Grammy's Here!!!!!!!

Paris

Our Daddy is in Paris. He left Saturday morning to chaperon another school trip. Greece and Paris in less than 12 months..and all for free..? Yes, we really love Stephen's job. His job, the school, the parents at the school.. the teachers we are friends with.. it is all pretty miraculous.









The girls enjoyed helping me go through his list and helping him pack his "airplane".



Ollie was the only one of the small ones among us who truly understood what this all meant.

We miss him tremendously already. He will be back on Sunday and I am counting the moments. In the meantime we are trying to stay busy for the next few hours until it's time to load up and head to the airport to pick up Grammy. Then the real fun begins.

Pink Toes

We have been making more of an effort lately to spend time with the girls separately. I have been taking one girl with me grocery shopping each week and Stephen takes the other on a secret daddy adventure (lately a long walk in the Ergo with a stop by the local chocolate shop). This week we had two days to do something special with them. Stephen took Ada to the mall to get some final things for his trip and Margot stayed home with me.



What to do to make our time more special..? Paint her toenails for the first time! I know I know.. I can't believe I haven't done it before either.



Painting those tiny toes pink with "Strawberry Swing" echoing in my tiny bathroom turned out to be more precious than I thought it would be.



She seemed to really understand what a special treat it all was. Sitting on my bathroom counter with her little feet in the sink. Asking for help putting in each and every hair clip in my personal arsenal. Admiring herself in the mirror. Talking non-stop. Brushing her baby cheeks with my make-up brushes.. sharing her newly honed skill with her mommy. It was truly magical



How could I have ever been sad for a single moment that the wiggly bumps in my tummy were girls instead of boys?

5 Weeks

Stephen took these yesterday while he and girls were enjoying the beautiful weather we had this weekend. I was asleep in bed, nursing the 5th week of this insane chest/head cold that just refuses to go away. I have taken every supplement and OTC drug that I am allowed to take with this little sprout of a girl growing in my tummy. It seemed I was actually mostly better last week and then Sunday night it all came rushing back as I stayed up all night helping a Margot who had come down with the same thing. The last week has been pretty brutal and I was so thankful for the 1/2 day that Stephen had on Friday. I went to bed when he got home and didn't come back downstairs until Sunday afternoon. The doctor finally called in some Tussionex ("The most powerful cough medicine you can get") on Friday and that seems to be helping. I have coughed so hard that I actually pulled a muscle in my seemingly gigantic belly. Sigh. That makes all this coughing that much more fun let me tell you. The lowest point came on Friday when I was so sick I was pretty much crawling around the house taking care of the girls until Stephen got home. Somehow the Lord granted me an extra dose of patience and kind words and the girls were being as cooperative as they could be. I kept coughing too hard and having to go throw up (TMI I know... read at your own risk). At one point I was on my knees being sick in my bathroom upstairs and between.. moments.. calling out the door to the girls in as normal a voice I could manage to make sure they weren't getting into things they shouldn't in our room. When I finally emerged the girls were none the wiser to what had been going on in there and I was able to talk to them in a cheerful voice as we played the last few hours away before Daddy came to the rescue. I sort of felt like a super mom in that lowest of moments, because my kids weren't upset at my being sick and I wasn't letting my illness taint the way I interacted with them. Other than looking like death warmed over I mean. I took that as my accomplishment for the day and felt no guilt at all for sleeping the rest of the weekend away.

Anyway today I am back to my mom duties, solo, and am feeling a bit better. Still would love to be upstairs sleeping but.. that will have to wait until tonight.

In other news, the baby is still doing well. She is very active just like her sisters were. I have only gained 5lbs so far in this pregnancy and the doc said I should have gained 12 by now.. so I am a little behind. He wasn't worried though as being sick for so long and chasing twin 2 year olds around all day will tend to keep one from putting on weight. The other thing is I am just not hungry. Probably because I am too tired to be hungry. Working on that though.

Stephen and I are headed to his swim teams state championship meet Sunday night. Looking forward to an overnight trip with my hubs while Mom and Aunt B wrangle.. I mean play with and love on the girls. This is the last week of these 4:15 am wake up calls!!!! Can't believe we made it through in one piece!! Mostly one piece at least.

I realized the other day that I haven't taken a single belly picture this time around. Need to do something about that. I don't look nearly the circus freaky size I was with the girls.

On the 26th Stephen is headed to Paris for the week to chaperon a school trip. Mary will be here all week to help with the girls and my Mom will be here the weekend he leaves to fill in as well. I am looking forward to some good girl time.

Last but certainly not least, Mary and Larry are officially no longer residents of Tallahassee. Larry got a wonderful job at a church in Orlando and has been there for about two weeks now..? Give or take.. Mary is finishing up things in Tally before making the big move. Here is the really crazy part.. there house is already under contract!!!! They put it on the market and in something like 24 hours the first couple that came to see it put in a bid and in the end agreed to pay full price. Pretty much a miracle in this housing market. Stephen and I haven't let ourselves think about the fact that we will never spend the night in that sweet home again. We are just looking forward to visiting them in whatever amazing new place they land in Orlando. We will be closer to Tampa and Sarasota when we come for visit so we will be able to see all our buddies and family there more often during trips.. Mary is now retired so she will be able to come and see the babies whenever she is able.. for that matter the girls and I could drive/fly down there and hang out with her at any point in the year for however long she could stand us.. to give Stephen a break and just enjoy some time in FL.. the possibilities are the source of exciting thoughts for us both. Most of all we are so thankful for the reassurance from above that this is definitely where the Lord meant for them to move.

Babies are fighting over their "puppy" .. a green pull along frog on a string.. now Margot is putting it in time out and Ada is crying real tears of this state of affairs.. gotta go.