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Thursday, September 23, 2010

"What's your old?"

“What is your old?”

This was the question Braelyn asked me today when Mommy reminded her that it was my birthday. “What is your old?” I laughed because I knew what she meant to say, but at the same time I felt sad that another year has flown by so quickly. What is my old? I’m officially 29 years old today. Okay, I just lied. Let’s just say I’m between 33 and 35. To be honest though, I feel like I’m 60. My body is sore all over (probably because I didn’t stretch as needed before my round of golf this afternoon) and I’m constantly in a state of fog and exhaustion. Boy, I hope the 40’s are kinder to me. I can’t believe I just wrote that…my 40’s are just 6 years away.






Here we go….

Week 22.5

Kohlden 15 lbs 7 oz
Madelyn 14 lbs 2 oz

This past week was a blur. Most likely because I worked 4 closing shifts in a row. That really threw my circadian rhythm for a loop, as bedtime ended up to be 1 am but still waking up around 6:30 to help Tangie get the children fed and ready for school and out the door by 7:30. The mornings are a whirlwind, but it’s the only time I get to see them aside from the midnight feedings I do after I get home, so at least Tangie can get some decent sleep, whatever “decent” means.


Last weekend only Lala came up because Lolo had come down with a cough and cold, and he didn’t want to pass it to us just before we go on our trip. I had already started feeling congested myself, probably passed on from Kohl, so I was starting to pop Echinacea supplements and drinking lots of water and orange juice. Anyway, Tangie was surprised to come home with Lala already making us supper and finishing folding up the laundry. It was a big help, as I was exhausted bringing the children home from school after a long day at work.








Sabbath we decided to keep away from cradle roll, because we didn’t want pass any more germs and get any other kids sick. Needless to say, staying in the house with the 3 kids, especially one very energetic three year old, is not healthy for the mind, so we went to Kelly Park to enjoy some nature and the gorgeous weather we were having.

The water was a bit cold at first, but the current was swift and Braelyn seemed to enjoy herself in between shrieks of “help me” and “I want Mommy”.












That evening Tangie took me out for a romantic dinner to celebrate my birthday. After what seemed like forever in part because of my indecision on where to eat, we settled on Texas Roadhouse for some steaks and then went back home to join Lala where we watched the chick flick “Dear John” based on the book by Nicholas Sparks.


I worked the late shifts Sunday through Wednesday, so Tangie had night duty all by herself. I know I’ve said it many times, but my wife is AMAZING. To think that, after the whirlwind morning and a long day at work, she picks up the kiddos from school, feeds the twins and gets them to bed, prepares dinner for Brae and herself, helps Brae with homework, gives her a bath, gets the bottles washed, puts Braelyn to bed, prepares the bottles with formula for the next day, prepares her clothes for the next day, and finishes up any work she brought home before she herself gets ready for bed by 11. And she did this solo for 4 nights straight. Tonight was my first one back so it definitely went by quicker and we were able to alleviate the process together. Kudos to all the single parents that do a good job and make it work! You all are my heroes. This week Kohlden and Maddy discovered their feet. In fact, Kohl has started to put his in his mouth, just like his big sister did when she was around his age. First one is Kohl, next is Braelyn. Kohl also joined his twin in rolling over for the first time this week. They do say that girls develop their motor skills faster than boys.





So we head to California for Mike’s wedding next week, therefore we will not have a blog posted next Friday morning. But we’ll be sure to capture lots of pictures and video to share the celebration and times leading up to the event. This too will be a new adventure for us, traveling with 2 infants and a toddler. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Have a great weekend. See you in 2 weeks!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Routine...Exhaustion.

Allen’s turn

21.5 Weeks

Kohlden 15 lbs
Madelyn 13 lbs 10 oz


This week was another short week, albeit a very tiring one.

Friday I had the day off for a 3 day weekend. Wouldn’t you know Kohl decided to catch the fever Maddy had had a couple days prior? So instead of hitting the greens like I had planned Tangie and I did another “split shift”, where I had to go to work for a few hours to fix some things and then came back home to be with Kohl while Tangie went to her job for the afternoon. Luckily the two girls were able to go to school while all this was going on. I treated us to homemade sushi for dinner that evening.

Sabbath we laid low, so that we could get some rest and not have Kohl get any worse. He had a little congestion and cough, but the fever seemed to subside. We went to the Winter Garden Farmer’s Market where we got some fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as stocked up on some honey. They had a lot of different choices and flavors! Did you know that if you eat local honey from where you live you could decrease your chances of having allergies from all the pollen? A fun fact we learned from the honey lady. Anyway, we got one called “Autumn Fiesta” but there was one that had Key Lime flavored that I liked. I think Nana would have liked it too. After that we took a little Sabbath drive…which ended to be around 50 miles around the circumference of Lake Apopka! At least the kids were able to get their naps in as the “short” trip took almost 2 hours.

Sabbath afternoon was very hot. So hot that I decided to get the slip and slide out into the backyard for Braelyn to get some energy out without collapsing in the heat. Boy, did she have fun, although she still needs to understand how to fall forward to get momentum down the slide rather than falling on her knees. That evening we spent at home getting ready for the big brunch the following day.

Tangie had this great idea of getting all of our friends that had babies in 2010 together for a meal, pictures, and just socializing. A support group of sorts. We had a few that couldn’t make it, but we did have 14 adults and 9 babies, including 2 sets of twins! Everyone contributed to the food and we had fun catching up with each other as most of us hadn’t had a chance to really go out since the births. It was neat to get the kids all together on the sofa for picture, and even funnier to see all the parents as paparazzi! Braelyn was enamored by all the little ones.

So Monday brought us back to reality, back to schedule and routines, and the constant state of exhaustion. We almost have it together, although sometimes we have little kinks in the routine, such as today when daycare called saying Braelyn had put some mulch up her nose and it didn’t come out, so Tangie had to take her to the after hours doctor, twins in tow, to get it checked out, which, luckily, they couldn’t find anything so (cross my fingers) it must’ve fallen out. Apparently she was giggling and laughing all evening.

Braelyn is getting so big. I can’t believe the conversations I’m having with her. She’s like this little grown up. One of her favorite sayings: “When I was a little girl, I…” I’m sure she meant when she was little like the twins. Another time she was telling me something and though I was listening to her, she wanted my full attention, so she demanded: “Look at me, Daddy”. I almost laughed out loud but did a pretty good job of holding it in.

So we are starting to mentally prepare and pack for our big trip to California in less than 2 weeks for Mike’s wedding. We are getting excited but we know there are a lot of things that we need to pack and finish here at the house before we leave. Luckily I was able to find someone to stay at the house with Zoe and watch over things. That way Zoe doesn’t have to stay in a kennel while we shell out lots of money we don’t have.

We look forward to Lolo and Lala this weekend. See you next week!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Whirlwind

Tangie's blog

20-1/2 weeks
Kohlden – 14lbs 15 oz
Madelyn – 13 lbs 6 oz

This was a whirlwind of a week. Friday night brought Lolo and Lala up to stay with us. Thanks Lala for giving us two nights of great sleep!
We went to Sabbath School, had my pot roast for lunch, and had some naps (mine longer than the rest – hurray, while Allen took Brae to the park).
In the afternoon, they had fun posing the babes.

The evening entailed a quick shopping spree. We ended up getting Braelyn a new chair for her room so we could move the rocker to the twin’s room. Love the Labor Day weekend sales! Allen picked it up a couple days later.

Sunday Allen had to go to work. Lolo and Lala stayed for the morning then it was on my own with the three kiddos the rest of the day. We managed….with a little help from Curious George and Dora.

Maddy does not like to sit still in the bumbo chair. She really wants to grab Kohlden’s toy.

We got some good laughs out of both Maddy and Kohl this week. Check it out. Braelyn was entertaining them with her tennis serve she learned from watching the US Open.





Monday, Allen actually had the holiday off, so we planned a beach outing with friends. Unfortunately Calleigh and Duncan got sick, so the Grodacks couldn’t come with us. But Ottattis and Mohavirs joined…with Clarkes tailing in at the last minute. Braelyn had fun playing with Ariana while the mommies had a little daycare going. When we go to the beach….we are prepared. New tent, rug, table, lots of good food, unbrellas, bouncers…the works. It was the nicest set up around. Braelyn finally got courage with the water and did some boogie boarding with Daddy. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of it though.


Tuesday was to be my first day back at work full time. Prepping everything to get them out the door is a feat! Unfortunately Maddy had a bad night and came down with a mild fever so she wasn’t ready to tackle school. Must have been over exhausted from the beach day. Kohlden had to go it alone. I took Brae and Kohl then went to work while Daddy stayed home for the morning, then we switched. It’s definitely easier having one baby at home, but still hard to get work done since she was a fussy baby. She still was a little warm on Wednesday too and didn’t sleep so well, so she didn’t get to go for the second day. So much for my first week back. Thursday all the kids finally got to go. We didn’t get there until 8:45, almost 2 hrs behind schedule, but that’s because Maddy kept me up half the night being fussy and congested so I slept in until Kohl and Brae woke up at 7a (that’s the longest Kohl has gone – school is wearing him out!). It would have taken a little longer if Daddy didn’t help prepare our breakfast and change the babies while I pumped. Braelyn is so excited that they are there with her. We’ll get the routine down soon. Once I pick them up, it’s on to feeding, changing, getting Braelyn’s homework done (yes, they have homework in pre-school –what should take 3 minutes takes an hour to do because she is so hyper and I’m trying to feed the babies and get them calmed down too), getting the babies down to sleep, dinner, bottles washed, bath, story, pumping, bottles prepped…and finally sleep while Allen does the midnight feeding as I get the night shift when they wake up. Not too many extra minutes in there. Our new motto which we’re trying to focus on is PURPOSEFUL. No more half heartedly doing things or casually figuring out what to do. In order for us to make this all work without extra help and not getting sick from lack of sleep, everything needs to be done with purpose and efficiency. Sabbath is truly our only day of rest.


Brae has been making me laugh in the evenings. Tonight we were doing the map puzzle and she saw Tennessee with a picture of a guy playing a guitar. She shouts out “Tennessee. He’s playing the "tahtar". That’s where Adam lives. What’s the wife’s name?” Sorry Annette. She’ll remember it eventually.



Got to go….Have a good weekend.