Thursday, December 11, 2008

Who's Crying Now?


So, today was Kai's 2nd day of preschool (the pictures are from Tuesday). The drop off went 100 times better than on Tuesday! I was prepared though for disaster again...had the stroller set-up outside the car (my arms are still sore from CARRYING both babies and ushering a sobbing Kai through the whole school and back) , got there early so I could park right next to the door before the parade of mini-vans arrived and took all the other near spots. (On Tuesday I was shocked when I arrived on time to find the parking lot full of idling mini-vans. I had to park so far away and couldn't even see the door anymore...not this time, boy...I learn from my disasters!) Kai and I stood in the rain for 10 minutes and I prepped him for what was going to happen. He got nervous as the minivan parade arrived and kids started pouring out of the side portals, but he held it together this time and watched everything unfold. Teacher Amy came and we chatted a bit and then I told Kai to take her hand and said good-bye and went to the car. He couldn't see me, but I could see him. I sat there and cried as I watched my 1st baby hold the hand of a lady that doesn't love him and watched her take him inside the building where he will learn to conform: walk in line, stay in circle, don't mix the paint colors....a few more tears....I'll get over it like every other mother before me has. They all tell me that I'll be delighting in the time of day when the babies are napping and Kai is at school and I have 2 hrs to myself. Today, however, I didn't want to let him go. At pick-up the teacher said he had a good time and did great. So, that's good!

On a funnier note:
I got this quote in an email forward today. It is still making me laugh!
"Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut her up with cookies." (Unknown)

Another funny thing: I saw a bus driver come out of the gas station today. She had on her neon green reflective vest so I knew she was headed to the empty bus that was parked over on the side. She was holding her hot coffee, walking in her trendy heeled boots, walking toward a bus that has gangsta tinted windows (seriously...what's up with the tinted windows on busses?) and she starts fumbling in her pocket for her keys. I looked at the bus and half imagined/half expected to hear "beep beep" and see the lights flash as she remotely unlocked the doors and shut off the alarm. It made me chuckle and when I told Chad he laughed really hard with his deep belly laugh. He said I do a really good "beep beep" sound and wanted me to attach an audio clip to my blog so you could all hear. I can't figure out how to do that though, so you'll have to imagine me telling you this story with my cool sound effect in place! :) :) (sorry Chad)

gangsta school bus

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Out Came the Sun

Okay, so I'm finally getting time to write about that busy day! See previous post.
Puke and Diarrhea: Kai got out of bed, stood up and started puking straight out of his mouth. The look on his face was one of total surprise and confusion. He hasn't puked since he was 1 year old, so I don't think he knew what was happenening. His expression just looked like he wanted to say, "what the heck is happening? Why is my stomach heaving and making that sound (and then) Why is stuff flying out of my mouth?"
Later that morning he got off the couch and started saying "hurt. hurt. Owww". He passed some foul gas and I knew that in about 1/2 hour we were both doomed. Sure enough, I was right.

Only 2 Pee Breaks: Chad had a meeting at work from 9a-5p. Nobody would leave the meeting to eat or stretch or even use the bathroom!!!! What's the matter with those people! It's not like it's surgery or something. He was the only one to get up and leave that whole time and he only left for 2 pee breaks. Poor guy! That's no way to live!

A Bite On the Nose: Noah was laying on the floor on his back and Zeze crawled over and planted a nice slobbery open mouth kiss on Noah's face. I thought it was SO cute! Zeze was all snuggly and was talking to Noah like he talks to his little Lammy stuffed Lamb when he's going to sleep and sucking his thumb. Suddenly Noah starts SCREAMING and I couldn't figure out why, but he was MAD. Later that day I was laying on my back on the floor and Zeze crawled over to me to give me a kiss. I was excited to be receiving such love until I was overwhelmed by the amount of his drool starting to pour over my mouth (not open) and down my cheeks. I felt like I was drowning and was starting to wipe some of it off my cheeks when he bit my nose and held on! Made me want to holler just like noah!

A Dark Exchange: I found some toys for Kai on Craigslist and wrote to the lady and arranged a place to meet and buy the toys from her. I don't know if you guys have ever done a Craigslist transaction, but it totally seems like a drug deal or something you'd see on TV. It was dark. We met in an uninhabited parking lot in a town post office that neither of us live in. She flashed her lights to signal to me. I parked my car and grabbed my cash. She pulled a box out of her back seat and I rummaged through it. I counted out cash and gave it to her. She stuffed it in her pocket. I grabbed the box and stuffed it in my car and hid it so Kai wouldn't see what it was. We both drove off our seperate ways never to see each other again. Weird way to buy Christmas presents, but Oh So Cheap!! It's not really as dramatic as all that, but it did seem odd when I thought about it later.

Lost, Estrogen, USAA and the Big IDEA: Chad got out of his all day (only 2 pee break) meeting and was registered to attend a conference/talk about the different laws in for Special Education (it was called IDEA vs. 504. Both of those are laws about Special Ed. We haven't actually debriefed about the conference yet so I still don't know what they are for!) The talk was in a conference room in a building, at a buisness park campus, in a nearby city. He got lost and couldn't find the park and then didn't know where the meeting was in the park (b/c the people didn't tell us. They just listed the park). He picks a building with cars out front and goes in. He finds a room with sign on the door that said it was sponsored by the same organization that was sponsoring our talk. He goes in and 10 women's heads whip around and 10 angry faces instantly stare at him. He was quick to catch the hate vibes being hucked his way and to catch the fact that there were no men present (except him). He commented on that with a nervous chuckle and one lady said, "No there aren't men her (with a "duh" in her voice) this is an Estrogen Support Group". He quickly ducked out. Ok, first off, POOR CHAD! 2nd: what is an Estrogen support group?!!?! and why are they all so angry! He said it was like a bad Seinfeld episode or something.

Next, he called me to tell me all this and ask if I new where on the campus the meeting was and was telling me about the Estrogen angry ladies and also about the Schitzophrenic Teen Support group he almost walked in on. We were on speaker phone so that Kai could say hi to daddy. Suddenly Chad yells out "Son of a -----!!" I say, "Um, you're on speaker phone!!! Kai better not repeat that at his Speech Evaluation tomorrow!!" Well, poor Chad locked his keys in the car with the car running. He still hadn't found the conference and now had to call USAA for them to pick the lock! (All the spare keys for the car were at home sitting next to the magnetic boxes waiting to be put on the car. I could have woken up the twins and loaded up Kai (who had the puke/diarrhea bug) and driven 40 mins one way to give him the key or I could let him call USAA. Anyone having to contemplate waking up 2 babies to put them in the car and getting a puking 3 year old also into that car knows that I was not looking forward to rescuing my husband. USAA was his hero, not me) All turned out ok. He found the conference (but was 1 hr late) and the tow truck guy called when he got there and was able to get the car open so Chad could go back to the conference. It was a rough day for him!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider: I just had to add this cute thing! I put Kai to bed by myself (Chad and I do it together or Chad does it alone) since Chad was out partying with Schitzo Teens and Angry Estro-femes (hahaha). It was the sweetest thing. Kai and I snuggled in his bed and sang songs in the dark. We sang Jesus Loves me, a Deerfoot Song, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Silent Night. Oh, to hear his sweet tiny voice singing those songs with me...melting, melting!! and to feel his small hands doing the hand motions to the Itsy Bitsy spider....all snuggly warm under the blankets and giggling together. Heaven! I love my boys!!! Moments like these make the puke and diarrhea fade away...."out came the sun and dried up all the rain...."

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

nutshell

I have so much to say about today, but I don't have time right now.
I'll give you a few words to pique your interest and will try to blog about it all tomorrow.
Here's chad's, the boys and my day in a nutshell:

Puke
Diarrhea
only 2 pee breaks
a bite on the nose
a dark exchange
Lost
Estrogen
USAA
itsy bitsy spider
the big IDEA

:)

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Trick or Treat

I almost got all 3 of them smiling at the same time! Maybe a little photoshop would make it happen! :)




They all matched to go to church today! Zeze also got his first haircut this morning!






Tuesday, October 28, 2008

High Maintenance Trains

First, before I start my story, I have to proudly announce that Noah scooted forward on his belly twice today!!! It was an army crawl and was one "step" forward to get a toy. I egged him on and he did it again another time!! Yay, Nano!!

Ok, we play this game with Kai sometimes where we ask him questions about things to get him to say "yes" to the right answer. For example, if I were holding a banana and were to say, "Is this an orange?", he'd say no. And then we'll go on naming other things to which he says no to until I say, "is this a banana?" and he joyfully shouts, "yes!!"

Here is our conversation earlier.
me: Kai, did you poop?
Kai: No. (the sagging diaper, the stink and the rapid denial plus avoidance indicated otherwise. So I started to play the game to see if he'd actually admit to pooping.)
me: did zeze poop?
kai: no
me: did nano poop?
kai: no
me: diiiiiid KAI poop?
kai: (silence for a few seconds) diiiiid SCOUT poop?
me: no (I'm laughing now)
kai: did sage poop?
me: no. Did Kai poop?
kai: no. did Gordon poop? (that's one of the trains)
me: no
kai: did Thomas poop?
me: no
kai: Yes, Thomas pooped!!
me: Ok, then Thomas needs a diaper. (Much to Kai's surprise I took Thomas and went and put a kleenex diaper on him. I think I blew his mind!).

Then I went upstairs to put the babies down for a nap and when I came down I could hear him saying. "Gordon poop." "Thomas poop." "Other Thomas poop." and he was putting kleenexes on all his trains! Funny kid!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

cry me a river....of drool, snot and tears.

our house is flowing with those 3 things from all 3 boys b/c they are all sick. All of them have snotty noses, wet chins, necks and shirts. The amount of drooling (and crying) is amazing. Our front storm glass door is so gross. Kai and Zeze stand there to look out at the kids playing (the healthy kids) and smear their goo and repeatedly sneeze all over it. There's just a cloudy film from 3 feet high and lower. yucky.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

"I'm WINNING!" (said with the voice of Mr. Bean in the movie Road Race)

I just "won" my first item on ebay!! I'm obviously not very skilled at bidding on it since I've bid on numerous things and always lose. I usually end up buying stuff with the Buy It Now option. No drama. No losing my item in the last 20 seconds of the bid at 1:30am. I guess I get a little crazy about it (yes, I've waited up until the wee hours and watched...and lost), but I get so excited with the bidding process. The screen keeps saying, "Congratulations! Your bid is WINNING!" as the clock counts down. I hit refresh, "You're WINNING!". refresh. 1 minute left...."You're WINNING". 20 seconds left, "You've been outbid and LOSING. Hurry and rebid before time is...Sorry, you have LOST this item." Man! I lost again!! I usually go upstairs and whisper to Chad about my bidding drama and he says he's going to have to cut me off. Hahaha! It's true!

So you can imagine my delight when the countdown happened and there were 20 seconds left and it said, "You are WINNING!!" As the clock ticked down 5,4,3,2,1 I cheered!! Just then the screen changed and ebay said to me, "Thank you. You have just BOUGHT this item. Payment is due....blah blah blah."

What?!!? Couldn't you just give me a small congratulations or hip hip hooray because I won? You (ebay) were egging me on the whole time saying I was winning and then as soon as it's over you say, "pay up pal with your Pay Pal account." I guess I felt a little deflated after that. I mean, I knew I was buying the product, but ebay is so tricky and preys on emotions with that Winning/Losing stuff and then says, "Yay, you bought something. whoop-dee-doo"

So now Chad and I joke about mundane purchases by saying, "Congratulations!!! You just BOUGHT your groceries!!" or whatever else it might be.

Stupid ebay! :) :)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Not quite what I was imagining

Ok, picture this....a huge carved-out pumpkin, two adorable twin babies....something like Anne Gedes' pictures pops into my mind where the baby looks so cute inside this pumpkin. Heather even got an adorable shot of David inside a pumpkin when he was a baby. Should be fun and easy! The boys will love it!! NOPE!

Zeze wouldn't even touch the pumpkin or stand next to it. I got Noah in, but you can see his misery in the progression of pictures below as he sunk lower and lower inside it. Kai didn't even want anything to do with the pumpkin. So I said to myself, "Screw it, I'll carve my own damn pumpkin without all you ungrateful little boys!"
Mom, I'm starting to understand what it must have been like for you to drag 3 whining girls apple picking or strawberry picking or any other nature-ish seasonal event...the moms love it...the kids hate it! Don't even get me started on the trip to the little fair we went to this summer. Ok, I'll start a little...I LOVE LOVE LOVE country fairs. My boys do not. The whole fair ended for us with a symbolic event that pretty much summed up the whole experience. "Kai, it popped"....."Kai, it's gone."......"Kai, it's dead!!!" Followed by wailing. This is what Chad said to Kai after Kai saw his ducky balloon animal blow out of the stroller and immediately get run over by a passing gas truck. POP! "Where is it?" "Balloon?" "Duck?"

good times!

Anyway, back to the pumpkin: it took me 4 days of carving (a few minutes here and a few minutes there) and I finally got it done today! Kai actually liked it when he saw the train. He said, "Wow, it's Gordon! No, it's James!!"

I'm going to try to cook up my pumpkin seeds soon too! I won't expect Kai to like them or even try one, but Chad and I will LOVE them!













Noah clone


So did anyone look at those pictures of the little kids with DS? Did anyone find the Noah clone? :) What a cutie!! Here's a picture of him at this link. You can see that he also has a heart surgery scar AND his name is Noah....funny!
http://www.parenting.com/gallery/Baby/A-Special-Joy-4-Babies-With-Down-Syndrome/12



Thursday, October 16, 2008

party night

Last night when Chad and I were going upstairs to bed we opened Kai's door to check on him. It was almost 10 and we hadn't heard a peep for a couple of hours. When we opened the door the light was on (a new trick he's learned to do) and he was sitting on his bed surrounded by every single book from his book shelf....about 50 books! He said, "I'm not tired." (well that was the gist of it). The amazing thing is that he got all those books on his bed without making noise! We have the monitor on and our house isn't very sound proof. He was just up there partying away and very pleased that he didn't have to sit in the dark and go to sleep!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Learning to Share....








Learning to share (or hoard all your toys up higher where your brother can't reach them!!) As you can see in the second picture, Zeze figured out that he can pull himself up at Kai's train table. I snapped the picture just after it happened. You can see how happy Zeze is and how Kai looks like he's just starting to realize that trouble is brewing!! Fun Fun!


The first picture is from our walk this weekend. It was beautiful out!







Friday, October 10, 2008

"Ahhhhh-tooth!"

Yes, Chad, pun was intended in the title!

Noah has his first tooth!!!! It's his lower right incisor! I'm so happy for him b/c that means soon he'll be able to "chew" food. I'm hoping as his teeth come, his tongue will learn to mature also. What I mean is, right now he still does the suckle thing with his tongue when I put the spoon in. The next developmental stage is to move the jaw up and down and the tongue follows the up/down movement. Then the next progression is for the tongue to move side to side while the jaw is going up and down (a mature adult chewing pattern). Zeze already does this and is doing great with cheerios. They told me to not give Noah solids until his tongue and jaw pattern mature. Well, usually with babies when the teeth come, they are on the verge of "chewing" things, so my hope is that Noah will do that soon too!!

Also, he vocalized on command today! When I'm about to give Zeze a spoonful of food I say, "Ahhhh" and he opens his mouth and he started saying, "Ahhh" with me every time today. While I was doing it to zeze, noah did it to. So then I put the spoon in front of his mouth, said Ahhh, and waited for him to do it before I gave him the spoonful of food. It didn't take long. So I did it again and again and now he is making some sort of vocalization whenever I go, "Ahhhh"! I hope that will help him learn to talk (even though I know that is a loooonnng ways off...preparing to learn full sign language soon). We'll see if he remembers what he learned after he wakes up from his nap.

Anyway, I'm very encouraged. He's such a smart little guy!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Down Syndrome Awareness month





October is Down Syndrome Awareness month. I started this blog mostly because a bunch of moms in an online group (a group solely dedicated to people that have twins and one of them having DS or having multiple children with DS) are doing what's called 31 For 21. They are blogging every day of October (31 days) for Down Syndrome (aka Trisomy 21 or T21). Some have dedicated their entire blog to the child with DS and others just talk about their day so that others can see they have normal lives too. I knew I couldn't commit to blogging every day, but I thought I would blog sometimes so that you all can see what our family life is like.

I've finally delved into the world of Down Syndrome and am lately drawn to pictures of kids with DS. I think these kids are so stinking cute!! Here is a link to a bunch of galleries of kids with DS. Man, they are SO cute with those chubby little cheeks and those awesome smiles! There is one little baby in one of the galleries that has blond spikey hair just like my Noah and blue eyes too...funny thing is that this baby's name is also Noah. See if you can find him!

http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Health/A-Special-Joy-Babies-With-Down-Syndrome-Galleries

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Bellybutton milk

Last night I got out my pump to pump some milk for the babies. Kai came up before I started and took one of the horns. He lifted up his shirt and looked around for a bit and stuck the horn on his bellybutton and let it suck there. He watched and waited and seemed kind of dissapointed that no milk came out of his belly. He gave up after a minute and went off to play with his trains. Chad and I laughed and laughed and asked him why no milk came out of his belly button. He was bored with the whole thing and wouldn't answer us! Funny kid!

What Season Is It?



Ok, this first picture was taken last weekend (end of September). Note the pretty foliage colors. The second picture was taken of the cherry tree blossoming in front of my home. When was it taken?? Today!! What's up with that? I've never known a fruit tree to blossom in the fall in New England. Just like I don't expect to see any daffodils popping up in the next few days either. The funny thing about this tree is that it's completely naked except for that little cluster of blossoms and the 2-3 leaves around it. It's been covered in gypsy moth webs/tents for a couple of months now and those nasty worms ate all the leaves off the trees and left it smothered in nasty sticky grey webs. Well, the other day I went out and scraped off all the webs (it's a very small kind of pathetic little tree, but I love it b/c it makes the sweetest big cherries I've every had) and underneath was this flower and a couple of leaves. Chad and I wonder if there is some symbolism we're supposed to get here. Any ideas? Something to do with More Than Conquerors? Chet and Sandy, you guys know a lot about trees and plants, has it been so warm this summer that plants can have a second crop season...like a second or third cut of hay? Nobody really has to answer my questions, just kind of pondering out loud, but I do love to receive comments!! :)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Cut

Yesterday I noticed that Kai had 3 small linear holes in the front of his shirt. I figured it must have gotten caught in the washer somehow and torn. I said outloud, "What happened to your shirt?" not really expecting an answer. Kai runs over to the desk opens a drawer and pulls out a pair of sewing scissors and says, "cut". I couldn't believe it! I've had those scissors in that drawer since day one and he's NEVER EVER shown any interest in them and never played with them or anything! 1. I'm amazed he used them. 2. I'm amazed he knew how to use them b/c he's never used scissors before. 3. How did I not see him do it? We are on top of each other all day long and I usually know his every move. 4. I'm so glad and amazed he didn't cut himself or his brothers!!

Well, I hid the scissors and then this morning while I'm making his oatmeal, he runs in the kitchen and says, "All gone! Cut all gone! Hiding!" Yeah, so who knows what project he's been working on when I'm not looking. There's probably some oragami-like bird down in the basement somewhere just waiting for the last few snips!!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Wedding Dress Day

Well, this is my first attempt at a blog. I offer no promises of wit, accurate spelling, deep insight or inspiration. I'm just going to tell you about our day to day stuff, so that our families and friends can know what's going on with us (we all know that Chad and I aren't very good about keeping in touch!). I chose the title of More Than Conquerors mostly for my own benefit. I really need to emrace what that means in Romans 8 and I think if I see that section of scripture each day up top I'll delve into it deeper. We sure have conquered a lot this past year and it sure feels like we have been conquered by a lot this year too. Time to sort things out!

Anyway, I was hoping that my first post would be really uplifting and fun, but today was kind of crummy! It's damp and cold out and we are on week 2 of the boys being sick. They're on the mend, but they still all have snotty noses. Let me tell you, I am so tired of having snot, drool, food and that drool that has food in it on my shirts and in my hair! On days when I'm feeling yucky, I usually try to pull myself out of it by putting on my fancy earings, doing my hair and maybe some makeup or perfume. It makes me feel a little better and when I see myself in the mirror, I think "Wow, I look great today!" rather than just seeing the spit-up on my shirt. I was thinking about that today and I really just felt too icky to even try the hair and makeup trick. I had my fun sparkly slippers on, but even those didn't make me smile (maybe it's because snotty Zeze was slobbering all over them trying to bite of the sequins!). I thought that the only physical thing that I could wear to cheer myself up would be my wedding dress! The more I think about it the more I like it!! How fun to wear my wedding dress around the house, changing diapers, doing dishes, making dinner! I'd feel like a princess all day and constantly have happy thoughts and memories about our wedding day. Why is it stored so carefully and why do I cringe to think about it getting dirty with babyfood spray? It's not like I'm ever going to wear it again! It's the best piece of clothing I own and I will never wear it again! I should be able to sit on the couch in my wedding dress, with Kai and not care if some of his PB&J gets on it. Maybe I should throw a wedding dress party! We all have these beautiful gowns stored somewhere. We could all wear our wedding dresses to a party and just have fun and feel like princes again. Or we could laugh about how they don't fit us anymore! (Speaking of which, I made my own doughnuts this weekend and man were they good! I ate a TON of doughnuts this weekend)

Well, I'm not actually brave enough (or crazy enough?) to actually wear my wedding dress around the house. My neighbors would see and really think I've gone loco!

So, that's my first post! Hopefully I'll get time to post more!