Go Flyers!!!

Go Dayton Flyers! My turn to pimp my college team. It is basketball season and UD is off to a pretty good start! Thanks to my work friend Mindy P (and fellow Flyer) for the onesies!! :-)

The cute picture:


And of course, the outtake (Bennett says "Ha ha Kendyll, mommy made you wear headgear!"):

This SUUUUUUCCCCKKKSSS!!!!

I tried to keep my note yesterday light-hearted and simple. But in reality, our Thanksgiving has royally sucked!! Thanksgiving is our FAVORITE holiday -- all the food, family, drinking, football-watching & shopping. Yay!

Um yeah, it started on Tuesday with Kendyll. She wasn't herself, looked green and had way too many blow-out diapers to count. We thought she might be having some weird side effects of teething b/c she didn't have a fever and no one else felt bad (and we had no idea where she would have picked this up b/c they pretty much stay in the house most of the time). Wednesday wasn't much better -- she had 3 clothes changes & puked all over my mom. Then came Thursday -- glorious Turkey Day. I wasn't feeling the greatest in the morning, but tried to soldier on. Tim & the guys deep fried the turkey while the ladies cooked the other sides & took care of the babies. We sat down to eat around 1:30 and I looked across the table . . . I could barely touch my food and Tim was as pale and sweaty as I'd ever seen him. To keep this brief (and gross free) we both ended up in bed and didn't make it back out until this morning. Tim now has a better appreciation of what I went through during pregnancy (every day, mind you). Kendyll seems to be better today too. Bennett has only thrown up once (thank God). Nana Debbie & Grandma Angie are both sick today and Tim & I feel a bit better. I have douched every linen & toy in this house and I hope we are all on the upswing soon.
Edited to add: We talked to my dad earlier today (he & my brother went home yesterday and my mom stayed behind to shop - ha!). He's been spending the day in the bathroom & bed as well. Lovely.

So no Black Friday shopping for me (my favorite day of the year!). But maybe we'll make it out for Black Saturday instead. I hope you all had a better Thanksgiving -- I'll live vicariously through you!!

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We're hosting Turkey Day for the 5th year in a row. We started the tradition the year we got married as an excuse to use our China . . . and it remains the only day of the year we break it out of the hutch. :-)

B & K enjoyed Papa Sam reading them "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" last night (thanks Aunt Nanci & Uncle Ted -- we miss you!!!).

Tabasco is already in a Turkey coma:

And our table is ready for us to eat:

Gotta run -- my wine & food plate is calling! A very Happy Thanksgiving to our friends & family near & far. We have a lot to be thankful for this year and are so blessed.

Sitting & the Diva

Let's see . . . lots to update on.

I am going to officially call Bennett a sitter. We're still putting a boppy around him for safety, but he will sit up, away from it for several minutes at a time. Especially if he is occupied with a toy (one that he really loves). I'm sure he'll be sitting "free" by the end of the week. And Miss Kendyll . . . well she has beyond mastered sitting and is now really into grabbing whatever is around her (she's a toy hog). She is also scooting a bit when on her belly. I won't technically call it an army crawl, but she is getting very close.

Bennett is cutting yet another tooth. That brings his total count up to 4 (all on the bottom)!! Kendyll still has two little pearly whites popping through, but I gotta think she may be working on one or two on top. They are both doing really well with brushing their teeth at night. Well technically I brush their teeth and then they play with their toothbrush while their PJs are being put on. Bennett isn't really into playing with the brush too much, but boy Kendyll is. She LOVES that thing. Which brings me to my next point . . .

Kendyll's DIVA ways have really started to blossom. Nine months is a little soon for the "terrible twos" right?? Oh my goodness. Actually, we've known from the beginning she would be the boss. She used to beat the crap out of B in utero. And I'll never forget the time she let out a blood curling shriek in the NICU on her way back to her crib from a bath . . . every single nurse, doctor and parent in that joint turned to look at me in sympathy. Um yeah. Kendyll has thrown three tantrums in the past week. Take the toothbrush away from her and full-on sobs & big tears & red face & screaming ensue. Give it back to her -- big grins & smiles. Take it away again -- repeat. Sigh.

Let's see, what else . . . I'm pretty sure Bennett has mastered clapping. He wasn't doing it in the correct context (well, actually we were watching the Browns game and they were losing, so maybe he was?). But he clapped -- opened hands -- for quite a while. Very cute.

I had a few comments on B&K's gear in the last post. The Poop on Michigan shirt was actually a gift, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it at the Buckeye Corner. And the ND jersey was a purchase on our last trip back to South Bend. We hoped to luck out and find a cheaper one at Blue & Gold Traditions, but we ended up getting B&K new jerseys at the bookstore.

We hope everyone had a nice weekend! Here are a few pics from the last few days.


Bennett in my most favorite shirt EVER (I LOVE Charlie Brown!!):


Kendyll steals EVERYTHING. Evidence of her stealing her brother's sock (and eating it too!):


B&K's favorite toy:


B&K actually smiling!!

B & K Say . . .

Bennett says POOP ON MICHIGAN (this one is for Kevin & Sandy):

Kendyll says GO IRISH!!!

And they both say YAY for football (although it looks like in the 2nd one Kendyll is also saying Poop on Michigan):

Happy Birthday Tabasco!!

We don't know exactly when Tabasco's birthday is this month because we rescued him from a shelter when he was two. But the previous owners did tell the shelter that he was born in November 2002. His prior name was Coco and it just didn't fit him; his coat used to be very red (before all the gray came along after B&K!) and so we named him Tabasco to reflect his hot sauce coat and keep a little of the "co" in his name. He is the best dog in the world -- a little high maintenance at times -- but we wouldn't trade him for the world!!

Pop-u-lar

WOW -- I feel so loved! I have been tagged by THREE (3!!) fellow MoMs to play this game (and note: this is my 2nd time playing along). How fun!

Rules:
1. Link to the person(s) who tagged you. - Meghan, Sara, and Justakidatheart
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about you. - see below
3. Tag 7 random people at the end, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

And here we go:
1. I'm not a big shopper, but I LOVE the sport of day after Thanksgiving shopping, or "Black Friday". That is when I scored my Kate Spade diaper bag last year and I cannot wait for next Friday. I always seem to buy more for me than Xmas shop. Hmmm.

2. I don't cook. Tim is the chef in our family (although I do like to bake, if he'd ever let me in the kitchen).

3. I work in HR, but I hate people. Ok, that is a little harsh, but seriously, people drive me nuts sometimes (which again makes it ironic that I love Black Friday -- droves & droves of people, but I LOVE it!). Of course I'm nice to people and have been told I'm very good at what I do, but people can still drive me bonkers!!!! :-)

4. I have a knack for remembering people's birthdays. And I try to always send a card (or at least an e-mail). And if I know you in real life and you didn't get a birthday card or e-mail this year, I call for an exemption -- just this one time!

5. The best Xmas in recent memory was two years ago. I feel bad saying that because my family could not be with us. But Tim & I and some of his family rented a house in Florida for the week of Xmas and we didn't really celebrate it. We did a small gift exchange and cooked a fab meal on 12/25, but I didn't put up decorations, didn't really shop, was tan and had a very relaxing week. It was fabulous and may be a new family tradition in the coming years.

6. I had a meeting all day today at a movie theatre. That was the first time I had been in a theatre in months. I used to be a HUGE movie buff (just ask my college roomies . . . the Oscars use to be an event for me every year). I'm a little sad to say I didn't recognize a single movie title or poster in that place today.

7. I'm very sad that the OSU/MI game this weekend means we are nearing the end of the College Football season. That means the bowl games aren't far behind and then the end of the NFL isn't too far behind that. Ugh, I HATE it when football ends!!

I now tag YOU!! If you have a blog, haven't played this game and wanna share, go for it! :-)

Too good to be true

My "deal of a century" continues to be the Kate Spade bag (whew!) -- the car seat order was retracted. If you've spent any time on a discussion board or shopping site in the past 24 hours you've probably heard about the Britax seats for a steal at Target. Oh well . . . our search continues.

B & K had their 9 mo appointment this morning. Updated weights are to the right . . . if you recall they were both about the same (or a little more) a couple of weeks ago when I took them to get their flu shot. I will justify by saying that on that trip they were weighed with their clothes on and had just had some fruit & a bottle before (and they were weighed on a different scale then what they are normally weighed on) -- today they were in fresh diapers only and had just took down a morning bottle. Oh well.

The Dr said they looked great and isn't surprised at B's inability to sit . . . but he believes that some day very soon Bennett will be a VERY big boy and that he will catch up pretty quickly. He was supportive of our decision to not do the RSV shots (long story) and he said he wasn't concerned because they were very healthy, thriving "preemies" (actually, he used another word for the healthy thriving part, but I can't remember what it was). We'll take them back in a couple of weeks for the 2nd dose of their flu shot and then they won't go back until they turn a year old.

Oh, speaking of preemies I keep forgetting to write about this. Two weekends ago Tim & I went out to lunch on our lazy Sunday. As usual, B&K were quite the scene and at one point a lady & her little 2ish year old girl came up to the stroller. She asked the obvious ("are they twins") and stated the obvious ("boy you have your hands full") and then asked how old they were. When I answered 9 mo she replied "WOW, they are huge!!". Never heard that one before. I think it is mainly because they were in their car seats in the Graco stroller and they are SO too long for those that they look like little giants. Yet another reason Santa needs to come early. I'm off to search for the next carseat deal . . .

Friends & Family

Whew, yet another busy weekend. Tim went to watch his HS football team on Friday. Sadly the Leopards did not win. Boo! Fellow MoMs Alicia & April came over to hang out with me Friday night after the kiddos went to bed. We had planned a little MoMs night out at April request, but moved it "in" to my house instead. Fun times (and a late night!). :-)

Saturday Grandma & Grandpa Z came to town to play with B&K. Tim & I had two -- yes 2!! -- parties to go to, so it was nice to have a break and for my parents to hang out with the babies. Kendyll continued to perfect her sitting skills and Bennett has started to take a liking to it also. He also is starting to reach out / up more and at one point reached over for my mom to hold him while I was holding him. So cute! Tim & I headed up to Delaware for a surprise party for our friend Chris (Happy Birthday, Chris -- welcome to the "dark side"!). Then we snuck home to freshen up, went out to a nice meal and then hung out at another birthday party for our neighbor.

Today we hung out for a while with my parents and scored some AWESOME shopping deals. We are desperate to get four convertible car seats. We first scored two "cheaper" seats for our nanny's car at a discount store. Then I just scored two very well name car seats for $42 a PIECE!! (thanks Aimee!!!). There is a lot of skepticism online regarding whether this deal is legit (normally these seats are $250 a piece), but if it is real then this may top my Kate Spade diaper bag score (and I thought that one would NEVER be beat!).

Today we had a FABULOUS dinner at our friends Alicia & Bryan's house. Bennett & Kendyll had a blast hanging out with Will & Sam and Alicia cooked us the most delicious authentic Italian meal (Mom, you now have competition for sauce & meatballs). We had such a nice time and all four babies played so well together . . . we had no meltdowns and Kendyll sat like a big girl all night. Bennett had a blast playing in all the bouncy / exersaucer toys that Will & Sam have! So cool!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:


All the babies playing:



Kendyll & her future boyfriend Will:



All the babies (note to self . . . it may be better to take this at the beginning of the night next time . . . ) -
Will, Kendyll, Bennett, Sam:



And of course, the outtakes (B,K,W,S):

Nine Months Old!!!

Happy 9th Month Birthday, B&K! Kendyll must have read my last post, because in the past two days she has literally "taken off" with the sitting thing. Tonight she sat unassisted for over 15 minutes. So note to self: if you want B&K to do something, write about it in the blog. :)

Not a really good night for pictures, but I snapped a few. I also took some video of K sitting and B "talking" to her tonight, too. I'll try to get that uploaded & posted soon. And we'll try to snap some better pictures this weekend, too.

Photo shoot outtakes:

Kendyll sitting yesterday:

Cute B-man:

What's so special about sitting, anyways?

I am not a mom who cares about "milestones". I probably should, but who has the time to worry about such things? I have that "What to Expect" book and haven't read it since my bedrest days. What is the point in this lamenting? Well apparently most babies learn to sit unassisted by 6 - 7 months. Yes, B&K will be 9 mo on Thursday and still have not yet accomplished this "milestone". Now technically they are only 7 mo based on their corrected age, but we try not to think about that often.

So we've been working with B&K to try to get them to sit up on their own. Bennett might take a little longer based on his body strength, but he is catching up quickly. Kendyll is thisclose to sitting up on her own. Photo evidence below.

This is how we start out:

And then Kendyll tries to grasp something that has caught her eye:

Bennett tires out:

And then Kendyll decides to show off:

Life & Death

We had a nice low-key weekend. Tim flew home Friday night and then headed out with a friend to watch his high school football team, the Lepards, play in the state play-offs. It was raining (hard & sideways), but the Leps won. They play again Friday night -- it is pretty exciting because this is the 2nd year in a row they've made it this far in the playoffs and they have a "rematch" this week. Fun times. Saturday we watched a LOT of football as a family . . . happy for OSU fans, sad (and frustrated) as ND fans. Sigh. Sunday was pretty much the same. Actually, we declared it "comfy clothes" day and all wore our sweat pants all day. Ahhhh. We watched a lot of football yesterday, too. Sad as Steelers fans (or at least me & Kendyll are . . . I have been told Bennett is a Browns fan). And speaking of the Browns, how exciting that Brady Quinn FINALLY got to play Thursday night. Last year I won "wife of the year" award because I bought Tim a Quinn jersey for our anniversary (it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would). I rock!!

We all have busy weeks and then another busy (but fun) weekend planned. No new pictures tonight, but stay tuned. I'll try to get some up this week and we all have B&K's 9 mo birthday to look forward to!!

Not much new on the B&K front. Kendyll is finally getting close to sitting unassisted. We've been working with Bennett to try to strengthen his core and he is getting better, but is still a skinny little white dude. They both love to "sing" all of a sudden. I noticed it last week when we were driving in the car -- they hum, make noise and squeal along to the songs (and of course they aren't "kids" songs . . . we listen to regular old alt rock & rap). I'm just waiting for Bennett to sing some Tupac or Biggie at his first school recital. :-)

In other news, it has been a really sad week of sorts. Have you ever noticed that deaths (esp. with famous people) seem to happen in threes? I feel like that has happened to me over the past two weeks. A friend from college, "Beeper" Dave, passed away on 10/30 at the age of 41(we called him such because back then he was the only person we knew to carry a pager -- and it wasn't that long ago!!). He was a friend of one of my roommates and a super sweet "older" guy; earlier this year he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and quickly lost his battle. Dave and his wife Polly adopted three young boys and I cannot imagine what she is going through now. And then my mom's aunt passed away last week. Lastly, on Friday a local newscaster, Heather Pick, lost her long battle with breast cancer. So okay, this last one I didn't personally know, but I felt like I knew her (as did many people in Columbus). I watched her every day when I was on bedrest -- first in the morning & then at noon. I noticed that she was wearing a wig and one day in my boredom I did a search about her. I was shocked to learn that she was battling breast cancer and that she had been diagnosed in 1999 at the age of 29. She beat the disease once, but it returned again in 2004. She was 38 and the mother of two little children -- her daughter is 7 and her son is 4. They kept replaying images of her over & over again on the news on Friday and by the time Tim came home from the game I could not watch it again. So sad. She was a true fighter and I guess we can all take a little inspiration from that.

OK, enough lamenting. Go hug & kiss your loved ones. I gotta run -- I promise new pictures soon!!

Oh the places you go . . .

Wow we had a busy day! I went into work in the a.m. for a few meetings and then spent the afternoon with B & K. I took them into my downtown office and they were ogled over by my work group. I am super proud of myself because the office (and the set-up) isn't really child / stroller friendly. It is a big campus downtown C-bus and I had to park in a garage, figure out how to get us across the street and more importantly into the building (most of the doors are those dang revolving doors and you have to get buzzed into the ones that don't go around). Thankfully someone was walking out as I needed to get in, so it wasn't a huge deal. The next challenge was the elevators -- the building is so tall (40 stories) that there are 4 sets of elevators. Some go to even floors, some to the odd # floors and some go to floors 20+. Again, not a big deal when I am alone, but I had to make sure I entered the building on the right floor to catch the elevators I needed to get to my floor. Success again! And I only had about five "are they twins" comments. Nice!

Next up was the dr. office for the flu shots. Silly me forgot that most parents bring their children in AFTER school around 3pm, which just happened to be the time we were in the office. I didn't need to make an appointment and when we walked in the door there was a pretty long line. B & K were due to eat lunch and take a bottle, so I wasn't too keen on waiting a while. But thankfully we were able to get in pretty quickly after eating some apple/banana/granola and then taking a little bit of a bottle while in the waiting room. A quick weight check (Bennett at a whopping 17lbs 5oz and Kendyll at 17lbs 15oz -- both fully clothed) and they they each got a little shot in the thigh. I was SO proud of them -- just a quick little cry and they were totally over it! What strong, brave big kids! I did learn, however, that they have to go back for the 2nd dose in about a month, but I'm sure they will do fine then, too!

B & K are now done for a nap and I'm still hoping to hit up Jodi's party later for some gifts. Here are a few pics I shot of B & K at the office (notice Kendyll is chewing on my wristlet/wallet . . . she LOVES that thing). Neither baby was in the mood to smile, but oh well.

Spontaneous

So if you've logged on waiting to read all about our exciting time at Avery's first birthday party and the hayride / bonfire, sorry to disappoint. We had every intention of dressing B & K in their wicked pimp outfits and taking part in all of the "Avery's 1st Birthday Party" festivities. But something else came up -- and Avery, we promise you'll get your gift soon!!

Tim & I were sort of bumming this fall. It is our favorite season for many reasons -- the colors, the weather, our anniversary, the birthdays of several of our loved ones -- but our MOST favorite reason is football. More specifically, Notre Dame football. Last season aside, we are pretty die-hard Irish fans. Tim attended ND for his MBA in 2000 and I grew up a huge ND fan (I attended the same grade school as Lou Holtz -- although not at the same time, thankyouverymuch). I had never attended a game in person before I met Tim (and I'm not saying that his "alumni" status had anything to do with why I married him) -- but we have attended a game pretty much every season we've been together. And Tim has made it back to a game every season since graduating. We even endured a game last year in the retched season (and during my horrendous pregnancy). But this fall seemed jam packed and we couldn't find a good weekend to get away to attend a game. Until last Thursday, that is. An innocent exchange of e-mails between Tim and our friend Dave revealed that Dave & his wife Beth were going to the ND game on Saturday. One of my FAVORITE trips to ND was three years ago . . . Dave, Beth, Tim & I drove over for a game when we lived in Chicago and it was the.most.fun. So Tim & I started to spin our wheels . . . and long story short we decided at 5:00pm Friday night to drive over to South Bend on Saturday, tailgate with Dave & Beth and their family & friends, scalp tickets and spend the night. WOO-FREAKEN-HOO!!! It was so fun. The weather was beautiful. The tailgate was fun (a bunch of people from Pittsburgh who love the Steelers more than I do -- and they were ND fans to boot!!). The game went into FOUR OTs (I won't mention the part about PITT beating ND). Jon Bon Jovi was at the game!!!!! We had a blast afterward!! We spent a small fortune in gear for the whole family at the bookstore!! It was so much fun and we owe a HUGE thank you to Nana & Papa Williams for coming to stay with B & K for the weekend. It was an expensive weekend (happy early Xmas to us!) but it was totally worth it!!

Let's see, what else . . . oh yeah, B & K! They are super big kids all of a sudden. Bennett will hold his bottle (although not consistently) and they are both getting the hang of sippy cups. They each have three teeth (although K's have not broken all the way through yet). They are both recognizing their names and have started to lift up their arms to be picked up. Lauren is off tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be hanging out with B & K. We have a trip to mommy's office downtown planned (so get ready FHR group!) and then I think I'll treat them to a flu shot at their pedi's office. My friend Jodi is hosting a jewelry open house at her house tomorrow night (her mom makes the most BEAUTIFUL handmade jewelry) and I think B & K & I are going to do a little shopping. Should be fun. Tim is in Chicago all week, so we love to find things to occupy our time when he is away (and odd how it usually involves spending money!).

I'd like to send a special note to my mom & her family. My mom's aunt was admitted to Hospice on Friday and she & my dad were not able to make it down for the weekend (but don't worry . . . they will have LOTS of opportunities to hang with B&K over the next few months!). Aunt Mary passed away this afternoon and she lived a VERY long life (97 years!!).

Oh, and don't forget to vote!! I was watching the news last night and there were people waiting in line for EIGHT HOURS yesterday to vote early at Vets Memorial in C-bus yesterday. Makes me so thankful that I decided to vote by mail. :-)

Here are a few pics of the "big kids" . . .

Kendyll showing off her teeth:


Bennett holding his bottle:


Both kids taking their sippy cups:

Toys for Tots

My friend, Erin, has recently started a new business venture. If you are in the Columbus area and love jewelry and like to do something for good, please check out her website. She is hosting an open house later this month with part of the proceeds going to Toys for Tots.

In other news, we had a VERY exciting weekend. Tim is traveling this week, so I'll do my best to provide an update on our very busy & spontaneous weekend a little later.