Not Me Monday

Since nobody commented on Not Me Monday last week, I am going to attempt it again. Let me know what you think!!

This past week . . .

I did not have to change the sheets on my bed because I made a HUGE mess changing a dirty diaper. I did not end up giving Kourtney a bath because she was covered in the said mess from head to toe. I was not secretly excited that I bathed her with the "nighttime" wash that helps babies go to sleep and I did not say a little prayer that it would help her sleep until seven in the morning.

I did not attend a "Christmas" party on Friday night for Ken's office - it is January right? I was not SUPER excited about going because it was a bowling party and I love to bowl - so that means that I am certainly not a dork - and because there were going to be grown-ups there. I have not socialized with other adults since before June. And, I DID NOT laugh (really hard) when they told me Ken was bowling and he threw the ball backward. Nope, not me.

After finally hooking up the Wii, I did not fail to do my lesson plans for the week in favor of playing bowling (we already established that I like to bowl) with Ken. I also did not sit for at least 15 minutes trying to figure out how to play the Disney Princess game that Karlee got for Christmas. And I would never do that by myself!

Wanting a few minutes of quiet, I did not pretend that I had to go to the bathroom so I could read a few more pages in my book.

When Ken called me into the girls' bathroom last night for baths, I did not see Kendall eating the colored foam (really soap) that Karlee was calling ice cream. I also did not see her drinking the bath water because that would be really gross and a good mother would never let that happen.

And I know that I did not hear my 4-year old say "Awww Smack it!" when she spilled her snack the other day. I would never have laughed either!!

Pink Christmas

I found this really cool, fun Christmas idea this summer (you know, while I was on bed rest and had nothing to do but play on the computer) called Pink Christmas. It is basically a Secret Santa program but instead of buying just any gift, you are supposed to make (or buy) original, handmade products. You pay a small fee - like $15 - most of which is donated to a needy family and then you get a person's name and some background info. Meanwhile, some one else is getting your name. Then you make your gift and mail it to the person so it arrives in time for Christmas. It was a lot of fun learning about my Pink Christmas girl, April, and trying to decide what to make for her and how to design it. I just saw a post on her blog today about my gift and she loved it!!! YEAH!! Be sure to check out her jewelry when you visit her site - it is amazingly beautiful (and she takes the most awesome pictures). My Pink Christmas gift was from Nancy and it was great - a pink and brown bag with little girls on it - one for Karlee, Kendall, Kourtney and Kamryn. She also sent a family decal for my car. I will post pictures as soon as I can get them . Be sure to check out Pink Christmas and consider doing it next year. The deadline is sometime in July.

Not Me Monday

I read this every week on a blog that I follow and it is a pretty funny idea. I know that it is not Monday but I am going to try to do this every week. Let me know what you think.



This is from the blog that I follow - my charming kids:
"Are you feeling ashamed for letting your child go to bed without brushing his teeth...again!? Did you eat a Snickers bar during a meeting without anyone knowing? Do you pretend that my Tweets are really urgent messages when you receive them on your cell phone? Are you feeling embarrassed that you kicked the dog? We'll don't be. Not Me! Monday was born out of a desire to admit some of our imperfections and reveal a few moments we'd rather forget. Why? Well, for one, because it's just plain fun to pretend that we really did not do the things that we actually so did do. "

So, here is my attempt:

This past week . . .
I did not forget that my child had school. I did not think that Karlee's school started on Tuesday, the same as mine and then realize I was mistaken around 7:30 Monday morning when I passed all the school buses on my way to work. Nope, not me.

I definitely did not change Kourtney's diaper on the back of the toilet at the new Mexican restaurant because despite the great service and fabulous food, they lack a baby changing station in the bathroom.

And, last but certainly not least, I did NOT watch Kendall eat not one, but two crayons in the car on our road trip. I did not wipe up the purple drool and clean the pieces out of her teeth only to find her eating an ORANGE crayon five minute later. And that did not happen 30 seconds after Ken asked me if she was eating them again and I answered "NO". NOT ME!!!

Quick Updates

I haven't blogged in forever and every time I started to I got so overwhelmed at how much I would have to go back and catch up on - I just decided to do nothing which made me even further behind. So here is my attempt to catch you up quickly on what has been happening since my last post.

The Twins: The twins are 11 weeks old, Kamryn weighs 11 pounds 12 1/2 ounces and Kourtney weighs 11 pounds 2 1/2 ounces, they are smiling and starting to coo and gurgle and last night they slept from 10:30 until 7:00 when we woke them up to eat

In the News: We have been in the new recently. December is TTTS month so we wanted to get the word out about TTTS and tell our story. We are working with an organization called the Fetal Hope Foundation to offer assistance and more importantly hope, to others by sharing Kourtney & Kamryn's Story. We also did an interview in Ken's hometown newspaper, The Jones County News that was featured in the Christmas issue. We also did an interview with The Athens Banner-Herald that ran the day after Christmas. Both were good articles - we wish the ABH had included more of our comments about our faith and prayer, but what do you expect from the ABH.

Road Trip: The Saturday after Christmas we left for an 8-day trip to see my grandmother in New Jersey. We drove over 1900 miles with stops at Mount Vernon, Washington D.C., CHOP in Philly, grandmother's house in NJ & Hershey's Chocolate World. Everybody was wonderful and we had a blast. My grandmother was thrilled to see the twins and to get to spend some time with the older girls as well.

Christmas: In the middle of all this we had Christmas. We went to candlelight Christmas Eve service with Ken's family and spent Christmas morning with them as well. Santa visited and brought way too many toys (for big kids too) including all kids of nursery stuff - cribs, swings, strollers, etc. for baby dolls, Scooby-Doo figures and the Mystery Machine, a Wii, a Cricut, high chairs, RC cars, all kinds of building things - blocks, Lincoln logs, Tinker Toys, K'nex, Lego's, tons of Barbie furniture, puzzles and clothes. We came back and had Christmas with my family on Christmas night where the girls got a trampoline and we got $$$ for our trip (and a bunch of other cool stuff). It was wild and KRAZY but we had a blast!!!!!

I think that covers most of it - if I missed something you want to know about just leave a comment and I will get back to you ASAP!!!

Back to School (except I forgot that Karlee had to go too!)

I went back to work today - the first time since May 23rd! I was actually looking forward to it in some ways. I will enjoy the interaction with adults, actually with anyone other than my family who is over 4 years old. I am working part-time (half-day from 8-12) as a science teacher at a local high school. I have taught at the school since 2001 so it is a job I am familiar with. I am nervous about a couple things - we have a new principal and I have been out of the classroom for five months. Things went really well considering I had to set-up my new room (it got switched over the break), meet with my collaborative teacher, get my books from the book room, make copies, figure out all the new "housekeeping" policies and procedures, find one more desk (I know - it doesn't seem like a big deal but you would be surprised), organize my desk, clean the gum off the desks, figure out how to accommodate a wheelchair and parapro, make seating charts, hunt down my cubes for an activity I am doing tomorrow, and of course visit with co-workers I haven't seen since May who all want to know "how things are going" and when I am going to blog again (this is for you Becky & Marlana). But believe it or not, I accomplished all of that in exactly four hours and picked up Karlee from school on time. Oh yeah - that is the funny part - see I forgot Karlee had school today. Actually, I guess I didn't "forget", I just got mixed up. I assumed that her school schedule was the same as mine and this would be a teacher planning day. But when I was leaving for work and passed several school buses, I started to wonder if she had school too. I called Ken and he finally found a copy of the school calendar and sure enough, her first day was today. So, Ken had to get her up and explain to her that she was not going to get to play with Mama Sandy and Shanna but instead would go to school - she took the news well and seemed fine - she normally doesn't do well with sudden changes in the schedule at the last minute - she likes to know ahead of time. Needless to say, everybody got to school on time and all was well. Tomorrow will be my real first day - that is when I will have students so we will see how it goes!!

New Pics

What a busy week (and it's not over yet!)

We have had a very busy week around the Wells household. Things started out on Sunday morning with Baby Dedication at our church. We were so excited to show off Kamryn and Kourtney to our church family who had so diligently prayed for them since June. It was a Sunday of "miracle babies and answered prayer" as Bro. Bill put it. Then Sunday night we decided spur-of-the-moment to do one of our favorite traditions and go see the Christmas lights at Lake Lanier's Magical Nights of Lights. So we bundled everybody up and loaded them in. We had a great time - Karlee remembered going in the past and was super excited to tell Kendall all about what was going on. We let the girls sit in the front in our laps and they had a blast. Kendall enjoyed the light but not as much as the carnival rides at Santa's Village. She had a ball on the carousel and train but the flying cars were her favorite. It was a cold, drizzly, dreary night but we had a great time and I hope it will be something the girls remember for a long time.
Monday we had a little breather, but Tuesday was PICTURE DAY!! The twins had a session called "Tiny Treasures" that morning where they take pics of their hands and feet as well as pics with Ken and I. They did great but we had to stoop in the middle to feed so it took a while. Then for some crazy reason, we decided to go the Mall of Georgia to take Christmas pictures that night. It was a zoo in the picture studio and Kendall got all out of whack. Ken finally asked to move to a back room (we had been in the front window where everyone was gawking at us). Kendall settled down and did much better there and I think the Christmas cards turned out great. Let me know what you think when you get yours! Ken rewarded the girls with a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop where they made Moose and Anna, Christmas moose whose antler light up. They were so cute walking back - poor Kendall was dragging her box/house because it was as big a she was.
Today we took Kendall to see a pediatric opthamologist in Atlanta about her eyes. We just wanted to get a second opinion from a specialist since you only have one pair of eyes. They tested her for muscle weakness as well as checking her vision. She seems to be "extra" far-sighted (apparently all children are far-sighted but their eyes work like zoom lenses to see things). This causes her eye to cross as she is trying to focus. Her glasses help her to focus with out the extra work. He said that she doesn't need surgery but will probably continue to wear the glasses. Most kids grow out of this around age 12. So, we will see him every four months for now (we will cut it to every six as she gets older) to check the prescription of her lenses as well as have a yearly exam to look for major changes. He did tell us this could run in the family, so he wants to check Karlee at the next visit.
In the midst of all this we have been finishing up the addition. The final plumbing went in on Monday. Wednesday they fixed the heat/AC and put down the quarter-round and we got our CO (certificate of occupancy) so we can move in but we still have work to do before that can happen - cleaning, doorknobs and garage door. Ken did get his garage cleaned out so he can at least park his truck inside.
Coming up we have lots planned for the weekend. Karlee and I will be attending a production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with her class and then have lunch at Chick-fil-A on Friday morning. Saturday we have a Boy Scout pancake breakfast with our cousins in the morning, followed by the Watkinsville Christmas parade. Then we have special plans Saturday night and I have a cookie swap on Sunday afternoon as well as a Toy-for-Tots party to attend. WHEW!! I think next week is a little slower although we are going out (TWICE!!) for my birthday.