Friday Night Leftovers

So it seems that I got a new visitor to my blog! I got a text from the aunt saying she read my post and the point was taken. She said I didn't need to worry about playing stupid anymore.

So...

I have a lot of feelings about this little communication from her, and well I do feel bad that she got her feelings hurt. I would feel just as bad if I had inadvertently hurt the feelings of anyone else.

But.

BUT. I am not sorry for what I wrote. I wrote what I was feeling in response to how I perceived her actions.

She was the one who actively searched out my blog. She somehow got part of the address (still not sure how, not that it matters anymore anyway), googled it, and stayed for approximately 18 minutes reading my blog.

She knew she had no business at this place, yet she kept reading. Then, when she found something that annoyed her, she went OUT OF HER WAY to text me to tell me about it as if I had done something wrong and she had caught me at it. (She also text Is.aac, which is even more offensive to me. If she had an issue with me, then she needs to address it with me, not run to him and "try" to get me into some sort of elementary school trouble. Please.)

I blocked her IP address and will watch out for people who click over from her area of the country. But really, what else can I do? (Yes, I know there are ways to get around a blocked address.)

Nothing really. I've decided this is more her issue than mine. I suppose she could be hateful and hand out this address to everyone who will listen. Whatever. I don't have time to deal with that kind of drama.

Sigh. Sometimes I don't understand people.

~~~

I am starting the Elf on the shelf thing tomorrow. I am a bit paranoid that I am going to forget to hide the stupid thing and mess it all up. lol. Wish me luck!

~~~

I decided that the toy Ja.son saw yesterday is going to get donated. We donate toys every year, so that isn't something totally out of the norm. I also decided that I'm still going to have Santa give the toy to him. I figure the reason will be that Santa saw how much he liked the donated one and thought he'd want one, too.

Not a perfect plan, but I think it will work.

~~~

Cathy talked about how her boys were getting beds for their birthday because they had outgrown their toddler beds. I couldn't figure that out. My boys were big and they still fit. In my head, I just chalked it up to her boys being especially big.

Last night, I got the urge to see just how much longer my boys had before I needed to get them bigger beds. I nearly fell over when I saw that Ja.son's head touched one end of the bed while his feet touched the other. Sh.awn didn't have all that much more room.

How could I miss that they didn't fit in their beds any more?! Apparently I am not very observant.

~~~

Shatterproof tree ornaments, oh how I love thee. Jack keeps taking the ornaments off the tree and throwing them on the ground. He has yet to break one! Whoot.

~~~
Stop by Danifred's for more Leftovers.

Letter to a Toy Merchant

Dear Toy Merchant,

Why, oh why, would you send a toy purchased online during the weekend after Thanksgiving to a home in its original packaging instead of the traditional brown shipping box? Could you not fathom that perhaps the purchase, bought during the most popular holiday shopping weekend of the year, might possibly be a gift for a child at the designated shipping address?

It happens, you know.

People buy items online and ship them to their home and use them for gifts! Really!

Do you know what happens when a child residing at said home sees the undisguised toy box on his front porch?

Let me just tell you.

The child wants the toy. Now. The child pesters his poor, tired mother for the rest of the night about that damn toy. "What was it? Who is it for? Where is it? Can I play with it?" On and on and on...

It is even worse when the toy in question was going to be a gift from the big man in RED.

Yeah. That can't happen now. How is mommy going to explain why Santa left a toy for Christmas that they already got in the mail? She can't, especially when the boy is 5 and has a memory like a computer chip.

So thank you, toy merchant. Thanks a LOT. You have made my life just a little bit more complicated.

Your disgruntled customer,
Stacie

P.S. You suck.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

I gave the boys haircuts today.

I hate doing haircuts. It's one of those necessary evils that I do because I just can't justify taking the boys out, paying for them to melt down while getting a cut that isn't any better than I can do.

For once, there were no tears. I tell you it was glorious. Okay, fine. Glorious probably isn't the best word to describe the feeling, but it was pretty nice to not have to hear them screaming the entire time I work on them.

You see, it's the little things that make me happy. No screaming during the haircuts definitely makes me happy! :-)

Aren't they cute? :-)

I just realized that Sh.awn's hair parts on the right; Jack's hair parts on the left; and Ja.son's hair doesn't have a part. Hm. How funny is that? You'd think I'd pick a side and stick with it. lol.

Friday Night Leftovers

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. The boys did not want to eat anything because it all was "ex-cust-ing." I did manage to coax them into trying a bite of each thing with the promise of a mini-marshmallow per bite. Jack apparently doesn't like mini-marshmallows either, so he did a fine job decorating my mom's floor with all of his food. Oh well.

Parenting at its best. lol.

~~~

Is.aac played his traditional "Turkey Bowl" football game on Thanksgiving morning. A bunch of guys have been getting together for years to play football.

Every year, he usually comes back with his fair share of aches and pains, (He forgets he's no longer 18 and in shape.) although I've been waiting for the call that will inevitably come about him or one of the other guys breaking something and having to rush to the ER. Fortunately, he made it through the game intact.

Afterward, they were talking/catching up with each other when he managed to crack a sizable chunk of his tooth while chewing a piece of gum.

Sigh.

We're thanking his lucky stars that he's not in pain right now, but the added expense of a crown is not something we need right now.

~~~

Ja.son asked me to marry him this afternoon. Oh how that melted my heart! Such a sweet boy!

~~~

Can I just say that I love online shopping. I mean really. I love it. I got to stay in my nice warm living room and shop. Things will be delivered right to my door. I couldn't ask for more!

~~~

I am having a really productive holiday so far, definitely not my norm! I have put up the Christmas lights on the house, started to address Christmas cards (they came today and I love them!), put up the Christmas tree, and did a little shopping. Go me!

~~~

Drop by Danifred's for more Leftovers.

Giving Gifts

With twins and a toddler, gift giving can be a bit challenging. Although it looks like there are thousands of toys out in the world, half of the toys are immediately eliminated from contention simply because they are geared for children of the opposite gender. (While I am not opposed to giving the boys gifts that might be considered "girl" gifts, that issue hasn't really come up yet.) And when you have two kids the same age, you're already limited gift choices drop exponentially. Plus, by the time the toddler reaches any given age, it seems like he already has half a toy store at his disposal. Finding something new and interesting for him is just as difficult.

Really, you have two options.

1) Buy the same toys for everyone. This may seem like a valid option, but in practice it doesn't really work. You could have FIVE of the exact same toys in your house expecting that everyone will play harmoniously together because, hey! everyone has his own toy! The problem is, the ONLY toy child A will want is the one his brother has in his hands. Of course no other toy will do, and shame on you for trying to get child A to see that the other four toys are just as good. Besides, it can be incredibly boring to have two of everything (for them and for me). Sigh.

or

2) Purchase only one of any given toy, directing each toy to the child whose interests and/or personality best matches it. You know, do the same thing parents of single children do all the time. This option sounds plausible, really it does. Yet, with the limited choices of toys available and the fact that your children spend every waking moment together, trying to find that perfect toy for one vs. the other is harder than one might think. What one likes is often what the other likes, which gets tricky. For the toddler, you just pray like heck that there is something, somewhere he doesn't already have access to that he'll like.

So what's a mom to do? To some extent, I try to make things somewhat comparable between gifts for the boys. How do I make things "fair" without going crazy in the process?

I found a blog that talked about simple gift giving. This year I'm going to try it and see if it helps. It goes something like this.

Gifts are designated into different categories:

• something they WANT
• something they NEED
• something to WEAR
• something to READ
• something to WATCH
• something to LISTEN TO
• something to PLAY WITH
• something to CREATE

What I like is that these categories are gift giving guidelines. Hopefully they will help keep me organized in my shopping, making it easier to keep things fairly balanced. I have given myself permission to give group gifts and decided the boys aren’t necessarily guaranteed an item in every category. So we shall see how it goes. I'll keep you updated on my experience this year.

P.S. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Weekend Leftovers

Ah, I am so excited that this is a short work week for me. Two and a half days and then four days off! Glorious.

My only concern is that short weeks tend to be more challenging that regular weeks. Somehow, the kids make sure to cram in the usual amount of crazy into the fewer days.

~~~

We have an assembly on Wednesday. The teachers have planned a flash mob dance. That should be interesting. Yikes. I've got some practicing to do!

~~~

Jack is officially a climber. I've caught the boy on the counters and the table. I expect to walk into a room one day and find him swinging from the ceiling.

Thankfully, he has not yet discovered that he could climb his crib. Praying that it takes him a long, long time to figure that one out.

Having a climber is so strange. The big boys didn't do any of this kind of stuff. It's a whole new territory for us.

~~~

Is.aac and I went on a date last weekend. To dinner. Alone. For three hours! It was really nice. We definitely need to do that more often.

It's hard, though, because we don't have anyone to watch the boys. I mean, there's my mom, but she watches them all week long while I'm at work. I feel horrible asking her to watch them on the weekend, too. (She says she doesn't mind, but what's she going to say?)

~~~

I think that Sh.awn is finally potty trained. He has very few accidents here at home, but he refused to go on the potty at my mom's house...where, um, he is at most of the day. We tried our best to recreate the bathroom here at home to no avail.

We had a breakthrough when we allowed him to take his LeapPad into the bathroom with him. LOL. Now, he has no problem going over there. Yeah!

~~~

Sh.awn has been talking about my dad. Says things about him. Stuff he shouldn't know.

I just don't know what to do with that.

I mean, I've asked my mom if she's talked about my dad to the boys. She says she hasn't. I haven't.

So how come Sh.awn's talking about him?

How come he's told me that grandpa is here?

It's unsettling.

~~~

The Shining is on TV. Probably not the best movie to watch right before bed, especially with all the stuff Sh.awn's been saying!

~~~

I had planned to blog everyday during this month. You can see how well I did at that. When things get hard, I tend to go silent.

Yep. Things are hard again.

~~~

Stop by Danifred's for more Leftovers. She asked if you've noticed if people are not blogging as much lately. I've noticed it. Have you guys?

World Prematurity Day - Part 2

Today was World Prematurity Day. We wore our purple, but I have to say that the weight of how prematurity has affected our lives was heavy on my heart. Each time I looked at my boys with their bright purple shirts, I was reminded.

 

Over and over again all day long it was there.

 

Every single one of their struggles is directly related to their prematurity. All of the scary diagnoses, the complications, the surgeries, and the challenges are from being born too soon.

 

Oh how I wish I could somehow change this one thing in their lives on days like this, somehow give them another week or two to gestate. The "if onlys" are many, and the guilt comes back. How could it not when my body's failure played such a major role in the most influential event of their lives? While the guilt may not be as intense as it used to be, it's still there. I imagine it might always be.

 

But, I know, know in my heart that we are very lucky.

 

I know how very close we came to losing our boys.

 

I am so, so thankful that they are still here.

 

I know just how strong and determine these boys are, and I am so very proud of them.

 

World Prematurity Day

November 17 is World Prematurity Day, a day when we focus on the global (and our very personal) problem of premature birth.

Shawn on the day he was born.
10/27/07

A day when millions of people around the world join together to Honor babies born too soon.

Jason on the day he was born.
He was so, so sick here. :-(

A day we celebrate the tremendous strength and determination our our little fighters.

Isaac's ring on Jason's foot.
It could have easily gone up his entire leg.

Being premature means more than babies are just born small. 

Isaac's ring on a tiny hand.

For more than a million babies each year, prematurity means they won't make it to their first birthday.

Mommy giving Shawn a kiss.
11/4/07

While other parents get to take their newborns home to snuggle and enjoy,

Mommy kissing Jason.
11/4/07

parents of preemies spend days...weeks...or like in our case, months sitting at their babies' bedside

Daddy meeting his boy for the first time.
Shawn

wishing, praying, hoping, and pleading that their babies get well enough to come home.

Daddy meeting his second boy.
Jason

On November 17, we'll be wearing purple to remember the battle we faced because of prematurity.

Daddy holding Shawn for the first time.

We'll be wearing purple in honor of all very special preemies in our lives.

Mommy holding Jason for the first time.

Please join us in wearing purple to show your awareness of the millions of premature babies world wide and to honor the preemie babies in your life.

~~~

The post I wrote for last year's World Prematurity Day.
The post I wrote for 2010's World Prematurity Day.

Getting Excited About Christmas

I've always wanted to get those picture Christmas cards that everyone else sends. This year, we're sending them out, too. :-)

I accidentally found a groupon for 53% off, which literally allowed me to splurge. I'm so excited!

Morning Conversations

I'm sharing this on the boys' blog later today, but it was too cute not to share here, too. :-)

~~~

Overheard in our bedroom at the crack of dawn this morning...

J: (whispering) Shawn, come here.

S: (whispering) Are mommy and daddy awake yet?

J: No. You go to the left and wake up daddy, and I'll go to the right and wake up mommy.

S: But I want to wake up mommy.

J: No, I do.

Daddy: Shhhh...

J: (whispering again) You're supposed to go wake up daddy.

S: Awww...I'm so justappointed. (my guess is this meant he was "just disappointed")

J: Ok. You go wake up mommy.

~~~

And so the conspiracy begins...

Wait. Who am I trying to kid?

The conspiracy continues!

Thankful in November

If you’ve been on Facebook or read blogs over the last few days, you know that it is Thankful November. The month when people count their blessings in posts, since it is the month of Thanksgiving.

There is so much in my life for which to be thankful--my husband, my family, my family, my friends, and my life.

And of course, I am thankful for these brothers...

my Sh.awn, my Ja.son, and my Jack.

I am so very thankful for these boys who bring me such joy!*



*Keeping it real by saying they have been know to bring me a bit lot of frustration on some days, too. lol

Friday Night Leftovers

Oh man. I'm tired. I can't seem to get enough sleep and never wake up feeling rested. Sigh. I suppose I should make an appointment to get some blood work done. I'm guessing something is off somewhere--probably back to dealing with my pesky anemia. (It's been an issue all of my life.)

~~~

My fatigue will not be helped by the field trip I am taking kids on tomorrow. It's to a football game. At night. With 80 kids. We are not scheduled to get back until 12:30 am.

I know! What was I thinking?!!?

I do have to say that these trips sound a lot less ominous when they get planned way back in June. For some reason I always forget that I'd rather not go when the trip gets here.

~~~

The boys have not had PT for two weeks. Both of their PT's are on juries. One is almost finished--I think she'll be back next week. The other is going to be gone at least two more weeks.

The hard part is that there is only one other PT in the afternoons. In order to get them in to make up the appointments the boys are missing, we'd have to take time off of work. I just can't justify taking off a half day of work two times a week for a half an hour PT session.

I understand there isn't much to be done about the whole thing, but it's annoying.

~~~

Have I ever mentioned the aunt here? Is.aac has a retired Army drill sergeant aunt who just loves to come visit us. That in itself is all well and good, but she likes to say rude things to me ("You look so much better now that you've put on all of this weight, St.acie." yep. She said that to my face.) and Is.aac's man parts tend to shrivel and die while she's here. He simply loses his ability to think when she is around, which drives me up the wall because I have to be the one to deal with his aunt.

Anyway, the woman is coming to town this week. She is hinting at wanting to hold a family get together at our house next weekend. She is used to getting her way and doesn't ever hear anything that goes against what she thinks/wants to do. But the part that drives me the craziest is that she never directly asks for what she wants. She just plays these annoying games as she tries to get you to do whatever. I am playing stupid to deflect her plans.

Now if I can keep her from talking to Is.aac while I'm not there, we'll be successful. Wish me luck.

~~~

The last round of TB testing is this week. Both mom and my brother have to go back to get retests. (Ha. I just wrote retestes. Made me laugh.) My grandma is still on the meds, but they've dropped down the medication she's on from 9 pills a day to 3. She is feeling so much better now that she's off most of the pills. The side effects from one of the meds made her feel nauseated all the time. She got to stop that med thankfully. She is almost done taking the other meds, too.

 Then the whole drama will be over and done with. Yea.

And no, they still have not conclusively decided if she ever had TB in the first place. Grr.

~~~

My kids rock. They are so funny lately!

~~~

Stop by Danifred's for more Leftovers. I am so glad she decided to keep the Leftovers going!

Happy Halloween (A Day Late)

A day late, but the wish is still sincere. I hope you all had a fun filled Halloween.

My crew certainly did. We went to the mall again to trick-or-treat. They loved, loved, loved talking to the people in the stores and getting candy. lol. Jason had so much fun he tried to go to sleep with his bag. He was so excited about having real. live. candy! Shawn just wanted to stop to chat with every single person he saw. He is such a charmer. And Jack...well, he just goes with the flow. ;-)

Once again, though, I needed to remember my lesson about not setting my expectations ahead of time. Things rarely go as I have them in my head, yet we always seem to have a good time anyway. The hard part is that it takes my anxiety ratcheting up a few notches before I realize it is time to let things go. (Oh how I yearn to control everything.) When I relax, things are so much easier (and more fun) for us all. I'm getting there slowly but surely.

Jack - Popeye
We got so many comments about his costume!
He didn't wear the muscle arms while we were out. I
just drew anchors on his arms with eye liner then.
Of course, I then couldn't get the eye liner off of his skin
later that evening, but it looked cute while we were out.

Jay - Jeff Gordon
"Mommy, this costume makes my underwear go in
my butt." I almost died from laughter. I got to teach
the boy the term, "merf." lol

Sh.awn was Woody
He only wore the hat for 2% of the night
Picture taking was not during that 2% of time. Sigh.