Jul 14
Everyone,
We made it back to Maryland safe and sound. It was a long 4 days in the road. But I’m so proud of us because we fit 6 people and our stuff into Fern Tree the van. Oh, and a dog and her stuff too. Which was bulky. Next time I’m taking the travel dog crate that is soft. If there is a next time that is.
I’m trying to get back into the habit of blogging every day so you’ll have to forgive me if these posts are a little sparse/travel log-ish for awhile.
Yesterday I took my dad to the airport and got my car fixed. It squealed almost the whole way home. Apparently the new belt I had put in it before we left had bad tension and it broke one of the pullies. We also went to the library and signed everyone, including Flower, for the summer reading program.
Can I just say I love having Flower with us? Seriously, I need a nice helpful 15 year old of my own. 
Juice and I were able to go out on a date last night (to Target for soap and m&ms and then to my friend’s house to fix her computer) and it was fun just to be us. We didn’t have to worry about getting anyone out of the car or herd people around the store. It was nice. So yay for Flower and all her help!
Today we met up with a lot of other Maryland mommy bloggers in a park about 40 minutes from here. My friend Lolli and her son AJ came along. It was fun to see everyone in person, although I don’t know if any of them read this. Mostly Lolli knows them. It was nice to have some adult conversation and Butterfly played really well at the park.
Professor has decided that he can take 4-6 steps in a row! Both the boys had their first steps in Utah but just today Professor is starting to walk more and more. It’s only a matter of time before he’s off running!
See ya tomorrow!
Safire
SafireMaryland, P and P firsts, Professor mile stones, road trips
Jan 03
Everyone,
I don’t know what got in my head today but I was ready for the boys to move from their infant car seats to their big kid car seats. Probably because the car seats were in big boxes in our our entry way and I am trying to keep our house semi-box free. Or maybe it’s because I have hard time carrying them in their infant seats. 17 pounds plus the three or four pounds of car seat in each hand is very hard. I’ve been finding myself more often than not unbuckling them and putting them in the sling or the backpack or both to get around.
Juice was nice enough to clean the Fern Tree Van today (after promising to do it for 3 weeks, ever since he spilled cereal all over the back). He then took out the baby seats, and installed the big seats. They are the exact same kind as Butterfly’s, but they are grey instead of brown. If anyone is interested in which brand we got they can click here (and then click on the Sunshine Radian 80 demo).
The reason why we picked this brand is because they are one of the tallest car seats in the business, and also the slimmest. If we ever need to fit three across the backseat of a car, we can! (Hey look, our van seats 7. We could have another set of twins and not have to buy a new car!) Right now, we have the boys in the captain chairs and Butterfly in the back. She likes to be in the back because she has her own cup holder, light, and window button. When the boys become forward facing in a few short months, we will move one back to the back seat and have one of the captain chairs open. Of course, with this set up, no one can ride in our car unless they are extremely agile because the only open seats are in the very back seat.
It seems weird to put them in these seats. They seem so small still. And yet, they were ready to get out of the infant seats. I hope these will be the last big car seats we have to buy. Butterfly will probably be in a booster seat when the next baby is born (if there is a next baby) so he or she can have hers when they are ready. Of course, we could have another set of twins (hahaha) and then we’ll have to buy at least one more.
I can’t believe how big they are getting!
Safire
Safirenew van, P and P firsts
Nov 29
Everyone,
Thanksgiving was great! We had such a good time and had a bunch of good food. 
The turkey turned out perfectly (see picture). We had an impressive spread and enjoyed every bite. Butterfly and Vinny ate well. Well, Butterfly only wanted to eat cranberries (and probably ate 4 servings of it) and Vinny only wanted to eat butternut squash. And neither would touch the other. I had a great meal. It could have been relaxing.
Only that Lala and I decided to feed our babies solid foods for the first time. For all 3 of them. Mimi is just a few weeks older than my boys. We really didn’t plan that for dinner time, they were just all hungry at the same time. So out come the sweet potatoes and the mess!
I have to admit, I have been putting off feeding the boys solid foods. They were interested, they had had little bites. I just didn’t want to go into the realm of actual solid foods because of the mess. But I am over that hurdle and on we go to solids! They both ate the entire bowl of sweet potatoes and were asking for more at the end.
Today was a little less messy because they learned quickly to keep their hands out of the way of the spoon or they don’t get the spoon. Of course, Professor then sticks his hands in his mouth and manages to get it all over everything. Ahh…reminds me of Butterfly! Pirate is turning out to be a tidy eater and hopefully that will stay true.
Anyway, we got the kids ready for bed and put Vinny and Mimi (Vinny’s baby sister) in Butterfly’s room. Vinny had the bed and Mimi had our pack and play. We then put Butterfly and the boys in the boys’ room. The boys are still sleeping in the same crib and our other crib is up. The boys in their crib, and Butterfly in her old crib. She was thrilled to be sleeping in the same room with them. It also reminded me how big she has gotten. The crib seemed to swallow her up when she was a baby, and now she barely fits in it.
One funny story about them being together. Each time one of them cried, she would pipe up “A baby is crying Mommy!” as loud as she could and they would both stop crying. There was one point when I heard shrieks of laughter coming from their room. I sent Juice up to tell everyone to go to bed. He asked her if she was playing with the baby brothers. She said no. He said to go to sleep. She said, “But Pirate isn’t asleep. He wants to play.” Uh-huh. You aren’t playing with them huh? In the end, they all ended up sleeping. Even Vinny and Mimi slept.
The adults, on the other hand, did not. After we cleaned up a bit and started a load of dishes, we played card games. One specific card game. We love this game. It is hysterical! (If you want to get Juice something for Christmas, we do not have 3, 5, 6, or 7. Just a hint.) In what game can you have shiny false teeth of doom or mutilate Santa’s body to go up a level? We stayed up till 12:30am playing this game. Poor Juice kept getting cursed (there’s a chicken on your head! loose one small item! this item is now useless but stuck to you!, you have to be generous and give away your stuff!) and yet he still won the game 5 of the 8 times we played. Everyone won at least once. Everyone had a dismal game somewhere in there. And every laughed till we cried at one point.
A big thanks to Lala, Vinny, Mimi, and MP for making this a crazy fun Thanksgiving!
The day after…ah the day after. We put up our tree. We opened a great box from my mom with our yearly Christmas ornaments and treats. Music to listen to, Christmas pjs for the kids, and caramel hot chocolate. My mommy loves me. This stuff is AMAZING and I think I had 3 cups yesterday.
In the Christmas box is a kids nativity that Butterfly had to play with instead of hanging up ornaments. Oh she hung a few up, but she “had important people to play with.” The boys stare at the tree every time we turn the lights on. Pirate was especially interested in the ornaments and really really really wanted to eat each one. Professor liked the tree skirt. It’s sparkly.
Now excuse me while I go have another cup of this and listen to my music. Thank you.
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008, Lala and Vinny, NaBloPoMo, P and P firsts, Thanksgiving 2008
Nov 08
Everyone,
A few days ago BOTH boys slept through the night. It was amazing. I’m not sure why I didn’t blog about it before since it was the very first time that that had happened. They slept from 6pm-5am with a few squeaks and squirms but nothing they couldn’t handle themselves. Around 11pm, I poked my head in to make sure they were both still living (yes, still do that) and they were right next to each other, facing each other, arms linked and tushes in the air. It was SO cute. I wanted to take a picture but I feared I would wake them up and then they wouldn’t have this momentous occasion for the books. (I did not sleep through the night. I had to break out the pump around midnight and again around 3am for obvious reasons.)
I tell you this now to contrast it to my night last night. Juice and I had date night (Transformers and popcorn) and Professor woke up about 10pm to eat. Okay, we were just getting to the good part when Optimus Prime and MegaTron were fighting and I wrote the end of the movie. He ate quickly, and back into be for him. Juice has been sick so he took some nyquil and we went to be around 10:30pm. Midnight, Professor wakes up again. And as I’m feeding him and nearly falling out of the chair, Pirate starts to fuss and suck his thumb nosily. So I feed him after I’m done with Professor and get back into bed around 12:45pm. 1:15am, Butterfly wakes up crying because she is coughing so bad she can’t sleep. I give her some cough medicine and soothe her back down. 3am, she wakes up again and wants more cough medicine. She gets a drink of water instead and some snuggle time. 3:30am, Professor wakes up for his food. 4:15am, just 15 minutes after I got back into my bed, Butterfly is up coughing again. I break out the vapor rub and hope that it helps her to sleep. She’s out within a few minutes and I stagger back into bed. 6am rolls around and both Pirate and Professor are talking but happy. I feed them and fall back into bed. I believe around 8:30am all the kids woke up, but I was too groggy to notice the time. I got up close to 9am to get everyone and get the day started. So I got maybe 3 hours of sleep? I feel okay today but tomorrow I’m going to be hurting.
We drove to our old neighbor’s house out in the country today and spent the afternoon with her. We love going to Ida’s house! They have the biggest back yard and lots of animals to look at and play with. Juice, Ida, Butterfly and Ida’s 2 dogs and our dog went out to play. I sat and fed the boys and watched tv. What a treat since we no longer have any tv. We had a yummy dinner of lasagna, salad, bread, and cake. I gave the boys crusts to maul while we ate and Professor ate 2 short pieces and cried when there was no more bread for him. They are so ready for food. (Soon, soon.)
Butterfly spent most of the evening playing with Ida’s new dog gates. It has a little door in the gate for small animals to get through. Well, her dog and her foster dog are both small and can fit through that little door. So Butterfly made them go in and out all evening. They were so cute playing and the dogs were good sports. Soot would like a cat for Christmas because they have a few and she couldn’t take her eyes off of them.
We left early in the evening because bedtime for kiddos is early. But it was good because I am exhausted and hopefully will get to bed shortly after this publishes.
Like now. Good night!
Safire
SafireIda, NaBloPoMo, P and P firsts, Soot
