Remembering those who served

Today DH wanted to start a tradition with our boys. We took Bean to a national cemetery to pay tribute to those who have served in our military.



Happy Memorial Day.

Wordless Wednesday

(The last two pics were taken over the weekend during a visit from my Mom's friend Pam. She and her husband are retired and travel the country in their RV seeking out cute babies to hold. They hit pay dirt at our house!)

Lady Luck has PMS

Or maybe Karma took a look at our balance sheet and decided things were just a leeeeeeeeeetle too good in our house.

This past week was a bit of a challenge.

First, DH was on a business trip. One that for some reason, I completely approved even though DH said he would have no trouble staying home if I wanted him to. But when he called from work a couple of weeks ago to get my consent, my first thought was: My Mom and I can totally handle it, it's not like DH is home much during the week anyway. My second thought: What a perfect opportunity to bargain for something *I* want! So I told DH he could absolutely go on his business trip, if I could finally order the Learning Tower for Bean that I've wanted for a year now. My Mom and I could definitely handle the household without him if Bean could "help" make dinner on this lovely contraption (his alternative behavior during meal prep: ceaseless whining). Sure, it's obscenely overpriced -- but what are we going to do, build one of our own? Not in this house! And using a chair instead, puhleaze. I'd prefer that he not fall off and crack his head open. This is really an investment in our children's physical health and safety.


What I neglected to consider when responding to DH's travel request were the nights. Alone. By myself. With twins. I'm sure people do it all the time, I don't get any sort of medal for it. But it's difficult, and it sucks. And my bad luck, the little guy (I'll probably call him Peanut on the blog, as soon as I can come up with a nickname for my other guy -- and if you have any suggestions for Twin A, who is bigger, sweet, and smiley, I'd love to hear them) became really congested the same night DH left. He could only sleep upright in my arms, which meant I had to be upright, which meant my already-limited amount of rest was further decimated. *yawn* Sleep deprivation on top of sleep deprivation is NOT a good thing.

But the worst news of the week came regarding my parents' house-selling/house-buying situation. On Thursday, they found out that after difficult negotiations, they were outbid for the home here in Seattle that they wanted. On Friday, they heard from the potential buyers of their Michigan place that they were backing out of the deal. Apparently the wife decided she wanted new construction, and they used a lame excuse from the inspection to pull out and take their deposit with them. This is turning out to be costly for my parents, monetarily and otherwise. We know that everything will work out eventually, but it's extremely frustrating and stressful in the meantime.

But it hasn't all been all potholes and speed bumps:

- My supply of breastmilk has consistently been satisfying both twins. We haven't supplemented in almost two weeks. To celebrate our success, I ordered another desperately needed nursing bra. (To new nursing moms, I highly recommend Victoria's Secret bras. You can only get them online, but I believe you can return them to the store if you don't like them. But that won't happen because they rock. If you plan on nursing a while, they are entirely worth the cost.)

- DH's foot is healed and he's off the air cast. His night diapering duties have resumed. His doc told him he should start wearing super supportive shoes to prevent recurrence, so we had to go to an orthopedic shoe store. We were the only customers not members of AARP, but they did carry some cool sandals. DH got a pair, and I liked them so much I got the girl version. We are currently scouring our Manual of the Pacific Northwest for a loophole to the rule that living here requires us to wear socks with them.

- DH and I went on our first date since having the twins. We tried an Italian place in Federal Way, it was quite good. My Mom was home with Bean (who was napping) and we took the twins with us. They fell asleep on the way there, so we could put their car seats under our table at the restaurant and pretend it was just us. Of course we talked about kids 95% of the time, but still, we'll take it.

Last but not least, some pics.

Bean enjoyed some quality bonding time with Bumpa when he was in town. (That book is awesome, by the way.)

Bean is ready for his next Mariners game with his new baseball cap, glove, and ball.

DH is counting the days until this can be a real mower on the real lawn. (Current count = 4,016 days)

Twin A is captivated as we explain the new health care bill.

There's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby. Except two sleeping babies. (I admit that took me five good minutes of staring before venturing a guess that it's Peanut on the left and Twin A on the right in the first picture.)*

*Dang it!! Wrong again... DH made a case for Twin A on the left, and on even closer review he's right. What would happen if I actually had identical twins, I'd probably change their identities regularly.

I should probably go buy a lottery ticket right now

(or: How I became widely disliked throughout southeast Michigan)

The best thing to come from my extended stint on bedrest was, without a doubt, two healthy baby boys.

What I didn't realize would become the second best thing? My parents are moving to Seattle.

I'm going to say it again, just because I love to. MY PARENTS ARE MOVING TO SEATTLE.

This is me giggling like a little schoolgirl: Tee hee hee. Tee hee hee.

When my Mom arrived at our house on January 10th to help during my bedrest, she planned to stay two weeks, three at the most. But when the time came, she was reluctant to leave. Partly, of course, because we were so pathetic and needy. But mostly because of this goofy guy:


As the weeks passed, my Mom realized that she couldn't answer the question, "How are you going to leave Bean after the twins come?" She knew Bean would be devastated to lose his grandma, and she would miss him like crazy. Maybe she could stay even longer...

That's when everything started to get a little crazy. My Dad talked to his recruiter in late March, who suggested he follow up on a Seattle job opening that just happened to be posted recently by an old friend/coworker of my Dad's. He interviewed and they went nuts over him (natch). Just like THAT my Dad was giving notice at his old job and coordinating details of the move. Then my Mom called a friend of hers who works in real estate back in Michigan. The realtor visited their house and declared she had the perfect buyers. And indeed, she did. Before my parents' house was even on the market, it was sold.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I was browsing craigslist (before that scary murder incident happened, shiver!) for a car seat for Bean to use in my Mom's car. On the list was a seller in our small area of town, so I contacted him. My Mom and DH went over to his house that evening to purchase it, and they happened to see a house for sale in the neighborhood. They grabbed a flyer and put it on the list of homes to be shown by my parents' realtor here in Seattle.

Yes, you know what's coming next... it was their favorite house, and they have put in an offer. Still working on negotiations, but we are all hopeful. It's exactly one mile from our place, very close to the elementary school our kids will attend.

DH and I couldn't be more thrilled to have my parents living nearby. We are so excited to have free babysitters and have already discussed at least a dozen things we want to do sans kiddos that Bean and the twins will have their grandparents as active participants in their lives.

Starting with the healthy, full-term birth of the twins, it's mind-blowing how lucky I have been in the past month. Our family and my parents' friends back in Michigan aren't thrilled that we are "stealing" them away, and I imagine there are quite a few voodoo dolls with my likeness that have pins stuck in them right now, but I maintain that my only crime was having an irresistibly cute toddler who calls for "gramma hugs" when he wakes up. I'd like to take credit for their move, but it's really not about me.

Either way, it's a done deal now -- we got 'em.

(So nanner nanner.)