One expensive Week

Okay. This last week has been the most expensive week I've ever had!!

Cute Car is wrecked (Friday, 8/10 @ 11:45 pm)

My new Razor cell phone is ruined (Friday, 8/17 ~6pm-ish)

My digital camera dropped on my Mom's tile entryway and doesn't focus anymore (Saturday, 8/18 @ 5:30 am)

Don't hang out around me - It'll cost you.

A New level of Tiredness

Do I look tired here? This picture was taken in late February when the girls came home from the hospital and I thought I was tired then. I am two hundred times more tired now. Here's why...my baby sister Carly (and yes, I still call her my "baby sister") will be married on Saturday, 8/18/07. Joanna and I threw her a bridal shower the previous Saturday, 8/11/07. And on Wednesday, 8/15, I decided I was going to sew my littles their dresses for Carly's reception. 3 days to finish 2 dresses...piece of cake!

Their dresses are beautiful!

• Chocolate Shantung material
• Double-faced front & back
• All seams finished - french seams or hand sewn in facing - something I've started to do since I don't have a serger (hint, hint)
• Skirt is heavily gathered on empire waist enhanced with a thick band sewn in on side seams
• Cute snow-cap sleeves are double-faced
• A large contrast bow attaches to the front of the dress
• 9" inch zipper - which gave me so much trouble - is perfect!

The pattern is from New Look and was perfect for my babies. I normally like to alter patterns to give them some uniqueness, but I just didn't have time this time. JoJo bought 2 flower clips that I might use instead of the contrast bow. It will save me time and I can use the flowers for my hair afterwards.

Drugs, Anyone?

These are all the drugs we're using on our little babies: Rebecca & Mary-Gail have coughs, colds, runny noses, and congestion. Mary-Gail's cough is so sad - her throat is raw and she cries each time she coughs. She looks at me as if I have the cure right in my hand and I'm not giving it to her.

Rebecca's tempature at 6:00 pm was 37.9 C (100.22 F). We had dosed her with Tylenol already, and I was nervous that her temp wasn't dropping.

7:30 pm - 37.5 C (99.5 F)
9:30 pm - 38.8 C (101.84 F)

Conversion Chart

I called my sister, Kristie, who also happens to be a Nurse Practitioner. Kristie said to give Rebecca a sponge bath and to start liquid Motrin, which could help reduce Rebecca's temperature faster than Tylenol. We didn't have any Motrin, so I bathed Rebecca while Tony tested Mary-Gail's temperature, drained her nose, gave her nose drops, fed her, and dosed her with Tylenol, and then went to the store to get liquid Motrin. At 11:00pm Rebecca's temp was 38.1 C (100.58 F). I stayed up through the night and monitored both girls' temperatures, and then dosed them again at 3:00 am.

I'm happy to say - knock on wood - that Rebecca's temperature is 37.0 C (98.6 F) and we're happy today! Thank you Kristie for your help!!

The end of "Cute Car"

Friday night I was involved in a head-on collision. I was coming home from my sister Joanna's house in Springville and was only 3 blocks from my house. I was heading West on Center Street and getting ready to turn Left (South) on 1860 West. I noticed a car at the stop sign on 1860 West and was gauging how far the car was into the road. I started to turn and WHAM! I didn't even see the other car's headlights until they hit me. Collision of a 2002 Ford Explorer with my 1999 Volkswagen Convertible Cabriolet. Who do you think won?
Cute Car filled up with smoke - it was actually the powder from the airbags - and my chest was so tight. I couldn't breathe; I couldn't expand my lungs. I was just hit by a monster of a vehicle going at least 35 miles per hour. My neck burned (I have an awful seat belt/airbag powder burn on my neck) and my eyes were on fire. Somehow I managed to unbuckle my seat belt (thank heavens I put it on), and nearly fell out of the car. The other car passengers were a young mom and dad and two little boys - probably 2 and 3 years old. The mom was screaming, "If anything happened to my babies..." And then I REALLY couldn't breathe. Oh my gosh! If anything did happen to those kids. I immediately thought of Rebecca and Mary-Gail. Oh please let those boys be alright.
Ambulance and Firetrucks along with 3 squad cars showed up not even a minute later. A policeman was asking me something and I just couldn't put it together. I kept trying to call Tony, but finally realized I was dialing my own voicemail. Tony wasn't answering his phone, so I called the next person, my brother-in-law, Jack Kemp. It was now 12:00 midnight. Carol sat with the girls and Tony and Jack started out to find me. I totally forgot to tell Jack where I was. Tony hugged and loved me and then surveyed Cute Car. I didn't even go back to the car after I got my cell phone out - I was having flashbacks of my accident when we moved to South Carolina. More on that later. A paramedic checked my blood pressure: 198/100, and my pulse was 98, but my oxygen saturation was 100 and I was just in a major accident. I was OK physically, but mentally and emotionally I was NOT. The other family was OK too. Both boys were walking, and talking/crying. The mom went with one boy to the hospital for further assessment, but we were all alive.
Now the awful truth: no collision on Cute Car, just liability. Cute Car was my dream car - ever since I saw the 1980's movie, "Can't buy me love" I have always wanted a convertible cabriolet. Tony gave me my cabrio for my birthday last year, July 2006, and we came to call her "Cute Care." I only got to drive her until September when I was put on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. And then b/c of my C-section, I had to have someone else drive me to the NICU for 2 weeks! By then, the weather was too scary to drive in, so I drove our Suburban. Then we gave Cute Car to my sister, Carly, to drive. So, I wasn't until just recently that I was driving Cute Care again. Now she's in the tow yard with no front end. Boo-hoo.

Planning the Bridal Shower

CarCar, my baby sister of 27yrs, is getting married next week - August 18, 2007. A date to remember. She and her finance', Spencer Mortenson of Alamosa, CO, have been dating for a little over a year and will be husband/wife next Saturday. JoJo and I are putting on her bridal shower tomorrow at Jo's house in Springville.

We still have to get the groceries, which we plan on doing tonight at Walmart, and we have to hang signs to get to Jo's house since there is road construction. We made these party favors and ran out of mints in the process: a 64 oz box of mints only netted 20 party favors. Definitely not enough.

Food:
Cafe Rio Salad
Raspberry Sherbert & Diet Sprite Drink
Oreo sandwhich icecream cake - yummy

I'm in charge of the food, and Jo's in charge of decorations and the game. We've video taped Spencer answering questions (When was you & Carly's first kiss? What is your song? etc) and we're going to ask Carly the same questions. She has to answer what she thinks Spencer is going to say. If she gets the answer right, we have a present for her. If not, Carly gets to chew HubbaBubba Bubble gum. I hope it turns out like we've planned.

The best sister in the world!

My sister, Joanna, is the best sister in the world! Today is her birthday - 29 yrs old - and she lovingly volunteered to watch Rebecca and Mary-Gail so I could get my hair cut and colored. Did I mention that she had her three kids to watch also? 5 children 4 yrs and under: Gage, 4rs; Reese, almost 3yrs (October); Rebecca & Mary-Gail, 8 months; and Cy, 3 months. Jo had worked all day long and still had a smile on her face when I came back 2 hours later. I wish I would have taken a picture to capture the moment: Reese standing on the arm of the chair leaning towards our built-in bookcase, Gage hanging on the couch, Jo sitting on the floor w/Mary-Gail in between her legs feeding her with one hand, and her other hand stretched over to Rebecca sitting in her bouncy chair trying to feed her. Poor Cy was left on the floor fending for himself. Pixie and ArlaMae were cuddled up together in their doggie bed (only big enough to hold one of them) trying not to make a peep. JoJo spent her whole afternoon/evening birthday watching my kids. What a crazy thing to do! And, to top it all off, I didn't even give her her b-day present. What a lousy sister I am! I love you JoJo. P.S. I got you a Sony CD/AM/FM player that goes under your kitchen cabinet :) Happy Birthday Sister!

Secrets of the Baby Whisperer

So I've started to re-read one of the books my best friend (and sister) Joanna leant me while we were on best rest. It's called "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer." Rebecca and Mary-Gail are 5 months old adjusted (8 months gestation) and they have been totally off schedule, not eating (Rebecca) and not napping. The past few weeks have been really trying with this week being the climax. I'm hoping I can re-focus and understand what my girls are doing and saying. They're becoming much more active and get bored more quickly. Thus, I've been taking them with me on more of my errands - partly to just get out the house, and partly because I need a break from them.

Anyways, I'm to the section where the author talks about S.L.O.W. (acronym for Stop. Listen. Observe. What next). I'm hoping this will help me understand the girls' new language (screaming) and read their new cues (smacking me with their hands - Rebecca is the only one doing this).

Kemp Kuties are used in education training!

I totally forgot to post this!!! Our Occupational Therapist, Annie Miller, wanted to use our girls to help other parents in the NICU understand "how" to do tummy-time with their preemies. Annie came over on Monday, 8/6 for our monthly visit and saw Rebecca & Mary-Gail on their tummy-time mat in front of our huge mirror and needed a picture of them. I was so overwhelmed - only because I needed to hear that I was doing something right. This week has been so difficult for me for some reason, and hearing Annie say that my girls were the poster children for tummy-time was, well, a lifesaver.

Rebecca & Mary-Gail love to look at themselves in the mirror. In fact, if I can't calm them down, we find a mirror (not too hard to do in our house) and smile, and tilt our heads, and talk, and touch our faces in the mirror. Rebecca knows it's her image she's seeing. Mary-Gail just likes to see herself next to me...I think. They are truely the most amazing little miracles ever.

Why won't my kids eat?

I love to eat. Tony loves to eat. Why don't my kids love to eat? Rebecca used to be my 100% guaranteed eater, and I used to struggle with Mary-Gail. Well, they've had a Freaky Friday experience b/c now Mary-Gail will finish her bottle and Rebecca barely takes 2 ounces. Our doctor's say "as long as they're gainiong weght they are getting the nutrients they need and are OK." Yeah, right.

Rebecca hasn't eaten since 10:30 pm last night. It's now 8:45 am, and this is what's left of her bottle. We average about 60 - 80 cc left in the bottle. I keep filling it full thinking she'll surprise me and drink it, but not yet...

signed,

frustrated momma

Humidity!! Thank heavens for humidity.

Humidity!! Thank heavens for humidity. The girls and pups and I went for our morning walk at 7:30 am and I was so grateful that the air was moist. It has been so dry here and with all the fires we've had the air is yucky. Humidity. It reminded me of Charleston, SC. Tony and I miss it there. We would go for a walk nightly and take the girls (Pixie and ArlaMae) and walk around the Danny Jones track - less than a mile from our house. We usually did 2 laps, but depending on my day at Blackbaud we might go for 4 or 5 laps. ArlaMae loved that track!!! She would race ahead of me and Tony, while Pixie just meandered along. The only time Pixie ran was when ArlaMae tinkled - Pixie had to christen it so she would run up to ArlaMae. Sometimes Pixie was so impatient she would actually tinkle on ArlaMae! Arla would run ahead of us, and then run back, and then run ahead of us. She knew the words "track" and "bye-bye". To this day she will still race to the front door when you say "bye-bye." If you're not right behind her getting her leash and harness ready, she'll cry and start talking to you. Pixie gets excited too, but gets mad at ArlaMae for being impatient. So funny to watch them.

My mind wanders. Humidity. My skin would glow and my hair was so...dare I say radiant. I love being home in Utah, but the dry air and dry weather is a bummer. Mary-Gail and Rebecca like to go for walks also, although Mary-Gail tries to thrust herself out of her car seat. Gotta watch that little girl.