Think Thin Thursday,er Friday

I have so so many posts to catch up on. I have been in a slight bloggy funkaty, funk, funk, funk. But hopefully I am better.

I did not think I did well this week. I stayed away from cokes, but not sugar, so I did not lose any weight this week. I didn't gain any either so that is great. I also stayed away from the Wii which means I did not meet my goal. Oops.

Next week's goal: lose at least 1 pound.

Stay tuned for a huge update on the girls and some other posts as well.

A Very Late Post

This post should have been up last week. In truth, I have struggling to find the right words. There is a mom on The Nest Multiples Message Board that received tragic news. Her two beautiful girls who are 5 months old have been diagnosed with a disease that has no cure; Sydney and Carynne have the most severe form of Werdnig-Hoffman disease.

Here are Brook's words to describe the situation:

"Both girls have been diagnosed with Werdnig-Hoffman disease. It is a rare genetic disease that is untreatable. We are going in Monday to test our blood as well to see if it is something we passed down to them or if it was a mutation they experienced.

They have the most severe form. Their lungs are going to slowly give out b/c the muscles will not be able to help them breath anymore. They are both on feeding tubes, oxygen at night and monitors. They will never be able to sit up or hold their heads up b/c their muscles just can't take it. They might never talk b/c they have to choose between using their energy to breath or to do other things and they instinctively know to breath. Their brains are fine and they do so well interacting with us and each other. They love to be read to and have toys in front of them, they just can't reach them and hold on to them to play with them on their own.

J and I are going to have to decide how far we want to take this...some babies can make it longer if they're given a trach tube and have a machine breathing for them. At this point we're not sure that we want that kind of life for our sweet babies. We have a lawyer friend who is going to help us draw up living wills so we don't need to make those decisions under emotional distress. I am going to look into taking a leave of absence from work to be with them, but we're not sure if we can do that financially at this point."

We received an update from Brook since then:
"Some good things:
1. We are home. I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that we are home with our babies!
2. I was able to take short-term disability from work so I get to stay home and not worry about losing our insurance!
3. Hospice is coming today to work out our in-home nursing schedule.
4. The girls don't 'hate' the nebulizer treatments...more of a 'strong dislike'.
5. We are having a 5 month birthday party on Saturday. It was supposed to be Tuesday, but we got 12.5 inches of snow so we had to postpone.
6. We have only had one incident of monitors going off when we were coming home on Monday. We think it is because Carynne can't sit up very well in her carseat. I don't think I've ever jumped from the front seat to the back so quickly, but everything turned out ok. Our dr said she would get a prescription for DreamRider carseats so that our insurance will cover the cost.
And most importantly, we have love all around us! I don't know what exactly we can say to express our gratitude...we are speechless"

We are raising money for her family to ease the stress of this time. If you feel lead to do so, please click on the button here or in my sidebar to donate.

Brook has also started a blog - Sweet Girlies

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again, words fail me. A sweet little twin girl, Tuesday, battled cancer and they thought they were beating it. Last week they found out the tumor was growing even more rapidly and sent her home to her family. Last Thursday she lost her battle with cancer, just 2 days after they sent her home. She was only 2 years old. Her family's blog is here. A fund has also been set up in her name.

Menu Tomorrow

I swear if my house could talk it would have been begging for attention this morning, so i gave it some. I was busy all day cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I did not even get to my menu so that will be up tomorrow. I also took some cute video today of both girlies eating crackers with their little fingers. I will post that, too. I have to admit I am feeling a bit off so bear with me for the next few days.

Alive

Yep, we are alive! :-) Just a bit busy this week with...well...living. I have been spending more time away from the computer since my little ones need me RIGHT beside them while they play. They tend to roll all over the place and get stuck under their play mat or their bouncer. And if I pay too much attention to one? The other will certainly let me know and rather loudly too. They have really been so so good this week until Friday. Then they turned into whiney clingly little buggers. Do you know how to hold two babies who want you but don't want to share you?? Me neither. I think we may be getting top teeth this week. Yikes!!

So they have needed me more than usual.

I have great news!! I have been slowly transitioning them their cribs for naps and I think they are actually doing pretty well. They fall asleep downstairs then I take them upstairs. A few times I have put them down drowsy and they have done well at falling asleep with me right there next to them. YAY girls!

Just wanted to catch you up. Abby woke up and is crying, so stay tuned for Menu Monday :-)

Think Thin Thursday

I bet you thought I was hiding because I didn't do well this week. Well that is just wrong!! I did my body test every day this week and I watched my weight go up and down every day, but I was losing a little every time I went down.

I lost...drumroll please.....3 pounds!!!! I am so excited!! I am now at the weight I was before the holidays. If I lose 1 more pound then I will be the lowest I have been since before I got pregnant. ::Squeal!!::

Progress: -4 pounds
Pounds to go??: 14 for my short term goal.

Let me tell you what has helped this week:

1) Staying aware of my weight on a daily basis.
2) Cutting out Soft Drinks (sniff sniff).
3) Cutting down on the sugar in my coffee.
4) I planned out my lunches for the week. I am super aware of what I am eating every day.
5) I cooked a whole bunch of chicken breasts in Lite Italian Dressing and froze them. I can now grab one and have it in a salad, a wrap, on a sandwich, or by itself.
6) I like Ranch Dressing on everything; pizza, salad, wraps, hot pockets, sandwiches, mashed potatoes, you name it, I probably have put Ranch on it. So instead of dipping or drenching I use this:



Care to read that label? That is 15 calories for 10 sprays which is plenty to flavor a chicken wrap, a salad, a slice of pizza, anything I care to have it on. I really think that this one of my biggest pluses (or minus as the scale says, Haa Ha Hee Heh) for the week.

My goal this week is to do 15 minutes on the Wii Fit every day. I hula hooped a few times but I need to be more dedictaed on a daily basis.

Until next time, my friends.

We've been a little busy :-)

Ice has fallen here in Texas, in the form of sleet.

The funny thing is, everyone FREAKS OUT((!!!) over 1/4 inch of ice on the roads. Schools close, offices close, roads close; which is fine and dandy with me because that means we get a weekend in the middle of the week. Everyone hunkered down the past few days eating soup, enjoying our fire in the fireplace, and playing Lego Batman.

I have always had this insatiable urge to finish things.right.now! Well, not everything; laundry, cleaning, dishes, that project I started 2 months ago, yeah, not those things. But books, movies, puzzles, games, and yes, even Lego Batman. We got this magazine about the game because it is Zach's new favorite thing. He even wants his room to made over in it. So it has a walkthrough in it where they walk you through (hence the name, right?) each level of the game telling you hints, tricks, and ways to get all the bonus stuff. Well, we have had this game since before Christmas and he has gotten a lot of the bonus stuff, but needed a few more things that were sprinkled through 15 levels. As I sat down to help him play through a couple, I could feel it welling within me...that need.to.finish.ALL.the.levels.to.day! So we did only to have much disappointment in the "bonus level".

This is why I have to read ahead in books. I have the ending at my fingertips; to know how everything turns out, right there. I also tend to skip ahead a few pages and come back and read through that section, then skip ahead a few more hundred pages or so, then read back again. And it is perfectly normal to me. Drives Gary crazy!! (Which I secretly love :-) Now with books I am serious about, I would NEVER do this with like Harry Potter, The Twilight Series, and others. But then I have the problem of having to finish them to.day!! I get nothing done as I race to finish it.

Hmmm...off to play Lego Star Wars (hee hee)

Makes My Monday

My freshly snaggled-toothed boy as of last week due to a pillow fight with Gary "Makes My Monday".

There were no tears as it bled. Whoo-hoo!! He also got his hair a much needed "shaping" not cut....because we are growing it out remember? If you call it shaping it doesn't sound like an actual hair cut even though it was :-)

Play along with others at Twinfatuation

Looking for my menu? It's there right under this one :-)

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday everyone!!

The breakfast casserole was super tasty. I forgot to ask what they thought of it to "quote" them but I remember us all saying we liked it. I put salsa on mine, but they thought that was gross. Anyone else put salsa on their eggs or omelets or is that just me being weird??

As you can see below I am adding breakfast and lunch to my menu. I am really bad about eating lunch during the day. Then I am starving and just grabbing anything that is quick, and usually not healthy. Since I lost a whole huge pound last week, I am inspired to do better. I even got a Diet Pepsi today!! Huge for me. I am also adding the weekends. We sometimes are at a loss in the weekends because it is not "planned".

So here we go

Monday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Pizza - with spinach salad
Dinner: Calzones - my new recipe to try for the week. I am going to try and sneak some spinach or sweet potato puree in the sauce. Shhh!!

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal - Steel cut boiled in apple juice - Yummy!
Lunch: Chicken wrap with tomatoes
Dinner: Chicken and Rice with Mushrooms

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch: Tuna - I use a little mayo, grated green apple, dill, and Salad Supreme Seasonings.
Dinner: Tacos - I will sneak in another veggie in the taco meat here.

Thursday:
Breakfast: Yogurt and Granola
Lunch: Subway - turkey on wheat with veggies
Dinner: Taco Soup

Friday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Chicken Breast with veggies
Dinner: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Saturday:
Breakfast: Eggs with toast
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Out (??)

Sunday:
Breakfast: Donuts (??)
Lunch: Sausage, potatoes, rolls, broccoli
Dinner: Leftovers from the week

Have a great week!!

Brag About Friday

First of all, if you only stop by here for the Brag About Friday post every week, then you might want to go back and catch up on this week. I posted some videos of the kids and told a little ditty about sweet Zachary this morning as well. I am trying to post more during the week and not do a marathon post on Friday since it takes me so long to complete it. This one even took me 4 hours to do in between everything.

Ok so onto the bragging...

Guess who is making baby food?? Yep, that would be me!

I am a steaming, pureeing, and freezing machine. I just got The Magic Bullet off Ebay and it works so well for what I need.

I steam the veggies for a little bit in my steamer, then I put the veggies in the bullet with a little of the water that collected at the bottom of my pan. I love how I can make it super smooth with more water or a bit more chunky. Then I spoon the puree into ice cube trays to freeze. Today I will take them out and put them into labeled baggies to use on a daily basis.

So far I have pureed avocados, sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, and a butternut squash (which I really had to try hard not eat myself, yummy!!). Today I will puree spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, blueberries, squash, peas, and I may try some chicken and rice. I got my recipes from Annabel Karmel and Wholesome Baby Food.

I am also following the advice of Deceptively Delicious and The Sneaky Chef. I will be putting cubes of veggies into my spaghetti, mashed potatoes, and just about everything I can get away with. My honey only likes a few veggies so hopefully I can sneak some nutrition in :-)

And look who likes it!!


No more closed little mouth...well...not as much anyway.

Guess who doesn't like it??


I guess she prefers the mush. Oh well.

My sweet tenderhearted child

So the other day I am getting onto Abby for trying to turn over during a diaper change. She is reaching, reaching behind her to scrape the wall with her fingers. I tell her no, firmly, and bring her hands back around to her tummy. I do this several times before she gets really upset at not being able to do want she wants So here comes the tears and the brokenhearted crying. She cries and cries mostly about me holding her little hands down. (yeah, can we say a little bit of a temper already??)

I look over at Zach who is standing right there with us and see tears streaming down his face and him barely holding onto his own sobs. I reached to hug him and he just falls apart.

Poor little thing.

I hug and comfort and send him off to wash his face and ask him what is he going to do when I have to spank their hands, huh? All I hear from the bathroom is sniffles as he tries to calm down. And I hate to admit it but I was fighting back the tears myself at him getting upset, Oy!!


I am grateful that I passed down this trait to him. We are both sensitive to others feelings. He would never even dream of being mean to anyone on purpose. He is super sweet and loving because of this sensitive nature.

But how much is too much? I don't want him to be bullied or called a sissy because of his emotions. I have the HARDEST time not crying during certain...well, all situations I find difficult. When I had to tell my boss I was sick and need to go home, how do I do it?? Crying.
When a parent got upset with me over how I handled a situation, what did I do? Cried.
When my dad told me not to interrupt his story...yep, you guessed it...cried!! As an adult, people!! Very rarely can I have a needed confrontation without crying. Do you know how embarrassing that is? How awful for people to not take me seriously because I am crying? I have so much that needs to be said, but all I can do is cry or worse, try to talk through my tears.

I do not wish this on him.

How do I toughen him up without losing that tender part of himself? Should I even try?

::sigh::

Parenting is hard.

The State of Things

You know, I feel like I have reached my complaint limit with my pregnancy and the colicky days. But I am going to take a page from my friend Heather's blog and step off my happy box for a bit to talk about....

Sleep...Oh blessed sleep, where art thou??

We moved the girls into their own cribs several weeks ago even though it broke my heart into pieces. They did better for several days after that and I thought we had found the answer. Then...well...it just went to poop.

Let me give you a rundown of our night. Olivia goes down around 7:00. And then she is up every half hour(!!) until about 12:00. This means that one of us is constantly running up the stairs to replace a binky or pop in a bottle or to soothe her back to sleep. After 11:30 or 12:00 she gets up every hour to 2 hours until 7:00. Then she is up bright, sunshiney, ready for her day. And she actually finishes 3 4oz bottles every night! She was down to only one, but maybe she is going through a growth spurt?? And Abby who was sleeping through the night until 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning is now waking every 2 to 3 hours at night. She too is drinking several full bottles. WTH, girlies?? So we are tired...again...and wondering if it will ever get better.

You know, when they were tiny I worried about them getting used to sleeping in their swings or bouncers during the day. I just couldn't see myself putting them in the co-sleeper or in their cribs upstairs and having them go down at different times and me being downstairs. It was just so overwhelming. So many MOMs told me it was all about survival and to just make it through. Well, we did and I am grateful to those words of wisdom, but now here we are, in a bad habit rut of sleeping in swings during the day, Olivia being rocked to sleep by me upstairs around 7:00, and Abby being rocked to sleep by Gary in front of the TV around 10:00. I know they need 3 naps a day and I am trying to get them on a schedule, but dang it is hard.

Plus, I really want to get them upstairs for naps. (Oh to have the downstairs to myself for an hour without having to worry about waking them.) But I have not the foggiest notion of how to go about transitioning them upstairs for naps. And while we are at it; how to get them to go to sleep on their own and STAY asleep!!

And I know people have had great success letting their kids cry it out, but this is not the answer for us right now. I won't say never because maybe in a few months...but I really don't see myself ever letting them CIO. I just cannot do it!! The only time Zach would cry was when he was about 10 months old and I knew he was super tired. He cried for about 10 seconds...and that was pushing it for me. To ask me to put my baby (My BABY!!) in a dark room and leave her there crying and calling for me for 10 minutes??? Will not happen...nope...no...I may just have to go ahead and say never! So we are looking for a different solution to our situation.

Plus, (yes, another plus) let's just say I am ok with them fussing and crying with us standing there beside them (I did this with Zachary) how in the world can we soothe one baby to sleep as the other, who is hyper aware of the other, is laying there trying to sleep? Let's say Olivia wakes up and instead of picking her up or putting a bottle in her mouth we let her know we are there but let her fuss. Abby starts waking up and by the time Olivia might be ok about going back to sleep on her own, Abby is awake and crying and that wakes up an almost asleep Olivia!!!!! People!! It is an endless cycle! We are clueless how to go about sleep training them.

Anyone have an answer for us? Anyone???

::sigh::

yeah, I didn't think so.

I have ordered 3, yes 3, books and we are hoping the answer lies among the pages of them.

Think Thin Thursday: updated

Goal met!! I lost a pound. How in the world I did that with the week I had, I have no clue. I am not watching what I eat or how much and I am not exercising. Yeah, so I think my body is just desperate to give me something to look forward to. Aww, thanks.

Progress: -1 pound

Goal for the week: To take the Body Test every day on the Wii.
There is just something about seeing my little Mii person balloon up on the scale that does tend to motivate me. See, it starts off all skinny and crap then the numbers shoot up and the Mii gets bigger and bigger. So much fun, people! Oh yeah and according to it, I am obese. OUCH!! Oh yeah, that stings. But as my friend Scott said I just had two babies, so I am cutting myself a little slack.

Also, I plan out our menu every week and we are pretty good about sticking to it. I am also going to start planning my breakfast and lunch on a daily basis. I am awful about remembering to eat a good lunch then I am starving by the afternoon and tend to snack while making dinner.

Some of you asked about the multiples weight loss blog. I was invited to it by another MOM and it has since gone private, BUT if I get enough responses here I will look into starting one with us. Wanna?? Just leave me a little comment and let me know :-)

Edited to Add: This blog would be for all moms not just moms of multiples :-)

On a side note -
To all my lurkers, thanks so much to those of you who came out last week. I enjoyed going and reading your blogs and "meeting" new moms.

Cute Videos

Here is my first attempt at uploading videos. I hate my dark camera! We really need a new one, but that is far down on the priority list :-)

This first one is short and sweet; little Olivia saying "Mama". Excuse my corny laugh, I just love hearing her say it. Look at her expression right at the last after I laugh. It is almost like she is wondering what I am laughing about.



This one is of Zachary and Abby playing. Watch Abby wipe Zachary's kiss off and Zachary really gets her laughing in the middle of it. Love it!! And of course there's my dorky laugh.

Menu Plan Monday

Ok, we tried out two new recipes last week. 1st, the Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken. From this point on this dish will be known as Teriyaki Ranch Chicken because it in no way reminded any of us of a cheeseburger. I doubled the sauce and used more chicken because I had a feeling we would need the leftovers.
Me: OMG!! Run, do not walk, and get these ingredients today! This is what is for dinner, people! It was so so very good. Gary and I fought over the leftovers and I won this time. Hee hee!
Gary: "It was wonderful...I can't believe you ate my leftovers." (Hee hee) He liked it so much that we are having it again tonight. Yep, it is just that good.
Zachary: "It was pretty good" complete with head tilt and nodding.

2nd was the Chicken Packets I followed the recipe this first time, but I will add more chicken next time because it was a little too cream cheesy. Well, I take that back. I actually did not put chives in and put Ranch in instead for a little flavor.
Me: LOVED them. I had these leftovers too. Yummy yummy! We will def be having this one again.
Gary: "They were pretty good"
Zachary: "They were ok." (not as great a response with this one.)

So here is this week:
Monday: Teriyaki Ranch Chicken, pasta, and sugar snap peas
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner - My new recipe for the week - Breakfast Casserole
We didn't get to have it last Friday. I sent Gary out for Sonic because the girls were super fussy and I had had a long day.
Wednesday: Pizza and salad
Thursday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies
Friday: Barbeque chicken over baked potatoes

Have a great one! I have a video of Olivia saying Mama that I will try and upload later today.

DeLurking Week

It's de-lurking week!! Here is your opportunity to show yourself. I would love to hear from every one of my regular readers today, especially if you don't usually leave a comment. Just leave me a little love aka-comment. If you don't have a Google account you can leave a comment anonymously. Just sign your name so I know who you are :-) If you have a blog, I will come give you some bloggy love.

Come on, you know you want to.

200th post!

Wow! I will not bore you with 200 facts of myself. I just wanted to give myself a pat on the back and send some love out to all my readers. Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I love you all and really appreciate you all for coming back again and again.

I posted a ton of posts on Friday so go get caught up. Menu Planning is coming soon.

Think Thin Thursday

I SO did not want to post this today since I have gained about 4 pounds over the holidays. But it could be worse right? And I have to keep this up! It is one of my resolutions.

A fresh start today. From here on out I will post how many pounds lost or gained. I have joined a Moms of Multiples weight loss blog. So I am really hoping that will help me stay accountable.

That's it. Wish me luck this week.

Update: Yeah, I forgot my goal for this next week: To lose 1 pound. That's it!! Just 1.

Sitting Up!

Look whose sitting up all by herself!!

Yay Abby!!!

And I had to post these with both of them sitting up.

Olivia is almost there, but usually ends up like this after 5 minutes.

And the first fight over a toy :-)

Free Suave

Wow! Who could use a free bottle of shampoo or conditioner? It will take a few weeks to get the coupon in the mail, but worth it I say!!

~~Look below for Way Back When-esday~~

Way Back When-esday

As I was sifting through photos to post today for the Way Backness, I have to say that my eyes filled with tears more times than once. Especially on the heels of yesterday's post about how big he is getting.

Dateline: Early Fall 2004
Age: 2 years old

Sniff...Sniff....sniff....ok I gotta go to bed before I just start bawling right here.


Play along with Cheryl over at Twinfatuation
for more great pictures of times past.





~~Check below for awards being handed out~~