Busy busy bee

Since I was gone last weekend in California and next weekend we'll be in Ohio, this weekend was packed FULL of chores. Saturday during the first load of the laundry mountain, our dryer stopped working. And Sunday I drove to Charlotte to visit Irene and run some errands, getting a bookcase for the playroom and end tables and lamp for the living room (FINALLY after 3 years!). It was that kind of weekend. I am tired tired tired this morning.

After 3 years of this working parent gig, Jon and I have gotten really good at balancing the chores with the fun. Saturday while Jon was at the hardware store (getting stuff to fix our broken fence gate) I played out front with the kids and we took an ice cream break.




Can I say how much I love the Nestle Lil Drumsticks? Smaller size, less calories, perfect for little hands. Yes I know it is junk food but it is tasty tasty junk food.

It was a sweet moment, sitting in a circle with my boys, eating ice cream cones and talking about stuff. I don't remember what was said or why I decided that moment was perfect for ice cream, but these are the moments of their childhood I hope to remember: doing simple things, happy to be together.

As I looked at the pictures afterwards, I realized how much I have failed to document The Faces Of Alex. He has little need for words because he says everything with his face. Now that I am spending some time learning to edit my photos (finally!) I hope to capture those looks. This one is "The Miracle of Airplane Flight."

Phone Photo Friday

The boys brought home their first artwork from school almost three years ago. They finger-painted little wooden pumpkins for Halloween and they were so precious we took pictures of the boys with their pumpkins and have stored them in the attic for the future (see the pictures here!). Since then, they have brought home a staggering amount of artwork. We display about 10 pieces for each child in our home office and the rest gets recycled. The teachers always put their names on the artwork but this week was an Exciting! New! Development! In! Artwork!


Nate has been able to write his name for awhile but this was the first time he came home from school having labeled his own artwork. I asked what this was and he said it was a crazy rainbow. He has written his name of every piece of art this week. It is safe to say I need to stop calling him my baby.

Leave a comment if you want to play along. Or just leave a comment anyway!

(Un)Favorite Book Day

Jon's mom Roxane made a photo book with some pictures from our June beach trip. It has quickly become the boys' favorite book. While reading it, they talk over each other excitedly about their favorite picture of themselves and they've got the entire story memorized.

Today is Favorite Book Day at school. Nate wanted to bring the beach book to school and there was pretty much no way to say "no" to this request.

Jon and I are calling it Unfavorite Book Day because today all of the boys' classmates and teachers will see pictures of me and Jon in our swimsuits.

Ch ch ch changes

I love seeing everyone's back to school and first day of preschool pictures. It's weird being in a different category where the boys are already in school full-time. Each fall, our transition means moving to a new room with new teachers, a new schedule, and new challenges but it's not quite the same as First Day!

The transition to the 3s room has been a very big transition, for both us and the boys. The most remarkable differences are the increased independence and the structure. In the 2s room, open play meant kids running wild playing with whatever they wanted. In the 3s room, open play means playing at "centers." They must choose centers, stay there, then clean up and switch only when the rest of the group moves centers. (Alex's favorite center is science, I'm so proud!) The increased independence means they are expected to wash their own hands, make and clean up their naptime cot, clean up after every activity, go to the bathroom on their own, and change their own clothes when they have accidents.

I love the structure and independence, but it has come with some growing pains for the boys. Nate has really struggled with the structure. The first few weeks, after holding in his frustration all day he let us HAVE IT when he got home. It reminded me of the transition from two naps to one nap when they transitioned to the 1s room, our roughest transition. He has finally settled into the new routine and really enjoys the special activities they have planned (Friday is Ice Cream Social!). And while Alex has thrived with the increased structure, he comes home nearly every day having had an accident for one reason or another.

The transition has also brought some very pleasant changes to our house. The boys are SO MUCH MORE interested in playing with each other, and a newfound peace has settled in our house. After two years of feeling like a professional referee, it fills my heart to hear them in the playroom playing doctor or cooking a meal or building a lego house. I could listen to their conversations all day. They also come home with so many more stories about their day, their activities, and their friends. In just a short time, it feels like they have grown up so much, which makes me proud, happy, and sad all at the same time.

So, no First Day pictures but it's a big time for us as well!

This summer's theme

Even though the weather in Cary is nice enough for swimming long before the pool opens in mid- May and way after it closes on Labor Day, the pools here only stay open during summer school break. This was our most fun summer at the pool since the boys were born and I am truly going to miss watching them splash around and do tricks.

We've had a theme to each summer since moving here.

The first summer (newborn) = Summer of Twins. A good day meant we had showered, eaten, and gotten more than 3 consecutive hours of sleep. We strolled past the pool with our double snap n go longing for the days we would be at the pool.

The second summer (age 1) = Summer of Fishing Unsteady Toddlers Off the Bottom of the Baby Pool.

The third summer (age 2) = Summer of Stopping The Boys From Jumping Off the Side of the Baby Pool and Cracking Their Heads Open.

This summer (age 3) = Summer of Pooping At the Pool. One of the boys had to go at almost every pool trip. We used more swim diapers this summer than we did the previous two summers combined but we also spent an incredible amount of time there.

We hit the pool after work last night since our pool evenings are limited, and I couldn't help but wonder what next year's theme will be. Hopefully it will be First Year of Swim Team and I KNOW it will be First Summer Laura Stayed Out of the Sun as Much as Possible.

Old friend, new baby, lots of wine, and MICHAEL CHIARELLO

The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to have old friends, the friends who knew you when you were younger and crazier and less of an adult. I am lucky to have so many close female friends. Ann (along with Irene) falls into a special category of amazing, talented, strong women who I've known through years and years of ups and downs.

(All shots are SOOC shots as holy crap, I forgot how long it takes to fly from San Fran to Raleigh and I had three special boys waiting for me at home. Editing can wait.)




Ann recently had her first baby, a sweet little boy named Lucas. During my own newborn time with my boys, I often called Ann while pumping asking her to tell me about the "real world." And that is when female friendship started to become even more important to me - when I realized that sometimes, you need your women friends around to you to boost you up in the ways only they know how. That is why I will treasure this trip, because I got a chance to sit with Ann and her baby and talk about every detail about life as a new mom, together as friends who've known each other (eeek) for 17 years.

I think motherhood suits her well.




It seems so small, to walk with a mom and her newborn in Golden Gate Park, checking out the Rose Garden and talking. But growing into a mother has made me realize those small moments are often the Very Big Moments. Those are usually the Moments that stay with us for much, much longer than the ones we plan and hope for.





We started our visit with a truly spectacular day - in Napa, drinking wine, talking and laughing and talking. Then we drank more wine and talked and laughed and then drank more wine. The greatest gift was being able to do this without husbands, without kids, without other friends around. Just a chance for the two of us to catch up as we have not done in a decade. It was a true delight.





And because I was so giddy and so relaxed and so myself, when we were dining at Bottega I stopped Michael Chiarello to say hello, to introduce him to my old friend with a new baby, and brag that she was having her first night away. Ann was speechless, Michael was gracious (and yummy!), the food was spectacular, and we'll never forget eating his food while talking to him.

Of course, I proved that people never change and I am just as Crazy as I have always been. Hopefully when we're in our 80s, we'll still be debating whether I'm Crazy or whether she's crazy to not be Crazy.

Moles, dogs, and vacations oh my!

Jon and I went for a second opinion this morning on my abnormal moles. The second doctor agreed with the first doctor, and I feel much better hearing them agree on a treatment plan. The second biopsy that is scheduled for September 29 should remove all of the abnormal cells. Since so many people have asked, the reason the biopsy is scheduled that far out is to let the areas heal from the first biopsy. After the second biopsy, I will be going to the dermatologist every 6 months for the rest of my life. Through all of this, I have not been scared about these specific moles. What has shaken me is these are on my stomach, an area that has not seen sun since before the boys were born. Again, this is all a good reminder to be kind, be patient, and enjoy life while you can.

The part that makes me laugh the hardest is they have repeated many times to me that I can not shower for two days after the second excision. I want to say Hello! I could not shower for TEN DAYS after my ear surgery! (Story of my bionic ear here.) During the hottest heat wave in Chicago (105-110) of the summer and we only had window AC units and I was falling down from vertigo! Do you have any idea what curly hair looks like after 10 days without washing it?

But please do not worry about me because I have a plan to deal with this stress. My very good friend (we have known each other 17 years now, CRAZY) Ann has a precious two month old baby boy and I am getting on a plane today to visit her, coming back Sunday. Did I mention she lives in San Francisco? And her husband is going to watch the baby on Thursday so we can go wine tasting in Napa and eat at Michael Chiarello's new restaurant? And Jon and the boys are staying home? I planned this trip awhile ago yet it worked out with such perfect timing.

To keep you entertained until I return, here is a little picture. Jon and I my original plan had been if I was not pregnant by Christmas 2005, we would get a dog. Nate and Alex trumped the dog idea, and while we still really want a dog, we want one once the boys are a little older and more independent. However every time we are around dogs, Alex goes crazy. He is the biggest dog lover you could imagine.

I didn't have my camera with me on one of our pontoon rides on vacation, but my SIL had hers. I snapped some pictures with her camera and she emailed some yesterday. Alex specifically asked to have his picture taken with Cisco. I love this kid so much I think about getting a dog for him. Completely insane, but that is motherhood for you.

Let's play a guessing game!

I don't usually cross-post from HDYDI to here, but I liked my post this week enough to share it both places. I came across these pictures as I was going through my (very old unupdated) flickr account where I stored pictures a few years ago.

I will post a picture of myself and you guess how many days pregnant I was! Let's start with an easy one.




Let's see... flat stomach, looking bored rather than constant multi-tasking, plenty of time to take entertaining photos mocking my telecommuting... that would be zero days pregnant.

Time to guess again! How pregnant am I in the following picture?




My readers will know I was exactly 36w with fraternal twin boys in this picture. My stomach hurts when I see that picture now. Singleton bellies look so cute and fun in comparison, huh?

Last picture... and I want you to think really hard before answering. Look at the two pictures above for comparison and guess how pregnant I was in the following picture:




Okay do you have a guess in your mind? Have you really thought about it? Make a guess.

Here's the answer: it is a trick question. I was not pregnant in that picture. My boys were already born! This is the day I checked out the hospital, when my boys were 5 days old.

A couple of lessons here:

* If you're pregnant with multiples, bring some BIG maternity clothes to the hospital with you when you deliver. The general rule is that you will look 6 months pregnant after birth, but that's not 6 months-cute-singleton-belly pregnant. Bring clothes that comfortably fit when YOU were 6 months pregnant. I actually wore my biggest clothes home because OUCH twin c-section incision still healing. And the boobs... they continued to grow.

* Keep taking photos. I CRIED when I saw that picture, I mean I really bawled. This is not how you envision you will look post-partum when someone is taking pictures of you with your newborns. But I told Jon to keep snapping and make sure I was in plenty of pictures. I now treasure the photos where I have a huge jelly belly and I am cuddling my sweet smelling newborns because now they are big three year olds. And when my boys turned one, I was still not back to my pre-pregnancy shape (and am still not!) but when I used the above photo for comparison, I felt so much better about the progress I had made. So keep snapping!

A sweet twin moment to start your Monday morning

Alex: I want to wear your rings mommy.

Laura: These are my special rings from daddy. It means that we are married. When you get married, you can wear special rings.

Nate: I want to marry Alex.

Laura: You can't marry your brother. What you need to do is find someone you love very much and marry them.

Nate (pouting): But I love Alex very much!

Laura: Well you will find someone else you love very much. Then you can get married and live with them forever, like mommy and daddy live together.

Nate (pouting even more): But I want to live with Alex forever!

The latest blogbook

One of the main reasons I keep this blog is to be a baby book for Nate and Alex. At the end of my pregnancy and at each birthday, I compile the posts and publish them as hardcover books. I previously wrote a post on how to do this here. I have been very pleased with the quality of the books from Lulu.com. They recently upgraded their book cover options and I am IN LOVE with this year's book. I opened the package and squealed.

Here is the front cover, covering the terrible twos times two:



And here is the back cover:



And an inside shot of how the posts appear with photos:



Nate and Alex may never be interested in reading about their lives in this much detail, but I'm happy to have these memories for me and Jon. I want to remember as much of this time as possible.

LEGENDARY!

I'm cheating at Phone Photo Friday. I'm posting pictures that had to be taken with a real camera. I have NO experience with action photography. Yet these photos of Nate are... wait for it.... LEGENDARY (a la Barney) for a young three year old!



Ready for the series?

On your mark...



Get set...



GO!!!




LEGENDARY! (Can I tell you how fun it was to use this camera feature?)




But wait! There's more! Here's video! The hop at the end of the board... LEGENDARY!

Legendary! from LauraC on Vimeo.

Last day of swim lessons!

Jon and I are SO excited to be done with swim lessons. Or rather, I am so excited to be done.

The kids have done amazing. I am very impressed with the progress they've made this year. Somehow the majority of swim lessons ended up on days Jon was traveling for work. Making a 6PM swim lesson means rushing the boys to eat their dinner and get dressed. Rushing is the #1 most stressful thing to me with 3 year old twins. The end result is always raised blood pressure and crying kids.

In these seven lessons, we have not once made it through swim lesson without:

* someone getting out of the pool crying because they are hungry (despite practically forcing them to eat dinner)
* someone getting out of the pool needing to pee (despite enforcing potty break before leaving)
* someone crying because they want/don't want their turn at swim lesson (no win situation, there's always crying in a twin household)

During these lessons, we have had the following happen:

* Alex ran along the edge of the pool, ATE IT, and elicited a round of gasps from onlookers
* Nate pooping pretty much at every swim lesson. Why he waits for that specific time, I do not know.
* Alex showing off his diving skills cracked his lip on the pool steps. Much bleeding ensued and then I got to explain why you can't go in the pool when you are bleeding. More crying.

The topper for me was Monday's lesson. Both boys needed to poop. Neither boy wanted to do so at the swim shack bathroom. Nate made eight (8!!) trips with me to the bathroom. These were wet swimsuit and wet swim diaper trips to the bathroom, THE WORST. Alex made four trips. There is no way to force someone to poop so I just had to be patient, wait it out, beg, plead, cajol, and be patient. When people ask me why we waited to potty train the boys, I'll give this example.

While swim lessons have been fantastic for the boys' water confidence and skills, I am very excited to spend the rest of our pool hours this summer simply enjoying the pool, letting Jon take the boys to the bathroom, and hearing only the crying of other people's children at swim lessons.

Good old Amtrak

I didn't feel up to the the usual pick-up-kids-make-dinner-wash-dishes-blah-blah after work yesterday, so I grabbed a meal and took the kids to the train station to watch buses. No train comes through downtown Cary between 5PM and 8PM but the boys love buses so I thought it would be a great substitute.

Unfortunately for the Amtrak customers on the 5PM train, it was delayed an hour. Fortunately for Nate and Alex, a train came to the train station while we were there. You have never seen two more excited boys in your entire life. They ran to the train tracks, tooting imaginary horns and yelling "CHOO CHOO! Here comes the train!" They put smiles on the faces of a waiting room full of cranky delayed Amtrak travelers.

This is all quite liberating, this newfound attitude.

I wanted to thank everyone who has emailed, called, and left comments here. It means so much to me. Particularly I want to thank Windy City Vegan and Marnie for their valuable information. I was in shock most of Monday and Tuesday and now feel ready to do something. Lots of plans in the works - calls to my doctor and second opinions and research. Having learned some hard lessons during Alex's torticollis/plagiocephaly/helmet, I am not screwing around with cancer.

PS. I am playing around with blog templates (for the first time in almost four years!) and photo hosting, so those reading on a feed reader may see some extraneous posts. Think of them as bonus Nate and Alex pictures.

Playing around with my blog

I have always been disappointed with how my photos look when uploaded to blogger. They never appear on the blogscreen the way they look on my computer. And of course, I never gave it any thought that I could fix it until recently.

Here's the problem with starting this blog four years ago. I set it up so that I could spend minimal amount of work maintaining it. All I do is write my posts and go. Four years is a long time in technology and so much has changed!

I've changed my template, removed my blogroll (again), and pared it down to the basics: stories and photos of my kids. I've also decided to move my photo hosting to flickr. Here is an example of why I'm moving.

I took a sweet shot of the boys on the dock at Jon's mom's house. I spent some time editing it and then here is what the photo looked like when I uploaded it to blogger:




Here is what the photo looks like when I host it at flickr, looks like the photo I spent (minimal) time editing:

Speechless

I'm going to sound crazy writing this first paragraph. My brain moves pretty fast and I found I used to let things spin around and around in my brain until I felt a little crazy. Talking about my thoughts tends to keep the crazies at bay. This is probably why I have felt so calm and sane in the time Jon and I have been together. I can tell Jon anything and my brain calms down. It is one of the many, many reasons we make a good fit.

Yesterday, for the first time since meeting Jon, I was rendered completely speechless. In fact, I am still speechless about my news. Two of my moles came back abnormal but the biopsy removed all the abnormal cells. The other two moles came back extremely abnormal and require further biopsy and testing. This is not good news, in fact, it is terrible news.

When I had my checkup, the moles were small black dots. In the time between inspection and biopsy, they took on the classic ABC qualities of melanoma (assymetric, border irregularity, color), but fortunately no D (large diameter) since it was caught early. It is still entirely possible this will turn out to be nothing, but unlikely at this point. And skin cancer is unlike other cancers, in that removal generally "cures" you.

I am still speechless over it. I haven't even talked to Jon about it. There is nothing I really want to say. I won't have a diagnosis until the biopsies and those are next month. Until then, I don't want to waste time worrying about possibilities. There is nothing I can do in the meantime except ensure my family and I are protected during sun exposure, which I already do.

This was biggest kick in the ass I have ever received to get my parenting crap together. It was a humbling gift, to receive such an in-my-face attitude adjustment about what's really important. I have never had such patience with the kids as I did yesterday and today. I have never spent so much time un-multitasking when they are around. I am hugging them more, hugging them tighter, and being the best mom that is inside me. I can't help but hope I can maintain this attitude for the long-term because it has been such a wonderful unexpected blessing during this time.

Nerves of steel

I was talking to my friend Kim about how I am not the kind of mom who gets overly emotional about physical stuff with my kids. When they get shots (like vaccinations), I don't feel bad because it is necessary to protect them. When they get sick, I am sympathetic and offer comfort but I don't worry endlessly because I know they need to experience these illnesses to build up immunity. I've never once cried at a doctor's appointment due to seeing my child in pain. I used to feel so bad that I didn't have this mother gene until I realized it sets me up to be a fearless twin boy mom.

Alex is usually the one who makes other moms' hearts stop. He runs into walls with full force. He throws himself on the ground. He jumps off high things. He's been doing this kind of stuff since he could scoot so I've gotten used to it. If there are no tears, I yell out, "Pop up buddy!" and he gets up and walks away from some of the craziest accidents you will see.

Yesterday Nate was the one making other moms' hearts stop at the pool. There's a little one foot diving board that he has been going off. Yesterday he said he was going off the big diving board, the 1 meter board. Add in the distance from the side of the pool to the water and the height is taller than he is.

He climbed right up and jumped off. The parents sitting around the deep end asked how old he was. He put some scared teenage girls to SHAME when they acted scared to go off. After the kid before him ran to the end of the board and jumped off, he did the same.

We had to stop him when someone did a backflip and he turned around, lifted him arms over his head, and got ready to fall in backwards. When we told him no, he pouted, sat on the edge and said, "But I want to do a backflip!"

The only time he stopped jumping was when he realized people were watching. He got out of line and I asked why. He said, "People are LOOKING AT ME." I told him they were looking at him because he was so little and so brave to jump off such a big board. He said, "If they look at me, they need to cheer for me. Tell them to clap for me."

How can a little boy be such a diva already?

Phone Photo Friday: vacation sleep edition

Please leave a comment with a link to your post if you decide to play along and post your own phone photo! (I'll set up Mr Linky in the future.)

This week I'm posting fun sleeping pictures from vacation. The first picture is the worst quality but this happened almost every night. We let the boys watch a tv show on the computer at bedtime to wind down and someone almost always fell asleep. I call this one:

Brotherly Love Sleep

With two two-leg flights, it takes a long time to travel to Fargo. We got lucky in that the boys slept on the plane each way. I call this one:

Catching Flies Sleep or
Passed Out Drunk While Wearing Headphones Sleep
(you choose)

Alex is such a cuddlebug when it comes to sleeping. I call this one:

I Wish My Jelly Belly Was Not In The Picture Sleep

The toughest part was naps. They can get by without a nap for a couple of days but not for a week. Attempted naps (times two) in the cabin were failures. One night we went for a walk and Alex had the worst screaming crying sobbing tantrum. I carried him home and held him while he cried until he fell asleep. I call this one:

Peaceful Angel After The Tantrum Sleep

This one is my personal favorite, I hope you see a trend in the photos I like best. Nate was pissed off in 10 different ways one day and we decided to drive the kids around until they fell asleep. I call this one:

3 Years Old: Pissed At the World And Argumentative Even When Sleeping Sleep

I'm going to say the C word

Tuesday morning I did not run the boys to school because I had my skin cancer biopsies. I'll get the results sometime next week.

At my last appointment, the dermatologist explained they would be shaving off pieces of four moles to biopsy. I asked Jon to come along for moral support as I knew there would be a long wait period between the time they gave me shots and the time for the biopsy. Having read Dooce's posts about her experience with skin cancer, I decided not to google anything more. She has very explicit before and after pictures of her moles and scars.

What I did not think about was that Jon had not read these posts and seen these pictures, so he didn't know what to expect. For my four suspicious moles, they numbed the area and scraped off the entire mole with a razor. While Jon watched. Obviously he stopped watching after the first one and I owe him a drink for not preparing him. "Taking a small scraping" is misleading. The moles are all gone and I am left with four open gouges, three of which would easily be visible if I were to wear a bikini (which I am not doing after the excessive eating and drinking on vacation).

Three times a day I need to put super-strength antibiotic cream on each site and cover with band-aids until they heal. Considering my experience with hypertrophic scarring, I will most likely have large red raised scars for a few years.

And all of this is to find out if I have skin cancer. At age 35. Just like the audiologist's office, I was the youngest patient at the dermatologist's office.

I'm going to step on soapbox for a minute. I know I keep harping on this point and belaboring it, but it bears repeating: please use some form of sunscreen on your kids. You can be negligent with yourself but your children need protection when they are too small to make decisions for themselves. Don't blow it off saying you didn't wear sunscreen as a kid. The ozone layer is much thinner than when we were children.

If you are concerned about chemicals in sunscreen, do some research to find a physical block. If you are concerned about vitamin D, have your kids drink fortified milk, take a supplement, and talk to your doctor about appropriate sun exposure for your climate and lifestyle (as we have done).

Worst case scenario for me: bad cancer

Middle case scenario for me: easily treatable cancer, I get one person to talk to their doctor about sunscreen for their kids and themselves

Best case scenario for me: no cancer, everyone reading this checks their body for moles and jumps on the skin protection wagon

Off my soapbox, thanks for listening.

Tomorrow I'm doing Phone Photo Friday so get your pictures ready!

Yet another transition, but at least it's less expensive

Coming home from this vacation has been the hardest transition for the boys after traveling. Spending over a week off-schedule, in a different time zone, and in a different climate, there's not much Jon and I could do to make the transition home any easier. Day care is great for getting kids back onto schedule because they must run, play, eat, and sleep on a schedule. But at home, Alex does not want to sleep at night, Nate does not want to get up in the morning, and they both wake up in the night crying to be covered.

Being as I am a "rip the band-aid off" kind of mom, when the asst director asked on Monday if Alex was ready to transition to the 3s room this week, I told her YES. Transition week, even with all the positives it brings, is always rough on the kids. A new routine and a new schedule means they come home cranky. Since they are already cranky, at least let us kill two birds with one stone. (I hate that saying but it does describe how I feel.)

Every time the boys have transitioned to a new room, the new teachers have met them at the same time. Every year, it is an eye-opening experience in twin expectations. Somehow I delude myself into thinking that Nate and Alex look so different than OF COURSE people will expect them to act differently, but no, they always think twins are going to be similar. I shouldn't be surprised as I thought the same thing before I had twins.

This is the first time they transitioned separately and the teachers already know Nate very well. On Monday morning's dropoff, the teacher told Nate, "It was so quiet without you here, we missed you!" Alex spent most of his day in the new room yesterday. At pickup I talked to their old teacher and she told me how the new teachers were remarking how incredibly different they are as well as how much energy Alex has all the time. Old teacher said to them, "You probably won't find twins who are more different."

I know us twin mamas have a lot of thoughts on how to raise twin awareness around us. I have always thought it would be part of my job to help others see them as individuals rather than a unit. But this week, I learned the majority of the twin education other people will get is from direct experience with Nate and Alex. I think I can cross this off my checklist of worries.

The other big news in this transition is the move to the 3s room means another (and last) drop in day care rates. It is now $500 a month cheaper than it was in the infant room. No more formula ($350 a month), no more diapers (at least $100 a month), and MUCH fewer co-pays as they've built an immune system, and you can see why we are feeling much less financially burdened lately.

In other news, I wrote a post about our very pleasant travel experience in Fargo for HDYDI yesterday. It included this picture I took on our way to the airport, which is my new favorite picture of the boys. Worst enemies and best friends, that sums up their relationship.

Serious vacation picture overload post

I can't really do a picture overload post without some background on our trip, where we went, and why we took it. Jon is from Fargo, North Dakota. Growing up, his family had a small lakeside cabin in the woods in Minnesota on Pelican Lake. As a child, Jon spent his summers there with his siblings.

Jon's mom Roxane was celebrating a huge birthday milestone, her 60th, and we celebrated it by having her entire family at the cabin. A few years ago, she had a guest cabin built to help accomodate the growing family. This is where Roxane graciously let us stay for a week (if you're my facebook friend, you get the bonus picture of my three boys inside it):

Obviously the highlight was the birthday party. In the time since she became a grandmother, I've seen many happy faces on Roxane but there was something extra special about her smile as she watched her four grandchildren sing happy birthday to her. I won't ever forget it.

Also in attendance through the week was Marguerite (Gigi), Jon's grandma. As long-time readers will remember, we celebrated Gigi's 80th birthday in December. Not too shabby for 60 and 80, huh?

Forefront on this vacation was Pelican Lake. The front of the main cabin is all windows, providing ample space to appreciate the gorgeous view. It invites contemplation, as evidenced by this completely unposed photo. I will fess up to lots and lots of photo bribery but sometimes the kids just get it without my help.

But the lake is not just for watching. It is also for recreation. Nate jumped in a few times the first day until he realized how cold it stays all summer. What I love about this kid: he didn't even stick a toe in before jumping completely in!

Roxane also has a pontoon boat, perfect to fit the entire family. I'm not sure who enjoyed the four kid dance party the most: the kids, the parents, or the grandma. The boys loved every minute on the boat.

Oh wait. Nate did NOT love taking ANY pictures this trip, not even on the boat. (For those that watch SNL, I did get a photo of myself with arms outstretched singing, "I'M ON A BOAT!")


We took the pontoon to a sandbar for a little water fun time. Who could see these three coming and not want to play? (We also took out another boat with peanut butter pizza, wine, and no kids. The ultimate booze cruise and it was glorious.)

Let me not forget playing in the water near the dock. Perhaps the most fun game of the entire trip was hitting the neighbor's pontoon with squirt guns. If you ever want to occupy three 3 year olds for an hour with no supervision, set up this activity.

I would also recommend letting them make whatever faces they want to make for photos and your results will be much better.

Those that follow me on twitter (follow me and I'll follow you!) know Jon and I went into Fargo for a day by ourselves. During that 24 hours of glorious freedom, we shopped, Jon got a haircut, we saw Hangover (you MUST see this movie, best comedy I've seen in 5 years!), had mexican food (enchiladas with queso on top instead of red sauce = best food ever), then saw HP6. Twin parents know how to pack EVERY MINUTE of freedom.

The weather also felt cool to us, which was a welcome relief from the heat and humidity of the south. During that time, we took the kids to a mini-golf place. We also picked up a puzzle and it entertained the boys for two days. I'm pretty sure I can do that puzzle with my eyes shut now.

Overall it was a pretty spectacular vacation. I wonder what we're going to look like when we're 60. Hopefully we'll get to celebrate that milestone with our family with a vacation like this.

The best of the best of the vacation pictures

I have so much to say about vacation but for my first day back, I wanted to share my favorite pictures of the trip. They are not necessarily the best pictures but I hold each of them close to my heart for different reasons.

Nate and Alex's cousin Cash... what I can say about the hair and the eyes? Just so cute.


And their cousin Audrey... can't you just feel the infectious giggles coming through in this picture?


And my sweet Alex... always into everything, finding new and creative ways to touch and play with things.

And Nate... happiest when we let him do whatever he wants.


And this picture, I love it because being a mom of siblings, I love good photos of siblings together. I also know this picture of Jon, his sister, and his brother will make his mom very happy.


And my very favorite photograph.... me mocking Nate's complete lack of cooperation whenever a camera was around.

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