Oh What a Night....

What a fun night we had! While Jack & Sean were at first a little stand offish with the characters, they did not head for the hills as I expected. They came around rather quickly and would seek out the characters for pictures. Quite surprising since the 2 of them do NOT like having their picture taken.

I enjoyed my time talking with other parents who have "walked in my shoes", while the kids played without me having to worry if they were escaping. Once I knew they were ok with the characters they weren't going anywhere...LOL!

3 years ago if you would have told me that one day I'd be sitting at Sesame Place watching my boys run, laugh and play with their favorite Sesame Characters I would have thought you cruel, lacking compassion and down right oblivious to my reality! Those weeks in the NICU it was hard to imagine them coming home let alone progressing and coming as far as they have. I couldn't be any prouder and it is these moments that help me realize how important it is to continue to volunteer and raise money for the March of Dimes. I want other parents to have these moments...I want other parents to NOT have to endure our pain.

I'm so proud of my preemies, and my older children, we've all come a long way, learned a lot of life lessons and are all a better family for it!

Thank you March of Dimes for giving us Jack & Sean!

"Jack & Sean's Gang"
"Jack & Sean's Story"

Tonight is Special....

Today we are going to take the twins for a haircut! They have a special playdate tonight with the Characters at Sesame Place! They've been looking forward to this all week and I know that once they see "Elmo" or "Big Bird" my 2 little guys will run like hell...and then they will eventually come around.

Every year we go to Sesame Place with the March of Dimes for the March for Babies Family Teams Kick off. As a team captain of a team, the Family Teams representative for my county and a member of the Family Teams Board for South Eastern Pennsylvaina this event is truly my favorite. You get to see these children whose lives started in a far less than perfect way having the time of their lives. It is a moment for parents like myself we couldn't even force ourselves to dream of when our babies were in NICU's struggling for their lives. A moment that stands still in time!

So I will ready with my camera, as I am every year, to capture the moment they come around. The priceless memory, even though we do this every year, always makes me cry.

Now I don't know who is more excited...me or them!

www.marchforbabies.org/jackandsean
www.youtube.com/7gallens

My Morning...

This was my day....
(This was about 2 weeks ago...but it's all the same)

I Wake Up,
Go wake Delaney up for school, say Bye to Kayli, Thank God she's a morning person and gets herself ready and out the door!
Put the house on lock down to prevent twins from escaping
2nd attempt to wake Delaney and get her in the shower
Put twins on potty, put on their undies, give them juice and get them changed
Tell Delaney to get out of the shower
After looking for my shoes, tell Delaney AGAIN to get out of the shower.
Go outside to warm up the car, it's cold, it's snowing and I'm now thinking over the reasons why we didn't move to FLORIDA! And yes, I warm up the car about a 1/2 hr before I go anywhere because I HATE being cold!
Come back inside, gather up 2 pairs of socks and 2 pairs of shoes to get the twins ready to drive Delaney to school...oh and Delaney, STILL in the shower!
Back to the bathroom..."GET OUT OF THE SHOWER!"
Left shoe, Right shoe, Left shoe, Right shoe all lined up ready to go.
Chase down one twin, Delaney needs to go upstairs gotta go take the gate down.
Chase down one twin...AGAIN. Grab a pair of shoes & socks that were previously lined up. Don't know what happened but somehow he ended up with 2 left feet. (note: first sign of a bad day when a couple of 3 year olds outsmart you.) Fix the shoes, grab the other twin and...one sock! "COME ON" I kid you not this is a typical day. Delaney is not ready, and we have 10 mins. to get to school. Good thing it's less than a 1/4 mile away.
Locate other sock, which apparently Jack (twin) thinks will make a good mitten. Chase him down wrestle away mitten, I mean sock, chase down other one and get his socks and shoes on. As he runs off I notice...Shoes on wrong feet! UGH...Oh well we're just going to go with it!
(Now here's the part that you know I've definitely LOST it)
Rush around grab last minute things, that I tell Delaney EVERY night to get ready...lunch money and snack. Get boys ready at the door...Oops, need my keys (at this time you may want to go up a little and re-read) look in my pockets, no keys...?????...Look in the drawer, on the table, on the chairs...LOOK, LOOK, LOOK...Now I'm frustrated and yelling "We have to go I need my keys and the car is running...." I swear the sun came out for a second as the light bulb FINALLY went on in my head! Car running....Keys in car! UUUHHHH! Let's go!
Driving to school with less than 5 mins to go! Turning into school Delaney announces..."I forgot my flute!" OMG....AAAAAAHHHHHH!

All this from 7:30 to 8:50.....

A frightening episode for Jack (one of the twins) last week finally prompted me to make that appointment to the allergist. Come to find out Jack is allergic to Ragweed and hamsters. He came up borderline to trees and cats and mildly allergic to peanuts, strawberries, milk and shellfish. We went for the RAST testing on Friday and since those results can take up to 2 weeks, this is sure to be a very interesting Thanksgiving.

Funny thing is Jack drinks milk all the time and has eaten peanut butter and other peanut containing foods on numerous occasions, without incident. But who knows what prompted that scary episode early last Sunday morning. Jack awoke gasping for air, coughing which sounded like a dog barking, wheezing. It was so scary! His allergy could just be developing so for now we are to avoid all the food allergen at all costs. I still give him milk, but I think I will cut that out now as I have noticed he does have diarheaa often. As for the strawberries, well, I knew that. Both of the twins broke out in hives, head to toe after eating 1 bite of a strawberry. YIKES!

Well, in 2 weeks we'll know our fate as far as food goes.

Pop-Corn

I hope everyone had a great Holiday and fantastic New Year!
I'm going to start the year off, with probably one of the most hilarious stories yet, right from the mouths of babes....



OK....This is a good one...you will be cracking up


Jack & Sean were asking for a snack. Having NOTHING to give them I opted for the pop-corn, never my first choice but out of desperation it had to suffice. I grabbed the OPEN bag of Herr's pop-corn out of the pantry, from the wrong end, of course. So, when I pulled it out, pop-corn went everywhere! "OH SH**!" I yelled. Sometimes, when you're having one of those days, it just comes out. The twins come running. Jack, the first one on the scene, "Oh Sh**, Mommy?" Oops, you know how it is. "Mommy shouldn't have said that, go watch SpongeBob." Jack, "Oh Sh**, Mommy? That Sh**, Mommy?" pointing to the pop-corn on the floor. I've been a Mom long enough to know that it's better to just ignore it at this point, so I grabbed my broom and dust pan. "Go watch TV boys, Mommy is going to clean it up", I tell them. Sean, "That Sh** Mommy?" Really trying to ignore them, I started sweeping the floor when Jake (dog) comes over and starts to eat the pop-corn off the floor. I praise the dog for saving me from sweeping, "Good Boy, Jakie, eat it up." Jack, never seems to miss a beat, "Eat Sh**, Jakie. Eat Sh**." Now you know that I am, at this point, probably turning blue trying my hardest to NOT react to all of this. My 2 year old just told my dog to "EAT SH**!" What would you do? I pick them up take them out of the kitchen and we sit down to watch SpongeBob. The whole time they're going over trying to pick up the pop-corn while Jake is eating it. I usher them away numerous times, until, finally, they give up. About 5 mins. After Jake has finished licking it all up Seanie walks out to the kitchen, looks at the floor, looks at me, puts his hands out to either side, palms up, and says...."Where Sh** go Mommy?" AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! What have I done? LOL Still ignoring the whole thing, I pick him up and say, "Jakie ate all the pop-corn off the floor." Seemingly satisfied with that they continue watching TV, but suddenly remember they never got their snack. Jack jumps up and says, "Need 'nack Mommy". After all that, they never got a snack. Lucky for me there was still a small amount of pop-corn in the bag, enough for each of them to have a little snack bag full. I hand them their snack bags and as they watch TV, I called my Mom to tell her this story. I could no longer hold it in. We talked for about 5 mins. While on the phone Jack & Sean, along with Reilly have migrated to their room. I peek in they're having a "picnic" with their little bit of pop-corn. Seeing all is fine, I go and make my 2nd attempt at doing dishes. I hear Jack calling from his room, "Mommy, meer." As I begin walking towards the bedroom Jack comes running up with his empty snack bag, hands it to me and says...."More Sh** Mommy" LOL

And yes, that was it, I LOST it. Laughed my butt off for about 15 mins.

Moral of the story, if you're going to invite us over, please don't put out pop-corn!

And to think a couple months ago we worried about their delayed speech! LOL

Enjoy the song..."You'll Be in My Heart" from Disney's Tarzan performed by Phil Collins. I dedicate this to my boys..."For one so small you seem so strong" They are the epitomy of strength!

Happy Holidays!!!

I wish everyone the most Joyous of Holidays! Enjoy my most favorite song at Christmas Time! "Believe" by Josh Groban from the movie "Polar Express".

See you in the New Year!

"You have everything you need, if you just Believe."

HOLY HANNAH!!!!!

4 Tickets to the Hannah Montana Concert with the Jonas Brothers: $292.00

2 T-Shirts & 2 Glo-Sticks: $80.00

Food: $40.00

The Look on These Faces:

To See This:

(Hannah Montana front & Jonas Bros. back)

PRICELESS!!!!

Worth every minute and every penny!

When You Tickle a Twin is taking a break for the Holidays! We'll see you in the New Year!

Enjoy your Holidays!