Single Moms - How do you do it?

It's been 5 days since Pop went home from the hospital...5 days since I've seen Joe...5 days since the twins have seen the daddy...5 days of mommy and the Doozies going it alone. I don't know how single moms do it day in and day out. Getting the kids up and ready for daycare, going to work, picking up the kids from daycare, providing supper, giving baths , brush teeth, kiss boo-boos, and give lots of love and attention. EVERY DAY? All by themselves? Not to mention grocery shopping, putting gas in the car, mowing the yard, and keeping up a house. Jehu and Emma are the sweetest little ones but even their sibling bickering and all of their care can appear daunting at times. Add in a sinus and ear infection plus laryngitis and you've got quite a circus aptmosphere. This morning as I made pancakes I had four arms wrapped around my legs and the chorus of "mommy hold you" permeated the house. As both were trying to get my attention each told the other "no". That translates into "she's going to hold me, not you." This only served to incite cries and tears. Jehu has taken advantage of my weakness and climbed into his highchair and onto the table MANY times in the last couple of days. It seems as if the twins have a scam going when it comes time to patch Jehu's eye...shortly after we begin Emma insists she has pottied and must be changed immediately. In the few seconds it takes to get a diaper Jehu has his mits and patch off. Who can win?!?!? I decided to bring out the big crate of beanie babies and see what they thought of them. We had a great time identifying all the animals until it came to the snake. Emma kept winding it around her neck until suddenly she decided it was a scary being and we had to put it away. She was too cute as she pulled other toys out and said "look you guys." I guess I say that a lot.

I think the stress is getting to me just a little...I've been thinking, in my spare time, about my weight, what I eat, etc. Something has got to give. I've resolved to start really monitoring what and how much I eat...tomorrow. That's after I've finished the devil cakes in the cabinet and after I've taken the last bite of my 1/2 pound Hershey's milk chocolate bar smeared with peanut butter. I can't leave those things in the kitchen while I try to make a change...the temptation would do me in almost immediately. I may have to resort to drastic measures. Maybe a picture of my stomach hanging on the cabinet where the kids' snacks are. Duct taping my mouth shut. We'll see.



Now that the cakes and Hershey bar are gone I feel much better about my chances. Ha!

I've included some of my favorite pics of the Doozies to this entry.

Early Days

The first time Jehu was taken out for me to hold. His arms were smaller than an adult's fingers and he felt like he weighed nothing at all.

The kiss. Well...I think Emma was trying to bite Jehu's nose but I guess we'll never know. Daddy is actually holding both babies when this shot is taken.

The first Christmas was spent in the NICU. One of our nurses, Leslie, put a red bow in Emma's hair. She was on the vent and had an IV in her head. Later she graduated to the C-PAC...notice she covers her mouth during a yawn. Miss Manners from the beginning!

These are some of my favorite early photos of the Doozies. I've just been going through pics on a flash drive and thought I'd put some up on the blog. :)

Jocelyn usually had Jehu at night. I knew he was in good hands on her shift and she would often leave cute polaroid photos for me in the drawer of his isolette. We still refer to her as Jehu's "first girlfriend." Meredith was with us in the delivery room and helped whisk the Doozies off to the NICU. She frequently had Emma during her shift. Shortly after our arrival in the NICU she arranged for the Doozies to be in the same room once a spot became available by Emma. Initially Jehu was in Room 1 which is reserved for the sickest infants. Emma was in Room 3. Both Jocelyn and Meredith were so encouraging throughout our NICU stay and we are grateful for their special care of our little ones.

Early photos from home. It took a long time for the Doozies to get hair...same for eye lashes. Today Emma has extremely long, beautiful lashes.

One Day at a Time

Pop has gone home from the hospital so Joe and his mom are getting into a routine of daily care for him. Pop's been in the hospital since April 2nd with pneumonia...he started at Lexington Medical Center where he was on a ventilator for several weeks and in ICU for what seemed like forever. He was transferred from there to Healthsouth to receive physical, occupational and speech therapy. During that stay he had to be admitted to the ER at Richland, then their ICU, Heart Hospital and regular ward. From there he went to InterMedical at Baptist and back to Healthsouth. I honestly don't know how my husband and mother-in-law have survived. Sitting in the hospital day after day and feeling helpless takes a toll on you but they have done extraordinarily well. Pop continues to improve and hopefully he'll be back to his old self in short order! Here are some pics from Doozie visits to the hospital.

In other Doozie news...our speech therapist recently brought us some clothes for Jehu. Both kids had to try on EVERY piece of clothing in the bag. I think Emma looks quite fetching in Hawaiian prints. :)

Emma and Jehu have toyed with the idea of using a potty; although, as you can tell by the pictures, Jehu doesn't grasp the concept of taking off your pants first. :)

Emma has enjoyed the kiddie pool we have on the deck a couple of times this summer. Jehu hasn't gotten bold enough to get in...he will stick his foot in the water but that's about it. Emma has several bathing suits and has recently demanded that she be allowed to sleep in them at night instead of in jammies!

"Daddy Fik it"

Emma says the cutest thing when something breaks or tears - "Daddy fik it". I just love to hear it. It's funny because Jehu can say "fix" but she can't. Same thing with "rabbit". Almost a month has gone by since my last entry and we've been busy. Aunt Kiki went with us to Edventure and we had a blast. The favorite by far was The Little Pig grocery store. Emma put every donut in her buggy while Jehu picked out a wide variety of items...paper plates, bleach, frozen juice and dog food. They had a fantastic time scanning the items and pressing the buttons on the register. We could have stayed there all day. Other areas of great interest were the fire truck, bongos and a wooden boat. We ended our visit with a trip to the lower level for happy meals we purchased through the virtual drive through. So neat! Just pick up the phone and talk via telemonitor with the drive through attendant, pay and a few minutes later your happy meals arrive via courier. Took me a while to get over that. :)

Both kids are now opening our oven door and saying "pizza, pizza". This is something Jehu started quite a while ago and Emma has picked it up. I've never put a pizza in the oven...I always use the toaster oven for the small pizzas they eat. We've attached cords around the oven door to the cabinet doors so they can't open it all the way and stand on it to reach the stove top.

I have to be very vigilant in watching the "doozies" as they've both discovered that they can push their highchairs and climb to reach countertops, cubbards or any other surface not normally accessible. Not only do they use highchairs but also scooters, boxes and anything else they can find. I think we need a membership to My Gym!!!!! They've also discovered pot holders...which for some reason are fascinating.
Aunt Kiki kept the little ones so that Joe and I could go out for a celebration of my birthday, our anniversary and his birthday. We went to see the third Pirates movie and ate at Longhorn's Steakhouse. Real creative, I know, but we did enjoy a quiet dinner and the chance to see a show.

Another month of daycare has passed and Emma still moans "no daycare" as we pull up to the building. Jehu got pushed down and pinned to the ground by two of his classmates - luckily he wasn't hurt. They've experienced a petting zoo with snakes, a raccoon, zebra, camel and various other critters and this week they will have a visit with clowns. I'm worried that they might be a bit scared of the clowns but we'll see.

Today, as part of our July 4th celebration, we took the Doozies to the mall for pizza pizza, ice cream and a ride on the carousel. They were a hit with all the over 50 crowd who typically exclaimed "what curly hair!" upon seeing them. Emma rode the giraffe on our second carousel ride like a seasoned rider. Joe's birthday is actually tomorrow but we'll celebrate this evening since we're both off. I'm not sure if he'll like his gift...we'll find out soon.

My coworker Nancy had a little boy this week and he is soooo precious. All 8.7 pounds of him! He has brown hair and the cutest little fingers!

Toddlers and Crisco Don't Mix - Just so You Know!

Toddlers and Crisco don't mix! Ok...so I was trying to get my son out of the refrigerator...he LOVES to take everything out and put it back in again...and I opened the cubbard which is usually closed with a babyproofing device. He took out a BIG bottle of Crisco (1 gallon) vegetable oil and opened it. The cap doesn't really screw onto the bottle. You can imagine what happened next. Let's just say that his hair will be conditioned for the next couple of years and there's a patch of my kitchen floor that will ALWAYS be slick. We had an emergency bath. His clothes and mine are in the washer as I type this entry. :) Emma has found a new pasttime..jumping from their little tikes picnic table into the recliner. It is soooo much fun!


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