Day 4

Last night was rough. The girls were up for what felt like all night between the 3 of them. They just couldn't settle down. They weren't up for long - each time we got them up for only about 5 minutes and they went right back to sleep. But then they would get up again a while later. They finally settled down for the rest of the night around 2:00.

So our feet hit the floor at 6:30am. We're way behind schedule now. I'm suppose to be out the door with the girls by 7:00. I get the girls dressed while Pete gets their milk warmed up. Then while they're chugging down - I get in the shower and get ready for work. By some miracle (and with plenty of help from Pete!) we manage to be out the door by 7:15. Can you believe that? Pete had gotten their bags packed and ready (and I have mentioned that he makes me coffee every morning?). So we gather the children and their belongings and head out the door. Hailey falls down the stairs outside. It's only 2 steps and I didn't see it. All I heard was Pete say "oh shit she just fell" I hold my breath as I turn to grab her but realize she's just sitting on the sidewalk not crying. So I don't do anything but look her over. She looks at me - gets up, brushes herself off and keeps on moving.

We (the girls and I) get 5 minutes down the road when Hailey starts crying and pulling at her mouth. I pull over (not something I do very often) thinking that she probably has a hair in her mouth and I didn't want to let it bother her all the way to Pete's parents house. Ugh - she threw up...not much but enough smell and it stinks. Her jacket is gross. But it's cold out and it's not like we have a spare. So I grab a tissue - wipe her off and keep on moving. I'm guessing she ate too fast and then with her little tumble down the stairs - her tummy was unsettled.

I drop off the girls and head to work. Work was busy today. Pete and I discuss taking Friday off (all of this over email) because it's going to be nice and the Berlin Fair is this weekend. We also toss around the idea of selling the condo and renting a house. We need a yard! And we've been trying to buy a house for way too long now. The problem is that the $ we saved for a down payment will end up going to actually selling the condo. We'll take a loss on the condo so there won't be any $ left for a down payment. More discussion is needed but we really need a house - even if we have to rent one. We also talk about why the girls were up last night. I told one of the docs I work with and she said it might have been a growth spurt since it was simply that they couldn't get comfortable. Hmmm...that's something I didn't think of. We also talk about how we need to work out - but not tonight...we're both exhausted from last night.

Work ends - I pick up the girls and head home. Pete was late so dinner wasn't ready - no big deal since it's not a bath night. I get dinner ready while the girls play. Emily slams her head in the cabinet door. Not a finger or a hand or an arm...nope - has to be her head. This kid is just accident prone. I stop what I'm doing and give her some love. I can tell she's really tired. When Emily is tired she just doesn't know what to do with herself and ends up getting into everything.

We feed the girls and get them ready for bed. Haha...tonight we put on one piece footsie pj's. Ya know - the cute ones that have feet and zip all the way up? Yeah - they haven't worn these since last winter (which they don't remember). So they were full of 'uh oh's because they couldn't see their feet. It was funny to watch. Then it was up to brush teeth, read and in bed. No crying from any of them...they're now sleeping soundly (and hopefully will stay that way for the rest of the night!).

Pete cooks him and I dinner. Tilapia...yummy. While we eat - we sort through the 512 pictures that he ordered from snapfish the other day. And we realize there aren't enough single shots of Hannah. Mental note - take more pics of just Hannah. I clean up while he puts some pictures in a nice frame we bought 1 year ago...lol. Oh yeah - and we talk about the problem with the electric bill. We still can't conceive why on earth it's $426 a month.

Pete put laundry in. I love that. But he put the girls laundry in 1st - before we were home. Remember the jacket? Yeah - it still smells like puke. It's ok though - I decide we'll just throw it in with the load of darks that we're going to wash next. I say this out loud - just in case he gets to it before I do. And he does. He puts the darks in the washer. And a while later I realize - the jacket didn't make it in there. Oh well. If the girls go out tomorrow she can wear a sweatshirt.

Donna is coming tomorrow morning. And Pete's mom is watching the girls here. Jen is also coming to visit. Hopefully it'll break up the day for them.

I realize this blog is me posting - but Pete has the login information and eventually he'll post some stuff on his own. Just know that he reads this before I post it and I make any changes/additions that he wants. Right now he's on ebay looking for slides for the girls...lol. I just said to check Craigslist - no shipping because we can pick it up locally.

I did some thinking about RSV and posted a blog on the girls blog about it. I'm worried about it this season. With H1N1 and the fact that the girls 'look' healthy - I'm afraid people aren't going to understand how fragile they still are. It's hard for ME to understand and Pete and I are the one's who lived through the NICU experience. I can't expect other people to fully understand it but I do expect people to follow our requests.

I also did some thinking about how much patience Pete has with me. He's a saint. That's all I can say.

Day 3

Today was (is still?) my birthday! Our feet hit the floor at 6:00am (on time!!!). Last night was great - the girls slept all night. I woke up at 3:30 and didn't get myself back to sleep until 5:30. Up at 6 and ready to start the day. We get the girls downstairs and I get them changed and dressed for the day while Pete gets their milk warmed up. They eat - I jump in the shower and get ready for work. There's no time to play today - I'm bringing the kids to his parents house so his mom can watch them there. That means we have to be out the door by 7:00.

Pete will get ready for work once the girls and I leave. He helps me get them out the door and in the car. This morning they're in 'exploring' moods and decide to wander instead of heading right to the car. And Hailey thinks it's a big game to jump on and off the curb. I don't mind. Pete doesn't seem to mind either. Eventually they get in the van.

We make it out the door by 7:15 but that's fine. The girls LOVE going to Pete's parents house. And they're always in a good mood on the car ride there (they actually don't mind the car so much as long as I'm playing THEIR music). It's always nice to have "I've been workin' on the raiiiiiil road - all the live long dayyyyyy!!!" stuck in your head all day long. ;-) But it keeps them happy and they dance like crazy in their car seats too.

I get to his parents house (lots of traffic today) and get them and their bags out of the car and into the house. His sister Rosemary, gave me a picture frame with black and white photos of the girls. One of each of them individually and one with all 3 of them. It's beautiful. And it reminds me that I'm not the only one in the world that loves them as much as I do. And she cared enough to capture these moments on camera.

I get to work and the girls in the office were great today. I had a nice card, some gifts and they treated me to lunch. I had a ton of emails and ecards too. The best part of my day? When Pete emailed me and said 'the girls are having so much fun playing outside in their playhouse that they don't want to go inside and have snack.' We bought them a playhouse for $40 on Saturday at a tagsale. Great deal since they go for around $200/$250 brand new. Today was the 1st day they saw it...and I guess they love it! They loved it enough to play so hard that they took a 3 hour nap today! It really makes my day when I know the girls are having a good day. They also went to the park today with his parents. I'm happy they get to do these things even though Pete and I are work.

I picked them up after work and when we got home Pete had dinner ready. It's hard on the days we bring them to his parents because when we get them home we have to feed them, give them a bath and get them ready for bed in such a short period of time. If we wait too long to put them to bed then they get over tired and it's a mess for the rest of the night. But Pete and I worked well as a team tonight and we got it done. Girls were in bed and sleeping by 6:30. There are days when Pete and I just can't seem to get it together - and you'll read about them since this will be a one year blog! But on the days we are working together...life is much easier.

Pete and I ate and then cleaned up (the girls make a MESS when they eat!). And we could have done a million things but we decided to sit down and play some poker together. He's still playing (I'm blogging now...lol). He's got more patience than me what can I say?

Email is a big part of my day. It keeps the lines of communication open to Pete and I about the girls. It also affords me the opportunity to talk with my sister and brothers, friends and family. I don't always have time to talk on the phone when I'm home. Pete and I are on the move and just keep going when we're here. When we finally do have the time to sit down and relax...we certainly don't want to be on the phone.

I told myself I was going to work out tonight but didn't. I'm not going to make excuses - I'll just have to do it tomorrow night. I did eat a bag of Swedish Fish (candy is just my weakness) while watching The Biggest Loser. Pete says there's probably a law against that somewhere.

I hope tomorrow is a good day as well. But Pete and I have learned to take our lives one day at at time.

Day 2

I wake up to the phone ringing at 6:15. Shit - I should have been up 15 minutes ago. It's Donna - she's not going to make it today because she had a rough night. I don't think to ask her if everything is ok - I simply say that's fine and I hope things get better. It's not until I actually wake up that I realize I should have asked what was wrong. I move on - I'm already late and Pete and I need to get the girls up and get going.

I get the girls dressed for the day while Pete warms up their milk (we still warm their morning milk for them). Once they're dressed and all sucking down some nutrition I run up to take a shower and get ready for work. Once I'm ready - Pete goes and does the same. I spend what little time I have left before I leave for work with the girls because I won't see them until tomorrow. They seem to be in pretty good moods today - which is great because last night wasn't so wonderful.

For some reason last night - both Hannah and Hailey were up for about an hour. We got them up and changed them, held them and settled them back down. Pete and I didn't get to sleep until midnight (which is why my internal clock didn't wake me up at 6 when it should have!).

Pete's mom is watching the girls today and she's coming here. I leave for work at 7:45...knowing I'm late. It's a 20 minute drive without traffic and I should be at work by 8:00. Hmmm...I text one of the girls I work with to let her know I'm running late. Not a big deal today since the 1st patient isn't until 10:00 anyway. I take my time...listening to music and driving to work has become one of my relaxing things to do.

Work was pretty uneventful today. Luckily - Pete and I both have access to email during the day so we talk a lot via the internet. It's nice to be able to get an update on the girls and be able to talk about things we might not have had the time to discuss. Today we talk about the pro's and con's of buying a pellet stove. So far the decision is no. But that might change. It's a big expense - after all is said and done...close to $3,000. That's a lot of $ to take out of savings right now. And the pay off might not be worth it. More discussion is needed I guess. We'll see.

I leave work at 3:30 and go to school. I have to be there at 4 and I have back to back classes. One from 4 - 6:40 and one from 6:45 - 9:30. They're in the same building, same floor - just different classrooms. That's good since I only have 5 minutes to get there. I call Pete to check on the girls during my break. He says things went well tonight and the girls are sleeping soundly and went to bed without a problem.

I get out of class early (9:00) and get home to find all the lights on in the house. I'm already snappy because it's been a long day and I'm on only 6 hours of sleep (and I'm hungry but it's too late to eat). This is all it takes sometimes...the lights being left on. Grrrr. Wanna know what we pay for electricity EVERY month? $426. No...that's not a typo. So yes - I'm mad about the lights. But I know I'm also tired and over worked and I miss my babies...and won't see them until the morning (I hope!).

I'm sure Pete has a whole different version of how his day went since he had to be here to take care of the girls today. But we sit in silence on the couch. I type this blog and he's watching a movie. When I sign off - I'm going to read for a little bit to wind down and then sleeeeeep.

Day 1

Our feet hit the floor at 6:30 this morning. Pete and I both got up - we had plans to meet my family for breakfast at 9:00 so there was no sleeping in for either one of us. We got up, got the girls up, changed them for the day and gave them their milk. Pete and I take turns showering while the other took care of the girls. Hannah was in rare form this morning. I pissed her off because I had to go down to the basement and I chose to take Emily with me this time. Hannah was just torn apart by my decision and just couldn't get it together for the rest of the morning.

By 8:15 we were all dressed and headed out the door. We are on our way to the diner when I realize they don't have crayons for kids at this diner. Not a huge deal - but with the morning Hannah was having - I thought it best we should stop and buy some. I decide we should keep some in their backpack anyway. I think it would be nice to be able to pull out crayons, paper and stickers wherever we are! We get to the diner and my parents are there and my brother Pete showed up shortly after. He worked a double shift last night (he's a corrections officer) so he was tired to say the least. The girls had a great breakfast (which means we all did). But they usually are pretty good when we take them out to eat.

We leave breakfast around 10:00 and we headed to Khols. We had to try on snowsuits for the girls. We were right down the street and we knew we were chancing a meltdown because it was nap time but we didn't want to go back out there later today.

Khols was fun (not). We tried the snowsuits on Hannah & Emily. Neither of them wanted to get back into the wagon once we took them out of it. And Hailey pooped. And people...people wouldn't stop asking questions. I think I was irritated even more because the girls were cranky and I just wanted to get them home so they could sleep. But yet people still seem to think it's ok to stop and ask a million questions...talking over the screaming kids of course. We find some books that quiet the girls down (and end up buying them). Leave the store and change Hailey in the car. Did I mention it was pouring rain? That made it fun.

We get home and put the girls to bed by 11:00. While they're sleeping, Pete goes down to the basement and starts cleaning while I stay upstairs and try to reorganize all their toys. I decide they have too many and put some away. Pete spends their whole 2 hour nap cleaning out the basement.

The girls wake up at 1:00 and by this point Pete and I have made separate plans for the afternoon. He's going to take the girls to his parents house and I'm going to do some errands with a friend of mine. I'll meet him at his parents for dinner and we'll come home together. This plan worked out well. I got some things done - he got to visit with his family and we all got a lovely dinner that his dad made.

We leave his parents house around 5:15 and head home. Get home and the girls are ready to play but it's time for baths and bed! We give them a bath, brush teeth, read book and in their cribs they go!

They're sleeping by 6:15 and Pete heads back down to the basement to do more cleaning. I clean up the house a bit more and do some work on the computer. I have a part time job posting for a moms website online. At some point today I washed and dried 2 loads of the girls laundry. I can't remember when but I just finished folding it and putting it neatly back in the basket. I also picked out their clothes for the next two days and packed their bags for his parents house on Tuesday. I have school tomorrow night so I don't get home until 9:45. On Sunday's I have plan 2 days ahead...or risk falling a week behind!

It's 10:00pm. I feel like today was a great day. Some days I don't feel accomplished but today I do. Oh - I also played a poker game (lost) & Pete ordered pictures from snapfish...both of us doing these things while watching S.W.A.T. I love that movie. One day I might actually pay attention to the plot.