Ok, I'm biased

I know I'm biased, but I have the cutest kids around. Ok, would you settle for the cutest 2 year olds around?

This morning as I'm working on my computer (oh so much clean up to do), Sam and Riley start shouting for me. I come out to see what all the hullabaloo is about to find that they have spread blankets on the floor. They proceed to tell me, "eat" and point to the blanket. I asked, "Are you having a picnic?" and they got very excited and began nodding their heads up and down. They go even more excited when I gave them actual snacks to eat on their picnic. It was so cute, and they were so happy.

Looooooooonnnnnnggggg Week

Ok, so I've been gone from Blogger for about a week, but I have managed to upload some pics so you all (yes, you 5) would have some idea of where I had gone. Just to be official here's the run down:

Wednesday: Went to Las Palmas park to enjoy the fabulous water feature that was being turned on by another group, and to distribute circus tickets to some of the twins club that had purchased them. Had quite a bit of fun, played for 2 hours, gave out all the tickets I had, and headed off for lunch and a nap.

Thursday: Went to Bonfante Gardens with my twins group. The girls had a great time, enjoyed all the rides including the Panoramic Wheel which is similar to a ferris wheel, but with bucket style seating. The only really sucky part of the day was when the guy wouldn't let them ride the monorail because they were about 1 cm too short. Ridiculous! It's the monorail, not Space Mountain. Another minor sucky part is that they have several rides where the short ones have to ride with a chaperone but they're only two seaters, so we couldn't ride them since we had noone to go with the other one.

Friday: Costco run - spent way too much money. OSH run - got a new garbage disposal. Woo hoo! Oh, and apparently they are now call food waste systems. Give me a break. Also delivered the rest of the circus tickets.

Saturday: Circus Day!!! The girls loved the circus. Sam kept calling for the elapans to come back, she clapped non-stop for the motorcyclists, and Riley cried when it was time to go (all the way from our seats, outside, across the street, into the car, and halfway home before she passed out from exhaustion.) I otoh was a little disappointed. This was Ringling Brothers, I expected traditional circus with lions, tigers, elephants, etc. Apparently the Bros have changed. I got all excited when they said the cats were coming out until they did and they were cats. Yep, plain ol' ordinary, run of the mill housecats. Ok, so maybe not run of the mill since they were well trained, and they probably costs a couple of grand each, but stilll, cats? I wanted lions and tigers. They also had trained dogs and birds. The only normal animal was the elephant which the girls adored. Also, no trapeze, no high wire act, and no real acrobatics (there were some, and they were impressive, but not like the circus of old.) Despite all that, we had a great time and would probably do it again.

After the girls were in bed I headed down to Lotech to see Liz play n the championship game for the 3 on 3 tourney she was in, but I was denied. They had already acquired the first place title. Oh well, maybe next time I'll get to see them play. Congrats on the big win though. I know it was a long, tiring day.

Sunday: Marine World with out twins playgroup. A fun and relaxing day. Sam and Riley finally got to ride their elephant. For them it probably wasn't too bad. For us bigger folk it was rather uncomfortable. elephants are rather pointy, not wide and flat like you would expect. We got to ride Tava who was one of two elephants who came from the original Marine World when it was here in Redwood City.

We had perfect timing in our travels about the park as we hit the bird aviary just about the time the feeding started, so the girls got to go in with their little cups of nectar and feed the birds that just flew right over and landed on them. We also hit the giraffe feeding time. Riley was having a grand time feeding carrots to the giraffes. Sam was a little more hesitant though it's to be understood since she received a small nip when she was feeding the birds. Giraffe tongues are bizarre. They're almost prehensil the way they reach out and curl completely around the food. They even stretch them way out like fingers to get at the food. Freaky.

Today (Monday): We went to a new park with our twins playgroup, and thinking we needed a little bit of a lowkey day after all the excitement of the past few days we decide to come home, eat and take a nap. Afterwards we went for a little walk, made dinner, put the girls to bed and did a little late night shopping at Target with Liz and Andrea. Yep, we shut it down again.

Ok, now that you're all caught up I'm off the hook for a while. ;)

The way kids learn

Today my hubby sent me a link to a CNN article about the ways kids learn and how to use that to our advantage. It talked about the Visual Learner, the Auditory Learner, and the Kinesthetic Learner, and how there can be parts of all of them in us at different times as well as at the same time. I'm pretty sure I have an Auditory Learner and a Visual Learner, and today the visual learning became very clear.

As many of you know (and some of you don't want to know) I nursed my girls for an extended period of time. I never saw any 'odd' effects from this, so didn't think twice about it. Ok, I did think twice, and three times, and even four, but that's another story. Recently a friend of ours gave birth and is nursing (yep, you all know and love her.) Sam, after much observation, sat down and tried to nurse her baby doll about a month ago. It was quite hilarious as she sat up in the rocking chair, pulled her shirt up, and held the baby to her tummy (so she doesn't get the logistics yet.) Apparently she found that to have unsatisfactory results, and came up with a new plan. Todays plan involved me nursing Ernie (as in Ernie and Bert). She was quite dismayed when I would not play along with her game.

One of the best mornings ever...

Saturday morning I got home after a long, long night at work that made me just want to hug my girls and thank God that they were born healthy and never had to stay in the NICU. The girls were still asleep when I got there (as they often are), so I waited them out and when they woke up I rushed in to hug and kiss them. Then got them up and pottied, and headed to the kitchen (after washing hands) to make breakfast. I pulled a chair up to the counter so the girls could reach and they helped me make pancake batter. Bill then cooked the pancakes and we all had a nice breakfast together. I got to bed late, but it was loads of fun and so totally worth it.

Looking for person who brought Cheddah donuts on 8/4.

They must be dealt with harshly as they have obviously sent her into a coma which has prevented her from blogging.

This stuff should be sold on street corners.

Ok, saw the sports shoulder guy today, and sadly he was not as optimistic as the spine guy. I let it get to me for a bit, but I'm now back to being optimistic about the outcome.

I arrived at the doctors office thinking he was just going to concur with the spine guys, say a little PT, and send me on my happy way. In fact, I almost didn't go because I thought that was what would happen. I couldn't be further from accurate on that. My shoulder had been getting steadily better, so I wasn't thinking too much about it.

He came into the room, we talked about my injury and how it happened, and how things have been since then. That was the end of fun. He then examined my shoulder and managed to put me into a couple of positions that really made me wince. Apparently he knows his stufff. The pain didn't seem to bother him (of course) but he was definitely not pleased with the decreased strength in that arm, especially since it's my dominant arm. After he completed a very thorough exam and looked at my MRI he decided that we would try a dose of cortisone to the area. I've never had this before so I was a bit nervous about it, but let me tell you, that stuff is good. Seriously, sell this stuff on street corners people. Anyway, the result is that I could move my shoulder pretty pain free. I had no idea just how much I had been subconsciously protecting my shoulder until I could actually use it again. That was the good news.

The bad news is that it did nothing to help with the weakness. He thinks I have some nerve damage, so they are going to do nerve conduction studies. OUCH!!! I've never had it done, but everyone I've talked to that had it done has not been happy, and even the doc said I would be swearing his name by the time it was all over.

He did agree that I need PT and gave me a referral to one that is familiar with him. I'll have to call tomorrow to set up the appointment.

The good news out of all of this (other than the fabulous cortisone shot) is that he said it was ok to play hockey while I was rehabbing my shoulder, but that he thought rehab was definitely in order. Woo hoo. Another thumbs up for hockey.

Just for the record...

Diet Dr. Pepper is NOT the same as regular Dr. Pepper.

The best ever

This week I had my best ................... of the last few years. Taking out the ...................... was the best decision I ever made. Things are back to normal.

Y'all can fill in the blanks however you like. That's all the info I'm giving out.

Hockey Injury Update

The news was mostly good. My spine is healing, any nerve damage seems to be temporary and on the mend. Yay!

As for my shoulder, I did indeed have a rotator cuff tear. It seems to be healing, and the doc thinks that PT will help it along, and bring back the strength and range of motion in that arm. He referred me to the sports medicine guy that specializes in shoulders who actually called me today. I have an appointment to see him on Tuesday to discuss whether he thinks surgery is necessary. I think it's merely a formality at this point. My shoulder has been getting progressively better, and I see no reason why it wouldn't continue to do so. I'm assuming he'll just concur that PT is a good idea at this point and no more medical intervention is needed.

The great news I received is that the doc has cleared me to start playing hockey again. WOO HOO!! Did I say that loud enough?? Let me try again. WOO HOO!!!!

The bad news? My hopes of a pitching career in MLB have been dashed. That totally sucks.

See ya all on the ice soon. :D

Hockey

Once upon a time I played hockey. I wasn't great, I wasn't even really that good, but boy I sure had some fun. I love being on the ice with my friends, I love when my speed gets me to the puck first (now if I could just do something with it), and I love just knowing that I worked hard to learn how to play this game when I was well into adulthood. Today I am going to see the nice orthopedic/spine specialist who will hopefully tell me it's nothing that a little physical therapy can help and I can be back to playing again next season. If not, I'll wait my time, but I will be back. So please, keep your fingers crossed - no prayers needed, just some good vibes.

And of course, I'll keep you posted on how it went.

What HAVE I done all week?

Sunday: General cleaning, laundry, relaxing a bit
Monday: Twins playgroup in the morning, Silliman Center (yes, I'm seriously addicted) in the afternoon with Val, Liz, and her folks, class for work at night.
Tuesday: Played with girls in the morning, showered, class for work in the afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa came to play with the girls while I was in class, 50k burgers from the grill for dinner, had to be conniving to sneak Val away from her Mommy's arms.
Today: Went to my favorite quilt shop which is closing (so sad for us, so good for the owners - they're retiring), had lunch with Steven, Deb, and her Mom, came home and stitched a bit.
Tomorrow: Spine Clinic/ortho appt. (I finally get to find out what's happening with my back/neck/shoulder, wheeeee). The afternoon will be me time.
Friday: sleep a bit, then go to work (bah!)
Saturday: Sleep, work again (bah again.)
Sunday: that's a story for next week.

One of the best days ever

Today Riley told me she loved me, on her own, without promptimg.

After a very long and tiring night at work, I came home, sat down for breakfast with my family, and got the best reward ever. Riley turned to me and said, "I love you." Makes it all worthwhile.

Trains and Crepes

Yesterday our twins playgroup took a ride on Caltrain. We got on at different stations depending on where we lived, and rode up to the Menlo Park station where there is a lovely place called the Crepe Cafe. Not only do they have nice reasonably priced food, but they are right at the train station and they have a small corner with toys for the kids to play with.

Imagine their surprise when we descended upon them. 7 moms and 13 kids. They were fabulous though, took it all in stride, and were fantastic with the kids. We will definitely go again.

After a leisurely relaxed lunch we all headed back to the train and home.

The best part of the whole day? My children were model citizens. I couldn't have asked for more. They walked nicely with me, listened to directions, played nicely with the other kids, used wonderful manners and napkins at lunch, and took a nice nap when we got home so I could sleep before going to work for the night. A Mom couldn't be more proud.

(Mine are the two smallest in the picture. The oldest will be turning 3 this week. The age range in this pic is 27 months to 36 months.)

Two Year Olds are Bipolar

Today I had lunch with my brother and sister-in-law at a local buffet. The first half of lunch was comprised of me schlepping kids back and forth to the bathroom for the weekly Tour de Potty. When we finally completed that I actually got to sit down and eat a small salad before the next demand came. This was from Sam who insisted on having a cookie despite the fact that she hadn't eaten any of her lunch. I told her she had to have at least a bite of chicken, fish, carrots, beans, or anything else that was currently on her plate. To this she picked up the chicken, bit it (did not take a bite mind you) and put it back down and returned to her mantra of cookie, cookie, cookie occassionally interspersed with a please. Finally she ate a bit of her lunch, so I let her have some ice cream with a quarter cookie and a banana in it. She was upset that the banana and ice cream were touching at first, but quickly got over it when she realized it was good.

The next fight was over my cake which she wanted to cut up, and eat of course. I patiently told her it was mine which threw her into a tizzy. We went outside for a time out, and came back in when she had calmed down, except she hadn't. As soon as we re-entered the restaurant she began howling and screaming even louder. So, the meal was over, and I took the girls home. Sam cried and screamed halfway home until she fell asleep. It was only another 10 minutes to home, so no real nap.

Why do I tell you this tale of horror? Because when we arrived home, she again began her screaming (and this is a kid who has never done this till this week, and now this is episode #3.) Liz had the misfortune of being present for scenes #1 and #2. Anyway, I had had it. I put her and Riley into bed for naps. Riley went right to sleep. Sam otoh lay away playing with a book she had somehow smuggled in. After 1/2 hour I finally went in to take it away hoping she would sleep. She did not. Oh, and she was naked - had taken off her clothes while entertaining herself. For the next hour and a half I could hear her in there singing and talking to herself. She was quite happy with not a tantrum in sight. When it was time to get up, she had managed to get her clothes back on, but the shirt was inside out and backwards. It was quite cute.

So yes, two year olds are bi-polar.