Where did the time go?

Apparently I no longer have babies or toddlers. They are preschoolers. They are kids. Yesterday we had our first day of school. They were so excited. We got all our stuff ready and headed out the door. We walked in found their classroom assignment and slowly made our way down to the classroom. They jumped right in. I managed to take a few pictures before kissing them goodbye and walking out the door. Now, I always said I wouldn't be one of THOSE Moms who get all teary eyed on the first day of school. I was doing just fine, but as I opened the door to the building and stepped out into the sunshine I couldn't help but to get teary as I walked to the car by myself. It seemed like such a milestone. It was the first time I had ever left them with someone other than family. I drove home with a mix of excitement for all they would experience and sadness. Maybe I was a little sad that they didn't even care that I left them. They waved me off with a "Bye, Mom" and moved on, leaving me behind. I am really proud of them and am really proud of the little people that they are becoming.

2 beach houses & Fay

A vacation with toddlers always proves to be unpredictable. We took our first "family" vacation to Ft.Myers Beach. It all started well....until we heard about Fay. Apparently I seem to attract tropical storms as Fay headed right for us. So we had a few days of rain, but nothing too seriously. Then the house we were staying in would lose power at random times in a few rooms. They came out and discovered a broken breaker, so they "fixed it". We left for a drive to the beach and came back to find the house without power again. So that night we moved to another beach house down the street. This one had a pool which the kid absolutely loved. On our last night there, Ryan fell out of bed and cracked his two front teeth at the base. So now we have to watch them and we will go back to the dentist in a month to see if they need to be pulled out or if they can stay. Our flight home was also an adventure. We were on the runway getting ready for take-off and one of the engines didn't start. So it was back to the gate for us, of course this meant we lost our connecting flight in Houston. We finally left Houston at 11PM and by the time we got home it was almost 1 am. I have to say the kids did amazingly well considering the situation. So that's all our vacation drama. We did manage to have some fun in the midst of all that. I got to hang out with my friend Becky and the kids really loved the beach!Here are some pictures:

Our Fort Myers Vacation

Some vacation...

So we've been looking forward to our beach vacation for a while now. The day we land in sunny Ft. Myers, we hear of a tropical wave...no big deal, right? WRONG. That wave is now Tropical Storm (soon to be hurricane) Fay. And she is headed right at us. So as I sit here 100 ft from the ocean, I ponder my luck. Apparently I must be some kind of hurricane magnet. So we hope it will be a mild one and that we won't have to evacuate. Clearly this is not turning into the vacation we had in mind. At least we got a few days of sun and hopefully after Fay moves on we can resume our vacation.

Traveling with twins...

It's not all it's cracked up to be. We went to San Antonion for the weekend. Our thought was that we'd go back to Sea World and a good time would be had by all. So we set off on Friday afternoon. It turned out to be a whine-fest. Did I mention that 3 is the most terrible age. It was one thing after another. God forbid they should both want to do/see the same thing at the same time. So we spent Saturday at the water park inside Sea World. Afterwards we went back to the hotel for naps...2 hours later, naps ARE NOT happening. Give up and decided to wear them out some more at the hotel pool. That night I put them to bed. They had to share a king size bed, and they haven't shared a bed since they were 4 months old. Well Ryan is a restless sleeper. I think he encroached on Sofia's space and she ended up rolling off the bed and landed with a THUD. I race in there and she is pretty upset, but seems otherwise ok. I put her back to bed and at 1am...THUD. She fell out AGAIN. From 1- 3:30am consisted of 4 potty breaks, multiple lost bear/pillow comments, and complaints that Ryan was on top of her (which he was). The lesson learned here, is that they need separate beds and we will never be doing the share the bed approach again.

So we are very glad to be home. The only negative effect I have seen is that they didn't nap today. I hope a weekend of no-naps doesn't turn into no more naps EVER. I SOOO can't handle that!

Warm weather should equal no sickness

Isn't it a rule that people don't catch colds in warm weather? No? Well it should be! Sofia is sick, which as all of us Mommies know, it's a matter of time before everyone gets it. It all starts innocently enough..a sneeze here and there, then comes the runny nose. Then my favorite part...the cranky kid! And of course should I be fortunate enough to catch it too, I will have to suck it up and take care of them. I think Moms should get sick days. Can't we just tell them that Mommy doesn't feel well and that they need to care for themselves?? No? I guess that wouldn't really work on 3 yr olds. We should all remember our Mommy vows:

I promise to take care of you in sickness and in health. Through sleep deprivation and snotty noses. Through tantrums and whinyness. From this day forward I promise to love you despite all the naughtiness for as long as we both shall live, provided you don't drive me into the looney bin first.

Hmmm...perhaps there should have been a disclosure agreement instead:
By giving birth you acknowledge that you are aware of all the diaper changes, crying, feeding, laundry, cleaning, whining, tantrums, fighting, sickness (sometimes involving projectile bodily fluids), sleeplessness and general insanity inducing nuttiness of parenthood.

Well I guess it's a good thing they are cute!

Moon Sand.............save yourself!

So it was Mother's Day and my wonderful husband took the kids out for breakfast. They came back with flowers and Moon Sand (for the kids, not me). Now, if you are lucky enough to not own any of this stuff, please resist temptation. Do not buy it. First it's not nearly as cool as the commercials and pictures make it out to be. And second (and most important) it makes a huge mess. It super fine and sticks to anything and everything. It ingrains itself in your clothing and your skin. What a mess to clean up. Now if my dear husband had called me to ask if he should get it, I would have happily imparted the wisdom that I learned from my TS friends....DO NOT BRING THAT CRAP INTO MY HOUSE! It is now an outside toy, but it still gets tracked in and my kitchen now has an invisible layer of super fine sand. YUCK! The kids do love it, so that is it's only plus, but once this batch gets destroyed we will not be getting it ever again. So please save yourself and your money!

Everyone needs time away

So I just got back from my first ever girls' weekend. It was AWESOME! I got to hang out with good friends and had so much fun. I was apprehensive about leaving the kids since I had never done it before. But it was fine! They had a wonderful time with Daddy and I got a much deserved break!

Of course there's always a couple of funny things that happen when Mom is away. So I'll have to share this funny story:

Yesterday I was needing to get some laundry done (since Derek used up all 13 pairs of Sofia's underwear in 2 days ). So I load the machine and open the soap dispenser. There was powdered detergent in there so I got curious. I called him and our call went like this (warning--if you are drinking something you may want to put it down!)

Me: Did you do laundry this weekend?
Him: Yeah, Ryan leaked through his diaper. I had to wash the sheets & mattress pad.
Me: You're not suppose to put the Oxiclean in the detergent area, that's only for liquid
Him: I don't know...I just used those tablets
Me: What tablets?
Him: The ones in the laundry room
Me: DID YOU USE DISHWASHING TABLETS IN MY LAUNDRY MACHINE?
Him: I didn't know
Me: Did it not occur to you that you put the same thing in the washer that you had been using in the dishwasher
Him: I thought it was actually ingenious that they made a product that worked on both
Me: NEVER EVER TOUCH MY MACHINE AGAIN!!!

The lesson learned: You CAN be too smart to do laundry! Gotta love him for trying... LOL