Zombie Mom

Well, we're back at work, and school, and we are all surviving, albeit barely.

Rob and I both feel very rusty at all the procedural type parts of the job back here at home care, so we do feel as though things take an awful lot longer than they did a year and a half ago. We will likely get back into the swing of things quickly though. We'd better. We're also finding it significantly different trying to run a business from home with three kids underfoot. Heidi tries to help out in the office, as you'll see from the photos, and has already found a favourite new place to sit, and favourite new power cords to unplug.

Brendan seems very happy back at school with the same bus driver, teacher and friends. He does seem so much older than he did a year ago. He came home from school today with a whole new version of duck, duck goose that he had imagined called tornado, tornado, explosion. Boys. Sigh. The rules were quote complicated and I will admit to being secretly relieved when it was time to make dinner.

Harrison is walking almost all the time now and Heidi at least half the time. They are babbling and talking more and more. Harrison learned to say Ta Ta ( for when you want something ) today and signs "more" and "all done" (pictured in the high chair) pretty consistently now. Heidi signs with great joy and excitement, but rarely at any sort of  appropriate time. She did however make up her own sign for "bottle". I think she's going to be our free spirit!

Home From Vegas

I have arrived home from Vegas and am happy to report that all 3 children survived my absence, and perhaps more amazingly, so did Rob. It sounds like things went very well indeed, with the twins napping and eating decently and Brendan behaving adequately. Rob was a super dad, taking everyone out for trips to the toystore or the park every day and the neighbours said they never heard any crying from the house. Rob says that's because he went downstairs where the windows weren't open to cry...

A few days before I left, Harrison sprouted another tooth (his fifth) on top. This morning, it's pair has pushed through on the other side, so that makes six. Heidi is holding strong at four teeth, but has a very toothy grin nonetheless.

I was so worried before I left that I would miss Heidi's first steps. Mostly I was worried she would ask someday "Do you remember my first steps, mommy" and I would have to say "no honey, mommy was out partying in Vegas". The downside of that is that if she hadn't started walking last week there was a pretty good chance I would miss her first steps while I was back to work this week, but at least that sounds a little bit less neglectful when recounted back to her than the Vegas scenario. I was thrilled to bits therefore when she took her first steps yesterday morning (my first day home). It was just an hour after I woke up, and I felt like she'd been saving them for me! She can really only manage two or three at a time, but has done it many times.

Harrison seems keen to try and stay ahead in the milestone competition between him and Heidi and has begun to jump! Yes, jump. Like two foot jump. He's a prodigy. This is typically a 20-24 month old milestone but our little not-quite 13 monther is doing it already! He generally likes to squat down as low as he can to build up tension like a spring and then jumps up and fast as he can and lands again with a gigantic smile.

I really have to learn how to post videos with all these moving and shaking that the twins are doing, but it involves posting a video to facebook and then imbedding a link and that is usually where my eyes glaze over a little and I lose focus. I should redouble my efforts.

My trip to Vegas was a very fun week. There was a fair bit of debauchery, as long as you consider bad karaoke debauchery. Otherwise, all I have to offer you is staying up too late and excessive gigglng in a wide, wide variety of public places. We had a great time. I drank beer ice cream floats (delicious), toured every hotel/casino on the strip except 2, hung out by the pool, played roulette, drank $1 margaritas, watched an elvis impersonator, played craps, danced on top of the bar at Coyote Ugly, shopped the Gap at 11:30 at night (Vegas is a strange place), won at the sports book, watched the Bellagio fountains, drank out of a bucket (it was a good deal!), took in a magic show and stayed up dancing until last call more nights than not. I also slept through the night 6 nights in a row. That was heaven.

Rob also managed to sleep relatively well. Our plan was to start sleep training (fancy parenting talk for let them cry it out) the twins when I got home. Rob however is a fairly heavy sleeper, and I had suspiscions about whether he would hear them when they woke up in the middle of the night, since he rarely stirs in the night when I'm home. He felt he would subsconsciously know that he was on duty and hear them. Well, miraculously, he reports the twins slept quite well, sometimes only waking once in the night, sometimes both sleeping through the night. Whether THEY only woke once, or whether HE only woke once is a question we will never know the answer to, but one way or another they are both sleeping very well now, and I only woke up once last night to deal with them, so I'm not complaining!

Brendan starts school on Wednesday and seems quite excited to see his friends and teacher again. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since his first day of junior kindergarten when he looked so little getting on the bus.

Rob and I are due at the office at 9 am Wednesday to pickup our caseload and be oriented back to the world of work at Home Care. A neighbour is going to look after the twins for us for the morning while we are in town, which is sort of a milestone in and of itself. They are certainly becoming a little more self sufficient and Rob and I are looking forward to getting to a stage where we feel we can leave them with our regular high school aged babysitter easily. Oh, and they are working on more words, I came home from Vegas to babies who can now both say Uh-oh and Ball! Goodness the milestones never cease!

My First Drink In Vegas - A tall ice water - not very wild and crazy yet

Posing outside our hotel/casino - Harrah's

Touring the Venetian

Oh bother, the photos have ceased to upload... I've attempted 3 times, and have got to go to bed. Well, I suppose what happened in Vegas will have to stay in Vegas (: