Monthly Archives: March 2014

1. The twins turned one on March 1st, and I have so many things to say about it, and about who they are at this amazing age, and I just keep running out of time to do it the way that I want to, with pictures.  I think my time might be better served in creating baby books, or 1 year photo books.  I don’t know.  But these babies, man.  They are just so delightful. I think I say that all the time, I know. I KNOW. But they chase each other around my living room like little puppy dogs giggling and making sure the other is following, they stand at the gate and yell “MOM!” at me just like the big kids do, they bark at the dog, and sing for bananas and waffles EVERY time they are in their high chairs. I just feel so lucky that these tiny people are mine. And anyway, I want to capture all of that somehow, but finding the time is hard.
2. I went to Phoenix last month and met a bunch of lovely internet people. There were no axe murderers, at least none who have revealed themselves yet. It was such a good time, and I feel like a grownup for navigating the airport and rental car all by myself. Ed wrangled the kids just fine while I was gone. It was just good all around.  Highly recommend, would do again.
3. Speaking of trips, Ed is traveling for a full week in April, as in 8 days 7 nights, and that has me in a mild panic. I can lone wolf with the best of them, but for that many days straight? Eeeesh.
4. Next week, I’m having my work  laptop replaced because it’s almost 4 years old, and I have to go in to the local call center to do it. My old home office, the one I worked at for 10 years before beginning to work from home, closed when I was on maternity leave, so this is a totally new to me office. I’m a little bit nervous about it, even though I do know a few people there, but also, they have a dress code so I’ll be getting out some of my old work clothes, I guess.  I was semi-bitching about it to Ed and he reminded me that I am a Vice President at a bank who doesn’t have to wear a suit to work every day. He’s right. I’m lucky.  I’ll shut up.
5. Speaking of dressing up, Eddie has a TKD banquet this weekend that is semi-formal so I bought a couple faux wrap dresses from Lands End, thinking that they would be similar in fit to the fit and flare I have. Nope. They hug me in a very unattractive way, SO I need to go out and buy a dress before Saturday. Lame. I have to buy Eddie new dress clothes anyway, since he’s a giant man boy now, but I wasn’t planning on trying on dresses. I’m excited about the banquet though. Ed and I are taking him alone, and I think it will be nice.
6. I’m doing that 100 Happy Days Project that is sweeping the internet, where you take and post a picture of something that makes you happy for 100 days in a row.  It’s fun. It makes me remember to find something to be happy about. Anyway, I’m posting them on Instagram, if you are inclined to look.
7. I saw my endocrinologist for the first time in over a year–a new NP who was really great actually–and learned that my TSH was over 20.  The official normal range varies, but I feel best when mine is around 3.5/4. I have been flailing lately, and have been unfocused and forgetful and horrible so the numbers shouldn’t come as a surprise, and yet, I didn’t think I was THAT bad off.  I’ve been off my meds for a while, just pushing it off and forgetting and pushing it off again. I’d like to say this is the first time it’s happened, but…it isn’t. So.  I’m trying to be better. Meds. Blood work every 6 weeks until we get it under control. An ultrasound, that scares me because I have a nodule they’ve been watching, and I wonder if THIS is the time I’ll need a biopsy. But I’m doing it all anyway in the name of being healthy and getting my shit together.

Everyone has been doing these posts, and I’ve really enjoyed peeking in to the wide variety of days that happen out there, so I decided to track a day of my own. This is a pretty typical day for us, schedule wise. This was Tuesday 3/4.

4:15am: My phone alarm is going off in the kitchen.  I’m disoriented for a minute because a baby has usually woken me up before now, and I’ve usually relocated the phone from its charger in the kitchen to my night stand. So.  Apparently, the babies are sleeping all the way through today.  Yay. I shut off the alarm, pee, unlock the back door for my mother who will be dropped off soon, and go back to bed.

7:00am: My real alarm is going off now.  I can hear Caitlyn, our early bird, making lunches in the kitchen. I press snooze.

7:10am: Alarm and snooze again.

7:20am: Ed is up getting ready for a meeting and the babies are starting to yell for their bottles.  I get up and pee and brush my teeth. Ed asks me about the computer charger as he’s getting ready to go. Is the one in his hand the one for our laptop? He’s taken my laptop cord on more than one occasion. I run downstairs to double check, even though I’m fairly certain he has the right one–he does. I make the bottles and bring them in to the babies.  Molly thinks I have taken WAY too long.

7:30am: I head down to my office to finish up a report that needed to be sent for approval sooner rather than later.

8:00am: Back upstairs to shuffle kids along. Caitlyn is downstairs watching TV with her breakfast because she has been up and ready to go for more than an hour. I get the babies from bed, and change diapers, nudge Hannah along in the eating and getting dressed departments and remind Eddie to focus on what he’s supposed to be doing, and to stop stuffing his mouth.

8:50am: Push the kids out the door and stop Eddie at the last minute to lint roll his pants, because he’s apparently rubbed up against the cat and dog numerous times.  He might actually BE a cat or a dog at this point, so covered in hair he is. He gripes, because who CARES if he has hair all over him. (Spoiler: I care.) Once he’s outside, I watch for the bus from the front door to make sure everyone gets on, and that the neighborhood hooligans don’t rope Eddie in to their shenanigans.

8:55am: I throw my breakfast, a bagel, in to the toaster, and make a cup of coffee, noticing just in time that there are gross, dried dishwasher crumbs in the bottom of my cup.  I make a mental note to ask who was the last person to unload the dishwasher/who put a dirty mug away in the cupboard. The babies are standing at the gate yelling for their breakfast, so I chitchat with my mother for a few minutes and help her get them in their seats. They’ve recently discovered that if they work together, they can pull the whole gate down, so that’s exciting.

9:05am: I take my breakfast to my desk, and do some mindless internetting while I eat.

9:30am: Blah Blah Boring Boring Work Work Work.

10:45am: I need more coffee. I cycle laundry and scoop the cat box on my way up and actually remember to bring my dishes upstairs.

10:55am: Back downstairs with my coffee and buckled down to edit the report that has now come back with feedback.

11:40am: I ask Becky for help with Excel and she changes my life. I continue working on the report from hell.

1:00pm: I go upstairs to heat up some lunch.  My mother has defrosted the last of the Christmas pierogies, and brought them to me. They are all cheese and none kraut so I’m a little bit bitter, but still, they are acceptable. I hang out with the babies for a few minutes, and am showered with many kisses and hugs.

1:15pm: Back downstairs with my lunch, and back to work as well.

1:53pm: I’m thirsty! Shit, I left my water upstairs. I go to get it, cycle laundry again, and give the twins their milk sippies because my mother forgot. I notice that I got my Keurig delivery, and I am momentarily distracted.

2:02pm: Back to work

2:47pm: Finally finish this bastard report.  I celebrate by futzing around on Facebook and Twitter.

3:00pm: Read and respond to my email and have a snack.

3:30pm: Publish my report, and wait for the inevitable backlash.

3:35pm: Call Ed to check in about dinner and evening plans. He is…less than thrilled about my planned leftover smorgasbord but he will be out of town and shit needs to get eaten.We decide that he will take Eddie to TKD.

3:45pm: Prepare for the big kids to get home.  I get snacks out and print their chore charts for the week since I wasn’t home to do it yesterday.

3:50pm: Break for Candy Crush. Level 170 is killing me.  Also, I totally landed on the jackpot, booster wheel! You suck!

3:55pm: The telltale stomping of the kids arriving home. They all traipse in to my office to let me know they are here, as if I couldn’t hear them. They yammer for snaaaaaacks. They are staaaaaarving. Hannah comes back in to show me her Dr. Seuss hat that she made to celebrate his birthday.

4:00pm: Back to work to wrap things up for the day.

4:30pm: Upstairs to get the girls going on chores, and Eddie moving to get changed and out the door for TKD. My father arrives and since I’m done, I send my mother home for the day.  They have to be somewhere by 6 anyway, so it works out.

4:45pm: Eddie leaves and I get Molly up from a ridiculously late nap.  We play in the living room for a while.

5:30pm: Hannah has knocked Gus over by being careless and has been sent to her bed. I put the babies in their seats and give them their dinner.  Gus ends up throwing all of his green beans on the floor and screaming “naaaaaanaaaaaaa!” until I bring him a banana. I maybe shouldn’t give in so easily, but whatever. I have Cait hang out with them for a few while I get her set up on my computer to do a report for school.

5:45pm: Ed calls about some PTA stuff that’s going on, and I need to make a call to the principal to make sure everyone is on the same page. I avert a major crisis. Then I remember Hannah, and let her come out.

6:00pm: Hannah plays with the babies on the floor while I get the oven going and start dinner. I’m texting back and forth with a teacher at school, and I call our treasurer to make sure she’ll be able to drop off the checks they need.

6:40pm: Dinner is ready and Ed and Eddie are home. I plate dinner for the kids, and Ed, who is on the phone, heads right in to the bedroom to continue his conversation. The kids go and eat downstairs at the table in their playroom.  Tonight is just not a night for family dinner.

7:00pm: The babies are getting crabby, so they have diapers and bottles.  Ed is still on the phone, and I’m getting hangry.

7:20pm: He’s done, and is finally making his plate. I made mine 5 minutes ago when I thought he was done, and the babies have since eaten all of my mashed potatoes.

7:25pm: We eat. Finally.

7:40pm: Everything is now terrible, so the babies say their goodnights and go to bed.

7:45pm: The kids come up with their dishes, and I direct them to their homework. Caitlyn puts some more work in to her report. Eddie catches up on the regular math be missed today while being pulled for advance math. Hannah starts counting out cheerios for her 100th day of school.

8:30pm: The girls are bejammied and on their way to bed.  Eddie is a night owl and is still awake.  He hangs out in the kitchen with me while I throw some oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip bars together, and clean up dinner.

8:55pm: I put the bars in the oven, send Eddie to bed and settle on the couch with Ed to watch Castle.

9:15pm: Take the bars out of the oven and take them down in to the cold basement to cool for a few minutes.  I feed the cat, let the dog out, and make sure my office is shut down for the night. Halfway back upstairs, I realize that I’ve forgotten the cookie bars AND to shut off my space heater.  Take care of both of those things, and let the dog in. I cut pieces of cookie bar for Ed and me, and make a cup of tea for him and a cup of decaf for myself, since we are old.

9:30pm: We finish Castle with our dessert and beverages.

10:00pm: We both fool around with our phones a bit, then get up and get ready for bed. I get a few things ready for my morning since I have to actually be up and out of the house by 9, which is a rare occurrence. I also make sure Ed doesn’t need anything for the overnight trip he’s taking tomorrow. I make a note of the few things he does need, to get them together in the morning.

10:45pm: We are in bed, and the day is over.

I totally missed my 11 month post, but here is their 11 month photo, taken 2/1/14!