second - I knew in an instant she had RTS. It's so hard to know how to approach something like that, y'know? Some moms are ok with lots of questions about their child with special needs and some really don't wish to have it pointed out that it's "obvious". So I eggshelled a bit - I told her my son had special needs, which led to her stating that her daughter did. I asked then if her daughter had a diagnosis. She said yes, and then said, "She actually has Rubinstein Taybi Syndrome" in a way that I've said it many times - the tone said "You've never heard of it and have no idea what it is." I simply said, "Shut up! Caden has RTS too!!!" She teared up and neither one of us could believe it. A small campground in Iowa, the same weekend, just 3 sites away. What are the chances honestly???? Interestingly enough, they had their 6 year old daughter pull some states out of a hat, then they prayed about it and then decided where in that state they would camp, and apparently Pella, Iowa is the place to be (I mean, we already knew that but still),

So we spent a lot of time chatting over the course of the weekend. The similarities are astounding, both socially and medically. Caden and her daughter hugged each other several times, which is something I have NEVER seen Caden just offer to someone else - they both knew they were something special! This family is from Iowa as well. It was just so exciting!!!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Added a cute lil picture...

of Macey (left) and Madelyn on their birthday up top there! Enjoy!!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

James is loving work!

This is refreshing. It is just amazing to see him smile so much, to see him get out of bed early because he can't wait to get to work, to see him smile - have I mentioned that?? I am happy, he is happy, life is good. I will admit that having him get home really late on the days he works in Des Moines is sort of hard, but that's a fair trade off....so far. In a few weeks when he's on his own he will be working weekends which means Fridays and Saturdays. We'll see how that pans out, but I think we can handle it. Thank you God!!

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Happy 1st Birthday Macey Johanna and Madelyn Corinne!!!!

Words can't express how much these two girls have changed our lives. They are precious baby girls who light up our lives so very much! I am so proud to call them my babies.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

About to lose my cool...

I just posted this on a message board I frequent. Enjoy the peek into my life...

I feel like a pretty even-keel person, but with James' new job it's later hours in coming home. It's 7pm and he is not even home yet. I am about to blow a gasket at my kids I swear it. My 7yo is special needs so developmentally he is about 2-3 years ago. He and my 2yo fight like you WOULD NOT believe. The "mine!" "no, MINE!" is enough to drive me to drink. My 7yo doesn't have many words but of course MINE happens to be one of them. Right now my 2yo is SCREAMING outside their bedroom door because my oldest is supposed to be in bed (I sent him there before I NEARLY popped him one) and he is not in bed. I am on here just typing because if I don't I will say or do something I will later regret. Add to the mix my 5yo DD who is hollering "mommmmmmmmmmmmy, the boys are hurting my ears!" at the top of her ever-loving lungs. She should know better but I expect too much of her sometimes. And all of this is happening within feet of the twins' bedroom door - they are having their bottles in bed and trying to go ni-night.

This all started over a stupid Clifford book that no one could share.

Sometimes I get SOOOOOOOOOOO frustrated at my 7yo and his lack of understanding. He pesters just to pester at times (typical boy, I know) and it just drives me up the proverbial wall. With school being out I feel like I am FOREVER telling him no to something or telling him to stop pinching, stop hitting, keep your hands to yourself. It's SO hard to have a meaningful, fun experience with him and I'm sad.

Ok. In the time it took me to type that all is quiet. I needed the breather. Thank you for letting me vent. Off to start tackling bedtime in a bit. (And no, I am not mad at James for working longer, but this time of day is just HARD. The kids haven't even seen him yet today. But the poor guy got out to his car after work and the battery was dead! He's had "one of those days" as well I guess.)

Monday, July 05, 2010

Happy 4th - er, I mean 5th.

Honestly, what a boring weekend. I am not complaining really, but we didn't do anything 4th of Julyish. My parents kept Declan and the twins on Saturday and we went to Pella's outdoor pool/aquatic center for 3.5 hours which was really fun. Caden is a whole lot braver than I thought he would be! I think it's time for swimming lessons for him, but I'm not really sure where to begin. I think private lessons would be necessary for him. He just basically had no fear, which was good and bad. He also doesn't always listen really well so it's a mixed bag of fun, LOL!

The actual day of the 4th we majorly lazed around. We didn't even make it to church because we slept in so late - now THAT was nice! Today we went and took a bike ride down where we usually camp. The campgrounds are closed due to flooding, so we decided to walk in the campground loops instead of on the walking trails. We thought this would be good because there's no traffic in there right now. It WAS pretty good...except for the mosquitos. Holy CRAP! Awful, I've never seen them so bad. They SAY that mosquitos are so big in Minnesota that they are the state bird. I could almost believe there were so MANY on our kids today that it could be considered the plague!! Interesting too - I bet there were 10 of them on Macey for every 1 on Madelyn! I'm just like little Macey...mosquitos love me, too. Not fair!

The twins are going to be ONE on Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It just can't be so!!!