Help from the Peanut Gallery

Surely someone out there must know how to make real Gingerbread Man Ornaments. A student of mine made one for me a few years back, and I thought it might be a cute idea to make for people like Gavin's physical therapist and the nice ladies in our pediatrician's office. I want the real thing, not a gingerbread man traced on a piece of felt. Is it really as simple as baking the cookies, letting them dry out for a day or two, and then spraying them with clear varnish? Please advise.

We Can't Decide If We Like This Guy....

Gratitude

This is an activity I do with my third graders every year, but I think it's valuable for all ages...

I am thankful for:

My family and friends, whose boundless love and loyalty were certainly pushed to the limits this year, but they never once let me down.

Michael, who never lets me take myself too seriously. Thank goodness.

All of my fertility specialists, who sat with me for countless hours, hugged me when I needed it, commiserated, listened, let me freak out, never treated me like just a number, yelled at Michael when he wasn't being particularly supportive, and even shed a tear or two with me.

Dr. C., who took care of me when I went into preterm labor, and who actually SAT DOWN in my hospital room with me to calm me down, and told me that I was an amazing mom already.

The doctors and nurses in the NICU, who treated Charlotte and Gavin like they were their own. There are no words.

Caffeine. Even in small amounts, due to my nursing situation.

Concealer. The bags under my eyes are ridiculous.

Spanx and padded push-up bras. No matter what I do, things are never going to look like they did before.

Coupons. Diapers and such are not cheap.

Charlotte and Gavin. Who knew such little beings could bring such indescribable joy. I am so very blessed.

Pssstt...

It's 9:51 am. The babies went down for a nap at 9:10 am. That means they've been sleeping for (pause while I count on my fingers...) 41 minutes. That's 11 minutes longer than their longest nap in the past few weeks. Whoopie! Maybe this sleep training is starting to pay off!

By the way, I realize all my posts lately have been about sleep. But honestly, that's all I've been thinking about lately. Yesterday I was so tired, I:

(1) poured hot chocolate mix into my bowl of cereal
(2) attempted to stick a pacifier into Michael's mouth instead of Charlotte's
(3) ate half of an enchilada, the whole while thinking, "Wow, this tastes weird," before I realized there was BEEF in it! I've been a vegetarian for five years, and still it took me several bites to figure out what was different about that enchilada. The upside is that I realize I don't miss beef. At all.

A Full Night's Sleep, Kinda.

Oh, Sweet Jesus, the babies slept from 7:30 pm until 6:45 am last night. Now, before you get all excited, I said the babies slept. Not the mommy slept. I was up every two hours or so, tiptoeing in, wondering why no one was crying. Michael got up for work early this morning, around 4:30 am, and doesn't feel the need to even attempt to be quiet while getting ready. So unfortunately, I did not get the 8 hours of sleep that I've been waiting for for eight months now. But now I know it's possible, and it will happen one day when the stars all align and the babies don't have colds and my cats aren't wrestling outside of my bedroom door and Michael takes a quiet shower and Gavin manages to keep his pacifier in his mouth for the entire night. Fingers crossed.

What I Would Give For a Nap...

Can anyone explain why my babies only nap for 30 minutes twice a day, with no exceptions? They clearly need more, as evidenced by the hysterical screaming in the late afternoon and evenings.

My New Favorite Websites

Looking for a meaningful holiday gift? If you're like me, you're completely tired of giving the standard gifts: baked goods, candles, picture frames, lotions, etc...

Why not give a gift that gives back? Real Simple magazine just published a feature about charity websites that allow you to purchase a gift certificate, give it to a friend or loved one, and then that person can go on the site and choose where they want the money to go. These are my two favorites:

http://www.markmakers.org/
This is a website intended for children. You can choose a gift card in the amount of $10 or more, and the recipient can return to the site to decide how the money is spent. They can choose from a number of causes, from helping vaccinate children to helping people fleeing from religious persecution and war.

http://www.changingthepresent.org/
This site offers 33 causes to donate to. You create a card (or choose one of their designs) to send to the recipient. Causes range from adopting a snowy owl to funding field trips to supporting senior centers.

Imagine the conversations you could have as a result of this gift! Now, if I could just convince my nephew that this is more important than a PS2 game....

You Can Take the SAHM Out of the Kitchen...

The past two weekends I've had an opportunity to get dressed up; first for a friend's 30th birthday party, and then for another friend's wedding. It was a welcomed change, since I rarely wear makeup or style my hair anymore...there's just no time...and my standard uniform lately consists of sweats and a baggy t-shirt. At the wedding, a friend kept commenting to me: "You look really good. I mean, I don't want to sound weird, but you look radiant." (Thanks, D).



Alas, despite all my efforts, I still manage to bring little pieces of home with me. Observe the splotch of pureed sweet potato on my dressed-to-impress designer jeans:


At the party, after this photo was taken, a friend pointed out even more sweet potato. Oh, well.

Bath Time

Gavin has discovered his "best friend" in the tub. I'll leave it at that.

Science Project

Gavin's got some upper-respiratory bug. He's been pretty sick: coughing, runny nose, wheezing, the works. He's been up during the night since he's having a tough time breathing through that stuffy nose, so in turn, I've been up a lot during the night. He's on an antibiotic and nebulizer treatments three times a day.

Our pediatrician warned me to keep him away from Charlotte, which I find amusing.

In a feeble attempt to keep the germs at bay, I've been sterilizing all of the bottles and pacifiers. When the babies first came home from the NICU, I was a sterilizing queen, but that habit has gotten lost in the shuffle of our day-to-day routine. They're lucky that the bottles even get washed by this point.

So yesterday morning, after yet another night of little sleep, I was sterilizing happily, when I noticed that the bottle brush was a little dingy, too. I decided to throw that into the sterilizer as well. After all, cleaning bottles with a dirty, germy bottle brush kind of defeats the purpose, right? It sounded good in theory, and then:



Hmmm...apparently metal gets really hot in the microwave.

Well, Dear Readers, I made it back from Disney in one piece. Thank you to those of you who emailed me expressing concern that I did not survive. My computer has been out-of-commission for over a week, so I couldn't regale you with any tales until now. And I have many stories to tell you, believe me. I promise I'll get to all of them, but it's getting late, and the babies and I are all sick, and this Daylight Savings Thing is throwing us all off, and my kitchen looks like a bomb hit it so I have to go clean.

For now, I'll leave you with photos of the babies on Halloween. My mom made the costumes...aren't they great? Wait until you see what I have in mind for next year....