Goodbye Braelyn, Hello....Dora!

 

Week 38.5

Kohlden: less than the week prior - 17-3

Madelyn: even less than the week prior - 16-5

I said goodbye to my eldest daughter this past week.  Not that she was leaving, but instead decided to undergo a transformation.  This week Tangie and Braelyn had some hair makeovers while Nana was still in town.  Tangie went with her usual layered look.  Braelyn, however, said that she wanted to look like a very popular kid's TV character, and the results were uncanny:

While I thought about it some more, and realized how I was now Daddy to Dora, I put together a list of some characteristics of these two and came up with some striking similiarities:

• They are both active and energetic; love the outdoors
• They have twin siblings, and strangely enough, both with a brother and sister
• 
• They love to wear shorts
• They ask LOTS of questions:  "What was YOUR favorite part?"
• They like to use backpacks to carry all kinds of different/random stuff
• They have pets (although Dora's pet and best friend Boots can actually talk)
• They both love music and sing songs
• They can speak Spanish.  And now...
• They both have the same haircut!

This week was a chance to get back to normalcy, after the crazy Holiday Season, the visit from Papa and Nana, and all the sicknesses.  All 3 children were finally back in school for the entire week, while Tangie and I continued to dive into our busy schedules at work.  As my fiscal year comes to a close and business starts to slow down slightly if at all, Tangie is just starting her busy season .  Funny how it ended up that way, but in retrospect we needed each other's support with the kids during our individual busy seasons, so it all works out.

On Friday Papa Dave flew back to Denver so he could get back to work.  He had missed almost an entire week just trying to recoup from his ear infections while he was down here in Florida.  Well, his ears were still bothering him during the flight and weekend so another visit to the doctor revealed that his eardrums were on the verge of bursting.  Another round of antibiotics.  Hopefully he's on the mend.

That left Nana with us for the next 4 days.  She was feeling much better after her bout with the cold and took advantage of the nice weather we were having so she did some weeding/gardening outside and planted some new flowers in our pots.  Thanks Nana!  On Sunday she cut the girls' hair and on Monday treated Braelyn to get their nails and toes done.  Very cute and lots of fun.

Saturday evening I had a date with Braelyn and we went to see the movie Yogi Bear.  She enjoyed seeing the crazy antics and problematic situations only Yogi could get himself into, as she is still unable to understand plots.  It was a lot of fun and she ate all the popcorn and Daddy's Sprite.  And did you know that the voice of Boo Boo is actually Justin Timberlake?  Is there anything that man can't do?

The twins are much better now with just a few coughs here and there.  We've had a few throw up episodes after feeding but that's how they get out the gunk, at least.  Maddy is always on the prowl now, so it's all about picking things up and out of the way, as well as making sure she doesn't pull anything down on top of her.  We've had to make sure the gate of the crib is latched up at night as she can now pull herself up on things.

Kohl on the other hand is just the opposite.  He is still immobile with the occassional turnovers, twists, and belly swimming.  I know that boys develop motor skills slower than girls do but c'mon Buddy!  Your sister is leaving you in her wake!  He actually is going through a clingy phase and wants to be held all the time.  Definately a Mama's Boy.  I'm sure Tangie enjoys it though.

We had a cold front that came and left us with some numbingly cold nights, the coldest so far this season.  Luckily it took all the snow and brought it back up north and dumped it on New York and Boston.  My younger brother Mike and his wife were in Chattanooga, TN for the funeral of Gen's grandfather and they were snowed in, their flight back to LA canceled in Atlanta due to the weather and powder.  Here in the South we see white stuff falling from the sky and everyone freaks out, everything shuts down, and everyone wears their fancy brand name leather boots.  Funny.

The problem with the cold weather is the design of our house.  Our second floor temperature control pad is in the hallway that opens up to the house below.  That means warm air from the downstairs goes up and keeps that sensor from turning on.  Which means the bedrooms upstairs stay cold.  So unfortunately we have to halfway open the doors to the rooms to get warm air circulated around.  So as I opened the door to Braelyn's room one night, this is what I found, and so had to take a couple of pictures.  Amazing what dreams can make you do!



We had the other house repiped for water this week.  $3K.  Down the drain.  Literally.  Ouch.  I took some pictures of the holes they made in the drywall with my phone, but couldn't download them for some reason.  Hopefully I'll get them up and in the blog next week.

Speaking of next week, the children are going on vacation to Avon Park to spend a week with Lolo and Lala!  This is Tangie's busiest week and so needed the time to work without having to drop everything and pick up the kids when I work the evenings.  So they are going to their grandparents.  We did the same thing with just Braelyn last year.  This will be a new adventure for my parents as now their workload just tripled.  I hope they have as much fun as we do, every single day!

Have a great weekend!