missing Daddy

Daddy has been apart from us for 8 days. Daddy talks to the kids at least once a day, and they are doing great with that. Curious George talks about he and Daddy's plan on buying Lego once we get to Texas. Thing 2 asks where Daddy is in the morning and at random times during the day. Thing 1 does the same thing and sometimes explains to Thing 2 that Daddy is downstairs. :)

But Thing 1 is ever so slightly acting different. Between her and Thing 2, she usually do not come to me unless she's feeling especially tender like when she's sick or hurt (she is usually more of Daddy's girl outside of those tender moments). But these past few days, she's been coming to me more often. Then this evening, they finally got to "see" Daddy again when we set up a webcam on both ends. I got my webcam first, so I've been having the kids have fun with it by letting them watch themselves make goofy faces and let them figure that they were indeed looking at themselves.

But tonight when they saw Daddy instead, everyone went crazy happy. After several minutes, Thing 1 began saying, "couch? fun? couch, Daddy?" I thought she was asking Daddy if he was sitting on the couch. But then we began to understand what she really meant, and Daddy began explaining that he couldn't sit with her right now. But in a few days, he will be here. At that point, Thing 1 began crying and crying and crying. She turned to me for a hug, and would quiet down, but then when she turned toward the computer screen and saw Daddy again, she would cry again. It's heart breaking to see her this way.

Only 5 more days and Daddy would be back here with us. As I was saying good night to Curious George he said to me, "Today is day 5. Tomorrow is day 4. When it's day zero, Daddy will be here."

Playtime

Daddy is currently having a phone interview with a company in Michigan so I took the kids outside to play. These kids currently have no volume control (do they ever?) and I know Daddy would appreciate the momentary peace.

The kids are having a tea party with bubbles in background.

(Thing 1 in purple, Thing 2 in pink)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

TV TV TV!

Curious George, Thing 2, Thing 1 watching Curious George's favorite, Fireman Sam.


Thing 1 in green, Thing 2 in blue.

And then some horsing around with Daddy. They love being on the floor time. All you have to do is sprawl on the floor, and it's like a magnet!

we have a new handyman

Daddy and Curious George put the lattice up under the front steps. Curious George enjoyed the whole thing since it's a new "job" for him.

Daddy Time

Thing 2 wants some cuddles.

And then she wants kisses.
(we're dread the day she discovers boys!)

Thing 1 looking like a big girl.
(Their hair is long enough for one big pony tail on the back!)

is he having fun? or is he silently asking for help?

On a lovely day, sometimes the kids just want to be with their Daddy (or more to the point, they all want to be ON Daddy). Halleluiah!

I think it's all fun and games until someone yells for help!

And Daddy is yelling for help. Can't you just hear the silent scream?

But the kids sure are having fun with him.

(Thing 1 in pink, Thing 2 in white)

I just love my Daddy.

Daddy's birthday is this weekend, so we had his birthday lunch on Tuesday with the twins. Big Brother was in school. Sorry, little man! While eating lunch, Thing 2 took breaks in between every 2 -3 bites to lean over on Daddy and wrap her greasy little hands around his arm. She kept doing it over and over through the entire meal. We're not quite sure why she did it, but it sure did give her time enough to chew her food and not choke herself like she and her sister did over the weekend. And of course, Daddy just ate up the cuddliness.

Thing 1 sat beside me and both she and I just went about our business of eating yummy yummy Italian food.

Notice we took the booster seat with us. It was great!! For the first time while out, I didn't need to feed the girls first before I could eat my food. We all ate together.

fun with Daddy

The kids had fun with Daddy last night after he came home from work. Katie is in the back, bouncing around. Jojo is a bit sleepy here and isn't as bouncy. Matty was a little jealous, but he had fun too.

Standing Up

Katie enjoys standing on her feet!

Jojo finds out that though falling on her bottom doesn't feel so nice, it's great to know that Daddy is there for a great lovin' when she does.

Jojo finds the courage to try again, with Katie beside her.

When will Daddy learn?

When I was telling Matty goodbye when I dropped him off at school, it was evident that Daddy hasn't realized that he should watch what he says with Matty.

Matty: I want to close the door for you, Mommy.

Me: OK. Give me a big kiss. (I get a kiss.) Give me a big hug. (He holds his arms straight out for me.)

Matty: Mommy, too tight! You're squeezing the poop out.

Oh yes, this one is from Daddy. I've heard it a few times (at home) and apparently, now so have other people.

Hoping for the Best

It's now Day 3 of the hubby being in the hospital. After suffering with a fever for over 2 weeks, and the antibiotic not making him better, his doctor suspected meningitis and admitted him to the hospital. Thankfully, meningitis was eliminated without having to the a spinal tap.


Pneumonia has also been eliminated. After a CT scan which only showed acute sinusitis, and a clear x-ray, the Infections Disease doctor said he could be battling both a viral and bacterial infection (or more than 1 of each). The doctor is thinking this could be epstein barr, but this cannot be confirmed as of yet because most of the cultures that were taken would not be back until a week from now.


The neurologist has his guesses on what this could be, but again, there will not be any confirmation until a week from now.


The good news is that he will be released tonight, but on orders to rest and not go back to work for another week.


The little man was out of sorts since Friday and on Sunday, he had a fever of 104.2 which warranted him a tepid bath. On Monday he complained of his ear, but I didn't think anything of it. Yesterday I took him to the doctor and it turned out that he has an ear infection. He has also been out of sorts since his Daddy didn't come home on Monday. But all was made right when we visited Daddy yesterday. All he needed was some Daddy time.

Sick Men

The little guy stayed home on Friday because he wasn't quite feeling like himself Thursday night. Yesterday he had a fever on and off and last night he had a high fever. This morning it got even higher, 104.2 F. I was about to nurse the girls when the hubby told me to put the girls down and go with him and the little guy to bathroom to give him a tepid bath. Actually, the hubby wanted to use cold water (to shock the heck out of the fever, I guess), but thankfully he listened to me when I said it must be tepid, NOT cold!

After about 10 minutes in the bath and the little guy shivering, I thought it was enough. We had given him Motrin so it was time to check the temperature again. The thermometer read 102.5. Not bad.

After getting dressed and sitting down on the couch for another 10 minutes, I took the temperature again and it was 103.3. Darn it! I gave him Tylenol and dabbed his body with a wet towel. After another 10 minutes, he had enough and was off to play. Phew.

I took the opportunity to go to the pharmacy and pick up another thermometer (the battery on the one we have is running down) and pick up lunch. When I got home after an hour, the hubby reports that his fever is back again.

The hubby and the little guy are now taking a nap and the girls are also napping. Time for me to rest.

Is it wrong for me to wish that I get sick so that I can just watch over myself and no one else? Nah, chances are I would be sick AND care for everyone at the same time.

And the title of "Honorary Mommy" Goes To...

I bestowed the title "Honorary Mommy" to my husband this weekend. And it's not just for show either. You know when a celebrity is invited by their alma mater and they show up and all of a sudden they get an honorary Ph.D.? No, it's not like that.

Jojo, as mentioned on my previous blog, refused to nurse. Every time I put her on the breast, she cried. And oh, how she cried. You would never suspect such a sound coming from such a tiny little girl. Well, 14 hours past since she last nursed, I was getting a bit worried and didn't know what to do. That's when the husband suggested that I pump and give her breastmilk via the bottle. I already thought of pumping to relieve the inevitable engorgement, but it didn't occur to me to try to feed Jojo through a bottle. But once the husband suggested it, I thought, DUH I'm sure she'll take the bottle because the milk comes out faster without much effort.

But then pumping proved to be too much. The girls had to be on the nebulizer every 4 hours (each session lasting 20 minutes), and then I nurse one, and then pump for the other. Then I also had to clean the pump. The twins feeding was no longer sync and there was barely any time to sit.

Then the hubby had another bright idea. He said, that maybe while Jordan was feeding, I should take the bottle away and immediately put her on the breast. And that worked again! No more pumping!!!

So, for coming up with solutions (that usually only moms think about) that make my life easier during these trying days, the husband becomes an honorary Mommy. His ideas attest to his involvement in parenting our children. What a great guy. I mean, he talks about breastfeeding with women at his job! How many husbands do you know who can talk about the ins and outs of breastfeeding and not get embarassed about it. Really.

The next day, Jordan was still fussy when I put her on the breast. And since she took to the breast the previous time, I stopped pumping. I put water on the bottle to get her to suck on it, but she didn't want water. Oh, great. I thought I need to start pumping again just to get her to suck on the bottle so that I could transfer her to breast. GROAN.

I jokingly told the husband that I am taking back the honorary title and he got upset. Hmmm. I really meant the title as the ultimate compliment, and apparently, he did too. For the rest of the day, I had to reassure him that he could keep the title.

So, hubby, this one is for you. You deserve it!

Katie's First Words

Oh the betrayal. The backstabbing. I don't know if I can take it. Twenty-four hours, seven days a week with Katie and what is her first word? I thought the females of the house are supposed to stick together.



http://youtube.com/watch?v=iOf1h241CXo

Well, maybe Jojo will be kind enough to restore my belief in the estrogen sisterhood.

Big Boy Room

The day Matty went back to school (Jan. 2nd), Daddy and I started cracking on his big boy room. We ordered him a castle bed 4 weeks ago and it's going to be delivered any day now. We donated the bed suite to Salvation Army and now it's empty. Time to paint! (I will put more pictures as we make progress in decorating the room.)

Daddy got this Cars fan that he said MUST go in the room, so this was the first to go up and it's the inspiration for the color.
Here's the empty room after I put tape. Daddy was in the store picking up some painting supplies.

Two hours later, here it is. I put the blue paint (oooh, fancy! an accent wall!) and Daddy took on the gray on the other 3 walls. I must say this is the fastest we've ever tackled a painting project!

Here's what the room looked like yesterday. We took a couple of rest days to run other errands and let the paint dry. We just love the color scheme! Though we need to put another light source because the fan light is just isn't enough.

This is late last night putting the crib up for the girls because they are getting too big for the bassinet. I must say that Daddy showed great restraint with his little "helper", until Matty decided to shred the stryrofoam from the packaging. Then all I heard was "Put that down! I'm going to count! I said put that down NOW!"

Some Tender Lovin'

We were having a leisurely dinner at Panera (very rare occurance when in public) when hell almost broke lose. Daddy up and left to go to the bathroom without telling the little boy first, and left me to fend for myself. Do I run after Matty and leave the girls behind, or do I stay and let him run after his Daddy and hope that Daddy realized what was going on? Thankfully, I was able to grab Matty before he was able to run and spared me having to make some rash decision.

You would think Matty was abandoned at the side of the street the way he was bawling when Daddy came back. With a little lovin' Matty finally quieted down.

Oh Daddy, don't you know by now that you must check with this boy first and let him know where you're going?

Leg Ride

Daddy found a big tick hitching a ride on his leg. It's a tick with the humongous head.

Thanksgiving Trip

The trip to see the family normally takes 3 1/2 hours and in fact, it took us that long. The planets alligned perfectly and the trip was smooth and stress-free.

Daddy drove the entire time.

Matty refused to nap for the first hour because he wanted to see Nana and Papaw. He finally fell asleep without any fuss after an hour. Though we did have to have an emergency stop at the side of the road to make a pit stop. Daddy was a little worried we may get arrested, but hey, who have ever heard of a bladder of a 2-year old listening to such logic.

Jojo was content to just stare at something that the window. I don't quite know what it was, but hey, as long as she's happy, we're all happy.

Katie just found a comfy position and got some zzzzz's.

Me? What did I do? I wanted to catch some zzzzz's but Matty had other ideas and demanded that I be on his beck and call until he fell asleep. I didn't mind. It was a stress-free, F-word free trip. Everyone is happy, who could ask for more.