An interesting few days...

My house sort of looks like a house with a half finished tee-pee attached to the side of it. It was completely open to the world as of one o'clock this afternoon, so I am hoping that as we speak the roof is back on, and there is some semblance of a wall separating my home from the great outdoors. I am frightened/excited/confused/impressed by what has and is going on over there daily. I like to check in every day, but end up leaving covered in mosquito bites, as there are no walls. I am sure my contractor just lights up with joy when he sees me coming. I have been told by my husband that I am talking "entirely too fast" for someone with compromised English skills, so I am going to try harder not to go a mile a minute from this point on, lest my kitchen cabinets be installed sideways or something.

Some poor parenting decisions were made today. Namely, the decision to "run into" HEB when they should have already been laying down for nap. Shawn, my mom and I were no match for the babies...by the end of the trip, Hayden refused to sit in the cart, and screamed whenever someone tried to put her back in the seat. Cale (literally) fell out of the seat and into the pile of groceries in the cart, with Shawn standing next to him (after the kid had been strapped and re-strapped in about four hundred thousand times) Luckily we were purchasing a lot of squishy foods so he was okay. The trip ended like this:

A sweaty, mosquito bitten baby with a tear stained shirt....pacified only because he was offered an ICEE. Yes, you are right, we are total white trash.

Yesterday my mom and I took the babies to the park and packed them a picnic lunch. The following pictures sum up our time there.

Hayden didn't want to eat because she is cutting teeth. She mainly sat in her chair and cried. Cale ate, but cowered towards the table or me any time he heard an airplane. (which is unfortunate since the park we were at is situated directly under the final approach for Randolph) I am not sure when he decided airplanes were the enemy, but he can hear one at 30,000 feet, half a state away. Although it saddens me that he is scared, I am amused that when he cries there are squishy red lines where his eyebrows should be. The eyebrows are still so light, you can hardly see them, but when he is mad, you can definitely tell where they are SUPPOSED to be. Lunch wasn't too successful, but they enjoyed the swings, as always.

For now, they both still fit in one baby swing, although it was a pretty tight squeeze this time. Before too long, this little trick won't work anymore!

Nope, this is not a crack house you are looking at, nor is it FEMA condemned Katrina home, although I understand your confusion if you guessed either of the above. These are actually pictures of my kitchen and living room! If this looks like a lot of work to you, then you are of the same mindset as me. I DO have a vision, and I know it will look awesome when it is done. This sight would REALLY scare me if I weren't already SO ready to have this project over and done with, and if I hadn't already done copious amounts of research in picking out all my new stuff.....I can't wait for the new stuff to start coming! The kitchen cabinets are BEAUTIFUL...I am excited they are pretty, but even more excited that my drawers will actually open without falling out of the track onto my foot, dumping kitchen utensils everywhere. I am excited that I can actually follow the directions on a recipe and set the oven to the desired temperature without adding 50 degrees to make up for the inadequacies of my wonky oven. I am MORE than ready to have a new laundry/craft room where I actually have room for my embroidery machine and all my fabrics.....and even more excited to have a playroom for all the babies' toys! Project is officially under way, and I can hardly control myself!!!

Poor Cale. He just can't catch a break lately! He's a target for a human biter (you can see bite marks on his arm on the picture of him crawling if you look closely), but I tell him that's just because he's so juicy. He got attacked by mosquitos as well, and is covered with welts. (How they can get to him that quickly, without any of us noticing a thing is beyond me) Saturday rolls around and I head out to a wedding shower. The babies spent the morning with Popo and Daddy, and had lunch out. Shawn calls to tell me that Cale is "sort of hot" and is "kinda sick or something".....UGH! They brought him home and sure enough, he was hot. I gave him Tylenol, and he took a good nap, only to wake up a few hours later with a temp of 104! He was burning up! By this point, I had convinced myself the mosquito bites and the fever were related, so I looked it up online (i know, i know...bad move) and started panicking a little when I realized he most likely had West Nile virus, yellow fever or encephalitis. I called Ask a Nurse, and by the time I got a call back (four hours later) Cale's fever was down and he was happy as a clam. He was still warm....so we didn't take him to church this morning. He seems to be better now....and the ask a nurse guy made it clear that it is a pretty slim chance that he has a mosquito born illness. He said there were no reported cases of any in this area, and I felt better. Until, of course, I started thinking that someone has to be the first reported case in an outbreak....and then I just had to stop thinking about that. Hopefully we are in the clear of whatever it was that made him feel so badly, and this week will turn out better than last week for him.

I am hanging on to the chance that this might be the week he decides to walk. He stands around all day holding on to nothing, and takes a few steps now and then....but still no real walking. I worry a little about it, wondering if my kid might be the least motivated walker on the face of the earth....until my dad told me he met a guy whose son didn't walk until he was eighteen months old and now he's a college football player or something....there's hope, I tell you! I had a discussion with Cale about Halloween...I found a really cute turtle costume at The Children's Place, and I told him he was going to be a turtle for Halloween if he didn't choose to walk. I heard Shawn telling him later, "Did you hear that buddy? Mommy's going to make you be a turtle if you won't walk. If you walk, you can be something a lot cooler like spiderman or something!" (Like the kid cares what we are saying!) Oh well. Someday (hopefully) we'll laugh when we talk about how he refused to walk when he was little.

I have been super excited/stressed about the remodel, so it was really fun to have a little girls' night out last Thursday....I found out that Joni and I are pretty much borderline professional shuffleboard players. I have decided I am probably going to be on the Olympic shuffleboard team in 2012. Okay, okay, so I know there is no shuffleboard in the Olympics (or I'd be all over that) but the time out with my girlfriends was much needed! I'm looking foward to a few more fun events in the next few weeks....it will be good stress relief in between all the running around we are about to have to start doing to get this house in livable condition!

Another lesson learned...

I have to admit, I have been guilty of being a little proud of myself. I have literally enjoyed almost every minute of parenthood, and have found myself on more than one occasion a little puffed up and secretly pleased that I haven't yet gone off the deep end. Like clockwork, every single day, I get a comment about how difficult twins must be, and I think to myself, "Man, I must be pretty good at this because I haven't had the urge yet to get in the car and drive in the opposite direction from these two tiny people!" Well, God has shown me yet again that you can't be too proud of yourself! I think (know) that this is where the hard part starts. Taking care of someone's daily needs can be tiring, yes...but not the bone weary feeling of pressure I feel about the shaping of their little souls...I know I am taking things a little too seriously. Cale shakes his head "no" at me, and I see us fourteen years down the road, arguing with a kid with a bone through his nose. Hayden bites Cale, and I picture her with black lipstick, standing outside alternative school resenting me for giving her a ride home. UGHHH! Ninety nine point nine percent of the time, they are laughing, happy babies, but their new little displays of attitude are taking me by surprise. It's funny sometimes, but scary too, because it means they are growing up and further away from being tiny babies. We stopped in Pottery Barn Kids today, and let the babies out of the stroller for a little bit. They have little kid sized chairs in the store, as well as a little kitchen, a play table, and a dollhouse. Mine were the littlest ones toddling around, but you would have thought they were the biggest deal in town! They loved every minute of that store (like their momma, sadly) and didn't agree with my decision that it was time to leave. My dad got the stroller, I grabbed Hayden and headed out of the store, and my mom was right behind me with Cale. His heart broke into a million pieces, and he nearly had everyone in the mall looking at him. By the time they got to the entrance of the store, he was bright red, with tears POURING down his face, squealing like he was being skinned. It took him forever to get over it! It was horrible. I love those minutes when your kids cause everyone to look at you, wondering what kind of child abuse you are inflicting on them. I end up just looking around, half smiling, hoping that people can read by my expression and demeanor that I am a totally loving parent, whose kid hardly ever does this, and is in full control of the situation!!
Meanwhile, the biting is still an issue. I will take any and all advice on dealing with this topic. I have varied feelings about how to deal/discipline. I am so interested to hear if any of you have dealt with the same thing, and how you turned your little Kujo back into a sweet, smiling, well behaved child. It cracks me up (in the midst of my horror) that when deterred, a tiny biter will look for anything and everything to sink their little teeth into. The floor, their own arm...anything at all.
For anyone that is interested, Shawn is on the mend. Two weeks out of surgery and he is already in the gym, back on the exercise bike! He is still on crutches, but doing better every day. With the exception of one nasty situation in the mall parking lot (where a woman stated loudly to us "You guys REALLY look handicapped!" as we were using Shawn's temporary handicapped permit to park up close) his recovery has been easy so far. I am ready to have a non-handicapped husband at my disposal, seeing as the renovation starts next week! FINALLY.

Putting our teeth to good use...

So everyone knows Hayden had a two week biting binge a few months ago. Now, my sweet baby boy (who has spent the last month holding his arms out to me every time he sees me walk by) has turned on me! Today they were playing off in the corner, and he was pulling on her or breathing on her or something equally offensive, and she chomped down on his face like a rabid animal. Normally, he would cry and look to me for comfort, but this time he decided to man up. He went wild thrashing all over the place, and tried to drag her down to the ground with him...I ran over and intervened, only to have him bend over and try to chomp down on my ankle. When I thwarted that attempt, the kid tried to bite the HARDWOOD floor. Wow, that will really show her, buddy! :) I know that this is probably a normal progression in asserting their independence (please, tell me it is!) and it is probably magnified because they have another baby to compete with, but I can't help but have my feelings hurt. It is so dumb, because I know he wasn't trying to bite "me" per se, but couldn't help himself because he was angry....but I couldn't help feeling a little indignant. I told Shawn it doesn't seem fair that I love them so much and they try to bite ME....but I guess I am always the one in the line of fire. I have a sinking feeling I need to get over it....there are probably going to be a LOT of instances in the future where they assert themselves and I feel the brunt of it! On a funnier note, Cale tried to bite the soap in the bathtub tonight, and did NOT like the taste of that at all. I was trying to help him rinse his mouth out, and a little part of me was thinking, "huh! Serves you right!" Maybe he'll think twice about biting after that!
His new thing this week is blowing on his food....if you ask him, "What do you do when your food is hot?" he'll blow! It is so cute! I am especially amazed this week at how much they understand of what I am saying to them......although I am still nervous to take them to their checkup this month and have to tell the pediatrician he STILL doesn't care to walk. My mom and I even tried to manipulate him with Nilla Wafers, and that still didn't work. (I was sure food would do the trick) Ugh! I had been putting off making the appointment, and I finally called....we go September 9th, so he has a few weeks still to get on the ball!

Now the hard part...

Shawn came through surgery fine, and is now recovering nicely in a hospital bed. We are here for the night for "pain management" but I am not sure why, considering he won't push the button on his Morphine drip. His pain tolerance is definitely higher than mine...
I am missing my babies today! We have been here since nine a.m. this morning...my parents brought us dinner at about seven, and brought our tiny people up here to see us....it is funny how much you can miss them when it's been such a short time since you've seen them!! They loved seeing their daddy, and trying to touch anything and everything in the hospital room...they climbed all over him, as I watched carefully to make sure no one was coming near the knee....After they tried to pull on his I.V. and a bunch of cords, my parents decided it was time to head out. They are going to be TIRED tomorrow when we get home...
Thank you for all your prayers about Shawn's surgery...they were felt!

Random comments...

1. Both babies can point out their belly buttons. Cale, however, lifts up the leg of his shorts to try to find it. Hmmm...we have some work to do.
2. I searched on MySpace for all the kids I taught my first year of teaching 8 years ago. They are all 17 now, and I am sad to say I HAD NO POSITIVE EFFECT WHATSOEVER on these kids. Some of the girls are having kids, others are "pimpin' hoes"...I am so SO sad! And here I thought I was "making a difference".
3. I am horrified at the ethics of some people in Wal Mart. We were walking in the door, (slowly because Shawn was hobbling on his crutches) and this lady saw him heading towards the last little wheelchair scooter. I am NOT kidding you when I say she bust into a sprint Carl Lewis style and RAN to hop on it before Shawn could get to it. Really? If you can RUN, you should probably let the guy with the smashed tibia on crutches have the scooter.

We head tomorrow to the hospital for Shawn's surgery.....if you remember, say a prayer at about nine a.m....that's when we start!

What a weekend...

....so much activity in so few days! My parents and I took the tiny people to Castroville for a wedding this weekend. Note to self: 15 month olds do not enjoy wedding services, even when given a wide variety of things to wave in the air and examine during said service. Cale made a bunch of noise in the church (yes, I was THAT lady) so I took him outside, where I proceeded to sweat like a pig while my feet ached in horribly uncomfortable (yet very attractive) heels, while I chased him up and down a sidewalk. I had to go to the bathroom, so we went in a side door marked "restrooms" and it literally opened to a tiny side room RIGHT UP ON THE ALTAR. When I opened the creaky door, all the bridesmaids turned to look at me. I snuck in the bathroom quickly, so I am pretty sure only about the first two rows of wedding guests saw me. To make matters worse, the flush was extremely loud....it probably drowned out their vows. It would have been hilarious if it wasn't so horrible. I picked up the kid (who had to sit waiting on the bathroom floor...I know...GROSS!) and he went crazy trying to get down, and his little leather sandals (with velcro straps) proceeded to rip my tights to shreds. So by the time the reception rolled around, I was sweaty, tired, humiliated, with swollen feet and ripped tights, ready for a drink or two. The babies (being 15 months old) were having none of it! Food was flung everywhere, and every two minutes Cale reached his arms out to me like I was tormenting him by having him sit in his little portable high chair. Hayden did a little better, only stopping about four times to throw her bottle on the floor. (Yes, I still give them a bottle sometimes. I know, I know!!) The bottle contained milk that my dad had to run out and buy (in the middle of the reception) because said babies spotted the bottles in the diaper bag and started in on some fits. After trying to eat a few bites, I threw in the towel and took them back to the hotel room. One high point of the reception....we had a bit of a laugh when we smelled burning hair and realized my dad had thrown his suit jacket on the table on top of a votive candle and inadvertently set it on fire! It just smoldered a little, but we laughed thinking of the scene we would have caused if the adults at our table would have had to throw themselves on a burning jacket to put out the flames....It was a nice wedding, and fun to visit with family...but hotel travel is becoming increasingly harder with these two. In about thirty minutes of being at the hotel, they dismantled the phone, dumped over all the trash cans, turned on the tv and changed the channel/volume setting about 100 times, and stuck their arms in the toilet. Add to that a few spills that caused noisy crying and there you have it. The trip turned out okay, but I got a call Saturday night informing me that my husband had hurt his leg....he and his guy friends have decided they are getting a yearly "man weekend" at the Comal River for mayhem and general nonsense. Apparently they were messing around down by the water, he got pushed in (to too shallow water), and immediately knew he blew out his knee. After several hours in the doctor's office today, preliminary tests have concluded that he fractured his tibia. From the cross section view, you can see that it is split from the front of the bone to the backside. He is probably going to have surgery, which I hate. He just had shoulder surgery two years ago, and now this! He is most worried about being out of commission for a few weeks...he loves to run, work out, lift weights...this will seriously make a dent in his brand of fun. Plus, on a side note...he can't hardly get himself up the stairs, much less carry a baby. I will be going at it single mom style for a while! He keeps apologizing about that, which speaks volumes about his character....he's hurt, but worried that he isn't going to be any help to me. I am all geared up to play Florence Nightengale...for a few days at least. :)