What the heck I'm 33????

How did this happen? I act like I am 22, feel like I am 80 but I am inching toward mid thirties at an alarming rate. Oh father time be gentle. lol

Today started with the rush of getting Victoria ready for school and grabbing a shower myself. I have found my groove for Tuesday morning Bible study I believe. Great group of women at my table and they have welcomed me with open arms as their table leader. I have to say that Beth Moore is blowing my mind with the knowledge that she is giving me on the book of Daniel. I am learning a lot! We have just entered into Chapter 2 and my head is spinning.

Mom met me at home afterwards and we headed off to Golden Corral for lunch. That is the best place for a family to eat. Addison ate her weight in mashed potatoes and Anthony felt like a big boy drinking out of his cup with a straw. Crissy my friend from church joined us and entertained us with her story of her windshield wiper handle breaking in her car on the way over to lunch. She had to drive the whole way with her windshield wipers going back and forth, back and forth. We were cracking up.

Off to shopping afterwards. We hit our Goodwill first to see if we could find any treasures. Nada! By that time school was letting out and we grabbed Victoria. A quick trip to Target and we were D-O-N-E! Addison was getting really fussy and Anthony had enough of sitting in a cart and was standing up.

Dinner was the convenience of Little Ceasers and what was left of my Pumpkin roll that Leslie brought over last night. Just as delicious! Many phone calls and birthday wishes and a little surprise at my door when I got home from my friend Jill, who has provided a good dose of chocolate on the past two birthdays. Last birthday they was at my Kroger buying my cake and saw me in the store. They spent the rest of the time dodging me from aisle to aisle till they could deliver it once I got home. So funny.

It is great when friends know your true desires..

LESLIE DAY!!! What would I do without my friends, I have the best! Leslie met us after our hour and a half wait at Walmart pharmacy for our refills of our meds. Addison chewed out the pharmacist for our wait. I am not sure what she was saying to her, but by the tone of her voice she was about as done with Walmart as I was. Miss Attitude. :)

Leslie came prepared with a pumpkin roll for my cake. Such a sweet gesture because I taught her how to make them last year. I have to say that she was a good study because she nailed it! Best one that I have had. She presented me with a gift bag and upon opening it I found one of the best T-shirts in the world. "I love lamp!" is written on the front of it. She truly knows how to make a girl laugh. Now if I can just get my hair to smell like Cinnamon.

3 years!

In the famous words of Shania Twain, "Looks like we've made it. Look how far we have come my baby!" Yes I know that some married many, many years may look at that and laugh at a short 3 years, but I am awful proud of our little 3 years. James and I didn't get to celebrate together this year, but in spirit we were together. I am looking forward to many years of loving you and being your wife, Honey. I find it funny that it poured today, just like on our wedding day. Nothing matched our sunset though.

One fun thing today that happened was the twins and I had our first playgroup meeting while Victoria was at school today. I had a really good time. I was apprehensive about it. I wasn't sure if I wanted to participate or not, but I am glad that I did. The kids got along well with the others and Addison will have many boyfriends. She was the only toddler girl out of 8 kids. The only other girl was also a twin (another b/g set) and she was 3 months old. Addison spent most of her time chatting up us adults using her please and thank you.

10 minutes...

In just ten minutes of my day I started a load of laundry, Addison removed 3 diapers that were duck taped on, Anthony removed his also and was spanking himself for me, I took the garbage to the end of the driveway to be greeted with torrential downpour before I hit the porch on my way back, I went to put a new garbage bag in the trash can and couldn't find the lid and found it a few minutes later under all of the clothes that I shoved into the washing machine. It was placed perfectly right on top of the agitator and was tangled up in the sheets that had been peed on throughout the day. I am going to bed, before I hurt myself. :0) This was just 1 minutes of my day, you don't want to know the rest. You have got to laugh!

Potty Procrastination

I set today to be the day for potty training. I got up this morning and set up both potty chairs in the bathroom, marshmallows (for reward), or "I can potty" book, one pair of underwear and panties. It has now been 30 minutes and the seat to the potty chair is on the floor in the living room, Anthony has his underwear on his head, I have a bite mark on my arm from him, Anthony has a bite mark on his hip from Sissy, and they are now in bed with diapers on. I am beat, and not sure I am ready for this. Are they ready? Am I ready? I would say "NO" and "No".

Old Settlers Days and my husbands return

Early this morning I packed up the children and headed up north to Mom and Dad's to go to Old Settler's Days. We had a ball! Victoria got a kick out of seeing everyone in their pioneer clothes and learned about animal hides and how they made rope back in the old days. My Mom told Victoria that Abraham Lincoln was going to be there Victoria raised her eyebrows and told my Mom "Um, Grandma, Abraham Lincoln is dead!" She kept asking about seeing old honest Abe, she was quite puzzled about how he was to make an appearance. Anthony and Addison loved the old train depot. In the basement they have a replica of Salem and the train train runs through it. It was really something to see. Anthony about clawed my shoulder off when we tried to leave.

This morning I spoke with James to see if he was on his way. He had found two rental car places in the area and wasn't having any luck. One place didn't have any cars and the other that would deliver a car to him had someone call in and there was only one person at work and he couldn't leave, figures! He waited for someone to get off work at the shop and they drove him to get his car. Poor guy, they gave him a Chevy Cobalt. James cracked jokes that they didn't provide him with a stick of butter to get him in the car. I laughed and told him that it could be worse it could be a smart car. lol. He made it just in time for church. He walked in the door within 2 minutes of worship starting. It was so good to see him!

Happy 5th Birthday Victoria.

Crissy, my buddy from church came over and we had a ball while Victoria was off to school. We covered her room in streamers and balloons. We decorated the car with balloons and signs saying "Honk if your 6!" and "Victoria for President". I decided last minute to try to get Victoria from school again so that she could be picked up in front of her friends with the signs and decorations on the car. I stepped inside the doorway to the office and waited for what seemed like forever for the secretary to get off of the phone so that she could tell me that it wasn't possible for Victoria to be put in the car riders line. Oh well I will go back to my decorated car that is holding up the carpool line and go home. My decorations will be appreciated elsewhere. lol.

She was so happy and embarrassed to see our car waiting to get her. She had on a crown from school and was covered in stickers! She hopped in the car and did take notice of her brother in the chicken costume that mom and I found at Goodwill earlier this week. Anthony insisted on wearing it and DID NOT want to take it off, it just wasn't happening. I ran out of time to argue with him so into the car we went with Anthony in his zip up jammies (arms and legs cut out in our attempt to keep his diaper on) and one, not two, but one of my Halloween socks that he also HAD to wear with a full chicken suit. He looked absolutely ridiculous, and hilarious! We rolled down the window so that he wouldn't have a heat stroke. He was sweating and happy as can be, to him he looked GREAT!

Victoria picked Little Ceaser's pizza of course for her birthday celebration. We headed back home and had our feast along with homemade cinnamon pizza sticks. yummy! Victoria opened up her presents from us and Crissy and was off playing before we knew what happened.

James called shortly after the festivities to let me know that his truck has again broken down. He was stuck in Columbus OH and I may need to pack up the kids and make the 3 hour drive to get him and take him back on Monday. Everything got turned upside down in one phone call. He didn't have any answers because the transmission tech was getting off work, his truck was in pieces in the shop and he didn't know what his options were. I sat on the couch in my own predicament wondering if I should be packing up children or not and what I was going to do if I needed to get to the bathroom on the way. The things you take for granted when you don't have children.

James called back shortly that we wouldn't need to come and get him and he was going to get a rental car and come home that way. He called back a few minutes later to tell me that all of the rental places were closed and he was stuck sleeping in the drivers room in a recliner for the night and had to start over on the rental car tomorrow. My poor man has the worst luck.

Victoria and I salvaged the rest of the night once we knew that we weren't leaving and watched the movie Inkheart. Such a good movie. Victoria and I loved it and I let her sleep in bed with me, she loves that. She feel so grown up when she sleeps with Mommy. Some birthday snuggles and we were snoring.

Early Birthday celebration

Mom came over and we headed out early to do a little running. I am proud and scared to say that I have two packs of underwear and panties in a size 2T. I am getting very tired of changing sheets multiple times daily from removed diapers so I am going to give it my best shot starting next week. We will see how this goes.

Mom and I picked up Victoria from the bus stop and headed off to the grocery store after a quick bite of Birthday cake then off to CiCi's pizza (Victoria's pick). Victoria. Where Victoria got "Birthday cheese" (to long of a story to explain)

Victoria has been an angel the past couple of days and has stayed on the color green on the behavioral chart at school. I tried to pick her up from school yesterday for the first time and didn't realize how complicated the carpool line is. I got stuck and the bus came to pick Victoria up from school and she was home before I was able to make it back to the bus stop. I was proud as a peacock because she did exactly what I told her to do. She went straight to the Pines office and told Terri the secretary to call me and she even gave her my phone number. I am glad that I was only 30 seconds away from her and felt bad that I wasn't there but so proud that she did exactly what she needed to do and was safe.

I was up till midnight getting baths done and making brownie bites in the oven. I had planned on making frog cupcakes to go with the theme of Mrs. Anderson's room but decided to go the easy route and make something that I could stick in Victoria's backpack and she could take to school herself. They apparently went over well. My Tupperware came home empty.

Apparently "fast food" is not fast enough.

This morning after dropping Victoria off at the bus stop I had to run to the bank and make a deposit. The deposit I needed to make just happened to be on State Street where there is a Chick-fil-a. Like I could pass an opportunity like that up! I hit up the drive through for some of their awesome breakfast. My windows were rolled down so that the twins could see the "magic window" that food comes out of. Addison was on the opposite side of the car from the drive thru window but that didn't stop her from speaking her mind to the friendly worker trying to put together our order. Addison turned to the open window and yells "I'M STARVING!!". I started cracking up and so did Georgia (the Chick-fil-a employee). It is so hard to just blend into normal society.

Latest trip to the ER

Yesterday morning Anthony woke up struggling to breathe. In a panic I called James and my Mom. James called his mom and told her to hurry over and take care of Addison and Victoria so that I could rush Anthony to the ER. I hurried to Floyd Co. and immediately noticed the difference from going to the ER at 1am, to 8am. There was only one person in the waiting room. I was floored to find that Anthony's oxygen was at 97% even with his wheezing and labored breathing. He was immediately sent to a room and we sat there for 6 hours. One shot of steroids, a breathing treatment, and an X-ray later we were admitted. The doc said that Anthony's breathing was still labored so he wanted to keep him for observation. I had my mom bring me some clothes and watch him while I headed off to the cafeteria to get some food before we got our room. I am not a fan of the hospital but hospital visits with a toddler are even more intersting because it isn't like you can leave the room and go to the bathroom when he is hooked up to monitors. I tried to get everything that I could done before mom left.

We entered our room and I tired to get him to sleep to give him and my back some rest. He was hooked up to a heart monitor, oxygen and respiratory monitor too. At about 4:30 his eyes were closing and my Mother-in-law came into visit. He was wide awake after that 5 minute visit and it was 10pm before he finally gave way to some sleep. He had been poked and held down enough he was exhausted!

This morning we waited for the doctor to call during his lunch time. Anthony had to have another breathing treatment (treatment #3) early in the morning and the doctor said that if he didn't need another one by lunch time, when the injection from the night before wore off, that we should be in the clear. He was finally released at 2pm today. Off to the pharmacy we go with Grandma Harb behind us. Papaw Craig was in line at the Pines waiting on the bus for Victoria to get off and we all met up at the house around 4. Anthony is feeling great and wound up on the steroids. He has been quite funny and has been able to keep food down since he has been home. I hope we are in the home stretch of this. My poor little guy, he is strong as an ox but as fragile as a toothpick.

I am so glad to be home. Now it is time to play catch up. Payday is tomorrow got to get the checkbook balanced and bills organized, laundry to get caught up, homework, and picture day is fast approaching on Friday. We need to put together the perfect outfit. Back to reality tomorrow, I have searched my home for a nurse call button. Unfortunately my home doesn't have one. I guess I will have to get my own coffee and juice. Does this mean that breakfast isn't just going to show up at my door in the morning? Bummer!

Momma never told me that if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all so here I go....

Oh man where do I begin? Been rough around here. I am ready for Victoria's womb donor to be locked back up. That is very mean and probably not the best way to feel about this but I am very tired of dealing with this woman's poor decisions directly affecting our home. I have already had my fair share of tears from Victoria after finding out that Mommy Tina is lying again. Hmm let's see, I have had to explain to a confused little girl that her mommy's boyfriend of a week and a half is NOT her "other dad" and that his son's are not her "brothers". Explain to a crushed little girl that Mommy Tina DIDN'T call James, like she told her, and get permission to take Victoria to a birthday party after the church service that she also told Victoria that she was going to attend to see her on the stage. (picture me going to every security person and teacher in church, in a completely panic, to make sure that nobody else tried to pick Victoria up from class beside me and her father) She has asked Victoria to lie about seeing Mommy Tina kiss "Uncle Terri" on the lips also known as "Thomas the new boyfriend this week" This is just to name a few. We haven't received a dime of child support, and not one of her visits with Victoria has ended without Victoria having questions. I have tried to hide my feelings for this woman from Victoria and let Victoria make her own assumptions about her biological mother. It is just getting harder and harder. I am in the process of following up with a friend of mine from Church that works for Healthy Families of Southern Indiana on getting Victoria an advocate. I am trying to find some way to get answers to what our rights are as custodial parents with visitation. Our agreements was written up before this last of 3 total arrests she has had. There has to be some way to get at least court supervised visitation. This can't be healthy for her. I know it is doing a toll on my sanity.

My babies are 2!

Has it really been that long? Today we celebrated with Grandma. We won't go into details but let's just say that this is the twins birthday that was marked with the first ice cream cone that was the messiest thing that I have ever experienced with Anthony. Addison didn't have a drop on her, she had been practicing with Victoria's plastic cone. LOL! And this was also the Birthday that we drove Grandma all around God's green earth trying to find where her keys (including car and house keys) fell off of her keyring that was hanging from her purse. It is best to just leave it at that. :)

My friend Jill always lists milestones at each month for her little Kade. I always enjoy reading them and wanted to make my own list. Hope you don't mind Jill.

-Anthony, you are talking alot more now and anything that you don't know what it is called you just call it "Gump"

-Addison, if you don't know what something is you call it "Ssshicken"

-You both are doing stairs much better now. I can now put you on the ground from the car when we get home and you meet me at the front door, making it much easier for Mommy to get you in and out of the house.

-Anthony you do great up the stairs until you get to the door ledge (which is less than half the height of the stairs) you climb up 3 steps then get down on your hands and knees to make that 1 1/2 lip on the door jam. It cracks me up.

-Addison you adore shoes. You want to sleep in them often and Mommy lets you so that you don't cry. I usually sneak in later to take them off after you are in dreamland.

-Anthony you are becoming a picky eater. If it doesn't resemble a cookie you really don't want much to do with it. You also know where Mommy keeps the cookies, and are getting really good at pointing. :)

-Addison your bed is now facing down the hall. You lean over the edge of your bed and try to have a conversation with Mommy after bedtime. Daddy and I tease you about giving your political speeches from your bed at night. You love to use your hand when you are talking.

-Anthony, you are now talking about "Poopy on the potty" which makes Mommy very happy and cringe all at the same time to think about potty training you. We still have to duck tape your diaper on. You got some fancy blue duct tape from Daddy for your birthday.

-Addison you have reached the "No" phase that everyone has warned me about. Daddy has told me that I need to pull in the reigns of my "Little Princess"

-Anthony, you still love your hats. Mommy was very excited to find you a cookie monster (your other favorite love) hat at Target.

-Addison if you need comforting, you need your "Blankie" You love the fleece one that Mommy make you and you like to chew on the fringe as you are trying to go to sleep.


Once Anthony got over the excitement of his new Cars slippers and Cookie Monster hat at Target he started to get a little sleepy....