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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Quinn is perfect!

Quinn had his 6 month (can you believe it???) check up today and he is perfect. He weighs 19lbs 15 oz and measured 27.5inches. We are going to start a whole new feeding regime tomorrow - he needs to cut way back on the formula and increase the spoon feeding, so we'll see how that goes.

My mom and aunt came out yesterday and spent the day with the kids while Chris and I went into Atlanta. We had been wanting to see Molly's new antique booth in the Highlands and we needed to go to IKEA. Well, I hate Atlanta. When I was a teenager, my parents often encouraged me to drive in the city to learn my way around and there was a time when I felt comfortable going into Atlanta knowing that I would be ok. This does not really hold true any more. We made it to the highlands without incident, but struggled to find a parking spot...managed to get myself horned a few times...and was somewhat stressed by the time we actually made it inside. Then, going from the highlands to IKEA (approx. 6 miles away) took us a about an hour. We saw the aquarium, CNN center, the olympic park, none of which was on our list for the day. Stupid Atlanta - not on a grid! But, we did hit the jackpot at IKEA and it wasn't as terrible of a time there as it has been when we've gone with the girls. :)

Friday, December 26, 2008

Whew! Christmas is over!



Well, Christmas is over and the teething has begun! Seriously. He's been Mr. Drooly boy for months now, but he woke up with erupted teeth this morning...both bottom ones. Hopefully it won't be too very terrible. :)

We spent Christmas Eve with Chris's family - at his parents' house and then going to church. All of the children were well behaved, so that was a bonus. They were also very gracious in the gift receiving department...it may have been my talk with them in the van on the way over there - you will like what you get (no matter what it is) and you will say thank you and if I hear one "aw, shucks!" I will take you outside and aw shuck you. That may have had something to do with it.

The night was somewhat of a nightmare though - Quinn woke up at at 3:30 (kicking, laughing and ready to start his day, so I turned him over, stuck in the pacie and rubbed his back), then Casey woke up SCREAMING!! with a nightmare (the preview for Coraline did it - she was dreaming that I had button eyes), so I laid with her and rubbed her back, only to then realize that she had a fever, so I was searching for medicine in the kitchen at 4:30am. When I came back up with medicine and a spoon she said "Has Santa been here?" and I said " I don't know Honey, I haven't been downstairs." She replied with, "Well then where did you get that spoon?" (I did not think that "out of my ass" was an appropriate response, but at 4:30 in the morning that is what I wanted to say. So I told her that yes, I went into the kitchen, but I didn't even look in the living room.) I was back in bed just in time for Quinn to wake up at 5am for a bottle. Fabulous.

The girls were apparently good this year. Santa brought them each an American Girl bed, a clothes closet for the dolls, an American girl doll vanity, and two outfits for each. They also got electronic drums, a guitar, a project runway designer set and a fur real friends teacup poodle.

My mom, stepdad and brother Matt came over for the rest of the day. My parents spent the night with us before going to the airport this morning to pick up my aunt. We really had a nice day and it was good to stay home.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

All Better

And just like that, the girls are all better! They are actually at the movies this afternoon with Chris's mom, and Chris drove out to my mom's to pick up Quinn (yay!). It's amazing how worked up we all were for nothing. I must admit, I was fully expecting having to change bloody gauze, etc. So I am very pleased that it was such a minor procedure.

I have done the grocery shopping, finished wrapping the presents and put together some toys of Santa (aren't I a good little helper?!). I am mucho ticked though because I ordered photo books for our parents on December 12th and they just shipped them today (they were supposed to be processed and shipped within 3-5 days after ordering)! Amazingly enough, I emailed customer support this morning and then I received a shipped notice this afternoon. Suspicious, if you ask me. I am slightly irate though and have toyed with the idea of letting the company know this, but I cringe at the thought of being put on hold. Seriously. Very frustrated.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Children on Drugs...Not Cool!

So the girls had their surgeries this morning. They were both given a sedative prior to going back and being put under. They were very humorous before the surgery - silly and sleepy - they rode in red flyer wagons back to the surgical area - waving at everyone like they were in a parade. Chris and I were in the waiting room for about, oh, uh, 4 minutes when we were called back to recovery for Casey. She was weepy. Then she was sobbing. Then she was bawling, hysterical and wailing...."Why? Why did this happen to me? My lip! My lip!" and then she would stop and look around and go, "Why are we here?" sniffling. "Well, Case, remember, you had your surgery." And then it would start all over again. "I want my old lip back!!!" This happened probably 8 or 9 times.

Then Chan was wheeled in and she was fantastic. We only had to tell her 3 or 4 times what had happened and she didn't cry at all. Their beds were next to each other and Chan kept asking why sister was crying. Then she would say to Casey... "Just hold my hand, sissy. Hold my hand." So sweet - their arms through the railings hold hands. It reminded me of when they were born and in the NICU together - Chan would suck on Casey's nose and Casey would suck on Chan's chin.

They were STARVING by the time we got home. So far today, Chan has had 12 scoops of ice cream, and Casey has had 8 scoops of ice cream and 3 containers of yogurt. They are all set up in our bed, in their doll matching American Girl jammies, watching Disney. We put the baby monitor in there so that they can just talk to us through that when they need something. It goes something like this "Mom? Dad? I'd like some more ice cream please. Thank you." or "Mom? Dad? How are you doing down there?" Amusing and Chris says that it is much better than a bell. :)

I'm sure I'll post another update later today!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

My Freakin' Gramma

My grandmother received our Christmas card today which wishes people to have a "Merry Freakin' Christmas"...

Me: Hello?
Gram: Angie?
Me: Yeeeessss...
Gram: It's your freakin' Gramma.

Yes, this is seriously what my 78 year old grandmother said to me. Then, later in the conversation....

Me: I sent you a couple of Christmas presents earlier in the week. They should be there in the next day or two.
Gram: Oh, Honey, you shouldn't be sending me things.
Me: No, no, it's just the calendar and then a little thing that probably only you and I would like.
Gram: Well then I am sure that I will freakin' love it.

Apparently, my grandmother feels that if it is an acceptable word on a Christmas card, then it is acceptable for her to use as well. And she is going to start using it often.

Bathrooms clean? Check.

Whew! Sometimes, ok, most of the time, I have no idea where the time goes! Last weekend we actually had NOTHING planned - which was outstanding! We were able to spend time with the girls, run a few errands, clean and finish up the Christmas shopping...without feeling rushed. Of course, it is 4 days later and I am again swamped in laundry, and I left work at 2:30 today (we're given "leave early" passes) so that I could come home and clean the bathrooms (my, how they sparkle!) before going to get Quinn.

But, for all of the relaxation of last weekend...this weekend is jam packed. Tomorrow morning, Chris is taking the girls to Athens Regional for their pre op appointment. I will be grocery shopping on the way home from work. Saturday morning I am meeting some dear friends of mine for a scrappin' good time. Saturday night, Molly will be joining us for gingerbread house construction, dinner and drinks (drinks!). And my parents are coming out on Sunday to see the girls before the big surgery and to take Quinn back home with them until Tuesday. I am tired just thinking about all of it.

Here's a little tidbit of our dinner conversation from last night (with a strangely familiar ring to it...)

Casey is licking her asparagus, which Chris roasted in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper on it.

Me: Casey, stop licking your asparagus! That's not good table manners.
Casey: But its sooooooo good! I love spicy foods. *dramatic pause* I wish I was a Mexican. You know, my best friend Luciana is. And Josefina (her doll), she's a Mexican too. *big sigh, twirling asparagus on her plate*

I do love that Casey is so fascinated by another culture and have even tried to get Eunice (the Spanish translator at my school who is Mexican) to take Casey home with her so that she can learn more about it. :) I just wish she would stop putting the "a" in front of "Mexican". Apparently I still have some more work to do with this one.



Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Quinn - not smiling :)



Quinn is an incredibly happy, smiley baby...except when I press the button to take a picture...laughing, smiling, cooing...and then the button is pushed the light flashes and every picture ends up with this look of confusion and pissy-ness...big sigh...I am afraid that the blog readers will not see a good picture of Quinn for some time now. :(

Christmas, Round One





We decided to let the girls open their presents from Dad and Ger last weekend. It is really better to space these things out - it gives them more time to play with everything!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Hazards of Rolling Over


Visiting Santa




I love living in a small town! One of the best parts about where we live is the Santa visit at the train depot. The women's group does this every year - Santa arrives on the fire truck with police escorts, pictures with the kids, gift bags (filled with carp, as Chris says) and then we're out of there. We got there at 9:50 this morning and were in the van, pulling out at 10:23. Yep, that's right - a grand total of 33 minutes for all 3 kids to get pictures with Santa. And, it doesn't cost a dime! Can you even believe that???

Casey is slightly confused about how the whole "telling Santa what you want" thing works. They wrote letters this week to him and she asked for an American Girl doll bed. This morning she asked him for an ATM machine. Her reasoning? If she asks him for something different each time, then she will be able to get a lot more things. Um, really? It doesn't quite work this way.

We did indeed get the tree put up last night. We wrapped presents galore this afternoon. Then we had a birthday celebration for Chris's sister, Emmy, at his parents' house. And THEN I went into Athens to finish up the Christmas shopping. Whew! I am pooped!

In other news, the girls had their consultation with the ENT this week for their frenectomies. This is where they are going to snip the muscle between their gum and top lip. Casey is also having the skin that attaches her tongue also snipped a little. We should have had this done awhile ago, but the dentist kept telling me that it would break in a fall. We have had many falls, and it has yet to break. So, they have pre-op on December 19 and the surgery on December 22. :( We are not looking forward to this at all. But, at least Santa will come right after it to make it all better. :)

Chandler's questions of the week:
1. Is God a boy or a girl? Or, is God a fairy?
2. Was God born?

I told her to ask Chris's mom, who is a wonderful Sunday school teacher. :)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Not Me Monday

One of the blogs that I follow, My Charming Kids, (www.mycharmingkids.net) does a posting every Monday entitled "Not Me Monday" and I thought that I might give it a try...

This past week I did not eat an unbelievable amount of food. Absolutely not me. I certainly did not take the last of the corn casserole without asking if anyone else wanted any.

I also did not become completely annoyed with my husband because we desperately need new windshield wiper blades on the van. Something I did not know until driving through pouring rain on our way to Chicago. It was also not my fault that we didn't have said windshield wiper blades since I was not the last one to take the van in for service.

I completely planned out packing for my family days and days before our trip so that we would not forget anything. It was definitely not me that forgot to pack diapers and had to search gas stations at 4:30am looking for some. Nope, I packed everything that we would need to be on the road with a 5 month old, someone must have taken them out...

I did not allow my daughters to sleep in their "exercise" clothes Saturday night and then wear them all day on Sunday.

That child that you saw peeing in my yard Saturday afternoon? I certainly did not tell her to. I would have come up with a better solution when the door inside the garage was locked and she had been holding it in the van for 25 minutes. It was freezing outside...I would never have encouraged my child to drop trou and squat in the yard.

I did not cry like a baby Thursday night at the thought of leaving my father, not knowing when the next time is that I will see him. That was not me with the puffy eyes and snot running out of my nose.

**I have been wanting to participate for weeks now, but didn't quite get to it on time....

Chicago Recap

Monday - resting (lots and lots of resting), wonderful dinner with Uncle Mike and Aunt Sheila, Beth, Ryan, Mike and Jen
Tuesday - morning coffee at Starbucks - without children - yay for us!! That afternoon we went to visit Dad, Ger (stepmom), Joey and Tony (brothers). I was nervous about seeing Dad. I knew that he had no hair (head, eyebrows, mustache) and I was worried about how the girls would respond to this. My fears were wiped away when Dad answered the door shouting "Get your asses in here!" The girls started laughing hysterically and ran into his arms. He was anxious to pass out hugs and kisses and couldn't wait to hold Quinn. We had yummy Chicago style pizza for dinner.
Wednesday - Gram and Aunt Pat came over for lunch. Neither of them could believe the size of Quinn. We went back to Dad's in the afternoon and had beef sandwiches from Portillo's for dinner.
Thursday - Thanksgiving! We celebrated at Dad's along with cousin Phyllis, Aunt Patsy, Uncle Hal, Derek and Yvonne and their kids Kylie and Lucas. The food was outstanding! Ger kept going on and on about how she sucks at Thanksgiving and that it is her worst holiday...I, personally, have no idea what she was talking about. Some of my favorites - brussell sprouts with bacon and beans, corn casserole (can of reg corn, creamed corn, jiffy corn muffin mix, sour cream, can of mexican corn, and sauteed green peppers and onions), and Ger's mashed potatoes (mixed with sour cream, cream cheese, butter, ranch dressing mix, chives and cheddar cheese). Dad wasn't having the best day - he napped for about two hours on the couch. The girls thought he just wanted to snuggle with them. :)
Friday - We got to spend the whole day at dad's! We set up the Christmas tree and let the girls decorate it. We had left over Thanksgiving for lunch and pizza for dinner. Leaving was harder this time than it ever has been in the past, but I tried to prepare myself for that.

Throughout the week, everyone commented on how well behaved the girls were and what a good baby Quinn is. Chris and I were so proud of them. Everything that we harp on with the girls on a daily basis - manners, clearing their plate, following directions, not farting at the dinner table - all fell into place while we were there. According to the girls, "Dad was so proud he could cry!"

I know that I talked about food a lot, but I felt that it deserved a huge mention because I gained 3 pounds while we were there. :)

Also, Quinn was up and ready to start his day at 4am everyday that we were there! What????