note to self....

Need to remember 12 months or older is not a good age to put a baby down for a nap in just a diaper. The time I tried to save by saying "I will dress them later" will now be used to clean sheets, crib, babies and santize anything in a crib radius due to a naked baby and a full diaper next to naked baby. Thank you Afton!!! :)
Thank goodness we still have the divider so at least it is semi-contained.

3.25.08

I know most parent's don't forget their children's birthdays- I especially will never forget March 25th 2008. After 15 weeks of bedrest our 34 week 6 day beautiful baby girls were born!! It was such a good day. Even during the first 6 months or so after their birth I didn't mind at all that I was getting up way too many times during the night because they were here and healthy and so much worry and stress was gone. Bedrest for that long is hard.... my role of mother, wife and just a person changed. You take for granted little things like checking the mail, getting snacks for your kids, going to the store, etc.
I am also so proud of how Ethan and Lizzie have been this past year. A new baby takes a lot of a mom's time and two babies takes a TREMENDOUS amount of mom's time. Ethan and Lizzie have been so helpful and loving towards their new sisters and are really good when I tell them they have to wait a minute before I can help or do something with them.

Now on too the good stuff- We had a family birthday party for Afton and Lilly. They really liked their cupcakes and must have their mom's sweet tooth. We sang to each one of them separately. I know their will be other birthday kinks we will have to work out once they get older. The little walk and ride things they got are like transformers and can change to a walker and then to a car. They have their 1 year doctor appt tomorrow and I am curious to see how much they weigh. I am also excited to see if we get the okay for real milk. The non-formula thing will definitely help our budget. Even buying the Kirkland 2-pack we still spend more than $100 a month on formula. For their actuall birthday today I might try to get another crib set up for them. Well or maybe tomorrow.... :)

Happy 1st Birthday Afton and Lilly! We love you so much and are so glad you are in our family.

*The top three pictures are of Afton. Lilly is the one with chocolate all over her face and in the picture with both of them Lilly is the one sitting on the car.

snowball

I am happy to announce that yesterday Jim got his FIRST patient lined up for his business!!! If everything goes as planned he will see this patient the first of next week with South Mountain Physical Therapy. Jim was so excited. Now we just make sure everything goes smoothly.

He began working on creating his business the end of last October. Tons of paperwork to set up his business, getting on Medicaid and insurance panels, getting brochures and business cards made, calling and meeting with lots of businesses and many other moments that I just can't think of right now came to fruition yesterday.

Jim has been referring to his growing business as a snowball probably since October. It takes a lot of work and patience to get a good snowball made but once you do and it starts rolling (down a hill of course)- watch out!! This is the beginning of his rolling. Now to wait for patient #2.... If you or anyone you know needs physical therapy jut let Jim know :)

The Liz whisperer

You know how there are those shows- ghost whisperer and even more entertaining the dog whisperer. Well I am looking for a Liz whisperer.

Many of you know she has some eye issues. At the end of January we took her to an opthamologist rather than an optometrist (like we had been going to). The new doctor was really concerened about her left eye (major vision and lazy eye issues). We got a new prescription and new glasses and he wanted to see us again in 6 weeks. That was yesterday. Things have not gotten better so we are onto step 2- an eye patch. She has to wear it for 3 straight hours each day for at least the next year. They are in cool girl designs but still. We go back every 8 weeks for the next year or so to check her vision. So every 8 weeks Jim and I get to come up with around $250 that insurance won't cover but is being applied towards our isane deductible. Awesome! If things are not better in 6 months or so we starting talking about step 3- surgery. Even after surgery she would still have to wear the patch a little.

So any who know Liz- if she doesn't want to do something......... Yesterday did not go well with the eye patch. She did not even want to see Grandma H who is one of her favorite people. She even had some "special bread" for Lizzie. Today has gone much better. She wore it the whole 3 hours with only minimal (for Lizzie) complaining. Today I let her watch a kid show, read books to her, gave her computer time and bribed her with a crunch bar at the end. I need to figure out some more Liz whisperer tricks for these 3 hours each day

On another note-

Afton has learned how toilet paper rolls unwind, how to pull ziplock baggies out of their box, how to pull wipes out of the container and to take a bottle out of Lilly's mouth and then not so gently try to put it back in Lilly's mouth.

february mileage

I know all who read this blog are waiting with held breath for our February mileage report :) Mostly it is for Jim and I to realize we are actually finding time to run. I ran 35 miles for the month and Jim ran 35.2 miles. Yes, that .2 is very important :) So far Jim has lost at least 10 pounds. I have know idea about me since I don't have a scale at my work ( yes I do mean my house). I actually gain weight when I work out and lose weight when I am being lazy. Go figure!
6 more weeks to go. Jim has been having foot issues lately and so we researched, he talked with two running stores and we bought him some new shoes today. Hopefully they will help.