Well...

The "new plan" isn't going so well. And you know what's sad? When I check the blog of my personal training company and think to myself "what the hell, they haven't updated since March 17?!" and then I realize, hmmm...I haven't updated mine in a while either, log in, and see that it's been one day longer than theirs in comparison.

I think I'm a pretty good FAIL when it comes to my existence in the blogosphere, but I'm okay with that. I can't be good at everything, now can I? I mean, there has to be one thing that I'm not good at, and this is it!

Okay, maybe that's not it. I'm also crappy at keeping up with laundry, keeping a clean house in general, staying organized, remembering things (I think this is mommyhood related though, I was good at it pre-kids). This list in neither cumulative nor exhaustive - I have many more FAILS to my life story and I'm sure you would love to hear about them ALL someday, right? ;) Right, probably not.


I took the boys back in to see the pediatrician this past Monday for coughs that weren't going away and general yuckiness. They still had ear infections, so we bumped them up to a stronger antibiotic. They seem to be doing tons better on this new prescription and are a lot happier this week. They have now exceeded their quota on ear infections though, so we have appointments on April 19th with an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist to see if they have a future with tubes or not. Hopefully not, since spring has started coming around the doctor is thinking this might be the end of their crappy ear infection "season".

The babies had evaluations with our teacher from the school district's Parents as Teachers program. Usually we just kind of do playtime lessons and she gives us some handouts on things they should be doing at their age and suggestions on what to work on with them. Ms. Jenny has always said Evan was the smartest kid she had ever worked with, but she was also really impressed with both of the babies too, it turns out they are both "above average" for their age. Brennan was a tad more advanced than Carter, but we already suspected/knew that since he is the one that seems to hit and master developmental milestones sooner than the C man.

It was kind of funny, Ms. Jenny suggested we start doing 3 to 6 piece puzzles with Evan. I just kind of gave her that look and she said "you're kidding me right? How big are the puzzles he's putting together right now?" I told her 25 pieces...but he does need a little bit of help sometimes with some of the trickier areas. She's always amazed with that kid, and so are we. Mom and dad are super proud of their little guy!

Evan was sick and stayed home yesterday. He threw up several times that morning while on the way to school, so Kevin drove him back home and he got to spend the day with Mommy. He seemed better towards the later part of the morning and was running around the house causing the usual raucous.

It was back to school today for him and Kevin called a little later giving me the usual update on how he had a hard time with getting him into school, etc. We got some really sad news this morning: Evan's best friend at school had his last day yesterday and he missed it. :( I have to admit, I cried when Kevin told me. It's just so sad to think about.

I was about to ask Kevin to see if he could stop by the office and get the family's address or phone number, or some other form of contact information when he told me that they are leaving the country. Furcon's mom is from Turkey and the whole family is packing up and moving to her home country. Evan didn't even get to say 'goodbye' to him (and just so you know, I'm crying again typing this out).

Furcon was one of the very few things that Evan looked forward to when it came to school, which leaves us in a whole new pickle now. It makes me realize that Evan really is growing up, and that this will happen to him many more times in his childhood and even in his adulthood. It's a fact of life that friends come into our lives and they also leave them.

Some of my mom friends have suggested that maybe this is a good thing, that he won't be traumatized by any 'final moments' with his best friend or that he won't associate any bad feelings with school for taking his friend away, but it doesn't really make me any less sad for my growing boy. I know he won't remember this when he turns 21 or 10 or probably even next week, but I think that makes all of this even more sad - that it will be like his friend Furcon didn't even exist. And this stage of his life didn't even exist. His two year old mind is pretty likely to not remember his first best friend, Furcon, once he has forgotten about him and moved on - and he was such an important part of his life!

We all loved you Furcon, for helping shape who our little boy is now today. We'll all miss you, but I know deep down somewhere, Evan holds a special place in his heart for you. I'd like to think that tiny little spot will always be yours.

Fussy McFussersons

That's what the babies have been this last week...and still are. One, if not both of them, are always crying - ALWAYS. Unless I'm holding them, but gee wouldn't that be wonderful if that's all I had to do during the day?

I'm not sure if it's their ears still, or maybe teeth that are getting closer but I have had enough. Add on top of that a two and a half year old who no longer likes going to school and playing with his friends and you've got one exhausted mama.

Evan's been crying for me in the mornings and seems so sad to be leaving that the past two days we've let him stay home with me. Kevin and I have a pretty big decision that needs to be made and I think a certain mini-someone is forcing the issue. It's so hard to get anything done with two infants in the house, but when Evan stays home with us it's even more difficult. In fact, nothing gets done and the house looks worse when Kevin gets home than what it did when he left.

I also feel terrible because Evan is pretty much parked in front of the tv all day, not good. I honestly feel like he enjoys school once he gets over the two minute crying fit that goes down when daddy drops him off. I mean, seriously...he has friends to play with, he gets to play outside, go to the school's gym, color, paint, glue stuff, read books, etc. and I have no time to do that stuff with him when he's home. It makes me so sad to think how bored he is with me and that I know he craves more attention and time, but I just don't have it. Although, maybe he really would rather be home doing a whole bunch of nothing if it means being around his mom. I don't know. But I do know that keeping him home would save us one thousand dollars a month, wouldn't that be nice?

I know there are plenty of other MoMs who have a toddler and twin infants or twin toddlers and a newborn, etc. and they make it work...I mean, I technically make it work too, but I'm constantly struggling with "what's best" for Evan - and I still don't know the answer. Is there one?

Ear Infections

When will they stop? The boys were getting more and more fussy and all of the other usual signs indicating they might be headed towards ear infections. I waited about a week to see if the cold-like symptoms would subside on their own, but to no avail. Conditions continued to deteriorate, so I made the call to our pediatrician this morning to squeeze them in.

After a mad dash to get everyone ready and fed AND to the doctor's office in less than 35 minutes (I can't believe I actually did it!) my suspicions were again confirmed. The doctor is putting them on Augmentin this time around as opposed to the usual Amoxicillin. Hopefully it works for them, we'll see I guess.

I asked her at what point we begin to discuss tubes, so she went back through their charts. She said she is hopeful they won't be getting anymore, since the cold and flu season is drawing to an end, but that we would probably have to have that talk if they end up with one more before May.

Tubes aren't the end of the world, but I can't wrap my head around the possibility of sending them both into surgery. My poor little babies, they just aren't feeling well and that makes me a sad mom today.

Yesterday

Brennan figured out how to pull up on things already, even with his brother getting in the way of things. They are both getting faster at crawling and I have to say, it is getting really difficult to keep track of where they are and what they might be (or are) getting into.

I told Kevin earlier today that it's time to bring the baby jail back out from when Evan was little. I think we'll take the dining room table to the basement or garage for a while and set up the "cage" in there with Ev's train table.


Brennan is in the green and gray, and Carter is in the monkey outfit.

New Plan

I'd love to start keeping up with this a little more and adding pictures, something I was a little afraid to do for a while. Moms in the multiples community know that it's no secret there are more than a few crazies out there obsessed with "stealing" our lives and making them their own by taking pictures of our kids and leading others to believe they are theirs...starting their own blogs and making up stories, sometimes incredibly tragic.

I'm normally a pretty laid back person, but images of my babies have been something that I found myself abnormally protective of. I'm going to try to make a conscious effort to share my beautiful kids with the blog world...even though not too many people actually read my blog.

In order to do this, that means I'll have to start actually taking more pictures of them! I hate to admit that most days I'm busy being too busy and the camera is the last thing on my mind. Hopefully I can change and make the time to capture those wonderful memories.

On that note, I leave you with this:I turned around one day while changing diapers to find this...Evan managed to crawl into it on his own!
And finally, Carter in the green bumbo and Brennan in the blue. Aren't they cute?

Make that Two!

Carter finally figured out the whole crawling thing yesterday morning. He has definitely not perfected his skill yet and is pretty slow at getting places, but he's getting there and that's what's important (or scary..two in different directions)!

Carter has always kind of been the troublemaker going all the way back to my pregnancy. He was the one constantly twisting and turning and kicking his brother in the head. Now he crawls up to Brennan and headbutts him on purpose - I'm totally serious. I'll have to try and get it on video sometime soon. They are like tiny little rams and it makes Kevin a nervous wreck.

I think it's somewhat noteworthy that as "long" as it's taken them to figure out how to get mobile, at this age Evan still wasn't crawling. In fact Evan didn't crawl until he was nine months old, however, he did walk just a month after crawling and mastered it quite quickly.

We have a crawler!

This morning after sucking down his bottle, Brennan decided he was ready! I literally just sat there in disbelief. My little bug crawled clear across the big blanket we keep on the floor to save our carpet from spit up. It is always amazing to see their first milestones. Hopefully Carter won't be too far behind his (slightly) bigger brother.

Both of them have ear infections again. I was debating on taking them in to see the pediatrician, but I'm so glad I did, this makes the third one for both of them in three months. They weren't sleeping well at night or for naps. Over night, I would have to rotate babies - they would only fall asleep in my arms. This didn't result in good sleep for me, but we as moms and MoMs do all that we can for our kids.

They are on amoxicillin again and I have plenty of diaper cream and anti-fungal cream on standby for the nasty, sometimes yeasty, diaper rashes that come with it.

Evan decided to poop in his pull-up again this morning and not tell me. Would you like to know how I found out? I found a smear of shit on my living room carpet! Nice, right? Wrong. It took a good chunk of my morning cleaning him and the mess up, but we all survived.

An update on the weight loss show: I got the boot last Friday, so you won't be seeing me on tv again until the show's finale on April 30 (also my birthday). I've decided to keep up with it despite losing my free personal trainer. We are going to get rid of the babysitter and push that money towards my trainer, Jordan. I'll have to get ready a lot earlier though since I'll have to take the babies in with me to the on-site childcare, but I'll do it if it means staying on track. I'm hoping I'm a hot, fit MoM by the end of April!