A fabulous 3 day weekend...

We had a great Saturday night spent BBQing at our friends' house.   The kids played outside in the baby pool and on the swing set and had such a great time together.  It's so nice to be able to spend time with our friends and their kids. 

Sunday morning we got up and headed for our annual trip to Sea Isle City to celebrate Aunt Sis' birthday (Jim's aunt).  We got down first thing and the morning and the kids had fun coloring with markers with Aunt Sis and Aunt Judy.  After a bit, we walked down to the beach.  Cole was first into the water and it was rather chilly, but I happily accompanied him.  Summer decided that she would sit on the blanket with Daddy instead of running in the ocean with us.  We ran and splashed in the tiny waves and finally Summer was interested enough to join us. However she did not actually want to enter the water (she had already tested it out before sitting on the blanket).  She stood by the water's edge and handed me her water can to repeatedly fill up for her so that she could pour it into the hole she had found.  We were soon joined by Uncle Len, Aunt Kate, Jay, & Mom-mom.  Cole & Summer happily splashed and poured in the hole in the sand.  Do you remember when you could be entertained so easily for such a long period of time?!?  Cole would run to the water to fill up his bucket, Summer would hand hers to Mommy and then the water was poured in the hole and the whole process repeated, over and over again. 

We started getting hungry, so we headed back for the birthday lunch.  After lunch we had delicious strawberry shortcake and sang Happy Birthday to Sissy, as the kids call her.  They were so excited to blow out the candles, that you would have thought it was their birthday!

We headed back in the early evening so that I could visit with my Pop-pop who is not doing so well, so please keep him in your prayers.  

 Today when we woke up, I decided that I wanted to take the kids strawberry picking.  The season will be finished in a few weeks and I've been wanting to go.  Jim probably thought I was nuts, planning such an impromptu field trip for our morning but I guess he's learned never to be surprised with me.  We drove to Johnson's Farm which is about 30 minutes away and boy was it hot outside (about 90).  The kids were very excited when we told them because like me, they LOVE strawberries... Jimmy... not so much!  I was happy to see when we arrived that it was not crowded at all.  We took our hayride back to the strawberry fields and the kids each took their little basket in hand.  We gave them quick little demonstration of how to pick the berries and to only pick the RED ones.  Now mind you, I haven't been picking since I was a kid and Jim has never gone.  (I used to go with my Mom-mom, Mom, aunt, sisters, cousins.  It was a yearly tradition and we would get loads of them and make a huge batch of jam... maybe that will be my goal for next year).  The kids did great.  Summer would tell me as she dropped hers in the basket... "that's beautiful mommy!".  We didn't stay long, but they each filled their basket and I filled 2.  They were so proud and wanted to carry their basket out!  

It was a great morning... I've had a rough week watching my grandfather teeter at the end of his life and I just needed to do something to bring back those happy memories from my childhood.  Strawberry picking definitely fit the bill.  And the bonus is that the kids really enjoyed themselves and behaved so well.  The trotted up and down the rows and didn't squash any or try to eat them in the field.  And I actually think that my husband enjoyed himself as well doing something that he had never done.  It was so nice to bring an old tradition from my family, into our family. 

We ended the weekend with a BBQ at Jim's parents' and the kids had a great time playing in their baby pool.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.  I love you all!

A typical afternoon at the pediatrician's office (well for us anyway!)...

Most you were blessed enough to miss our winter saga of weekly at the very least, pediatrician's visits for either one or both of the twins that nearly sent me over the edge.  I actually found it to be one of my toughest feats thus far in my battle of balancing motherhood and my job, especially since both mine and Jim's jobs are nearly 40 miles in the opposite directions of home and daycare.  You are in the middle of your day of work, and the dreaded daycare phone number pops up on your cell phone and one of the children is sick and needs to be picked up.  As soon as we got one child better, the other was sick and funny enough not the same illness even!  I have been assured by the doctor, daycare director and many friends with children that this should be the worst winter as it was our first in daycare, so hopefully next year will be better.  We have happily reduced our doctor's visits to about a once a month frequency, from the once a week of Dec-Feb (and I am really not at all exaggerating). 
Cole started coughing/wheezing a bit on Sunday.  Monday he seemed to be doing better in the morning, but by Monday night and Tuesday morning it was getting worse.  No other symptoms, but was complaining that his back was bothering him.  Since he's had pneumonia twice so far this year, I called the doctor right away for him to be seen.  I often feel like I may be overreacting and have often referenced when Rachel was asked not to return the the pediatrician's office after she continually called the doctor during off hours on Friends.  However, I have found that  usually my panicy instincts have been correct and on the occasion that nothing is wrong... I feel better knowing that I have nothing to worry about. 
Since his appointment was at 4:30, I picked up both kids early from school and off to the doctor's we went since I didn't think I'd be back in time to get Summer before daycare closed.  This is something that I had stopped doing for awhile because of an incident where one of the doctor's (who I try now to avoid seeing at all costs) wouldn't give Summer at turn.  I really understand where she was coming from, as Summer did not have an appointment and all.  However, she is 2 years old and was finally grasping taking turns and asked nicely for the doctor to look in her ears too.  I told her that she wasn't getting a turn today, but every other doctor that we have seen there has at least pretended to look in her ears if not actually fully examined her.   As a result when it was time to leave, she was attemping to crawl back to the exam room on her hands and knees screaming at the top of her lungs, "MY TURN!". 
Today, I'm happy to say went much more smoothly.  We rode my fabulous new stroller up to the office and the kids played until it was our turn to go back.  We got to the scale and the nurse asked Cole to take off his shoes and step on it to be weighed.  Of course, Miss Summer had to take hers off too but since she had hers off before Cole did she just went ahead of him.  Then we were into the exam room to wait for the Physician's Assistant that we typically see... the kids just LOVE her!  They have the entire exam memorized now after our frequent visits.  They practically attack her when she enters the room.  They they tell her what she needs to do after I explain our most recent issues.  They stand like baby birds around her waiting for their turn as they ask her to listen to their hearts and check their ears (and Summer was given a turn even though it was not her day - another reason I love this PA).  Then comes their favorite time when they get to take turns playing with her stethoscope while she tells me what is going on with them.  I asked her if she has any other patients that are as eager to see her as mine are.  It makes me happy that they love seeing her so much, since I grew up deathly afraid of the doctor.  Today it turns out that Cole has the very beginnings of an ear infection and definitely wheezing in his chest as well.  We were sent home with our very own nebulizer to keep and an antibiotic, the last 2 times we needed it we just borrowed one from the office.  Since they were out of loaners and this is the 3rd time needing it, they did the paperwork for us to keep one.  The happy side of this for me is that we caught everything early and that Summer's tubes are still in place and not infected!  I also had a successful trip with both kids on my own with no major tantrums or meltdowns.  Oh and did I mention that Cole kept his underwear DRY in a public place!  Does anyone else's kids act like this at the doctor's??

Mommy's shopping list...

Once you've taught your kids how to ask politely for what they want and they actually do it... how do you explain this??  Thank you for asking nicely for ________ .  However, we are out of it!!  LOL.  My recent take on this is to say that we are out of that and Mommy has to buy it at the store.  The kids have both come to accept this, but they remember what Mommy needs to buy at the store.  We have started to turn this into a game since a lot of the time we all go shopping together on the weekends.  Before we leave, Jim and I ask the kids what we need to buy at the store.  They are getting good at remembering the things that we have talked about needing.  Then once we get to the store, we keep asking them what we still need to get and they are actually pretty good and remembering all of the things that we discussed needing. 
Lately they have been remembering if we talk about needing something from the store in the morning, they will actually ask me when I pick them up at school at the end of the day if I remembered to get it!  Too cute.  Today my list in the morning was: manas (bananas), yogurt, fruit snacks, & strawberries.  Hopefully I will remember to get it all tomorrow :)

Summer's page

Summer's page has now been updated.  Check it out.  Hopefully I will get to the other pages soon :)   Have a good day!

What Mother's Day means to me...

Mother's Day has not always been a happy day for me.  I spent Mother's Day of 1999 sitting in the ICU of Cooper Hospital watching my mother on life support a few days after she suffered a brain aneurysm.  She put on a good face that day and gave us all hope as we adorned her area with cards, etc.  However, the next day we were bombarded with the terrible news that she was now brain-dead.  Needless to say the subsequent Mother's Days were not so happy for me since my mother was now gone and the anniversary of her passing was always very close to if not on Mother's Day.  Then came the 2 Mother's Days that I was going through loads of fertility treatments and attempting to hibernate through any and all celebrations during which someone might ask the dreaded questions about whether or not Jim and I planned to have children anytime soon.  Then as luck would have it, on May 11, 2008, the 9 year anniversary of my mother's passing.  I celebrated my first Mother's Day.  I was 4 1/2 months pregnant with twins! 

We will be celebrating Mother's Day with the kids and Jim's family.  We are attempting to see if they can make it through our usual Mother's Day dinner spot... Carmine's in Atlantic City.  We haven't tried this with them yet, but it is a family style restaurant that moves pretty quickly so we are hoping it works out.  I'll let you know. 

I have already received my Mother's Day gifts and I LOVE them all!  Summer and Cole each got me a card with a Starbuck's Gift Card since they know how much I love their coffee!  And Jim got me a card and found Pomegranate Margaritas... I'm so excited about this one!  I have had a couple fresh ones out and they are delish! 

Then I received a few handmade gifts that Summer & Cole made at school.  And although Jim was super proud of his shopping abilities, these are truly my favorite.  Shhh.... don't tell... ok??



I nearly broke down into tears as Summer and Cole told me so proudly that they made these for me!

I hope that you all have an absolutely fabulous Mother's Day whether you are a mother, still have your mother, or not! 

Notice anything???

Like my new blog look?? I beyond LOVE it!!!  I recently won a mini blog makeover through a contest on my friend Aurie's blog "Welcome to our Good life!".  I upgraded it a little since I am new to blogging and absolutely clueless.  My new blog was designed by Liz Barber at Sweet Simplicity Designs and I think she did a great job... don't you agree?? Stay tuned as I update my new pages with more info!

Happy Mother's Day!