TGIF

I don't know exactly what it is about Fridays that just makes me HAPPY. I love Fridays. I stay home with the kids full-time, I have NO mandatory Monday through Friday obligations (just freelance work and business stuff that I can schedule around my family), but there is just something wonderful about Fridays. Maybe it's because I know all of my friends who work full-time outside the house are (mostly) off on the weekends. Steve and my brother are both cops, so that rule doesn't apply to them. But every OTHER weekend Steve's off. I love those weekends especially.

Anyway, this is one of Steve's work-all-weekend weekends. We won't be seeing much of him. He was three and a half hours late getting home from work tonight because there was a call right at the end of his shift and he didn't feel right turning it over to the oncoming shift since he was already involved. Times like those don't frustrate me (often), because I know he has an important job to do and that he does it so well. I miss him, but then I think back to the fact that he was off Wednesday and Thursday this week. And will be off Monday and Tuesday next week. :)

Another good thing about Friday is that my friend Debbie has a work schedule that gives her Fridays off. She lives in Gainesville and had been planning to drive to Jacksonville to visit her mom and wish her a happy birthday in person, so we made arrangements to have lunch, just me and her and my kids. She's expecting her first child in February, just found out it's a boy, and it was so fun to see her interact with Megan and Jeremy. She's always loved them to pieces, but I think now that she's expecting a baby of her own they really take on a whole new level of interest for her. She looks great, barely even showing, and it's going to be so fun to watch her go through the rest of her pregnancy and become a fantastic mommy to this sweet little boy.

Well, I'm out of rambles for tonight. Until next time, have a GREAT weekend!!!

Funny Sunny Days

Steve's working this weekend, Friday through Sunday, which means he was off today and tomorrow. Kind of a mid-week, weekend-replacement time. :) I don't mind. Weekends are usually easy enough to fill, because there are so many things going on, other family members are off work, and I can always find something to do to keep the kids occupied. Having Steve home on a weekday is just one more reason I'm grateful to be home full-time with the kids, because we can really treasure the time we get to spend together.

We basically just stayed close to the house for most of the morning, and then took the kids to the park to play for about an hour before we had a late lunch back at home. We took a bag of almost-old bread with us and fed the fish from the dock at the park. Megan mastered the art of breaking the slice of bread up into small chunks and tossing it in for the fish to gobble up, but Jeremy was just as thrilled to chuck the whole slice in and watch it float away. The fish didn't seem too interested in a big piece, so it was kind of funny. Nothing we did or said could convince him to break the bread up into little pieces. :)

We are now nearing the end of September, and today was a beautiful example of the weather that (hopefully) awaits us in the months to come. Mid-seventies, blue skies, nice breeze. I'm not in enough denial to believe that we won't have ninety-degree temps back sometime in the next week or so (this is Florida, after all). But just for today it was nice to pretend that the cooler weather was coming.

My favorite thing about going to the park is that the munchkins are completely exhausted when nap time rolls around. Always a good part of the day for me! I got the kids down for nap and Steve used their nap time as a chance to run to Jacksonville to pick up some equipment for work...leaving me a full two hours to read a book and just sit on the couch and relax. I should have done some dishes or laundry or cleaned up the clutter in the home office, but I opted to use that time for myself instead. And the great part is that I don't even feel guilty...it's little things like taking time for yourself that can keep you sane in a silly, zany world.

My Addiction

Hi, my name is Katie and I'm a scrapaholic.

I have been dealing with this addiction for roughly six years now. I have an uncontrollable urge to buy pretty printed 12"x12" paper for no given reason. I find it fun to think of ways that I can take photos of my kids to MATCH the paper I already have (as opposed to buying paper that matches the photos I already have...). Stickers are fun. There's just something about a sticker that screams "Buy me!"

OK, so I'm not really THAT addicted, but I really love my once-a-month crop nights. I get together with a group of ladies who are suffering from the same complications of the craft...too many photos and not enough time to scrapbook them all. I'm currently plugging away at scrapbooking our Disney vacation. Last night I scrapbooked six pages, bringing my grand total (for my Disney album) to 16. The album I have for this collection only holds 20 pages as a standard, but I am determined to find a refill pack to bring the capacity up to 40. I'm hoping to have the darn thing done by Christmas. My kids' baby albums may not be done until they are graduated from college, but gosh darn it, my Disney album will get done someday soon!

I am completely infatuated with digital scrapbooking...it's less complicated, it's a lot neater as far as journaling goes, and I don't have to drag out all of my supplies to work on a book...I just have to turn on my computer. But it's so nice to just spend an evening out once a month with this group of women, to chat about what's going on in our worlds and what our kids are up to these days. Being able to use whatever creative juices I can muster brings a sense of accomplishment. My scrapbooks might not be the prettiest, or the most clever, but to me, they are a way to tell my story. I want my kids to look back one day and think, "Wow, that looked fun." Because realistically, they're more likely going to forget most of the memories from their earlier years.

Anyway, I have another month to wait until my next crop night. I'll try to be patient. I might even try to organize my supplies to help make it easier to work when that evening rolls around. :)

What Goes Around, Comes Around

All too often this is a phrase that is looked upon in a negative light. But I've been observing my kids lately, and I've come to the conclusion that it can also be positive more often than not.

Megan and Jeremy have been the best of friends since day one. In honesty, they haven't had much choice! They haven't spent more than a few hours apart ever, occasionally split up for doctor's visits or trips to the grocery store. But the bond they share is not one of obligation. It's one that can only be shared by siblings. Don't get me wrong, they have their fair share of spats and quarrels. They don't always respect each others' personal space or state of mind as much as I would like. It warms my heart, however, when they sit close together on the couch, heads huddled close to discuss a favorite book and point at pictures. Megan, who tries to be the little mother to Jeremy, will actually put her arm around him and draw his head closer to hers because she has seen him cuddle up with me or Steve, and she wants the same affection from him.

When they play (most of the time, anyway), there is a common sense of purpose. They pull all the food out of the drawer of their play kitchen, haul their kid-size plastic table over from across the living room, and take turns serving each other a "meal." They pretend to eat the (plastic) food they're served, say "please" and "thank you," and then chatter like they're sharing some important information about their day.

Lately they've been drawn to their alphabet blocks even more than ever. Since they've been identifying letters for almost nine months already, they play games by asking each other where a certain letter is. They even give each other a high-five when the letter is located. :)

It's days like those when I sit back and think about everything that we've been through to get to this point. I miss my old job, miss the people I worked with and the responsibilities I had, but NOTHING compares to the satisfaction of knowing that I am raising my kids full-time, and raising them to know the value of love, respect and appreciation for each other and others. Children truly do learn what they live, and it gives me hope that my children will continue to grow into kind, compassionate and generous people.

Where has summer gone?

I can't believe that it's been more than three months since my last post. It seems like the summer just flew right by...for a while, I was in shock that June was already gone, then before you know it July had joined it and we were stumbling into August. So here we are. It's "back to school" time in St. Johns County, and while my kids aren't school-aged yet, there are plenty around us who are. My niece started middle school today, my nephew had his first day of Kindergarten today, and my brother- and sister-in-law (16 and 15 respectively) are in their junior and sophomore years now. Craziness. They're all in Duval County...St. Johns County schools don't start here til Friday.

We are currently waiting for the arrival of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay. She'll make landfall on the southwest portion of Florida tomorrow afternoon, and will then make her way across Florida almost on a direct bee-line to us. Lots of wind, plenty of rain, and tons of boredom here at our house...the poor kids don't like being cooped up, but there won't be much choice this week. Steve is scheduled for beach duty tomorrow, and regular shifts on Wednesday and Thursday night, so even if he's not called in for help during the storm, he won't be here much. I will have to dig out some more of the kids' new toys from their room to break up the monotony. We still have gifts from their birthday last December that we've been saving for "a rainy day," and I think this week might be the appropriate time to release them and replace some of the older toys!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we had a fantastic family vacation to Orlando at the end of July. We usually make a trip to Orlando to coincide with either my birthday or Steve's (we went to Sea World in February and last July), but this time we stayed THREE nights instead of just one. A real vacation! We didn't overplan, but thought about little things like snacks and juice boxes and bottled water to help keep our costs as low as possible. We had such a great time...I can't even begin to tell all of the awesome pieces that are put together to describe it. Megan and Jeremy were in awe...we went to Hollywood Studios on my birthday (the big 3-0!), then Magic Kingdom the next day, then Sea World on the third day before heading home. Sea World has the Sesame Street gang visiting this summer, so we had breakfast with Elmo and friends that morning. A very reasonable cost for a very rewarding experience...Jeremy wasn't quite sure what to think when the characters came around to the table to visit, but Megan was just completely blissful about the time spent with furry monsters and giant birds.

Busy Days

I find that I have to really make a better effort to do all the things I need/want to do these days. I have a problem saying "no" to anything. I have to remind myself often that I am NOT Wonder Woman, and therefore there is no humanly possible way I'm going to get everything accomplished like I might hope. This is not an easy thing to admit, but I'm hoping that by writing it in my blog, I might read back on it from time to time as a reminder to myself.

The kids are my first and central priority, and always will be no matter what else I take on. They are such a joy to be around, even when they do their best to drive me batty, and I can't imagine what my life was like before them anymore.

Megan and Jeremy are basically on the same level for most things, but Megan's increasing her vocabulary by leaps and bounds these days (Jeremy is doing fine, just doesn't have the sense of urgency Megan has when it comes to learning new words). Today, when I put their PB&J sandwiches and banana slices in front of them for lunch, Jeremy said, "Thank you, Mommy!" and when I asked him if it looked good, he took a big bite and said, "Mmmmm..."...meanwhile, Megan is sitting calmly in her chair, takes a dainty bite of a banana and says (I kid you NOT), "Yes, Mommy, this is delicious!" I nearly fell over. It's not that I'm shocked that she's learned how to say a word like delicious, it's the fact that her timing and intonation were just perfect with using the word.

I know that sometimes I have doubts about my parenting skills...I don't know many parents who don't feel this way sometimes. Especially during the temper tantrum fits that they just LOVE to throw (especially in public, when most of the time they are perfect angels...it's like they wait until a big crowd is around and then they just opt to turn into wailing, screaming shells of their former selves). But I always feel a sense of security when one of them comes running to me, without being asked, and tells me that I must give a hug or a kiss. Jeremy climbed up next to me on the couch yesterday, held out his arms and gave me a big smacker on my cheek when I thought all he wanted was a hug...then he got down and went right back to the toy cars he had been playing with. This makes me feel so good, because I know I've done at least that much right. They are in a loving home and are learning that showing affection is not only a good thing, but a wonderful thing. I think a lot of it is just part of their nature, since there are always going to be kids who like cuddling more than others, but I like to try to take just a little bit of credit for that. One of the biggest challenges most twin moms discuss is the fact that when you're trying to care for two infants, you always fear that you're not giving them enough physical contact, enough hugs and cuddles and kisses and attention. Making sure two babies have clean diapers, full tummies, and good amounts of sleep...well, that basically takes enough out of you so that the "extras" like cuddling for hours and just holding them is more of a luxury. Steve and I were really lucky that we had as much time to offer for that as possible, but deep down I worried it wasn't enough. Now that I see both of them are so loving and open to signs of affection, I don't worry anymore. At least, not about that stuff! There are plenty of other worries that come along with raising kids these days. :)

Well, I'm thinking that I should close here and get some shut-eye before I keep rambling incessantly. Next time I'll try to blog with a little more focus, so I can make sense of whatever I write about!

"Back" In Action!

I saw the specialist back in March, and this past Friday was my follow-up appointment. He had given me three options at my first appointment with him...1) have the surgery. It would have meant immediate pain relief, but there was an increased possibility the injury would recur. 2) get epidural pain blocks, which would help with the pain for a week or two at a time while I waited for my back to heal on its own. 3) just wait it out, staying on the pain meds that make me feel yucky. Apparently this type of back injury is fairly common, and 90% of them heal on their own with no surgical intervention...thank goodness!

So at my appointment on Friday, the doctor basically told me that according to my remaining symptoms and the walking test he gave me, I'm on the mend. Not 100% yet, but that might take a few more weeks or a month still. I am relieved, because if I had gone through three extra weeks of pain and then needed surgery, I would have been very disappointed. The pain meds made me feel so muddy that I finally just stopped taking them about a week and a half ago...they weren't actually "helping" me heal, especially since they made my head foggy. And the pain was minimal compared to what I had gone through just a month ago.

I am going to continue to be careful, since the last thing I want is to put my back out again anytime soon. For example, I'm learning to just let the kids climb into their carseats instead of lifting them in all the time (which is a much quicker and more efficient way, but I need to let go of that!). It's sometimes difficult to look at them and not think of them as still being "babies," since to me that's what they'll always be. I am so glad I'm a photography nut and that I have hundreds (if not thousands) of photos of them from birth til now. That way I can always look back and remember all those "little" moments. :)

Well, time to get lunch made and get some cleaning done around the house. Time flies, especially on a Monday when there's so much to do and no motivation to get it all done!