The Quarantine is Over!

After three LOOONNNGGG days of suffering with fever, I am relieved to announce Bub is fever free as of tonight.  I'm not sure who suffered more in this house...me, Sissy (who couldn't stand all the attention he was getting), Liv (who almost had to learn how to change her own diaper) or the sick kid himself.  He was so pitiful....wanted to be held, and laid all day on the pallet I made for him on the couch.  This is VERY unlike him....I normally see him whiz by the doorway about three times during the day and then at mealtimes.  He is only super needy when he is sick.  I knew he was getting to feeling better around lunchtime, when he bit Sissy in the back.  Illness or no illness, he had to go to time out, but personally I think he'd had enough of her pestering.  It was like poking a mean dog through a cage.  You get what you get.  This little illness trapped us at home, so we attempted a little potty training.  I am starting with Sis, instead of beating my forehead against a proverbial wall and attempting two two year olds at once.  She did allright, but might have constipated herself with her fear of doing THAT on the potty.  The highlight of my day was watching my two girls play on the floor together.  Baby can sit up now, and loves having her little toys spread out on the floor to play with.  It made me happy to see Sissy interacting with her in a way that didn't involve smacking her upside the head.  Sis laughed and laughed as she put a bunch of items on the baby's head, and baby obliged.  She showed her the little fake bottle that came with one of her baby dolls, and we both laughed when Liv tried to suck on it.  There may have even been some snuggling going on with these two.  They might end up loving each other after all!

How juicy is this baby?  Just looking at this picture makes me want to squeeze those cheeks!  I love the little look on her face, like she is thinking, "Hmph. What are you going to do about it??"

Friday morning.....

While they did this...

I worked on these....

A bib, two burp cloths and a diaper and wipes case for an order...

Livi played happily in the bouncy seat,  and my house smells yummy because of a lemon candle I found at Marshall's.  Now everyone is in bed, and I have four billion things to do.  I need to clean my house, finish laundry, iron, sew, study the instruction manual for the playground we are installing tomorrow, schedule an appointment at the body shop to repair the dent in my back bumper caused by a "hit and runner"....but I really want to watch "Australia" on TV....choices, choices.  

The baby has only been on this earth for seven months, and already she has a list of aliases a mile long!  Just so I remember these ridiculous names years down the road, I document them here; not that this is a topic that anyone outside of our immediate family will find the least bit entertaining.  

We hardly ever call her "Olivia"....that seems too formal, too stuffy for this little thing that I know so well, and who loves me so much.  That seems like a name fit for people who don't know her, or more appropriately, written on her hospital name badge as an adult when she is a neurosurgeon.  :)  Her first nickname was "Livatino"....branching off Livatino, there is "Teeno" and "Teen".  This gets a little confusing at times, because Hayden also answers to "Teeno" or "Teen"....which came from "Chickatino"which in itself mutated into Sissatino and a variety of other names we won't list here.  Back to the baby....  Getting a little further away from it's original derivation is "Pibblitino" which has also become "Pibblet" and "Pibs".  (My favorite use of this is Sissy running in from the other room hollering at me: "Mommy!  I think Pibs is hungry!  You better nurse her!")  Along the same line as "Pibblitino", we have "Nibbletino" which of course can be shortened to "Nibblet" or "Nibs" in a pinch.  There is also the old favorite "The Baby" or "The Tiny One".  If someone were to listen in on a conversation between my husband and I as we discuss our children, they might very well think we are talking about dogs. (As in: "Did you feed Lish and Skeen?  What about Pibs?") Okay, okay, the names are really silly.....but I love that we use them.  Getting a nickname from Shawn or I is like being branded.  It's about familiarity, and love....so it makes sense that these babies of ours have so many of them!  

Sneak peek...

We have a little toddler music class every other Thursday at the church where the twins will be attending preschool next year.  At the end of class, I asked them if they wanted to go downstairs and peek at what will be their classroom next year.....they enthusiastically answered yes, and (loudly) headed towards the direction I was pointing.  Cut to the part where we got to the doorway and looked in.  Complete silence.  As they stood in the doorway watching the kids eat their snack, I could almost hear their little brains clicking as they memorized everything.  Both sets of eyes were moving all over the room as they studied what they saw......I didn't say much as we left, but later in Target, Sissy pointed out a xylophone and said, "Look, Mommy!  They have one of those in my classroom!!"  It's funny to me that she noted this.....she probably already has everything in that room categorized in her mind.  Let's hope we are building some familiarity here....

Babies no more....

Today marked a momentous occasion...I signed the twins up for preschool.  Granted, it is only going to be Tuesdays and Thursdays next year, and only from 9 a.m. to noon, but it feels a little too much like "letting go" for me....I am WAY behind the curve on this one.....most of my friends that stay home with their kiddos have already had them in some sort of mothers day out program for quite a while.  It's not that I have any problem with it (besides realizing they are getting older) but the cost of putting two babies in mother's day out was sort of a deterrent.  What fun was having a morning "off" a week if I was too broke to enjoy it?  Then Livi came along and there was all the excitement surrounding that...I wasn't going to pack up a tiny baby to take them and pick them up from school right after she was born.....So now we are finally signing up.  For several reasons.

It's not like they don't have socialization....twins might actually get the lions share of this lesson.  There is NO WAY a singleton has to put this skill into practice as much as my two do on a daily basis.  They have to play, share, consider someone else way more than someone who plays alone.....but I didn't want them to become weird twins who would ONLY play with each other either.  I want them to learn how to take turns, obey another adult besides our family members, have chances to meet other kids, do fun activities.....and partially, realize that their is a world outside their little safe world at home.  It has to happen eventually after all.  I was lucky to get spots number 10 and 11 in a 12 kiddo class this morning.  After registering them, I asked the director if I could take a peek at what will be their room.  Partially, to analyze the environment with my "teacher eye", but also so that I could report back all the fun things in the room (and hopefully build some excitement in the process).  On the walls were the same sorts of things I used in my kindergarten rooms.....there were similar play areas and centers, and a little rug area to do a daily calendar.  For some reason I had a tiny little urge to cry.  It felt and looked too much like kindergarten....these are my BABIES after all.  When did they get so big??  More than anything, I want them to be confident and love school so my prayer is that this turns out to be the beginning step in that direction.  I'm not going to even START with the tiny panic attack I had while reading the parent handbook and the section about morning drop off.  It reassured that crying and anxiety were normal, and they recommended not lingering....just saying "goodbye" and walking away.  I'm not too sure who will have it worse in August....me or them!  

Sunny Sunday....

I am trying out some new lenses for the camera....and WOW!  I am in love!!  I told Shawn this experience has been like riding your bike to work your whole life, and then someone gives you a Bentley.  I took some new ones of the twins, who are so used to having their picture taken.  They are excellent posers, when they feel like it.  We had told them that AFTER picture taking, we would go to the park since it was so pretty outside....Hayden decided in the middle of picture taking that she didn't want to "play pictures" anymore.  We could hear her in the backseat..."Mommy, no more picture taking.  Did you hear me?  Did you hear me??"

Some more Liv....

I'm a little tiny bit sad...coming to grips with the fact that this will probably be my last baby.  (At least if I want to keep having babies with the same man...)  I don't know why I am so melancholy about this.  It's not like having another baby would make my life EASIER, after all.  And I'm no saint about being pregnant either....I'm either holding back throw up or lumbering around complaining that my skeleton hurts.  (There IS a honeymoon period in there in the middle somewhere...but I estimate that it lasts about six days.)  I just love this little tiny one so much, and the idea of NOT making another human I love is sad.  I am so excited about all the new things she is learning and doing, but I can't help but be a little depressed that it's going by so fast.  I want to love on her all the time and drink it all in....her fat little baby tummy, her little tiny hands, her little toothless gums, the way her little neck smells.  Sigh.  I mean, you can't just keep having babies forever, right?  That is, unless you want to get your own show on TLC, which I am not trying to do.  I look at the twins and already can't remember what they were like at Livi's age....It's hard to recall what their little cries sounded like, or the faces they made....and it was only two years ago!  So, during this season of my life, I choose to be grateful.  I choose to find joy in these babies.  Even when they talk back to me, or smell like pee.  Even when they show no interest in using the toilet.  Especially when they wake up all the time, or need me to feed them, because these things go away so fast....and before I know it they will all be gone.  I will be joyful about this job of mine, because I know someday I am going to desperately want it back.