Hello from Earth... down here...

I know... I've been MIA for awhile. The computer charger cord 'thingy' went out with a bang and a light puff of smoke. Thankfully no small children or pets were harmed in the process but suddenly my lifeline to people older than 2 wafted away....

I'm probably on too much. But what else could I possibly be doing? Laundry? lol

I awoke this morning to the sounds of Abby's disappointed voice exclaiming that Santa had not come. I remarked tiredly that today was not Christmas (6:40am btw) She then in very patient tones told me that Santa was very very very busy right now.

She also told me last night, while holding a small children's Bible (with Noah's ark on the front) that she wanted to read a story about pirates. Noah=Pirate... who knew?

I made bacon tonight and Kara came toddling quickly to the kitchen exclaiming 'hot hot hot hot!" Pointing at the bacon and standing in the warzone of spitting pork bits. The word, correct. The meaning still a little fuzzy...

(Kara=Blue Sheep, Kiley=Pink Sheep)

Kiley and Kara have been enjoying a 7:30 bedtime... almost as much as their parents. Their sleeping through the night is blissful.

Kiley has also learned the word 'hi' and they both feel the need to shout it at all passers by... just to make sure that two one year olds and a two and a half year old trying desperately to escape the shopping carts/strollers aren't noticed... who notices that anyways

I honestly don't mind the attention/probing eyes/questions, I know people are curious or want to feel important. I certainly know of more cousin's daughter's friends who have twins than I ever thought possible... but I try to be polite. There have been a few times I have had to bite my tongue... especially when they ask if they are all mine, if I know where babies come from etc. etc. "Yes... they are mine, I'm married, yes to a boy, yes we DO know where babies come from... while we are getting personal can I ask you what your favorite brand of Tampons is? Oh? I thought we were best friends..." Maybe one day I will get up the nerve... but for now I nod and prod the screaming children into initiating a getaway....

Someone once asked me if they fight.... do most siblings fight? Just curious if that is something twins shouldn't be doing.... They are sisters....  So just in case you were curious... yes... they do fight... 

I think we are past bedtime... the troops grow restless...

My Rapunzel

The girls are napping so I should probably be napping or folding laundry or washing dishes... the never ending tasks of such things. We got home from Abby's doctor appointment this afternoon around 12:30. At one of the checkups we had in the past I asked about her hair, the CNP took a look and said there were a number of things that could cause it to be doing what it is doing. (very brittle, falls out, breaks easily... she has a few small bald patches even) I had always thought that it was because of her 'hair pulling' that she used to do about a year ago.. but I haven't seen her do it in a very long time and her hair is still having issues. Really most people might not even notice it, but if you run your hands through her hair and look closely you can see it.

The doctor saw it. She ordered a CBC and Thyroid levels on Abby to see if there were an abnormalities. I knew when they took Abby in to lay her down that they should have had more in to hold her. I ended up having to almost lay on top of her to keep her from getting away from the poke. It wasn't easy but we got it done. She told everyone she could about the poke and her bandaid and how she got a sucker and stickers afterwards. It was pretty funny, the receptionists enjoyed her. We find out the results early next week I guess. If everything comes back normal than she wants Abby to go in and see a dermatologist.

Like I said... no shortage of doctor's appointments around here it seems. I just want to make sure there isn't an underlying cause that is making her hair fall out like it does. It literaly will come out in chunks at times! And goodness it isn't caused by over-washing... my girl HATES having her hair washed. We only do it when necessary lol.

So in case your curious there are a number of things that can cause it ranging from a Vitamin D deficiency, Zinc Deficency, Hypothryoidism (I have this), Iron Deficency... etc etc... so I guess we'll see where this takes us.

At least Rapunzel has really long 'pink' hair :o) For now at least she can brush that! 

Qwik Update

Ahh... homemade toys....

Tom was teaching Abby the difference between lemons and onions (play food) Onions "Make daddy cryyyyyy?" Lemons: *She does a pucker, spit face*

Abby has been enjoying time with the puppy when she comes to visit. The puppy loves Abby too :o) This was before we got all of the snow! The picture below is our backyard after the snow. 

Abby out helping Tom scoop the snow

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The babies were too worn out from all that hard work..... lol

It's almost Christmas

And I have so much to do... but not the energy to get it done. My umpf has run low.

Both Kiley & Kara have drainage coming from their ears now, thankfully Abby's are ok at least as of right now. Though she has told me 3 times today that her stomach hurts. Hopefully, not the flu bug going around.

Our van is back in commission... I had no idea how much I missed it hauling the kids around. So glad we have it back before Christmas. Very thankful for our body shop guy and his quick work. (he's faster than insurance that is for sure!)

I have about 99% of the gifts still to buy on our Christmas List... hoping I can get a shopping day in with my friend to cross some of those things off! Also hopeful for a nice Christmas Bonus to ease those bills :o)

I spent $150 on groceries this afternoon... and I just looked. We spend about $450 a month on groceries... yikes! I bought 5 family size cans of fruit cocktail today, it might last us a week. Yeeeeeeesh.

Curious...

If 'regular' doctors actually even look in a one year olds ear?

They told me both twins had perfect ears... despite the copious green/yellow junk coming out of their noses....and this is the second appointment now where the day after the appointment they have had thick yellow drainage come pouring out.

Go figure it's back to the drops...

Blizzard

Winter came storming in this morning in the form of a blizzard. We have some large drifts in the backyard from what I have been able to see. It was a little difficult being 'stuck' home all day and with as antsy as I have felt  I'm sure the girls were feeling it too. I was able to catch up some on laundry... which reminds me there is probably still a load sitting on my bed waiting to be folded. It's so hard to do that with the girls sometimes, they are just so helpful!

I'm finally almost done with my Fall Semester. The final is on Monday and I'm so thankful that by all appearances I did quite well even though at times I felt like it was falling apart. It's hard being a student and mom of three.

Church has already been canceled so we won't be going out in the morning. Hopefully it will be cleared up by the afternoon at least. Tom will have quite the job of digging us out. If we had the extra income it would have been nice to have a snowblower. But not this year and that is ok. I only wish I had a stronger back to help him. Hopefully we can avoid more snow ;)

Yikes! I completely forgot to write about how Kiley & Kara's 1 year check up went. They are each 20lbs and 28 inches long (i think Kara is 3 oz heavier but hard to tell if it was accurate lol) It was extremely hard to take them in. Our appointment was at 11:10, I got there at 10:45 (early I know...) we got in at 11:45... my girls were running all over that waiting room and it was all I could do to keep up with them. They were tired and hungry and wanted to go. They each got three shots, Kiley pinched her fingers twice in drawers and bumped her head on one of the cabinets trying to get in. They were not happy campers by the time they got pricked. They were due for the Varicella vaccine (chickenpox) but I decided not to give it to them. Abby if you remember got the chickenpox from the vaccine and with my luck Kiley & Kara would too.... during Christmas. So we decided to hold off on it. I did let them have the flu shot because I'm just ... so tired of them being sick all of the time. Hopefully it will help.

Otherwise they are looking beautifully and on track developmentally, perhaps a bit behind in speech but with their ears as bad as they were they are making up fast. I needed to make an eye appointment for Kiley because the poor thing is showing symptoms of 'Lazy Eye' ... something I had as a girl. Hopefully she doesn't have it but we have to be safe and check it out. If she did have it and it was left untreated she have blindness, nothing to mess around with. So no shortage of doctors appointments here. We will see what they say, hopefully we are just being careful.

Night

It's funny how sometimes I can't WAIT until it's nap time or bedtime...

and then once the house is quiet and the craziness has ceased....

I'm so lonely.

Mall Trip

The three musketeers and I were tired of being home and stuck in the house. While I attempted to be creative and keep the three content it was a losing battle. We played with pots and pans, built LEGO towers, played with play dough but the crying wouldn't cease.

After nap time I knew we needed to get out. So I started the crazy long task it is to get all three girls ready for a trip to town. It really is a lot of work to get them all bundled up and into their carseats. Our first destination was a Target. One woman took a look at me with two babies in my arms and a toddler hanging onto my coat... "Wow you're brave."

I didn't really have a response, Kara was trying to dive out of my arms and Abby was upset we weren't going to ride in the cart with broken seatbelts. I got all three into a smaller cart since the expanded ones (with seats in the back) were all broken. All three were in the front section of the cart. At first we did really well and even found a few Christmas presents. There were a few fights over the crackers I had brought but nothing serious. I decided I shouldn't press my luck and went to check out. That was when everything went crazy. As I was grabbing my wallet out of my purse Kara somehow managed to crawl over the side of the cart and flipped over onto her back... she starts screaming bloody murder, everyone is looking at us and then Abby starts screaming... Kiley stole one of her crackers. and in the process of being upset about this the others she had been holding were being dropped all over the flow.

Try containing THAT crisis. I was mortified that one of my children had flipped over the edge of the cart in full view of everyone that was waiting in line. (the screaming of bloody murder not helping this) I had three upset children and two hands. It was probably the most awful feeling and all I wanted to do was check out and crawl under a rock.

After this experience I wanted nothing to do with going into another store alone. Thankfully my mom came into town and we visited the mall. She helped me take the girls to the play area inside where they could play with the other children and crawl around. It was so nice to have some help! Abby even had a friend she would walk around with and played with. She was very sweet. Kiley and Kara did great and enjoyed checking out the other kids. Once Kiley found the exit we were done... she kept trying to escape... then Kara caught on and they were looking for ways to escape.

We got icecream and the girls had hotdogs and then it was time to head home. Abby was sad that we had to leave but was excited about the princess pj's in the store. When we told her that we had to go home and that she needed to get her coat she sat down in the floor. "I'm really really sad." *Loooong dramatic sigh* She told me, after some persuading she did put on her coat.

As we were walking to the car she says "I am so very very upset mom." (so funny)

Abby and I watched Rapunzel trailer videos... she is very in love with her right now. Last night I built her a LEGO tower and she kept saying "Rapunzel, let down your hair." and "Have to brush your hair, it's so very very long."

I find it so fun!

Musings

Oh my the sickness must end. Kara got sick Sunday night... ran a fever for 3 days and then has been just irritable since. She cries and cries and cries and clings to me every time I move. I finally had reached my limit and took all three girls into the doctors office. I hate... hate going into the office when I have all three girls. It is literally impossible...

Perhaps I should complain that not one... not one of the drawers in the exam room has child safety locks. Not ONE. Which means when I get into the room the girls go from drawer to drawer to drawer... to computer... to drawer... to exam table. The entire visit I do nothing but chase down kids. Abby's licking the mirror, Kiley's pulling out the cord plugged in the outlet, Kara is climbing the one chair in the room, Abby is ripping the exam paper off of the table, Kiley is now hitting Kara with book.... Good grief I'm exhausted writing about it. This is the 2nd visit like this I've had... I dread going back. The doctor's and staff are wonderful but it is so HARD!

We attempted to go outside today but well the weather is just a bit much for babies with runny noses and crying complexes. Abby has done awesome and gone outside twice on her own with Feebee. Today she even brought her princess dolls with and played in the snow. She likes to stomp around in it and wishes we had more.

I let Abby stay up with me a little later tonight after K&K had gone to bed just because I was lonely. Tom was out with two old college buddies and the house was too quiet. We read books and watched Ooomi Zoomi... one of her new favorite shows. At least it teaches shapes. She now knows an oval and crescent....

It's always hard putting her to bed. She's better than before but still not as good at it as she had been. I've been doing pretty good with the Prevacid and it seems like giving her TUMS when she wakes up in the middle of the night seems to help her go back to bed easier. I just hope she continues to improve. She has been a little more off lately but I think that is understandable considering I'VE probably been off myself with all of the crying and screaming Kara has done... and the fact that Abby probably doesn't feel 100% herself.

Kiley & Kara are walking around like pros now and their new thing is giving things to me. Legos especially. I have a nice stack of them now. They sure like to get into everything too! On our way to Thanksgiving Kiley was saying her favorite word: "Nonononono" and Kara was saying "Yeahhhhhh" ... kinda funny. :o) The girls are starting to play with eachother more and more... I think that is my favorite thing. When they all play together.

OOO! New and strange thing.... Kara's birthmark is fading! Something I was suspicious of before... I think it is affected by the amount of sun she gets. The more she gets the darker it is... now that we arent out as much it starts to fade. I will be curious to see if it REALLY fades...

Dancing with my girls

Yesterday afternoon I turned on Christmas music and danced with my three beautiful girls. Abby spinning around laughing and Kiley and Kara holding onto me tight the smiles lit up on their faces... it was absolutely perfect and I never want to forget the feeling I had dancing with them... it still brings tears to my eyes.

My life is so blessed.