I love you... but only in the privacy of our own home?

I knew this day would come.  I would like to think that I was prepared or at least preparing for it even.  It come in every boy's life, I s'pose.  

The day when it's no longer acceptable to hug or kiss your mom in public.

Or hold her hand.  Or let her rest her arm on your shoulder.

Especially at school.  Or day care.

Lately Tyler's been aloof at best when we say our goodbyes in the morning.  At first I attributed it to a no kissing at school rule that his dad discussed with him in regards to the girl who had a crush on him.  If I'm lucky I'll get a hug but sometimes it's just a wave and "bye, Mom!"

The other day in Target, when I put my arm on his shoulders to give him a squeeze, he did the whole "oh, look at that over there" thing and twisted and ducked out of my embrace.

So being the emotional pregnant girl that I am, and not expecting this for a few years, I thought I'd talk to him about it.  And I did it in the way that we always talk about the big issues... "when you do this... blah blah blah, it makes me feel ... blah blah blah".  I told him I wasn't sure if he was upset with me or just didn't love me anymore (I'm not always this dramatic, I swear) but I wanted to know why this was happening.

Well as it turns out, there was a perfectly good explanation.  After the obligatory "of course I love you and no, I'm not mad at you" that his father has taught him so well *ahem*, he came up with this reasoning.  In the morning, when we get to school, it is always cold.  You see, it's summer here and we're on our 3rd week of 90+ degree days and silly me allows him to wear tank tops and other such summer shirts to school.  In the air conditioning, it's much too cold and so the reason that he can't kiss and sometimes hug me is that he's "concentrating on staying warm." 

And to think I was about to take it personally. 

The Belly

Behold, the belly:

It has now grown so much that I can no longer see my feet and haven't been able to for some time. Today, I found out the reason. It seems that come October, I will be giving birth to toddlers rather than newborns.

Normally, twins tend to be on the smallish side. These guys are actually ahead of the curve, both weighing in at 3 lbs.

Here's a different angle:

Keep in mind this is at 28.5 weeks. I still have 10 weeks to go.

I was pondering today the benefits of having such a belly, as it's always good to look on the bright side and enjoy it while it lasts.

* The belly makes a great table. I have been seen resting anything from food to magazines and books on the belly.

* I can do cool party tricks, like shuffle cards on my belly. Tyler is especially impressed by this.

* People tend to get out of my way when they see me coming ~ I rarely have to say "excuse me" anymore. I'm not sure if they are being polite or afraid they will get run over because once it gets going, there's no stopping the belly until it reaches its destination.

* When swimming on my back, the belly sticks up out of the water. I can fool people into thinking I'm a shark and while they run away screaming, I can enjoy solitude in the cool water.

*******

Of course, there are a few things I will not miss once I am no longer pregnant.

* Being unable to move effortlessly ~ especially when trying to get out of my tiny car or bed.

* Being unable to wear anything on my feet that doesn't start with a flip and end in a flop.

* Sitting literally one inch away from the steering wheel in my car. Unfortunately, my 5'3" stature does not allow for moving the seat back any further as I wouldn't be able to reach the peddles.

* Waking up almost every morning with an aching back.

* Waking in the night no less than 3 and usually no more than 5 times to pee.

* Being unable to control my emotional outbursts. Although there's nothing like a good cry, I don't think we need to experience it every day.

And there you have it, friends. All you ever wanted to know about the belly that houses twins. :)

Overheard

The boys got a package from Grandma in the mail today.  One of the contents was something wrapped in cellophane.  Aphrodite found this to be quite an entertaining play thing but Gavin did not think she needed to be playing with his plastic wrap... So he kept telling her to stop.  Of course, since she's a cat, she didn't listen.  Finally he turned around so he could have a better view of her dismissiveness of his command and said "You better stop!  I'm watching you!"

Wonder where he got that from?

Strange Things Going Bump in the Night

The other day, Shawn and I were watching a movie together I fell asleep on the couch while Shawn watched the end of the movie we'd started.  The movie had just ended and I was pretending I hadn't been asleep, trying to make conversation about what a great flick it was when Gavin came down the stairs.  We'd put him to bed several hours ago and he usually doesn't get up again until morning.

He walked over and crumpled into Shawn's open arms while we repeatedly asked him if he was Ok, did he have a nightmare, did he have to go potty?  He was completely unresponsive.  His eyes were open and glazed over but he wouldn't answer.  Just a minute or so after he'd come down the stairs, he turned around and went back up.  Shawn and I looked at each other quizzically and then Shawn followed him up the stairs.  

Gavin walked into his bedroom, got back in bed, then got back out and was walking in circles around his room.  His eyes were still open but he was definitely not acting like himself.  

By the time I made my way up there (I'm a lil on the pokey side these days!), Shawn had guided him in the bathroom and Gavin had peed just a tiny bit on his PJ shorts.  We got him in clean skivvies and threw his shorts in the dirty clothes basket, tucked him in and kissed him good night.

The next morning I woke before him.  When he came downstairs to find me, he was close to tears.  He said "Mom, my pants came off while I was sleeping!" with a worried look on his face.  He had looked all over his bed and couldn't find his shorts anywhere and was very concerned about what had happened to them.  He didn't remember a thing about the last night!

Once I explained what had happened, and then of course repeated the story to Shawn and my mom within earshot of him, he found the humor in the situation and giggled along with me.  I think Shawn was more than a little freaked out about his zombified kid, though!

My mom said that sleep walking is hereditary... I remember doing it once as a child and she said my Great~Uncle used to do it frequently.  This could make for some interesting late nights for us!

*******

In baby news ~ I'm 28 weeks today!  The babies should be around two and a quarter pounds, like a Chinese Cabbage according to babycenter.com (I didn't know cabbages had nationalities?) and about 14.8" long.  I'm now officially starting my third trimester.  

It seems like just yesterday we were stepping off the plane, in the middle of a cold Colorado winter, into the warm humid air of Honolulu... walking to baggage claim to meet the Makua for the first time ~ days away from transplanting these two lil embryos into my uterus ~ smiles and hugs and lei's and feeling like so much more than strangers already.  

In just 10 weeks, they'll meet their boys for the first time.  And a couple weeks later, an entirely different scene... no longer strangers but two families whose lives are forever intertwined by these two lil people that they shared with me for nine months, saying good bye as they head home.

*******

My first Eco~Women post is up!  It's less a post and more of a link to click on, but it's a start. :)  Go here to see it!  I appreciate all the SuperHero name suggestions.  I think I'm going to go with Captain Compost.  

I've submitted a few ideas of post ideas that I think readers might find useful but would love input from my readers here ~ what would you like to see on an Eco Blog?  

Of War and Super Heroes

We've had war on the brain in our household... in more ways than one.

Tyler has discovered the joys of the age old card game, War, and is wanting to play it on a daily basis. You may remember this game from when you were a child, just learning to love playing cards. You may remember that it can potentially last for HOURS. Although we love to play games together as a family, this one is quite tedious as well as time consuming! He's relentless in asking for play mates and eventually one or all of us give in just so we won't be asked again for at least another hour.

*******

Over the weekend, the subject of war came up in a different context. Shawn's not been quite as dedicated to blogging as I have been, but he did decide to share a conversation that he and Tyler had in the car on his blog. He's not nearly as long winded as me, so please take a minute to check it out, here.

*******

And the Super Heroes I mentioned? Well, I was flattered earlier this week with an invitation to guest post occasionally on a new favorite blog I stumbled across. It's right up my alley and I added it to my reader the first time I read it. I even get to pick a Super Hero name like the blog authors, Recycla and Enviro~Girl. These lovely Eco~Warriors discuss planet saving issues on a daily basis and cover anything you ever wanted to know about living greener. Recycla is even building an eco~friendly dream house...

I'm so excited to be a part of it!

Here's the rub though ~ I'm having a hard time coming up with a suitable Super Hero name. I've asked my guys and my mom for input and my favorite so far is Compost Queen because we've recently started composting in our house and of course I'm the Queen of my castle here, so it seems fitting. But is it right for the Eco~Warriors? I'd love suggestions or input as this is the most important decision I've had to make all week! :)

*******

We've had a good last couple days here, the boys and I, and I appreciate all your suggestions and commiseration. I've been doing my darndest to keep them busy and occupied and today I did not have to intervene in any squabbles and only had to repeat myself a couple times. Hooray! Sometimes, I think just getting it all out there in the universe somehow jinxes it and changes the pace a bit. Or maybe it's all in my head. Either way, it's been much more pleasant around here.

Hope your week is going well, too!

Rotten Apples

Somewhere along the way, something went terribly wrong.

In fact, I'm starting to think that an alien abduction might have occurred in my home.

My normally mostly well behaved boys have turned into the spawn of satan, almost overnight!  While they haven't yet resorted to violence, they are fighting and bickering, telling lies, yelling and screaming at each other, being mean to their friends, not listening (and minding) and just being the complete opposite of what I'm used to!

Perhaps I've been spoiled all this time... as usually my boys are very easy to mother.  I don't know if they are taking cues from me and my crankiness or if they are just bored because it's summer and they aren't being properly stimulated.  

But they are acting rotten as hell and I've about had it up to my eyeballs!  Is anyone else experiencing this?  Please, tell me it's not just me.  And that it's temporary.  Even if you don't mean it!

Late Bloomer

This is the last perennial to bloom this year in our garden. I'm guessing tomorrow will bring a few new flowers. I love the color on this one ~ it's always my favorite and it comes in the middle of summer, like a surprise.

*****

Today we're 27 weeks along with 11 left to go to the finish line. The Keiki are the same weight as a cauliflower ~ about 2 lbs and 14 1/2 inches long. They're sleeping and waking at regular cycles now, although someone always seems to be moving in there so it's hard for me to tell! At my ultrasound this week, both babies were breech with their heads together high in my abdomen. I picture them looking at each other, maybe even conspiring already, like twins are wont to do?

This is the last week of my second trimester. It's hot here and I'm crankier as the day warms. My poor family has been quite the bunch of troopers dealing with my moodiness! I had a conversation in the car with the boys about why I've been so grumpy lately ~ carrying around 40+ extra pounds is like carrying around Gavin all day, ever day. That explanation seemed to hit home with them.

So far, I haven't taken it out on any strangers, other than the occasional whine. I'm trying to stay upbeat and take naps when I can as I always feel better when I've had one. I can no longer reach my feet, although I never did need an excuse for a pedicure in the summer.

Today I have another project up my sleeve (my productive thing) and for our fun thing this afternoon, we're headed to a friend's house to play at her pool. It's not supposed to be as hot today, which I am very excited about. It should be a good day!

Pounding

The other day, the boys and I cleaned out our basement play room. Once in awhile I try to do a purge in one room ~ finding clothes that no longer fit or toys that have overstayed their welcome, run out of batteries or are just not as cool as they looked in the store.

The two bags of toys that didn't seem worth selling were picked up today by a craigslister. But this workbench, which has hardly been played with at all, seemed like it might be worth $20. And I don't know about you, but I can't turn down $20.

So I drag up the workbench and placed it in our foyer to wait for a representative from it's future home to pick it up.  Of course, now that it's not in the basement anymore (where it sat for over two years, mostly untouched), it has now become fascinating and wonderful to my boys.  

There will be no nap taking at my house today as they bang and pound and hammer while pretending to build a house.  At one point, right before I headed for the bottle of Tylenol, I remarked how annoying I found this situation.  Tyler quickly agreed "I know" and then Gavin added his two cents: "sometimes workers just have to be annoying."

Oh, right.  What was I thinking?  And right back to pounding away they went...

Fun with Flip!

When Tyler was a brand new baby, my parents bought us a video camera as a gift. That was almost 7 years ago. I remember spending hours laying on the floor with him, video taping his first smiles, coos and rolling over. Our family was in Indiana and we were living in Maryland at the time, so I'd send the videos of him to them to help them feel like though they were missing the firsts, they were still able to be a part of his life ~ to witness it with us.

Since then, we graduated to videos online ~ it's easier to share them that way. We've been using an old digital camera that had video making capability. It served our purposes, though the quality wasn't good.

When Shawn found this little video camera, we decided it was time for an upgrade.

Yesterday, much of our day was spent experimenting with it and the boys enjoying being part of the spot light. This post is probably only interesting to my dad and sister~in~law... but we're not too exciting right now so this is what you get. :)

They learned a turtle song in the video below, at swim lessons. It's much more exciting to be sung in the water...

Tyler's grown a lot this summer and seems so big to me now. He has accomplished a lot physically and loves showing off his "guns". He can make it through the entire span of monkey bars at our park ~ something I can't do in my best shape! Of course, he only has to carry about 52 lbs...

Here's Gavin showing off a newly learned skill of somersaults...



And Tyler even made some videos! This one is about five minutes long and it's a personalized tour of our unfinished basement ~ which I know you were dying to see. But it's fun to look at things through an almost 7 year old's perspective.

Overall first impressions about the Flip are good. It's light weight, easy to use and fun to play with (there are 6 other videos where these came from!) Everyone but Gavin gave it a try ~ he perfers to be the star of the videos.

The only drawbacks are that you are limited to 60 minutes of footage before uploading the video on your computer. And it uses plain ol' AA's... I'd have liked to see a rechargeable battery but I s'pose it's easier to bring AA's than a charger when you're on vacation.

Have a great week!

Revelation

I hate working out. Truth be told, being forced on bed rest at the beginning of the pregnancy caused a nice respite for me from exercising. Oh, sure, after the bleeding stopped and I was given a clean bill of health, I could have found my way back to the gym. But in the middle of my first trimester I was so tired much of the time that I could never seem to muster the energy for 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. So instead, I've been concentrating on growing babies... enjoying food and relaxing.

While this will make for some nice, plump, healthy babies come October... it's also making for a nice, plump not so healthy a$$ right now. To help rectify the situation, I've been trying to work swimming laps into my routine. Other forms of exercise, now that I have a slightly higher energy level, just seem to put too much pressure on my abdomen and cause pulling that doesn't feel good.

When the boys were in swim lessons in June, I'd swim laps while they were learning in the shallow end of the pool. Now that that's over, I'm trying to go in the evenings with my Indiana neighbor instead.

I've been neglectful in taking the boys to the pool lately ~ partly because of other activities and partly because it's not been as hot (I'm NOT complaining!) and when it's in the 80's, they freeze upon exit from the pool. Last night, as I prepared to go swim laps with Indiana neighbor, the boys were getting ready for bed. Gavin asked me where I was going and I told him that I wanted to exercise a bit. He wanted to come, too, and I explained that the pool was closed for kids and that only grown ups could go to swim laps (which was true). Besides, it was time for bed. Begrudgingly, he walked away to finish his bedtime duties of jammies, teeth brushing and pottying.

Tyler came upstairs and we had a similar conversation. I kissed them good night with promises to take them swimming on our next day together.

As I walked away, I could hear them conversing about me. This always strikes me with a cross of curiosity and humor. Tyler was asking Gavin "Don't you think it's unfair that Mom gets to go swimming and we can't?"

I guess Thursday can't come fast enough.

**************

It's been awhile since I gave you a Keiki update. Tomorrow marks 26 weeks with 12 left to go. The C~section is less than 3 months away.

The babies are as long as an English cucumber at about 14 inches and weigh 1 3/4 lbs. Their ears are starting to register sounds, so they are probably able to hear our daily goings ons. Their testicles are starting to descend into the scrotum...

That's right ~ I said testicles.

I was given permission from BabyMama to tell you the sex of the twins ~ they are both boys!

Which means... out of the six children I'll have brought into this world by the time they come in October, five of them will have been boys. And my husband wonders why I belch like a boy.

Too Much Information?

At our house, you'll frequently hear words like healthy, organic, natural, lighter fluid (what McD's chicken nuggets have in them), hydrogenated oil, MSG, etc. Shawn and I try very hard to feed our boys and ourselves a healthy, well balanced diet with as few chemicals in it as possible. We don't want our kids to feel to feel deprived, so we're big on explaining why we choose Newman O's over Oreo's... or why we eat things that don't necessarily taste good because they are full of ingredients that do good things for our bodies instead of bad things.

Yesterday we were enjoying an afternoon with our Indiana neighbors ~ the mom and I were chatting while our kids played with water balloons and moon sand and the dads watched a little tennis. The dads decided the kids might like a snack and brought out some apples and water (glad someone was being responsible as the mom and I were too busy chatting to think about such needs that should be being met!).

The mom was explaining to her almost 4 year old daughter that apples were healthy because they have lots of fiber in them.

Not missing a beat, Gavin thought he'd share his two cents ~ "and fiber makes you poop!"

It's good to know they're paying attention!

Independence Weekend

We've had a busy, fun weekend! It feels like we've been celebrating for days... On Friday we started our celebration with thrift store shopping (love holiday sales!) and sushi! We walked around down town a bit and did some bike shopping. I don't have one and now that Tyler's riding and Gavin's close to being ready for no training wheels, we're envisioning family bike rides. We ended our 4th with fireworks and poppers with Ria's family. It was a good show and worth the 11pm bed time.

The next day was the neighborhood celebration. We got to see our neighbor in a cheer leading demonstration (she's 4 ~ it was totally cute!). We also got to make a flag:

The boys got some fresh ink:

Gavin's is a tiger (if you can't see it well):

Some mechanical bull riding was more fun for Gavin to watch (he was quite nervous the whole time):

But Tyler loved it!

Later at the neighbors' BBQ, swimsuits were a requirement as the kiddie pool, garden hoses, and squirt guns were out:

Before the fireworks show, the kids got outfitted in neon necklaces and bracelets, which later turned out to be great kid~finding gadgets in the dark!

They waited patiently for their poppers, while I passed them out:

Tyler, looking shiny and happy:

Shawn and Gavin cut a rug (you will only see Shawn dance if he is more than slightly inebriated ~ and I've never gotten photographic evidence):

Finally, time to sit down and watch the show ~ our neighborhood puts on a good one, they weren't disappointed:

Hope you had a lovely weekend of celebration, too!

Happy Birthday, America!

Here's to a fun 4th of July ... and to not getting a piece of fireworks in your eye.

Have a great weekend!

For the love of books

When I was a little girl, I loved to read. My mom says I was reading at 5 and almost 26 years later, it's a love that hasn't diminished.

The earliest books I remember reading were Babysitters Club books ~ I'd have been around 10 or 11 years old. At that age, I couldn't wait to babysit ~ I loved babies and toddlers and the thought of making a lil cash on the side didn't hurt either. I lived vicariously through those girls on the pages I devoured.

As I got older, I graduated to more adult books. Some of them were forbidden to me ~ authors like V.C. Andrews and Stephen King. I'd beg and plead and occasionally borrow the books from my friends and sneak them home in my book bag, reading until the wee hours in my bedroom with the door shut when I was supposed to be asleep. I loved the drama of the family members in V.C. Andrews' series and couldn't wait for Stephen King to scare me again.

I find myself with less free time now than the carefree days of my youth... so reading is less of a passion and more of a privilege. I have over 80 books on my bookshelf that have not been read. Mostly fiction ~ chick lit, novels, a few non fiction books, a couple classics and some books on religions.

I love to walk around Borders or the local book shop and find books to add to my wish list on PBS (a great tool for addicts like me who enjoy having books but rarely have time to finish one).

These days I sneak in a half hour of reading time before I go to sleep at night.

Lately, with summer here and staying up later to enjoy the last few minutes outside with neighbors, the boys have been sleeping in a bit more. Their sleeping in, in combination with my being unable to sleep past 6:30am has given me some unexpected free time in the morning. Time to lay in bed for a few extra minutes and get lost in whatever book I'm reading at the moment. It's delicious and I love having this time... before needs have to be met, questions have to be answered, email needs to be checked, messages on the phone listened to.

This morning, about 15 minutes into my new sometimes ritual, Tyler woke up. I wasn't expecting him to be up so early and I was mid~chapter and thoroughly engrossed in my book. I was torn between beloved snuggle time with my boy ~ time that I really only get in the morning ~ and finishing my chapter.

A compromise, perhaps? I asked him if he'd like to go grab one of his library books from the other day and he did.

We lay there together, two lovers of books, with the ceiling fan blowing cool Colorado morning air around our heads, warm under the covers. Sunlight was streaming through the cracks in the blinds and we were both lost in two different worlds... snuggling and reading together.

It was perfect. A great way to start the day.

Chasing Tail

This is Aphrodite ~ you might remember her from a few months back, when she almost died? She got into the bubble wrap from the goodies that were delivered to our house yesterday from a Spa party I had last week.

Sorry, I'm running out of material, people. It was either this or tell you about the dream I had last night where I was in a bathroom trying to find a stall amidst about 50 drunk girls... Puke and pee was all over the floor. And some fat chick with vomit on her white sweater tried to beat me up. It was quite traumatic and very disgusting. Not quite the way I wanted to start my day ;)

Or there's the dream the other night where I gave birth to puppies. Five of them. They were cute but didn't look anything like the Makua! I find it strange that each time I'm pregnant, I have a dream where I give birth to an animal. My sister did, too, when pregnant with her first (he came out resembling a guinea pig) which makes me feel less alone.

Do you ever remember your dreams?

It's meme time!

So I'm finding myself with little to blog about these days... Life is good but not too exciting. I could tell you about taking the boys to the library and the playground and the berry patch and the pool, but it seems like we just had this conversation! I am reading a new book that I'm totally loving, but I never was a good reviewer, so you'll have to check it out for yourself! So instead, I'll do a meme that I got tagged for. I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you are also out of substance, feel free to use it.

Here we go!

1. What did I do 10 years ago?

Well, Shawn and I were mere months away from getting married. We were living in an apartment in Lafayette, IN, working at a factory and trying to decide what to do with our lives. We had several cats and spent our time hanging out with each other and with our family. We went swimming a lot and my relationship with my SIL was developing during this time. I was happy and in love...

2. Five items on my to do list today.

Well most of the things on my list have already been done, so I think I'll list those. I'll feel more accomplished that way, anyway.

* take the boys to the library to return books and find new ones
* find a compost pail for the kitchen
* find a sun tea pitcher
* drop off the recycling
* go to the post office to mail a book I swapped and an eBay sale

3. Snacks I enjoy.

* M&M's
* cookies (particularly the ones from Starbucks)
* ice cream
* fresh sugar snap peas (we found some today at the farm ~ yummy!)
* popcorn ~ but mostly when I'm not pregnant. for some reason it doesn't taste as good right now?

4. What would I do if I were a billionaire?

Oh wow. Probably once the boys' college accounts were overflowing and our debt was paid off and the obligatory fun spending was done (electric cars and a greener house, likely in Boulder), I'd want to travel. I would take the boys to Disney World and spend some time with just Shawn on a beach somewhere... and of course yearly trips to Indiana to visit family. We'd make big donations to green charities and to our immediate family members (parents and siblings). And we'd probably adopt two more children ~ most likely girls.

5. Places I would live.

Boulder, CO
Toronto
Hawai'i

I really haven't been enough places to expand this list too much ~ we're really happy right where we are, honestly.

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So that was fun, right?

Have a great week!