Resolution

So, many of you who know me and have seen me since having the twins (in person or via photos) have probably noticed the additional chin, fat thigh chub-rub, sexy cankles, or a combination there of. Perhaps you've had the hankering to sing "fat girl in a little coat" in my presence. I know I have. About you. No, I'm kidding. Seriously though, I'm fat.
I have gone from a size 5 to an 11. An 11, kids. Seriously. It makes me want to travel back to my Sr. year in high school and bitch slap the taste out of my mouth for ever complaining about how "fat" I was. Dumb teenagers.
As much as I'd like to starve the unsexiness out of me, I'm breastfeeding and that means I actually have to eat. Just to make milk though. That's right...food is not just for the benefit of survival anymore. I am, however, trying to eat healthier (i.e. things with little to no taste). Making the task even tougher is the absence of my thyroid. What kind of cruel joke was that? Let's take the one major part of the body that controls my metabolism so that it virtually doesn't even exist any more.
Anywho, now that we're settled and not so transient, I get to finally start working on myself. After the holidays of course. You know it's stupid to make that kind of commitment to go into effect before New Year's.

Knock Knock....

Who's there?

Me.

I'm finally back after a slow shuffle through hell and we're finally unpacking in our new home. Why, you might ask, was this an especially craptastic trip through the seventh circle? Let me tell you.

We left Arizona on October 31st. Not only did Darby miss Halloween but the twins missed it, too. Huge deal? Not really I suppose since Darby's still a bit too young to care and the twins have no idea what time of day it is let alone what holiday we're surpassing, but I still like to be uber mommy and get pictures and play dress up. We drove all day, ended up passing through Sedona and other particulary and supposedly beautiful parts of Arizona after sunset and had to forgo seeing the Grand Canyon because we left a day later than we had intended. We made it to Albuquerque that first night and began the first of 5 nights of unloading three kids, three dogs, 6 suitcases, a travel swing, a co-sleeper, various expensive items, a large cooler, a hitch & haul, a huge rubbermaid container of Brad's work equipment, and our Sirius into the hotel room only to be followed by virtually nothing in the way of sleep, a free breakfast I wouldn't wish on someone I hated, and then a reverse de ja vu experience from the unloading experience the night before. Brad drove with the dogs and I had the kids. Both sets of kids did remarkably well in the cars and Darby even helped feed the babies at times when they were ready to stop and we weren't near a convenient location. To liven things up even more, Darby decided he was finally ready to quit unleashing his bodily fluids all over himself and wanted to become potty trained. I'm happy to say that he barely had any accidents on that road trip and has since become so sufficient at using the potty, that he's not even wearing pull-ups to bed anymore. Now, if I could just get him to quit randomly dropping trou in the middle of whatever room we're in at home whenever he gets the urge to pee, that would be great.
Anywho, back to Sarah's Inferno. Stick with me here, there will be more jumping around I'm sure, but I guess that's what you get when I haven't written in almost 2 months.
To make a longer story short, we stopped to see my great grandma, Brad's grandma, my mother-in-law for a few days, and then my parents for a week before we decided that our realtor was an idiot and might be legally retarded. We were supposed to close on our house by mid November and as our week winded down at my mom and dad's, we realized we would have to play Plan B; a rental cottage on Lake Erie. It sounded cozy and come to find out, it was an abomination. We got to live in a 3 bedroom fisherman's lair until we finally got the seller's bank's approval on our offer. They were gracious enough to appreciate our circumstances and allowed us to move in the first weekend after the approval. But Sarah! you might be thinking. It's three bedrooms! It's on the lake! What kind of two bit princess bitch are you? Let me tell you, sweetheart. You try living in a fishing cabin where two of the rooms get no heat whatsoever so you're forced to push three twin beds together for you, your husband, and your three year old, while your twins are latched onto a side with their co-sleeper and your three dogs occasionally sneak up for a midnight spooning session for extra warmth for three weeks. The words inhumane and torture come to my mind. How about you?
So now here I am, in my new bedroom and at my old friend, just pounding keys and enjoying life. Our town is cute and wonderful, Brad loves his new station, we've found a great pre-school for Darby, and I might go back to work part time at the hospital since Brad's got a set schedule. Ahhh...the best of both worlds; no daycare and a chance for the patient contact I miss so much. Life is good.
On a different note, sometime after the new year, I will have a new blog up and running that I've been working on for quite some time. I'm not content just writing about family and wish to reach a wider audience and do some more with my blogging. I've gotten too many offers for reviews and opportunities through some different media and marketing agencies that it's almost a necesity if I want to continue to get things like this handed to me.
Anywho, thanks for stopping by. More soon. Enjoy your holidays and may all of you be blessed this Christmas.

Thanksgiving

Too much to really sit down and report as of yet. No house, no news, eating turkey at my parents with my family, and that sums of life right about now. I hope to be writing you soon from the comfort of my own space but until that day, here's something to warm your spirits!

Yes, ladies and gentleman, it has to be the largest RickRoll ever. YES!

A little Hi, Hello.

Another wretchedly hot fall/summer day in Arizona. (Oh mid-west, hang on for me, I'm coming home!) When it cooled down last evening, Brad and Darby decided to tool around on Darby's Gator. I didn't think I'd come outside to find this, but alas, my husband fits in that car about as well as Darby does.

Brad's currently house hunting and we'll be purchasing our first home by the end of the month. I am crazy excited! I can't wait to finally be able to decorate and to do what I damn well please! I can't wait to have a backyard that the boys and the dogs can run around in! More importantly, I can wait for all this to happen out of Arizona! YAY! I've already got so many ideas for the boys' rooms and I'm anxious to get started. Speaking of the boys:

Daniel with a rare smile. Creighton, chunk-a-monk.

Hangin' on the boppy. Daniel wasn't particularly enjoying tummy time but is waving to the camera in the 2nd shot.

Mr. Bright Eyes, Creighton. Daniel, our little Monkey.

They are getting so damn big! I can barely stand it. What happened to these tiny little 4 lb. babes? Now they're pushing up and rolling over and giggling and smiling, not to mention constantly cooing. *sigh*

Brad called me a few minutes ago about houses and it seems he might have found "the one." The basement needs finished and I would definitely want to put new cabinets in because, holy crap, I don't do the retro look in the kitchen, but it's got everything we want with room to spare. We'll see though. Two more days of hunting left and I don't want to jump on anything the first day.

Granola Mommy

So I'm being a hippy again.

I've decided to go back to cloth diapering like I did with Darby. I don't like it and I really love the idea of taking a poopy diaper off of a bum and chucking it in the Diaper Champ, but the boys' diaper areas are constantly red and I think they've got sensitive skin like their big brother and Daddy. I just don't see another alternative that makes a lot of sense. Thank God I kept all of Darby's cloth diapers. Kissaluvs and Fuzzi Bunz are expensive! Now if I can just find the handful of Snappi's I bought for the pre-folds. Hmm...

In other news, I'm trying desperately to build my milk supply up. It's ridiculous, really. I knew I'd have problems with supply after having my thyroid ablated but I'm starting to get pretty upset by it. I nursed Darby for 15 months (when he was FINALLY ready to wean) and I feel like a failure not being able to solely breastfeed them both without relying on formula part of the time. I haven't tried Goat's Rue yet but I've started taking blessed thistle and fenugreek and drinking mother's milk tea like crazy. If time would allow, I might be able to get some extra pumping sessions in, too. Thank God we're moving back in a few weeks and it won't be a big deal to go to my mother-in-law's and have her help me get the boys back on track. Do you know what a blessing it is to have your mother-in-law employed as a maternity nurse and a certified lactation consultant? It's even nicer that my own mother is a nurse at a family practice. When I finally get my degree, we'll be the trifecta! HA!Anyway, bed is calling my name and I am dreading getting up 5 1/2 hours from now. Sir Darby is getting his molar worked on tomorrow as it cracked due to a malformation. A 3 yr. old on valium and nitrous oxide should be a blast. I'll let you know.

30 Days....

until we move. Can you believe it? In preparation for this insane little adventure we're taking, I've begun mapping out our route (yeah, we're driving. Psycho much?) and getting a list together of things I should probably purchase before the great escape out of Arizona. This is going to be the last road trip we take for awhile I would assume, since you'd have to be nuts to do this for fun with 3 children, so we're definitely going up to the Canyon and definitely taking Route 66 back. I'm so excited despite the daunting task of minding 3 little guys on the road! Route 66 is so historic and has the cutest little towns and shops and diners along it. Even though I despise Rachael Ray, I do get her magazine every month and there was actually a road trip article about Rte. 66 a few issues ago. I'll have to check it out.

So, I'm thinking I'm going to need to buy one of those nifty backseat organizers, a 2nd carrier like our Graco one since that it just so much easier to put on than a Moby wrap, some glass bottles, a car charger for my pump, some travel toys to keep everyone (especially los bebes) engaged, and a few other really random but really-awesome-oh-my-God-I-have-to-have-it necessary.

For instance; Oopsy Daisy No-Rinse Shampoo and Bubble Bath and the Slurp 'n Burp!

The Oopsy Daisy stuff is plant based so you just squirt it on, rub it in, wipe it off, and voila! Clean baby! I figure it will be especially useful for when we're out and about and have to stop somewhere for lunch or whatever and the kids decide to decorate with sweet potatoes and such. I know Darby always thought baby food belonged everywhere except his mouth. The Slurp 'n Burp is especially crazy-cool. I have a Hooter Hider and it's a gorgeous print and has a built in burp rag and yadda yadda but everyone knows what you're doing under it. I don't so much mind people knowing that I'm breastfeeding, but I do like the idea of being a little more discreet. The blatant gawkers that look like they're trying to figure out what's going on under the big tent at the boob circus gets a little old. This travel spoon from One Step Ahead is also pretty wicked. How handy is that?

Advice to new moms

As I peruse other blogs I notice more and more moms buying their brand new babies outfits that are insanely expensive. Why?! Why are you doing that?!?! With our first, we stuck to Carter's and even a few inexpensive Target and Wal-Mart buys here and there because they were what we could afford at the time. Now that Brad's got a great paying job and we make more than enough for me to stay at home, I still rarely buy the boys expensive clothing (save for what they might where for our family pics or something that's too much of a deal to pass up). Besides the spit up factor, there is a much more important reason for doing this. It's called poop, and that fantastically cute and expensive garment you just threw onto your child for the day is going to get sloshed in it by sun down.

Case in point: I have a few cute sleepers that I bought from Old Navy a few weeks ago. Normally, I wouldn't have done it because a.) we turned Darby into such a clothes whore when he was a baby that we have more than enough for quads if we wanted and b.) they're about $5 more expensive than I like to spend. The arm twister was that they were 40% off, adorable, and cheaper than the sleepers I had planned on buying. Now, three of them are still in really good shape. But the lightest colored one (not to mention the cutest one by default since it's covered in monkeys) has since become a baby wipe as of it's very first wearing. Daniel had it on for all of 10 minutes before he pooped up to his neck and doused his brand new jammies. Damn it! There is no getting the mustard yellow breast milk poop stain out of those and thus they are pushed to the back of the drawer and I'm just glad I didn't pay full price for them. RIP cute little monkey jammies. RIP.