$10

Went to the half price day at a the Kids Exchange (a local consignment sale). I am feeling like poo with the cold that I can't seem to shake but I stayed home from church to keep my germs contained and get a little more rest. So I was feeling rested enough when S and the kids got home that I headed out anyway. Normally I really just go for the toys.. which are always better at the beginning of the sale. By the time half price day rolls around there ain't too much left.. at least not much worth taking home... but I have a pretty good eye for finding treasures in those piles.. even when the "good stuff" has long since been snatched up. I went looking for some sort of memory game(s) for the girls. I tried a homemade one a couple of weeks ago and they not only loved it.. they were really good at it! I found several contenders but the catch of the day was this amazing Goodnight Moon Game!!! How did so many people look at this and not snatch it up?!?! Perfect condition.. all the pieces.. and you can play it 6 different ways so that everyone from 2 1/2 to 6 years old can enjoy! The girls grabbed it as soon as I got home and we played it.. they loved it and were complete pros right off the bat. I also found another cool memory game called Mom and Baby or something like that (too lazy to go look at the name right now) and it's a little over their head right now but they will be ready for it by the summer. Basically you get to be a Mommy animal and take turns looking for your baby animal. It's cooler than I just made it sound. I also made away with a new FP doctor kit (with all it's pieces included and in great condition!), a bag with 3 Kipper books, and a Plan Toys Fishing Game.. which I have never seen before. It is SOOOO cool.. AND it came with TWO FISHING POLES!!! SCORE FOR THE TWIN MOM!!! I got all of this for $10 .. ten stinkin' dollars ya'll! I think that's pretty dang good. I had some clothes that I gleaned from the endless racks as well.. but then I saw the line. Holy Lord.. the folks nearing the front said they had been there for 2 1/2 hours. Yeah, not doing that. I like saving $$ but.. yeah.. so there was an express line for 5 items or less and I dropped the clothes I had collected and made a bee-line there with my 5 precious items. Still took me 40 minutes to get through the line but I am so glad I took the time.

Nonspecific...

This morning I decided to forgo my shower for day number two and take it easy so that I could recover from this nasty sore throat I have had. Still, I was feeling a little crafty so I decided to make the girls some muffin tin crayons. They are pretty tired of the ones they have, ready for a change of pace. Worked like a charm. While we were waiting for them to cool, I added a little food coloring to some plain yogurt and let them "finger paint" with it. Things were going great until I came around the corner and caught them painting the wall a lovely shade of purple. No worries! It had just happened and a wet cloth took it right off. Sigh of relief. They weren't even concerned that I erased their fresco. Most of the rest of the morning was spent hanging out in their travel cribs. Props to Shing Daddy who busted these out over the weekend. They read books in there, make forts, had some sort of battle with foam counting cubes.. ate snack.. played mommy and baby.. it went on and on.. I was pleasantly amazed at how a little time with an art project in the morning (or two) and some travel cribs could make two little girls so happy and contented. I didn't even bother to get them dressed.. they took their jammies off to paint and they were so cute running around in their little princess panties.. so soft and cuddly.. we just had a naked day.

I am feeling much better this evening.. throat is better.. just really really tired. Starting to get a little panicky about this baby kicking around in my tummy. Not panicky so much as just feeling unprepared. I just made myself go on BabiesRUs and start a registry. There are a few things we need for this little one.. like a crib.. since the girls cribs converted to the toddler beds they are currently sleeping in. There are others as well, but for the most part we have all the gear to bring her home in comfort. Need to get new car seats for the big girls so everyone will fit in the backseat of our little car. It's gonna be a tight squeeze but there is a brand .. Sunshine Kids I think.. that is narrow enough to work. I just.. I don't get it. It is really strange how I can't seem to slow down long enough to get serious about this little girl. She is coming! She is coming whether I am ready or not! I am excited she is coming. So excited. For some reason I just can't get my mind to really accept this fact though. Honestly, I keep thinking in the back of my mind.. if I get the crib.. we will lose her. If I register for the swing.. we will lose her. If I go ahead and start making concrete moves towards her arrival.. I will lose her. This is a hard way to exist. These thoughts are so far back in my mind that I can't even battle them.. they just are. They simply exist there, a haunting shadow of doubt. I feel foolish to doubt.. and foolish to be confident. Just.. it's kinda hard.

Millionaire

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you won the lottery? Of course you have. If you haven't then you are a humble non-materialistic masterpiece and I admire you from afar.

I have all sorts of plans for what I would do if I came into a large sum of money. Mostly that have to do with paying off debt, family debt, and then making sure that my family is taken care of for the rest of our days.. good investments .. that sort of responsible nonsense. I am a saver.. it's in my nature. There are moments though when I think about what I would do if I didn't have to worry about the balance of my checking account as much as I do. These thoughts seem to strike me when I am feeling particularly indulgent while going about the functions of my daily life. For instance, I was cleaning the house yesterday and as I did my quick wipe down of the bathroom with my Method Bathroom Wipes that smell like eucalyptus and mint, I was suddenly so thankful that I can afford this little delicacy. It makes me feel so fresh and happy to smell a newly cleaned bathroom. Then I went on to clean the bathroom mirror. I have been using the same bottle of Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbena glass cleaner for over a year now. It came from the mother of one of Stephen's students and she also sent hand soap, shower spray, and a bar of soap in the same scent. I have not been able to afford to keep us in Mrs. Meyers hand soap but I certainly enjoyed it while it lasted and I just recently finished off that bar of soap. I have, however, determined that when I have run out of the glass cleaner I will make certain to replace it. I always clean the mirror very last in my bathroom cleaning routine and each and every time I spray this refreshingly scented non-toxic cleaner I feel revitalized. I find myself feeling so thankful for the bottle that I own.. and my mind skips to a parallel universe where I am able to purchase Mrs. Meyers products exclusively with absolutely no thought as to the cost. Mrs. Meyers cleaning products make me feel like a millionaire. This inevitably leads me to ponder what else I would love to be able to purchase in abundance at will. My eyes glaze over as I think about endless supplies of raspberries and ripe mangoes , coconut milk ice cream (coconut flavor) and all the Hugo Naturals Geranium Effervescent Bath Salts and matching lotion I could possibly use... enough to take two baths a day for as long as I felt like it. I imagine a bottomless container of Trader Joe's laundry detergent and enough dark chocolate covered cranberries to fill a wash tub. Soft cotton sheets. These are the things that make me feel decadent. Things that I am blessed enough to find in my every day.. not always... but when they do turn up.. I feel like a millionaire. I find it interesting that I don't long for new clothes, movies, music, electronic gadgets, all the books I could read.. shoes.... I'm sure I could find plenty of things to spend money on if I had it to burn but things that I can experience seem to top the list when my mind wanders in that direction.

It's just..I mean.. I can't even.. uh...

..because I need to remember right now.. I need to remember how much fun we have had in the last two weeks.. how much love has been shared between us..right now I just feel so defeated I can hardly put a sentence together.

I am not a fan of whiny posts on here but I need a place to vent.. in writing.. so read at your own risk.

The girls started getting up at around 5:30 or 6am last week.. a great improvement from 4am.. and we were so excited .. feeling like we were finally turning a corner.. and now we are back to that 4am wake up call.. I mean they are getting up even before Stephen's alarm goes off at 4:30 for swim practice. Seriously guys?! You are exhausted.. we are wiped out.. why can't you just SLEEP?!??!?!? Send you back to your room and you scream .. put you in bed with us and there is a 50/50 chance that you might go back to sleep..

Then there is the potty training. The girls were doing great.. no accidents.. then Ada regressed a bit and started pooping in her pants.. and peeing.. then she turned it around and got better again.. no accidents again.. suddenly Margot started doing it.. now they are both doing it.. not so much with the pee.. but the poop (oh so much more fun to clean up than simple urine).. don't seem to even make an effort to go in the potty.. just look at me with a panicked look and say "Oh NO mommy!!!! Poo-poo yucky!!!" You said it friend. Poo-poo EXTREMELY YUCKY. I am losing ground day by day. I was so proud of how well they were doing.. so proud of them.. ready to tell anyone who would listen.. now I have put away the big girl panties.. got tired of throwing them away covered in poo... They are in "princess panties" (Pull-Ups) until they start going poo in the potty again.. they can tell when these are wet so I feel better about that.. at least they don't think they are back in diapers. I was following my potty training e-book to the letter.. even making sure to make them stand up while cleaning up accidents so they wouldn't mentally revert to babyhood while laying down getting cleaned up.. my poor pregnant back can't take the frequency of these episodes now.. I laid Ada right down on the floor this morning and felt like a total failure as I changed her "poo-poo yucky" that she graced me with at the breakfast table. I know regression is a natural part of it.. but how long does it stinkin' last?!!? I am so tired.. so pregnant. so.. having a pity party I know. Just need a break.. some light at the end of the tunnel.. Stephen called me while I was grocery shopping Wednesday to tell me that Ada had gone poo in the potty and I literally cheered while standing in line at Trader Joe's.. then I got home and he said right after she had done so well.. she had a sicky poo right in her panties that spilled everywhere.. sigh. Cling to the good.. cling to the good.. cling to the good for heaven's sake Sarah!!!

And now.. to make sure that someone out there gets a chuckle out my crazy idea to potty train my twins... here is the "funniest" potty incident of this week. I have already started to laugh about it a little myself.

While watching something on the computer so I could get my quiet time in, Ada suddenly stood up and let loose in the chair she was sitting in.. a fountain of pee flowed down the legs of the chair and onto the carpet. I jumped up, grabbing her and racing her to the bathroom, leaving a trail of pee behind us. Cleaned cleaned cleaned.. changed clothes.. rinsed clothes. Back to life. Twenty minutes later I walk past Margot and smelled an unmistakable smell.. yeah.. she was sitting in it pretending it hadn't happened. Carry a crying Margot at arm's length to the bathroom to deal with the incredibly nasty accident she just had.. her lower half is covered in poop... it is falling in drips and drabs on the bathroom floor.. I am feeling thankful that I took my Zofran that morning.. still in the midst of the clean-up process (and starting to get pretty loud about it all to the room [and the twins] at large) I hear Ada yelling from the kitchen "Uh oh Mom!! Pee-pee yucky!!!". Peering around the door with wild eyes I see my daughter standing in the middle of a giant puddle of pee on the linoleum "Don't move!!!" I shout out. She looks down at her feet and starts to splash around in it as though she were outside on a rainy spring day. What to do!? Margot is still dripping poo.. Ada is now looking around for her galoshes .. Swallowing a mouthful of four letter words I screamed at Ada to stand still until I came over to her.. continued cleaning the poop from Margot with a little more urgency. Raced over to Ada and disinfected her and the area of our home she had befouled .. herded their little naked hineys upstairs and into fresh panties and clothing.. chased them into their beds and walked out of their room in a huff.. refusing to even sing a single lullaby. Holy frijoles. If I wasn't pregnant.. if we had vodka in this house.. just sayin'...

Here's to a new day.. and fresh new day that started at the crack of 4:22am.. hey it's better than 4am on the dot right??? .....right..?

Good Practice

Baby Sister

Here she is. This is the least creepy looking picture that they sent home with us on Wednesday. I still think these 3D images are a bit strange looking but at least she is looking human at this stage.

She is absolutely perfect and was so busy moving/swimming around that the tech had a hard time getting the measurements she needed but in the end she cooperated. Her little heart was so beautiful to me. All four chambers beating their tiny rhythm in harmony. I have been feeling her little pokes and jabs for the last few weeks and they are getting stronger. If you are patient, you can feel her exercises on the outside of my belly now.

Funny how almost everyone in the doctors office felt the need to look at Stephen with sympathy. Three girls, poor Daddy. What they don't know is that he was hoping for another girl.. and so was I. We didn't discover this hidden secret until the day before our appointment. We have been referring to the baby as "he" and we would have loved a boy in our home, please don't misunderstand. It's just, as it turned out, we were both trying to talk ourselves into the idea of a boy because that would have been the biggest surprise outcome we could think of. Deep down we are both relieved and almost giddy that we will be raising another sweet little lady. Who would have thought that we would end up loving parenting girls so much? I was so sure I wanted boys and only boys. Stephen is such a great father for girls. Granted.. our girls are not the girliest girls .. yet.. but they are ours. Maybe the newest member of our tribe will be the first to bring the world of princess play into our home.