Thanksgiving

I know. I have not been very good about blogging or posting pictures. It’s Monday again. I have been at my new job for a week now and really like it. However, there is always a period of adjustment. I like how laid back it is and of course the work itself. We traveled to Milwaukee for Thanksgiving. The twins were such troopers on both the drive there and back. They caught colds somewhere between Huron and Gary, Indiana. That was our first stop. We fed them and changed them at the rest stop and also gave them a bit of Tylenol. Elinor vomited her formula all over Andy. We were a spectacle at the rest stop. Both babies had a hard time eating because they were extremely congested. They did sleep a lot in the car – while the car was moving. We stayed at Peter and Leslie’s house. It was crazy there. In that small house we had 7 adults, 2 tweens, 1 toddler and three 4 month old babies. Our visits overlapped so it worked out very well. Thanksgiving dinner was outstanding. It was a joint effort between Peter and Jim and Leslie and also the use of their neighbor’s oven. The first night there I got up around 2 am to feed the babies and was carrying Elinor down the stairs and I missed the last step and fell forward. I fell on my knees and elbows and Elinor never left my arms. Thank goodness Leslie came downstairs because I must have had the wind knocked out of me or something. I started to feel dizzy and broke out into a cold sweat. Shortly after, I recovered. But the next couple of days I was incredibly sore. It's amazing what we are capable of to protect our own baby. Elinor never even touched the floor.
We went to Miller Park for lunch on Friday and the babies slept the entire time. I am always worried that they may have a meltdown in public. Elinor is hard to console sometimes. We were able to have an entire meal without holding a baby or two. Incredible.
The rest of the weekend flew by. Les & I stayed in with the kids on Saturday while the boys had an adventure.  Back home yesterday evening. The babies are still getting over their colds. Now Andy is sick too.  I have off tomorrow and Friday. Looking forward to Friday and seeing Pattie, Patty Rizzo and Kirsten.
I’ll post pictures from the holiday as soon as Leslie sends some. Our camera ran out of juice and therefore we do not have any good pictures of the kids’ first Thanksgiving. Thank goodness Aunt Leslie’s camera always works.

Monday again

Where does the weekend go? It flew by way too fast. I feel like the entire weekend is filled with just house stuff. House stuff and babies.

Today was a really pretty day. I dragged Andy away from the computer to join us at the park. We took the Lloyd and the kids. The kids were great. They enjoyed plenty of sunshine and fresh air. Then we took made a quick stop at our friend's, Lee & Anne, house. Their daughter had twin girls 5 weeks ago. Oh my gosh, they were so small. I cannot believe my babies were ever that small. Once home, they both took long naps. I was able to hang a new curtain rod and curtains at the back sliding glass doors. However, a bit of a snafu occurred. I washed the curtains and they shrank. So they fell about 2 inches above the floor. Why do these things happen to me? Why?
So I had to rip the hem out. So far I only have 2 out of the 4 done. But so far I really like them. I'm so glad I finally got them. Geez, we have been in the house for over 3 years.

A little photo session this afternoon...

New job tomorrow. But I am more excited about seeing everyone over the holiday. We travel on Wednesday. Wish us luck!

Last Day!

Today is my last day at my job. It’s sort of bittersweet. I have enjoyed a lot of the people I worked with. The job however was not challenging at all. I knew that when I accepted the position because I was desperate at the time to find something. All along I was thinking that I would be able to find something else. Something else never developed. It took having kids and deciding to go part time to be able to find something different. The right opportunity came at the right time. I am really blessed. For those of you who are interested, I will be writing for an online publication for special needs children. It’s really quite challenging – not the kind of writing that I am used to. Because it is for special needs children, sentences cannot be more than 7 words long and the words have to be something that can be depicted with a picture. So for instance, the word “interesting” cannot be used because how would you draw that? So a lot of thought goes into each word and sentence.
Although I am excited about the job, I am even more exited about Thanksgiving in Milwaukee with all my siblings and families. We really do enjoy spending time together. We laugh so much and everyone gets along really well. It’s a lot of different personalities sharing the love. It’s what Thanksgiving is all about. Kath and Morgan are traveling from Olean on Monday and will stop at my house overnight. Pattie and her family are flying on Tuesday. We will be traveling on Wednesday after work (yes, the busiest travel day of the year). We were thinking of driving halfway into Indiana and stopping overnight to try and avoid Chicago traffic. Then we would wake up on Thanksgiving and drive the rest of the way that morning. Andy has been so busy at work, I don’t even think he can stop and think about a plan.
No big plans for the weekend. I need to shop, clean the house from top to bottom because it is a disaster, do laundry, and pack for the trip. I hope I find the time to do it all.

Story to share:
Got the babies home from the sitter’s house last evening. While I was holding Ellie, I tried to let the dog out on his lead. He got away (which I don’t blame him because he has been cooped up for a couple of days). Then I see him over in the neighbor’s yard rolling around in something, which I am sure smelled like roses to him. He stunk to high heaven. So, needless to say I had to bathe one dog and two babies last night by myself. By the time I went to bed last night, I could not move a muscle. But I did it.

Happy Friday!

Oh Snap!

Just so you know how tired I am these days.... Yesterday I drove home from work and pulled into my driveway. Yes, I do this everyday.. but yesterday I found myself in the driveway without the babies. Oops! I forgot to pick them up at the sitter's house. Once I realized what I had done, I zipped right down the street at top speed! Thank goodness the babies will never ever know....
It's not good to be on auto-pilot. It's not just the babies that get missed.. it's all the little details of the day that can pass me by while I am in la-la land. I need to take in everything around me including conversations and press them into my memory so that I don't forget. I have found my memory to be really bad these days. I hope that is a sign of lack of sleep and not my age. Uugh!

Mobile

Here's Ellie lovin' the mobile that Mimi got for her. Thanks Mimi.

Both John and Ellie absolutely love them. It keeps them quiet and content for a long period of time. Very cool.

Who's Your Team?

Thanks for the t-shirt Auntie Hilary. I can finally fit into it.

Happy Kids

I have read about child psychology and child development. I know that children are a product of their environment. I think about John and Ellie and wonder what can Andy and I do now to help them grow into lovely, giving, confident adults. It seems like a lot of pressure to always be thinking about that. If Ellie is crying and I pick her up too soon will she become spoiled? If John is crying and I wait a couple minutes will he become insecure and have low self-esteem? It’s hard to know I guess. I know that I can love them and meet their basic needs and make sure that they are happy kids. I know that as they get older they may experience other emotions such as anger and sadness. When that happens, it is my job to guide them and remind them that I love them and that I am here for them. However, I feel that it is important to let them work through their emotions. I don’t feel like I should try and “fix” their emotions and make them feel better. They need to know how to work through things. It will be tough because we don’t want to see our children suffer. I guess the key is to know where to draw the line. I just hope that we can.

Mimi and Grandpa were here for the week, which is such a gift. It’s nice to have the extra hands and I appreciated all the talks with Wendy. Dad cooked daily and fixed a couple of things around the house. It was nice to not have to worry on Saturday while Andy & I were gone all day at a wedding. Mimi played hard with the kids. I know this because there were some evenings that the kiddos had to nap at 5pm. That is probably a no-no in some expert mother book. But it just had to be done.

This came for the kiddos on Friday from Laurie & Scott. Aren’t they awesome! I did try to sit them in their chairs…. John was fine; but Ellie did the straight leg thing and would slide right out.

I think they are teething. Can that be possible? John has been a bit fussy (fussy for John) and has been chewing on his hands. Ellie has also been chewing on her hands too. Are my babies getting teeth???

Here’s a couple of close-ups of the kids. Sorry .. they were taken with the blackberry. John loves the stuffed octopus that hangs from the activity gym. This octopus has a huge smile and wears a sailor hat. John thinks it’s hilarious.

Here’s Ellie – happy and hanging out with Mom.

My last week of full time work. It’s a great feeling.

Happy Monday.

Snips and Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails...

I received some funny pictures my dear sister-in-law Leslie yesterday and I just had to share them. I just love these little guys. Ben is 3 years old and Drake is about 15 weeks old here.
I sure do wish the path from Huron, Ohio to Wauwautosa, WI was a lot shorter. Everything is just more fun with family. Don't you agree?

What's in a name?

Yesterday someone asked me how Andy and I picked the names John Macnamee and Elinor Anne. John Macnamee is Andy’s great-grandfather’s name on his father’s side. Andy’s family is very Irish.
Andy and I had a difficult time agreeing on a girl’s name. I wanted to name her Callahan, which is a family name on my side. However, he did not like the use of last names as a first name. Personally, I think it would have been cute. We both liked the name Elinor however Andy liked the traditional spelling Eleanor. I pressed to spell it my way after the character from Jane Austen’s book Sense & Sensibility.
Sense & Sensibility is my favorite book and I also love the movie. Elinor Dashwood is the central character and she is the “Sense”. She is intellectual, cool, prudent and unselfish. She puts others feelings before her own. She is a faithful friend and is not flighty. She is strong in the face of heartache and keeps her feelings to herself. She holds her family together. But in the end – she gets her man.
And that my friends is how my Ellie got her name.

Twins

I love when they can where matching outfits. These outfits came from Pam Pezzimenti. Thanks Pammy.

Good news

Gosh the weekend just flew by. Don’t you agree? I have two most excellent pieces of information to share and I’m not sure which to start with… I’ll start with the kiddos.

Elinor and John both slept for 8 ½ hours last night. Wow! They did not nap well yesterday so that may have contributed to the long sleep. Their Mimi and Grandpa arrived yesterday afternoon. They are staying until next Sunday. It’s so nice to have the extra hands. No daycare for the kids this week. No waking up at 5:30 am to feed and get dressed. I will have extra time in the morning to walk Lloyd and Andy won’t have to wrestle with getting the kids out of the door. Everyone benefits.

By the way, Andy hopped on the scale with each baby because we wanted to get an idea on how much they weighed. We figured that Elinor weighs about 12 lbs and John is just about 14 lbs. John is definitely wearing 3-6 months now while Ellie is still fitting into her 0-3 months.

In other news…
I finally put my 2 week notice in at work. I have accepted a part time position doing some writing for a children’s online publication. I will be working just 3 days per week. The office is minutes from my house and the sitter’s house. We won’t have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore. I will have 2 extra days home with the kids. Andy and I are both thrilled.

Sidenote: Andy gave me a wonderful compliment yesterday and told me that I was a wonderful mother and that I am at my best compared to anything else I have ever done.

It’s all about the love people.

Beautiful weather over the weekend. The kiddos and I went into Lakewood and visited with Kirsten. We walked the Metroparks. Exercise and fresh air. Nice.
Sunday was a cleaning and laundry day. I also cooked up a few dozen meatballs and tomato sauce. About a third of the meatballs didn’t even make it from the oven to the pot of sauce. Hhmm…. Where do you think they disappeared to????

Will post some more pictures by tomorrow.

xoxo

Pictures

12 weeks old

Underwear shot

Aunt Pat with baby Drake