Old Friends. My Bookends.

It's been hard to make friends since I moved to San Diego, and lately, I keep getting bombarded with blogs and movies and comments about women who are soooo happy to be surrounded and supported by a circle of good women. I want that for myself so much, that all this in-your-face warm fuzziness dangled in front of me is almost like being cruelly teased.

I have met some wonderful women since moving here and I think they have the potential to become that support network with some intentional group time together. To that end, I am arranging for us all to get together once a month for girl's night out to see what develops. It seems we could all use a circle of feminine solidarity!

But the other night I got a wonderful and unexpected gift!

A very dear and very old girlfriend (no, that came out alllll wrong! I mean we have been girlfriends for a loooong time!) was in-state and she and another old (young), dear friend who lives north of here and I decided to have a slumber party.

A no-child, no-stress, no-curfew slumber party!


We met at my up-north friend's house (who has no children to be quiet for, past bedtime!) and we gathered up a big pile of cheese and crackers and fruit and chocolate and wine and incense and pillows, and we headed out to the back deck that looks out over a forested canyon.


We drank wine and feasted on goodies and we talked for eight hours straight, deep into the night about our histories, our memories, things that shaped out lives, and what we have been doing in the years since we last spent time together (at my wedding - they were both bridesmaids).


At 3:30 we moved into the house to go to bed, (and then talked some more) and when we woke the next morning, we just didn't want to go home. My friend Karen realized she didn't really need to begin her interstate road trip that morning, and my husband was home with the kids, and Carla had no clients that day... wouldn't lunch on the beach and a continuation of our non-responsible time together be better than ending the feminine euphoria and going forward with our lives?

Of course, it would.


And so, we made some calls to the people who were expecting us, and informed them not to expect us just yet, and we grabbed out suits and our sunglasses and hopped in the car, driving through Laguna canyon to one of the most beautiful beaches in southern California.



We gossiped and laughed over cocktails and lunch at an Irish pub, and then walked across the street to the beach.

It was one of those golden days when the light was just right and oh so lovely, and we were high on our carefree-ness, and lack of need to be anywhere at all.


By the time the sun began to set and we headed back through the canyon to Carla's home to gather our things and pack up our cars, we had spent 24 hours together.

And it was probably the most refreshing, renewing thing I have done since my twins were born three years ago!


Now, my husband is very big on making sure I get breaks and I go out alone at times, or go have a drink or see a play with a friend as much as possible. But while as nice as that is, its short and fast and I always feel I have to have as much fun and suck up as much rest and renewal as I can possibly muster within the time constraint. And I am always looking at my watch the moment I walk out the door.

Being with women I know deeply and love, combined with having to be nowhere and have no guilt about being gone in such a tranquil space, was sooooo cleansing and rejuvenating!


I am certainly not going to give up on creating my own circle of sisterhood here in town; I have learned that having no curfew and no guilt about being gone (thus, unfortunately a husband home with the kids instead of a grandma or a babysitter that needs to be relieved) is the most nourishing time-away I could possibly devise.

Now I have to figure out how to give this gift to my husband... so we can both approach parenthood with less frazzlement (yeah, I know that isn't a word!) than we currently experience! Carla's husband sometimes hosts all-night LAN parties where a bunch of guys come, order pizza and play group computer games all night and into the next morning.

That might just be the thing!

Although you wouldn't catch them calling it a slumber party.

Restful

Wow, I have really been loving all the comments and I thank you all for popping in and making my day. You know, I sent out this mass email to all my old friends and family (the ones who DON'T come here) and reminded them about this here ol' blog thing, and I am hoping that even if they don't comment, they might still stop by on occasion.

So, I guess in return, I ought to at least update you all once in awhile. Maybe one more before the turn of the year?

Things have been really low-key here in the Shama-Lama household. The hubby is off work for quite a few days in a row (a sudden "use 'em or lose 'em" ultimatum with days off by the end of the year), and we didn't even travel anywhere with all that free time.

Noah is, of course, off of school and the twins don't have "preschool" (air quotes intended since I go with them to preschool) until January. So we have been just snuggling in, being a stay-at-home family.

We did go up to Mima and Papa's house for Birthda-Christm-ukkah over a two day period, but since them, we have just been hanging around the homestead enjoying each other's company.

In desert-y San Diego, winter is the most green and verdant time of year. It's our spring. Today, since the rains have dried up, we tossed everyone in the van and went to do a family hike. San Diego is riddled with these cool canyons all through the city, and most of the ones near our house have trails through them. We took a new one today and ended at a shady little oasis with a sturdy board-bridge six feet above a deep, cool creek. The kids threw rocks in the water and Michael and I flitted around trying to prevent toddlers from sliding down the embankment. Then we balance-beamed our way across the bridge and back a few times before heading home.

It was so nice having family time with all of the family.

I suppose with the new year, I ought to be making some kind of resolution. I don't have it all laid out in proper words, but I think it has something to do with having more moments like this. Less errands and more rock throwing. Fewer schedules and more pointing at moths and saying, "Mommy! Butterfly!!!" Less being too busy and more wondering what we should do with our time.

Something like that.

What is your resolution?

I Heart Fish Oil

It's nice when things go right.

You might recall we have been dealing with Noah's hyperactivity and impulse control issues. We have instituted a behavior modification technique or two that are working really well at home, and also at school when the teacher takes the time to... you know, USE them.

I also think the diet changes have helped. We put him on daily doses of fish oil that people have had lots of success with, even though we are going through a gargantuan bottle designed for heart health instead of brain focus. The other day I thought about it and asked Michael... "Is it just me, or has Noah been more... you know... reasonable lately? More average? More calm?"

Who knew you could get all excited about your kid being "average"?

Michael had to admit it was true. Noah is able to stay in his chair for homework and meals more often (although we have allowed him to stand beside his chair if need be as long as he doesn't leave the table), he is working to control his anger and "use his words" and he is coming home from school with "green cards" a LOT more often, which means he had a good day.

It's nice to see things get easier rather than more chaotic for once.

I bow down before the awesomeness of the bottle of gummy fish oil.

Wordless Wednesday: Welcome to the World

This is the much-anticipated son of a couple old friends of ours. His blog-name is "Fox" because that is what his sister named him in utero. Fox's mommy has her own blog here.

Welcome to the world, little man!

For more Wordless Wednesday posts look here and here.

Yes We Did.

Awesome image by january20th2009

Sweet and Simple

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile, and keep putting it off. Things are going to get busier and busier though, what with the holidays and shopping and visits from friends, dental stuff I have to take care of...

But every time I am rushed and crazed, it seems something comes around that gives me a little peace and happiness, and though I am not one to get all "into" jewelry, I actually got all giddy about winning a lovely necklace recently, and I wanted to show you.

I used to enter blog giveaways like a fiend! But then I gave that up to more wisely spend my time. But I ran across a giveaway at SimpleMom.net for this gorgeous, sweet necklace, and so I spent a few minutes to put my name in. My first giveaway in months, and my only one.

I was shocked a couple days later when I got an email from SimpleMom saying I had won the thing! And I have barely taken it off since opening the simple, charming box it was sent in. And I get a crazy amount of compliments.

Lisa Leonard began making jewelry so that she could work at home and be there to raise her boys. She is inspired by nature and artists and poets, etc. Her stuff is simple and elegant. Natural and clean-looking. She will make you a piece with all your kid's names on it that you will be proud to pass down through the generations. Go check out her stuff. She has a great blog, too.

Thank you, Lisa. And thanks, too, to SimpleMom, which is a great resource for decorating, menu ideas, holidays and such for the busy mom.

A Mother Blessing

On Sunday I threw a Mother Blessing for my friend Kim who is due to give birth in July. We held it at the home of my friend Elaine, which was awesome because I don't think I would have had time to do the preperations AND clean my house.

(I brought my camera that night, but the only time I used it was before the guests arrived while Elaine finished decorating the cake with her daughter.)

A Mother Blessing is kind of like a baby shower, except instead of being focused on the baby, playing stupid games, and consumerism, it's about surrounding the new mother with a show of female support and strength, and really recognizing the birth for the transforming experience that it is.

Our culture has become so insane, so fast paced, that we forget to take the time to celebrate and honor the major transitions in life the transformations in our selves. Sure, there are graduation celebrations, bar-mitzvahs and weddings, but often these ceremonies have become either consumer driven, or are crazy alcohol-driven parties.

Not that I have anything against crazy alcohol-driven parties! Sure, those can be a blast!

But we have dropped most of the sincere acknowledgement of the importance of these turning points from our celebrations. And when we do take the time to recognize them, we deepen our sense of self and discover an understanding of what makes life really meaningful.

So, we gathered a group of awesome mothers into a circle, and since Kim works in one of the finest theaters in the country, the circle was filled with a who's-who of San Diego's most awesome theater-moms. It was an honor to be among them once I saw how together they seemed, balancing motherhood and the business of theater, seeming so ambitious and yet how "at ease" they all were.

Kim looked radiant in her wide smile and Earth-Mama-ness.

We all brought or picked from a collection, a bead which we held in our hands as, one by one, we went around the circle. We honored our own mothers and grandmothers, we blessed Kim, and dreamed our dreams for her, and wished for her all good things. Then, we dropped our bead in the bowl and passed it on.

I turned the beads into a necklace for her to wear or have near her during her birth, to remember that we are there with her, that we are supporting her with love and strength.

Kim then gave us an even better gift. She went around the circle telling each one of us the story of how she met us, what she saw in us, the things she admired in each one of us, and why she cherished us in her life. It was awesome and so sweet, and a few tears were shed.

I had had a few other activities planned, but it was clear before too long that what we all really wanted to do was stay in our circle and continue the talk, allowing Kim to ask advice and share her fears, giving her what wisdom we had to share, learning from each other.

It was a lovely evening, and I realized I how much I missed having a circle of women friends in my life like I have had in other communities, at other times in my life. It was so comfortable, so warm, so full of laughter and openess.

Kim wasn't the only Mama who drove home that night feeling lifted up and blessed.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Life DID give us lemons, and it's great!

The neighbor across the way had his lemon tree cut down for some inexplicable reason. When I pulled up to my carport I saw the large branches heavy with lemons laying on the ground in front of the chipper, waiting for the executioner.

I went over, looked around to see if anyone would have a problem with me freeing these lemons from their fate. The coast was clear.

I saw that most of the lemons were young and not quite ripe, but knowing Noah has been wanting to make real lemonade lately, I began pulling some of the best and biggest I could find, but they were all a little green.

It was then that one of the workers came out of the yard, saw me, said "Un Momento!" and disappeared. He came back with a monstrous bag, and held it out to me saying "Limóns! Limóns! You take them!"

It was way more than I had bargained for, the best fruit from a whole tree, but I took it and gave my thanks, dropping the green lemons I had pilfered, resigning them to death by chipper.

I spent the next four days giving away plastic grocery bags full to my neighbors and my landlord. And when the weekend rolled around, Noah and I made lemonade.

As we worked our way through the lemons, I kept stacking the rinds on a plate. Eventually, I had enough to make a lemonade wreath! Almost pretty enough to hang on your door.

But, um, not likely.

And when it comes to lemonade? Let me just say Ethan is now an addict. He can drink four glasses in four minutes.

I usually cut him off there.

Zen and the Art of Thanksgiving

A couple weeks ago, Bloggy Giveaways hosted the Spring Edition of the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. I had participated in this with a contest of my own last fall but this year, with the random craziness, I passed, and barely had time to even enter.

I spent the last couple days of the carnival, staying up WAY too late in the night entering the ones I really wanted to win out of the nine hundred and nineteen giveaways offered this season!

And I won a couple of them! YAY!

One of them was what looks like some really yummy (and healthy!) Bossa Nova juices from a review and giveaway blog called the Beauty Counter! I am really looking forward to those.

Then there was a book I was really crossing my fingers for. Its called Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood by Karen Maezen Miller, which has been described as "an extraordinary book of practical wisdom offering a way to peace and freedom amid fatigue and doubt." Karen is, believe it or not, a Zen Buddhist Priest and a Mom with a great blog. Her book has 15 reviews on Amazon and they are all five star reviews.

I have been thinking about this book over the last couple months, while doing a bit of self-examination, and I think (I hope) it found its way to me for a reason. It has spoken to a lot of women. I look forward to hearing what it has to say to me.

Lastly, I never got around to saying thank you to Mary Ann of Pink Papillon Jewelry, from whom I won a stunning hand stamped sterling silver bracelet way back in January. I never posted about it, but I LOVE THIS BRACELET and where it often. Its bound to be a hand-me-down keepsake in our family. Why? Look here, and you will see:

Yeah, nice, eh? She does great work. You should go check out her stuff.

Anyway, just wanted to get right with the karma, giving my thanks and appreciation so good things will keep coming my way. Spreading the love, as it were.

Thank you, ladies!

Wherein the Heavens Broke Open and the Angels Began to Sing

I was beginning to think we might be homeless soon.

I thought maybe we were going to go to Hawaii, sip Mai-Tais in our hammocks, tip-toe across the pretty lava fields, eat a little poi and spam by the poolside, breathe in the fresh scent of hibiscus for five days, and then come home and move directly into the nearest Motel 6!

For those not up on the story, our rental house may be going into foreclosure. We have been asked by the landlords to move out, so that they may more vigorously sell the house that we have been diligently showing to prospective buyers once a week for about a month now.

But there has been a dearth of available three bedroom houses or apartments in Noah’s school district and we really didn’t want to leave here or make him go to another school. Our tiny handful of choices were places that were reasonably priced but shabby, or nice and way more than we can afford.

Now, I don’t mind a bit of shabby, but having to drive to the pool, look out over a 40 car parking lot, share walls with neighbors on both sides, having a balcony that Luka can easily squeeze between the bars of, and walk twin toddlers and groceries up 8 steps to my door while living in shabby?

Not so much.

Then there are the places that are lovely. Lovely and too small, lovely and too pricy, lovely and out of the school district, Lovely and too small, too expensive AND our of the school district. I found one such house and told the landlord it was just too small to fit the five of us. The twins would have to share a (literally!) 8x9 foot room! They would be able to crawl from one crib into the other!

Then, he tells me he has a bigger, four bedroom house opening up in three days. And it was in our current neighborhood (which we love!), walking distance away! It was a hundred bucks over the most we were willing to spend, but we decided to take a look at it. He calls that night and says, surprisingly, the other family is gone already; do we want to look tonight?

I could feel the stars begin to align.

So we took a family-walk to this bigger-than-we-currently-have house. We walked into the kitchen and it had LOADS of cupboard space, pull-out pantry shelves, modern sink fixtures, seamless countertops so there is no place for goop to get stuck and be hard to clean… lovely.

The heavens began to open.

The master was downstairs and had TWO closets! There was cushy carpeting everywhere (which should save us hundreds of dollars in emergency room bills for Luka). It had a fourth bedroom allowing us to have a real office. It had two FULL baths, not the 1.5 we have been using.

And get this (if you live in the Midwest, you just won’t get this)… it has a small but serviceable ATTIC!! YES! That is what I said!

An attic!

And, the angels? They pulled out their trumpets and started playing while others sang, “Hallelujah!!!”

There was no competition for this place as it had not yet been advertised. It was so nicely decorated. It was bigger than where we currently lived, not smaller like all the other options.

It had a huge mass of just-about-to-bloom-jasmine growing up over the patio cover for cryin’ out loud!!

So, we did the math. We crunched the numbers. And we decided our comfort and our happiness was worth a little more than our upper limit.

If there had been other options that weren’t “kinda yucky”, that were not with poorly reviewed management companies, that were “okay” and the right price, we would have gone for it. But there were quite literally about 6 available places in this school district that could house our brood, and most were WAY more than we could afford.

So we said, “Yes we can!” (Thanks, Obama!) And we called the landlord and said we would take it. And assuming that the credit check goes through, we will not soon be living at the Motel 6.

Now I can get back to planning that Hawaiian escape!

The Good News

I never got around to writing about my Valentine’s Day.

It was a day like most others, although kind of fun to see Noah participating in that rite of exchanging little grocery-store valentines with his classmates. His, were, of course Star Wars Valentines, because nothing says love like a picture of Darth Vader coming at you with a light saber. Noah gave all the boys pictures of the bad guys and the girls got pictures of the good guys. There were, shockingly, NO pictures of Leia or Amidala (which to me would at least hint at love).
I made a little card for Noah out of construction paper since I had spent so much time the previous night looking for JUST the right card for Michael that I never got one for Noah. He liked it better that I made it anyway.

Of course.

We all exchanged cards after dinner. I had read Michael’s card earlier as he had left it on the keyboard, (knowing of course I was sure to go there!). Noah’s to me was very cute and included a little folded-up piece of paper. I opened it to find a gift certificate for a massage! Michael had done that for me before, and I had loved it. I read through to find out where the massage would take place: at the Ali’i Massage Center.

In HAWAII!!!

Yeah, in Hawaii!! Apparently, my husband and my mother-in-law have been scheming to get the two of us and Noah to Kailua-Kona on the big island for a medical conference Michael wanted to attend! His mom is going to actually take time off from her medical practice to take care of our twins for 5 days!! Does that not ROCK??

So, now, I am spending all my free time trying to research the island, trying to plan what we will do. I have NEVER been to Hawaii, and am so freaking excited I can’t even tell you! Plus, the trip spans both of our birthdays, so its just perfect.

So, if you know anything of the big island and want to give me tips or advice, the perfect restaurant that still has a kiddie menu, the best luau, a waterfall you can swim in, cool places off the beaten track, etc, feel free to tell me!!

Alo----HA!!

A Little R. and R.

You know one of the best things about going to visit my mother-in-law’s house? I get to shower every single day! It’s awesome! There are enough adults there who love and care for my children that I actually get to bathe and eat on a regular basis!

And this weekend, which was spent at this little paradise up north, at first felt like it was going to be just more than I could manage with what little energy my virus-battered body had left. But the hubby drove us up there, and his mom and siblings pitched in like they always do and while Ethan and I spent it in a fever-induced haze, we had a very pleasant and relaxing time.

I even got to go up into our room and have the first nap I think I have had since the twins were infants. Not that my sinuses would allow me to sleep, but I got to close the door, read a chapter of my latest book, and then doze under this amazingly cloud-like down comforter that poofs up a full two feet higher than your body when tucked around you, resting on pillows just as fluffy. It was warm and quiet, and while I don’t believe I slept, I did get to think, experience some quiet and experiment with how different positions allow my sinuses to flow slowly from nostril to nostril like some syrupy ocean tide.

I almost didn't want to go to sleep, for fear of missing out on all that "laying around knowing I don't have any responsibilities for an hour or so".

When you are a mom, and a sick one at that, you usually have to put aside your own weariness to comfort the other little patients around you. It was such a luxury to just lie down and let go completely and rest and not worry about the tears and tantrums I occasionally heard coming from downstairs.

That afternoon ended with an offer of babysitting so Michael and I could go see a movie together. I figured I could lie around at the house, or I could lie around at the movie theater. Why not see a good movie? So we did.

Sunday morning we packed to go, but not before lighting candles on a belated birthday cake for Mima and having a little celebration. Noah and I made a necklace for her (he helped string the stones and beads) and the sibs all pitched in for some much-needed carpet cleaning (caused mostly by our tenure living at her house with our brood for a few months).

More photos of her little shindig can be seen here on my flickr page.

After the festivities, it was back in the van for the ride back to San Diego.

Today, being President’s Day, is a day at home for all of us. Hopefully, some recovery will be had all around. And Michael and Luka, God-willing, will remain with only some weariness, stuffy noses and light coughs, and not the full brunt of this nasty thing. And here's to this virus "not letting the screen door hit its butt on the way out".

As it were.

A Thing of Beauty...

...is a joy, forever.

I am too giddy to write. I must go photograph...

Twins At Two

My babies aren't babies anymore!

Yes, they turn two today. Two times two. It's odd because their birth seems like it was just around the last corner, and it also seems eons ago. This has been a couple of the hardest years of my life, but in a deeper sense (way down there, some days) it has been the most fulfilling.

I had planned to show you some pictures of their actual day of birth, and then some more from their birthday last year, but I had a little freak out this morning, because I found that, even on my backup drive, all the pictures from December of last year are GONE! So this is a plea to the grandmas... I need any pictures you have from last December! I have lost the first birthday, AND the first Christmas! (Well, technically the second Christmas, as they spent the first in their little incubator boxes.)

So, I give you pictures from their birth day.

I had a natural birth, although it took place in the surgery because we felt it best to be ready for an emergency, and the side door went straight into the NICU. Unbeknownst to me, two teams of about 5 people stood by waiting for the boys, just through those doors. As the birth went on, things relaxed. The face masks got pulled down, the hairnets came off. It went very well, even though it was happening six weeks early.

Michael was a resident doctor at that hospital, and as with Noah, he delivered the twins, with our OB standing just over his shoulder. When Ethan broke free, he was handed off to the nurse who whisked him quickly to a table for his apgar score, and then off through the double doors to the NICU! I didn't even get to have him held near my face so I could get a good look at him before our separation. But I knew that time was of the essence and that he could be in trouble, and his safety was my first priority, so I didn't complain.

Luka decided, with room to stretch out finally, that he would relax and enjoy having a womb of his own. Most second twins come about 5 minutes later. Luka took a good hour and 10 minutes. At one point, I saw one of the male nurses peek through the window of the door to the NICU, catch my doctor's eyes, and point to his watch and do that shrug, as if to ask, "IS there a second baby??" The team was apparently getting bored back there.

But then he came. My littlest guy. And like the first, he was whisked away. I don't remember much from that day, as I had been doped up on Magnesium for 24 hours, trying desperately to prevent this birth. But I do remember a sense of loss, separation, fear because I was no longer keeping them alive with my body, and comfort because they were in the hands of a slew of people who knew best how to care for them. I had had this sense that my body was not a healthy vessel for months. Years, even. It had betrayed me a few times when it came to holding onto babies. My body had "attacked" my babies, previously. And in a sense, it was betraying me now, spitting out my children before it was time. So, I bit my tongue about not being able to be with them.

I thought I would see them soon, but one thing lead to another and it was a full two and a half hours before I found myself wheelchaired up to their isolettes. They had been bathed, and tubed, and wired and pricked and held by strangers. Would I just be another set of hands? How would they know me as anyone more special than all these other hands?

I guess it took the next three weeks for that. To get acquainted, to become partners, or a little team of three. I lived there in the hospital with them, in my own room, so I could come and make my feeble attempts at breastfeeding, learn to use the pump, to "scrub in", be trained in the sacred way of the NICU, of methods, monitors, and alarms.

But all in all, for all the tubes and wires, my boys were healthy. Even at just over four pounds. I was one of the lucky ones. Many around me were not so lucky that Christmas.

And now they are two.

Terrible two, they say. Its been hard. And I pray that they don't experience what a lot of kids go through in their third year on earth. But, even though I never really wanted three kids, and it's been more than overwhelming at times, I do feel blessed. And I can't wait to see how they grow and change, and interact with each other and their brother as they learn to communicate better and better.

Having twins is like constantly riding a roller coaster. And I feel like I am at the bottom of one of those hills, the car tick-ticking slowly up the track to the top. The "twos" are going to be a bumpy ride, I am sure.

But its going to be a blast!

Everything's Coming Up Roses!!

Some days are crazy. They make you want to run amok, screaming.

Other days, you just feel so blessed. Lately it’s been the latter. Good things have just been coming my way!

(Which helps, since I am in mourning and all!)

We recently purchased a new Honda Odyssey which is AWESOME! I plan on blogging about how lucky and thrilled I am about that alone, but I keep not getting any pretty pictures of my new baby, as it sits in a very unattractive carport.

But I digress.

The Odyssey came WITH an already-installed iPod adapter that was rather useless to us since we had no such iPod. Well, then the hubby decided to finally cash in his stash of birthday gift cards he has been hording (for Best Buy) and plopped down a small gift box in front of me, as proud as if he was setting down a bright blue box from Tiffany’s. I have been transferring songs, and cover art and audiobooks to it for the last couple days like a madwoman.

And as I sat there choosing which songs to download for easy listening in the new Odyssey, the mailman arrived with a box, which my husband again deposited in front of me… a dozen roses from my brother and his family, just BECAUSE!!! My BROTHER!!!

(Yes, he does indeed rock.)

After clipping stems and depositing said roses into a lovely vase, I sat back down again at my desk to read my emails. I had stayed up too late entering some giveaways a couple nights earlier, and in my email I found THREE, (count em’ THREE!) emails in response saying I had won some giveaways!

Okay, to be honest, those three emails came over the last four days, but WOOOOOT!!!

YAY FOR ME!!!!!!

My prizes include a really sweet pair of skeleton earrings for Halloween, a cool sew-on patch (that I will post pics of soon), a gorgeous (pricey!) turquoise bracelet, and a whole bunch of kid’s clothes from Hanes!

And then, somewhere in there… we got “Boo’d”. It’s okay, it’s a good thing! Someone rang our doorbell and ran off, leaving a goodybag of Halloween treats on our front door, with a note saying we had been "Boo’d" and we were to make two more goody bags and pick two other neighbors whom we could surprise. (Noah had a blast helping us assemble them… we have yet to leave them on porches, but soon!)

And now I must stop writing, and sit down with the best prize of all… my family.

It’s dinner time, yo.

**************************

(later…)

Mwah ha ha ha ha!!!!

I am the giveaway QUEEN!!! Sitting down after dinner, I learned I just won a buncha healthy Halloween cupcakes that I can share with my allergic (to everything) niece and nephew!!!

I am off to buy some lottery tickets!

Sink or Swim

It’s coming. I can feel it.

Michael and I often feel swamped, drowning in children, barely keeping afloat in this sea of responsibility. It’s so much more than we thought it would be: having twin babies, now twin toddlers, while trying to mold a preschooler turned kindergartener into a good and whole being, complete with manners, a sense of responsibility and a positive spirit. We often feel if we get them all fed and napped, we have successfully made it through a day.

I know we are supposed to “live for today” and “stop and smell the roses” but sometimes I look with envy on those families with older kids, the ones who follow their parents through parking lots without wandering away. The ones who talk about their day while eating in a restaurant. We rarely do anything as a family because Noah still requires much attention on outings, and we each have a baby to manage.

When things get tough, we tell each other that it will soon get better. One more year. Maybe a year and a half. When they aren’t really babies anymore. And we can sometimes see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have the occasional successful restaurant experience. A social outing that is fun enough to be worth the effort of a half day of packing and the missing of naps and meals in high chairs.

This weekend, we took a great leap forward in that tunnel, toward that proverbial light.

You see, from the beginning Noah hated the water. He would scream bloody murder in the bathtub for the first full year of his life. Taking him in to a swimming pool and gliding him through the water was like dragging the poor guy through lava. So, those thoughts of teaching him to swim as an infant were right out.

The next child! The next child will learn right off the bat!

But the next child was two children, and now we were two parents with three non-swimmers. And at a pool, that is just not a safe situation. One could stay home with two while the other parent took a child swimming, but that child had to be Noah because if he knew you were taking a baby swimming he just HAD to go, or course. So the babies never got any swim experience.

So we take Noah every time, and every time he resists our efforts to teach him, and he just wants to play.

Leave it to Grandma to come up with the answer.

I wrote that Noah spent last weekend at Mima’s taking swim lessons. Well, he came home just begging to show us what he learned!

So, we did it. Yesterday, for the first time ever, we packed up the whole lot and traipsed over to the community pool. Michael took a baby, I took a baby, and Noah had enough confidence for once to be trusted not to drown, in the kiddie pool at least. And it was a blast!! Noah would show us again and again how he can put his face down in the pool, sometimes holding his nose, sometimes not. Eventually, he was jumping into the children’s pool, making sure that his head would go under when he did. And most importantly to us, when he lost his balance, he seemed finally to be able to right himself without help. He knew which way was up.

It was so much fun, we turned around and did it again today! We would all play together in the children’s pool, and then one of us would take the babies back home while the other worked with Noah in the big pool.

And may I say that after one day in the pool, getting dunked over and over, Ethan can hold his breath almost as well as Noah! Luka… not so well. After one too many coughing fits, he was vigorously doing the sign for “all done” and was pointing and yelling “Dit Down!” which was the closest thing he has in his vocabulary for “Get me out of this pool!” But as long as he wasn’t being forcefully dunked, he had a really good time, too.

And I must say that this is a godsend because we are in the midst of a heat wave and have no air conditioning!! It is in the upper 80s inside our house, and that is downstairs! Don’t even get me started on the heat upstairs in the bedrooms!

So I think we are going to make it through that tunnel. We are going to be one of those families eventually. The ones where everyone can walk in the same direction at the same time, follow directions, talk about our day at a dinner table, and enjoy a full-family outing. Sometimes.

We won’t sink. We will swim.

ABCs and 123s with Miss B.!

We got her!!

When I went to register Noah for kindergarten, we were all given the grand tour and I was asking one of the PTA Moms a couple questions. She pointed out one of the teachers and said, “She’s awesome!! She is like the most perfect kindergarten teacher ever. Kind and sweet, supportive and funny”.

Later, during that tour, I saw that teacher going through a chart with her students, where the kids pronounce every letter in the alphabet and all the sounds it makes like a little (make that very long) song. While hard to describe in words, I thought it was a genius method, and hoped Noah got in that class just because I knew that chart/song would work SO well with his style of learning.

Then, I found out that she works on writing every single day. That is the area that Noah lacks most. Of course they had been in school a whole year by then, her students could sit at their desks reading a few books for a full half hour at a time!

We had met her a couple days ago when I took Noah to the school to be evaluated, and she was the one interviewing him to see how much he knew of his letters and numbers, etc.

Well, today was Kindergarten Orientation. Noah got to come with me to find out which teacher he got, and to see his classroom. There were all four teachers standing beside big lists with their students’ names on them. I looked at her list first and sure enough, he was in her class! YAY!!

I took Noah over to meet her and said, “Noah? Do you remember Miss B.? She was the teacher we met on Monday at the evaluation! She is going to be your kindergarten teacher!”

Miss B. knelt down to Noah and said, “Good Morning, Noah, I am really looking forward…”

And then Noah threw his hands around her neck and gave her the biggest hug! Surprised, she warmly hugged him right back.

When he pulled away, he almost had tears in his eyes, and it made me well up a little too, this big show of emotion!

So, we are all very happy.

We got to see the classroom, and Noah found the desk with his name on it, was very excited to find the hidden compartment underneath with a basket that held a pencil, a gluestick, a box of crayons and a pair of scissors, all for his own use. He sits between Carly and Charlie.

Afterward, of course, it was off to buy a backpack and a few random school supplies.

We have 3.5 days off now before school starts, but I think Noah would be happier if he could start school tomorrow.

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for
others. --Author Unknown

Good Stuff. Its Good.

So I had to put this note on my front door that says, NO SOLICITORS because since moving into our new place, there are constant knocks to sign this petition, give money to that charity, chatty real estate people hunting for buyers, etc. It was working like a charm...

So when I got a knock on my door the other day, I swung it open all cranky and ready to be blustery, and there was Bob, our mailman with a BOX in his hand!! YAY!!!!

I knew what was in there and it felt like my birthday! Better even, because I only get cards in the mail on my birthday.

Recently, I have been entering blog contests like some kind of fiend. And I have actually been winning occasionally! Now, the booty is starting to roll in, and its so much fun to get little gifties in the mail!

The box was from Crafty CarolinaGirl. It included some Starbucks coffee (caf AND decaf!), a box of mints, and some of her homemade crafts. We don't usually buy decaf but got a couple tiny bottles of Kaluah recently in a gift basket (thanks Mima!). We decided this weekend, one night after the kids go to bed we will make some decaf Kaluah and Coffee!

Crafty CarolinaGirl sometimes makes pincushions and I forwarded my hubby’s idea about a voodoo doll pincushion because what better to stick pins in, right? Well, she made one up for me, and stuck it in the box too! SO much fun… now I gotta go get me some pins and think about who’s been bugging me most lately… hmmmm….

The next day, Michael comes wandering in from the mailbox and says, “What would you like… an Electric Bill? …or…MONKEY KISSES?

Well, duh!

Monkey Kisses!

From Monkey Kisses I got this awesome little pouch to put one of those skinny wipes boxes in, and a couple diapers, so that I can just toss it in my purse and go. And since I am one to risk (too often) a trip to the grocery store without the diaper bag, or a quick errand, this thing is going to be awesome! Now I no longer have to be embarrassed to pull out a diaper when looking for my wallet.

Then, today, came my autographed copy of The No-Cry Discipline Solution from Mommy of Three! She is a mom named Karen with three sons and a blog. Sound familiar? She also posts about a lot of contests and I won this one from her! We have been having a bit of trouble with our once sweet and kind, now grumpy and slightly rude almost-five-year-old, so this book is going to come in handy.

As if that weren’t enough, I just found out the other day, that that other Karen: Mommy of Three, and I BOTH won a copy of The Potty Training Answer Book from Shannon, over at Rocks in My Dryer. (She’s the one who hosted the whole Bloggy Giveaway Extravaganza Bonanza, in which I won the gift box and the diaper pouch in the first place! It’s getting darned incestuous!)

And ya know, THAT book is going to be coming in handy around here pretty soon.

And what with the big bouquet of anniversary flowers over my shoulder back there (make that TWO!! One from my sweet, sweet hubby, and the other pictured above, from Mima that is just stunning!). I have been feeling down right blessed with goodies! Almost like a birthday!

Happy Good Stuff stuff to me, happy good stuff to me! Happy Good stuff dear Karen…

Happy good stuff

To…

ME!

Roses are Red, Poison Dart Frogs are Blue

~~~ Friday ~~~

Well, it’s my anniversary weekend. 7 years on Sunday. I think I am going to be spending it with Noah.

A couple-few months ago, we were getting ready to move from the corporate housing apartment that we were being put up in. It was a very posh TWO bedroom apartment for the five of us. Noah had his own room, Michael and I shared a room, Luka slept in a playpen by our bed, and Ethan, who was then the poor sleeper (I guess he still is) was shunted to the closet at bedtime (Come on! It was a walk-in!).

We were moving into our current digs, a 1970’s tract house in a really cool little subdivision (surprisingly NOT mutually exclusive) complete with track lighting, a mirrored wall in the dining room, and a sunken living room! And THREE, (read em’ THREE!) bedrooms! We were finally able to set the cribs back up and use them.

Things were a bit harder back then. The babies were just learning to feed themselves, walk, and were great escape artists. Life, was, um… challenging. And so packing up what few belongings we had in the corporate housing apartments still was quite a chore.

Then, Michael came home with a brochure about one of these doctor conferences that he must occasionally attend to accrue some sort of points for some sort of credential or some sort (OK, if this is a doctor scam that doctors play on their wives, SOMEone email me and let me know before TOO many years go by!). The conference was local, so it would not involve hotel costs, and would qualify him for his… points, or whatever.

And it was the weekend before the move. HA!

After consideration of how little packing we were bound to get done on weeknights, we determined that we would forgo said conference and find one at a later date.

Well, it’s later.

And the next conference that fit the bill has come to town on my anniversary weekend. Surprisingly, I am okay with it. After all, we DID have our little anniversary tryst a couple weekends back when my awesome mother-in-law treated us to a night of babysitting Noah and the twins all by herself and setting us up in the Sheraton down by the harbor. VERY NICE!! So, we pretended it was our anniversary weekend even though it was not.

So, this weekend, Michael is going to what Noah calls “Doctor Class” and so I took Noah to preschool today and will pick him up. This would normally be no big deal until you factor in that I have to unload both toddlers into a backpack and on my hip so I can walk Noah into class for all of thirty seconds and then cart them back to their car seats. (Ahhh, I long for the days when my mom would leave us in the car to go in to the grocery store to shop! She had it so good!)

Tomorrow, I hang with the boys all day and Michael finishes his conference on Sunday in the early afternoon. I am sure I will be itching to get out of the house. I am trying to decide if I should get a little Mama-Alone-Time, or do our much-needed grocery shopping.

But most likely, I may be taking Noah back to the San Diego Zoo for a half day. We invested in memberships that last time we were there so we could go whenever we felt like it even for a couple hours here or there. I have been itching to get him back there.

If only for the camera fodder.


~~~ Monday ~~~

Ah, well, one can only dream about camera fodder.

Noah and I did go to the zoo together on Michael’s and my anniversary, Sunday. We did a half day, leaving after nap, and after Daddy got home from his “Doctor Class”. It was actually wonderful. We bought year-long memberships and since we had seen almost the entire zoo the last time, we just took our time and wandered and ate cotton candy and did very little of the zoo. Actually it was very relaxing!

But, I wanted to take some good pictures of the apes. As soon as we got to the orangutans, Noah yelped, “I HAVE TO PEEEEEE!!!” and off we ran. Later, we wandered past the gorillas and the big silverback was out as well as two mommies with their babies being all adorable. But my camera would not cooperate. It just didn’t like the window between the gorillas and me. (I however really appreciated said window during the silverback’s cranky tantrum.)

Noah also got to see his blue Poison Dart Frog. He got a stuffed one from my brother’s family for his first birthday, and so loves them. The last time we went to the zoo, it was in hiding, but on Sunday, it was front and center. Also, though, behind glass, and thus, unable to be photographed properly.

SO!

For this post’s picture, I leave you with the above close up of the HUGE bouquet of flowers that I came home to, after the zoo last night.

Wonderful.

Just like my husband.

I'm a Wiener!!

I never win ANYthing.

Okay, that's not quite true. About 10 years ago I won $1800 by saying "Star 98.7" 18 times in ten seconds while Ryan Seacrest counted, back when he was just a drive-time dj. That was awesome.

And I always consider myself a winner when I think of the wonderful husband I ended up with. No, I am not just trying to get points with the hubby, I really feel this way!

But otherwise, I never win anything.

This would be why I neglected my kids for two days straight while I filed through all 506 giveaways in every free moment I had (kids eating peas off their trays? Go look up two more giveaways! Kids playing nicely with blocks? Go look up three more giveaways!). I entered about 225 of them. Seriously.

And I WON!!

First off, I won this cool little pouch to put a couple diapers and a box of wipes in, so I can stick it in my purse! I won the brown one, which was my favorite. The lovely lady who did the giveaway is named Liz, and she has a great blog over there called Monkey Kisses. She has a great post on how to cut your kid's hair, which will help me a lot... I have been cutting Noah's straight hair for years, but am scared to cut Ethan and Luka's curls. She also has a review on her favorite baby gate, which happens to be our favorite one too!

Next, I also won the prize over at Crafty CarolinaGirl. Check this out... it's a little gift set of a packet of African Coffee (mmmm, coffee...), some Choxie chocolate mints (oh, I love me my mints!), and a homemade coffeemug coaster and this adorable little cupcake pincussion that she made herself!! Her blog was fun for me to look at because she actually took pictures of her drawing with all the little papers in a bowl and a photo of MY NAME on the one she drew out! How cool is that? Check out the crafts she makes, (especially this awesome little voodoo scull) and she is building a recipe section and a link to her tutorial on how to make an ipod cozy!! She is crafty!

But wait! There's MORE!!!

Thirdly, and lastly, I also won over at It's Always a Production! Over there, Ann was giving away FOUR prizes and I won her cute litte hexupus massager that looks like a little wooden octopus. Ann is a Christian, home-schooling mom of FIVE kids and is in the process of adopting a little boy and little girl from Ethiopia. She has this cool tradition of handing her blog over to her kids on their birthday so they can write a list of things the world should know about them. As many things as they have years under their belt. Check these out.

Shannon, who hosted this extravaganza bonanza, suggested on her site that if some of us should win more than one prize, that we might consider declining one of your winnings and spread around a little more giveaway love. I thought this was a fine idea, and so I wrote back to Ann, and asked her to draw another name for the cute little guy.

So, its been a really good day! Shannon is planning on doing another one of these give-away carnivals in the fall. I may just have to come up with something to give away myself...

Hmmm.....