Thursday, January 10, 2008

All ready to go back...

Roger and Sara gave me the go ahead and to return to work this morning. It was completely their decision, despite everyone's lack of certainty on the matter. It seemed this was great, we were all on the same page, but I couldn't sleep. I was worried all night about the tomatoes. Coughing, I didn't want them coughing. More and more ideas came to me about ways to be sure they'd be okay, but none seemed definite.

Then, this morning, I woke up with a wetter, deeper cough and the solution. I called Sara, she agreed, hope I feel better.

Home again, I'm feeling relieved that we know this is the right choice. And the tomatoes are healthy. Tabitha's tiny cough is gone, neither have fevers and they are eating and sleeping well. Good job Jackson ad Tabitha! Stay well and have a good weekend.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Uggh.

Uggh. (you know what that means, don't you?)

I'm home sick today. I missed an opportunity to have one on one playtime with Tabitha while Jackson was at the doctor's with Sara because I'm too (cover your ears) damn honest. I have a tiny sore throat, I could totally work today, instead I'm home in bed. Roger and Sara and I have an agreement that if I'm at all "off" I give them a heads up and they make the call. So I do, I call them, they talk it over and call me back. Of course this is only the second time it's happened, but telling them almost guarantees my staying home. I hate it, but I still do it.

I really could have used the extra sleep earlier in the week, but I made a point to go to bed early last night. No lie, I was in bed by 9:15 pm. Norah had some school work to finish up, put me to bed and stayed up. I hate being home sick. Hate it! The worst part is not knowing if I'll have to be stuck here again tomorrow. And, and I didn't get myself sick! I don't know anyone who is sick. I've been avoiding Addison and Madison, much to everyone's disappointment, all winter. every time we plan to get together they are sick so I cancel. (it's like they are in day care or something) Sara told me everyone in her office is sick, Norah says the same is true of her office, although she hasn't been in two weeks. My theory is that Roger and Sara are transporting the germs. I'm susceptible because my immunities aren't strengthened regularly because I stay home with the healthy little peanuts. We never go anywhere in order to keep them healthy. The down side is I'm never exposed to build immunities either. So I'm stuck here at home through no fault of my own, it would be one thing if I were getting something out of this, but all I'm getting is multiple hours in a row to think about missing Jackson and Tabitha, so unfair.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Tuesday that follows Monday...

Ahh, Tuesday, well, maybe not quite.
Yesterday there was a lot of diaper dirtying going on which may have affected regular napping. Today there has been a bit of crib-traveling, to the tune of heads pressed against the crib bars. Poor little tomatoes. Roger and Sara really don't want to put the bumpers all the way around, right now they are two sided, because then Jackson and Tabitha won't be able to see each other. But now that they can move they are both having trouble staying on the bumper sides and end up smushed along the unbumpered sides. When we help them it annoys Tabitha and over-stimulates Jackson to the point they both have trouble getting back to sleep. When we leave them to figure it out, they stay pressed up there and cry themselves to sleep along the bars. Neither way is working, we're all talking about our possible options. Roger has suggested making the bumpers three sided as they usually end up along the front long side rather than the short top side which is the one that faces their twin's crib. Sara wasn't sure this was possible, I assured her that it is, but she'd still like to try it this way a little longer.

Not really having strong feelings either way, I'm going to keep my mouth closed. I think they have a handle on it, Roger and Sara, whatever we decide Jackson and Tabitha will get used to and there's no danger to having the bumpers all the way around or not at all. Either way the tomatoes are safe so whatever is decided will work fine. Not sure if I'd mentioned this, but we've lowered the cribs. With all of this rolling ability we couldn't have the possibility of either tomato falling out of their crib. While Tabitha doesn't lift her head high enough for this to be an issue, Jackson gets his high enough that his chin could have cleared the railing. Neither minded the change although I'm sure they both noticed as the first time we put them in, after the change, there was a lot of looking around.

Speaking of changes that haven't been mentioned. Things are really, really good here. We've moved beyond that transition of Roger and Sara going back to work. We've, okay, Roger has created an awesome method for me to give them the pictures I take. (more about this in a minute) Tomatoes are thriving. And, oh you aren't ready for this. but here it comes...

Today Jackson tried to crawl!!
Now he is nowhere near crawling, but he's starting to try some new gross motor skills out that could lead to his crawling. In addition to lifting his entire chest and stomach off of the floor, he lifted his waist up. I know, not much different, but for him, HUGE! Then, when that didn't work, he was trying to get a toy just out of reach, he let his chest down, arms out to sides, and tried pulling his knees in! How smart is this tomato!

Tabitha has started hip-thrusts. She lies, on stomach or back, and thrusts her hips to the side. I'm not sure if she's trying to roll over, show her frustration or move her body but she's getting better at it and stronger.

They are both just so amazing. I can't believe how wonderful they are doing. Hoping that the EI and PT will be impressed when they come in a week or two.


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Not really following up on many posts, getting it out I feel better and forget my frustrations, I've inevitably left some things out. Because my pictures are labeled by date, Roger and Sara know exactly when they were taken. I never hide pictures from them, but I also don't give them everything because I take way too many shots of the same thing. Sara took all of them once and was completely overwhelmed. Each time I give them new ones, and there are more than sixty in a batch, she asks, "You went through them right?" She really doesn't want all 300 of them, it's just too much.

Anyhow, one of the sets of pictures I gave them included pictures of auntie Laverne and auntie Shirley holding the babies. They were thrilled to get these! Because one of the aunties was sick for the beginning of their visit, there aren't as many pictures of her with Jackson and Sara, inevitably everyone takes more photos at the ends of a visit than in the middle. Both Roger and Sara were glad that I took some when she was dressing and feeding the babies. As it happened this was six hours before they removed the ban on auntie getting too close. Roger said they knew that morning that she was probably fine, but didn't think to say anything. That's why he noticed the date. I'm so glad I included her, it worked out really well and reinforced my judgement, experience and instincts when Roger mentioned it. While I never said so, just assured him that "of course I took pictures," it still felt good to be appreciated.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Monday, Monday.

It is Monday! How did this happen? Both Jackson and Tabitha were perfect this weekend. I don't use that term loosely, but they were. Completely adorable, sweet and schedule-loving! I actually came in over the weekend, spent the entire day with them and it couldn't have been better! 

Incidentally, as soon as I arrived Sara says,
"Samara! We LOVE the schedule!"
Not taking credit for something we've all worked on together, I told her that I'm glad that it works for them as well as Jackson and Tabitha, fitting a daily routine to four people plus meeting my expectations isn't easy and secretly I loved the praise. 

But I can't explain why today things have been so bumpy. Naps were a little shorter than usual and both Jackson and Tabitha were more sleepy than usual. At the end of the day, when I explained this to Roger and Sara, they were thrilled.
"So this means it isn't our fault?!"

Aww! Poor Roger and Sara! I assured them it couldn't be as I'd been here over the weekend and followed the schedule close enough without trouble, there must be something about Monday. We'll see how the week pans out. I'm hoping that Norah and I just wore them out with so much fun over the weekend that they were a little over-sleepy on Monday.

How could I forget the best part of the day?!?
Jackson rolled the ball to me! Intentionally! Six or seven times while lying on his back! Each time took awhile, but he was concentrating and definitely doing it on purpose. When I told Sara she said they'd been rolling the ball with him! Roger and Sara taught Jackson to roll a ball - and he learned! How brilliant is this family?!