Just a quick update

I thought I would write a little update since I don't have much time and it has been a while.

Benjamin informed me last night that he is no longer going to play with dolls because boys don't play with dolls. I told that boys can play with dolls - that it is o.k. and he said that no, he just isn't going to play with dolls.

Ella asked me if she could be a kitty for Halloween. She also drew a picture and told me it was o.k. for me to take to work. :-D I thought Ella was doing better with going poo on the potty. She actually went while in Spokane in a restaurant bathroom all on her own doing, but yesterday, she had an accident at school. It wasn't really an accident as I know she knows what she was doing. UGH! Someone please tell me what to do!

Nicholas is now embracing his name and telling people that it is name rather than saying his name is Footy or Nick. He also tells people that he is two.

I am recovering from having my gall bladder removed on the 8th. It was an outpatient surgery though I did end up staying the night because of pain and nausea. I was back to work on my birthday (the 13th) though I probably should have taken one more day and if I had more sick time, I probably would have.

My mom is now doing oral chemotherapy because the other chemotherapy wasn't working. I hope that this oral chemo does the trick in kicking cancer out of her body.

I also learned that my dad has diabetes so now I'm even more concerned about my diet to make sure I don't have the same fate.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe eventually I'll write about our trip to Spokane this past weekend and the kids trip to a farm.

4th of July

This past weekend was rather busy. We took all 3 kids to get a haircut (I need one myself too but haven't made that appointment yet). Then we took the kids on the bus (the 41 bus - very important detail to Ben & Ella) to downtown (Ella still says "down the town"). We just wondered around for a while, then headed back home for naptime. On Sunday, after church, we took the kids to Tacoma to visit my in-laws. We went to a farmer's market and got some fruit and a balloon animal( that Benjamin promptly popped once we got back to their grandparents house - thankfully, Nicholas forgot about his as his popped as we were trying to load things up). We also went out to lunch at a buffet where I learned that Ella & Nicholas will eat beets (though I don't) and Benjamin will eat chicken drumsticks (again, I don't eat - don't like dark meat). We went back to their house for the kids to open their presents from him - bubble guns and a big bottle of bubbles. They enjoyed that.

For the 4th, we went to a birthday party of a 2 year old from their daycare/preschool and came back home for a low key 4th. We watched some fireworks on tv and when it was over, Ella says she wanted to watch the fireworks. I told here that is what we've been doing. I don't know if they quite get excited about fireworks yet. At first, they thought I was talking about firetrucks.

This weekend, we visit my family for a family reunion on my dad's side. It shall be interesting and fun, I hope!

Hi again

Hi again. I was on a roll there for a while and then just stopped again.

One phrase that Nicholas likes to say a lot is "open the door" and he says this with anything he needs opened - a bag, a sliding phone, and an actual door. It is quite cute.

We transferred him to a toddler bed...sort of. The part to convert his crib STILL hasn't arrived, but we have allowed Ben & Ella to sleep on yoga mats with their sleeping bags (which they love) so Nicholas can have one of their beds. He does not want to stay in the bed at all. The only night he has really stayed in the bed was the day he barely got a nap. I can't really tell the daycare not to give them naps during the day so that means he gets out of his bed several times - as do Ben & Ella. Needless to say, bedtime is not a fun time. If anyone is still reading this and has any suggestions, we are welcome to them!

We took the kids to a free night at the Museum of Flight on Thursday night and to UW to see the cherry blossoms in the quad. Things were o.k. at first but since it was so crowded at both places, it ended up being crazy! We had to make sure that both of us knew where each child was. It seemed worse at the Museum of Flight to me because it was a confined space with many people - easy to lose sight of a child. UW quad was open so easier to keep track - though there they were fighting over who got to be in or push the stroller, then about the rocks down by Drumheller Fountain. I'm thinking the next time we want to do something like this where the place will be crowded,we should bring another adult with us as man to man defense works a lot better than zone defense (at least, in this instance it does).

That's all I can think of at the moment. Next weekend, we are visiting family in Spokane for Easter weekend. It's been quite a while since I've seen my parents and brothers - I think since September when we were over there for my aunt's celebration of life. My sister and 2 of her kids visited with us for Nicholas's birthday party.

Hello again

It's been a while...I've been not so much a blogger these days. So many things have happened since my last post.

VACATION

I took a week off at the end of July since the daycare was closed and so we did various fun things about the town (and out of town). We went to Point Defiance Zoo with Jon's mom. We went to the Greenlake wading pool (and seriously tired my kids out that day with the walking back and forth we did) with our friend Aki and her son James. We went to a petting zoo up north with our friend Steph and her son Grayson. We spent a couple hours searching in vain for a plastic pool for the kids to play in. We went to the church playgroup time and met up with Aki, Jen, and their sons and of course, Leena. It was a good week and I really enjoyed spending so much time with my children. However, it was definitely exhausting too.

Also, we did visit a friend of mine who is battling colon cancer. We brought them some dinner and went on a little playdate with her 3 year old son. We really enjoyed seeing them and I hope and pray that Amy gets better soon as well as our friend Kedra who is battling breast cancer.


ELLA HAD A SEIZURE

Then another thing that happened is that Ella had a seizure brought on by a fever (called a febrile seizure) which was brought on by an ear infection. I didn't actually see the seizure - Jon did. I'm glad I didn't see it or I would have freaked out more than I did. However, when Jon told me, I had a good idea that is what happened so I wasn't extremely concerned but still we took her to the ER (for some reason, I completely forgot about Children's and we went to Northwest since it was closer - our pediatrician told us to go to Children's should it happen again - I hope not). The time at the ER was not fun for any of us, especially Ella has she was given medicine via her butt since she had just thrown up and they wanted to make sure she got the tylenol to reduce her fever. Then they checked her temp in her butt. And they had to take her blood which meant holding her down. She cried out for papa then (as Jon went home to get a change of clothing for Ella and himself since she throw up all over them). I felt so bad and wondered if my little girl would ever like me again. Thankfully, she is all better now and hopefully, that doesn't happen again any time soon. That was on August 1.

AUNT PASSING AWAY

At the beginning of July, my eldest aunt went into the hospital. Her cancer had made a return in the last year and so she was fighting that. It was breast, then they found some in her uterine area, then they found cancer in her colon and eventually found it had spread everywhere. She came home with Hospice care on August 9 and she passed away on August 13. I had visited with her in the hospital in mid-July when we went over to Spokane for a family reunion (another topic below) and she didn't look great, but I thought she was getting better so it came as a bit of a shock to me to hear that she was going home to die. I had planned to go over on that Friday (August 13) to visit when my mom called me to tell me she passed away. I went over to Spokane anyway to be with my mom and family. This is my 2nd relative this year that has passed away. I pray to God that there will be no more anytime soon.

We are planning a celebration of life for my aunt on September 11, so I'll be back to Spokane then.


FAMILY REUNION

I can't say that this was a really big family reunion when some of the people don't even come, but I am glad that I went as that gave me the opportunity to visit with my aunt in the hospital. This family reunion was from the other side of my family - my dad's side. It seemed that each of my dad's siblings families stuck to each other and when I went over to say to the others, they got up and left. Such a heartwarming family reunion, huh? Hopefully, next year, when my aunt plans that one, it will be a better time.

NIECE VISITS

This past week, my niece Kendall came back with me from Spokane to hang out with us. Unfortunately, I could not take the time off to do much stuff with her but it was nice having her there. We did go to Richmond Beach with her one day and to Carkeek the next. Maybe next year, she can come back while I have some time off so we can actually do some things!!

I'm All Better Now...

In the past few days, Ella has not been feeling all too well. Last night, she told me that she feels all better now. The cause of this was that she was refusing to go poo in the potty and thus, created a bit of a back-up. Well, things were taken care of last night. I hope she now realizes that going #2 on the potty is good as is #1. I really, really hope to have her completely trained by the time she turns 3.

Benjamin, well, he has good intentions. He will sit on the potty - he just won't do anything on the potty. He wants to wear underwear but keeps forgetting and well, pees and poos his pants (well, the latter, he knows he's doing it and refuses to sit on the potty).

Benjamin really, really likes puzzles. I got a new set the other day at Target. 5 puzzles for $1.98. There were 2 24 piece ones, 1 50 piece, 1 60 piece and 1 100 piece. Benjamin & Ella have mastered the smaller ones. Benjamin was working on the 50 piece last night and I think could have finished on his own given a bit of time. Ella was happy with the 24 piece ones. I also opened up a set I bought a while ago from Amazon where they have to put the pieces together to form a word along with the picture of that word (such as cat, house, dog, etc.). They keep asking what letter does "window" start with or "door" or whatever. They certainly know what letter their own names start with along with the names of their siblings and their parents.

While Nicholas knows how to walk on his own, he still likes to hold our hands to walk sometimes. He will say "go!" and sometimes "go walk". He gets to walk faster when he has an adult walking around with him. When he walks on his own, he has his hands above him for balancing, I suppose. It's quite cute seeing this little guy walking around. His other words, so far, have included, no, momma, and I've heard a couple times, papa, but not much else. He does understand things a lot more. He knows what a bottle is, a pacifier is, a car, and some other things.

We spent this past Easter Sunday with friends - thank you Ally & Paul for inviting us! I had a good time. The twins were having a good time until things started to break down because they hadn't had a nap at all. It was hard to try to keep them awake until at least 8 so they would wake up at a somewhat normal time. They did enjoy the food and the Easter egg hunt this time around. They understood the egg hunt more this time. Nicholas, at least, took a couple naps during the day, but he was still a bit cranky.

My paternal grandmother passed away this past week. She was 85. It was not unexpected. She had been sick for the past 4 months or so and before that, had some health issues. I will miss seeing her. It's funny because growing up, all I can think is my grandmother talked a lot about all sorts of things.
When I was a teenager, I used to get annoyed about the amount of talking she would do, but as I grew older, I found some of her stories interesting. I do wish I would have asked her more about certain things. I will always remember one time when I was about 16 and we were over at my grandparent's house. We were sitting out by the pool under the shade of a tree. My grandmother says to me that she thinks I should help out with my brothers more (they must have been about 1 and 3 at the time)(my grandparents helped watch my brothers), and somehow that evolved into a big discussion on self-esteem and the trials and tribulations of life as a teenager. She listened to me and we talked. It was nice. I don't remember exactly what was said and how it evolved into that discussion, but it was one of the times I really remember talking to my grandmother in a somewhat deep discussion. She's with my grandpa now - he passed away in 2004. Rest in peace, grandma.

Christmas & Other News

This was Nicholas's first Christmas - he certainly enjoyed the wrapping paper a lot. The 1st Christmas hat that I had when Ben & Ella were little - the one that didn't fit Benjamin at 6 months - definitely does not fit Nicholas. I still managed to take a picture or two with it sitting atop his head. :-D

Benjamin and Ella didn't even notice that Santa had come and brought them stuff until they were gently nudged in that direction. I would think next year, they will notice. Ben & Ella (especially Benjamin) really enjoyed playing with Nicholas's toy - it's this.

They enjoyed their new puzzles a little bit too. Ella seems to really enjoy playing with the playdoh we got for them.


Nicholas is starting to stand up only holding on with one hand. Last night, he is getting a little adventurous and tried to stand all on his own. That lasted all of 1 second, if that.

We watched "Up" the other night. Benjamin and Ella seemed to enjoy it. Ella did get a little bored halfway through, but then at the end asked if we could watch it again. Benjamin picked up the "big snipe" part of the story. During the movie, we ate some popcorn. Ella wanted to give Nicholas a small piece, but I told her that he was too little. Well, Ella didn't like that - she showed me that piece is little like I make his food, but I told her no. At one point, I think she snuck him a piece as it looked like he had some big piece in her mouth, but I didn't feel anything in there. Nicholas was not happy either by my decision, so I asked Jon to get him some cheerios. I do wonder when he's going to get more teeth.

So, I'm a little paranoid. I watched My Sister's Keeper the other night and then I saw a bruise on Ella the next day. But I'm trying to tell myself that it was just a bruise she got when playing as it was just one small bruise not like ones I saw in the movie.

For Christmas, Oliver & Sophie got a new scratching toy and some catnip canes. They seem to be enjoying both items. Oliver tried to open the catnip canes before it was Christmas, but somehow, I managed to keep them under their wrapping paper.

After spending Christmas morning at home, we traveled to Tacoma to visit my in-laws. We had dinner and the kids opened some gifts. It was a nice time.

And the best Christmas news is - a couple friends of ours have learned that they were chosen to adopt a baby that was born on Monday. They were able to be there for the birth. I look forward to seeing them and their new baby soon! Congrats to Paul & Ally!

Catch-up Time

When I last wrote - it was just before Thanksgiving. We had a small little Thanksgiving - just the 5 of us at home hanging out the entire time. It was nice - we had chicken parmesan instead of a turkey - it was yummy. Later that weekend, we had Jon's family over for dinner and I made some enchiladas - which were alright. Jon's mom hadn't been to our house since about a week after Nicholas was born - not sure why it took this long to get her to come back. Jon's dad and sister - well, it was a while before then. We've visited there a few times. We plan to go down to their house on Christmas in the afternoon and spend some time with each other in the morning. On New Year's Eve, I'm going over to Spokane to visit family - specifically, my grandmother as she found out recently she has cancer all over her body. It isn't looking too good, unfortunately. I'm going over on my own - I will my family terribly!!!

Anyway, some time ago, we took the kids to see Santa at my work. Nicholas enjoyed looking at Santa's beard while the twins didn't want anything to do with him and didn't want to go near him. We had to force them to stand with us. Toward the end, Nicholas was screaming. Maybe next year, they will like Santa. Though, I suppose it is good that they are nervous around strangers.

And now onto specific things about the kids...

Nicholas - cruising all over the place. He gets to a standing position with no problem at all - it's the getting down that he is still trying to figure out. His latest sounds are "da da da da" and he has said "ma" and the other day, he made a sound that sounded like "ella". :-D One of his favorite things to do is pass the baby between one adult and another. Another is for him to have a toy or something in his hand and put it up to my mouth (or whoever is holding him) so I "eat" it. He thinks that is hilarious! He also finds it funny when I blow on his hair. He's been copying me too - which is fun too. :-D

Ella & Benjamin

I find it cute when Ella wakes up in the morning as I'm getting ready for work and she quietly asks for "bekfas" or breakfast. Most of the time, all 3 kids are still sleeping when I leave, but I love it when they get up in time for me to see them before I go. The other morning, she asked for a "banna" (or banana).

Last night, Ella had a full on meltdown. Nothing was calming her down. Eventually, the only thing that was going to calm her down was being in our bed as one of us was in there with her. Seriously - last night was the worst night by far I've had with her.

When Ella says "here" - it sounds like she has a Boston accent.

Lately, Benjamin has become more interested in helping feed Nicholas - which can mean a fight between Ben & Ella. Ella has always been our little mommy ever since Nicholas came around. It has taken a while for Benjamin to want to help out.

Both of them like to count. At first, they would leave out some numbers, but I think they got all the numbers now. The other night, they were counting the number of boys and girls in our house. It is so cute the way Ella says "girl". They had a conversation a while ago on whether the pink baby was a boy or a girl. Benjamin said it was a boy. Now, I think he says it is a boy. Funny. Oh, that reminds me - whenever they find something enjoyable - they say "that's funny". :-D

Both of them are starting to get more into the tv. They will ask to watch this dinosaur DVD with Diego that I got at the holiday library book sale. Lately, I've been letting them watch a half hour show while I get dinner ready. These days, it's been Christmas shows that I've recorded. Benjamin was very mad the other night when I told him no tv tonight. I think this might be my fault - I introduced that Diego dvd to them - only because it had dinosaurs - which for a while, Benjamin was really interested in. I thought they would be super excited by some dinosaurs that I bought for Christmas until we went to go see Santa and one of the gifts they had were the same dinosaurs I got and Ben & Ella did not care.

They helped put together our tiny little tree - I think they enjoyed it. I think next year, we'll be getting a bigger tree. Well, I'm going to see what goes on sale the day after Christmas.

O.K. That's about it for now.

We have a crawler...

I am so bad - I really want to document Nicholas growing up as much as I did with the twins.

Anyway, Nicholas is definitely a crawler now. He has been for about a week or two now. He's gotten quite good at it. And he seems to understand the word dance because when I say to him, you gonna dance, he starts swaying from side to side. His two favorite activities are crawling over the floor puzzle and messing with it while Ben & Ella are playing with it (they don't like that too much) and blowing raspberries.

He has had a lot of different kinds of foods, including Gerber puffs. He loves those - as do the twins...still. They insist I give them some when I get some out for Nicholas. Don't bother telling them they are for the baby.

Both Ben & Ella like to play with puzzles. Ben likes to play with some different types of computers at the daycare.

They went trick or treating for the first time this year (see pics at www.flickr.com/photos/heathercim). They don't quite get it yet and forgot all about the candy once it was out of site. Wish the same could be said about their parents. :-D

Ben was a lion, Ella was a pink poodle and Nicholas was a pumpkin.



We also went to a farm this year to look at the pumpkins and went through a hay maze. The maze had a slide at the top that both kids went down. They also got to look at different animals and eat some kettle corn. Good times!

Dad's Dream

From my Feb. 9, 2007 post (thanks to my sister for finding it):

"Oh, I forgot to mention that when I was talking to my dad earlier, he mentioned he had a dream that I gave birth to my twins and there was one boy and one girl, but then he went on to say that in a 1 ½ years, I will give birth to yet another baby. Yikes! That’s great that I could get pregnant on my own without any medical intervention, but that would too many kids under 2!"

Yikes is right! My dad is rather close with his dream. The twins will be 21 months when the new baby is born. Too bad he doesn't know the sex of the 3rd one. A coworker did the ring test on me again the other day because before it only said a girl and a boy. This time, it's showing another girl then it ends.

Father's Day 2008

Once again, on Father's Day, we have a houseful of people. That's what happens when Ben & Ella's birthday is right before Father's Day!

This year, like last year, Jon made everyone breakfast with a lot of assistance from all of my sister's kids. Then I told him that Ben & Ella are very excited for you to open your present. So he did. We got him 2 short sleeve shirts to wear to work, one tie (he wears ties on Fridays), and...a fruit bat. We were most excited about the fruit bat.

If you don't recall, Jon thought that Mother's Day and Father's Day should have "mascots", so to speak, just like Easter has the bunny and Christmas has Santa Claus. For Mother's Day, it is the monkey. For Father's Day, Jon chose the fruit bat. He told me he wanted a fruit bat, so we got him a fruit bat.

The rest of the day, we went on the picnic I mentioned in an earlier post. Jon wanted to walk home with Ben & Ella while the rest of us went to go see the Fremont Troll. I think Jon had a good Father's Day. I hope he did!

Weekend & More

This weekend brought some new skills for Ella. On Saturday, she figured out how to get back to a sitting position after she’s been crawling somewhere. She also pulled herself to her knees using the couch. Then the next day, she pulled herself to her feet using the couch and starting cruising along the couch until she got to the end and got down to crawl. And, of course, she’s pulling herself up in her crib – well, at least to her knees. I haven’t seen her get to her feet there…yet.

Benjamin keeps saying “momma, mommmmmaaaa, mommmmmm”. It’s so cute! We got some video of him saying it. He hasn’t picked up any new skills over the weekend, but he is trying. I’ve seen him push his butt into the air a few times. Oh, but the other day he did get onto his tummy and pushed himself backwards quite a ways before I made him go back to his starting point. He was not happy with that – he made it all that way!

Over the weekend, I took Benjamin to Target and then onto the library. This trip was a lot better than last time we went to Target. Benjamin was a happy camper throughout the time at the store. That might be because I got him something to play with. I got him a little soft car to play with while we were in the store. I didn’t notice until we got to the checkout that he had put the tag into his mouth, chewed on the tag and tore it off the car. Luckily, I remember we had it just a few moments before, so I went to go get it to buy it. And this time, they had the lamp I wanted and it wasn’t broken this time! Yay! Let there be light in my living room!

The next day, Ella and I went to the grocery store and got some food for the week and for the play date we were about to have. Ella seemed to really enjoy being in the store – she was so cute. Unfortunately, out of the 4 women from my support group who said that they would come, only one was able to make it due to issues with their children. I was so looking forward to seeing them and their babies, but I guess life with babies can be rather unpredictable at times. One friend has a daughter who refuses to take a nap in her bed, but would rather pull herself up to a stand in her crib and cries because she can’t get back down. Anyone have any helpful ideas? I’m sure I’ll be there myself very soon.

Oh, and my sister will be happy with this – they LOVE the “shake your booty” song. If they are fussy – I just need to pick them up and sing that song, and they calm down (most times).

This coming weekend is going to be a busy one – on Saturday, there is the Seattle multiples sale, Ben & Ella are going to their first wedding, and a friend is having a concert (and Jon is helping with that)- check out her music! Then on Sunday, we have a play date with a friend of ours that has 2 children – one of which has his 1st birthday on Wednesday. Speaking of birthdays, my sister’s birthday is tomorrow. Happy birthday, Trina! Lucky her, she’s going to Vegas this week for a few days without her 4 kids!

Alright, that’s all for now.

Welcome Koalton!

My sister-in-law and her husband welcomed into the world their son last night. His name is Koalton and he was born at 6 pounds 10 ounces (just an ounce heavier than Benjamin). Congratulations to them both!

They are in Arkansas so I won't be seeing him in person for a while. We're waiting for some pics to be sent our way!

Christmas Weekend 2007

Our Christmas weekend started with going to a friend's party on Friday night. We met another couple there with a 7 month old baby, so we chatted with them for a bit. We didn't end up staying too long as the babies were getting cranky (they were sleepy), but we had a good time. Some lady offered to hold Ella so I could get something to eat - that was really nice of her. I forgot to have some puppy chow though. :-(

Saturday, Jon and I took turns doing some last minute shopping. I am not exactly sure how I made it through the shopping I did as I was in so much pain on my left side - I was nervous I was having another kidney stone because it felt like what it felt like before I when the kidney stone was just starting to bother me (not like it was toward the end when I thought I was dying). It just hurt to move, but I finished my shopping, came home, and when it was time to go to bed, I took some painkiller drugs left over from the c-section and went to bed (thanks Jon!). Thankfully, when I woke up the next morning, the pain was mostly gone. It was there a little bit, but not as bad as the day before. I'm not sure what the issue was.

Sunday came around. We went to a party that a couple from our childbirth class was having. They are from England so they were serving mince pies and mulled wine. I didn't have a chance to try the wine, but the mince pie that I tried (they were little ones) was yummy! I had never had one before! At that party, we met another couple with twins - they had their twins at 6 months of pregnancy. I can't even imagine having them that early. They stayed in the NICU for 3 months. I was nervous about having them 2 1/2 months early when I entered the hospital, but thankfully, they stayed put for 5 weeks! I just cannot imagine having my babies that early nor having them at the hospital for 3 months. We were so lucky the way things turned out for us the way it did - so lucky - we were able to go home with our babies. The couple said that their twins are doing wonderfully now - I believe they said that they are almost 3.

After the party, we headed home and Jon's mom and sister came by shortly after that. I was supposed to have Christmas Eve off, but I ended up having to go into work for 3 hours to make up time (even if I am salaried, but that's a gripe for another time). I came into work later than I normally did though - and that gave me a chance to stop by Cos&tco on my way into work to pick up a few things that we needed (like formula, etc.). I think I forgot to mention that I'm not pumping anymore - I made it to 6 months and 2 days (sort of - there were a couple days there I didn't pump at all b/c I was sick - thankfully, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would as my supply was dwindling anyway, but it did hurt a bit). I'm proud of myself for making it that long.

For Christmas Eve, we had chicken fajitas for dinner and just hung out listening to music, reading books, and playing with our cuties.

Christmas comes around and my sister-in-law made us breakfast (with Jon's assistance), then we just hung out until it was time for dinner and presents. What was great is that we got a white Christmas - it actually snowed pretty good in Seattle though it's all gone today. It was so pretty to watch coming down that when I went to go take a nap I kept waking up to look at the snow (and because I heard my babies - especially Benjamin - talking and playing). Jon's dad showed up while I was napping. We ended up having dinner between 5 and 6, then afterwards, we opened presents, then we had dessert. It turns out the reindeer sleeper that someone gave us as a hand-me-down is too small for Benjamin so no Christmas sleepers for them for the day AND Benjamin's blue Santa hat was too small for his head (I had bought those last spring at a multiples group sale when I was still pregnant). Too bad - I still got some pictures of his cute self with his hat kinda laying upon his head. Ella's pink Santa hat fit her just fine and she looked so incredibly cute in it. I also got some pictures of Ella trying to open her presents only so she could eat the wrapping paper.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our babies and Jon's family though I wonder if Jon's dad had a good time at all. He left late last night, but Jon's mom and sister stayed again tonight so Tanya can make dinner for us tonight and so the babies are at home with them today. They haven't been in day care for a while - I hope that they remember their DCPs! We'll find out tomorrow!

I'll try to upload pics tonight (though I thought I would get around to uploading some this past weekend, and I didn't).

Icky Dream & more

I had a bad dream last night that Ella started to have seizures and then her face became distorted like one's face would become when looking in a funhouse mirror. I think what caused me to have such a horrible dream was that after I woke up with Ella at 3:45 a.m. (I don't know why she's waking up in the middle of the night these days) and gave her a bit to eat as she seemed to be hungry, I put her down as soon pretty soon after she was done eating and I was afraid she would choke. She's not sleeping on the elevated pillow thing anymore and she still spits up a lot.

She woke up again around 6 this morning. I think Ella woke up even before her 3:45 feeding as I remember Jon coming from downstairs with her as I bringing Benjamin out of his room. Benjamin woke up about 2:30, I think, then again around 6. What can we do to get these babies to sleep all through the night - in ella's case, sleep through the night again? There's a meeting on Monday night with one of the multiples groups I'm involved in that will have a speaker talking about sleep issues. Jon's mom and cousin are visiting on Monday, and since I've never met one of Jon's extended family members, I'm kinda interested in meeting her. It almost seemed like Jon's parents don't talk to their siblings or other family members as I never hear about them - well, hardly ever. We'll see how it goes. I may be able to meet her when I get home from work (yes, I have to work on Monday) and then go to the meeting.

Well, that's all for now

Walks & Pictures

Interesting - mama merit badges...

It's 4:21 on a Sunday afternoon. The weekend is almost over.

The babies and I had 2 good walks today. Once around a track while Jon and a friend ran, and another through a nearby park so another friend could take a family photo of the four of us. Jon says he wants to use the photo for our Christmas card, but I thought our Christmas card would just be a photo of the babies. Do people really want to see us too? Oh, and I thought the babies would be in cute little Christmas outfits too, not in Bjorns.

I'm not sure the photos ending up being all that great since my new glasses have transition lenses, so it looks like I'm wearing sunglasses. I forgot about that since these glasses are so new (got them on Friday) - I should have worn my old glasses.

Well, better go, I've got one fussy baby and I'm sure the other one will be fussy soon. And well, there are chores to do too.

cramping & more

I've been cramping a lot today much like I would when AF is set to arrive. I'm hoping that isn't the case. I'd love to not see her for a while longer. Yes, it's been over a year since I've seen her last, but still. I think the only time I've been happy to see AF was when I wanted to get my IVF cycle underway (or IUI). And no, I'm not on any birth control at the moment so I don't have that letting me know when AF will arrive.

There still isn't any news as to what happened to my brother-in-law's half-brother, but they did an autopsy on Monday and the funeral is this afternoon.

In baby news - both Benjamin and Ella decided to wake up at 3:30 this morning. I'm not sure why Ella woke up (she usually sleeps through the night) - maybe this time her brother finally succeeded in waking her up. We tried to get them back to sleep and have them wait to eat, but they were really hungry, so they got some food. Luckily, they went to sleep right after they ate. The night before, Jon was able to hold Benjamin off on eating until around 6 a.m. I have a feeling that once we get Benjamin sleep trained, they'll start teething a few days after and so, they'll be waking up more during the night than they do now.

Well, that's all for now. Be sure to read my husband's blog for more exciting stories about the babies!

Good news and bad news

A lot has gone on since I last wrote. I went to go visit my friend in the hospital - it's so hard to believe that my babies were once that small (even smaller for Ella). My friend's babies were born at 6 lbs 2 ounces (their baby boy) and 6 lbs 5 ounces (their baby girl). A lot of baby - more baby than I had in me. The babies were just adorable and the parents were just proud (and tired) as can be. I'm so happy for them. It's been a long hard road for them, and now they have this wonderful duo.

My nephew's teacher just found out that she is having twins - she also did IVF. Congrats to her. My understanding is that for her first child, she did 3 IVF cycles before she had her daughter and now, with this IVF cycle, she is pregnant with twins. (If I'm wrong on the info, my sister can let us know).

And there has been some sad news as well. My brother-in-law's half-brother was found dead yesterday morning by his roommate. He had gone into the ER the night before complaining of chest pains, but they discharged him finding nothing wrong. Just so incredibly sad - he was only 30 years old. We will pray for him and his family.

Updates

Yesterday, I went to a CLE and it was so incredibly boring. I wanted to fall asleep so badly. I thought of my babies the whole time - that and sleep. I wonder how I'm going to be when I go back to work in a few short days. Not looking forward to it though I'm ready in a lot of ways to go back. The CLE was at the Seattle Center and it's weird to walk through the Center when it's so empty - I think I've only been there when there is some sort of festival going on.

After the CLE, Jon and I went to go visit the day care where our babies will go starting November 1. I so wish I could pay someone I know to watch the babies rather than a stranger but I suppose we'll get to know this person better. She said that she had tried calling us but our number was disconnected...oops - I forgot that she didn't have our cell phone #s but only our home number which we don't have anymore.

Then last night came the night where Benjamin just fussed pretty much the entire night and we have no idea why. We changed him, fed him, clothed him appropriately, but he still fussed. He refused to sleep. He didn't get much sleep last night and neither did we. And last night was our first night of putting the babies into the cribs - Benjamin never made it to the crib. Ella slept in there 'til 1:30 - not very long for her sleeping at night but pretty long for her to sleep in the crib!
Hopefully, tonight will go a little (or a lot) better.

Today, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law came to watch the babies for me for 6 hours. I went and got some more A*vent bottles as we're going to switch the babies over to those bottles exclusively. I was using the Med*ela ones for feeding breast milk, but Benjamin doesn't seem to want to eat from those so we're going to use the A*vent ones. More bottles to clean, but oh well. I also got to have lunch with my husband and go to a 90 minute massage - they are never long enough! It was so nice of them to do this. I did think of my babies often though! After the massage, I picked up some pictures I ordered of the babies to put into their baby books. I still have some to order but since Benjamin was so fussy last night, I didn't get to order all that I wanted to and I messed up on the order and ordered the wrong picture of the four of us to send out in my thank you cards to the hospital nurses and the fertility clinic. Oh well - it's a picture of the four of us, so it will do.

Well, I think I just heard Ella, so I should go check on her. I think she napped a total of 20 minutes that time. Yesterday, she did nap for 2 hours in her crib - that's the kind of nap I wish she would take every day! O.K. off to check on babies!

Anniversary Date

Jon and I ended up going to Claim Jumper at Alderwood for dinner and to see Stardust at the theater across the street. Thank you to Ally and Edna for watching the babies last night - we really appreciate it!!!

Stardust is a really good movie and Jon, the guy who doesn't seem to like any movies, actually really liked this one too (gave it an A+). Our Claim Jumper experience was good up until it came time to pay the bill, then the waitress accidentally gave us the wrong receipt - thankfully, Jon noticed after he signed the wrong receipt (it had the guys name on it across the way). We didn't notice until later though that we had gotten the guy's credit card too - his was black like ours but for Alaska Airlines, not Amazon. UGH! So Jon walked back across the street to give them the credit card and our phone number should the guy show up again. We got a phone call this morning that the guy (who lives in Wenatchee) called and will send our credit card back to the restaurant via FedEx. Of course, Jon had already cancelled the card.

Anyway, besides the credit card issue (which really wasn't all that bad), we had a great time. Jon got me a gift cert to In Spa for a massage as my back has been so tight lately probably from lifting my 14 and 11 pound babies! I need to call for an appointment soon! I got Jon this book - he seems to like it.

Something that I keep forgetting to mention (though it really isn't all the interesting) is that the spot on my belly just below my rib cage that had been bothering me during the pregnancy so much that I didn't like anything touching it now just feels numb.

Today, the babies and I went on a walk around Greenlake with two ladies from my support group and their babies - one of the ladies told me that they heard from another lady in our group still cycling and that her beta came back at 0. I am so sad for her that it didn't work - I thought for sure it would based on the great news she was getting from the doctors - I just wish there was something I could do in order for a cycle to work for her.

9 years!

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! Happy 9 years, Jon! It's hard to believe it's been 9 years. Tonight, Jon and I are just going to go out to dinner and see a movie - not sure where we're eating and what movie but we'll figure it out. We have Jon's mom and a friend (Ally) coming over to babysit (well, Jon's mom is already here - she comes every Wednesday). I'm looking forward to going out on a date with my husband! Of course, I'll think about the babies while I'm out.

Benjamin is so cute - he is just so happy laying on the gymini talking. He's making some different sounds too. One funny thing - well, I think it's funny - the other morning around 3 or so, he farted in his sleep and just after that gave a little chuckle. He already thinks farts are funny. I just thought his little laugh was so cute!

And today - Ella slept for over an hour in her crib!!! I cannot believe it. And right now, she's sleeping in this little bassinet thingy in the livingroom.

There was something else I was going to write about, but I can't remember what it is now. I have more pictures to post on my flickr site - hopefully, I'll get around to doing that before the weekend is over. My sister is coming over sometime this weekend supposedly - we'll see. And my brother has informed me that he's moving out and going back to Spokane to finish his AA degree, then he'll transfer to a 4 year school.

Well, that's all for now - maybe later I'll remember what else I was going to write about.

M