No tricks or treats but we did get a dresser

Just to let you all know Addison didn't wake up with a diaper full of bubbles this morning.

Tonight Victoria spent the night at Mamaw and Papaw's so that she could go around the neighborhood and Trick or Treat. I opted to stay at home and hang out with the babies. I told Mamaw and Papaw when the babies are old enough to eat candy and get themselves in and out of their car seats and walk to to door then I will venture out to take them too. Victoria sounds like she made out like a bandit in candy. Can't wait to see what ones she is willing to share.

My sister and brother-in-law wanted to give the babies a dresser for their birthday. Darwin, my brother-in-law makes them at his work. We haven't' had the chance to go and get it ourselves seeing as though every free moment that James has been home he has been working on the underpinning on the house (which looks great BTW). So tonight they were planning on bringing it by and delivering it themselves. So helpful of them. When they walked in the door Anthony and Addison both hit to roof. They screamed and cried so hard. I am not really sure what the problem was. They have loved on them before but for some reason tonight they just weren't having it. It took them about 20 minutes for either of them to let them touch them, it wasn't pretty.

The dresser is beautiful. It is HUGE and I am so happy that I can store stuff away now and get the nursery even more organized. I love rearranging furniture and getting things as organized as possible. I have everything put away and still have two whole drawers empty in the new dresser and two empty in the small one that I decided to keep in the room. Ah life is good! For a change I feel like we have a small area that isn't crammed with stuff, wait maybe I can store some pots, pans and can goods in that bottom drawer...

Tiny Bubbles

Green beans....NO! Bubbles.......YES!

How do I know??? They're family!

First of all, forgive me I have not had my coffee yet this morning. For some reason I couldn't sleep to save my life last night. I am trying to find a vein so that I can get the coffee IV flowing. lol.

My dad had arranged to have our Gilstrap cousins to come over and fix our gutters. The water runs behind them instead of in them and it is cutting a ditch into our yard. Dad told me that they would be coming but I had kind of forgotten about it.

Every family had that side that you don't tell many people that you are related to them. That side that has arrest records, drive Harleys, and drinks a lot of beer. Well that is the Gilstrap side of the Pennington clan. I have to admit they are funny as heck and are always willing to help out family.

This morning I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. I peered out of my bedroom window to see my 3-4th cousin standing outside in the driveway. He is one of the clean cut ones and apparently owns his own business. I opened the door and Victoria was glued to my side staring at the strange man. I explained to her that they were going to fix our gutters. We walked into the nursery to get the babies diapers changed and Victoria was watching them get the stuff out of the house. I am not sure if the guy helping him is a cousin (he looks like he is) or not but he had long grey hair pulled back into a braid and a long beard that looked almost like ZZ top. He had a red bandanna wrapped around his head and wrap around sunglasses on. Victoria stood there for a while just watching and I could see her mind working. She finally turned to me and said "Mommy are you sure these men are nice?" I turned to her and said "Sure they are. They are family."

Ridding the flab was a flop

Did you know that the childcare room at the YMCA is closed from 1-4 Monday through Friday? I didn't. Mom met me at the house and we took off in the direction of the Y. I had a few errands to run before we went but was making good time. Mom was fading rapidly because she just finished cleaning a house and didn't have much steam left, so we moved quickly.

Once we got there I decided to just take the kids and nothing else that way we could check them into the playroom and decided whether we wanted to work out of swim. Mom decided to let Addison walk on the concrete sidewalk, to show off her skills, and she had her first of many tumbles. So Addison entered the doors crying with a red bump growing on her head. Mom felt horrible and was almost in tears herself. It was shortly thereafter that we noticed the the playroom was closed and we did all of this and only burned the calories that it took to carry the babies in the door. I guess I could include the packing the diaper bag and gym bag too, that burned up about a cracker's worth of calories right?

"I don't know"

That has been the catch phrase of the house these days. I swear Victoria turned 5 and all of a sudden "I don't know." is the answer to everything. It has been driving me nuts. Every time she gets caught doing something she knows she isn't suppose to be doing her response to "Why did you do that?" is "I don't know". It is getting very frustrating.

On a different "I don't know" note, James went to the doctor yesterday to see about the reading of the ultrasound on his leg. The doctor said he didn't see anything abnormal and was curious as to why they even sent James to him. He said that he thought that the "inconclusive" diagnosis was probably the cause. We still don't know what caused the extra swelling and block of blood flow. I am going to take the no news is good news approach.

Hey, I can reach that!

This past week I decided to switch the twins beds in their room. Addison for the past year has been able to look down the hallway and see into the living room from her bed. Anthony, on the other hand, has only had the view of the corner. It has developed his sense of hearing very well. He can't see the door but knows exactly what the creek in the floor sounds like when someone is coming to the nursery room door. He can be playing away and hear someone step on the squeaky spot and know that someone is coming to see him, and his eyes will be glued to the doorway.

The babies have enjoyed the new "view" from their beds, Anthony more so than Addison. Earlier in the day I had the screen door shut on their room (quit laughing) and they were playing on the floor. I had put everything that they could reach, but wasn't suppose to have, up on the dresser next to Addison's bed. They played together really well, the biting has subsided a little between the two of them.

This morning I woke up to Anthony playing in his crib over the monitor. I peeked in the nursery to find Anthony playing with his toys and Addison curled up in her bed clutching a wad of Kleenex like it was a stack of fifties. They were all over her bed, some wadded up and some laying out like blankets. I then noticed their box of Kleenex that I put on the dresser, foolishly close to Addison's bed, on the floor with Kleenexes hanging out of it. Addison just laid there sleeping away with her blankie in one hand and her wad of Kleenex in the other.

Speed bumps

Still lots of bumps in the road here but we are still at least on the road. James had some trouble with swelling in his leg a week or so ago and had to have some test run. They did an ultrasound and some blood work. He was sent home with some antibiotics and water pills. He has been really sore due to the antibiotics but the redness has gone away considerably. He finally got a call from the doctor the other day about his test results. Seems they found something wrong with the lymph node in his groin ( you can imagine where my mind is going when a lymph node is mentioned). They are sending him to a surgeon. Prayers are needed.

One of my best friends Melissa went to the hospital Tuesday. She was on her way to work and started to have numbness in her hand, knee and face, all on the right side. She went to the hospital and they did all kinds of tests including a spinal tap, MRI, and I believe a CAT scan. They did find an area of her brain on the left side that they are unsure what it is. They are trying to rule out a stroke, or MS from what I am gathering. She was released today. I haven't heard any word yet on whether they found what the cause was or not all I know is she is going home today. Prayers are needed.

Addison is now running a fever of 101.6. She is getting fussy and very clingy. I believe that she is getting what Anthony had. I called the doc to see if we could get another dose of the antibiotic that they gave Anthony so that we don't have another trip to the emergency room this weekend. Prayers are needed.

My neck is out. I have been sitting on a bag of frozen peas this evening. It started off being just a little stiff but as the day progresses it is getting stiffer and stiffer. Prayers are needed.

I did manage to get some baking done on this rainy day. I love baking when it rains. I tried an apple tart that looks like it came from the bakery of Whole Foods, if I do say so myself. It is just georgeous. I haven't tried it yet. I am afraid that if I like it I won't stop eating it till the pan is empty, and I want James to try it too. I wanted to get some more baking done. I have a wonderful recipe for a pumpkin roll that I wanted to take to a friend that had a birthday this past Monday. She seems to be craving pumpkin in her pregnant state. (You know who you are ;)! One is on the way and you won't have to tip toe around Kroger. LOL.

Drama

The video of the drama that I was in at church was posted this week. Hopefully you can see it well enough to be able to understand what we were trying to convey. It was also a great sermon that weekend. Check it out.



The Family You've Gotta Have from Northside Christian on Vimeo.ck

Anthony seems to be doing better today. When I woke him up his nose was looking much better. His temp has went WAY down. Poor little thing I could hear him snoring in the monitor all last night. The pediatrician called yesterday with the test results and said that all of the test were fine. No RSV, and no pneumonia. I don't know who to believe. The ER doc said he saw some fluid in his lungs. All I know is some medicine and lots of hugs and kissses will fix it.

Now just time to get the house done. My house used to stay much cleaner when I was working, and my car was trashed with drive-thru bags and all kinds of junk. Now my house looks like it takes the beating since we are home all of the time. My car looks great though, just the occasional runaway pacifier found under the seat. Funny how it shows where you spend your time.

Victoria is getting ready to go to Mamaw and Papaw's house for the night and mom is coming over for me to color her hair and give her a cut. She is going to watch the babies so that I can go to my bible study tonight. I don't know what I would do without my mom, she is such a help in my daily life.

The first of many trips to the hospital for Anthony

Yesterday Anthony started running a fever. It hit 102.6 yesterday. James and I have been keeping an eye on him today. At 7:30pm his temp was 103.6 so off to the hospital he went. Floyd Memorial was great. They got us in really quick and started running tests. After two tries to get a blood sample and a set of x-rays in the plastic tube (which reminded me of Augustus Gloop in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) the doc told us that he looks like he has a touch of pneumonia.

He is doing well now. I have to say he has been a trooper. He hasn't been fussy and only cried when they were poking on him. He was a real mommy's boy tonight. After a shot of antibiotics and a prescription to take home my little guy is in bed knocked out. Looks like we are heading to our pediatrician tomorrow.

Runny nose and dirty clothes

Our little Anthony is sick. He started running a fever yesterday afternoon and his little nose is so runny. James and I have been giving him medicine and playing with him. You would never know that he wasn't feeling bad to watch him. He is just as content as can be. At least he isn't uncomfortable. Addison is starting to get it too. Looks like it's going to be a Lysol week in our house.

James is off to change trucks at work. A buddy of his is leaving and is giving him his truck because it has some stuff on it to make James life on the road a little more comfortable. He took Victoria with him to get us out of each other's hair for a bit. So here I am cleaning and trying to make my house look like a tornado didn't hit it. Wish I could just hire someone and just take a nap! I know I will feel better when it is done.

Plans for the day, Wake up, Survive, Go back to bed.

I have to admit, I had a ball at Travis and Marlina's wedding last night. Everything went off without a hitch and we danced the whole reception, it was great. The food was amazing, and the staff at 300 Spring was top notch! I highly recommend them to anyone getting married or need to rent a space for any function. I have never seen anything go so smoothly.

But, now reality has settled back in. All of the dust has settled from the wedding bliss and I have to be honest I feel like I have been emotionally ran over. Victoria has been off the charts with her behavior. James and I have exhausted what we feel are all methods of discipline, nothing seems to be working!!! I am at my wits end. I have contemplated just running outside with my hands in the air screaming, scaring everything in my path and running straight ahead through buildings and whatever else my be in my path, just leaving "mom freaking out" holes in everything I have left behind. I called my mom from the wedding to check on the kids, she was feeling my pain too with her along with my sister. She said that she wanted to call and have us come and get her a few hours earlier in the day she just couldn't handle her. I just don't know what to do with her, I feel like I have tried everything and I have ran out of answers.

This past month has just been really rough. I feel like Satan has focused on me more than others here in the past 5-6 weeks. I have ,for some reason, listened and believed every word he has said. He has been very successful at stealing my joy, confidence, self-worth, devaluing me as a human being, and testing the loyalty of people close to me. From finding out that one of my step daughters, old enough to know better, knowingly, was the one that brought lice into our home, and was told to "Grow up and get over ourselves" ,by her mother when I confronted her and her daughter about it, to people that I love lying to me by omission. I just feel very broken these days and exhausted from life.

I don't mean to complain or say that my problems are the end of the world. I am well aware that things that I deal with on a day to day basis are a drop in the bucket compared to others. I am not wanting anyone to feel sorry for me, or to feel like they need to help fix anything. I just need some extra prayers and an umbrella from this storm.

Playing catch up!

This morning I got to spend a little time just playing with the babies. Victoria spent the night at Mamaw and Papaw's house and the house was a little quieter, even though I miss her.

While playing in the nursery floor with the babies Anthony decided that he really wanted his cracker container really bad. I decided to take advantage and try to get him to take few steps like sissy using the container to tempt him. It worked! He took 3 steps, little ones, but none the less steps! Hooray.........Oh crap that means I am going to have 3 walkers in the house now! I am going to lose that weight that I have been wanting.

Anthony's temper is evolving. When he wants something and he can't get it he has started the "just fall backwards and cry" method to the dilemma. So you need to picture him standing, squatting down a little with his head thrown backwards giving the "oh my gosh I am just going to die if I don't get this" cry. It was quite hilarious! That's my boy! Addison did start clapping after he fell down. She was very proud of him.

Well now Anthony has caught up to Sissy. He can wave, blow kisses, clap his hands, dance like a wild man, "put on the lotion" (rub his hands together) and take a few steps. Lucy is no longer safe!

I don't care if you can see or not take them off!

That was the cry of Addison tonight. Tonight I had some friends come over to get a haircut. We have now deemed my house "Trailer Trims". When they walked in the door Addison started to throw a fit. I couldn't get her calmed down even holding her. When I put her down she just crawled up my legs and buried her head in my legs screaming. Felecia, my friend, asked if it was the glasses were the cause. It hit me that she acted the same way when my friends Dave and Jill came over to bring me my birthday cake, see Dave it wasn't just you. They took their glasses off and the crying stopped. They spent the rest of the night "listening" to the TV and feeling their way around. God love them!

Halloween surprise!

Tonight after checking out Harvest Homecoming Mom and I decided it was a perfect night for the Louisville zoo's Halloween party. We dressed up Victoria in her cat outfit that she finally settled on and packed up the babies costumes too.

tfit

Victoria was getting checked out by Addison she didn't understand what the makeup and ears were for.



Addison was very excited to get into her pumpkin costume. It was very strange putting this on her knowing that this was my first Halloween costume that mom make me 31 years ago. Who would've known that when mom was making it that it would be worn by my daughter too so many years later.




Anthony in his famous Lion costume. He wasn't too impressed as you can tell in the upcoming pictures. We didn't realize that he was burning up in it the whole night.



My little ones getting ready to take off and get some candy.



Victoria on her lizard friend that she has to pose on everytime we go to the zoo.



I had to crop this one for you to see the look on Anthony's face when he saw the lion on the Wizard of Oz set.



"What yellow brick road?"



Peek-a-boo!




This was Mommy and Grandma's thought exactly on the way home.

Santa eats at Tucker's???

Today I had to go and get my permanent crowns put on at the dentist. Mom after winning a jackpot on the boat treated us to lunch at Tucker's. I haven't eaten there before but it was REALLY good!

While walking up to the door to enter the restaurant I noticed that "Santa" was standing next to the door. We have a resident Santa that lives in New Albany. He is such a sweet man and it always in character. He had on suspenders and a Christmas red hat. Victoria cautiously approached him, and gave him a hug. He handed her a picture of him under the Christmas tree and a Christmas bell attached to a red ribbon. Victoria loved it!

After we entered Tucker's Victoria noticed that Santa was coming into eat too. He waved at her from the back of the restaurant. Needless to say Victoria ate her Chicken fingers while peering over her shoulder at Santa eating his sandwich. It was so cute.

Oh the adorableness that you can find at a yard sale! Mom found this lion costume for Boogie for 3 bucks and we are in love! Addison is going to wear my old costume from my second Halloween! It is a pumpkin. It is a very surreal experience to see her in something that was made for me when I was a baby. Can't wait for the zoo!

Ready for the latest issue?

Head lice, yep I said it head lice. Victoria apparently caught it at church this weekend. In my 11 years of being in the hair industry I have never had to deal with it before. I was upset to say the least when James and I were approached in church with the news. Another friend of mine had her son come home with it last week. I have been busy doing laundry and spraying everything the I can get my hands on.

Right now Victoria is outside playing while I do some down and dirty cleaning in my house making sure that no sign of it is in the house. I am getting ready to do a home remedy that I found online. I am going to coat her hair in olive oil and leave it in for a few hours with a cap on. I read that they hate heat and it is best to stay in a warm environment, plus the olive oil will suffocate anything left from the treatment. I am going to send her back outside to play with her shower cap on. I know you are laughing while itching your head thinking about it. Fortunately myself and the babies have no signs of it and I plan to keep it that way. So beware the germaphobe is dealing with head lice! Get out your purell and your spray bottles of alcohol. Can you picture our little trailer park Victoria outside with her shower cap playing restaurant and me in the house with my gas mask on cleaning diligently? It is quite a site. Any advice to make sure that this doesn't return is GREATLY appreciated! My laundry just buzzed at me got to get onto the next load.

Ten "little whiles"

Victoria and I headed out with the babies tonight to run some errands. We met Daddy at work to bring him some lunch and grab some hugs and kisses, then off to Hobby Lobby to grab some supplies for a project for the upcoming wedding.

Victoria and the babies recieved a gift from a friend Ami Latta this past week. She got them gift cards to Babies R Us and Victoria's is to Target, like I need an excuse to go to Target! I told her that if she was good today that we would go shopping and she could use her "credit card" as she called it.

All evening long she kept asking "Are going to Target yet? Are we about to go to Target? Are we going to Target in a little while? Is Target next?" I kept repeating to her "In a little while!" I needed to get some stuff done tonight and Target has a way of freezing time for me and I can be in there for hours and not realize it.

We finally made our way to Target, her eyes were as big around as dinner plates with the knowledge that SHE had money to spend. She first picked up a new puzzle. She is a wiz at solving puzzles it amazes me. Then off to the clothes she picked out a Halloween T-shirt with a princess skull on it and a pair of slipper socks that look like cats, complete with a tail on the back, they are so cute. She proudly paid for her merchandise with her credit card and we were off to the house.

By the time we made it home it was a quarter till ten and I was fading quickly. I sat outside on the swing and she entertained me with songs from High School Musical and a show and tell of her prizes for the day. I told her that she was good so we would work her puzzle before she went to bed. She immediately grabbed the puzzle out of the bag and "read" the box to me....."Do this puzzle piece with Victoria before she goes to bed, it will probably take 10 little whiles" What a creative staller she is making sure that it would take a long time to solve and therefore prolonging bed time. It worked, she made it to bed in her new slipper socks at 10:30. Thank you Ami!