Tallahassee

We are in Tally having a great time. This is our fourth day here and that means we are all pretty relaxed and settled into our vacation schedule. Today, that schedule included some pool time at a very generous friend's house with our buddies seen above in the picture. The girls are water bugs. I think they would stay in the water all day if we let them. We might try that when we get to Palm Harbor this weekend.

Ms. Margot is absolutely fearless. She runs right off the side and into daddy's waiting arms. He lets her splash right down into the water and then scoops her up and she has nothing but a giant smile on her faces as she blinks the water out of her eyes.

Grammy and Ada practiced swimming. I am pretty sure she thinks she can breathe the water. I had a problem with this boldness recently. I went to a friend's community pool that had a huge 2 foot section for little guys to play in. Our girls have never been in a pool that shallow (other than a wading pool). Instead of walking around in the water like the other, more normal, kids... my little kittens assumed the above position and went right under the water.. and made no attempt to get up! This was alarming. I of course grabbed them out post haste and then my friend Jenn and I spent the rest of the time trying to get them to put their feet down and walk around in the shallow water. My goodness. This was not an issue that I ever thought we would have! Ada finally got the hang of it.. but the texture of the pool bottom was too much for GoGo.. maybe next time.

Look at that little butterfly! A fearless flyer.

First thing in the morning

Look at these adorable bed heads. Don't ya just wanna pick 'em up and kiss 'em right on the mouth? I sure do.

Post

Hellooooooooo out there. It is I, the absentee blogger. It has been just over a month since we last spoke and I have to tell you.. it has been a doozy of a doozy of a month. There is no chance that I am going to recap all of it for you because.. that would be a)self indulgent b)very very boring but here is my nutshell version. Stephen went to Greece for a week, I simultaneously lost my sanity and gained the utmost respect for single mothers while taking care of my extremely whiny ladies and trying to move our home. I had lots of help with move and believe it or not we were fully moved, unpacked, organized and settled by the time Stephen came home on that Tuesday (Ha YA! {karate chop}). Then we went through the last two weeks of school with graduation and all the crazy drama that brings (make it to lots of events to mingle and eat free food can be very draining.. at least according to my dear husband). Then the girls caught hand foot and mouth disease while Mary and Tracy were here for a special visit.. we got to visit with MKD on his tour of the Old North State.. I had some righteous migraines..tried desperately hard to catch up on lost sleep and get over a case of sheer exhaustion.. caught a cold while we were at the beach with my parents.. got some sun and am now packing for our Friday trip to sunny Florida. I realize that is a pretty big nutshell but, there you have it. Don't you feel better now knowing what I have been up to. I thought so. And now, as is my custom, I will give you a few one liners about the random photos that follow:

Sad to admit it but this is the only photo we took while at the beach with my parents. Still it's pretty cute - Stephen with Margot in her jammies before bed.

Our favorite thing to do is play in the water.. pretty sure Ada could sit in that water filled wagon until she turned into a raisin.

Margot loves to drink from the sprinkler.

When Grammy came she brought us a Curious George. Ada adores him.

We now have room for an actual dining table. Will post pictures of our house soon I think.

"Stuck!" this is the alert we get when something like that happens.

Pretty sure Tay-Tay took this picture but I just found it and it was too cute to pass up. Ada looks like she has a secret.

G.G., Nana, and Aunt B came to play so Stephen and I could go to graduation. Ada had so much fun sitting in G.G.'s lap.. don't let that serious look fool you.

Yes, my kids dump their frozen peas on the floor sometimes and yes, I let them eat them right off the floor.

While Daddy was in Greece, the girls seemed to feel better with his t-shirts on. Spent several days tripping around the house like that. It was pretty sweet really.

Our bright blue front door is just perfect for chalk murals and Margot is a master.

We are loving the new house, so much. The kitchen is huge, the front porch is peaceful, the neighbors are friendly .. feels like we moved to the right spot. Can't believe we are living in a house and paying less for it. Amazing. Such a blessing.

I know I am about to go on vacation but I am planning to get back in the blogging groove while I am away so... fret not thou bloggy friends out there... I shall return.. but for now.. good-night.

Still breathing

Here is an adorable picture of Ada playing in the "mouse house" at my parents house last weekend. Yes, my sweet father actually built this into the kitchen cabinets as a surprise for me when I was a little girl. He recently added lights to it and the girls were mesmerized.

So, I am still breathing. We are all still breathing around here.. things have just gotten a little hectic. Stephen is chaperoning the senior class trip to Greece (lucky much!?...well, except for the unrest there but we are assured that it is going to be safe..). He leaves on Tuesday. We get to start moving into our new house.. Tuesday. Perfect. I can handle it. Oh wait.. I broke my two day before yesterday.. yes.. my toe.. broken. I tripped over a corner. A corner in my home.. that I walk past at least 68 times a day. Now my toe, and a great deal of my foot, is blue and swollen. This will make walking our stuff back and forth a bit more challenging. Not to mention the fact that I am stuck indoors with the girls while Stephen is gone.. unable to take them on walks cuz you know.. I can't really.. walk I mean.. well I can.. it just hurts a lot. I have lots and lots of help. So no worries you worriers out there... lots. Just about everyone we know is ready and willing to pitch in and get'r'done. So.. it's gonna happen... the move that is.... Just haven't felt much like talkin' about it.. little stressed. A little stressed. Just a little. The end.

Dear David...

... today I saw these pictures on my FB news feed and my heart started to ache. You are in such a beautiful place.. such awe inspiring surroundings. I see you there, taking it all in.. and I want to be in the picture with you. I want to be there with a baby on my hip ..holding hands with your brother. I want to dangle my legs from the roof of your car and watch Ada and Margot explore the wiry grass on the side of the road. I am so grateful to God that He has you in this place, grateful that He is helping you to thrive there, grateful that you so generously share your daily joys in photos like these. Still my heart aches as I print these pictures and put them on the fridge for the girls to see.. it aches because I miss you so much. I just want to wrap my arms around you and give you a big squeeze. I don't know how Mary can stand it.. how does she keep from racing to the airport every other weekend? We all love you so much, David. The girls are trying so hard to say your name. It's comes out as "Daaa-iiid" right now. Speaking of baby girls, I hear them calling from upstairs.. waking up to another day of Cheerios, watching for busses, and skinned knees. We love you, we miss you.. come see us soon.

Love always,

Your Family on the East Coast

House

It looks like May is going to be a busier month than originally anticipated. We are moving!!! The neighborhood we live in is managed by the Raleigh Housing Authority. This means that some of the units are set aside for their income based housing program. If you qualify for this program, as long as you work 40 hours a week, you can rent a home/apartment for a percentage of your annual income. With Stephen's salary as a teacher and two kids running around, we definitely qualified for the program. We filled out the paperwork this fall and were told there was a long waiting list but they would let us know if anything came available. Well, apparently it wasn't as long a list as we thought! She called yesterday to say that a three bedroom house less than a block away from our townhouse was available! I threw the girls in the stroller and literally ran up to the office to get the key to take a look. Three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a back yard, a small front porch (as you can see in the picture)... all for $160 less than we are paying now for a two bedroom (not sure how that works but I am not asking any questions!)... we just have to move by the end of the month (gulp!). I was up most of the night last night thinking about where I was going to put things, how I would organize our new space. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. I walked over there this morning and I could see the workers working on replacing the carpet and the linoleum, painting and cleaning. Our first house! We have never lived in a house before.. always apartments with at least one shared wall... the girls are going to have their own yard to play in. Hurrah!!!!!

Greetings and Salutations

The girls absolutely love the picture of Baby Alice on the fridge and greet her with a kiss most mornings.

Thanks Grammy!

Grammy suggested to Stephen that we could fill our wagon with water for the girls to play in. Great idea Grammy!!! The only minor obstacle was that there are holes in the bottom so that water can drain out.. Chimay corks to the rescue! We had a few extra corks so we threw them in as well. So much fun except for the dag-gum mosquitoes .. it's only the beginning of May ya'll.

Rant

So as you can see I had a very productive morning. Four down three to go. This time I fried up some extra apples and made a big batch of quinoa too. It's a little easier to make a salad with the quinoa if it's already ready already. Ha.

Now for the ranting portion of this post, which I will call "Really!?".. here we go..

Really BCBS REALLY?!?! After two years of covering my Zomig prescription you suddenly need authorization from my doctor.. really? Did you really send me a letter saying that I should try all the other migraine medications before I continue to take Zomig... did you really do that? Did you really tell me, self righteous A-HOLES, that Imitrex is an alternative to Zomig.. really? Oh I didn't realize that... when I took it years ago and it A) made me throw up and B) didn't help my head.. I was sure I told the doctor that it didn't work and he said there were other things we could try.. like Axert.. yeah Axert.. that worked for awhile.. you are right that could have been an alternative to Zomig. But then it stopped working. Were you there that day when I threw up in the subway because Axert couldn't get rid of the pain ? Oh that's right.. you were in your offices drafting b***s*** letters. Would you like a list of all the medications I have tried .. the ones that have worked.. then failed.. or failed right off the bat? Let me see if I can even remember all of them.. Fioricet, Fiorinal, Phrenalin, Midrin, Imitrex, Effexor, Thorazine, Flexeril, Maxalt, Relpax, Axert.. and Zomig. Want me to try them all again to see if they work.. ? Want to know how they made me feel? Have you ever even had a migraine? Ever.. ? No? Oh ok.. so I guess you don't understand what it's like to actually find something that works.. something that makes you NOT want to smash your head to bits after you have had a migraine every frickin' day for a month.. guess you don't understand that. So you say call my doctor.. get them to fill out a form and tell you how I have tried so many other things and this is all that works.. Ok.. I'll do that. Hold please.

Hi, Dr. X. Oh you are familiar with this request.. every insurance company has been having you guys fill out these forms? What a drag. What's that you say? You can't fill it out and send it in because it's been over a year since you wrote the Rx ? But you know I have migraines.. you know it still works for me, right? That doesn't matter to you Dr. X.. really it doesn't? You don't have my history of migraines.. ? OH .. MY BAD.. I didn't realize that you didn't have my full history since my HISTORY is SPREAD OUT ACROSS 4 STATES AND AT LEAST 8 DIFFERENT DOCTORS. So what now Dr. X ? Go find a primary care you say? Oh ok.. that should be easy.. I'll just take my 19 month old twins with me to the office and wait in the waiting room with them until I finally get seen blah bitty blah blah blah.... all so I can tell yet another doctor my history.. hopefully convince them that yes in-frickin-deed.. the only drug for me is Zomig.. and then go through all this again when my buddies at BCBS reject it again.. awesome. Thanks alot Dr. X for sending me on this new journey.. I thought we were friends.. you did, after all, perform my D&C.. sure wish you could have cut me some slack.

Why don't you all just go jump off a big, tall, cliff. I'll just be here with my migraine.. trying to figure out how NOT to lose my mind from the pain. You guys really.. REALLY SUCK.

End of rant.

Laps

Swimming laps as become my most effective therapy. I have been a member of the gym since Saturday and I have already swam 74 laps! That is 4.1 miles. I love how I feel when I climb out of the pool - calm, contented, relaxed. The only thing that I wanted to change was having to keep a count in my head of how many laps I was swimming during each visit. Sounds a little pathetic but I have so much in my head, keeping count of laps is an extra that I can't seem to manage. Joyce said she felt the same way so, we set out to figure out a way to track them without have to memorize what lap we were on. Above is my first idea, put together with things I had laying around the house. That beetle incased in plastic is from an old keychain we had.. and it's not where the magic happens anyway.

The beetle is just an anchor for a strand of thin ribbon with 18 tiny knots in it (18 laps = 1/2 mile). Each time I complete a lap I move the button one "click" over. The knots are just the right size so I can slide the button quickly without having to wrestle with it, but not so small that it could slide on it's own and mess my count up. As I am sure you have figured out, once the button is at the end.. I have reached my goal. I am currently trying to swim 18 laps each visit. Planning to add 2 laps each week until I reach a mile but last night my asthma was bugging me so I left out the last two and settled for my 18.

I am sure this seems like a silly gadget for anyone who was ever on a swim team and has no trouble keeping count in their head, but as I don't do flip turns anyway .. stopping for a second to move the my button allows me to let my mind relax and be completely empty.. something that I really need these days.

I think I am going to figure out a way to keep a tracker on here somewhere.. I want to see how many miles I swim this year.

twins in a basket

Sunday Morning

We are going to the 11:30 service today. This means a morning in of cuddling with curly headed babies and watching CBS Sunday Morning. They mentioned the artist Bill Viola this morning and I suddenly remembered why he is one of my favorites. Absolutely one of the most mesmerizing installations I have had the pleasure to experience. I am pretty sure we saw his "Five Angels". Whitney Museum, completely darkened space, five huge and beautiful plasma screens.. the sound of rushing water drowning out every thought in my head.. images of humans rising from and falling into the water.. I watched each screen at least twice as it slowly made it's way, dreamlike, from start to finish. If time travel was a reality, this is a slice of my existence that I would visit again, and again.

Prom Night

Stephen and I went to prom tonight. He was chaperoning and asked if I wanted to come along - why not? Ada and Margot got to play with Joyce and Diana while we were out. The last time we got all dressed up and didn't get a picture the grandparents were sad so.. tah-dah! Here we are. Margot was feeling a little tender, so she and Soft joined us in the snapshot.

Not too shabby.

One tiny observation from this evening. Private school proms are absolutely - nothing - like public school proms. Don't hate.

Dyeing

I decided to do some dyeing today. I have been enduring my ultra funkified kitchen towels for far too long. Even bleach couldn't make them fresh. iDye to the rescue!!!

I decided on "gun metal" for my terrycloth towels. Just for fun I threw in a couple of t-shirts too. One was grey but had a few bleach spots, the other two where white and had sweat stains (yes I am one of those people who gets sweat stains). They had been banished to the back of the closet and relegated to being worn underneath sweaters.

This is the only before picture I have. Lookin' good preggo me!

.. and here is the finished result. I think they turned out wonderfully.

I did my tea towels in yellow.

I always forget that this is an option when something gets stained or bleached or just plain starts to look old and worn out. It was so easy and super fun. I'm already scheming to do some of the girls onesies.. baby girls toddling around in pale pink onesies ?! I think it's a must.

When a "soft" disobeys

Not long after Margot was released from a time-out of her own.. I came around the corner and found this. I wonder what he did?



After a few minutes, Mama came back and explained (in her own sort of way) the reason Soft had gone to time-out. She gave him kisses..



.. and a good hug... and sent him on his way.

three weeks down.. four to go

Week three of building my new habit to slice, dice and steam my veggies the day they come home from the grocery store. I did this on Wednesday and I have already gobbled up one of my containers of broccoli.

And now for some fabulous news. I recently found out that the school gets a special discount at the Gold's Gym at North Hills. This meant little to me, seeing as I have never stepped food on a treadmill and much prefer to do my exercising out of doors. THEN I FOUND OUT THEY HAVE AN INDOOR POOL. Not just any pool.. it's a SALT WATER POOL. Holy Lord. Suddenly the monthly fee of $29.99 didn't seem so frivolous. Swimming and yoga are the only two forms of exercise that my sore joints can do on a regular basis. I don't know why my joints get sore.. I know I am young and all that. I do know I have "sensitive knee caps" so after running I have hard time walking for a few days and I used to have to wear knee braces when I rode back in the day.. as well as during my very short stint on the cross country team in HS.. but I digress. THEY HAVE AN INDOOR SALT WATER POOL. Joyce and I went to tour the facility as fast as we could throw the babies in their car seats yesterday. The place is beautiful, wonderfully maintained, and has every fitness option you can imagine including but not limited too "Cinema Cardio" - a huge dark auditorium filled with cardio equipment in which a huge movie screen plays a different movie each day.. you can strengthen your heart and watch a movie at the same time. This might actually get my tail on a treadmill, if it's raining outside or something that day I mean. The rep told me the pool is hardly ever full, there are 3 lap lanes and if the doors to the gym are open, the pool is open. I went last night to check it out and swam just over half a mile.. I haven't swam laps since college.. I can't believe my old lap swimming suit still fit me! I - was - in - heaven. I didn't want to overdo it on my first visit so I forced myself to cool down and leave after about 20 laps (and by laps I mean real laps.. as in two lengths of the pool = one lap)... what a feeling. Afterward I considered a steam in the sauna but decided on a hot shower instead and, feeling like I had just had a full body massage, sauntered out to my car and leisurely drove back home. I have been trying to join a pool since Stephen and I got married but we could never afford it or there were none close enough to be practical in any way... this is the perfect storm. Affordable, and in the same complex where I do my weekly shop.. just down the street from the school.

So in short, soon I will be able to swim whenever I want, and take as many yoga classes as I want (classes are included in the monthly membership fee).. whenever I want. Color me the happiest girl in the neighborhood today.

Fun with teething

Fresh Habits

Since the start of 2010 I have been working on building some new habits. Some are for my own sanity (figuring out a filing system for bills and important papers that works for me) and others are for the good of our family... and my own sanity. I suppose it really is all about me.

One of my new habits that I have actually kept up with is making a weekly dinner menu. I go shopping once a week. Before I leave, I have all the dinners for the coming week figured out, written down, and posted on our calendar. I make my lists, one for Target, one for Trader Joe's and that is that. I cook with whole foods, mostly fresh fruits and veg (some frozen). Nothing irritates me more than letting fresh food go bad and having to toss it out. It irritates me because I could have prevented it and I didn't. It makes me feel a bit like a failure. Dumb I know, but true nonetheless. Anyhoo, the last two weeks I have been working really hard to make a new habit. This one involves spending about an hour each week, when I get home from grocery shopping, prepping my food so that it doesn't spoil. For me that means, frying the older apples (with a little butter and pumpkin pie spice) to make room for the fresh ones, steaming the broccoli while it is super fresh, and cutting up celery and carrot sticks. I store all these things in the fridge and then when I feel like having some broccoli, I just pull out the container and grab a stalk or two. This is in no way an original idea. Women I know have been doing this sort of thing for years (shout out to my mom). What is new is that I finally allowed myself to come to grips with the fact that I have been too lazy to do this before. I always talked myself out of just going ahead and prepping my fresh produce. Who knows why.. I was always too tired or too busy or just plain didn't feel up to it. I don't want to be lazy! Time to work on creating a new habit. After all, my reality is that it really doesn't take that much time and I am so much happier during the week because of it.

As insane as it sounds, I have always craved fresh fruit and veggies. I am that girl that eats way too much cauliflower at the crudite platter. What is even more insane is that I would have celery in the fridge, want to eat a stalk so bad.. and just refuse to pull it out! So now that it is all sliced and keeping fresh in some cool water I have eaten it every day this week. I can't get enough. Such a nerd I know but the more you eat this stuff, fresh foods, I swear you start to crave it. I am proud to say that this week I saved 8 apples from being tossed (the girls love them cooked with the spices) and a gigantic and beautiful container of strawberries that my precious mother brought us on Sunday. I was sort of hoarding the strawberries until I pulled them out today and noticed they were starting to head south. So I spent about 15 minutes slicing them all, let them macerate in a little sugar and now they will keep for a few more days. Just long enough for us to enjoy them over oatmeal in the morning.

Cooking has become my new therapy and I feel really dorky that I get so excited about seeing neatly packaged fresh food in my fridge but it just makes me so happy. I feel so decadent, so prepared, so on top of things. So here's to two weeks of a fresh new habit. I think they say it takes doing something 7 times in a row to create a habit. Two down, five to go.

Don't tell me..

..that if you turned around from preparing lunch and saw this you wouldn't run and get your camera too. They are not allowed to sit on the coffee table, but they are allowed (and encouraged) to sit in their chairs.. what's a fair minded mother to do? Marvel at their creativity, take a picture, and giggle right along with them.

Date Night

Tay-Tay and Ray-Ray came to play-play with the girls yesterday-day. Couldn't help myself. Look how much fun they are having!!!

So cute I almost can't take it.

The girls had a messy dinner of blueberries and thus they were in diapers when we left. Good thing Tay-Tay and I realized this before we walked out the door. Totally forgot that it would impossible to tell them apart! So I gave Ada her first Sharpie tattoo on her shoulder. It was still lingering around this morning. Like a hand stamp from some exclusive toddler night spot.

Thanks to our precious and generous sitters, Stephen and went out on the town last night. We had a quick meal at our new favorite restaurant up the street and then went to see the school play. They were doing Fiddler on the Roof which neither of us have ever seen. It was absolutely wonderful! I got a little emotional watching those kids act and sing their hearts out. The play itself is enough to get you going but as I sat there watching them perform for a packed house, I realized how much I am going to miss them next year when they are gone, off to college. There was a sampling from the Upper and Middle Schools in the acting crew but it was watching the seniors that really touched me. We have really loved getting to know and love these kids the last two years. We are so excited for each and every one of them to fly away to college and on to bigger and better things as they take their first steps into that long journey to adulthood.. still.. we will miss those late night pop-ins.