Wednesday, November 30, 2011

If I Were Their Babysitter....

I'd have gotten myself canned today. 







But instead, I'm the Momma.  And I had a nice, long, hot shower....and it was quiet the whole time!!  And then I put on my makeup while watching GMA and ignored the natural disaster in progress.  And everyONE is ok, and everyTHING is fine, and it was a lovely morning.

Less Type A All The Time,
Momma

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving Curse

I love Thanksgiving...I always have.  My mom always hosts both sides of the family.  They have between 25-35 people.  There is entirely too much food, too many people in the house, it gets too hot in the house with the too many people, it's too loud to visit, IT'S AWESOME!! 

Mom has a super cool tradition of a tablecloth.  She started the tablecloth in 1985, but back dated to include the previous seven Thanksgivings.  The cloth is really just a white, flat bed sheet, but it has been turned into my favorite piece of family history.  Everyone who eats Thanksgiving at her house has signed the tablecloth, then adds the year for each holiday spent at her table.  There are old preachers, and family friends, old boyfriends turned husbands, and old boyfriends turned ex's.  There are some loved ones written in my mom's handwriting because they had already passed before the 1985 debut.  There is my name in kindergarten writing - you know, the "arms" of the E don't touch the rest of the letter...awesome.

In 2000 I missed my first Thanksgiving because I was in ICU.  That gives you some indication on the importance of the tradition.  I was recovering from surgery in ICU, IN THE HOSPITAL, and my mom and dad sent a cooler and my two cousins to visit and hosted Thanksgiving at their house!  It's important stuff, people!

Last year, the babes were three weeks old, and we didn't plan on going home for Thanksgiving.  Mom and Dad were going to come out here - it was to be the first Thanksgiving missed.  We decided to go home!  They ended up not hosting it, and we ate at Aunt Jan's and then visited the rest of the family at Terryland.  It was lovely - but not the same.  I had high hopes for this year.  It was back...we were all going to be together, and it was going to be awesome!

Enter the stomach bug of 2011.

Mom, the girls, and I arrived in Laverne late Monday night.  Lauren wasn't quite herself Tuesday afternoon, and then got sick to her stomach Tuesday night.  By the time my family of four (Dan joined us on Wednesday) pulled out of Laverne on Saturday we had spread that tummy bug to 15 people.  SO SAD.  Not because we were sick - we're all fine now.  Not because we were patient zero and that's embarrassing and sad.  It's sad because Thanksgiving just wasn't the same.  The Terry's still came, the Eells' said 'no thank you very much!'.  The food was all fabulous and in abundance - but I couldn't do my normal amount of damage because of my still recovering tummy.  There were still 21 people, but it wasn't that loud, and didn't really get too uncomfortably hot in the house.  It just wasn't the same.

I see a pattern.  I'm messing up Thanksgiving!!  And it's so important to me...

I have high hopes for 2012.  Put it on your calendar people...we'll be back, and it'll be legendary!

The Momma

Friday, November 18, 2011

Picture This

How has it been a week since I posted a blog!!?  How have so many cute things happened and I don't have any videos or even very many pictures to go along with this to help explain the cuteness!!  I hope my descriptive language can do it justice today!

Lauren walks.  She never crawls anymore.  If she falls down while walking, she just stands back up and takes off.  It seemed to happen so quickly!!  Kate walks more everyday, but if she needs to get somewhere fast (like to beat her sister to it) she crawls.  Lauren never wanted to hold hands to walk, Kate prefers it...never a better reminder of how tiny and short they are than to "walk" around holding hands with Kate!



They play peek-a-boo!!  So stinkin' cute!  Lauren has it mastered.  We say, "Where's Lu?" and she puts her little hands up over her eyes to hide, then does a big reveal!  Kate's attempt is more unique, maybe cuter (whisper that!).  She does the same when we say "Where's Kate?" except for the fact that she ALWAYS misses her eyes!  Maybe her little hands land on her cheeks, or ears, or on top of her head...she has no idea it's not just perfect (because it really is perfect!). 

Lauren blows kisses in her own unique style.  She puts the back of her wrist up to her mouth and makes "suck face" noises.  Not her palm, there's no blowing, or throwing that kiss, there's never a definite end to the event.  H-I-larious.  Kate just cracks up at Lauren at this new trick.  I think she knows Lu is doing it wrong and has decided to not even attempt.

They give fives!  It's usually like 25's...rapid fire five givin'! 

Their hair seems to get curlier all the time!  Especially after baths or if they wake up sweaty from a nap - curls deluxe!  I'm so glad I have always had to deal with unruly hair, there might come a day when I can help tame theirs.



They each have 2 new teeth!  Kate now has four across the bottom and two on top.  Lauren has two on the bottom and four across the top.  I'm sure if I googled this, the order of tooth appearance says something about their personality, or future stature, or something.  I'm not googling.


Such big stuff!  I have to be in class this weekend and they'll spend all day Saturday and most of Sunday with their daddy.  I'm sure I'll have new tricks to report!

Love,
Momma

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Birthday Party!

I'm late. 

It was a fun party!  The whole family got together in Laverne to celebrate the babes, costume party style!  There were two football players and a cheerleader, a cop and jailbird, and 2 ghosts.  There was also an abundance of dessert and a baked potato bar!

The girls lasted about 4 minutes in their costume, the ghost face never made it to their chest.  First Halloween attempt - semi-fail.









Stinkin' fun.

-Momma

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Random Thoughts

Four years ago today I wore these shoes and made some jab at my then boyfriend, Dan, about how much taller I was than him.  He somehow, cleverly, turned that jab into a proposal.  It was a happy day!



The B's love to "help" fold laundry.  Lauren has a severe affinity to my "intimate wear".  Go ahead, try to take them off her, dare you.


This morning I became acutely aware of how and why I am going to be a severe embarrassment to the babes about the time they hit Jr. High.  You see, I've spend the first year of their life doing the most ridiculous things to get a laugh.  It'll be hard to switch that off and remember that it's not so funny in ten years.  This became evident in the form of a dance party this morning.  And maybe even slightly more when I busted a move in the grocery store yesterday.  They LOVE all my best moves.

I made this rice pudding yesterday, sort of.  I Granny Eells-ed it.  Use half and half instead of milk, and omit the cocoa powder and chocolate chips, oh, and I didn't have the patience to zest, so a put two giant strips of orange peel in there then fished it out later, oh, and I didn't have any vanilla beans (stocking stuffer, Meme?) so I used plain ol' vanilla extract.  I guess I should just write my own recipe!  Make it.  It smells like winter and is delicious and you'll be glad you did.

Got an email update from Baby Center today that baby bean #3 is the size of a lime this week.  I never got that ultrasound, so it's still unconfirmed how many limes are in there.  90% of the day, I am certain that there is only one, I definitely feel different than last time.  However, when I squeeze into my jeans (or anything with a zipper) I am certain there are a bushel of limes in there.

Happy Wednesday,
EP

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Broken Babies

You know how you get used to a certain season in your life?  Let's just say you were used to two sweet girls who napped twice a day for about two hours each nap.  Let's also say that many times throughout the day they played together without your being near/touching them.  Let's also say that they liked to be held occasionally, but were also content to do their own thing.  Maybe they went to bed at the same time every night, and woke at roughly the same tolerable hour.  That all sounds pretty peachy, doesn't it?

Now, let's pretend that you left your sweet angels with their sweet grandparents and disappeared for two nights.  By chance, maybe, possibly, said grandparents held sweet angels 92% of the day, had one on one constant contact, and never, ever let sweet angels cry!  Let's also pretend that the magic gods of the clock decided to mess with it and move it back an hour.  For fun, let's throw in some phase of the moon (don't know what phase we're in, don't care - blaming it too!), a possible tooth, a growth spurt, and some gas.  What are you left with????

BROKEN BABIES!!!!!!

Sheesh!!  Last night was reminiscent of month two....me, needing to pee, grumpy, tired, and ever so slightly emotional.  Dan, receiving a phone call about every 52 seconds just checking to see when he'd be home!! 

Today seems better.  I think they're fixable.  AND, good news - in two weeks, we'll go let aforementioned grandparents spoil them again and start all over!!

Thanks for babysitting, Dode and Pop.  I really owe you one.




Slightly exaggerating,
Momma

Monday, November 7, 2011

I Need to Miss You

One time in our engagement period, I was leaving Dan for a few days to visit my friend in Oklahoma City.  I was sad about spending so much time apart and fishing for Dan to say the same.  He missed the hint and instead reassured me by saying: "It's ok, babe, I think I need to miss you for a while." 

I get it now.  We left the girls in Albuquerque with Dodie and Pop and were gone for the weekend.  It was a good and productive weekend for us, the girls were well loved and fine, and Dodie and Pop had a blast.  And, truth be told, it was nice to miss them for a while!




When they were 0-6 months old, I could not wrap my mind around ever leaving them.  I missed them when I showered, I worried about them, I called Dan 14 times during my 2 hour work shift to find out what they were doing.  I don't know if it's that they are mostly weaned, or that they were with my parents and I wasn't worried, or if I was just tired and needed a break, but leaving wasn't as hard this time.

But I did miss them.  And it was one of my favorite Momma Moments to walk in the door and see two big smiles and four arms stretched right up to be held.  I don't know that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but sometimes it's good to miss someone for while.

Love,
The Momma

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Happy Day!!

My punks are twelve months old today!!!  I don't like the 'Y' word.  It makes them seem too big, too old, too independent, so they'll be twelve months plus however many weeks this month, then next month we'll seemlessly move into 13 months, and it'll hurt the Momma less!!

Can you even wrap your mind around the fact that this:


Becomes this:


Becomes this:

In a YEAR!!?!

Thank you, God, for giving us these two.  We love you, Kate and Lauren.  It's hard to remember life before you were here.  You make us laugh, wonder, hope, and love each other better.  We celebrate you!

Big time,
Momma