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Back home

I made it home safely from my business trip. It was just overnight but any extended time away from my DH (darling husband) and my babies is tough. It was great to get home in time to pick up the kiddos @ school. They were both very excited to see me - that always makes you feel good. Gabriel even told me he missed me. Love those babies.
That's the good news - the bad news is that I'm sick again. This is really annoying. How many variations of a cold can there be? Am I getting hit by new germs or am I just recycling the old ones? I need some medical advice. I can't recall ever being sick this many times in a year much less in a 4 month period. WOW
My mom and dad arrived today. Woohoo! They're home for the holidays so the kids and I went to visit with them this evening. The babies were so excited to see them. While they're gone we keep in touch via video call so they get to see each other regularly, just not in person. We're so looking forward to spending time with family this holiday season. It seems like time flies so much faster with kids. They grow and change so much in a short amount of time.
Well, I'm going to try to get some sleep, if that's even possible with this cough. UGH!
Night all.
ACD

On the road again

Sadly, I'm away from my family tonight. I'll be back with them tomorrow but I'm missing them terribly (and not feeling great so that's making me more pitiful). I'm happy to say that I don't have to do this often but it's still difficult to be away from Bobby and the babies for any amount of time. That's a good thing though.
It's been a long but productive day. I was up by 5, out the door by 6 and in Pikeville by a little after 9. Then I had a full day of meetings and work. Now I'm just hanging out in my hotel room planning for an early bedtime. I'm looking forward to talking to Bobby and the babies before I go to sleep.  
Gabriel and Mattie are AWESOME. They keep us on our toes, and even challenge us from time to time, but I wouldn't wouldn't trade them for the world. Bobby and I are still trying to figure out how to keep from laughing as we try to discipline them. Mattie's new thing is climbing. She's trying to climb the barstools and she has a special love for the stairs. The worst thing is that if she notices we're coming to intercept her, she starts laughing and tries to go faster. Gabriel figures more stuff out everyday. He pays close attention and it's so amusing to see how his mind works. Bobby looked at me the other day and said, "You realize he's smarter than us, right?" Yep, he's a planner.
Oh well, I'm going to go listen to my audiobook and try to get some sleep. Looking forward to seeing my babies and my hubby tomorrow!
Night all
Andee

Great weekend with family

We have had a great weekend at home. I cooked and we ate way too much. We did go to the Cracker Barrel yesterday for breakfast but everything else has been at home. The boys were able to spend a good amount of time outside yesterday before the temp dropped. Mattie and I stayed out for a little while but it was too cool for her to be out too long. She and I read some books and played. Today we've just hung around inside...and eaten. There was also some dancing and A LOT of laughing. We didn't have much to do and that's what we needed. Some quiet time at home to relax.
I don't forget for a minute how blessed I am.
We'll catch up with all tomorrow.
Love to all
ACD

Cheeseburger Loaf Recipe | Taste of Home Recipes

Our Entree for this evening. We are changing it up a little and using garlic & parmesan french bread and NOT Velveeta cheese. Sunday is all about comfort food, right?

Cheeseburger Loaf Recipe Taste of Home Recipes

Good times

I'm happy to report that we're spending some time with our nephew Bradley. I bribed him with food so he had no choice. Ha ha. Spicy Cheeseburger Soup and homemade chocolate chip cookies did the trick. On a serious note, after a year in Iraq we just love every opportunity we get to spend time with him.

Prayers for preemie family

Please take a moment to say a prayer and send some positive thoughts out for a fellow preemie family.  I heard today that little Riley in Michigan is in the PICU with pneumonia. The latest update is that she's improving so that's great news! Keep it up little girl!

Gabriel's Groupies Shirts (and other items...maybe)

Ok, I'm finally doing it. We're starting to work on t-shirts for Gabriel's Groupies. As you may (or may not) know, the name was born shortly after Gabriel was. It's the term we used to address Gabriel's numerous followers on his website. We had a ton of people who checked in on the site to see how he was doing everyday. It is now the name of our March of Dimes March for Babies team. We are going to make shirts available for team members as well as anyone else who wants to purchase them. I haven't decided if we're going sell as a fundraiser or just because. We'll see how much interest there is.
If you might be interested in a t-shirt, or some other item, stay tuned for some ideas. We may post a couple and ask for your opinion.

Guess what

A small person in our house is not feeling well. Shocking, I know! Little Mattie had a bit of a temp this evening and a pretty icky nose. She's sleeping soundly right now but I think she's feeling a little ookie. Hopefully a good night's rest will do her some good. Gabriel had an elevated temp a couple of nights this week but it didn't turn into to anything (knocking on wood) so hopefully hers will pass quickly as well.
On a brighter note, we've been enjoying this lovely weather and have been spending time outside as much as we can...before it gets dark anyway. We are going to use up the whole day tomorrow because I hear the more seasonally appropriate weather is on its way.
I'm also working on some family outings for the holiday season so stay tuned. We might make a trip up to the Newport Aquarium and we are planning on taking the babies on the Santa Train this year. Who knows what else we'll come up with. :-)

Oh no, I'm becoming "that" mom!

I'm in the process of scheduling our days down to the minute. Have I lost my mind? No, I think not. I just think I need to make sure we accomplish certain things and that the kids have a routine. My babies need structure. I've been modifying things that I think are important. For instance,  we are eating at a specific time and we are eating at the kitchen table...as a family. I used to feed the babies first, then Bobby and I would eat but the kids are old enough that I think we can do the family thing. Also, the kids don't just get "open playtime" when we get home. We have been turning the TVs off (unless we have just music playing) and I'm playing with them. Now I've got to work on our plans for the day. I want help Gabriel start reading and it's time for Mattie to start with the flash cards. Much to do, much to do!!
Having said all that, it's time to bathe some short folks, get their jammies on, read to them and put them to bed. Schedules are good!
Love to all
Andee

Uploading Pictures

I'm catching up on photo uploads on our fall page. You can view the latest photos @
http://doolinfall2010.shutterfly.com/

Birthday celebrations

Since I'm a little behind in posting I should update everyone on our fall birthday celebrations. My children's and my husband's birthdays all fall within a 5 week period. I'm not sure how this happened but I had some birthday party planning to do this year! Mattie's 1st, Bobby's 40th and Gabriel's 3rd - which is the first one where he (sort of  ) knows what's going on.
Mattie's party was great fun right up until the point where Gabriel threw up all over me. We still had a good time but that was a little bit of appetite killer. The good news is that he was ultimately OK and most everyone was done eating at the point.
Bobby's party was a big success. We were able to spend time with friends and family and just have fun around the house. We had some pretty good eats and, I'm happy to report, that the weather cooperated so we were able to enjoy outdoor activities.
Gabriel's birthday fell on Halloween weekend so his "official" party is this weekend. We did take a family trip to Gattitown and Toys R Us, just the 4 of us, and we had a great time!

Count your blessings

I just had to take a moment to post something. Just remember, no matter how bad you think things are in your life, there's probably someone who's having a rougher time that you. Just take the time to put your troubles in perspective, that's all I'm trying to say. I'll give you an example where I was smacked in the back of the head (figuratively) and reminded that I needed to do just that, put things in perspective.
As you all know, Gabriel was born 16 weeks early and remained in intensive care for 3 months. Compared to the problems we could have been faced with, we dealt with relatively minor complications - I don't mean minor, I mean minor in comparison to what we could have faced. Got me? Ok, so for any parent of a preemie, weight gain is a big deal. After Gabriel was discharged from the hospital we had follow up visits with the neonatologists so they could check his weight and other growth and developmental metrics. On our first visit, I was so excited for them to see how well he'd been doing. He'd been weighed at the pediatrician's office and we weighed him at home so I knew where he was. I also knew that there were minor variations from scale to scale so I knew the general range where he would tip the scales, give or take some ounces. Well I was broken hearted at the clinic when they weighed him and then said that he was a little under weight and they would like to have seen more weight gain. They weren't overly concerned but wanted to supplement his feedings to get him where he needed to be. The rest of the appointment went well, they were pleased with his progress but I could not let go of the weight thing. I knew he was where he needed to be and I was really upset and concerned that they didn't think he was doing as well as they'd hoped. It really wasn't a huge deal but I was just so focused on his success I let it get under my skin.
Well either that day or the next I received that smack to the back of the head. I checked in on one of the preemie's I'd been keeping up with and he had surgery scheduled for that day. When I read the update, his mom had posted that the surgery was postponed because when they put him under anesthesia, his heart stopped. They were able to resuscitate him but that was it. I realized that a discrepancy in weight was nothing to be upset over. (turns out they had issues with their scale so I was mad for no reason anyway).
I heard some news today that reminded me of this all over again. Today I was just reminded of how blessed I am to have a family and extended family that I love so much and to have my husband and children around me.
Even on your worst day, I bet you can look around you and point out a number of blessings in your life. Give it a try.
Love to all!
ACD