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

Snippets of my Charley...

THIS has not been a banner year of blogging for me. You'd think I had twins or something. Or a deployed hubby. Or a hubby at school instead of with me. Or a cross country move. Or, well, WHATEVER.
Since I have failed miserably at chronicling this last year of excitement AND Charley is fixing to be 3 on May 4, I'm gonna regale you with my favorite Charley moments of her most recent year. Brace yourself, cuz' I'm not censoring. :-)

1. FART, pronounced with long r, like a true bostonian. Kind of like... FAAAAAAHT. I plead guilty to encouraging the use of the word and attempting to video record it just for my own amusement. This pronunciation also reminds me of my pal Jodi...I'm not telling why.

2. "You do it Mom, I'm busy." Enough said.

3. "...last day." This is Charley speak for yesterday. IT is so stinking cute.

4. "Mommy, I have some Mo-chin?" Charley speak for Motrin. The punk figured out that I was totally concerned about the back of her head from when just about cracked her skull open on my Mom's bathroom floor, so she milked it for about a week until I caught on. Nothing quite like being outsmarted by a VERY cute 2 year old. Punk.

5. Putting her to bed and discovering that she knows all the lyrics to my favorite hymn and can sing them with me... ON KEY.

6. "Mommy, I have free minutes?" Bargaining from a 2 year old? This frightens me. By the time she is Eva's age, she'll be milking me out of Charles' paycheck. Crap.

7. "Mommy, you go on pirate ship with me? Me: What kind of pirate ship? "Pirates of the fru bean, Mommy. Your clothes get wet?" This followed a trip to Disneyland with Charles and Bec (I was too HUGE to navigate the home of the Mouse, so I got the rundown after they got home. Pirate of the Carribean was a fave.)

8. My girls singing to the moon and dancing in the soft light...

9. Charley sleeping in a Eva's bed for a nap for the first time. She looked so grown up...I cried.

10. Charley sleeping in her big girl bed at Nana's house, squeezed into a tiny segment of mattress since she had about 90 stuffed buddies in the bed with her.

11. "You dump it out Mommy." This follows her command for water just before bedtime. Yet, another tactic in the postponement of bedtime. Other tactics include:
"you sing one more song?"
"Don't shut the door yet!"
"You rock me, Mommy?"
"One two, buckle shoe, pick up sticks!" (demand for favorite song. must be sung just before i exit the room, leaving the door cracked.)

12. "Look, Mommy, I make a TV for you." This is after she drew a box around the edge of a mini magna doodle. This level of pretend from my 2 year old frightens the crap out of me. She is SO going to pull one over on us ALL THE TIME. Well, I guess if I don't know what she is up to, I can tool around life in a fog of stupidity. Oh, I do that anyway. Well, Ok.

Life...outnumbered!

Since I have about 2 brain cells left, I'm going to use one of them to post an update of the clan mac happenings since we multiplied...

Daddy and his 2 big girls watching Scooby (their absolute favorite...)

Charley loving on Daddy
In her eyes, he is 10 feet tall, bulletproof AND his hugs cure all!


Daddy and Max, just the boys hangin' out!


Twin snuggle time!


A tiny folded up little mini mac, warm and cozy.

the other mini mac, snuggled tight on mommy's bed!

I am SO far behind on posting! My poor mini macs are going to have like this huge chunk of childhood with no crazy mama notes. I guess I can chalk it up to life with tons of kids and no hubby. More updates are pending... but a quick rundown of the early weeks with my munchkins...

Breastfeed
Change Diaper
Drink Water
Eat
Sleep (HA!)
Pay attention to other kids for 30 seconds. Other kids melt down.
Pee
Leak, Rinse and Repeat above, like 8 times a day.

PRAISE GOD for my Aunt Deb, (Marge in Charge) who stepped in and took over for the first 6 weeks of: feeding, bathing, not sleeping, cooking, cleaning, driving, listening to me cry, ETC.ETC.ETC..... (She also rocks because she is the TOTAL laundry fairy, to include cloth diapers!)

I cannot begin to express how wonderful it was to have Aunt Deb, Uncle Ted, Rebecca & Kyle so close to me, so willing to help and so loving to ALL of my children. (We are all still alive, fed and clean thanks to all of them!)

So for an update on the first six weeks with twins...
they are great nursers, great snugglers, crappy sleepers, have tiny butts (that don't fit in cloth yet,) hate baths and love mommy.

I am TOO brain dead for any other type of info. It doesn't even penetrate my lactose lobotomy.

OH, Eva and Charley are hanging in there, adjusting to life with double the number of sibs and missing Dad. More later. (i hope.)

January 20, 2009

The new look of the Clan McCawley...


Our family of 6!
Mercy Elaine, 5 lbs 15 oz, 18 inches long, Fell out at 1:02 pm
Max Marvin 6 lbs, 19 inches long, Dragged out at 1:19 pm



The M-n-M's taking a snooze, waiting to be chauffered to their abode.



Snuggling up for a smooch. Better enjoy this while it lasts!!



Charles and I ready to ride off into the sunset with our newest mini macs.
THIS shirt just proves that I won the hubby lottery!
Definitely makes a postpartum mamma feel special!

AND NOW FOR THE NAME GAME...

Mercy Elaine...
During my bible study last year, I found out (after MUCH prayer) that we were expecting. THEN I found out there were TWO. So, imagine my joy as I shared my news with my sisters in Faith. So, one warm night as we shared our studies, a name popped into my head.
Mercy.
I was blessed with these amazing babies through the Mercy of our God.
And so she is Mercy.

Elaine...
is my mother-in-laws middle name. I ADORE my mother-in-law. She is kind, loving, generous, honest, faithful, and the BEST mother-in-law EVER. She never blows smoke up my butt, tells the way it is and always manages to do it with kindness. AND, she cooks better than Paula Deen!



Max Marvin...
McCawley sounds a bit like an irish rabbi, doesn't it? It is an amazingly strong name for the first grandson on my side and the first boy to carry the name on Charles' side.
Max was my great grandfather and my dad's uncle. I never knew either of them, but I love the tradition of carrying on a family name from my father's jewish roots. Jesus is my favorite jew, so this is my nod to our Savior.
Well, Marvin is my dad. My strong, loving, giving, generous, honest, cuddly as a big bear, sorta Santa, super fun, hard working, FINALLY healthy, DAD. I love my Dad and I love that my son's name is reflective of the man who influenced me most and best. He never gave up on me, hung up on me in boot camp (long story, but it was a good thing,) always believes in me when I don't AND he cooks better than Emeril!



and since I never did this explaining thing for my other 2...

Charley Anne...
Charles is a family name on the McCawley side. My father-in-law, hubby and many other Mac men are named Charles. I couldn't think of a better man than my hubby & his his wonderful father to name my daughter after. And so far, let me tell you. My little girl is all boy. She loves cars, trucks, boots, jeans, hats and is a scary little daredevil. I have a feeling she will take me on many trips to the ER. Thank the Lord her aunt is a nurse!
Anne was my Nana's middle name. (my Mom's mom.) She was a huge influence in my life. She lived with us for 7 years before she went to live with the Lord. She taught me grace, drove me on the wrong side of the road, nurtured my love of all things handmade, taught me old movies are the best movies, secretly let me watch soaps when my Mom wasn't home, and drew her last breath with My mom and I standing by her side. She was my inspiration to excel in the Marine Corps and I still miss her, 18 years later.

Eva Grace...
Eva was my grandmother. She was married to my Grandpa Mark for many years until he went to be with the Lord. She moved out to Maryland to be with us when he passed. An extroardinary woman, she emigrated from Germany after WWII, making her way successfully in her new country. Her talent as an artist was inspiring and unique. Having her artwork in my home brings me great joy and reminds me of her strength and determination. Although she and my Nana had been married to the same man, they were great friends and spent most of thier time together getting into mischief and making fun of "old" people. Thier idea of a good time was NOT spent at the Senior center. (THAT was the equivalent of chinese water torture!) Although Grandma Eva never had children of her own, her legacy will live on in my first born.
Grace was my sister's idea. She just thought it was beautiful! To me it flowed like soft silk in the wind when it rolled off my tongue. And through the grace of God I was in a wonderful marriage and expecting my first baby with the love of my life, so it just fit. And my sweet baby girl is growing into a graceful and unique child, one who floats through my life like that soft silk in the wind. Divinely inspired, I think.



I wish I could have given my children names to reflect every important person in my life, but if I did that, I would be like those obnoxious famous people who seem to think ridiculous names are thier children's birthright. SO, I picked these few. Maybe I'll have to have more kids so I can name them after my Mom, my Sis, my Bro....
Just kidding. I AM DONE. (God is probably laughing at me right now, as I try to make my own plan.)

So, I finally managed to post. No promises on how long until the next one, but I promise to try to keep up. Hope you are all well!! Thanks to everyone for well wishes, cards, flowers, gifts and most of all, YOUR LOVE!!

Signing off as a Mom of 4.
Holy Crap.
tiffers & the many mini macs

BEYOND FRUSTRATED

I know I am not always the most patient person. I know I tend to obsess over things. But right now, I think I'm entitled. We have an induction scheduled for Tuesday and are awaiting ANY type of word as to whether or not Charles will be able to delay his departure (sched for Wed) for a few days so he can be here to make sure the babies and I are safe/healthy AND bring us home to settle in.
I think I have reached my limit for not knowing anything, EVER. I am so tired of wondering if the good of my family will be important to someone else. I am tired of everyone telling me things will be fine. I am TIRED TIRED TIRED OF PLATITUDES. I AM GIVING BIRTH to 2 PEOPLE. I am doubling my number of children in one fell swoop. I AM ONLY ONE PERSON. And I am not nice when I am tired. So you can see why I worry. AND, to top it off, we are moving cross country in 4 months and the list for housing is long. AND they seem to think we only need a 3 bedroom house. I'm sorry, DID YOU NOTICE THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN I HAVE? I DO not intend to cram my family into 1200 square feet. Oh, i digress...
I know the Lord will provide what we need and what is best for our family, but it sure as heck doesn't make me any less irritable, pregnant or TIRED.
Venting is good. A drink or childbirth ( WITH MY HUSBAND PRESENT) would be better.
Funny, I got a good night's sleep last night (had to take ambien to get it,) and I have been positive all day. I'm just at the point of having to go to bed and hoping that if I do sleep I'm not dreaming of this all night.
SO, in a nutshell. Pray we hear some good news regarding Charles departure delay. Pray we have 2 healthy babies on Tuesday. Pray I don't lose it. In short... Pray.

Love,
tiff
p.s. I do NOT know what we are naming them. They weigh 5 lb 12 oz (boy) and 6 lb 1 oz (girl,) I could take out a city block with my belly (according to Uncle Ted) but you cannot tell I'm preggers from behind, my belly is pretty much numb and I only have one pair of pants that don't make me feel like I'm going to pee myself AND I have NOT one shirt that actually covers my belly.
oh, happy day!
p.p.s. I do appreciate everyone's support and kind words thus far, I have just reached my internal temp of DONE. :-)

I am not a HOUSE...

35 weeks and COUNTING.
I am posting these lovely (haha) pictures to dispel the myth that I am bigger than a house. Apparently I look like a small dwelling in the green dress.
And yes, the belly is big, but there are TWO in there!



And no. Our children have no names. I figure I'll just wing it.
(kidding. just have no time to decide. or rather, my brain no longer works,
so I might just go with Ben and Jeri.)

Christmas Eve

Our expanding family posing for a quick pic on our way out
to Church. We ate dinner AND took a pic AND were EARLY.
No, this is not the twilight zone and I am not lying.

Eva, Charley & their good friends, in front of the tree. I'm
practicing getting 4 kids to actually look at the camera at the
same time. 3 out of 4 ain't bad!

My GREAT friend, Nancy and I, all dressed
up to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Me, all wrapped up and ready to be delivered!
(I WISH. Just a few more weeks to go. You
all BETTER be praying for Jan 14 or I WILL
NOT post pics of these little miracles. :-)

My mini macs, all dressed up in new Christmas jammies
from Nana. SO excited to celebrate Jesus'
birthday AND put out cookies for Santa and
go to sleep to wait for his arrival! Their sweetness to
each other is inspiring!

Stay tuned, loyal readers. I have quite a video treat for you later today!

with love,
giant tiff and the many mini macs.

Merry Christmas to all....

and to all, I wish for you the many blessings this season has to offer! I feel so blessed to be celebrating with my husband and children, waiting for my 2 little miracles to join our family. Those are the best gifts I could ever receive. It made me realize a few things...

We often get so caught up in the mad crush to have THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS that we forget to bless others with our time, our love, our charity and our joy. This is my first Christmas in too long to remember that doesn't feel like a madcap rush into a morning crazed with more gifts than I thought humanly possible. (Thank you twin mini macs for slowing your crazy mama down!) And you know what? It's great! I know my kids still have too many gifts under the tree and I spent too much money that I probably didn't have (and for once didn't use a bloody credit card), but I also know that we gave more to charity in this year than in any year past. As a family, we really explored the reasons for our celebration and we are teaching our children that Christmas is not about gifts and what you get, but it is a celebration of the birth of of the son of God and thereby our reason to give generously to others of our time, our funds and most of all, our love!

SO, throw those silly gift lists out the window, stop buying for the sake of spending and start celebrating with love, generosity of spirit, joy and the gift of your time!!! Imagine how much richer we'll all be.

Merry Christmas with Love from the richest woman in the world,

tiff and the many mini macs

The Best Christmas ever and so much more...

For those of you who think I have fallen down the rabbit hole...
BOY ARE YOU RIGHT.
At least it certainly feels that way. After 5 months of living single parent style... my wonderful husband (and love of my life) returned on December 7. What a joy these past 2 weeks have been. My girls are head over heels happy their Dad is home and I don't know what to do with myself half the time! (Besides also being head over heels happy that he is home!)
I would gladly post pics of them together, but can't seem to find any, since I have been so busy being happy these past 2 weeks that I have barely taken any pics. Sorry about the luck. :-)
SO, just a quick update and then I will post a few pics...(yes there are a few of me showing the BELLY.)

Charles is here until Jan 21, when he leaves again for TBS at Quantico. He gets appointed a Warrant Officer on Feb 2. Of course, I won't be able to be there, but I am counting on my Dad to make the trek and show some family love!

Funny thing is, I am not due with the twin mini macs until Jan 29... SO we are praying A LOT (as is our church) (and as you should be!) for God to bring them to us on Jan 14 (or thereabouts.) SO START PRAYING. (THIS INCLUDES YOU DAD... AND MARK)

As for the Marine Corps plan for our family after this school.... I can only tell you we have been told the following info in the following order:
Camp Le Jeune
Camp Pendleton
Camp Pendleton
Camp Le Jeune
SO, as it stands right now (and it is NOT in writing yet,) we are headed to Jacksonville, NC sometime in June. THIS is what we asked for, (yes, I know I said I would NEVER set foot there again, but times, they are a-changin') so please pray for this as well! (If you don't pray regularly, I expect you to now, since I have got some pretty big requests out there, so get to it! LOL)

Well, I suppose you gawkers wanna see those preggo pics, huh? WELL, drumroll please............................................................................................................................................................

Here we are... all 32 weeks of us!

SO, I suppose you want to see pics of my kids too?
WELL, here are just a few to tide you over til my next rambling...


Santa's little elves riding the train to the north pole to build
(or borrow) some toys!

The infamous candy cane bandit...
caught RED-HANDED!

A Painted lady... ready for Christmas cookies, presents and
an appearance by the jolly old big guy!

Okay, so that's it for now. My pregnancy addled brain can only handle so much caustic wit at one time. Stay tuned for pics with Santa and more fun holiday rambling!

Love to all,
tiff and the many mini macs

Dec 2, 2008... 13 years and counting...

Happy 13th Anniversary to my Wonderful Husband!


I Love your snuggles!

I Love our life!

13 years ago today
my father gave me away,
unto you
I said "I DO!"
I could never have foreseen
how you'd treat me like a queen,
giving all you can
because you're just that kind of man.
As each day passes
the time like molasses,
I imagine your embrace,
keeping me safe.
I can't wait til you're near,
til your voice I hear.
Not across the miles,
but accompanied by your smile.
I cannot begin to unfold
the love in my heart & soul,
it encompasses all
and knows no wall.
Each day when I wake as your wife,
I know this is my destined life.
For God has joined us as one,
what a blessing He has done.

Happy Anniversary My Love,
Tiff

November 11, 2008 Happy Birthday to my big girl!

All dressed up and ready to party!

Crowned a birthday girl by her classmates!

Great big grins over the SUPER AWESOME ipod from all of her grandparents!

AND the cool docking station for my little music lover!

YES, I bought that. Angi, will you still talk to me?
(it got me big hugs and a you're the best, mom)
(totally worth it)

Ready to blow out candles and eat yet more treats!

Sweetly sharing with her sister! I love how great they are to each other!
(MOST of the time...)

And now, for the Evie birthday poem....

On November 11, 2002
God blessed us with you!
Our joy was unbridled
but we were OH SO TIRED!
Quickly, quickly, the years have flown by
It certainly brings a tear to our eye!
You bring so much love to our home and our hearts
We cannot remember our life before you were a part!
Sweet baby of ours, we celebrate your birth
With cheers, a few tears and lots of mirth!
As this year you are six
get ready for lots of kicks,
as our family expands
and mommy needs your hands!
I know you'll be great
so don't hesitate
to grow up just a bit
and be ready with the diaper kit!

We love you sweet bean!
Mommy, Daddy and Charley


November 11, 2003
One year old! Celebrating at Nana & Papa's house!
AND both Nana's were there! What a treat!


November 11, 2004
2 years old and already a jet-setter living in Okinawa, Japan!

November 11, 2005
Spooking it out for birthday number 3!
A ghoulishly good time was had by all!


November 11, 2006
Pretty ponies and plenty of friends ushered in the 4th year!


November 11, 2007
Disco dancing, jewelry making and tie dyed cupcakes rang in the start of year 5!


November 11, 2008
One very grown up girl, celebrating like Cinderella in her castle!
Happy 6th birthday, love!