Changes

We had a speaker at our last SNOMOMS meeting whose job it is to coach people through major, unexpected changes in their lives that have the potential to cause stress. He had a primed audience in moms of twins.

In his discussion he talked about how making controlled changes in your life can help to prepare you for those unexpected ones, thus, hopefully, making them easier to handle. I think it's safe to say that for most of the twin-moms I know learning they were having multiples was unexpected. And I don't think "unexpected" is the word any of us would use first to describe our feelings on learning we were to have two babies at once, but it works.

Andy and I have had a lot of practice with changes. Though we've always called them our adventures. During our marriage we both quit jobs to go back to school. We moved to another state for Andy's education-furthering. We upped and moved to Norway when the opportunity presented itself. When an opportunity knocks we're more the type to say "Hmm, let's think about that" than "No thanks".

We've taken risks and gotten as much out of every adventure as we possibly could. Those types of changes are exciting.

Having kids has been an adventure. Unexpected changes for sure! From change of plans when kids get sick and "Didn't I just change your diaper, and you're poopy again?!" ... To adjusting from active, crawling baby to spica-casted baby ... To baby-proofing for new crawlers and having a newly potty-trained 3-year-old start preschool. For sure you've got to be ready for changes when you're raising kids and expect stress here and there.

But I'm not sure that our earlier planned adventures (i.e. controlled changes) prepared us for the changes that come with parenthood. Did moving across country prepare us for a family trip to the zoo? Has learning to communicate in Norwegian helped us understand our babbling 1-year-olds? Perhaps quitting jobs to go back to school prepared us for the anticipation of the first day of our eldest's foray into structured education?

Maybe. Or maybe it's all apples and oranges. Nothing really to do with each other except that they all fall under the broad headline of "Change".

This life coach who spoke helps people deal with change. I think Andy and I handle change rather well. I'm not saying I like the unexpected changes of either a cancelled flight or a baby puking in the car. But we go with the flow. I'm not saying we live a stress-free life either. But we deal with it.

Change is a good thing, right? Especially when it's from a dirty diaper to a clean one. :)

Shoes and Balloons

Marin and Silje have been walking for 3 and 2 months, respectively. So I've been carrying around a little guilt knowing that they've been wearing Ailey's hand-me-down shoes, but not really knowing what size their feet are. So a couple mornings ago we took a trip to Nordstrom for sizing.

Since I first started having Ailey's feet measured, the children's shoe department at Nordstrom has given us the most success. For some reason it's the only place where she has cooperated with the measuring process. And a couple years ago when her feet measured a full size apart they sold me a "pair" of shoes in two different sizes. So that's where we go now, if not to buy shoes then at least to get measured. And besides that, they hand out balloons to the kids.

Both Marin and Silje measured a 6, which is the size of the shoes they are currently wearing. Lucky me, I didn't have to buy shoes for them! ... Yet.

We did, of course, come away with three balloons in three different colors. Oh, did they have a fun afternoon!

Ailey also still has her birthday balloons floating around. We got a couple of foil heart-shaped balloons, and they apparently last forever. Lucky Ailey!

"Happy To Papa"

Silje started singing "Happy Birthday" to Andy ... a couple days after his birthday. Now she's singing it all the time. In fact, she started singing it in the middle of Baby Story Time at the library yesterday. The other adults could even tell what she was singing - not bad!

I believe her exact version of "Happy Birthday" goes something like "Happy Do Papa" complete with clapping and cheering at the end!

Marin's Shrieking

"Do you hear that, Princess? Those are the shrieking eels!"

Puh-lease tell me someone knows where that quote comes from. I know that at one point in my life I had almost the whole script of that movie memorized I watched it so much.

Those are the words that go through my head whenever Marin starts screaming.

"Those are the shrieking eels."

Now you get to hear for yourself just what I mean. And if any of you pity us enough to send suggestions on how to stifle screaming, feel free. We've tried ignoring, reprimanding, sticking a finger in her mouth, blowing in her face ... anything else?

And the movie, anyone?

(FYI: If you want to Comment at the bottom of this post you can do so with your Blogger account, or if you don't have one just click on "name" and type in your own, or "anonymous" and it will forever be a mystery just who entered that amazingly intelligent response!)

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Today is Andy's birthday and he is spending half of it in beautiful Leavenworth, where he said it was almost 70 degrees yesterday and it's supposed to be warmer today. I've spent the last couple days on round-the-clock kid duty. Normally I would say he sucks. But since today is his birthday I'll just add it to his gift list.

Hope you enjoyed the nice warm weather in lovely Leavenworth, Honey! I ordered that up for you. That and the dinner and drinks out with buddies last night, and the quiet night's sleep, and the peaceful shower you had this morning without anyone knocking on the door. You're welcome!

Andy turns 33 today, that took me a moment to remember. Aren't I already in my upper-30s? Did I really marry such a young-un? A baby? And before you think that I think I'm insulting him in any way, know that I know I'm just insulting myself. I'm used to it, what with all this gray hair my age is definitely the one that gets insulted around here.

Happy Early-30s Birthday, Dear. Live it up! Order something special at the Spaghetti Factory tonight! Happy HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hello?

"Hello?

Who's this?

Oh, hi Grandpa Mark.

Happy Birthday!

Hope you have a good day.

Bye!"

Silje's Newest Trick

Silje has a new trick. Or, in the short life of a toddler, it's an old trick already.

She figured out how to climb onto the couch.

She uses the ottoman or a toy to push herself up, then proceeds to run across it. Ai ai ai! It's so much fun, especially when Mama and Papa keep telling her to sit down. Luckily she's a fast learner and Andy taught her in one session to climb down too.



From her new vantage point she can reach things that she couldn't before. Such as magazines, cell phones, glasses and cups, tissue - all things put on the end table to keep out of the little ones' reach.

Haven't you always wanted to sit down with a box of tissue and pull them out one by one? Wouldn't it give some sense of satisfaction, emptying out a neatly filled tissue box into a large pile of soft, fluffy tissues? It could be fun.... I'll restrain myself though, and just let the 1-year-old do it. Once. Now the box of tissue is on top of the piano with everything else I'm trying to keep out of Marin and Silje's reach. I need a couple more pianos.

"The Shotter"

Ailey had her annual doctor check-up today. She grew 3 1/2 inches and 2 1/2 pounds since last year. No wonder I have trouble finding pants that stay up on her.

She has graduated to the next step in exams too. She actually participated in the eye test, holding the patch up to one eye at a time and naming the colored pictures on the chart. She also got to hold the ear phone up to each ear and raise a hand when she heard the beep.

Considering how other exams have gone where she's expected to "perform" (not well), I was very proud of her!

Ailey knew ahead of time that the shots were coming. She had asked in advance about a week ago, so she was ready for them. When her doctor said good-bye and left the exam room Ailey asked "Is The Shotter coming now?" It took only a few seconds to figure out what she was talking about. And when we had to wait a few minutes she asked again "When is The Shotter coming?" I thought her ingenuity with that name was far better than my long winded "The-person-who-gives-out-the-shots will be here soon"!

Ailey took the first two shots well. Luckily, The Shotter put Husky colored Band-aids on those first two. That made for a nice transition-conversation to the other arm. But The Shotter saved the more painful ones for last, so Ailey was ready to be done after the last two Band-aids went on.

She was a trooper. Her reaction this year was very similar to last year's "Why did she do that?!" After The Shotter left we very carefully put Ailey's shirt and coat back on, and she was very good about "reminding" me and Andy about her Band-aids for the rest of the evening.

Other than a doctor-instructed "at least 2% milk", Ailey came away healthy and mostly happy and ready to tell anyone about her four shots and Husky colored Band-aids!

Groovin' at a 4-Year-Old's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for Ailey today. She got to wear her "party dress", which she was very excited about. It was a gift from Aunt Vicki for Christmas this past year. She wore it outside while Andy BBQ'd the brats, and he apparently made her his cup-holder.

I think it's too bad my Aunt Vicki lives too far away to attend our kids' birthday parties, because she doesn't get to see first hand how her gifts bring life to the party. Not that our parties are lifeless!, but nothing else quite provides the kind of entertainment that a musical skirt can bring.

Vicki sent Ailey an early birthday present at Marin and Silje's birthday party in January. You might remember the Chicken Dance skirt from this post. It remains a hit with Ailey.

Apparently Vicki decided (and I thank her for her thoughtfulness here) that Ailey should have two such skirts so that when they are ready to be handed down there are two for Marin and Silje to share.

So Ailey opened and immediately put on Vicki's birthday gift to her (over her party dress). A Marcarena-singing skirt complete with a flower in her hair!

It's hard not to dance to that song. Marin and Silje and Lucy got in on the dancing with Ailey. They were all quite groovy!

You continue to out-do yourself, Vicki! (But if you get random calls from a woman singing The Marcarena loudly and obnoxiously, she might just be paying you back for getting that song stuck in her head day after day!)

Just a Day in the Life With Sick Kids

Instead of sitting down to cry about my day so far, I think I'll try to type away my exaustion. That works, doesn't it?

To set the stage: all three girls have been sick, Marin got a diaper rash infection a couple weeks ago that brought us to the doctor. We came home from that appointment with prescription ointment. She then brought us back on Monday and we came home with two ear infections and antibiotics.

Ailey's never been on antibiotics. We tried once and, 2 forms of it and 2 flavors later, her ear infection cleared itself up with no help from the one dose we were able to sneak into her pbj. So I really have no experience with the stuff.

Therefore it was only my Mommy Problem-Solving experience that helped me figure out that Silje's diarhea and subsequent diaper rash were probably due to the antibiotic. After a call to the doctor I've tried the past couple days to improve her rear-end while still giving her the medicine. This morning her bum was in such a state that I made another call to the doc and have now taken her off the antibiotic, am rinsing her bottom with water after every poop, air-drying it for 10-15 minutes, and applying the white diaper rash ointment I have religiously stayed away from because it is such a mess to deal with. She is in a lot of pain. Never mind the ear infection, she cries every time she tells me she is poopy!

With that in mind, this has been my day so far.... You don't need to send me any pity, I have enough self-pity surrounding me right now to last quite a while.

This morning I wake up, get up, get dressed and complete other get-ready duties.

I wake Ailey, herd her downstairs and make her breakfast. I make Marin and Silje's morning bottles and head to their room.

Upon entering I know for a fact that Silje is poopy. (I won't describe just how I know.) After the past couple days, I am already dreading putting her on the changing table. I give her the bottle first, then head to the table. She starts crying knowing where we're going.

With one look at her rear-end I grab the phone and dial the doctor's office while I clean her up. After a ten minute conversation and a wait while the nurse consults the doctor, I get my newest instructions. As quickly as is possible, I goop-up, diaper and clothe a crying, writhing Silje and move onto Marin. Then on to help Ailey finish getting ready for preschool.

Upon return to Marin and Silje's room I notice (read: smell) that Silje is poopy again. Armed with my newest doctor instructions I know that, even though we're supposed to leave in 5 mintues to get Ailey to preschool, I have to go through the new diaper routine with Silje.

Silje's clothes off, we head to the bathroom where the novelty of standing in the tub with a sprayer on her distracts her momentarily from the stinging she must feel at the impact of the water on her raw, weepy bottom.

Rinsed we head back to her room to let her air dry for a few mintues. Meanwhile I'm trying to sooth a frustrated Marin who is still holed up in her crib and holler to Ailey to get her socks, shoes and coat on, and her backpack and soccer ball ready to go (it's show-and-tell day).

Ailey, like the softest string of yarn you are trying to push straight on a slippery surface, is about that easy to move when you are trying to get her to do something with a deadline looming. So I am calling out instructions one by one, hoping we will actually make it to preschool on time not too late.

Silje dressed and ready to go, I take her to the car first hoping the change of scenery will make her forget that she needs to poop again. Get Marin and Ailey into the car and notice we're only leaving a few minutes later than normal. Not sure how that happened, but I was relieved.

Ailey gets to preschool. We go home and Marin and Silje have their breakfast. Silje is, of course, poopy when she comes out of her highchair, so we head upstairs to start the diapering routine again.

I'm hoping to leave with enough time to stop at Walgreens to get the ointment the nurse suggested for Silje's bottom. So after changing Marin I am cheering a little when I realize Silje has stayed poop-free for the past couple minutes. We pile into the car and take a little longer than I had hoped at Walgreen's, because now we are late to get Ailey.

We gather all her Easter projects and head to the car. I put Silje in the car with a sniff of her butt ... still poop-free.

We get home and after a few minutes of play-time Silje is poopy again. I give her a snack first knowing I can't go through the whole shower, air-dry, goop routine with Marin sitting alone in her highchair. Luckily, neither of them are very hungry, so it's only a few minutes while they drink some milk.

Then we head upstairs for the now dreaded routine. Silje is definitely in pain and her crying makes it all seem that much worse. But we do what we have to do, this time putting on the ointment we got at Walgreen's.

I change Marin too as it's now nap-time, and ... aaahhh, Silje is poopy again. Poor Marin is just waiting for the shade to go down, the hug-and-kiss, and to snuggle under her blanket. But we have to change Silje again. There's no napping through that noisy distraction.

Silje only gets about 5 minutes to air-dry this time. Marin is mollified with a book. Ointment mess is applied to Silje's still-red-and-weepy bottom, I lay them both down in their cribs, cover them with blankets, and skedaddle out of there as quickly as I can so Silje can fall asleep before she poops again.

Now it's only a little after 1 PM, Ailey is in front of the TV and I still have to go eat something before I get started making her birthday cake.

I realized this morning, mid-chaos, that I am tired. I am tired of kids being sick for the past three weeks. I am tired of dosing out Tylenol, Motrin and antibiotics. I am tired of applying ointment and goop to baby bottoms, because Marin is still on a diaper rash routine as well. I am tired of the poopy-smelling loads of laundry that are never-ending. I am tired of trying to stay patient with the sad, grouchy, and whining. I am just tired.

Though if awareness is the first step, then at least I know I'm on the road to recovery!

Silje only pooped once more the rest of the day. This time on Andy's watch. Maybe we are on the road to recovery.

Four Years in the Life of Ailey

I think it sounds crazy that I have a 4-year-old. It doesn't seem like 4 years since Ailey was born, and yet I can hardly remember life before her. The old cliche, right?

Four years ago I was 32. Working. Sleeping through the night. Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of snack, leftover and nibble. Grocery shopping at normal hours of the day. Remembering things.

Wow, that life must have sucked! Though I wouldn't know, I don't really remember it. Here's what I do remember....

Happy Birthday, Ailey!

Lately Ailey's been waking up well before Marin and Silje and coming to wake me up. This morning as I opened my eyes she said "It's my birthday today!" before she even got to my side. It was fun watching her throughout the day. She knew it was a special day. She got what she wanted for meals, got phone calls and emails, she was sung to, got to paint her toenails, go out for dinner. Here are some birthday memories....

I don't know exactly when Ailey will share her birthday with Easter, but I'm sure it's coming. This year she got to color Easter eggs on her birthday.

She also got to color her toenails!
Our Ailey/Parker birthday tradition for the past three years has been Chuck E Cheese, this year on Ailey's birthday. They have more fun every year. They sure get cuter every year!
Ailey went to bed tonight with a birthday present. She got a soccer set, but we figured the net would be less comfy to cozy up to.I think I'll put some Ailey pictures up tomorrow, so stay tuned....

Double Ear Infections - Double Fun!

I took the girls to the doctor this morning. All three girls (and myself) have been sick for a couple weeks, but only Marin had an appointment as she had a fever this morning and had been pulling at her ears yesterday. I was planning on having the doctor check Ailey's cough as an aside, but Silje, though I thought she was over her cold, is the one who ended up with the extra attention.

We were running a little late as it was. That's fairly typical when I make a 10:20 am appointment at 8 am the same morning. However, we ended up even later when I opened the door to get Silje into the stroller and found she had thrown-up all over herself and the car seat. I wiped up as much as possible but had to close up the car and leave it sitting in the sun while we rushed in to make our appointment.

So while I had only one appointment, all three girls ended up being checked. Ailey was cleared. Silje has a slight infection in one ear. Marin has a pretty bad double ear infection - I believe the doctor used the word "bulging" as she came away from the first ear drum. I'm not surprised, she's been cranky, clingy and not eating much.

When we got back to the car I opened all the doors and windows while I cleaned up Silje's carseat a little more. It's a good thing it was nice today so we could drive home with a couple windows open too. The seat cover is now drying and is hopefully free of any smelly reminders of our morning.

Doctor appointments, whether one or all three kids are being seen, always make for a hectic day. But coming away with two prescriptions and a vomit-scented car will make the next few appointments seem like a walk in the park!

Destruction and Mayhem at the Higgins House...

... And I'm not even talking about the kids!

After a bit of a windstorm earlier in the week we noticed that one of our trees (we have many) was broken about halfway up and it would need to be taken down. There are a few other trees that were going to meet the same fate eventually, but they all moved up the priority list along with the "broken" tree. Eight trees altogether slated to come down.

We are very lucky that Andy works in a place with people of many talents. People who work for the building department tend to have skills in many handy areas. Builders, of course. Electricians. Plumbers. Tree people. Um, what do you call people who take down trees for a living? I don't know, but I know that Andy was lucky enough to find out that one of his co-workers, Cornell, used to do it as a second job.

On Saturday they started by taking down a few trees behind the fence, including the "broken" one. Andy had to remove a section of the fence and the four trees were felled right down the path intended - between other trees, the fence, the shed, and the house. Impressive. I got a video of the first tree coming down for your viewing pleasure:

Andy was in the truck with the rope tied on ready to pull while Cornell revved up the chainsaw.
Perfect landing.
Then on to the larger tree planted right smack in the middle of the yard. Not as easy. It's tall, half-dead, and it's path of destruction was the house, fence, shed and other trees. It also wasn't as easy to climb - apparently Cornell's spiked shoes (no, I'm not versed in tree-felling terminology) wouldn't spike themselves into the tree, so he couldn't climb it high enough to take down the top part and had to settle somewhere lower. No problem, he was aiming between the house and the shed.

Here I might add that this tree is a source of slight disagreement for me and Andy. I think it's half-dead and butt-ugly and should have come down a long time ago. He thinks it has some beauty left to it (though only if you are looking high enough to check out the airplanes passing by). I won this one, without even really trying, because it's in the way of the play area we are putting up.

Anyway, this tree had a mind of it's own was so rotted in the middle that it took a slight turn from the direction it was supposed to fall and it hit the corner of the roof, pulling off the gutter and a piece of the facia. After a few choice exclamations from all of us (another co-worker and his son had joined us by now), we breathed a little easier; it had missed the bedroom window and the siding and the tree next to the house. That sucker shook though. It was loud coming down. (Though it didn't wake the babies from their naps. More important than any gutter.) Unfortunately, I was only taking pictures and not video, because this would have been one to watch again. Here it is halfway through it's fall:

And it's final resting place just under the mangled gutter.

Onto the next tree. This one shouldn't have been a problem, it's path was the backyard that was now free of the other tree, however....

Cornell says this is the first time a tree has gone the opposite direction from where it was supposed to fall. ~"!?#!&@?!"~ Many more choice exclamations and an unfinished video because the camera was forgotten as soon as the rogue tree fell out of sight. Here is the video anyway, with warnings to young ears. It doesn't start to fall until nearly the end.

Now here's the part that still has me shaking my head and at the same time convinced God was watching us today: even though the tree fell toward the shed, fence, and Cornell's truck, it missed it all, including Cornell and any of us watching. Looking in that direction at first I was convinced it had taken out two fence sections, one of them being one half of the gate, and Cornell's truck.

In this picture it looks like the fence and truck are goners. You can see the white of the truck just to the left of the house behind the fence.Instead, that tree fell into the one foot gap between the fence and truck. The branches put some dents in the truck's canopy...

...but the tailgate was even ok, and that fence of Andy's looked untouched to me. Andy had both closed the shed door and opened wide the gate doors, both of which would have been totalled had he not. Here's the narrow path the tree took to it's destruction:

Ailey was upset, no doubt because we were all swearing as a big tree fell loudly in the yard. It took a little convincing, but she was assured that even if the fence had to be rebuilt or Cornell's truck was toast, that everyone was ok and things could be fixed or replaced. Grateful is definitely how I felt at that moment, so it wasn't a difficult concept to convey.

There were three more trees to come down after that, though I believe they all took a much needed lunch break in between. That's Cornell up in the tree ready to cut down the top half. He said he could see over the roof of the 3-story house next to us. Better him than me!

Lots of wood in that part of the yard, all needing to be cut up and loaded into the waiting truck.

The girls did enjoy the show. From inside of course.I almost labeled this post "Destruction Can Be FUN" because things like this can be exilerating. It was kind of a fun weekend even if our hearts stopped a couple times. Even if the gutter needs to be fixed. Even if I was mostly holed up indoors with the girls on the first weekend of really Spring-like weather. I did get outside with the camera at opportune times and Ailey got to run outside during clean up today. I believe Andy is putting his feet up right now catching up on the Final Four.

I hope you all in the NW enjoyed the sunny weekend!