Friday, May 30, 2008

Don't laugh..we're cool enough to pull it off

Booster seat laws in Michigan are changing. The bill has been signed and will be in effect starting July 1st. Kids have to be in a carseat/booster until they are either 4'9 or 8 years old. The law was that any child under 4 had to be in a seat. Joshua is 5 1/2 years old. We had him in a booster anyway- because it's safer but once we got the girls in their convertible car seats, we could no longer fit all 3 car seats in the trailblazer (only has the 2nd row seating).

This STINKS! That means we have to purchase a new vehicle with 3rd row seating. Not bad when money is no object, but isn't it always? We had negative equity in the trailblazer because we have only owned it for 1.5 years.

Anyway, we went to the car dealership and test drove several vehicles. Of course we loved the ones that were out of our price range. If we didn't have the negative equity, we would of had a bit more options. But nonetheless. We have a new vehicle.

A van.

yep...

A van.

-sigh-

I'm driving a van.

=(

ok..maybe I'm being a BIT over dramatic. But a VAN? I'm not even thirty yet. I'm cool. I'm hip. I'm NOT your typical "mom" I'm cooler than that. I just happen to drive a van now. So I may appear to be a soccer mom or just an uncool parent- but looks can be deceiving. We BOTH are super cool. I know we can pull this off!

(btw- you will NEVER see a bumper sticker such as "my kid is an honor roll student at..." and not because my kid is stupid...I'm just not THAT nerdy..lol- no offense to those that do sport such a thing =p )

Before:

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After:

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

We tried and survived!!

Dusty and I LOVE to go out to eat. It's actually one of the things I miss the most since having the twins. Josh loves going to restaurants too. He is very well trained as far as going out to eat is concerned.

We have been wanting to take the girls out to eat but nap time and moods have never seemed to line up right. But.. today was the day!!

Here in Michigan we still have smoking in restaurants (but not for much longer) and I HATE the smell of cigarettes. This deters us too. I don't want the girls around the stench. I know it may sound funny but we kind of need to train them on going out to eat. They need to be familiar with it and know how to behave because it's something that we really love to do. I started Josh early and he knows the "etiquette" and everything quite well. So we decided to start off at a very casual place (but not fast food..blah). A coney island place would be ideal but they are known for a smokers hang out so that is a no go, so we ended up at Big Boys (Shoneys for those in the south!). We went at a very slow part of the day (4pm) and I am serious when I say this, we were in and out within 30 mins (tops!) We ordered quickly- the food came quick and we just about inhaled the food...you multiple's parents know what I mean! lol and then we were out the door headed home. It went beautifully! No whining or fussing or anything. WHEW!

I should have snapped a picture but there should be more outings to come, now that we got our feet wet. We took the girls bumbos and they sat in the booth with us. That worked out great!

Round one- parents (knock on wood!)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

-sigh- I'm sick of myself




Here I am exactly 5 months postpartum and I feel like crap. Specifically speaking..my weight. I've done great with weight loss thus far but it's stalled and I am 100% to blame. I quickly lost all the weight I gained from the pregnancy but I'm not happy. Things really shifted around. Pregnancy has never been good to my body but twin pregnancy is HORRIBLE for it. Dusty and I did nutrisystem a few months back but my breast milk supply dwindled down so I had to stop. I am exclusively breastfeeding two infants and that is my number one priority right now and will be for their entire first year. I have made the decision that although I can't cut back on my calories too much, I am starting an exercise routine tomorrow. Tomorrow is my 29th birthday and I'm not taking it well. I know 29 is still young but I know what is just around the corner. I don't want to be 30. It sounds older. Not old..just sounds "adult" old.

- sigh- anyway, starting tomorrow I will be walking/jogging on our treadmill. I already cleaned it off. The girls have been on alternate schedules during the day, so I will most likely have one baby watching me =)

On nice days, the girls and I will be taking a walk around the neighborhood. They should like that but for me to have a really good jog, I need to either be on the treadmill or be outside NOT pushing a stroller. I actually prefer jogging inside, I don't want to draw attention to myself outside as my saggy boobs slap me in the face...maybe it's time for a sports bra ; )

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. Mine started off awesome. Addison slept till 7:30am. I got a straight 8 hours of sleep. Of course I got a couple times to check on the girls but other than that- I slept!!

Damon came over and helped Dusty cook breakfast for me and the family. We celebrated Mother's Day for me and Diane (Dusty's mom) today. We celebrated with my mom yesterday. Dusty cleaned up everything from breakfast too. The stove is wiped down and dishes are clean! WOOHOO!! Also, I don't have to change ANY diapers today!! Why isn't Mother's Day more than once a year?? =P

Yesterday we had a little photoshoot with the girls. They were looking especially cute with their new bows, so I couldn't resist!




Isn't it adorable how Addison helped calm her little sister? What a nice big sister she is =)

Another special thing that happened today was my gift from Joshua. Yesterday, Dusty had taken Josh aside and filmed Josh saying sweet things about me. Here is the video

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Just a little update

We got the girls new car seats this past weekend. They were still able to use the infant carriers but honestly, the girls are getting way too heavy to carry in them and the weather has finally changed over to spring, so we decided, why not?

We took the girls with us to pick them out. We went there thinking we were going with Britax and the sales dude quickly changed our minds. The seats we went with are WAY better..lol This seats are the BOMB! They are very user friendly and seem higher end that the Britax we were looking at. Here is a link to the seat we went with Evenflo Triumph Advance Premier

Now granted, they don't have cute covers like the Britax does but everything else seems pretty much the same, if not better and the price tag is WAY better!! We walked out paying almost the same amount for both seats that we were planning on spending for just one of the other seats.

The girls seem to like them too. I think they felt too crunched up in their infant seats. These seats take up a little more room than their old seats so poor big brother, Joshua, is even more squished back there. In fact, starting July 1st, we won't be able to legally drive anywhere as a family because a new law in michigan will take effect. Any child under 8 must be in a booster seat. Our back seat is not big enough (width) to fit 3 car seats. -sigh- We need a vehicle with 3rd row seating but we just bought the trailblazer 1.5 years ago so of course we owe more on the thing than it's worth.

The girls are doing wonderfully. I think they are both pretty close to sitting up. They are 4 months and 3 weeks old and they hate laying down, they want to be sitting up. As long as we have a finger on them for a tad bit of support, they can sit there for quite some time. Life will become much easier once they can sit unassisted. It will be nice to sit them on the floor to play with toys and each other.

They are both teething pretty badly. No teeth yet, just drool and chewing on everything. Luckily sleep has gotten even better. Samantha has slept 11 hours straight for the past few nights. That's been really nice. Addison is still sleeping well too but still gets up after about 8 hours to eat and then she goes right back down.

So..Dusty and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary yesterday. That was really nice. We went to benihana. We had a pretty good time. The Chef wasn't as animated as Dusty has experienced in the past and the family sitting with us complained a lot. But other than that- we really enjoyed ourselves.

Oh, I almost forgot. We signed up Joshua for t-ball. We received a call from the organizer this past weekend and apparently they don't have a coach for the team. The guy asked if I wanted to coach the team. I told him no immediately but told him I would talk to my husband to see if he was interested. I got off the phone and told Dusty. He immediately said no too. lol He ended up calling the guy back and found out that he had called all the parents and no one was interested in coaching. Dusty then decided to agree to coach the team, even though he doesn't know the first thing about t-ball. Dusty doesn't watch baseball and has never shown interest in the sport. (we're a hockey family) The guy wanted Dusty to meet him right then and there, so Dusty ran up to city hall and came home with a stack of papers, roster and equipment. OMG! What have we gotten ourselves into!! We have to plan practices and the whole bit. It's a bit overwhelming, to me, because this is our first year in t-ball so we are seriously flying by the seat of our pants. Dusty called the entire team today and he said everyone seemed really nice. WHEW! What a relief. Our first game is June 10th. I'll keep you guys updated how this goes and of course, I'll be taking tons of pictures!!