January.. Where oh where did you go?

It feels like just yesterday we were opening Christmas gifts and now it's time for Valentines. I need a pause button. It has been a crazy month in our house. Dave is taking the last 3 courses for his MBA and I decided to jump on the bandwagon and enroll in 2 graduate courses. Yes, I have repeatedly asked myself why I would do such a thing. The reality is that I have to take 2 courses by June to keep my teaching credential current and I decided that I would like to work toward a M.Ed in Montessori Ed. rather than take random classes.

The respiratory virus bug also decided to visit our house. First D, then me, and then G. Poor G has "reactive airways" so we had to spend 24hrs in the hospital to get her breathing stabilized and her oxygen levels regulated. 4 hours in the emergency room with a toddler is a blog post unto itself. Even though we arrived by ambulance and were a direct admit we still had to wait 4 hrs because the Children's Hospital was full. We were finally put in a room and she was given oxygen through the night. When she was awake she was fine, but when she slept her breathing became shallow. The next day after many hours on lock-down, she decided to let us know that she was ready to leave. She screamed, threw her toys, and was generally nasty. The doctor insisted that he watch her sleep one more time, so Dave and I tried everything to make her nap with no success. Even one of the residents stopped by and tried to rock her. I found the Dr and told him that I could let her scream until she fell asleep or we could assume that since she had the energy to scream for the past several hours straight and dismantle the hospital room she would be just fine at home. He agreed and signed the discharge papers.

I have not blogged very much this month because random programs and drives on my computer have decided to stop working. I haven't been able to upload photos for several weeks. Last night I realized that I hadn't installed the new software for my camera. That at least let me get the most recent pictures onto the computer. Hopefully cupid will bring the computer fairy when he visits this weekend.

17 months

This past month I have really seen G and D beginning their metamorphosis into toddlers. They are running, climbing, and grabbing everything that isn't nailed down. G is 261/2 lbs and D is 27 1/2lbs. G is 33.5 in. and D is about 34.5 in.

Step Off

Dear unscrupulous comment posters,
Please stop leaving links to your trashy sites on my blog. If you haven't noticed this is a blog dedicated to 16 month olds and I nor anyone else come here to see your smut. I am tired of wasting my time going through comments and deleting your links when I need to much more important things... like laundry. Trust me, if someone wants to find your site they will, and they don't need my blog nor anyone else's to do it... so step off and leave my blog alone. Whew, I feel a little better now.

Sincerely,
A ticked off mom

PS.. For all of you very nice and wonderful readers you can still post comments (and I hope you will) but I will be reviewing them before they are posted, so they won't appear instantly like they normally do.

Growing

Dave commented today how quickly G and D are growing. I have noticed their pants getting shorter and their ability to reach things, like my mug on top of the kitchen counter, getting easier. Climbing stairs is now a favorite hobby, although I still don't trust them alone.

D is the resident daredevil. He climbs the furniture and has learned how to get access to the things that he wants. I am currently unable to post pictures because he broke my mouse and SD card reader. Hopefully I can find a computer doctor soon and get the 1,000s of pictures off of my camera. He loves to shoot hoops in his basketball goal (which Dave raised a level last night).

G is a little parrot these days. Her vocabulary is growing daily and she loves to mimic. She and I took Cosmo along to the grocery store the other day. On the way he was panting in the seat beside me. After a while I realized that there was also panting coming from the back. I looked at her and she just laughed. Things are definitely starting to click in her little brain. She can get herself a diaper when asked and throw the dirty one in the pail. She has also learned a few words in sign language.

Today was the first day I truly let them self feed. In situations such as these I'm thankful that I'm a naturally messy person so the fact that they were covered in food didn't freak me out. They haven't been happy about me feeding them for the past couple of weeks but I wasn't ready to hand over the spoon, so I have mostly been giving them finger foods. However the other day I found these cool bowls that have a handle on the side and thought why not give them a try. They thought they were great and did manage to get some food in their mouths... and the floor, and on the dog's back, and the curtains....

Yesterday and today have been a much needed respite from winter. The temp has been in the 60's and we've taken full advantage. Yesterday we went for a really long walk in the wagon. I had to clean it out because it had become storage in the garage after many weeks of nasty weather. Today we went downtown to the library for story time and then walked to a pizza place. After nap, I put the slide and balls in the front yard and we played the afternoon away. I remember wishing for this day.. the day that I could put them in the yard and let them run and play. It was really awesome to watch them play together, running none the less, through the grass.

Do Not Feed the Computer

I haven't fallen off of the face of the blogging earth, but it seams that my computer has. The media card slot where I download pictures mysteriously stopped working a few days ago. My guess is that someone thought is was hungry and fed it a snack. And then today D's favorite toy, otherwise known as my computer mouse, bit the dust after being slammed to the ground for the 100th time. I honestly felt a little panicked that I couldn't use my computer. I scoured through the closet and found the mouse and keyboard that came with the computer and they are horrid to say the least. Off to the store I will go in the morning and hopefully will be able to get the blog caught up with my new computer gear.

A Wild Time

On December 22nd the babies were especially whiny, so I thought it would be a grand idea to load them up in my SUV and head to a local zoo where you can drive through and view Christmas lights. We arrived only a short time after it opened and it looked liked the entrance to Disney World.. six lanes of bumper to bumper cars waiting to enter. It took about 20min for us to make it to the actual entrance during which time we enjoyed chick'n nuggets and Graham crackers... and toes.

The lights, well at least they were bright, I'll leave it at that

We drove past a sign that said enter at your own risk, not liable for damage, yadda, yadda. Hmmm there are about 300 cars behind me so turning around doesn't seem to be a viable option and may I ask what may be causing the damage that you're not liable for?


We proceeded into a huge field and heard a guy yelling "You can go wherever you want. You don't have to stay in line". It was crazy. Cars, who didn't remember that their headlights were off, driving like crazy people in this field.


and then I saw what they weren't liable for...

There were giant cows, zebras, and buffalo everywhere. People were hanging out of their cars feeding them. My first thought was that we were in MY car and the paint job was not getting destroyed. I wanted to get the heck out of dodge, but we were trapped among the sea of cars.

And then he saw us. Yes, we were the family NOT offering him food

and he let us know that he was not happy by headbutting my car.

At this point we decided that we would have to find someway out. After a buffalo laid down, blocking the road and about 50 deer ran in front of our car, we finally made it to the exit .

Well, we thought it was the exit, but after driving through the fence we realized that it was a random back road. You know the middle of nowhere, no street light kind of road.

It was like a Twilight Zone episode.. drive through a field full of wild animals that attack your car, drive crazy to get away, and then end up on a dark road in an undisclosed location.. do, do, do, do.

Resolutions of a mom of (soon to be) 16 month old twins

The (realistic) new year's resolutions of a mom of (soon to be) 16 month old twins...

1. Finish this years Christmas blogs before Easter
2. Make my children wear socks, and on the days I'm feeling really bold shoes too
3. Finish decorating the nursery (2 more pieces of art and it will be done)
4. Organize the playroom so that it can actually be played in
5.Find out how to lock my cell phone so there are no more random web surfing charges
6. Actually remember to put diapers and wipes in my diaper bag, funny that they don't replenish themselves

May you recount the blessings of 2009

and look forward to all that 2010 will bring.

Happy New Year!

A Year in Pictures - Happy New Year's Eve

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December