who would have thought the girls are more difficult alone than when they're together

Daddy wasn't feeling well on Sunday so only Big Bro and I were planning on going to church. Then I had an idea that I can take one of the girls with us to see how they will do alone. Also, partly because I took Thing 1 with me a while ago to the grocery store and I've been feeling guilty that Thing 2 never got her turn.

So with Big Bro and Thing 2 in tow, we headed to church. Big Bro was as good as a 3 year old can be with his coloring books and stickers. Thing 2 was great also, but in the 2nd half of the mass, she started fighting me to get to the floor. She was still a good little girl, but just more fidgety.

When we came home, Daddy said Thing 1 was a little more challenging than usual as well. Instead of playing by herself (like she and Thing 2 usually do), she just kept hanging around Daddy and climbing all over him. And according to Daddy, Thing 1 kept saying, "wan jo, wan jo."
When we put Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the floor, they didn't look at each other but they started playing very close to each other.

Very very interesting....

Oh, I almost forgot. On Saturday afternoon we went to a restaurant for my birthday dinner. But before we left, Big Bro kept saying, "we have to get a cake or we will miss Mommy's birthday!". When we were at the restaurant making our orders, Big Bro told the server that it was my birthday. Out of nowhere! Of course Daddy had a laugh and was amazed that he didn't even have to put him up to it.

So we got free dessert and a birthday song. My boy is soooo sweet. And contrary to what Daddy thinks, I did not get embarrassed. In fact, I enjoyed it.

an afternoon at the mall

We were going to have a picnic at the Botanical Garden on Friday but it they were not open late enough for us to enjoy it. So we headed to the mall. There was a band playing so the little man got to shake his bootay.

(Thing 1 is on the left, Thing 2 is on the right.)

our very own guitar hero

We finally bought Guitar Hero III for the xbox 360 this weekend. And look, we already have a pro! We all had fun taking turns, unfortunately, we had a little too much fun. We already beat the game.



Then our house came under attack. By hail, that is (notice the white stuff). It was so loud and so scary, I wish we didn't have so many windows. I also thought surely a tornado was imminent, fortunately it was only a severe thunderstorm. In a matter of 20 minutes or so our yard was flooded. But more unfortunate for our neighbor though, as you can see.

it's really not an indication of how bad they are...really

Thing 1 is the one with 2 horns ponytails, but Thing 2 only wanted one.

speechless

Yesterday at 5:30 pm, I got a call from the husband, "I'm DONE! I'm DONE! here, you talk to him."

"Mommy, I'm mad at Daddy! Daddy hurt my feelings! I don't like it, Daddy!" the little man said in between sobs.

I got the whole story when they came home. Daddy and the little man had a race on who could get to the car faster and when Daddy won, the little man threw a tantrum.

Fast forward to this morning. "Matty, don't fight with Daddy today when he picks you up," I said.

"Mommy, I need to. Cons why [because] I want YOU to pick me up!"

I was stunned for a few seconds but recovered nicely. "Matty, I can't pick you up. And if you don't want Daddy to pick you up, you're going to have to walk home. And it's a long way home!"

"Huh?" he said.

Now, we're both speechless.

Freedom!

I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned yesterday. Most of Big Brother's toys are now in the hallway and only the girls' toys are in the living room. I vacuumed, I mopped, I disinfected. It was back breaking work and now, finally, the girls can roam around outside the play yard! They absolutely loved it. They can now go and roam through the entire kitchen and living room.

Thing 1 went to the bookshelf that Big Brother used to love to go to and empty. She pulled the books one at a time until it was completely empty and then tried to climb on the pile of books. I think he may may climb in it like her brother used to do.

Of course we had to put the baby gates back on. And with that, we had to teach Big Brother to open it, which is not too easy for him and then there's Daddy complaining about it. He hates the gate. But hey, what can you do. The girls need to be able to crawl around and learn to climb up and down of stuff and practice taking steps. Now we have to be very vigilant about Big Brother's little toys lying around.

I am a mom of 3 and I have bum knees

Is there ever such a bad combination?

I've been suffering from crunchy knees for the past year and I have never thought anything of it (based on a casual response from my husband when I say my knees make noise). But then one day a couple of months ago, I actually let him hear it. His response was a contorted face that clearly told me the noise my knees make isn't normal.

I saw an orthopaedist and had tests done. And the result is that I have femoral arthritis and before considering surgery we have to try 6 weeks of physical therapy. My physical therapist thinks that I may have had this before and the weight gain with my pregnancy with the twins made it worse (but truth be known, I actually gained more weight with my son than with the twins). I've been holding myself in such a way that required less work from certain muscles, which made my knee caps wear out. Physical therapy then serves to develop those muscles (mostly the inner thighs) to support proper functioning of the knee caps.

After 6 weeks, I returned to see the orthopaedist on Friday and the verdict is "looks like the Physical Therapy is working, let's try 6 more weeks." I swear the whole consult took less than 2 minutes (the girls and I waited in the lobby for 45 minutes, and then waited in the exam room for 30 minutes).

I'm in pain, especially when I go up and down the stairs carrying the twins. But hey, it's better than surgery. I just can't imagine how things will go if I were to be out of commission for even just a week. Between deep squats (which I'm supposed to limit, as it is extremely bad for my knees) to get up and down on the floor to tend to the twins, and walking around the house at my toddler's beck and call, there trully isn't any rest for my bum knees.

Who knew hyper extending my knees could become such a problem. BAD, BAD KNEES! You have disappointment Mommy. Though on the upside, at least it isn't Rheumatoid Arthritis, so good, good knees. No. NO, still.... bad knees! Very bad!