a.rose

 Hi, my name is Hallie. I like to wear gloves and pretty hats and ride rocking horses.  Hi, my name is Amy. I like to wear yellow shirts and red lipstick and go on tours of castles that used to be dairy farms.  Hi, my name is Hanna. I like to go swimming and throw my arms up in the air and shout for joy. Hi, my name is Heather. I don't know if I like to wear big flowers in my hair, but sometimes my mom puts them there. (see additional picture below) Hi, my name is Devin. I like to take time off work to go on trips with my family.  I have a pretty cute little family, don't you think?

If its summer and you know it jump through a sprinkler If its summer and you  know it sit in a baby pool If its summer and you know it go on a walk If its summer and you know it (not pictured: my burned shoulders and back) don't forget the sunscreen! Other recommended summer activities:  playing in the sandbox  eating cookies

We are home from our little family trip.  A little over two weeks ago we drove to Boyne Mountain MI (northern MI) where we had a nice family reunion with my family.  Then we drove to my parents house near Detroit.  We stayed there for a few days and then drove to my sister's house in Cincinnati.  We stayed there for a few days then drove to Peoria, IL.  We stopped for the night and then finally, finally drove home, home sweet home.  In total for this trip we were in the car for 39 hours, 46 if you count in stops for gas, bathroom, lunch, playing, etc and so on.  That's a lot of hours for small bodies that have large amounts of energy. The following is a list of things that were pretty much Expected : - Behaviors rapidly deteriorated the longer we were in the car.  And really, it wasn't just the four and under crowd. - No one took a nap lasting longer than an hour. - My girls are either totally quiet and just chilling, or completely off the w...

--------------------------------------------------------> Whenever I post a link to my blog on Facebook, it always wants me to use a thumbnail.  I finally got frustrated enough with that, and I decided to create my own thumbnail. Hence, the new sad little picture of a flower that you see off to the side there. I showed it to Hallie, and she wanted me to make a flower for her. Then she demanded more! and more! To keep myself interested I explored all the different brushes the extremely complex PAINT program has to offer.  I present to you, my masterwork. The brown one was first, and at that time I thought it would be the only one.  Then came the green, then the purple, red, orange, and last was blue.  I think it's pretty clear I came into my skills as the hour progressed, wouldn't you? Please direct yourself to the link below labeled "Post a Comment" to leave notices of interest for purchasing this item. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery....

There are many upsides to having a surgery.  The first thing I noticed was: - A milkshake whenever I wanted one. Following along shortly thereafter I noted additional perks: - A nap whenever I wanted one. - A life of ease and luxury. - Getting to play Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo as much as I wanted. - Friends bringing brownies. - I haven't changed a single diaper in six full days. I figured out the downsides pretty quickly too, though. - It hurts. - You can't hold your babies - The pain meds make you take a nap whether you want one or not. - When you are on these kinds of meds and you get a migraine, you can't take anything else, and it still hurts. - Mario gets old after you die on the same level ten times in a row because you can't play right. - Your mother wasn't lying when she said too much ice cream and brownies will make you sick. - I would gladly change a diaper every hour as a trade off for my own bowel issues being solved. ...

At 9 pm on Thursday Devin's parents had arrived, hugged the girls, and helped us put them to bed.  Then we all sat at the kitchen table, and I looked over my selection of fingernail polishes. I let Devin's mom choose the color: plush plum it was called, or something sassy like that.  I typically reserve the bold colors for my toenails, and paint my fingernails only light pink or clear.  But I was having surgery in the morning and if the people working on me knew nothing about me, well by golly, they were at least going to know that I have nice fingernails. At 11 pm on Thursday I took my last drink of water that I was allowed to have, and went to bed.  That night I had nightmares about the i.v. and the surgeon not listening to me when I tried to tell him that it hurt so badly because my arm was falling off. Heather woke up three times that night, an unusually high number, possibly because she was starving. I woke up at 6:30 on Friday morning, took a quick sho...

The surgery is tomorrow morning.  I went in and out of anxiety attacks all day today: Devin's parents are coming, he's been out of town all week, the house wasn't as clean as I wanted it, I didn't have enough milk pumped for Heather, etc and so on and so forth. His parents will be here any minute now, and Devin is gone again, but at least he took Hallie and Hanna so right now it is quiet around here.  Heather just woke up from a cat nap and is laughing as she looks up at me from my lap.  I am calm and relaxed for the first time today, and I find myself mostly concerned with the fact that my fingernails need attention and what if I forget to do them before the surgery?  For some reason I want them to look nice.  There is probably some deep psychological explanation for that, but whatever the reason I know if I don't get them done before I go to sleep tonight that is what will keep me from falling asleep. And so in an effort to keep my mind off my fingernails...