Utter Disbelief

So, as we're rushing out of daycare on Friday afternoon, I happen to look at the girls' CuddleGrams (if you don't have kids in daycare, it's a list of everything they do that day), and I see a note next to all three of their noon diaper changes that says "potty."

I asked, and sure enough, all three of them used the potty. We've been talking it up at home, but not pushing. I guess there's a kid in their class who uses the potty and they've been watching and taking notes.

So, I don't think we're anywhere close to potty training, but at least they're interested.

At least it wasn't a baby.

On the way home from pizza on Friday night:

S: "Did you just hear that noise?"

G: "I think it was my lunch pail tipping over."

At home, unloading the car:

S: "Um, did you find those two leftover pieces of pizza?"

G: "No."

"Oh."

he looks at me

"On the roof?"

S: "Yup."

Taking my Mom to the Store

As a reward for sleeping in my own bed, and for not pitching a screaming fit in the middle of the night during all those nights in the last few weeks when Mom and Dad came in to get Becca or Julie (even though I was awake, too, because of them), my mom decided I should go to the store with her.

Because all those fits I didn't throw in the middle of the night? Yeah, I save them for the light of day.

First, cart selection. Even though it was the last double cart left, and we didn't need a double cart, I insisted on the race car shopping cart. Even though my mom said we should leave it for someone who *needs* a double cart. Even though it wasn't the one that only has one functional seat belt so we wouldn't have to feel guilty about taking it.

It was mine. All mine.


So, as queen of the shopping experience, it was my job to hold, shake, then drop and stomp on all of the groceries that I so chose. But that mom of mine wouldn't give me all of the groceries. I think it started to go downhill when she wouldn't let me hold the tomato and tried to buy me off with the bags of lettuce. Seriously?

Commence screaming, round one. A nice old man saw my fancy shopping cart and heard me screaming and said "Nice horn."

So she bought me off by letting me get out of the cart and walk. Mommy grumbled something about having to drag that stupid huge boat of a shopping cart around the rest of the store, but I was too elated with my freedom to care much.

Until she wouldn't let me hold the raw chicken.

She bought me off with carrying the bag of chips. I made her pay, though. I lost count of how many times I dropped that bag of chips on the floor and said "uh oh" like I broke all of the chips accidentally.

But then, the horror - she wouldn't let me hold the butter!

Oh, melt down in the dairy aisle! Throw the bag of broken chips! Have a strange man pick them up and try to give them back to me. Yell some more.

But she knows my weakness. Those blasted boxes of mac & cheese. They can keep me entertained for days.

I walked. I shook the mac & cheese. That part was pretty much awesome.


I put the box in the cart.


Psych - I'll bet I tricked you! Under extreme coercion, I did cede the box to that magical moving belt.


And I let my mom escape with some of her sanity.

Last Thursday, a week ago now, we took the girls in for their flu shots. Oh, we're evil. The girls were so well behaved in the waiting room. Until the nurse called us our name. As we walked toward the door way, they all started crying. Luckily, it was pretty quick. Greg waited in the hall with two of them, while I held the one getting her shot. Really, the cried as much at the idea of being at the doctor's office as they did for the shot. They were fine again by the time we got back in the car.

But how did I not realize they need boosters again in a month? Sigh. Repeat.

On Saturday, our Moms of Multiples group had a play date at a pottery place. I wasn't sure what to expect - not sure if it was going to be totally over their heads, not sure if they were going to break something... I also didn't realize that it wasn't so much a pottery place as a "painting" place. Fine, though. We took the only three high chairs they had (hey, we got there early. and with our group, you know there was going to be a fight over high chairs.), picked out an ornament for each of them... and let them at it. I'm not sure how much of it they "get," but they knew enough to know that they wanted that paint. As much as they could get. Honestly, though, they did great - I'm always so nervous with new experiences.

E & Daddy


J


R


And as you might notice, painting the table was equally as much fun as painting the ornaments.

So, we had to dry the ornaments a bit to be able to write their names on them... meaning, we had to extract the ornaments from them. We exchanged them for wipes (surprisingly, this was deemed a fair trade). They love to wipe their hands, and then they got all into wiping the table... and then... they decided to do their spit shine routine. I hate to put a damper on it, because it's so darn cute and funny ... but really not acceptable in public.

Have I already sighed in this post? I lose track.

On Sunday afternoon, once Becca finally woke up from her nap, we decided to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall (finally!) weather. We went to the playground and had a blast.

Well, after we read the comics...




We were all about the slides this time. Emma just took off for this shorter, steeper one. It's easier for them to get onto because it's flush with the platform. The tube slide is a 2" or so step up, and they haven't figured out how to get into that themselves yet.
Becca liked to be able to put the brakes on.
Julie initially wasn't too keen on the slides. I practically had to drag her down the first time. But then she was fine to do it on her own.

I love this one because of Julie's tongue.
Running pictures are still favorites of mine.

When she got tired of running around and going back up the stairs to go down the slide again, she became a swing hog. I kept trying to get her out because the park was fairly crowded, but she would just sit in the mulch and scream.



Julie's technique to get down the slide was to twist around like this.

Sisters. :) Trying to figure out how to get into that slide.

November is Prematurity Awareness Month

November is prematurity awareness month.

It's a biggie for us, as our daughters were born at 33 weeks and spent about a month in the NICU.

Did you know that premature birth is the number one killer of American newborns?

Or that the rate of premature births has risen over 30% since 1980?

Every year, more than 500,000 infants are born prematurely.  That's roughly the population of Cleveland.

We are eternally for the March of Dimes and the research and outreach they do.  Please consider visiting their website for more information or to make a donation.

Ten on Tuesday

1. You know how, in January and February, it's hard to put the right year on things? Well, ever since I've taken a job in Supply Chain, I have a hard time putting the current year on anything. I find myself writing 2011, and then being surprised when I realize it's still only 2010.

2. So. tired. Just exhausted lately and don't want to do anything once the girls go to bed. I think feeling a bit overwhelmed at work is taking it's toll, in addition to this lingering cold.

3. So glad Em shared this video. It makes me smile. And we all danced to it in the living room. And that made me smile, too.

4. ...which led to this video that also makes me smile.

5. ...which led to the realization that Jason Mraz is a different person than Bruno Mars. They do sound a little alike, don't they?

6. I had one of those once-a-year good hair days yesterday. Guess that's it for me for the year.

7. I've been confusing a lot of my words lately... things like saying "I put my bag in my books." It's like my brain is trying to multi task but not quite keeping up.

8. We have started getting those American Girl doll catalogs in the mail. Oh my. That's some expensive... stuff.

9. Considering Christmas Tree options: a) family field trip to cut one down, b) going to the farm where we got the pumpkins to get a precut one, or c) Costco.

10. I finally deleted a memory card. I've got a terrible habit of just buying a new one when I fill one up because I'm terrified of erasing them and losing something. I've started using Carbonite (though it's said "Carbonite Status: Initial Backup" since I bought it over a week ago). Does anyone else use it? Is this normal?

Personality and Developmental Notes 11/15/10

Julie has finally come around and started eating some vegetables. Her sisters still pretty much refuse them. But Julie likes cooked tomatoes, and when I made stew last weekend, she ate the carrots and tomatoes first and then asked for more. She was the only one that would eat the vegetable soup when we went to Atlanta Bread for dinner. She also ate raw broccoli when I made a broccoli salad a few weeks ago.

Emma loves rice. When we go out for Mexican food, all she'll eat is rice. We started taking them to Moe's again, and all she will eat is rice and chips.

The girls love their jackets, and have among themselves assigned colors. Emma gets purple. Becca gets pink. Julie gets yellow. And the LOVE the hoods. If we don't put the hood up, they walk around patting their heads saying "hat! hat! hat!" They like to keep their coats on even when we get somewhere. They won't take them off at daycare, and when we went out to dinner on Friday, Julie left her coat on with the hood up through the whole meal. It was a chilly weekend, and Emma ended up with a sweater with a hood on Saturday and a sweatshirt with a hood on Sunday. She was hard core on Saturday and didn't take that hood off all day. On Sunday, she tried to keep it on, but got distracted. Becca and Julie understood the importance, though, because they kept trying to help her put it back on.

The girls now seem to know each other's names, and Emma and Julie are saying "Beh Beh" for Becca. Emma and Becca are calling Julie "yeh yeh." We haven't figured out Emma's name yet.

Becca. Sigh. She likes to take off her pants. Actually, she was equally as pleased to run around with them around her knees. And once she does it, Emma has to do it.

Emma has learned the word grass, except the first few times she said it, she just said "ass." Right now, we're at "yass." Much better.

This dog must know our cats.

The weather turned cold just in time for the weekend. We kept it pretty mellow.

Saturday morning started off with me trying to take Julie with me to Costco in a van with a completely flat tire. I don't know how I missed it when I put Julie in her carseat, but as we backed out of the driveway, I knew that either the emergency brake was on, or we had a flat tire. Luckily we didn't make it even past the house, so I don't think I did any damage.

Julie and I took the wagon while Greg went in to call AAA to put the spare on. While the girls napped, he took it up to Discount Tire where they inflated and inspected it and found nothing wrong. So we're back in business now, if a bit hesitantly.

Greg and I finally got a chance to go out to dinner to celebrate his birthday on Saturday night. Brittanie baby sat for us, and the girls got really quiet when they saw her come in the door. Leaving was AWFUL. Oh, how they screamed. It was like those scenes where a child is being ripped away from their mother - looking back at Becca over Brittanie's shoulder, screaming and crying and reaching for me with that look on her face like "how could you?".

With the time change the girls got about an extra half hour of sleep in the morning. I took Emma to the grocery store with me, since we're trying to get the girls some more one on one attention, because we haven't been doing so great at that lately.

After much chatter, giggling, and removal of their pants (E & R), the girls took a good nap to the point where I was on the verge of waking them up. We decided to let the girls run around in the back yard for a while, and we took our annual pumpkin pictures. I brought out the blanket and set it down on the grass, and it was like the girls knew just what to do. After we took the group shots, I was going to take some individuals. We tried taking Becca and Julie out (since they were on the ends), but Becca just went and sat right back down where she was, and then Emma started yelling for Julie to come sit back down.
Emma. She loves shirts with "hats." Ooooh, and I did exposure compensation on P mode on this one. Fancy.


I think I've mentioned how much the girls love to watch the neighbors' dogs out the living room window. Well, the woman next door brought the dogs out while we were out there. The girls were curious... as long as they could keep their distance. Becca got closest but still wouldn't pet the dogs. Emma's in the middle, and Julie stayed pretty far back.


Pumpkins!


Then we were just being silly.
R


R


Pumpkin thief


R


J & Daddy


Emma got all OCD with the blanket, even outside. And here's one where I failed to use my fancy exposure compensation...


R


E


I just love running pictures.


Me and Julie


With my ladies.


I've been battling a cold and just feel exhausted. I crashed into bed on Monday night after we put the girls to sleep just before 8, and slept until 6:30 Tuesday morning. Repeat on Tuesday night. Thank goodness Greg had it together and got everything done. I have this awful sinus headache - this is only the 2nd time I've had one like this. It's mostly a dull pain, but there are moments where the pressure changes in my head, or if I turn my head too far, and it hits like a migraine for a few seconds. Today is the first day that I've been able to cough without cringing from my headache. Of course, the cough has gotten worse and hurts my chest when I cough.

It's going to be a long winter.

Ten on Tuesday

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately, but I've been sick and am going to bed when the girls do. More soon, I promise.

1. I finally got my flu shot. We're taking the girls this week.

2. Really upset that the coffee at work has started to give me heartburn. It's sooooo good. A little too good, I guess.

3. Trying to remember that Thursday is Veteran's Day. Certainly thankful for all that serve for our freedom, but wish I had a meaningful way to commemorate it here. If I were at home, I'd visit my grandparents' grave sites.

4. I really don't remember the town Christmas lights and Christmas tree going up the first week of November last year.

5. Super thirsty for milk all of the time lately.

6. Busy, busy, busy weekends through the end of the year. Lots of fun with the family to look forward to (and maybe some alone time, too).

7. Finally finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Guess I'm going to have to read the next one in the series next.

8. My photography class ended last week. I'm still mostly shooting in P mode because it's hard to capture the girls when you're trying to analyze settings. But I have started messing with the exposure compensation dial, so that's progress.

9. Feeling a bit overwhelmed at work lately. Just overloaded. Can't wait for this week to be over, and it's just dragging.

10. My ears itch. Ever since the girls were born. It's enough to drive a person insane.

Coordinates Collections November Festive Feast Kit Reveal

So, here are my projects for my first month on the CC Design Team.

I got to work with the Festive Feast kit:


I got the following add ons:
Basic Grey Woolies
Cosmo Cricket brown mini alphabet
Jillibean Soup Sprouts
Lily Bee stickers

I don't often do a 2 pager, but I really wanted the pictures to be big enough to compare the difference between the girls last year and this year. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the apples, and a Fiskars (red cardstock) and Martha Stewart (brown woodgrain paper).


To create the apple border along the bottom, I cut strips of red cardstock and then punched the apples at a fairly regular interval (I warn you that I do a lot by sight and not by measuring). The smart thing to do would have been to then punch along the edges of the cardstock. But of course I didn't do decide to do that until I already had the background paper on there. I applied foam squares to the back of the red cardstock, and then attached strips of the striped paper. I interspersed somed of the Jillibean Sprouts to break up the stripes in a few spots. I like the shadow effect it created.

When I saw the "book" paper, I knew that I wanted to document all of the books that the girls love and make us read over and over these days. I snapped a few shots and created the photo collage in Photoshop. The woodgrain paper in this one is actually the packaging for the Imaginisce dimensional stickers, because I knew I was going to use that WHOLE sheet of the woodgrain paper. To create the "ribbon" strip (with the thread through it), I just took a strip of paper, ran it under the facet, and then folded and shaped it while it was still wet. I left it overnight to dry, and then just stitched it on.


Ahhhh, I think this one is my favorite this month. I used the stickers to make the banner, and then cut the title from the Lily Bee paper using my Slice (Animal Crackers card). I just love these pictures of us from last fall, and I love the out takes as much if not more than the "good" one. I loved the sentiment on the Lily Bee sticker, so I included it and used it design wise to anchor my journaling. Lots of stitching on this one. I'm so glad I finally got the sewing machine back out. The stitching across the banners is all by sight... I wish I had a technique to share, but I don't. :)



I made this tray to hang on the wall in the kitchen for fall/Thanksgiving time. Well, that's a stretch. 7 Gypsies made the tray. I decorated it with the kit and add ons...

...and some machine stitching.

...and some cut work.

...and some hand stitching.


This was literally made with the remaining scraps from my kit. I didn't trim the papers at all... just used and positioned what I had. I knew I wanted to do this layout when I saw the pear sticker in the Woolies. But I wanted some more green on my layout, so I decided to spray the book paper with Green mist. I loved the other side of this paper, too, so it was a tough choice. I used the JBS sprouts as masks for my journaling. Everything else is kit and add ons.


I also made a birthday card, but I don't want the recipient to see it here before they get it in the mail. So, if your birthday IS NOT IN NOVEMBER, you can see it here.