No More Dirt Twirls

Happy one month birthday babies! Yesterday our little munchkins turned 1 month old. It doesn't seem possible, does it? This past month has been so crazy for our family, and I can't express how wonderful it is that we are all finally getting back to normal, everyone is healthy and we finally have had the time to really adjust to the changes that 2 new additions to our family has brought.

Katie is now full throttle in to her softball season. Her practices have come twice each week for the past month and the big kickoff is this Saturday. In Hood River, little league is one of the biggest, if not THE biggest sports season to be involved in. Kate has been involved in it for three years, and this is her first year in the Majors. It's amazing the difference from when she first began to play until now, where all the girls are 5th or 6th graders, and they are all serious about wanting to play. No more daydreaming in the outfield, picking flowers around 2nd base, or twirling about in the dirt in the infield. This Saturday will begin with the Little League kickoff parade at 8:30am. We will arrive at Kate's school shortly after 8am, candy in tow, readying Kate and her team for their participation in the parade. All of the little league teams march through town, led by police cars and firetrucks, and throw candy to the excited little onlookers. Though many of the watchers will be families of the little leaguers, and young children with dreams of future stardom in the ball fields, I am most excited to see the asian man who runs the local grocery store. He gets so excited to see the parade, and jumps around, laughing, cheering, and throwing his own candy back at the little marchers. They didn't know at first whether they were supposed to grab the candy or what. But, they eventually figured it out. After the parade the opening ceremonies takes place at the majors field. As tradition lives on, the ceremony begins with the national anthem, most often sung by our local country music voice Dave Tallman. Then, each team is introduced and some awards in the majors teams are issued - Usually to the 6th graders who will no longer be playing in little league after this year. After the ceremony, the games begin spanning locations from Parkdale to across the River in Washington. Let the fun begin!

Cooper is finally a healthy little bug. So healthy, in fact, that his voice has returned, and in full force. This kid has a vocal noise level equal to his hefty frame, but above and beyond what anyone in this house is used to. He sings loud - Good, but loud. He screams loud. He counts loud. He even talks loud. A screech here and there has brought on a pretty good Migraine, which I haven't had in a very long time. But, no matter how bad it gets, I can never complain that I can't hear, or understand, what he says. He is loving our good weather, and loves to be outside playing on his little tykes slide and tunnels in the yard. He has some learning to do about how to treat cats, as he can get a little rough with them. He seems to think that their tails are cranks and that they're really meant to be wheel barrows - I secretly laugh when he attempts to pick them up by their hind legs and drive them like a wheel barrow. I know, it's not funny, but the cats just drop and lay there looking at him, so it can't be that bad. And then, after he's let them go, they run back up to him and snuggle around his legs. I bet they secretly like it too......

Mackenzie and Rayla are growing so fast and are becoming prettier each day. I didn't think that they could be cuter, but it's amazing what some extra poundage does for the appearance. I wish that was the case with me, but poundage on me looks more like tonnage in pictures. On Friday, Mack weighed 7lbs 13ounces and our tiny Rayla weighed in at 6lbs 15 ounces. I can't believe how big they've gotten. FINALLY, I have been able to dress them in a couple of things that fit them. In other words, they're not swimming in them. For the longest while we had just a couple of preemie outfits that would fit, and everything else just looked like a tent on them. I played dress up with them yesterday and put them in matching dresses...They looked so beautiful! They don't have to go back to the doctor until May 22 and we only have to report their weights to the clinic. We have a cherry scale that weighs pounds, ounces and kilograms and we made sure that the measurement it gave us was the same as the measurement at the doctors office. It was, so we can do this on our own without having to go in once each week to have them weighed. They have been sleeping double in a co-sleeper that we had for Cooper, but last week they outgrew it together. So, now they're sleeping together in one of the bassinets. It's pretty big, so it will be a little while before they outgrow that, thank goodness. Oh, they are so much fun!

Corey is back to work full time, and has been for a couple of weeks. He's been so wonderful working there, working here and doing all he can to make things as easy for me as possible. Last weekend he hit the yard with the lawnmover giving it the first haircut of the year. It now looks beautiful. Katie and I planted flowers in the front flower box last night, and that made it look even better. The harvest season is due to arrive in a couple of months, so the longer hours at work will be starting soon as well. The fruit trees are in full bloom and the valley is just breathtaking. We have had some warm days over the past week, but cooler days and nights are said to be on the way - This isn't good for farmers, as too cold could mean that they lose their crops. It's the same thing every year, though, so everyone's prepared. Corey's been such a trooper with me being on bedrest before we had the girls and then during the girls arrival and following weeks and in June he gets to go to Reno with the boys for a nice, fun, relaxing weekend - He hasn't been in a while, and it's a good time to get away before it gets too busy with harvest. He's looking forward to that nice little getaway with the boys. Once that harvest begins, he won't have any free time until October or November.

I'm doing good. I lost nearly all of the weight I gained while pregnant, but put a couple pounds on when I started a new medication a couple of weeks ago. I'll get that under control, and hopefully begin to lose the weight once again until I've reached a nice goal I've set for myself. It's a far shot, but I've got to try. I know there's a much smaller, happier person inside this chubby body and I'm going to find her. Besides, I need to have the stamina to run after 3 babies! I'm looking for something to do for myself, but haven't found, or decided on, the right thing just yet. I thought yoga, but that's just not me. Pilates? I don't know about that, but I do have several friends who absolutely love it. Maybe an aerobics class once I'm all healed - I used to love that. Either way, I have got to find a hobby. Now that I have 4 children to care for full time, it's much more difficult to go anywhere or do anything for myself and I'll go crazy if I'm not able to get out and do something every once in a while. I find myself going a day or two at a time without a shower - Yeah, I know it's not anything to be proud of, but it's not as easy to get one in as I thought it would be. Feed, pump, play with Cooper, feed again, diaper change, pump if I can, read to Cooper, do some dishes, pick up the toys, feeding time again, feed Cooper too, Yay...Nap time. Wake up, feed babies, go pee before my bladder explodes, get Cooper situated with some toys, Hmmm, 3 o'clock now, maybe I should get dressed.......HA! Believe it or not, the twins are much easier at night than Cooper was alone. He cried hours at a time at night for months, leaving us very sleepless. I have never been one to to into post partum depression, thank goodness, but I think I had a touch of it in the hospital right after the girls were born before we came home. Luckily, it stayed there. If I wasn't as strong as I am, I'd probably be worried about developing that depression here at home during this time of learning and chaos. I think I'm an OK person, a good mom and a good wife. I can be better, and these next few months I will be working on bettering every aspect of my life. I may need some help and support, and a good kick in the butt along the way, but I'm determined to reintroduce the me I've lost within to my friends, my family and most of all, me.