In summary

Jon got an earlier standby flight home last night so we were able to hang out as a family before he turned around and left again this morning. In my series of posts this week, I never meant to complain about being on my own. For people whose spouses travel infrequently, it can be a fun ride to be a solo parent. Jon is gone almost every week, so all the normal life stuff you can ignore with infrequent travel can not be ignored with frequent travel.

Sometimes I gloss over what it's like when Jon is gone. He's been traveling since the boys were 3 months old. For the most part, I know what I'm doing and the boys and I have a routine. Some weeks I barely hold it together.

This week my cup almost ran over with a contractor coming in to install window treatments, Alex busting his face (the insanity around that & a doctor's appt), a new mother's helper to train, a dentist appointment (more working at night to make up for missed hours), the kids hacking the dogwood, and the ice cream pizza fiasco on top of working outside the home and taking care of the house and kids.

It all melted away last night at dinner. Alex choked on his milk and it came spewing out his mouth and forcefully out of his nose, his busted up and scraped up nose. I was (SO VERY) happy to have a second set of hands to deal with this. After he was done choking he said, "That wasn't supposed to happen!" I laughed and laughed.



(His puppy dog eyes suit being injured very well, huh?)
(Don't worry, I got bigger band-aids since then.)

And now that Heather has had a chance to check out the photos I took for them, I wanted to share two other favorites from the session.

Baby #1 (no crazy eye processing, natural catchlights)



Baby #2

Single parenting: day 3 of 7

I could tell you about how the boys came home from day care SUPER CRAZY and I had the brilliant idea to salvage the night by getting a Maggie Moo's ice cream pizza just like in Team Umi Zoomi but then I learned Maggie Moo's can SUCK IT because the "pizza sauce" is STAINING red frosting and things spiraled so out of control the rest of the night that I hid in my bedroom blaring music to get a breather.

Instead I will tell you about how each morning this week, Alex has woken me up by climbing into bed with a photo album of my life with Jon before kids, looked through pictures, and asked a ton of questions, all while giggling and saying "Mommy look at this one, I love it!" It is one of the sweetest ways I've ever woken up.

And I will tell you how I finally forgave Ryan Murphy for abandoning Nip/Tuck in its final season but fortunately his talent for combining witty dialogue, juicy plot lines, and great music did not die with the end of Nip/Tuck and I am quite enjoying seeing him use this talent on Glee.

Twihards you will never win me over to the dark side but Gleehards you had me at Don't Stop Believing.

(even though I will always be bitter bitter bitter about that last terrible season of Nip/Tuck)

(and I will never ever buy another ice cream pizza)

Single parenting: day 2 of 7

Really universe? Really?



Alex had his first very serious incident report in the 3s room, which is a miracle after the number of incidents we had in the 1s and 2s rooms. He was running full speed with a toy when he fell face-first and skid across the pavement.

Bruises, cuts, scrapes, and an oozing second degree burn. Poor guy! He really did not complain about it except when he learned he can't go swimming until it heals over.

And it looks like going off my crazy pills (aka birth control) was the right choice because I'm taking this all in stride.

Single parenting: day 1 of 7

How was your night?



Me? While I cleaned up after dinner, the boys were playing for about five minutes alone in the backyard when I heard them giggling uncontrollably. I went to peek on them and found them destroying a dogwood tree with golf clubs.

This resulted in their longest time out ever, no tv, no outside playing, no crafts for the rest of the night. I handled it all very calmly; thinking to myself it's just part of life with twin boys who egg each other on. (Don't get me wrong, I yelled at them and made them clean every single leaf and branch. I just wasn't phased by it.)

Then at bedtime, I noticed the star lights above the dresser were on... and I had not turned them on. Alex had climbed on a book bin, climbed onto an open drawer, and climbed on top of the dresser to turn them on while Nate egged him on.

Again I was very calm about it and explained the dangers (and told Nate to tattle if/when it happens again; he loves telling on Alex!). But the next person who says I'm lucky to have twins because "they play together" and "they keep each other entertained" is going to get AN EARFUL .

A house full of blue

This weekend Jon's dad Lloyd and Jon's brother Chris came to visit. This was the first time they've visited and the weather was super cooperative so we spent a lot of time outside.



Chris' son Cash also came along, and Nate and Alex were thrilled to play with their cousin all weekend.



Cash is four months older than Nate and Alex and it was riot having three 4 year old boys in the house. And by riot, I mean loud and crazy.



Loud, crazy, and tons of fun.



Now I need to go put all the toilet seats back down.

Before the deluge

Starting this weekend, for the next 10 weekends in a row except Mother's Day weekend, we either have house guests or we are out of town. I've been trying to tell you 2010 = Best Year Ever! Before the craziness starts, we had a contractor come in and fix all the little things in the house we've wanted to fix since we moved in four years ago. The master bath is now light blue, the crown molding in the kitchen is fixed, and we completely gutted the half bath downstairs since the fixtures were original to the house.

I'd show you a photo but it is a teeny tiny half bath under the stairs. We barely fit.



(Side note: between Weight Watchers and going off the pill, I have very easily lost 7 lbs in three weeks. Stupid pill.)

We had Heather and her family over for dinner last night and I took pictures. Heather had this idea for a group shot and I love it. I've got some ideas how to perfect it in editing:



Before taking pictures for Jen and Heather, I have been a wreck. Even after finishing the session, I've been scared to death I jacked up all the pictures. I have anxiety until I download them and flag some favorites. I got some sweet shots of baby Ian last night but this straight out of the camera shot let me know I need to stop the anxiety and have a little more confidence.



So tell me what you have planned for the rest of spring!

Would you like to see my fish?

I've got two of them.

One of them takes his swimming very seriously. If he sees big kids doing something he can't do it, he has to try it. Like wearing goggles to swim under water and trying to swim laps.




As evidenced last summer, he's fearless when it comes to jumping in. Legendarily fearless.




One of them has fun with his swimming. He giggles and laughs and never wants to leave.



They both love trying new tricks, like kicking off from the wall on their backs.



Sometimes they get tired and take a little break but that is really a ruse for attention before their next big trick.



How can you not want to swim with these little fish?



(Jon can mock Hipstamatic but it does take fun iphone pictures huh?)

The craziest morning scramble ever

Jon got up with the boys at 7 and fed them breakfast. I got up at 7:30 to finish the morning scramble so Jon could host an early conference call. I made a cup of coffee and expected the usual stalling and resistance to getting ready. Instead the boys quickly got dressed, put together a puzzle, played go fish, then got out the legos to build a school while I quietly finished my coffee ALONE.

Never fear parents of young twins, you too will finally have that mythical "happily playing together" like I did, less than one month before they turn four.

Tennising

The neighborhood pool a block from our house also has tennis courts. Last night I packed a picnic dinner and traveled with two little boys to the tennis courts, Alex on his bike and Nate running. We ate, we talked, they rode the bike around the (broke down) courts, and we hit balls. They had the best times when I ran drills, lining them up to learn how to swing a racket. They continue to call it "tennising" which never fails to make me smile.

I lost a lot of the joy of tennis during my last two seasons playing in college. Too much worry about being captain. Too much worry about winning. Too much worry about letting down my team. Pain from shin splints and playing through the pain of stress fractures.

Long before I ever became a mother, nights like this - a picnic and playing tennis on a gorgeous spring day - were what I dreamed about. Tennising with my boys is all I thought it would be and more, as it brings back that joy of hitting a ball for the sheer fun of it.

And you should have seen their faces when I set up a little pyramid of big kid balls and knocked it down with a wicked serve.

My weekend in bullet points because somehow I think that will be more succinct?

* Friday night Jon go out to a movie while I prep for weekend.

* Saturday morning swim class. Hot mess. Very hot mess. Doubting ability to ever swim like a normal human being. Chlorine water in the lungs = not good. One of the coaches has an Olympic tattoo = badass.

* Saturday afternoon = MONDO DREAM! of taking pictures for other people to see how I like it. Loved every minute. I'm still on a high. Looky!



You know you got the money shot when your friend uses the picture as her facebook profile. (Many more to edit!)



* Saturday evening boys have a birthday party to attend. Bouncing, sliding, swinging, cupcakes. Jon and I regroup by watching many episodes of Tosh.0. Laugh hysterically.

* Sunday morning 9 mile run completely around Lake Crabtree. Two snakes. LOVE the feeling of leaving the house, having no idea how far a distance is, yet KNOWING I can make it.

(Side note - ate Gu chomps while running, drank Gatorade, and finished with Recoverite recovery drink. That stuff is MAGIC. An hour after drinking it, it felt like I hadn't run. This is an important part of the story.)

* Sunday afternoon feeling so great after run that Jon and I do massive amounts of yard work to prepare for company. Pine straw off tree house roof. Hose down everything. Pull up weeds. Pay boys one cent for each pine cone they pick up (177 total!), and one cent for each sticky ball they pick up (300 total!). Help them with this effort.

* Slight break when we hear an ice cream truck. Nate and Alex's first ice cream truck. They were screaming with excitement. They were screaming for ice cream.

* Sunday evening spent some time as a family before Jon left. Leaving on a Sunday night for work sucks! Realize I am UTTERLY exhausted from my "relaxing" weekend that I don't brush the kids' teeth or read them stories. Edit photos after they go to bed.

* Monday morning wake up so tired I forgot the boys' nap time sheets and blankets at drop off. Circle home to get them. Asst director in a total state of shock at this turn of events and says, "That is a very UnLaura like thing to do!"

Can it be April all year? Please?

Have I mentioned April is the best month in Raleigh? Yesterday was another picture perfect 75 degree sunshiny day with no humidity and no mosquitoes. Nate and Alex helped me make pizza which we ate on the deck then played outside until the sun went down.

My big garden is flourishing and the boys really enjoy watering it. One important thing I've learned about gardening this year is watering a garden with two 3 year olds takes about five times as long as you would expect.



Did I also mention the oregano made it through the winter? It is a little out of control in the herb garden. It says a lot about how much they love watering that I can bring my fancy pants camera near a hose with no worries.



A storm came through and destroyed most of the dogwood blossoms before I could get more pictures. Since then the azaleas have come into bloom and the one by the deck is the fullest I've ever seen it. It has hundreds, maybe thousands, of pink flowers.



We also seem to be getting past the worst of the Trying Threes with Nate so I was surprised when he had a crying fit at bedtime. When I asked what was wrong, he told me Alex said he wasn't his best friend. Through sobs he said, "Alex is my best friend and it hurts my feelings when he doesn't want to be my best friend. I love him so much." Yep, definitely getting past the 3s.



To top off yesterday, I got to visit Heather in the hospital with her newborn second son, Ian. To say I am INSANELY HAPPY for their family is a ridiculous understatement.



To sum up, April 2010 = FREAKING AWESOME.

Swimming, swimming in the swimming pool

After starting adult swim lessons, I realized I need a pool to swim laps if I want to actually learn this as a life-long skill. There is a YMCA 10 minutes from my house and I went on a tour Tuesday night.

I could kick myself 50 times for not visiting sooner. They have a year-round heated indoor/outdoor pool for kids under 6 that is open late hours and has lifeguards. I joined immediately.

Last night after dinner I took the boys to the kiddie pool (by myself since Jon is out of town). They went crazy and played for almost two hours. They swam, they jumped, they splashed, they made up games. I spent the first hour swimming with them. The second hour, I sat by the pool and played on my iphone. It was the first time I can remember TWO FULL HOURS without a single fight, whine, time out, or cry.

We'll still join our local pool this summer because not only is it a block away, the boys can join the swim team at age 4. After talking to a neighbor, I emailed the coach with some questions and he thinks they'll love swim team. In one month, I get to join the group of nervous newbie moms cheering for tiny 4 year olds in little speedos.

As if I weren't already excited about Summer 2010!

Deep thoughts at the dentist office

As I sat holding Alex at the dentist's office while he SCREAMED the entire time his teeth were cleaned, examined, and flourided, I had to wonder - what kind of classes do they teach in dentistry school to prepare for this? Do they bring small children in so the dentists get practice? Or do they ask adults to scream, cry at full volume, kick, and yell, "NO! IT HURTS! STOP! STOP HURTING ME!" Also how on earth did Alex manage to scream full sentences with that little mirror and prodding pokey thing in his mouth at the same time?

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On a completely different note, if you are interested in signing up for Mondo Beyondo, click the little box on my sidebar when you sign up. A small donation goes to help a fellow classmate pursue her dream of teaching English in India and taking photos (at no extra cost to you). I can't tell you how much this class has energized me and completely changed my perspective in life.

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On yet another completely different note, I got to visit my friend Jen and her daughter at home yesterday. It was sheer bliss holding a sleepy newborn again. Jen has agreed to let me take practice pictures of her family this weekend and I'm hella nervous, which is dumb and crazy because the beautiful subjects will make it easy!

Taking charge of my fertility

I really appreciate all the feedback on my hormone post. Many people have commented, emailed, or called me to recommend the Taking Charge of Your Fertility (TCOYF) method of birth control. That is the method Jon and I were planning to use to have a baby. I was a member of Fertility Friend (FF) and started charting in summer 2005. FF is how I learned about Babycenter, which led to me to some awesome friends.

When I ovulated on August 11 2005, I was living in Raleigh and Jon was still living in Chicago. 8 days later (8DPO) Jon moved to Raleigh and we decided to give it a try to get into the idea of having a baby. We knew there was no way I could get pregnant that far past ovulation.

Nate and Alex are the result of that little experiment.

Obviously there is something hormonal going on if I am releasing that many eggs and TCOYF is NOT an option unless I want to have more babies, which I definitely do not. I tried going back on ortho-tricyclen again (this time with mega B complex) but I am having the same issue. I feel "off," demotivated, and tired, so I am stopping it and talking to my doctor.

As for Jon getting a V, not only are we not ready for a permanent solution, it doesn't solve my hormonal problem. Plus hello! What if he needed to repopulate the earth in the event of a catastrophe? Or participate in some experiments on breeding super geniuses? It's like you people don't think before you comment! (ha ha!)

Because we want to cram more stuff in our one car garage

Adult swim class was incredible. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning to swim. The group ranged from people scared of water to people who need to work on stroke development. I got exactly the help I needed and by the end of the first class, I was able to swim quite a number of freestyle laps. I need more work on my breathing and my backstroke is still a hot mess, but I'm confident this is exactly what I needed.

The only downside is I didn't want to wear ear plugs so I could hear the teacher, but robo ear still has water in it. I can't use ear drops in that ear without searing pain so lesson learned to use an ear plug.

The boys' swim class was hilarious. It is only two girls, Nate, and Alex. It TRULY highlighted the differences between boys and girls at this age. The girls sat on the side, tried not to get splashed, and listened to the teacher. Our boys were super excited - splashing, wiggling, jumping in unexpectedly, screaming, generally acting crazy.

In addition to visiting Irene and family for the last time before the babies come, we also had some other excitement at Casa Case. Santa brought Skuut (balance) bikes for the boys quite some time ago and the boys still don't understand them or enjoy them. After Nate had another tricycle accident that resulted in another skinned knee, we decided to get the boys bikes with training wheels. We picked the boys up a little early Friday and took the bikes to an unused parking lot.

To say they loved them would be an understatement.



Nate immediately knew what to do and took off. Alex needed a little help understanding braking but he only needed five minutes until he was tearing around the parking lot. They spent an hour biking and only hunger made us all go home.



And the bikes themselves are ALL BOY. They are also the shortest bikes they make, at a whopping 12 inches.



I have an idea of what we'll be doing this summer! Look at these happy faces!



If you know anyone in the market for two Skuut bikes, let me know! Or if you're local and want to try them before purchasing, we have two!

The end of Mondo, or rather, the beginning

Today is the last day of my Mondo Beyondo course and I can say whole-heartedly this is a class I would recommend to anyone, even non-dreamers like me. On my birthday I shared my Mondo list and while it seems a simple list, there was a lot of thought and time put into each entry. There are some larger Mondo-er dreams/goals/plans that unfortunately I can not share in a public space but believe me, I am on the right path. Buy me a drink and I might tell you my crazy ideas!

So what now? I started this year with the plan to make 2010 the Best Year Ever. So far that plan is working very well.

January: ran a half marathon, visited my sister in Phoenix, met two blogfriends, vacationed in San Diego.
February: girls trip with Irene, ordered my dream lens, got my bike tuned up, enjoyed snow snow snow.
March: celebrated two impending baby arrivals, ran another half marathon, upgraded my wardrobe, turned 36.

You are going to pass out when you learn everything that is already planned for May. In the meantime, next on my Best Year Ever Mondo List? Tomorrow starts adult swim class. I grew up in Florida so I know how to swim but not how to do the official strokes.

Nate and Alex also start swim class tomorrow. If they can swim half a lap on their own by mid-May, they will be able to join the swim team this summer. This means going to swim practice, going to meets, volunteering... the whole shebang! Jon and I aren't sure if we're ready for this (my BABIES on an organized swim team going to meets?!) but the boys are SO EXCITED. Apparently they don't know about speedos yet. I'm concerned one of them will learn to swim and the other will not (just like breastfeeding!) but we'll jump that bridge when we come to it.

Tomorrow morning please think some happy thoughts for me as I squeeze my pasty, pale, did too much emotional eating this year butt into an unflattering one piece and jump into the water.

PS. I've also been doing a lot of trail running to prepare for Warrior Dash and a 3 foot black snake crossed my path on Wednesday. Trail running is making me man up with all the spiders, ticks, and snakes.

PPS. My new camera bag came from Epiphanie and love love love.




PPSS. The time stamp of this post is correct. Do you ever wonder how software gets upgraded overnight? Us software minions make that happen.

Fun with window crayons

We are still waiting for some rain to wash away the ridiculous yellow pollen so despite the warm weather, we're staying mostly inside. After dinner we got out the window crayons. The boys love doing any kind of art work and I love watching how differently they approach the creation of art. Alex likes to color everywhere outside the lines with no plan. He simply enjoys the process of scribbling.



Here I was inspired by Alex and tried to get all artsy with my photo! He asked me to draw a picture of him and me together. My heart hurts with how sweet he is.



Nate is intense in his artwork. He likes to thoroughly color something and is close to coloring completely inside the lines. His artwork always includes his name. Always.

I'd love to show you pictures of Nate drawing on the windows but after he quickly colored on the carpet two times, he lost the privilege to use window crayons. He did join us by sitting and crying over the loss while Alex and I happily colored away.



Ironic that he came home with a "I had a great day" sticker from school huh?

(By the way, I don't think I would recommend window crayons for the under 4 set. They are really messy and chunks tend to fall off them. It is also too easy to accidentally draw on walls. And ask Nate, it's pretty easy to intentional draw on carpet.)

The ongoing hormonal battle

Rather than link to older posts, I will summarize my hormonal history here. From age 18 to 22, I took Ortho-tricyclen to regulate my very irregular cycle. I went off at 22 in an attempt to rid my body of all hormones, including becoming a vegetarian to avoid hormones in meat. I then had CRAZY hormonal issues and went back on the pill but stayed vegetarian. My doctor at the time diagnosed me with prolactemia.

At 30, I went off Ortho-tricyclen to give my body a year to regulate before trying to have a baby. For the first time in my life, I had completely normal cycles. Then came my bionic ear and steroids and we tried for a baby one time and we got two babies. No prolactemia, no hormonal issues because clearly I am uber fertile.

Six months after the boys were born, I went back on Ortho-tricyclen. I hate to characterize ANYTHING in my life for those two years because of little sleep, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and complete exhaustion all the time. Because I kept forgetting pills, my doctor recommended I try Mirena.

Mirena was a DISASTER for me. I was psycho on Mirena. I had it taken out early and felt better immediately. I gave my body a few months to recover and went back on Ortho-tricyclen.

A funny thing has happened on Ortho-tricyclen this time. I am grumpy 3 weeks out of 4 weeks. The only week I am not irritable is the week I am not taking the pill! I feel about a million times more energetic and happier during that off week so I am stopping the pill again. This time I am going to get lots of rest, lots of exercise, eat only meats and dairy with no hormones, and see what happens.

I thought I would throw this post out there because I really thought my body would get back to "normal" post-partum but almost four years later, my body is not reacting the same as it did before kids. And I will be heading back to my doctor to talk about next steps.

That Easter bunny is SMART

The Easter bunny brought very little candy to Nate and Alex. Instead he(she?) brought a nice variety of fun toys found at World Market, including a harmonica for each of them.

As evidenced by this video, everyone enjoyed this much more than the chocolate!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Camera blocked not once, not twice, but three times

We had a great Easter but no pictures to "prove" it.

1. It took about five minutes for the boys to dye a dozen eggs. No pictures.

2. The Easter bunny painstakingly filled about 100 eggs with candy and coins and hid them all over the entire first floor of the house. It took about ten minutes for the boys to find them all. No pictures.

3. Summer has hit Raleigh with temps in the high 80s and 90s this week. The fast transition from winter to summer caused the pine tree pollen to come early, settling in the night before Easter.

Pine tree pollen is no joke in NC. Our cars, patios, and outdoor furniture are all coated in a layer of yellow pollen that stains clothing. Every little gust of wind causes huge clouds of yellow pollen. No outdoor pictures and generally very little outdoor time Sunday because of the pollen.

We did have two of the most beautiful days of the year leading up to Easter. The red bud trees, dogwoods, and azaleas are all in bloom at the same time. The boys had a blast playing in the backyard with the hose. Do not adjust your monitor, the grass in our backyard is really that green.



I also put in THREE different garden plots this year - my most ambitious garden to date. Somehow the oregano and thyme made it over the winter so I added basil, cilantro and chives to my herb garden. In the big plot by the house, I transplanted the large rosemary and lavender bushes and added raspberries, onions, and lettuce.

This plot in the pine straw is an experiment. I put in citronella to keep away mosquitoes and tons of onions and garlic to keep away rabbits. I added strawberries, tomatoes, and more herbs (also two cute little boys enjoying the backyard). If it goes well, I will put in a raised bed for future years. If not, then the rabbits will eat well this year!



And I can't let (the ridiculously short two weeks of) spring pass by without a dogwood picture. We have four dogwood trees in our backyard and I think they will always be my favorite spring treat.

Best laid plans

April is my favorite month in Raleigh. The weather is perfect, the mosquitos have yet to make an appearance, and everything is in bloom. I had grand plans to play with the boys in the backyard while I took some dogwood pictures and worked on the garden.

That plan got shot to hell when Nate got two splinters in his finger from a wooden dowel. The splinters were so big they went through the skin of his little finger and back out again. I have never seen this happen! In a panic, I ripped them out but it left little shards in there.

I spent 45 minutes wrestling and pleading with a screaming boy trying to get the splinters out. This is when Jon traveling sucks so bad. At one point I was so desperate I told the boys to stay put and I was going to go get a neighbor to help me. This made Nate scream even louder. I had to shut the doors and windows because I was convinced the neighbors were going to think I was beating them, that's how loud and intense the screaming was. (Alex was also doing some sympathy crying in there.)

I eventually got the splinters out and calmed the boys then book group people arrived and I had a big glass of wine.

I had to quickly shuffle the boys to bed and they asked if they could continue coloring in their room. We have a strict "crayons only in the family room where we can see Alex" rule due to previous violations I thought they had matured enough. After book group was over, I heard the boys still talking. I went in and for the first time ever I said, "Wait until your dad gets home!"



But don't feel bad for me. I then got to eat some Blue Cheese Crack with Heather while we watched the series finale of Nip/Tuck. If you're trying to figure out what to bring to an Easter celebration this weekend, bring this and everyone will be your best friend!

Christmas in April

This Easter bunny thing is as good as the Santa thing. Complete compliance from the boys when I explain the Easter bunny only brings baskets to good boys and girls.