Wordless Wednesday

Only good thing about being sick we got our first popsicles!

Sick sleeping babies on Daddy

Worst Outfit You've Opened The Door In

So I totally forgot J man had ordered groceries and they were being delivered today. The girls have been sick with the pukes that then changed to the runs so our house and all its residence are a wreck. In particular I am so in need of a shower that I wont even say how long it has been! So here I am stinky, greasy hair, black tank top, lime green with white polka dot pants, blue slippers with strawberries on them possible puke on all of the above and yes that is how I answered the door!

Whats your worst?!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

I had to put this one on here because it is possibly my favorite picture ever of Juan Camilo! Twins hat by the way, and Noah's hand me down jacket.

What did you have for breakfast??

We have been pretty busy lately. My sister came to visit last weekend and into this week and we are leaving tomorrow for a four day weekend. All of this to say we haven't really grocery shopped this week, which really is okay because at our house there typically is a lot more food around than what meets the eye. Last night we gathered together some odds and ends for dinner, it wasn't too bad. I made some suggestions to Andy as far as what he should take for lunch in the morning. Ordinarily I don't really need to over see the process of packing his lunch because we have plenty of food. This morning however, I think he must have been hungry when he 'shopped' the pantry and fridge in order to pack his lunch as he took just about everything we had left. Since he has to start work at 6 am, he is long gone by the time we get up and start rummaging for our breakfast. I stood there and gathered options... tuna, peanut butter (but no bread), pasta, a can of olives, Melba toast, eggs, turkey, garlic and basil polenta, and a bit of milk. So this morning for breakfast Abigail and I ate garlic and basil polenta and a fired egg. Yumm! I wonder what's for lunch?...

Wordless Wednesday

Playing in pretend "beds" aka the laundry baskets

Hospital Weekend

So I wanted to do a quick post about our weekend at the hospital more to "remember" it then anything. So we had a horrible night on Friday and Kaelyn and I "slept" (not really) in the recliner. By Saturday morning I knew we needed to go see our Dr. so we called when the office opened and as soon as I said she seemed to be laboring to breathe fully they cut me off and were like get here ASAP. Thankfully I'm not a freak out Mom so I just got us dressed and my Mom instinct thought we might be spending the day so I packed enough stuff for Kaelyn and I for the day. At the Dr. they tested her oxygen flow and she was at 78 which is not good, they gave her some meds to open her bronchial tubes and then tested her again and she was at 91. They then sent us to up to the hospital where we were admitted to the Pediatric ward and the pokes and prods began. After a chest xray which if you've never see what they do for an infant chest xray it honestly no exaggeration looks like they are in a torture device. We finally found out she had pneumonia and treatment began. After another night of sleeping in a "recliner" (yeah right, hospital recliners are horrible!) and being woken for pokes and prods and so the garbage could be emptied!!! Come on people! Anyway we made it through the night and she was very improved by early afternoon and we got to go home! Yeah! So there is our weekend adventure may we not ever repeat it!

Breakfast Blah's

Well, you may not know that my husband is not a morning person. He would tell you this himself, I am not saying anything behind his back. This morning we were all sitting having breakfast, Andy was feeding AJ. Andy was blah as usual and started skwirming in his chair saying "my back hurts... I don't like our bed... my back hurts..." Abigail, not missing a beat (as usual) replied, "No cry daddy, no cry." I had to laugh out loud because I would never have gotten away with saying that to him first thing in the morning!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

I'm guessing you Spanish buffs know this but here is my brief history lesson for the day. Cinco de Mayo is more then just an excuse to have some margaritas. It marks the day of victory of battle against an attempted takeover by the French in the city of Puebla. Though the war continued for another five years Cinco de Mayo celebrates the turn of the tide of getting rid of the French foreign occupation.

Don't you feel smarter!

Pajama time!

Our friends Nikki & Carson came over today and we all had fun in our pajamas, especially since it was 1pm!

Pee Pee...Potty???

Well, here we go... I think we have officially begun potty-training! I am not sure I am ready for it but does that really matter? I don't think it does. :)

Happy May Day!

Ugh

There was just enough coffee to squeeze out a very small pot and after Jman took his share there was exactly one cup left for me. I really needed it this morning, I have just been dragging lately, .....maybe I need vitamins.........or just a VEGAS VACATION.....anyway so I did something I never do which was instead of spooning a teaspoon of sugar into my coffee I picked up the sugar bowl to sprinkle some in.....yes thats right you've already guessed. Half the bowl fell in!!! NO COFFEE! How I made it to now I have no idea.

...and the kitchen sink.

Today Abigail was stretching me. I start off with this fact to set the tone. We were not having a bad day just one-of-those-days. I was trying to get something finished with the bank (on the phone) and while I was on hold I noticed she was dragging AJ on his tummy across the patio by one wrist. I reacted by running out and reminding her that brother was still a little fragile. I turned to go back in and as I got settled back at the table I looked to find her throwing something off the second floor balcony thru the railing. Again I ran out and looked noticing that a fish toy had gone - of course- in the downstairs neighbors porch. I scolded her and she threw a pretty good fit I stopped to evaluate my options... I was still on hold with the bank... I didn't want to start the process all over again, I was the only adult at home with this testing toddler. I decided to take her to the play pen and leave her in there until I was able to hang up the phone. I dragged her (not quite literally) kicking and screaming to the room and put her in the play pen. Luckily this all happened just in time for the lady to come back on the line, 'Mrs Severns??...' Thank goodness for good timing! Once I finished with the phone call I went in and found a calm Abigail and after we talked I took her down to the neighbors door and asked if we could please retrieve our fish. The man was very nice and offered to go out and get it for us. When I got out there he picked up the fish and looking to the far end of the patio, looked back at me and said 'Is all of this yours too?' I rushed out to his patio to see half the toybox in the shrubbs just beyond his railing!

Alive & Well in Biloxi, MS!

We ARE alive and well, in fact! I know I have been absent for a while but I have experienced many things these past couple of months. Moving your family around both with and without a husband is quite educational. People wonder if we (in general) are educated and what I have to say to that is "Hell yes I am educated- don't you see those two small teachers right there??" Anyway, that is beside the point.
I wonder if I could recap the last two months? Probably not very well, I should have been blogging all along but that did not happen. We left our home in La Grande on feburary 15th, the ground was covered with inches of snow and it was cold. We landed in Eugene where Andy would only be with us about a week and a half before he drove to Alabama for US Air Force Officer Training School. I learned that (rather it finally sunk in) when daddy leaves home something is bound to go wrong. I've decided to resign to this. The night he left, Abigail became very ill. She spiked a fever that continued to rise and would not respond to tylenol. Finally we got in to see a doc and she had a 'possible' ear infection. He suggested to hold off on antibiotics until she got worse. I followed his advise and regretted it. She got so sick that by the time the medicine started working I was fearing for her life. This is a bit dramatic, however, remember neither of my kids had ever been sick before - this was a first for me. Within four days, AJ followed suit. He didn't get as sick because this time I did not follow the docs suggestion, I started the med right away. The rest of the month was somewhat smoother. As her daddy's absence started to sink in Abigail began throwing more and more dramatic fits, hitting her head on the hard wood floors, ya know, stuff like that. She also began talking much, much more, she added words to her vocab and started putting muli words together. AJ crawled, learned to sit up by himself, and cut two teeth.
The trip to Alabama was fairly uneventful thank God, and my mom who took a week off to go with us! I was great to reunit with Andy. The kids were so glad to see him. Our three days in Montgomery were a whirl! Mom stayed with the kids most of the time as I was oriented into the USAF as a 'spouse' (this is my title). I did manage to lock myself out of the hotel room one afternoon. This in and of itself wouldn't have been so bad except for a number of circumstances. AJ was asleep in the room, Mom and Abigail were down roaming around the lobby (where there were a lot of fountains and a pond), our room was on the SEVENTH floor, I was barefoot and I was suppose to be on base picking Andy up for a dinner we were going to in 25 minutes! First I cursed, then I wondered what I was going to do. I stood looking over the railing SEVEN floors down at my mom who possessed a key. I couldn't leave the door of the room with AJ in there... After about five minutes a man came out of the elevator and I made my plea. Thankfully he was very kind and went back down to find mom and the key! Thankfully, my heart survived and we were only five minutes late to the dinner!
April 5th brought is to Biloxi, Mississippi, where it was 80 degrees and humid! Our apartment was filthy and not what one would expect when you pay to rent a FURNISHED apartment. We made it through the weekend, again thanks to my mom, and here we are.
My little sweethearts are growing and changing by the day. I am so glad we decided to come and be here with Andy even if only for 2 1/2 months. It is tough in some ways but I believe being together, when possible, is always better.

Vampire Baby

Well, I'm afraid it has happened. Kaelyn has now bit her sister not once but twice this weekend. Once when Dad was watching the girls and once when it was Grandma and Auntie Martha. Kaelyn has a full set of teeth including two bottom molars and top ones on the way. I don't know if the biting is partly due to so much discomfort in her mouth right now and when you add that to some irritation with her sister you got a problem. So what we've decided to do for now is if we see her going for her sister to very strongly and sternly tell her no but then give her a blanket that she can bite on. My Aunt Sue is of the old school and said she just bit Martha back :) Not quite what we feel we should do but any other suggestions are welcome!

Tuna Noodle Comfort

There are things in this crazy mom world of mine that simply give me a revelation that I'm not really the same woman I used to be: a glimpse at my stretch marks peeking out of the tankini bathing suit I tried so hard to feel comfortable in last weekend on vacation, the peanut butter or banana stuck to my shoulder where a child has sucked on me, or the diaper, wipes, sippy, and crackers that fall out of my purse when I am trying to dig for my wallet. Yesterday, I had the revelation once again when I wanted some sort of reprieve from a crazy day. In my younger days I would have gone for a run or ridden my bike to a coffee shop to sit quietly and read a book. These days, it's a bit harder to go somewhere in the middle of the day and impossible to go somewhere by myself. So, yesterday I found myself looking for comfort in . . . food. I hate to admit it and it makes me feel like a stereotypical housewife on a weight watchers commercial. You know saying how I used food as a comfort. Anyway, I did it. I found a bit of comfort in a big pan of tuna noodle casserole, the classic disgusting yet delicious lot of noodles, cheese, cream of mushroom soup, bread crumbs, the whole works. It was so comforting in fact that I sat on the couch and ate over half of it all by myself! I may have to make a pan of it every Monday.

Manic Monday

It always feels like Monday's are a little crazy, at least at our house. We try to keep up on most of the housework through the weekend but usually the laundry is ignored and one or two other things so I feel like its a mad dash every time the girls go down for a nap to try and get a few things done, and I like to try and have a minute to myself, yes I'm selfish like that. Anyway in the midst of the mad Monday dash I decided to take the time to actually sit down and have a snack with the girls, the adorable pics are the result.

A Weekend Getaway!

We're headed out of town for the weekend. I can't tell you how excited I am! Brant has a 1 hour meeting in Duluth, MN, so we're making a vacation out of it. We've booked a hotel room in a hotel with a pool. Noah, of course, thinks we're awesome for it. I am looking forward to the car ride to visit with Brant and work on some knitting. I'm looking forward to hiking tomorrow and maybe trying a new restaurant or visiting a fun shop. I'm looking forward to eating a few vending machine snacks late in the night. I have to say, though, I am most excited to see Ruby 's perfect, pale body in her itty bitty bathing suit!

Toddler Time

It's officially begun, we've made the switch from babies to toddlers and here are the events that occurred in a course of two days that made me realize what had happened. 1) I go into the girls' room to get something out of their closet. By the time I come back Kaelyn
has pulled the diaper bag off the chair taken the full box of crackers out of it dumped them all out on the floor where she and Elyse are happily eating them.
2) Kaelyn takes a glass bowl out of the dishwasher, I startle her and she drops it and it shatters all over the kitchen floor. 3) I'm feeding Elyse a snack and turn to see Kaelyn on the floor with the Purell bottle open and its all over her hands, I quickly call a friend to get the number for poison control having recently read an article about how infants are getting alcohol poisoning from hand sanitizers! 4) Not to be out done by her sister Elyse is somehow able to unscrew the lid off their teething tablets bottle and is happily popping pills I once again call my friend for the number to poison control (it is now programmed into my phone and on the fridge). And so the world of the toddler has begun!