Wednesday, January 30, 2008

You Like the new look?

I'm in the process of re-vamping my blog...so look for changes soon. Just to document...my counter said 2994 as of today. Going to have to add a new one now!

St. Rose of Lima - Pre-K

Yesterday i had the orientation for St. Roses' Elementary School Orientation. WOW...it was a lot to take in, in the hour of the tour. Funny part was i pretty much knew where everything was etc....since i went there back in the 80's! There are actually TWO teachers STILL teaching there from my days at St. Rose...how crazy is that? They looked a lot older...but the same teachers. I took in so much information i probably won't remember half of what i learned. I should have taken a pen and piece of paper for notes...but i'll learn the ropes when school starts. Weird how i have a child that is getting prepared to start school. WOW! Some of the things i learned:
1. school starts at 7:45a-3:00
2. they have a car drop off where you just drive up and let them jump out of the car and keep going(which will be GREAT for me since i'll have the twins). I'll use this on the days the girls aren't in MDO...other days we'll walk her to class.
3. They start off the morning with prayers and the pledge
4. Church is on Thursdays(which is great because I can actually go meet her up there and go sit by her since the girls will be in MDO)
5. They switch classes through out the day..they have science, art, SPANISH(SOO excited about this) and music...i'm sure i missed something but i'll remember later.
6. They will wear uniforms...they are ok..khaki pants, navy pants, white short sleeve plain button down shirt, red plaid for church days.
7. They will still get a nap for about 45 minutes a day
8. They have lunch and then recess...not like at MDO where they go in the morning before lunch
9. They eat at staggered times but will eat with all the big kids.
10. The 4th & 5th graders pair of the with pre-k kids to go to church..so they have a buddy to help keep them quiet. :)
11. They will make their first communion in 1st grade...so Hannah will make it there...i thought i made it in 3rd grade...maybe i misunderstood the lady on this one.
12. We have to work 1 hour at the Halloween carnival each year.
13. I can take a class and then go in and help out some days at school...with art or other classes...just really to assist the teacher(this sounds fun to me).
14. I get to join the PTO
15. This one kinda bothers me...they can't afford a real RN..so they have the secretary/assistant in front as the nurse...she did say she was CPR certified and gets certified every year but still...kinda bothers me. But i think that's part of going to a school that doesn't get as much funding through the state as does a public school.

All in all i have mixed emotions about Hannah starting Pre-K this coming August! I'm excited for her because she will learn soo much...and i think she'll really enjoy it. I'm also sad because i will no longer have the 3 extra days i have with her now each week. She will go everyday like every other kido...I think it's just a bit harder since i'm very lucky to be a Stay At Home Mom versus a working mom who sadly has to leave their child everyday. I know the girls will also miss her a ton...they love playing with their big sister and she teaches them soo much...good and bad. LOL!

The shell shock will also be when we start making another "Car Note". We have been so good at paying things off...cars, credit cards..etc. Thankfully we don't have any car payments..because in all reality we are buying a small car with this newly acquired amount of money we'll be paying for school. That is just part of living in the inner city versus living out in the burbs where there are nice exemplary schools for children to attend. If we didn't have the money to pay for her private school we'd be moving now...rather than later. There is just no way i'd put Hannah in a school around our house. Don't get me wrong...we live in a nice small neighborhood that we LOVE. But the downfall is putting all our money into elementary school v/s saving this money for college.

On another note, something really funny happened this morning. The girls were both screaming...and screaming this morning. It was driving me crazy to the extent that i told Paul i felt like i was in rehab or not really rehab but you get what i mean(I was celebrating every 30 minutes i made it through the morning without packing my bags and heading to mexico, LOL). Anyway i finally figured out that they were just really hungry(they get this trait from paul b/c he's always STARVING in the morning unlike myself). Anyway so i gave them both a little bowl of cheerios and they both calmed down and went and sat down on their chairs in the living room to eat. It was the cutest thing ever. So while they were doing this i got every one's breakfast ready. I called them to come over and put them in their high chairs. They did NOT want to let their cheerio bowls go when i picked them up...so i gave them to them in their high chair. It was funny because i then gave them some pieces of a cinnamon roll and their personalities came out just a bit more. Sam took her cinnamon roll pieces and shoved them in the bowl with her cheerios...so i thought it was cute and i put Sarah's in her bowl...Sarah took all hers out immediately..she wanted everything separated out. Sam likes it all in the same bowl. Very cute and just another difference in their personalities. :)

BTW, Hannah was so excited about sleeping in her bed upstairs last night...so i said ok...she could sleep all by herself. So she went upstairs and i turned on the t.v. for her, just so she can get used to being upstairs by herself. So she was upstairs for about 10 minutes last night and all of a sudden i hear this screeching...i thought it was the girls at first. NOPE, it was Hannah. I ran up there as fast as possible...she was scared to be up there alone. I guess she won't be up there again by herself for a while longer. I really want her to get adjusted to sleep by herself up there...but i gotta tell you it is kinda scary up there. Well maybe not scary but so creaky and quiet. She used to being by us, etc. I hope not, but i'm really guessing she won't truly move up stairs by herself until the girls move up there too...which could be as soon as by the time they are 2 and know how to get up and DOWN the stairs safely. I guess we'll see.

That's all for now folks...check back LATER for pics...my camera is completely FULL and i can't take anymore pics till Paul loads them all on to flicker and clears out the memory card!

Monday, January 28, 2008

The clothes are done and the babies are sleeping..

So i thought i'd write a Happy Late 13th Month Post. I didn't NOT forget about their birthday, i've just been a bit pre occupied enjoying my girls.


For this post i was to write out a bit about how they've changed and their blooming personalities. BUT before i do that...i have to post a pic of these precious t-shirts they received in the mail the other day from their Auntie Katie & Uncle Mike. I know Aunt Katie doesn't read the blog because they annoy her...but i have to show off these precious t-shirts. I would have actually taken a pic of the girls wearing them...but obviously they don't sit still long enough to get a good pic.

These shirts are not only the cutest shirt they have...they honestly save a ton of time from me having to answer the SAME question over and over again! They actually wore them to the mall the day we played at Memorial city and not once did anyone ask if they were identical or not. So, in case you can't read them since the pic didn't turn out too well...it says: "yes, we're twins/ Yes, we're identical. It was kinda ironic that i received them in the mail Sat night...right after we went to Chilis for dinner and the first person that saw them when we walked in said..."are they identical?" SO, Thanks Aunt Katie...the girls look precious in the shirts and i love not having to answer the same question OVER & OVER again!

Now, on to the girls blooming personalities.

I want to start by saying when i write this...their personalities change quickly so this week...what i'm writing is true...the next things change and the girls have switched roles. SO, for right now this is my take on their personalities.

Sarah is such a sweet gentle little girl. She has the smile that can get her anything she wants whenever she wants. Her eyes are so beautiful and bright and have a gentle look and she melts me heart. She understands SOO much now. Some examples are: "lets go change your diaper", "you want to take a bath", "You want a snack", "you want to go outside", "lets go put your shoes on", and i can go on and on. She's not saying much yet...but i'm sure it won't be long before she's talking like a pro. Right now she says "out" as in gracye out. She also says "bad" as in bad gracye...funny how everything they know revolves around our dog. :) She loves to play outside and adores her big sister. She's not much of a fighter and cries when someone takes her toy away. She loves to eat and drink milk...her favorite foods for the day are the following: green beans, carrots, cantaloupe, crackers, mac-n-cheese, and french fries. She's very good at letting you know when she doesn't like something..she just spits it out. It's kinda funny until you get sprayed by food. She is very physical and loves to climb...on anything. I honestly think we have THREE daredevils on our hand. She's not scared of anything. She climbs on the couch..she climbs on the back on the couch and stand on the window sill...yeah i know it's not very safe...but all i can do is tell her no and get her down. Her favorite hide out is in the kitchen in the cabinet. She will get in the cabinet and shut the door and all you hear is giggling, which is soo cute.

Samantha is such a sweet baby BUT loves to get into trouble. She is usually the instigator and sweet but bossy. Right now she's the leader of the pack. She loves to bite and push and now just lately is starting to come push you if you tell her no. She can also be a sweet sweet baby. She will come up and just hug you and melt your heart. If you say "give me a kiss" she'll open up her mouth and put it against your cheek. She really put alot of thought into things when she's doing them. For instance, if she's putting play coins into a bank...she will sit their for 10-20 minutes playing and you can tell she's really thinking about how it all works. She's not as much of a climber although she follows her sister and will climb up on the couch if they are all up their jumping around. She is also a bit more scared and hesitant when people she doesn't know are around. She's definitely more bashful and reserved. She is the one that cries when i leave her at MDO. Samantha has the most beautiful blue eyes and i really think they are going to keep their bright blue color. Her favorite foods are: Cheetos, pretzels, cantaloupe, bananas, carrots, mac n cheese, any kind of pasta, crackers and she loves cinnamon rolls/toast. She loves the outside and loves chasing gracye and sugar around when we're out in the backyard. I'm sure i could go on and on about both wonderful babies...but i hear one waking up so that's all for now.

Happy Monday!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

One teether down...One to go!

After finally getting over the crying jags from Samantha's teeth coming in...we both got one good night of sleep and now we're back to the starting line. UGH...that's the not so exciting part of having twins. TWO of everything including two teething babies! I know this too shall pass....but dear it just doesn't seem fast enough! Last night in the midst of Hannah's coughing jags we decided that Paul would take the coughing and i'd get a bit or rest in our bed. SO, Paul went upstairs and slept with Hannah in her big girl bed. Well about 1020p the crying started...this time it was Sarah. I went upstairs to tell Paul about it and he said he'd stay in our room and i could go upstairs and take care of Hannah. Either way i knew we were both in for a rough night. I long for the day when everything gets back to normal and we're not playing musical beds anymore. :) Anyway Hannah had a good night till about 220a when the coughing started. I did the usual, give her some gum & water and prop her up some and turn some cartoons on. YEP, you read that right...i let me THREE year old watch CARTOONS at 2AM! LOL! That's the only way she's happy when she's coughing up her lungs for hours on end. So that was our night. Paul took Sarah and put her in the bed with him which was a really bad idea because she moves soo much she almost slipped off the bed. He put her back in her bed about 3ish and she went back to sleep. SO this morning we were trying to find out why she was crying so much after Sam just got over it. I noticed her shirt was wet all around the front below her mouth. Now i'm sure she's teething because she's drooling a ton!


Now to my story for the day. We decided to take the girls to the mall since it's still a bit chilly outside and last weekend they did so good at Katy Mills mall. BAD BAD IDEA! We got there and had a blast at the big play thing in Memorial City Mall...but it was starting to get busy and it's really hard to watch both and assist them up while Paul waits at the bottom when they come down. It seriously takes more than two to take care of the twins and one. So we had been playing and were almost done and getting ready to pack up. Sarah decides to take off towards the stairs to go back up. No big deal. So i'm assisting her and Sam's coming up behind. So i turn my eyes for a couple of seconds to help Sam get up and turn around and Sarah is teetering on the edge of the steps. I yell at Hannah to grab her since she was RIGHT there. Low and behold my sweet Hannah just stood there and watched on as Sarah went TUMBLING all the way down the stairs. She seriously looked like a rag doll flying down the stairs. I almost had a heart attack. I ran down as fast as i could leaving Sam at the top...searching for Paul to help but he was on the other side of the play thing. Anyway, to make a long story short...she's fine. Luckily it's not like falling down stairs...it's like a thick spongie stuff...so she didn't hurt herself of get any bumps or bruises. She didn't even CRY! So that's that.

After that we packed up asap and decided to go to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. We got in and settled in to our seats. Sarah was a bit out of control...loud and just a bit obnoxious for some reason. So we ate as fast as possible. Hannah had to go potty so i got up to take her and then all hell broke loose. Sarah was screaming for me at the top of her lungs...there was no calming her down. I got back as fast as i could and tried to settle her down all to no avail. So we packed up as fast as we could and ran out.

As if we hadn't already had enough of the fussing...we decided to take them for a walk around the ice skating rink, which is really feet away from the restaurant. BAD idea. They had fun walking...but as soon as we grabbed them to go Sarah pitched a HUGE fit. She ended up crying ALL THE WAY TO THE CAR...while trying to squirm out of my arms. UGH!

I guess the one thing we learned from the mall experience, is that we need a few more months for them to learn dept perception and stairs before we try to go back.

On that note i'm going to end with a couple of pics.
Memorial City Mall Play Area...Sarah & Sam Making their way up the stairs..These are the stairs Sarah fell all the way down...thank GOD they were soft.Climbing through the nettingClimbing through the tube...they were a bit hesitant at first...but finally made it throughTrying for a group pic...but with 3...does that ever really work? :)Sam sliding down and Sarah watching from the bottom...they loved this slide.Watching people through the little bowl shaped plexi glass...fun fun!
Just some random pics...Sweet sisters on daddys chair....they sure do love his chair!
Looks like Sam was way too serious and getting ready to attack sarah for messing with her! :)Hannah being goofy...shades and a valentine headband!Not sure what is on Hannah's nose here...but the girls thought it was funny as they tore into their snack drawer!The mess below is nothing compared to some days when they take out EVERYTHING and throw it all over the kitchen floor. Sometimes they even spread it through the house...doesn't always stay in the kitchen!And yet another day Hannah didn't think she needed a nap...she fell asleep sitting up with her water at hand! What a precious angel when she's sleeping!

Friday, January 25, 2008

STILL Exhausted!

Well this is going on 4 nights of hardly any sleep. Hannah is fine all day till she actually lays down. Then all Hell breaks loose! Last night right after Paul went to bed Hannah's coughing jag started. I was up more than half the night. Every time she started coughing i thought she was going to puke. She finally woke up about 930p after going to sleep on the couch around 7p(yep, she didn't have a nap again). She was coughing so bad she woke up crying. It's horrible for me...because i feel soo bad for her but there's really nothing i can do. SO, i give her gum(it's the one treat that will perk her up when she's coughing) and let her have some water and we sit up and watch cartoons. She was so tired from the day she kept falling asleep and then waking up coughing again and again. I finally gave up on having a good nights sleep and played on the computer and kept the t.v. on all night. I even remember waking up at 3a and the t.v. was powering down(b/c it does it every night at 3a). Then i turned it back on so i'd have some sort of night light to be prepared in case she started coughing again. I think my body is just getting used to being up half the night again...although i feel asleep while ago with the girls drinking their bottles on my lap. We all fell asleep, but i put them in their beds and then Hannah started coughing AGAIN...so i woke her up to lay her on her little beach towel pallet so she didn't just puke on the couch.

One day i know this will all pass and i'll get some good sleep. I just hope soon because lack of sleep makes me grumpy. On top of all this...it's icky down here in H-Town and we can't get outside at all. Rain and cold have been in the weather forecast for weeks now(seems like months). I need some sunlight and a nice long walk. I wish sometimes i had some help so i could take the girls to the mall and not worry about all 3 going in different directions. This summer i may be able to coax sweet Samantha(our little neighbor girl) into maybe coming with me every once in a while to the mall or to a play group so i'd have a bit of help. It's not hard to go out to the mall as long as the girls are in their stroller...but it's impossible to let them loose at the play area because i can't watch all 3 at once. I even find it hard now to get them out of the car at our house. Once i get one out and put her down she bolts towards the street. Thank God I have Hannah to grab a baby and hold her hand...she does it a lot for me. We even have taking the girls back to the car down pat. I carry one and Hannah holds the other baby's hand and we walk out to the car from Day Care...as we get out to the car Hannah stand with one and hold her hand tight...right beside me while i throw one in the car and do the top part of the strap only. THEN, i shut the door and grab the other baby..go around to the other side holding Hannah's hand and carrying a baby and let her climb in the car and then put the other baby in the car and strap her in all the way. THEN i go back around to their side and strap that baby back in all the way. As all this is going on i also have to put bibs on them and give them sippy cups with milk(as they are starving and thirsty on the way home). Then i get in the car and strap Hannah in through the middle. Gosh, that sounds like a lot to do...and honestly it really is, but that's life and i wouldn't change any part of it for the world. Most times someone tries to help...open a door or carry a baby...but if you know me well you know i'm not one that likes to accept help most of the time. In all reality it really helps me not to accept help because i have to learn how to do all these things on my own because there won't always be someone there to help me.

Tonight Paul has graciously volunteered to take Hannah upstairs and sleep with her. I can't wait to see he gets any sleep! HA HA HA! Then he'll see why i'm so tired and grumpy every morning. Today was so bad i was exhausted and could hardly get up at 6a to get my shower before he left. I really need to find some home remedies for coughing. It just really drives me crazy because Hannah can be happy and fine all day with only a few coughing jags...then the night hits and she coughs so horribly. I guess need to try one home remedy at a time till i find something that works. I don't really want to take her to the dr. because i don't feel like she's that sick.

All right i'm just rambling now...i'm going to try to take a nap before the kidos get up from their nap.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Mother/Daughter Day Today!

Hannah & I decided to have a Mother/Daughter day today! We took the twins to school and had plans to go to chuck e cheeses! What a fun day! We dropped the girls off...then went to the grocery store. After that we came home and made our way on over to Chuck E Cheeses! I love the place because you can kinda let the kidos go crazy and you don't have to watch them every second of every minute since everyone is stamped with a magic stamp with something different that only matches the people you came with that day. SO, Hannah played and we had lunch..then i let her go crazy and play whatever she wanted to play. I played a couple of games myself so i could get as many tickets as possible to get her a couple of prizes when we left. She really made out like a bandit! She got a few necklaces, some bracelets & some tattoos!

Other than that we had a rough night last night. Hannah went to sleep..but just wasn't sleeping since she was coughing non stop. She finally puked, just as i thought she was going to do. Luckily i was totally prepared with a little plastic bowl just in case she didn't' make it to the toilet. Today her cough is sounding more congested...which is almost better...because it's not so dry and probably doesn't hurt as bad. Luck would have it that today she's only been coughing a bit...definitely not like last night. It was probably the worst night we've had in a LONG LONG time. Tonight i'm going to put the humidifier on again and see if that helps. I think the dry cough has a lot to do with the dry air from the heater.

That's all for now...have a Happy Thursday!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

No More Cough Medicine=One Tired Mommy

Since the FDA decided Cough medicine wasn't good for kidos anymore i had a rough night with my big girl. I'm guessing we're going to be sleeping on the couch for the rest of our lives(thanks to teething and coughing). First it started out with the crying b/c the girls were teething...so i decided to take Hannah out to the couch so she wouldn't get woke(is that a word) up from the late night and sometimes early morning crying. We finally got that under control with a bit of tylenol, teething tablets and orajel(rotated between the 3). Then the past few days Hannah's started coughing, which is always a bad thing because sometimes she coughs so much she pukes! YUCK! So to save everyone in the house...i sleep on the couch with her...take care or her and let her sleep on top of beach towels just in case she does wake up and puke from the coughing. That was at least Paul and the girls get some sleep. Last night was definitely one of the bad nights. She slept pretty good till about 3a maybe 330ish. Then the coughing started and hasn't stopped yet. I'm trying to think of any home remedies i can...but nothing seems to work. Tonight i'm going to try vicks on the feet with socks. Last night i felt so bad for her...i gave her some gum to chew so that it may help...just something in her mouth. I tried cough drops(which i know are for older kidos...she swallowed them b/c they were yucky). I tried giving her water but i'm always nervous of this because drinking something in the middle of the night for her always triggers puking. Her cough is weird...very dry without runny nose..no congesting, no phlem....nothing. Just a really really dry cough. SO, if anyone has any home remedies that might help please let me know. I'm going to email my MOMS group just to see what they have to say...they ALWAYS have great ideas to help me out.

Right now, my sweet baby is on the recliner...coughing her lungs out. She sounds like a 90 year old man that's smoked all her life...it's so sad.

I guess we'll be on the couch for another few nights. Some days i feel like i'm not married since i live on this couch with her since we have all 3 girls in one room and some days that just doesn't work. I hope and pray soon, she'll decide she's ready to move upstairs and sleep in her new room. I'm actually ready for her to move up there...i just don't think she wants to yet. She didn't even like sleeping on the bed the one night i stayed up there with her. She cried and cried that she wanted to go back downstairs and sleep in her little girl bed.

Yesterday i got to see on of my old friends for back when i worked at ATLAS24. It was SOO nice to see her and we had a great time at lunch. She still works at my old work Part time and then has a job at a church full time. She lives & works out in the woodlands so i went out there to meet her. It's SOO NICE out there. I'd love to move out there sometime and i think the school districts out there are great...but we're probably going to stick with cypress or somewhere out NW. Pauls banking on the new hempstead toll road to be at least started by the time he's driving in from our new house. Right now we have ABOUT 3.5 years before we really need to start worrying about since the girls have 4 more school years before the start Pre-K. Sounds soo far away but time flies when your having fun. It seemed like yesterday i was thinking about the girls going to MDO..right after they were born...and now they are there! YIKES!

On the MDO note: the girls did really well yesterday. They are getting better at going day by day. I did catch ms. Anna pulling out a piece of tape out of Sarah's shirt yesterday. They still don't know who's who, so they do cute creative things to remember. Yesterday she put a piece of tape and pretty much labeled Sarah on her clothes tag in her shirt. The time before they were outside playing and had different jackets on(the both had 2 matching jackets at school) and one had one on and the other had the other jacket on. It was really funny! I guess you do what you have to do to keep them straight. I, on the other hand, still have my doubts that they are identical...they just look so different to me. Samantha has a big head...looks a little more like a boy and her eyes are a bit lazy(that's what Paul said). While Sarah has sweet little bright eyes, shorter hair in the front and a smaller head...plus she doesn't cry as much at school where Sam is a big cry baby. I think if Sarah was in the class by herself...she wouldn't cry as much as they do since they are together. Who knows.

Happy Wednesday! Keep warm and dry..it's icky here today. Rainy and cold. I just despise days like this...we're stuck in the house all day and i think it drives everyone a bit stir crazy!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Video of the girls playing together!

Here is a video of the girls playing together. It was SOO cute. Lighting is kinda bad...Sorry!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Nice but Cold here...so we went to the MALL!

It's been nice today but really cold so we decided to go to the Mall! We had to go out and pick up a server Paul bought for his work out in Katy, so we stopped off at Katy Mills Mall for the day! I have never seen so many twins in one place. I bet we saw 5 or 6 sets of twins..it was crazy! I'm not sure if there's always that many twins around or it's just that i notice it more now that i have my own. Anyway, we had a blast and i got to SHOP & Paul didn't even mind! HA HA!


Anyway i bought some REALLY cute cheap t-shirts for V-Day! But as usual, i just can't WAIT to share! So here they are:



Hannah & Sarah goofing around!Sarah...such a cutie!Another cute one of Sarah...What a cute group pic! It's the only one of about 20 that they are all looking the Same way!

Hannah being goofy!

On another note...i forgot how horrible teething can be for a mom & dad! I have literally changed 12 dirty diapers yesterday(so 6 each) and i had to change them all on my own yesterday because birthday boy doesn't have to change any on his big day! Then today, i've changed 5 or 6 and Paul's changed more than me! YUCK!!!!!!! I remember Hannah having alot of icky diapers...but i guess i never realized how bad it'd be when your doing double time! LOL! I just hope the grumpiness stops soon. They are still getting up a couple of times a night for 10-15 minutes crying. But they go back to bed pretty quickly! I think they just want us to know their teeth hurt! I'm sure they do if you figure in what it feels like when your laying flat on a hard bed and nothing to prop you up...gravity must suck for them pretty badly! :(

Saturday, January 19, 2008

$19.00 short - I believe in Karma!

Today i had a very weird upsetting thing happen to me. Since it was Pauls bday i decided i was going to go down the street to the new little hamburger joint and get lunch. So to make a long story short...all i had was interestingly a 100.00 bill. So i went to the burger place and took Hannah with me. I ordered our food and was standing up at the front and paid. A lady came behind me and asked the lady at the register if she had a 20.00 bill for a 10.00 & (2) 5.00 dollar bills. The register lady said "no, i just gave all my change to her(as in me)". I said "well i have a 20.00 if you'd like it. She's said "great, i need it for my grand daughters bday...blah blah blah" Something just DIDN'T Make sense to me. Why would you need a 20.00 for change if you were going to give it all to her either way???!! Anyway i pulled out a 10.00 at first accidentally and then said "oops" and gave her a 20. She turned around and walked about 10 ft towards the door and then turned around and walked back up and said..."you only gave me a dollar". WHAT??? I'm 100% sure i gave her a 20. Anyway, i didn't argue i just handed her a 20 and she walked out quickly, jumped in a car with a whole bunch of thugs and went on her way. Something seemed fishy. I just had a weird feeling in my gut...like i had been in a way robbed. SO, i walked over to a table and sat down to check my cash...SURE ENOUGH i only had 60.00 now. SO, she totally tricked me into thinking i gave her a 1 dollar bill instead of a 20! Paul and i talked about it and what we think she was going to do was take the money from the cashier...NOT me. Either way i was caught in between and i got ripped off instead. I called the restaurant to tell them(not that it's their fault b/c it's not) and the lady that answered remembered the whole thing. She told me the lady just walked in from outside...she was NOT a patron of the restaurant. WOW...if i had only known. Anyway, i'm over it now...i just hope and pray karma comes back to bite her in the BUTT!

Just read this as a warning...if someone asks you for change and you have a weird feeling..just say NO!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is our Dad's 42nd birthday! To make the occasion special we've all done some great artwork just for dad. We even baked him a cake yesterday while he was at work and hid it in a cabinet so he wouldn't find it on Friday instead of his birthday today!

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you soo much! You are the best dad in the world!

Love,

Hannah, Samantha & Sarah

Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Few pics..

Happy in daddys chair drinking some milk!
Their first artwork from school..they also finger painted some snowmen...but the are posted at school.
Hannah's artwork...cute snowman!
Sarah with chocolate ALL OVER her. She turned on me taking the pic...but if you look closely, it's ALL over her bib..her hands...everywhere! YUCKY but YUMMY!


Here is the big bump from the other day...i know it doesn't look bad...but it was actually REALLY bad to me. Hannah helped me by holding Sarah's hair. Hannah said she didn't need a nap this day...and then fell fast asleep on the couch about 645p.
There's something about Gracye's bed that's appealing to the girls! They just love snuggling with her.
This is what happened after Hannah brought home a dinosaur egg from school in a nest. The nest was actually made of crepe paper...and Sam decided to eat the crepe paper. Obviously it was green.
I told Sam..."say AHHH"...she's so good with directions. Too bad you can't see all the teeth in her mouth!


Baby Solomon

I got to meet Baby Solomon today! He is such a precious little boy. Amy looks great too! She said he's doing great...but getting up every 2 hours to eat. It's tough on her but great considering he is eating soo well now! I let her borrow my scale so she can keep up with his weight and make sure he's gaining weight. She showed me his "battle scars" and the look great now. They are all healed but noticeable. Poor baby...he's been through a lot for only being 1 month old on the 2oth. They literally had to cut him open and take out his insides to untwist them...then put them back in. Poor Poor baby Solomon. He is just a precious little boy.

On another note, today has been a productive day. I went to the grocery store. Then went to get my window re-tinted(over a year after it peeled up), target to get one of our little neighbor girls a birthday present for her bday party this weekend, and then to lunch with Paul for his birthday. WOW..lots to do. What did i do before i had 2 days a week off??? HA HA!

Happy Thursday...i'll post some pics soon!

The teeth are coming in...

Both girls are getting tons of teeth. They won't let me in their mouth's very far...but i feel bumps everywhere and i do see that both are getting those last teeth(Sarah 2, Sam 1) on the bottom(to make 8 for each). It's been a good week other than not eating too much and not sleeping. HA HA...isn't that an oxymoron...good week but not sleeping well. Sam is really the one having the troubles. We can put her down and 3 out of 4 days she WILL cry within an hour. The night before last we gave them some Tylenol...they slept great. Then last night we forgot..and Sam was up about 9ish(they go to bed at 8p) crying really loud. I waited a bit and was getting ready to go in and give her some Tylenol and let her sleep with us...but she fell asleep and i definitely wasn't going to wake a sleeping baby! :)

Other than that, not much going on around here. Saturday is Pauls 42nd birthday! We were going to go to dinner but with all the problems...i'm a bit weary about leaving the girls after we put them to bed. For the past 6 months(since julias been gone and we've gotten sitters) i've never been nervous about putting the girls to bed and going out to dinner..but with all these crying spells i'm sure they'll get up crying while we're gone. Then the girls will freak out b/c someone else gets them out of their bed, etc. SO, we're going to wait till the crying fits pass and then go to dinner.

One exciting thing...I'm 100% sure Sam can say BAD. Sometimes when i say "Bad Gracye or Bad Sugar...she says...BAD. The B is pronounced very well. I'm sure she's saying Bad. It's soo cute...so i'll say Bad Gracye...and Sam will say BAD! SOOO FUNNY! It's all cute now till they start talking back like my Sweet Hannah does now. LOL!

They are really understanding lots of words. Some examples are..."you want to go change your diaper?" and they'll go towards their room. "You want a cookie" and they run to the kitchen. "You want to go outside and they run to the door and then i say no we have to go put our shoes on and they'll run to the room where their shoes are located. Then i say...lets go put your jackets on and they'll run to the laundry room. You want to go for a walk and they just start screaming...since they can't go to the front of the house where the wagon is located.

Next week Melody has coaxed me in to going to baby book time. She has me convinced that Hannah will have fun as well. SO, we're going to Cy Fair College not this coming Monday(since i think it's MLK day and closed) but the following Monday. It'll be my first time venturing out to where i actually get the girls out of the stroller and i'll be outnumbered in a BIG way! But, we'll see how it works and i'll always have my doggy leash ready in case Hannah gets out of control! LOL! Of course i'll have Melody there to help..except it'll be 5 kids on 2 Moms! Gosh that sounds funny! O how my life has changed in the past year and i love every minute of it!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

What is it like with triplets and an 18 month old...

One of the ladies in our moms of multiples group had triplets the first of November. She has been taking care of the triplets b/b/g & her 18 month old all on her own for the past 9 weeks! YIKES! So, our moms of multiples group got together and put a schedule together to help her out a bit. SO, today i took my turn since the girls were in school. Gosh, they are soo peaceful! SOO QUIET! I stayed over at her house for 2 hours with the mom and another MOM. We fed them and just pretty much held them the whole time we were there. I just don't remember my house ever being as quiet as hers..even with just twins and a 2 year old. Anyway, the babies were precious and i asked paul if he wanted another one...LOL...JUST KIDDING! I'm probably going to try to go over again next week and help again....it wasn't bad and i actually walked out of her house relaxed...i guess it could have been because i wasn't the one staying up all night feeding babies...LOL!

I took the girls to MDO today...obviously. It went ok. Sam cried as usual. Sarah is so composed at school. She doesn't cry as much...she just doesn't eat. Today the teachers said they really worked and pushed her to eat a bit. They said she did ok and actually ate some food. YEAH SARAH! Sam at...she's just fussy at school but is getting better with it day by day. O yeah they finger painted today for the first time...those teachers are BRAVE...putting paint in front of a 1 year old. Better them than me..right! HA HA!

Monday, January 14, 2008

A Sad Day in the Catholic Community

Although this blog is about my girls...today i'm going to share a story about the catholic parish that i grew up in...my girls were also baptized here. I probably shouldn't even be putting this on my blog..but i figured that i should share it anyway. I'm very sad about this story. I actually personally knew this priest well and he was well known and liked. My parents are in shock as i am too. The priest was accused of sexually molesting a minor. The whole ordeal with priests molesting children is all to controversial to even really get started. Like i said...i'm just in SHOCK & Sad for the entire Catholic Community...and very sad for my parents and their church.

This was a letter on Click2houston.com today.



"Today is time of pain and sorrow," DiNardo said. "Sorrow obviously for the person who made the allegation and sadness for the parishes and for the priest involved too."
Horn, 63, has been on leave from his current post as pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Church in southeast Houston since the allegations were made, DiNardo said. He had served as pastor of that church, which serves about 3,000 families, since 1994.
Letters were sent to parishioners to make them aware of the allegations.
"I feel for the victim if this was factual," parishioner Marie Flickinger said. "You've got to feel bad for the victim, but if he has lived a good life the last 15 years, I hope people take that in consideration, too."
DiNardo said Horn was receiving care at a "facility that helps with some treatment and monitoring" for priests accused of abuse. He declined to say whether Horn has admitted or denied guilt.
"My personal opinion is that Father Horn is the most trustworthy, honest, respectable, righteous man that I know," parishioner Robert Navarette said.
Horn was ordained in 1973 and was highly respected within the archdiocese, DiNardo said.
DiNardo said the archdiocese will refer Horn's case to church officials in Rome, and he could face a canonical trial. The cardinal said the case also has been referred to the district attorney's office but it is likely that too much time has passed for him to be prosecuted.
DiNardo said the church has been vigilant since accusations of sexual abuse began several years ago. About 35,000 volunteers and people who work in the church have undergone training to recognize signs of abuse.
Horn has also served as associate pastor of St. Mary's Church in Texas City and St. Mary's Church in Galveston.
To read the letter sent to parishioners, click here.

When i asked my mom about this...she said the priest at church Sat. read a letter to the community...but they couldn't understand him so they really had no idea until the story broke last night on the news.


What a sad day today. I hope and pray for the catholic community...that this is not true and he didn't do it. But no one will ever really know besides the accuser and the priest.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

3 strikes...Your OUT!

Well we're on our second strike for the week. I'm not sure if i mentioned it before but Sam really got a Gigantic goose egg on her head the other day. I was quite worried about her and kept her awake and made sure her pupils were dilating etc. I almost called the dr. it had me so worried. When Sams happened we were all racing back to the bathroom to get Hannah out of the tub. Paul and I had both grabbed a baby out of the tub to dry off and dress...while Hannah stayed in the tub as it was draining. After the babies were all dressed they saw that i made a bee line to the door of our bathroom to get her before the could get in there and get in trouble. Well low and behold Sam was running and tripped and hit the corner of the trunk we have for covers etc...it's at the end of our bed. SO, that happened and things had settled down. Then today, Hannah was dragging around one of my old maternity jackets(not even sure where she found it) and i told her to go put it back where ever she got it from...so she started goofing around and didn't really make an effort to get it back to the right spot. So i told her to hurry it up so we could go play outside. That got her running...so she was running around the bed past pauls night stand to get into our old closet, since that is where she actually found it. Anyway she went running and hit the CORNER again...this time the corner of the night stand! UGH! This time i was horrified b/c it really sounded like she cracked her skull. I mean she was dead on straight into the corner with her forehead! It was horrible. While this was going on i was yelling at paul to get some ice...he didn't even hear me as he was in the little boys room. I kept yelling...finally he heard me and got her some ice. I kept the ice on her boo boo for a while and then we put a band aid on her forehead..just so she'd feel better. How many more corners are the girls going to hit in one week??? This is the worst week for boo boo's, that we've ever had. It's just one thing after the other.

Other than that, not much to report. We had a great weekend...Allison came over yesterday to play so we had a all girls lunch and left dad at home with the babies and H & i went with Aunt Jennifer and Cousin Allison to lunch! We had a great time! The girls had fun...fought a bit...but that's normal for them. They played and played yesterday...it's just so great that they are so close. I pray that they stay close. We weren't very close to our cousins, so i feel very strongly that we should do everything we can to keep them as close as possible. The love each other so much. It's nice b/c they have each other and the twins have each other. So if the older girls don't want to play with the babies...it's no big deal b/c each pair can hang out together.

Other than Allison coming over...we didn't do anything exciting this weekend. Cleaned the house, played outside ALOT and went on a couple of walks(since the weather was SOO GORGEOUS). The girls LOVE it outside. They watched Paul and I teach Hannah how to climb a tree. I think we may be getting ourselves into some trouble with that considering ALL three of the girls climb on furniture like monkeys. But i felt compelled to climb the plumb tree and so did paul. Hannah did really good climbing the tree. She got a bit scared when it was time to get down...but she did great climbing up the tree. Sure hope she doesn't try to do it when we're not watching and get stuck up there. YIKES!

All right now i'm just rambling on and it's almost time to go to bed.

But one more thing to document before i go to bed. The twins are doing the sweetest/cutest thing these days. It's what i've dreamed about seeing them do together. They are now hugging and kissing each other. If you tell one baby to go kiss the other...she'll totally go up to the other baby and open her mouth and kiss her. It's seriously the CUTEST thing i've ever seen! I tried to get some video of it..but then they got shy and wouldn't do it. I vow to get some video of it asap...before they grow out of this stage and refuse to kiss each other anymore! :)

Friday, January 11, 2008

MDO - End of the first week

Surprisingly the girls love MDO...well love might be a strong word...but they are doing well. They cried yesterday morning when i left...but by the time i was out the door they were fine. When i went to pick them up they were playing outside so i got to peek out and see how they were doing. They were on oppositie sides of the yard both playing with balls by themself. It was really cute. Ms. Anna & Ms. Caroline are such WONDERFUL teachers...they are just so patient and good with them. They saw the girls started crying as soon as they saw me so they each carried one up to me through the crowd of kids around me so i could hold and hug them both together. It was so cute. I'm so happy the first few days are over with and the anxiety is gone. Now i don't feel so bad about leaving them. Of course next week is another story b/c they won't have been in a while...but i honestly think it's easier on them since there are two of them v/s on all by herself. I honestly feel it's just easier b/c they have their best friend with them...even if they don't get along most of the time...they will be BFF.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Dr. Stats

Before i give the dr. stats i want to say...Sam got her first goose egg last night. It was kinda scary and i don't remember Hannah ever getting such a big knot on her head. I felt bad b/c if i hadn't started running...they wouldn't have started running. What was i thinking?? Anyway we were all running back towards the bathroom b/c Hannah was still in the tub and i wanted to beat them there so i could get her out and they wouldn't go running over the wet floor. Well as we were all entering into our bedroom Sam just totally tripped and boom..right into the chest that holds blankets. RIGHT INTO THE CORNER! I almost had a heart attack...i saw it and it looked horrible. We immediately ran to get ice...and did what we could to stop the swelling. It looked horrible almost immediately. But 2 hours later and it went WAY down...it's under her bangs so you seriously can't see it. Thankfully she's ok! Now to the stats.

Sarah:
27' - 5th percentile
19.14 - 25th percentile
don't remember the head sizes..but Sarah's head is actually somehow bigger than Sam's. Not sure how this can be...but it is.

Samantha
27 2/8th's - 5th percentile
20.4 - 25th percentile
don't know her head either.

The Dr. said to keep them away from starches...well they really like them. UGH! They LOVE pasta, bread and green beans. Sam's been turning a bit picky lately...and so i either make her mac n cheese or she won't eat lunch/dinner. I know i should just make her starve a couple of times...so she'll try new things but it breaks my heart and i just can't do it. SO, mac n cheese it is...till she decides she wants something differnt to eat. I know she'll grow out of this stage...so i'm not worried about it. The dr. also said 24-36 ounces of milk a day...WHAT? Milk is FAT...why would she think it's ok to give them all that milk but not starches? I'm confused..

As for their progress physically: they are running. If they know they are in trouble..they will run away as fast as they can. It's pretty funny...esp when their's two of them running...it looks like i'm hearding cattle. HA HA HA! Anyway, they aren't saying much yet. They say dada, baba, mama sometimes but not really(seriously they don't say mama..but it breaks my heart that they say dada and not really mama)...i think it's beacause i'm the one always talking to them so i don't say go see mama. They'll learn sooner or later.

Lastly, Sarah has a new tooth that has come in and already broke the skin. It's the bottom second to left tooth. Sam already has hers...so now they are finally caught up to each other.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

A New Schedule

I decided, after picking up the girls from school yesterday, to put them on THEIR schedule. It's going good so far today. Here's what our schedule is like now:
5:30a wake up & bottle
7:00a breakfast & more milk
9:00a snack
10a-play outside if weather is nice
11:00a lunch
12:00p nap - 2p
230p-snack
530p dinner
700p bed(this is a bit early...but i'm going to try this just to see)

So far so good...just running a bit late on lunch as expected considering we normally eat aroung noonish...they are a little bit grumpy...but i'm making it and so are they!
I'll update later on stats from dr.s appt yesterday! Once again..chubby and short!

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The Twins first day of school...

Was actually fairly painless...that is, until we made it to Dr. Eisners office for 1 year shots. POOR BABIES...they are exhausted now.

School went very well. I asked to the teachers how they did and she said Sarah was FINE. Sam was a bit wimpy and cried some. She said they were a bit upset when we left...but they took everyone outside and things calmed down some. They played outside and were ok..then she said they'd look at each other and start whining some. She said by the time they had gotten in from play time they were fine. They didn't eat much for lunch, which is a big surprise...since my girls can EAT some food. They then slept from about noon - 2p. SO, they are down to one nap a day if i can stay on this schedule and they are down to TWO bottles a day....but i have to say that the two bottles a day is not enough for them. When they got home from school..they both drank TWO sippy cups each of milk. They were parched from what i could tell. They also a an entire ziploc(not full but about 10-15 cookies each) of animal crackers. They were STARVING! Anyway, they are back on track now. They sucked down their night time bottle and hit the sack! I gave them some Tylenol earlier just to be cautious with the shots. Hopefully they'll sleep good tonight.

Anyway, what a GREAT Relaxing day...besides the flat tire. I'm really looking forward to my Thursday and will probably go meet Paul for lunch! YEAH!

Monday, January 07, 2008

The Girls FIRST day of Mothers Day Out...

Today is the twins first day of Mothers Day out...i can't believe the time has come. When we initially decided to put them in at a year...it seemed like SOO far away. Now it's less than 2 hours away! YIKES!

I'm nervous!! I'm not worried about the girls...well i mean i am...but not really. I know everyone their very well and i know they will be very well taken care of at St. Rose. BUT, i'm really scared for Ms. Anna & Ms. Caroline. They are ALL excited about having the girls in their class...but they have no idea what they are in for with my two girls! For instance, when one cries they both cry. They both like to bite each other...hopefully they won't bite other kids! UGH! The fight and pull hair ALOT! They eat ALOT, still spit up/puke some...mostly when they over eat or drink & poop alot. I'm comparing this to my sweet Hannah...that never eats, hardly poops and never really cried when she was a baby. It's just a big difference. For instance...right now they are both right at my feet crying...for what reason i have no idea...i've just learned to deal with their fussy fussy personality. Sometimes i think i just tune it out. But what else can you do?

On another note...i've been really sad this morning...yep on top of worrying about my kidos getting expelled from MDO...LOL...Just kidding about expelled! Anyway, i'm a blog addict..i read alot of blogs...mostly moms of multiples blogs. Mainly to see and compare what's going on with my kidos to someones elses kidos/life. Anyway, i'm sad. Sad because most if not almost all the blogs i read the parents get to take a night away from their kidos. They have friends of family for that matter that help and are excited about helping. For me, it's totally different. Pauls parents would LOVE to help...but they live so far away and don't see the kids much and it wouldn't really be fair to the kids of grandma & grandpa for that matter. BUT, my parents...well that's another story. I'm sure i i begged and begged they may...but most likely not. I don't want to make this a paragraph about bashing my parents so we'll just leave it at that. Mainly i'm just sad b/c most triplet and even quad blogs i read have gotten out for a night alone...and get to come back the next day refreshed! I'm sad because that's not the case for me & paul. We've been with the kidos since birth and never once been away over night. I know Pauls parents are going to take them in the next year or so...but i'm sad that they are the only family that have offered to take them for a night.

Well enough whining for now. It's done, over with and i'll move on and get over it. :)

UPDATE: this morning was CRAZY! My tire went flat on the way to take the girls to school. No biggie...got out of the car at Krogers, put that foam stuff in, called Paul to come bring his big truck to air it up(THANK GOODNESS I HAVE A SWEET HUBBY THAT'LL JUMP TO COME HELP ME WHEN I CALL). Anyway, he brought the big truck up to Krogers with an air compressor. We aired it up the rest of the way...he came with me to take the girls and boy did they cry. We peeked back through the window as we were leaving and each teacher was holding a baby. Then i got into the car to take it up to Discount tire to have the patch the hole. WELL, low and behold, i had driven on it too long and ruined the tire to the extent that i could have had a blow out. SO, i decided instead to go get a pedi and take it easy. Then i took the truck up to pauls shop so they could get the number off of it and find me a tire(thank goodness paul deals with tires on a daily basis). They ended up finding one at DISCOUNT TIRE...the same place i was sitting earlier. SO, i went back up to discount and sat for a few hours...got my tired fixed and now i'm home relaxing...my feet up watching a bit of T.V. I can't nap...it's weird without my kidos here crying in my ear every few minutes! WEIRD...but a nice peaceful weird. Anyway, now i'm off to get some more foam stuff on the way to pick paul up...to then pick the kidos up and head off to the dr. for 1 year shots. Nice way to end, what i'm sure is a crappy day for my sweet babies! Boy, they had no idea what a bad day they were going to have today...tomorrow will be better....NO SHOTS, NO MDO, TWO NAPS, MORE BOTTLES, Etc...

Think that's it for now...sorry to ramble on like i'm writing a book...just had to document everything for the future so i can remember and tell the girls all about their 1day of MDO in a few years!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

More Prayers and some cute pics

Please pray for Amy's baby who is at TCH in the NICU. He is doing better and eating good(as of yesterday he's finally had 8 bottles)...but needs some prayers to come home soon! It's been hard on them i'm sure...since they have 3 kidos at home who also need lots of attention.



On a happier note...here are a few cute pics from our last week.
Nice pic of my sweet baby girl Hannah, picking her nose! LOL!

Hannah assisting the girls in to the house...i think she was actually pulling them by the back of their trousers!The girls crawling up the stairs...Sarah's new corker bow...Thanks to Sydney & Katelyn! A cute loving pic..This is priceless...they think it's funny to put mac n cheese in their hair while eating...Sam does it more than Sarah..but as soon as Sarah see's it...she does it too!Hannah had to do it too!Playing outside today!
This is what happens when theirs no supervision for a minute or two....Hannah pulls the diaper box over for the girls to climb up on to get into even bigger trouble! Caught them red handed...trying to get the shoes off the dresser! No more boxes anywhere around in the room to climb on now! Hannah & Allison riding bikes in the front yard! Allison in the front yard!Hannah & Allison in the front yard!



A plum tree in the back yard!

We have a plum tree in the back yard! How cool is that??? We found a tiny plum that looked like a tiny cherry tomato in the back yard. Looked up and there were a few more on this ugly tree right by the orange tree. We were soo excited we had to try the one that was on the ground. It was actually really good...tiny though. Now that we have plums, oranges, and pecans...i think i want to plant a lemon or lime tree along with an apple tree sometime this year. I wonder if you can get a tax break for farming...well maybe just growing so many things in your back/front yard. Just kidding!


Anyway, here is a pic of our plum tree!