Return from the land of no nod...

Our first Easter outnumbered... the bunny is getting pricey!

the big g's and the cousins

The first celebration O' the Irish... with our future green beer drinkers.

SO, I haven't posted simply because I'm lucky to get time to pee. or shower. or eat. THEN I started thinking that I had to do a bunch of catch up posting. And I was overwhelmed. Well, sorry about your luck, but I'm just starting from here. "I don't have time for that crap" is my new motto, so suffice it to say that I'm gonna sum it up quick and move on.

Since my last post...

• We moved out of our house.

• Stuff in storage.

• Crashing in random houses.

(just kidding, I'm with the parental units for a while.)

• Stopped lactating, started artificial nutrition.

(for those of you who knew my goal to get to six months of exclusive breastfeeding, suffice it to say that the need for sleep and sanity won out since I am the only parent around for a while. i made it to 3 months and that is pretty damn good!)

• Started working out to save what few brain cells I have left.

• Have no earthly idea where in the bloody he-- we are going to live in 4 weeks, when the spousal unit checks into armpit, NC (aka, Camp LeJeune.) Housing is a pain and the market is retarded down there. No worries, though, God is Good and he will provide!

(are you listening, God? I NEED A HOUSE. 4 beds, 2 baths, fenced yard, playroom, 2 car garage, playset outdoors, lots of good CLEAN neighborhood kids with excellent manners and a good school where not one child knows what bratz are. Oh, and a Gas range. Electric bites.) :-)

• And finally, I may have lost my bloody mind. I have actually started contemplating adopting a little boy. Not now, but maybe in year or two. The body is CLOSED for business, but the heart is wide open. We'll see...

SO, the M-n-M's are reigning the world in twin fabulosity. They are SO bloody cute I can't stand it. Cooing, starting to laugh, eating like little champs, staring with great wonder at patterns, people, light and other fun stuff.

Max is quite a fat little man. He is tipping the scales at 11 1/2 lbs, eats like THIRTY THREE ounces a day and is trying super hard to roll over. He smiles to the side just like my pop and my bro, knits his little brow in great concentration, gets quite upset (we're talking bright red face and silent scream when startled,) spends much time staring in the mirror of the bouncer and is trying to start using his little hands for grasping something other than my hair. (guess he decided giving mommy a bald spot would not be nice and might result in a very embarrasing old yellow station wagon for his first car.)

Mercy is my petite little Eva clone. She's even dainty when she burps. She weighs in at 10 lbs 10 oz and is still solidly in tiny little newborn clothes. What a difference a pound makes! Snuggling, staring at the aquarium bouncer fish, gazing in the mirror, cooing, laughing and grabbing are her most favorite activities. She's got a bit of a squirrely central nervous system, so we have to be most careful not to let her get overstimulated. She is a champ of a night sleeper and has to be woken up most mornings to eat! Praise God for those clan mac genes that seem to permeate the sleep patterns of my many mini macs.

Charley is zooming towards 3, talking like she's 5 and fighting mightily for her place. She has finally decided she loves the M-n-M's to death and subsequently tries to kiss and hug them so hard they just go berserk. It's super fun when you have to get mad at your 3 year old for kissing
too hard and loving t0o much.

BUT, it's certainly a nice break from her trying to beat them up. :-) She is so smart she frightens me and I swear she'll be writing a novel by the time she's five. I copped out and sent her to school 5 days a week right now, while I'm adjusting to twindom. (Thanks so much to Paigee-Paigee for having the best school ever and for making a place for my baby!) She LOVES it and is totally psyched about moving to the 3's on monday and learning more letters, numbers, spanish, music, ETC.... She already knows all her letters by sight and sound, most numbers up to 20 AND memorizes just about anything you can think of. Her recall of things past is einstein like and I know I'll be paying for this for years to come.

Eva is, as usual, my little helper bee. What a sweet child to always be so willing to be Mama's right hand. She loves helping with the M-n-M's, housecleaning and cooking.

Her patience for Charley is tested moment by moment, as Charley is certainly a whirling dervish of insanity, BUT, she is a stupendous big sis and puts up with a ton. (Hmmm...she must get that from me, since my mom said Charley is a lot like Sam was.) School is her favorite part of the day and she is amazing me every day with all she learns, says and expresses interest in. Reading is the order of the day and I'm so bowled over to hear her reading to me! Her intellectual freedom is impending. She is definitely interested in growing up too fast, but I'm quick to distract from that! (still considering moving to a compound and raising my kids without that crap they call media.)


Charles is less than 3 weeks from graduation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm literally counting the days until we are together again. (suffice it to say it won't be for long, but at least the separation after this one will be quite short, just until we get a dwelling in the armpit.) He is proceeding along swimmingly and I'm SO proud of him!

As for me.... I'm gettin' there. Life with 4 is definitely crazy. Don't know how I'd have done it so far without my Ma and Pa. They have given up sanity, private time and most of their house to help me and my brood. I've said it before and I'll say it again. They are the best 'rents a girl could wish for.

And a huge shout out to my in-laws, Susan and Al, my sis Sam & girls, my sis in law, Melissa & niece Dara, my gal pals Connie and Jennifer and all my pals out west for helping me stay alive, clean, fed and semi sane for those first 3 months. Praise God for the helping hearts and hands each of you blessed my clan with.

SO, signing off with the best of intentions for lots of new blogging to come...
crazy...
crabby...
happy...
healthy...

tiffers and the many mini macs