thetadpoles.com

This has nothing to do with my children but I ran across this video and it brought to mind family pictures when I was younger. If I thought trying to get 2 kids to look into the camera and smile was hard try doing it with 4 kids. Inevitably someone would end up crying and there would be shots with sulky children. I guess you never outgrow it. (I love the line where the guy says “Come out of the bathroom” then you hear “Put down the yardstick!”)

So last week I hurt myself when I stepped on a metal hook. How stupid and klutzy of me. Then today I nearly broke my neck and I realized I’M not klutzy! My kids just leave toys out in such a way it is like navigating land mines.

While getting ready to take Derby to therapy this morning I heard a funny noise coming from the twins room. I walked over to investigate and saw the two of them standing on their dresser messing with the shutters.

I ran to put my coffee on the banister so I could get them down. In that process I tripped over Loen’s Penelope the Pup wooden makeup case, crashed into the upstairs gate which proceeded to pop open. In the last second I was able to grab the edge of the bannister before I plummeted down the stairs. Do you want to know what went through my head once I realized I was ok?

• If I had fallen down the stairs and injured myself how long would it have taken someone to find me?
• What would the twins have gotten into if left to their own devices?
• Perhaps I should invest in one of those panic buttons they market to the elderly
• Why the hell was that toy by the stairs anyways, considering I had just moved it away from there earlier?
• It was their own fault I broke the edge of said toy



• Thank goodness I hurt my other foot this time. If I had hurt the one that stepped on the metal hook I would have been really annoyed.

The gate no longer closes it only swings the opposite direction. Perhaps Handy Daddy can fix that.

The twins watched all this with wide eyes. They were yelling “Mama what happened??” Then they calmly climbed off the dresser.

Hello Monday we’re in full force.

We’ve had a little bit of interest in the Tadpoles lately. To see full site click on the picture.

Cascade Dafo Newsletter:

Miraflex Glasses

About.com. They asked to use a photo of Loen for their article on micropreemies.

Sometimes you forget. Well, I’ll never truly forget but things slip by the wayside. As I clean up yogurt off the wall for the umpteenth time or get Loen to leave her clothes on or my favorite – try to get Derby in his own bed versus ours. I feel overwhelmed and hassled by the mess, bickering and constant “NO!” I hear everyday. I forget about the hours spent hovering over their incubators. Wishing they would stop riding the vent or for no residuals after a feed. I forget about whispering the words to “You are my sunshine” as I touched a tiny hand. Crying because I wasn’t allowed to touch their hand.

When I’m crabby and think oh my God did they poop again or why did Loen just pour the brush water from painting over her brother, I need to stop and think this was all we ever wanted. To hear their cry, pray they would walk and see. That they would live.
Sometimes you just need a reminder.

Oh my god are they licking the mirror I just cleaned?? Deep breaths Hava, remember, remember, remember…..

We’ve had the never ending week of sick kids. We get over ear infections only to get a cold we just can’t seem to shake.Then Derby came down with croup which resulted in a 3 am trip to the ER for steroids and a breathing treatment. Hence the reason we’ve been shut ins. Funny thing about sick kids, it hasn’t slowed them down a bit. They’re just getting snot on everything and acting crabbier than normal. To get rid of energy we’ve moved the cars out of the garage and setup super kid land. Tadd was saying we have a ridiculous amount of toys. Is there such a thing??
There is an easel, jolly jumper, plasma cars, trikes and not to mention the wall that Tadd painted with magnetic/chalk paint. I put the gate across the opening and they’re free to play. It has worked out quite well.

Last night a new prize was delivered by the UPS man, a slide from Papa Don and Mima T. Carlos (our UPS driver) looked across the street where we have a playground and made a comment that it was crazy we were getting a slide. Obviously he has never run around a play structure catching kids as they almost fall 6′ down. I liked that we would have a little sanctuary to play at night, when sick, if it rained or if mama didn’t want to get out of her sweats to go outside.

Just for reference the park is literally out our front door.

I want you to notice the metal gong holder on the blanket by the slide. I’m not sure why we have this thing but the twins enjoy clanging the bell and making a ton of noise (the gong is under the plasma car wheels)

This is what happens when you think your daughter is going to fall off the slide so you jump up to save her only you land on the stupid gong holder instead. Of course my tetanus shot was WAY past due. Nothing like a trip to urgent care for a shot and some steri-strips.

Here is where owning your own slide really comes in handy. Since I’m having some trouble walking I dragged the slide upstairs and they happily played while I rested my foot.

The fate of the gong hangs in the balance. The twins happiness or another accident waiting to happen?

Why our house is in a constant state of upheaval.

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Auntie T sent the twins a fab care package. They were most excited about their new monkey jammies.

The first day of July started out with a screaming bang. Literally as Derby threw a ridiculous temper tantrum and whacked his head on my side table. We still don’t know what triggered it. I was afraid today was going be another bad day. Two terrible twos can wear on you sometimes. But it has turned out to be a good day so far. I should go knock on my wood side table now, it owes me some luck.

Derby on his way to therapy. Lately he has been wanting to bring “lil baby” to therapy with him. He holds her while they make him walk on the treadmill.

With Derby at therapy Loen & I went to the mall to return something. While there she stopped at the Hello Kitty display at Macys. She was so overcome with adoration she had to kiss the kitty sweatpants

Next stop was Gymboree. They’re having a big sale and I was looking for some inexpensive flips for the twins. Loen told me “I like those”. I told her spandangle boots do not come in her size.

Then they went down for a long nap with no fuss

The best part: