Funny comments of the week

I'm sure every parent experiences this with their toddler but OMG ... the stuff that comes out of their mouth keeps us in stitches. Let me preface what I'm about to type with a little explanation. The girls are petrified of mold, mainly black flaky mold. About 6 months ago I was going through their bath toys and at the bottom of the basket there was a squirt toy and when I squirted it in the bathtub mold came shooting out (I promise I usually keep their bathroom and bath toys clean ... it was just one of those things). Of course I screamed, the girls reacted on my reaction so needless to say, they think mold is like the bubonic plaque or something.

Here is a conversation between Quinn and my mom last weekend while she is rocking her:

Quinn: "I see your nickle Nana." Referring to a large brown mole on my moms chest that is visible in the shirt she is wearing. Remember Quinn calls nipples ..... nickles.
Nana: "That is not my nipple baby that is a mole."
Quinn frantically jumps out of my moms lap and screams "I don't like mold Nana."
My mom and I laughed for an hour.

Here are some other funny things they said this morning:

Both of them say "the early day" instead of the "the other day."
They say Chicalay instead of Chick Fila.
Quinn says "yeah" after everything she says. Like she is from Wisconsin near the Canadian boarder. Ever see the movie Fargo? She says it in a very sweet voice almost as if she is convincing herself of something. So flippin cute.
Here is a statement from this morning:
"Mommy, are we going to Chicalay with Tay Tay like we did the early day? Yeah Yeah. We went the early day. Yeah Yeah."

When I took them to the doctor last week, we encouraged the girls to tell Dr. Lacy that they use the big girl potty. So they told him they use the potty and wear big girl panties. At that point, Hassie Clare lifted up her little sundress, pulled down her bloomers and said "look, I'm wearing Princess Jasmine panties." The girl has no modesty. Not sure where she gets that from:)

Going back in time ...

I really, really, really want to go back in time to when the girls were about 3 months old and hold them. Just for one day (really 2 days - 1 day for with Hassie Clare and 1 day with Quinn). I want to hold them, smell them, feed them from my body and squeeze them as tight as I can without hurting them. I will even settle for 1 hour.

As a mother, I have enjoyed every stage of their life. I've cherished every milestone, every sweet memory that my brain will retain. But for the life of me, I can't remember the first 6 months of my children's lives. Was it amnesia caused by exhaustion? Did I hit my head?

I have bits and pieces of memories but nothing solid. I can't remember what it felt like to hold either one of them when they weighed 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 15 pounds. When I am away from them for any length of time, their weight on my body is what I miss the most. Silly I know. But as soon as I pick them up and hold them tight, all seems right with the world. So why can't I remember that feeling when they were brand new?

The first 6 months is such a blur. Jamie and I were both back to working full time. I worked from home. We had a lot of help, especially from my mom and mother-in-law. Jamie and I worked in shifts at night. I would take the 10-2:30 shift and he would take the 2:30-6 and then he would have to leave for work. We went to the doctor all the time. Various specialist for various reasons caused by prematurity. This is when I would dress the girls up in the really cute outfits people bought them. The logistics of going out in public was tough because a) there was two of them b) they were each hooked up to their own apnea monitor that had lots of wires and c) we could not let people touch them out of fear of getting them sick. We could not take the girls anywhere but to doctor appointments because it was RSV season. This is a potentially deadly disease to premature babies. So we kept them isolated from the world until they were about 9 months old. Then we were lucky enough that our insurance plan picked up the outrageously expensive (about $2000 per shot if I recall correctly) RSV shot. The shot is given every 3 months during RSV season and our insurance paid for it for 2 years.

Anyway, I'm getting way off topic here. My point is that time is going by too fast for me. I need to slow down. I'm starting to realize that once the day is over, I can never get that day back again. I need to "stop and REALLY smell the roses" instead of "stopping to look at the rose, have a brief thought in my head that the rose is pretty, snapping a photo of it and quickly moving on to something else." I have a feeling that with time, a lot of the memories of special moments I have with my girls will start to fade, or be replaced with new special moments. Maybe I should just be thankful that I'm one of the lucky ones that get to experience this unbelievable ride called motherhood.

Photo of the first time I got to hold them both at the same time when they were still in the NICU. The total weight of both of them is 8 pounds 13 ounces. They were 9 days old. Our favorite nurse took the pic.

So, I took Hassie Clare to the doctor this morning because she has had a runny nose and serious eye issues for 7 days. I was thinking it was just allergies ... everyone and their brother is having problems right now. Her little eyes are matted shut every morning. It looks like something out of a horror movie after she wakes up. After 5 min. of a warm rag and a little rubbing she can get them open. Dr. Lacy seems to think that it is conjunctivitis and not allergies because they are not itchy. He also thinks she has sinusitis going on. Long story short, another 5-7 days of antibiotic eye drops and a round of antibiotics.

We have a $20 co-pay so if I have an appointment for one of the girls I usually bring the other one along just to get a "free" check of her ears. Dr. Lacy has twins also so he understands. Quinn is not having any problems but for giggles I asked the doc to peek in her ears. Low and behold she has a freakin ear infection. Never in a million of years would I have guessed Quinn has an infection in her ear. Up until 6 weeks ago, she has NEVER had one. This is the same ear that was infected about 6 weeks ago so we get another week of antibiotics and a re-check in 7 days.

On a more positive note, we have 2 new itty bitty additions to the family. I'll post about that later:)

For the second time in 2 years and 9 months, Hassie Clare and Quinn had an overnight stay without us! Jenny and Umple Dave (this is how they say it) graciously kept the girls for us on Sat night so that we could enjoy a nice evening at a friends wedding and get a peaceful nights rest. IT WAS HEAVEN! Jamie and I both looked at each other Sun morning and said "Wow ... it feels like we have had a vacation .... now let's go get our kids." It is amazing how recharged you can feel with just a little break. It makes it even more refreshing when you know you children are in great hands. Aunt Jenny and Uncle Dave are the girl's Godparents and Aunt / Uncle. So we figure they are bound to them by God and blood:) They have so much fun at their house playing with their cousin's stuff. Aunt Jenny always does something special for them when they come over. She ordered pizza this time cause she knows how much the girls love to chow on pizza. I'm so thankful that my kids have cousins to grow up with and an Aunt and Uncle that love them so dearly. My parents moved here when we were young leaving all of our extended family in Cali so we never got to know any of our cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. Luckily Jamie and I love hanging out with my brother and sister in law, so that makes "family time" that much better! Did I mention we are all going to the beach together in few months .... YAHOO!

Easter Festivities

On the Thur. before Easter the girl's Mother's Day Out Program had an Easter Egg Hunt. Jamie took the morning off work to help hide eggs and spend the morning with them at school. The girls were so excited to have him there ... I think they kind of liked showing off their cool daddy!

"I love cupcakes with sprinkers!" Instead of saying sprinkles, they both say sprinkers.

Quinnie lining up for the hunt.

"Look what I found Kenny Ray."

This was my favorite part, watching Jamie on the indoor playground with all the 2 year olds. They loved him! They chased him like he was a Rock Star. The picture does not do the noise volume nor the "cuteness" justice of all the kids chasing him around. They climbed on him, pulled on his shirt and begged for more. It was adorable and I'm almost positive that he loved every min of it!!! I think I might start renting him out for birthday parties???

On Sat my folks came into town and we headed up to the church for Easter games, crafts and another egg hunt. We had a blast. Notice Hassie Clare's tongue when she is concentrating on something. We think she has Michael Jordan Syndrome.





Sat night we colored Easter eggs and prepared for the Easter Bunny's arrival.

Jamie, Aunt Amy and the girls.

The girls thought the Easter Bunny might get hungry so we left her some celery, grass and the Easter Bunny's favorite ... an ice cold Bud Light Lime.

Hassie Clare could have cared less about the stuff in her Easter Basket. All she wanted to do was throw the Easter grass in the air and sit in her basket.

Paw Paw watching Jamie and the girls figure out an Easter toy.

Quinnie loved the baby she got. It can swim all by itself but she won't let us put batteries in the doll. She named it April.

Despite pink eye, we had a fantastic holiday. Easter is my mom's favorite holiday and she always has a way of making it special. Having Paw Paw and Aunt Amy here for the weekend was an added bonus!

Guess what the Easter Bunny brought us?

PINK EYE! Yes ... that is right folks .... pink eye for the Thurman twins. Much to my surprise, it didn't seem to bother them one bit. I noticed Quinn's eye was a little red and irritated on Fri evening but didn't think much of it. Her allergies were going nuts so I just thought she might have a little cold in her right eye.

We got up Sat morning and headed up to the church Easter Egg hunt. They had an hour of fun filled children's activities prior to the hunt. We played games, did crafts, listened to an Easter story and enjoyed the other 200 other pre-school aged children that were there also. Nana, Paw Paw and Amy went with us. The weather was perfect! We decided to grab an early lunch afterwards on the patio at Mcallisters. Here is a pic from Jamie's phone (notice Quinn's eye looking a little swollen and red ... again .... I'm just thinking it is allergies):

After lunch mom and I dropped the crew off at the house and headed out for an afternoon of shopping. We had a great time as always. My mom has a way of making me laugh like no one else can. I also appreciate her brutally honest opinions while shopping. **Note to self ... never take her bathing suit shopping with me!**

We returned to the house 6 hours later. I walked into the kitchen to my two little ones playing on the kitchen floor. They smiled and looked up at me and my heart sank. Both of them had flaming pink eyes with goo dripping from them. I immediately called the after hours doc office and they called in some antibiotic eye drops. Within 20 mins they had their first round of eye drops!

The Thurman household has been on lock down since Sat afternoon and I must say, it is not near as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, we missed going to my brother and sister in law's house for Easter dinner but they sent us over a bag full of "some lovin from the oven." In fact, I'm nibbling on a piece of Lemonade Pie as I type this!

Pictures do not do the girls justice on just how pitiful they looked! Here are a few pics where you can see their right eyes just don't look right.

The thought of putting 2 eye drops in two years olds eyes, 4 times a day sounds like a nightmare to me. BUT. Quinn puts up a little bit of a fight by clinching her eyelids shut. Sometimes I think I need the jaws of life to prey them open. However, when I tell her it is time for eye medicine she hops in my lap. Hassie Clare has got to be the only 2 year old that just lays there with her eyes open and lets me put 2 drops in each eye. I think she even looks forward to it! As I've always said, Hassie Clare walks to the beat of her own drum. She is in no way "normal" and I hope she never will be!

I'll do a big blog entry about all of our fun Easter festivities BPE (before pink eye).

Tikes & Trikes

In a neighboring town, the local skating rink closes down on Wed. mornings and welcomes pre-school aged kids to bring their tricycles, walkers, scooters, etc. I decided to play hookie from work for a couple hours and Taylor and I packed up the kids and headed to Collierville. It was the first pretty day in a while so the place was empty, except for the ladies from the playgroup that we were meeting. The girls loved doing the Hokey Pokey (I have video of it but I haven't figured out the easiest way to load video onto the blog). They also have an indoor play area with slides, tunnels and such. They girls had a blast and I really enjoyed having a care free morning just playing the girls.

Hassie Clare making a quick getaway with someone Else's bike.

Is it just me or does Quinn look 12 in this photo? STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!!!

They both really liked this little radio flyer bike that didn't have petals... I think they were getting ready to scrap in this pic!

Tay Tay and the bike stealing twins (neither of these bikes are ours:)!

Hammer Time

Our very dear friends, Benji and Paige Hammer traveled down from Missouri last weekend to spend it with us. They have two daughters, Morgan will be 6 this month and Jenna just turned 3. They also have one on the way that is due July 2. Benji and Jamie have been the best of friends since their freshman year in high school. Benji is one of our girls Godfather. Benji and Paige started dating the same year we did (1999), we all got married the same year (2002), we both have 2 girls ..... as you can imagine, we have a lot in common. Having so much in common is not what makes us such good friends, that is just the icing on the cake. Maybe we have been close from the start because we wanted the same things out of life, have the same goals and expectations. Whatever the reasons, I'm just thankful to have them in our lives.

"Mom, we are having breakfast with our girlfriends and it's way too early in the day for pictures."

Hassie Clare and Quinn are in love with Morgan and Jenna. They had so much fun with them this weekend. Paige was nice enough to keep the little ones at the house while me, Jamie, Benji and Morgan went to the Cardinal v. Redbirds game on Sat. in downtown Memphis. The weather was exceptional, our seats were awesome (courtesy of the Hammer's), the BBQ nachos were yummy and the beer was ice cold. It was the PERFECT ballgame!

Morgan, me, Jenna, Quinn and Hassie Clare before we left for the game.

After the game, we went home to gather the rest of our gang and headed for our local Japanese Steakhouse. The kids love the atmosphere and the adults love the food. We always do lots of fun stuff when we get together but my favorite part of every weekend we spend with the Hammers is when we are all just sitting around "chewing the fat."

As always, the weekend went by way too fast but we are very thankful for the time we get to spend with our dear friends. I know that we will always be a part of each others lives. It is very cool to watch our kids run around together and become friends. I hope as adults, our children have friends that they respect and love the way we do the Hammer's.

Here are some pics from the weekend (FYI - for some reason, I only took a couple of pics this weekend and I didn't take my camera with me to the game. I guess that is what happens when you are having too much fun to worry about capturing memories on film)!

Playing outside with Benji.


The new love of Quinn's life..... a doll Morgan left for her. Morgan is such a sweet and sensitive soul. She could see that Quinn loved the doll and she wanted her to keep it ... amazing for an "almost" 6 year old. Quinn named the doll "Blackie" because of all the black marks on her head and body. The band aides are covering strawberries on each of Quinnie's knees. She was taking Blackie for a walk down the driveway and tripped.