searching for blueberry muffin

Rasa and Adia are really into Strawberry Shortcake dolls right now. I admit to loving them as well because I was all about Strawberry Shortcake when I was in preschool. My sister had Blueberry Muffin and I had Strawberry and I remember hours of play with them and the sweet, sweet smell of their scented hair that lasted nearly as long as the dolls held up.

When I brought home the girls first dolls Adia wanted Lemon and Rasa wanted Strawberry. They were so excited about them. They wanted their little shoes put on and to mess up...I mean comb...their hair. I would fix them back up while Royce would glare at me from across the room reminding me that they are the girls and not my dolls. Whatever.

I was leaving for the weekend a few weeks ago and wanted to pick up a couple new ones so that I could say good bye and distract them long enough to get out of the house without tears. I gave Rasa Plum Pudding and Adia Blueberry Muffin, they hugged and kissed me and said "see ya in a couple days!".

When I returned and settled back in after the weekend Blueberry was no where to be found! For two weeks we've been looking for her everywhere! At one point Adia told Royce she threw her in the garbage. I don't know if she actually did or if she means since we can't find her she must have gotten thrown away?

Last night I was sitting at the kitchen table and they were again asking where Blueberry is:

Adia runs up to me and grabs my hand and says, "Come on! Come on! We need to get Blueberry out of the garbage!" pulling my arm to get up and go outside where the bin is.

I said, "Adia it doesn't work like that. If Blueberry made it outside to the trash then the Garbage Man came and picked it up and she's gone. We can't go get her".

Adia got really upset, started sobbing and yelled "But Momma I'm really worried about her!!!!"

That was the sound of my heart breaking.

Stupid Strawberry Shortcake dolls!

my two puppies....i mean kids

So Mom, don't be alarmed when you look at this. I know I told you last week the only way to keep my house relatively clean would be to kennel the girls. I didn't kennel them - they are infatuated with kenneling themselves (score!).

It actually grosses me out because Lucy is a grungy little turd and although she doesn't spend a lot of time in her kennel and the blanket in there is relatively clean....still....yuck!

Adia believes in her heart of hearts she is in fact a dog. She barks at me when I go outside, she licks everything (yes even still) and now she makes Rasa feed her treats to which she eats them out of her hand (see pic).

Tonight Rasa was crawling in the kennel and Royce (unknowing of this new infatuation of theirs) stopped her. She sobbed and ran through the living room with tears flying saying "I wanna go in the kennel!!!!!" Royce and I laughed and he put her in the damn dog kennel.

Is child protective services coming tonight?

Everyday Things

the full circle

Me: Adia, what do you want for supper?

Adia: How bout........a sandwich, juicebox, toy and apple sauce!

Me: No, that's what you had for lunch.

Adia: How bout a sandwich!

Me: No, that's what you had for snack

Adia: How bout a juicebox!

Me: No

Adia: How about lunch?

i am thankful for you

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.“
H. U. Westermayer

Everyday Things

Everyday Things

Quotes this week from Rasa Bea

"I'm going to have a baby brother. I'm going to call him Number Two"
I swear to God she's never seen Austin Powers!!!

"Adia lets go sit outside on the bench. We're going to wait for my baby brother"
Um I should note that I was home with the girls alone so it's not like she was thinking if she gave Royce and I some time alone.......


Jenn: "Rasa did you draw this picture?"
Rasa: "Yes!"
Jenn: "Is that a lady?"
Rasa: "NO!! It's my momma!" (in a loud and condescending manner!)
Jenn: "Is this you?"
Rasa: "No it's my baby brother! and that's a tiny baby!!" (again in a loud and condescending manner!)
*notice she captured my afro quite well!

This morning Rasa brought me the cap off of a brand new tube of lip gloss. I immediatly get irritated because she's been digging in my purse again and I say, "Go get the rest of this right now!". She says, "I WILL!" and walks away. I reply, "Right now!". She walks back over to me and gives me a teenage attitude and says, "Momma you need to relax!"

I'm dead.

Everyday Things

daddy unicorn

Yesterday afternoon Rasa and I were downstairs and I called up to Royce with no reply. I walked upstairs and there was Royce in a deep sleep on the floor propped up against the couch with a Tupperware cup standing straight up on his forehead while Adia was dancing in circles around him smiling. Daddy unicorn :)

I would have taken a picture but I've been prohibited from taking anymore pictures of Royce sleeping.

"momma, your head is right here!"

Royce went out with a friend Friday night and I was trying to get the girls settled down, in the tub, pj's on, teeth brushed etc about an hour later than usual (beware of the second wind!). The more I tried to hurry the more unorganized and frazzled I was getting. Rasa was standing in front of me and I was telling her to do this and do that and then I stopped for a second and said "ugh I don't know where my head is at". Rasa looked at me perplexed and then touched the top of my head and said, "Momma, you're head is right here!".

Everyday Things

my little party girl

So yesterday morning Adia woke up with a big bloated belly. She literally looked like she swallowed a cantaloupe whole. She is a tough kid and never cries after she falls or hits her head or actually really gets hurt. She was crying. She was screaming and didn't want to be touched. I called the clinic and couldn't get in with her regular physician so we made an appointment, got ready and left. Once in the lobby Adia's Pediatrician walked through, waved and asked if we were seeing him. I said "I wish! but we couldn't get in", and thankfully he told the receptionist he wanted to see Adia (seriously love this guy). Right away he said her bladder was distended meaning it was filled with urine but couldn't come out. He was guessing it was due to constipation, which an xray proved it was. They put a catheter in and Adia didn't even flinch for a second (told ya she was tough). Later had to do an enema and sent us home. Adia whispered "Mommy I don't have a tummy ache anymore" and then crashed out in my arms.

After we got home she slept for a little while and then woke up vomiting. Over. And Over. And Over. I should mention my good friend, Amy was over and probably traumatized at the sight of projectile vomit flying across the room. She was sweet, cleaning up and helping us out. Amy, I owe you a beer, girl!

Fast forward a few hours and there's Adia, Me and My Mom (thanks Mom!!) are sitting in a little ER room at Children's Hospital. They gave Adia some anti-nausia medication and did another x-ray.






She perked up quickly after the meds and by 11pm was literally dancing in circles in her room, slam dunking kleenex into the garbage can and giggling none stop. Yep that's my Adia!

On the way home we stopped so Adia could get a sandwich, after not eating anything all day she was hungry finally at midnight as we were leaving. When we got home she was excited to tell her Daddy all about the starts on the ceiling at Children's and how they changed from green to blue to yellow and PINK! "I love pink!!". Adia and I snuggled in at 1 am, turned on a movie and feel asleep.

She's my party girl.

Farewell Wordless Wednesday!

I'll explain! I'm going to continue doing a photo post type thing weekly but it might fall on Tuesday, or Thursday or Sunday (its all starting to make sense now isn't it!). I love committing myself to pull out my camera once a week, mostly during the off season when it gets a little dusty but instead of simply posting pictures of the girls I want to capture for them more of what is around them, what they're into and what their daily life looks like. I'll still have tons of pictures of the girls each month because I have to have something to do with all of them!

So this week you will see Everyday Things and I can't promise you which day but it's coming :) Change is good!

For daddy :)

"Well, you can’t never let anything happen to him- then nothing would ever happen to him. Not much fun for little Nemo."

-Dori, Finding Nemo

She told me!

This morning I was sitting on the couch with my laptop and the girls were wild, wresting and chasing each other. Every time they would bring it on the couch I would ask them to get down and away from my computer. Adia wouldn't listen and I told her next time she jumps on me I was going to have to put her in time out. Less than a minute later she stands on the arm of the couch and dive bombs me. I picked her up, carried her into her room told her she gets time out for two minutes. After I closed the door she started crying and I walked back onto the loft and started to pick up. Rasa was sitting at her table and I asked her to go and let Adia out of time out. Rasa said, "No Momma. She's asking for you, not me!"

So similar yet so different

When the girls were newborns they had to stay in separate isolettes next to each other at different nurses stations. It wasn't until they were six days old that we were able to bundle them up and squish them up close to each other again. They loved it, both seemed unaware of each other but dependent at the same time. The craziest thing was watching them look like they were swimming with their arms and legs and how they would move in complete unison but with the opposite arms and legs. I figured they must have been used to having only one side of the womb that was theirs in utero. In utero their hearts almost always beat in unison and better yet sometimes even in unison with my own heart beat. I always thought that was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced.

Watching them grow and develop has always been interesting when we factor in the twin equation. They are so extremely different yet in their personalities and their looks yet physically seem to do things so much the same. They hold paint brushes and crayons identically. They push their bikes the same way (and in a way no other kid their age does). They sleep in the same position and cuddle the same. They sit in a crowded room and watch the same things, sometimes even turning their heads and eyes at the same moments. They are both observers even though they process the information differently.

I was playing with my camera with a slow shutter and noticed the girls needed to clean up their mess. I told them to put their shoes back in the bin and snapped a few pictures while they were doing it. After I took a look I thought this one was pretty cool seeing them in a millisecond in time both bending at the same moment to pick up in the same position......only opposite.

"Some may think that the arts are frills. But they are important for complete brain functioning... Perhaps nowhere else in the entire curriculum do children get to see clearly that an achievement takes time and that it has a beginning , a middle, and a product. A vase starts with a lump of clay that is rolled, molded, and fired. A poem starts with a single word on a blank page. A dance starts with a first step. A violin starts with a squeak. There is a level of personal satisfaction in the arts that stimulates a child to learn and to want to keep on learning."
--Dorothy Rich, MegaSkills, (Houghton Mifflin, 1988)

Wordless Wednesday 87 - Autumn Day