Random Catch Ups

Okay, I know it's been an entire month since my last post. I don't know why I just wasn't in the bloggy blog mood. So I'm going to do a random update post for now to play catch up.

I made the tough decision to discontinue Rachel's feeding therapy. Between her feeding therapist and I, we just weren't very pleased with what the behaviorist was doing and decided that Rach just needs a break from all of this. She has shown a little bit of progress over the past year, but not enough for us to justify putting her through the exercises. We still have access to services until her 3rd birthday so if we think she would benefit from future feeding therapy, all I have to do is say the word and it's back. I communicate with the feeding specialist by phone and email. I'm currently reading a book about toddler/childhood feeding. One is "Child of Mine, Feeding With Love and Good Sense." I also just ordered a book called, "Just Take a Bite." I'm hoping that by taking a step back, we will see some progress. In the meantime, meal times around here are still sometimes an adventure but we're hanging in there and she is healthy and growing. That is what is most important.

Remember when Sophia jumped our of her crib on my birthday? Well, Rachel jumped out of hers a couple of weeks ago. Morgan is our good daughter and has never tried to escape. LOL! Anyway... I freaked out the day Rachel jumped out. She fell so hard and pulled the curtains in their bedroom down with her. Not cool! I put in a call to a local baby specialty store to see if we had any options for crib tents. I bought tents about a year ago but ended up returning them because they didn't fit on our cribs. Well, my prayers were answered because there is a larger new tent out for convertible cribs. I rushed down to the store and bought three. It took a little bit of adjusting to. The first night, Sophia thought sleeping in a tent was the coolest thing ever. Morgan pretty much didn't have a reaction, and Rachel....well she hated it. However, the next night, she did just fine. Now they all like to zip the tents closed themselves. I think it gives them a sense of security. I certainly feel better knowing they are safe in their cribs and won't be trying to jump out. We (mostly meaning me) just aren't ready for the switch to toddler beds at this point. I'm hoping to keep them in cribs until they are at least three.

One of our favorite family things to do now is to have dinner and play time at the mall when Bob gets home from work. I'm so happy that Bob finally decided to join us for a meal out. I've been taking the girls to the mall food court for lunch for over a year now and they have always done pretty well. I think we've had a few meltdowns here and there, but it's mostly been good. The first time we did this as a family, I was so nervous. I knew that if the girls had a meltdown and didn't eat well, Bob wouldn't be coming back out with us for a while. He doesn't like the attention that we get when out in public so it's taken him a long time to come to terms with it. The girls did great at dinner. I was a proud mommy. We then took them down to the toddler play area and played for almost an hour. They are doing so much better around other kids now. We're learning to take turns and NOT steal other toddlers' sippy cups. haha... I'm so excited now that we actually get to go out for dinner now. There are nights when I don't want to mess up the kitchen and we're all aching to get out. I think Daddy really enjoys watching his girls run around the playground too. Plus, it's air conditioned!!!!

Last week, my friend Dainey and her daughter Shannon, went to the zoo with us. We had so much fun. I only used a double stroller and let the girls take turns walking around since we had 3 adults to 3 toddlers. Rachel prefers the stroller, but the other two loved running around. There was one time that Sophia was scared by the chimpanzees though. The chimps are behind a glass wall and one sort of ran at us. She didn't know that it couldn't get her. She screamed and reached for me. I felt so bad for her. She really didn't understand that there was a wall there. Other than that one incident, it seems as if they are really starting to enjoy seeing the animals. They point at them and say what they are. Although..... all of the ducks, birds, and well....anything with wings..... was a "chicken" according to my trio. They were cracking us up saying, chicken, chicken, chicken. They also had their first ride on a merry-go-round. If I can figure out how to get the picture off of my phone and onto my blog, I'd post a pic. I already uploaded it to my FB page. They loved the ride. At first, it was obvious they were scared. But one the ride got moving, they were full of smiles and giggles. It's so nice going out with good friends. Dainey and Shannon really love our girls. I met them when the girls were just 4 months old and they came in as volunteers to help us in those early days. They have been a huge blessing to our family. In fact, we consider them part of our family!

So what else... Oh the girls have a new speech therapist. We're pretty much back to our full time therapy schedule. They are still receiving OT, physical, and speech. Their old speech therapist doesn't work for the county anymore so we were assigned a new one. I met her last week and adored her right away. In fact, I think she is a much better fit for our family. The girls age out of this program at 3 years old. At that point, the school district takes over. We are just finishing up their 2 1/2 year assesments tomorrow and will have their transition meeting pretty soon. That's the meeting where I find out what services the girls will qualify for after we age out of the current program. I'm nervous about it. Also, I've really grown attached to our current team and will really miss them six months from now. I think the girls will too.

Now it's time to toot my own horn. I have 2 weeks left of the 12 week trainer program that Bob bought me. I'm very proud to say that in 3 months, I've lost 35 pounds and almost 10 inches from my body. I'm a few pounds lower than my pre-pregnancy weight. It's happened so fast but it's been such hard work. I'm working out about 4-5 days a week and really sticking to my diet. Well, 98% of the time I'm sticking to the diet. haha... A girl has got to have a glass of wine or dinner out once in a while. Bob said he may be able to buy me another 8-12 weeks with the trainer since I'm making such good progress. I had such a tough physical struggle after having the girls. It's hard to believe that just three months ago I had surgery and had been experiencing constant abodominal pain for over a year. I even got tired easily at the grocery store and my legs would be killing me by the end of the day. Now I can run a 10 1/2 minute mile and I even have a teeny bit of muscle tone on my arms, which is totally new for me. If I don't end up buying more sessions, then I will likely join a gym so I can continue this healthy path I'm on. I'd really like to lose another 25-30 pounds!

So that's it for now. We had a fun overnight trip to Monterey a couple of weeks ago. There are lots of fun pictures and stories to tell from it so I will try and post that really soon. Hopefully, I won't be stuck in blog la la land anymore.  And... I'm too tired to proof-read this so please excuse any mistakes for now.

4th of July fun

 Last weekend was a lot of fun. Every year in the small town that my family is from, there is always a lot of 4th of July weekend fun going on. The whole downtown (which doesn't even have stoplights) becomes a fun carnival for families complete with a parade. My dad lives within walking distance of downtown so we decided to head up the hill and go to our first parade.

As you can guess, we got a lot of attention. I think it was because we met up with a friend of mine who was there with her twins. Small world, but a friend who is in my multiples club is also from this little town. We had 5 toddlers between the two of us. People were asking if we were all related. It was kinda fun. We also ran into a mom who was there with her 16 year old BGG triplets.

Here are the girls enjoying their first parade. Silly me, I forgot my good camera so just had the camera on my droid phone so the pics aren't the best. Rachel didn't love the noises from the fire trucks and police cars that were part of the parade. She spent most of her time with her arm over her face. I felt bad for her, but she also needs to be exposed to these things to help overcome her fears. There were parts she really liked too. The girls all loved the horses. They kept saying, "hi horsey, hi horsey." And Sophia would say "look datsa horsey."

And um.... What's a parade without a drag clown?

And yes, I did find the clown a little bit strange, but they had some normal clowns that were a lot of fun.

My Aunt, Janet, was with us too. She bought the girls snow cones and cotton candy. The snow cones were not a winner with the girls, but I thought the cotton candy would be. Sophia and Morgan ate some, but they made the funniest faces and tried to scrape it off their tongues with their hands. I'm sure they will love sugar one day, so I'm okay with them not loving that stuff right now. It was fun to have them try something new though. And as you can probably guess, no Rachel did not eat either one of these treats!

After the parade, we headed back up to my dad's house for lunch. Oh and I must mention, pushing that heavy stroller up the 2 hills to his house was torture. At least it was a good work out. The girls had so much fun hanging out in my dad's garage playing with toy trucks. They were occupied with them for a couple of hours at least. Even though it was a super hot day, the garage (with the garage door open) was still nice and cool. Let's just say "your dad might be a red neck if he has a swamp cooler in his garage and actually uses it." Yes dad, you might be a redneck....but this was established a long time ago. HAHA!

Here are the girls playing with the trucks. They were lining them up like a choo choo train. I've never seen anything keep their attention for so long before! And Morgan really loved that chair she was sitting in and spent most of her time in it.

All of this parade fun was actually on July 3rd. On the 4th, we decided to stay home and play with the kiddie pools in our backyard. Rachel scared the heck out of me after nap. She has been waking up so fussy from nap lately. I finally figured out that she was hungry.....you know... from all the "not eating" that she does. Anyway, that day she was throwing a huge tantrum. I put her down on the floor because she was really mad and thrashing while I was holding her. She ended up sitting up and then throwing her head back to the floor hitting her head on this wooden rocking elephant toy we have. She cut her head open, and I just about passed out from worry. Thankfully, a friend of mine is an ER doctor so I called to get her opinion on whether or not I should take Rachel in. She had me text her a picture and it wasn't serious at all. I just treated the cut at home with neosporin. I can't even tell you what a relief it is to know that advice is just a quick phone call away from a trusted friend. Rachel is doing absolutely fine. In fact, you can barely see the spot where she cut it, and the knot in her head is completely gone. She sure did freak me out though. I started to give Rachel milk right when she wakes up now and it seems to have stopped the post nap tantrums. Now if only we could get her to eat more we wouldn't have this issue.

Other than the head incident, we had a great 4th of July weekend. I'm really looking forward to next year when the girls might enjoy seeing some fireworks! 

Sick of being sick

We are on day 9 of illness in this house. Ugh! It started last weekend.

After a very fun day playing outside in the water, Rachel had a fever at bed time. She went to sleep just fine and I wondered if she was just tired or overheated from the day's activities. At around 11 that night, she woke up and threw up all over herself and her crib. Poor baby. I ended up having to put her in the pack in play portable crib in our bedroom. (And I kicked myself for not having extra water proof mattress covers.) Well, I wanted her near me anyway. The next day, she had a fever but then seemed fine by Monday.

I was happy that no one else got sick because our friends were babysitting the girls for Bob and I so we could go out for dinner. I cherish those rare nights when he and I get to "date."

That night, poor little Morgan woke up throwing up all over herself. She woke me up around 1am. I heard her crying and saying, "it's okay, it's okay." She was so upset, and I felt so bad for her. She was in there comforting herself by saying it was okay. My heart breaks just thinking about it. So she spent the night with us in our room.

On Tuesday, Sophia had a fever and her stomach flu was coming out of the other end. Morgan's fever went up to almost 103. It was a pretty awful day. By Wednesday, I thought we were over it all. Then Rachel started coughing and having a runny nose. By Friday morning, our whole house was sick again. I even had a fever that neared 102 ish. Bob and I have really had it rough all weekend. I'm sure all parents would understand how hard it is to take care of sick kids when you're sick yourself. The sleepless nights and fussy days.... Just blah!

In other news, remember when we had to spend a ridiculous amount to replace our oven/microwave wall unit last January? Turns out it was a $2,400 mistake. Our new oven started doing the same thing the old one did. It would just run out of power and die. Long story short.... It has everything to do with the circuit breaker box or whatever the heck it's called. We called the electrician who lives across the street and apparently this has been an issue in most of the homes on our street. He's had to do upgrades to several of our neighbors' homes. So tomorrow our power is going to be off for 6 hours while the replacement/upgrade is being done. This issue also explains why our three year old dryer has been taking almost 2 hours to dry clothes lately. Our electricity bill has also skyrocketed in the last few months. All of our appliances have been running longer because of the shortage of power to them. Isn't home ownership grand? HA!

I'm just hoping that the girls are all on the mend. It's been a lonnnnnnng week and I'm ready to have my healthy happy girls back. I'm doing a lot better myself. Bob still has a pretty awful cough, but hopefully it will be better soon too.

In happier news...... I'm proud to say I have lost 29 pounds in the last 8 weeks. Working out with a trainer and knowing he is keeping me on track, has made all the difference to me. Today I zipped up a pair of jeans that haven't fit me since before I got pregnant. I still want to lose another 30 pounds so I have a long way to go. I missed my work out session on Saturday morning due to being sick so that was a bummer. I'm hoping to be able to go tomorrow. It will depend on my cough and if my sore throat is gone. I'm so OVER being sick.

It's JUNE, not flu season. Apparently, we missed the memo that flu season is over. I say flu since we all had fevers. But... I'm not a doctor so who knows. Plus, we all had flu shots. Grrr... either way, I hate it when we're all sick.

Boring.....

I am really not doing a good job at this "blogging every day in June thing" that I wanted to do. Oh well. By the time I get the girls bathed and in bed, I'm exhausted. Then I have to wash dishes and clean up a bit, not to mention try and get loads and loads of laundry folded. Oh the life of a mommy. haha....

The good news... I'm down 23 pounds since my pre-op surgery appointment. I've been sticking to my healthy diet and exercise regimen for the past 6 weeks. I've had maybe 5 "cheat" meals where I've splurged, but I have been getting right back on track the next meal. I used to let one cheat meal throw me off for weeks at a time, and of course that is why I gained so much over the last year. So I'm feeling pretty darn good right now. It's a nice change! I just feel so much healthier. Also, here's a record... I haven't had a coke since May 5th!

We're enjoying a break from therapy. It's kind of nice not having specific plans each week. We were able to make it to one of the play dates today that my multiples group has each month. We usually always miss it because of our busy schedule, so it was nice to get out and have some fun. Morgan is such a stealth little thief though. She stole my friend's son's snack and sippy cup and took off with them. Stinker... She also took a hat from another little boy. I think I need to step up her time outs at home when she takes things from Rachel or Sophia. She just doesn't do it very often at home. It's usually when we're out of the house. I need to keep an extra eye on her. Sophia took a little time to warm up to the play area we were in, but once she did, she was unstoppable. I was really proud of the girls for climbing to the highest spot on the play structure and going down the big slide. Okay, I was proud but terrified they would fall at the same time. Thankfully, the majority of the moms there were from our club so we all keep an eye out for each other's kiddos.

Time for me to get some sleep. My trainer has been kicking my ass lately and I have an appointment with him tomorrow. I must say though.... I love that I am getting out of the house and that I get to take a little time to do something just for me!

Day at the Zoo

I can't believe it's been a year since our last trip to the zoo. I packed us a picnic and headed out this morning. We met my mom and niece there, and we all had a really fun time. 

Morgan was really excited to be there. She kept saying hi to all the animals. "Hi giraffe," "Hi monkey," she'd say while waving with excitement. Oh she was just the cutest little thing!

Sophia didn't like being contained in the wagon very much, so since it was three on three, we let her run around a lot. She was happiest when she was free to roam. She seemed to like the smaller animals the best. She even said "ink ink" when looking at the flamingos. That's how she says "pink."

Here are Morgan and Rachel looking at....um.... I don't remember!

 I think the duck pond and flamingo area was the girls' favorite. We walked by it several times, and each time they wanted to stop and check out the action. I think they liked that the ducks would come really close to them. They had a pretty good view from their level. 

Here we are taking a little snack break. I'm such a proud Mommy!

I'm really pleased the girls did so well today. Sophia had some moments of being not so happy, but what 2 year old is happy all the time?! We're going to spend a lot more time at the zoo. I bought a family membership today and splurged a little. I got the membership that gets us in as many times as we want for a year as well as 2-3 guests depending on whether or not Daddy joins us. That way, we can always bring along a friend (aka helper) or two. We also got 20 passes for the train and merry go round with our membership. Not too bad! So I plan to make a lot of zoo memories in the next year!

Today was also special because it's our five year wedding anniversary!  Since we were sick all week, we didn't get a babysitter in time for us to make plans to go anywhere. We ended up getting some sushi take out and watching a movie. (Shh don't tell my trainer about the sushi!) It was a perfect ending to a really nice day. There's just something about the way I have been feeling lately. I'm finally not in pain all the time and am really enjoying life and taking time to see all the blessings God has given me and my family. It's a good place to be!

Sick in June

So not cool.....

I had to miss my neice's high school graduation yesterday because I have the plague.

Okay, it's not the plague, but it's a pretty awful cold.

Sophia has been coughing during the night, but seems to be just fine during the day.

Morgan has a little runny nose and Rachel shows no sign of illness.

Here's to hoping they don't get the cold like I have it.

Today is day 3..... I'm really hoping I feel better tomorrow. It's a long day taking care of the girls when I feel like crap.

I'd have some cheese with my whine.... but cheese isn't on my diet. HA!

Kicking butt and losing weight...

So I wasn't going to admit this, but after "coming out" and telling some of my girlfriends tonight, I think I can share this now. The big news????

For the past two weeks, I've been working out with a personal trainer. I know.. It seems a little silly that I wanted to keep it a secret at first. For the past two years, I have been packing on the pounds and failing every time I try to lose weight. I have been complaining for months about how fat I was getting and I think Bob was a little tired of me complaining about it all the time.

So as a Mother's Day, birthday, and anniversary present (because they are all within one month of each other), he bought me a 12 week package with a personal trainer in a private studio. There just wasn't any way that I was going to step foot into a gym with other people right now.

I'm so thankful that Bob did this for me. I really need to be held accountable and have someone push me harder than I push myself. Now I have someone who is not my friend or family member who knows how much I weigh and exactly what my measurements are. You can't cheat when you have that kind of motivation. Plus, this was an amazing gift that Bob gave me so I'm not going to mess around and not drop the pounds!

I'm very happy to say that I've lost 20 pounds since my surgery. 10 of those pounds have been lost in the last 2 weeks while working with the trainer. I am starting week 3 with him this week. I'm lifting weights and doing exercises that I would never push myself to do. I thought my "at home treadmill work outs" were hard, but they are nothing compared to what my trainer has me do. It's been an interesting experience so far. I'll be honest. There are some days I'd rather sit on my butt and not work out. However, we paid for 12 weeks in advance that keeps me accountable. I am going to show up for every scheduled work out!

I go for 3 one hour sessions a week and then work out 2 days a week on my own. Now that I don't have abdominal pain anymore, I am feeling so much healthier. I just know that THIS IS IT.

This time, I am really going to stick to it and reach my weight loss goal. Go me!