down another 5 pounds!

woo-hoo for me! I'm down 5 pound since 3 weeks ago, and 16 since december, 22 in the last 6 months.

lookout skinny jeans, here I come!

still noodlin'

almost two weeks down at noodleville and things are still going well. It is nice to be busy again and have time pass at work more quickly.

It is nice to actually have people to talk to and not work alone all day.

It is nice to have a Starbucks 2 doors down in case of emergencies!

I do fear I will not get a store placement super close to my house, but if it means more money and a promotion, I guess I will drive liek I have been doing for the last 2 years!

The twins are 13 months old, and Zman has his first molar.

Time flies.

Can't find a wii fit board, so we bought a ea sports wii active disk.

Let's just say i can't walk down stairs very well today, and I was only "playing" for 25 minutes yesterday.

OUCH.

Did I mention I gt to eat free noodles every day for 7 weeks?

awesome!

new year, new job..hooray!

tomorrow is my official first day at Noodles and CO.

Hooray for me! I think it will be a good move for me and the family as well. I am looking forward to something more fast paced and also with a a product that I believe in. In other fabulous news I have lost a whopping 11 pounds wince December 1st...man o man does that ever feel good! And I know it is just going to keep on coming off little by little...before I know it I will get to go shopping for new clothes!

Hooray, hooray, hooray for me.

Now if the Universe could see fit to send me a new minivan and a repalcement for my car too, that would be awesome!

forgotten password syndrome

well, do people even blog anymore? not sure, but here goes!

The messer-twins turned one!

Mallory finally figured out how to use the potty ( not so good at #2 yet0

Abby has become a mother hen-type, helping us all the time, and can now read Hebrew slightly faster than I can!

jane has her first 2 loose teeth!

Corny, my faithful pup, is still ticking at 10 years old!

enough for now, just wondering if any of y'all are still out there?

4 months later....well....

If you have not noticed, things have been pretty darn busy around here. went into labor the next day after my last post and had them the next day which was 1-8-09.

Now they are nearly 5 months old. cute as can be, healthy, happy, thriving and perhaps 2 of the coolest people I have ever met.

Jeff is doing a great job taking care of them 9-5, and I rush home after my 40 hours a week and fry up the dinner.

Life is whizzing past us.

Abby is 2 weeks away from finishing 2nd grade, Jane starts kindergarten this fall and Mallory is doing her best to keep her diapers until she turns 3.

Corny and Devlin love the babies, too!

May life always be as good, sweet and generous as it has been to me this day. I will never understand what good I have done to deserve all the good I have recieved, but,hey....I ain't complaining.

Mexican standoff!

Now it is just plain selfish of those babies to STILL be on the "inside".

Today is 36 weeks and TWO days, which to me means TWO days way too long. No amount of walking around, folding laundry, grocery shopping and carpet shampooing has coerced these babies into leaving their happy little apartment inside my VERY CRAMPED ABDOMEN.

Now it is personal, babies!

If you don't hurry up and be born today, you are not getting any allowance until you are 16 and I will never let you borrow the keys to the minivan to hang out with all your friends!

I mean it!
Now be nice and come on down!

local mommy grounds twins

In a recent act of temporary preggo-insanity, a local Cedarburg mother decided to "ground" her twin babies for refusing to cooperate.
When interviewed, Chana said: "listen, I have been gestating these babies for 36 weeks now! It is time they stop being stubborn, and hurry up and be born already!"

In a realted story, the woman's husband has been reported to be slowly losing his mind from listening to her complaining and irrational demands.

More news and updates to follow.

5 more days?

it is entirely possible that these babies are NOT coming in 2008. Is it actually true that they might stay in there until 5 days from now (36 weeks)?

I am slowly getting ready to go off of the deep end!

My husband and children are getting close to fencing me off on one side of the house, for their own safety. I'm not at the point of crying all day long, but it can't be far off until it reaches that point.

On a happy note....

The babies should be a nice healthy weight.

I have made it this far, and am still able to walk, drive a car, and generally function like a regular preggo.

I did not miss one day of work or call in sick for even one day in the entire pregnancy.

It is nice to be home during vacation....I get to see my kids and hubby more than I usually do.

I think we are pretty much ready for these stinkers...we only need to do a good grocery trip and the house will be in working order!

most important.....my hubby has not run screaming for the hills to get away from the last 3 days that I have been on the brink of insanity.

He is so darn cute.

preggo watch 2008 update!

Nothing new in big-belly land. I have served the twins with their official eviction notices.

So far, they are not responding.

I even went so far as to work a 13.5 hour shift on Friday in the hopes that they would be annoyed with my behavior and decide to jump ship into the non-water world.

Nope. those stinkers are still in there, leeching me of all my nutrients!

I worked today, also.....still no action in the way of baby contractions.

Now I will gently remind them that I have 4 days of unused paid time off before the end of the year. If I don't use 'em, I lose 'em!

So enough with the gestating, already....babies come on out and meet yer wacky family and friends!

(.....pretty please?)

One more whine for the day

I forgot to mention....

Several friends and co-workers have been asking.... " When is your baby shower?'

Another asked...." I feel weird asking...why haven't I gotten an invite to the baby shower? Is there some reason I am not invited?"

Actually, uh.....

the reason you have not been invited is very simple.

No one gave me a shower, and no one has planned one.

So don't be offended, and don't feel left out. There was talk of a shower from several friends, but none of my friends actually ever got around to doing it, I guess.

I doubt there is anything being planned at this point...I am due in 14 days, and it is christmas season madness.

There may not be a party, but you are always welcome to come for a visit and have a nice snack at my house!

2 more weeks?! aaaaaaarrrgggh!

I have officially reached the "please! no more!" stage with the pregnancy. I am happy and grateful for my health and the overall amazingly healthy pregnancy so far.

Now that I have said that.....someone please listen to me whine for a moment or 2!

I found out last Tuesday that I had not actually used up my vacation days for this year...I thought I had only one 8-hour day left, when I actually had 48 hours (6 whole days) left. Good news, in most ways, but not-so-good when I had to call my boss and let her know I needed to take 5 more vacation days during the busiest last 2 weeks of the year. I'm pretty sure she was not pleased.

It could not have come at a better time... I have had off 6 days in a row, and I am finding it hard to just walk around or sit without being in pain or being annoyed. I know it is best for the babies to make it to the new year, however, they certainly feel as if they are big enough now. I keep hoping they will be 6 pounds and then i will be done. I am supposed to make it to the 36 week mark.....only 14 more days, yet I keep thinking...why not 2 more days, or NOW!

My stress level from work is at a high....I have 2 feuding members of my management team, of which one seems hell-bent on trying to get anyone fired before her....or to try and get rid of me. Sad what things people will resort to when they feel threatened. the main person at the root of the problem has just about everyone in the building so paranoid and stressed that they cannot do their jobs. Here is the pickle...I have one manager (me) and 3 sales leaders (like assistant mgrs.). To run the store, the 4 people is ideal. If/when I do go on leave, that leaves no captain of the ship. Factor in one of the remaining 3 has only had the job about a month...she is still learning the job. The other 2 are at odds....the problem mostly being one lady trying her damnedest to make life a living hell for the other. The last lady is just a nice "people-pleaser" type who is an absolute wreck because she is afraid to do anything wrong. I don't blame her.

In the meantime, there have been snowstorms, cash overage/shortages and problems EVERY SINGLE DAY THAT I HAVE BEEN GONE.

Seriously, people? come on! It is ONLY LOTION!!!!!!

If we had not had the crazy amount of snow and horrible weather, I would have gone in to check on things and lay down the law. nope. can't so that right now because of the horrible snowstorms and windstorms. I will finally go back to work tomorrow and hopefully these 3 ladies have not collectively run things into the ground. I only hope that my lack of being there will not come back to bite me in the ass....who knows what nonsense the one employee has been up to while I have been absent. At this point, I don't even know WHO will be running my store while I am gone.

So, I have ranted and gone on long enough. Back to the salt mines tomorrow. In a perfect scenario, I'll work this week, the babies will be over 6 pounds, and I'll go into labor on Dec 28th and not have to come back to work for the last 3 days of the year. If not, I guess I'll just have to keep on keepin' on.

Until then.... WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! Calgon, take me away!

50 days left....wowza!

Only 50 days left to make it to the ever-important 36 week mark.

I can't believe it is almost over. Seems like a long time left to wait now that things are getting more and more difficult.
I couldn't go to the waterpark because it was too far/too long to be in the car. bummer.

I was having contractions for over an hour 2 nights ago. very very scary. thankfully that went away.

Today I had to go to the doctor for some other problem I was having...everything is okay, but now I have to have an ultrasound on my gall bladder on Monday.

Yikes! who knew having twins could be so darn freaky? I know they warned me, but I feel a bit like I'm walking on eggshells! Hopefully all these little things won't add up to anything big for me or the babies. Now we just gotta make it these last 7 weeks or so and the babies should be fine.

Thankfully my husband is a complete Nazi about taking care of me. He won't let me do ANYTHING but fold laundry. It definitely makes you feel cared for when someone is watching out for you like that.

what a nice little hubby.

6 day vacation coming up!

so today was another grueling day in retail for a super-prego. Anything over 5 hours is a form of slow and painful torture!

Thankfully, I'm still working, and it is still okay...but the strange pain in one leg and the fire-like hot pain in that same area is quickly getting old.

Sure, I know things could be worse, but it would be nice if I could figure out exactly why the burning is happening. For that matter, I would like to figure out how to make it STOP!

Sunday shifts are extra long...over 9 hours on the old feet is not so much fun. On the upside, tomorrow is the last full day I have to go to work for the ENTIRE week! I'm not going back to work until next Monday, that is, unless, one of my employees decides to kill another.

Strangely, this is not really much of a joke as I have a small group of folks in the store who seem determined to make life miserable for anyone else not in their circle. Fear not! I feel the reign of terror coming to an end! It is my hope that the folks who are not so nice to the rest of the store will eventually figure out that they do not have a place in my little lotion-heaven of a store.

Anyhow, there is a little waterpark adventure planned for this week. I am thinking I could probably go up for the day with the family and come home at night. Everyone else who is going will be staying for 3 days, but that might be a bit too much for me...not to mention, I don't really have a swimming suit that fits anymore!

well...I'm off to the couch for another night of interrupted sleep. If you're bored this week and want to come over for a visit, gimme a jingle!

its the final COUNTDOWN!!!

This just in....10 more weeks to go for the goal of 36 weeks! WOO-HOO!

Still walking around without a limp! actually, I did the "cabbage patch" the other day...it sorta freaked out my hubby. I guess seeing that much baby-belly doing a 1980's hip-hop dance would freak me out too.
Went to see the cardiologist last week also about the irregular heartbeat I have been having. So far everything is checking out as okay....whew!
Nothing more freaky than knowing you are responsible for a large family and wondering if something is wrong with your ticker! I have to go get an ultrasound on my heart next week to make sure it is nothing big. So far the doctors think it is just caused by having 2 kids growing and slowly taking over my body. update to follow!

Anyhow, the last baby-doc visit was on Wednesday, and I am officially growing at a faster rate than a single pregnancy. I guess that until this month, the belly was measuring the same as a singleton. Not the case this week...I have officially jumped from 26 to 30 in weeks-measured. That also puts total weight gained at 17 pounds. The babies are over 2 pounds each now.

I have no idea what to expect in the next month, but EVERY single time I go to the doctor they keep on giving me this speech about how it is all going to get ugly very very soon. I appreciate the warnings, but COME ON! Isn't it bad enough to just KNOW things could be getting harder and harder without someone reminding me every 2 weeks. Maybe they just think that I am supposed to be more miserable by now?

The conversation goes something like this every time....
nurse/doc: SO....how ARE you?
me: pretty good!
nurse/doc: REALLY?
me: yep!
them: Are you still working?
me: oh, yeah....
them: part-time, now, right?
me: No, actually, still full-time!
them: REALLY?
me: yep!
them: any problems walking?
me: well, my right leg goes numb after standing for too long, but, so far so good.
them: REALLY?
me: yep.
them: You DO know that things WILL be getting harder.....MUCH HARDER for you to do soon, right?
me: that's what I hear...I just hope I can keep going. my husband takes good care of me when I am home...I think that helps a lot.

them: well, don't be too surprised if you have to stop soon!

me: I know, I know....I'm just trying to be optimistic and hope for the best. I'd like to work until the end if possible.
them: well...you know...just don't get to set on that!
me: yes, yes, I know.
them: You DO know that it IS going to get pretty bad soon, though...right? I mean, you really might get pretty uncomfortable and miserable towards the end now....
me: yes, yes.....thanks for the warning! See you in 2 weeks!

So, I leave every visit wondering when the bomb is going to drop. I am hoping it will never happen, and that I will just get slower and slower at doing everything. I mean, it is not impossible to do this, right?

twin-insanity setting in

okay...not to make every entry about having twins, but......

I am soooooo restless. I am going out of my mind! All I can think about is twins..... twin stuff, twin names, if there is enough room for them when they get here. On and on it goes! It is as if I had never had a kid before.

I guess it is a little hard to get off of the mind when they are physically attached to my body 24 hours a day. I just keep thinking of how many more days, how many weeks until the 36 week goal (less than 11 weeks left!) and how well Jeff will do when I go back to work.

Certainly, I feel more comfortable leaving them with him than with anyone else I know. He is more calm and relaxed than just about anyone else I have met. this is good, because I would assume there will be moments of temporary insanity once the stinkers arrive. On the other hand, I can be a bit,....well,....shall we say.... "controlling", and a bit of a micro-manager. Good when things just need to get done, bad when patience and letting somethings go when needed. Not so good when total chaos occurs and I feel the need to have things go a certain way when there is NO WAY possible for it to happen.

Jeff could have the living room on fire and just be calm and cool the whole time. He would say something like this when I came home:

Jeff: "Hi...nice day at work?"

me: " uh, why does the house smell like smoke?"

j: "oh, you know, just a little fire this morning.....do you wanna take Abby to tae kwon do, or should I?"

me: "uh....WHY does the house smell like SMOKE?!!!"

jeff: " you know, things burn, you put them out. I'll get the carpet cleaner out later and wash the burn-marks. Abby needs to be at class in 15 minutes..you or me driving?"

me: "Uh....excuse me, but WHY WAS THE HOUSE ON FIRE?"

j: Oh, who knows, Mallory was riding the dog and knocked over a candle. on the upside it sorta smells like autumn apple candles mixed with that nice roasted marshmallow smell...should last a while"

Me: "what?"
jeff: " um...the fire is out...no biggie...now, we have about 12 minutes to get abby to class...."

It used to drive me nuts how calm he can be...no worries. Now it has started to rub off on me.

I like him. I think I'll keep him around!

still not set on a great girl name

although we have pretty much figured out what our #1 choice for a boy name, I am still not sure on a great name for a girl.

Girl names are tricky...not a lot of really good ones left after using up 6 choices on our current girls.

I need HELP!

p.s. I registered at walmart and target for baby stuff...I guess a friend of mine is going to throw us a shower, however I do not know when it is going to happen? I wouldn't usually toss the "buy me stuff" card out there, but COME ON...it's flippin' TWINS..these guys are about to take over our house with their diapers and endless list of baby equipment!

can't wait to meet the little stinkers!

Calling all Bagel- pagels

Heads up and hint-hint to all pagelly-bagelly folk. I am not working thurs, fir, sat or sunday. note also that today is jeff's birthday, and that I am ordering a RIIIIIILLLLLY delicious cake that will be at my house on SATURDAY.

Perhaps you like to eat cakey, too?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! now, please vote obama...puh-leeeez!

Hello! if you haven't noticed by now...the government have flushed the financial futures of our children down the freakin' toilet.

Apparently, McCain said tonight..." now is not the time to affix the BLAME, now is the time to fix the problem!"

Uh, excuse me, but the problem is that gwb has been given a free pass to charge 4.40 a gallon for gas, (it was 1.46 when he "took" office), and has also decided to "clean up the financial mess we are in today by just giving away 700 billion dollars to the butt-wipes who irresponsibly gambled with everyone's money (life savings, 401 K, etc.) And now they wanna ask for help.

Sure, sign a bill and give them more money, and don't worry about the next poor schmuck to be president...he won't have ANY money to even try and fulfill any of his promises.

For the love of benji, WAKE UP AND VOTE! and please don't get another idiot in there who doesn't give a crap about the regular , everyday people like me and the messerbunch.

sheesh!

p.s....if the bill were to pass, jane and abby's portion of the debt to "pay-off" to the government is over 4 thousand bucks each.

dang!

now taking name suggestions

Any of you folks who may have come across a really great name (or 2), lemme know....we have already run through most of the good girl names we can think of. consider that we have 3 daughters already, each with a middle name and each with their own "Jewish" name.

So, if you add 'em up we have come up with a total of 9 good names. we need 3 more good ones for messergirl #4, and 3 snazzy names for the little buddy.

send your suggestions our way!

100 days to go...2/3 done!

well, I guess we've been preggo for 150 days so far. wow.

nowwe only have 100 days left. Could go fast, could go slow. My guess is that it will seem like forever some days and will whip by on others.

We saw the doc yesterday and he was ever so nice to remind me that this will be the last 2 weeks of "feeling like a single pregnanacy".

I got news for ya doc...it NEVER feels like there is one person in there.

I guess he kows something I don't becasue he has done this before. so far I feel like I have been taking it pretty well. I don't throw up 9 times a day anymore, which makes a big difference in the overall mood. On the other hand, the thought of these babies suddenly taking ther current weight (aout 1 pound each) and multiplying it by about 6 or 7 times EACH ( 12 or 14 times total, for those of you listening), is, well....

A TAD BIT HORRIFYING.

Dont get me wrong, this is by far the most fun I have had being pregnant,jsut because it is something new and amazing and different, but the thought of all those people in there can freak you out sometimes!

anyhoo, thislife is a good life.

Who cares if my stomach will need plastic surgery to remove all that twin-skin?