Our Humble Abode

Here are a few (ok, a lot) of photos of our lovely little abode. I had my place built last year in anticipation of having a baby. Trouble is, I had two! So...a few minor adjustments were made, an extra bedroom added, and let's just say I am not displaying my precious Depression Glass set that I inherited from my great aunt. Alas, I am a bookworm to the core, so the books have been tightly stacked and some of them blocked (see white lap desk on shelf 3, left) because my boys have a knack for flinging them off the shelves. ..


Here we have Mommy's Archie Bunker chair (pink LazyBoy)...

My CDs and DVD collection were constantly being knocked over by Mr. Hurricane and Mr. Bulldozer, so I have covered it with a towel for the time being...

The kitchen is connected to the living room, I designed it that way for easy access and to keep tabs on things while preparing stuff in the kitchen...

Here we have the messy bathroom (deliberately dark so you don't see the dust bunnies)...

And this door is usually kept closed, because my little guys like to unroll the toilet paper and play with the water in the toilet!

This is the nursery which was supposed to be for both when I found out I was having 2 boys. But these guys are such hams that they would never sleep if they shared a room right now. So Lk sleeps here.

I love these vintage clown embroideries that I picked up at an estate sale.

This is mommy's girly pink computer room that may have to be transformed into Liam's bedroom if my guys aren't sharing pretty soon!

Mommy's room at the end of the hall. This is my grandma's antique bedroom set...

And my troublemakers before their evening snack...

Lm, bored of pushing all the buttons on the DVD, now heads for the stereo...

And here he's thinking, "I believe we've wrapped up this photo session for tonight."

Belated Christmas Photos

This year Santa was generous with my boys because they were so good! Well, most of the time. There were a few random incidents in 2007 like the time Lk poured an entire box of Cheerios over his head, and the time Lm pulled out every single baby wipe from the box (count: 80). I won't even mention Lk diving into the bathtub head first or Lm's cake food fights. Let's just say Santa is a forgiving Santa, and that most of the year, their halos were bright and shiny. The rewards of their angelic behavior were realized on Christmas Eve with many presents under the tree bearing their names.

Lm was sure excited about his new Elmo phone...



So was Lk! They completely ignored their new choo-choo train...

And their bears from their daycare lady...

And their new farmer in the dell toy...

And their wrapped packages...

"La la la la, la la la la. Elmo's World! (ring)" I still have that sound going through my head after many many uses of these phones.

Earlier in the night, Lk was running around with Grandpa's hat in their kitchen...

Then after an exhausting night of tearing paper and talking to Elmo, my guys enjoyed their bedtime bottles...

Then it was time for Night Night so Mommy and Grandma could go to Midnight Mass!

No Cause for Alarm

Yesterday morning one of the supervisors from another division called us all out of our cubes for a brief announcement in the room next door. “Some of you may have noticed the police cruisers circling the parking lot, heightened security on all floors throughout the building, and the security guards in the lobby.” Gee, I think we did.

He went on to say that an employee had gotten really upset about last week’s layoff because a friend of his had not made the cut. This led to misconduct which subsequently got him fired. Now this guy has been making threats over email and the phone that he was practicing at the gun range to come back here and blow us to smithereens (the supervisor put it a little more euphemistically, but the message was the same). In other words, we have to use our security badges about 10 times a day instead of the usual 5 or so.

But, he added, “We’re working with the police to contain the situation and there’s no cause for alarm.” Funny, the last time I heard those words, I was on a plane that had just been struck by lightning and the pilot told us that one of the engines had blown but there was “no cause for alarm” as we were now making an emergency landing in Dallas and a flotilla of flashing ambulances were heading toward the airport to greet us.

And yet, we all sort of yawned and came back to our desks to drink a second cup of coffee, none of us nearly as concerned about this possible threat to our lives the way we panicked over the threat last week to our livlihoods. The thing we don’t get is why would this guy, who survived the layoff, screw himself by getting fired right afterward? That’s like escaping a brush with death only to commit suicide 5 minutes later. And it wasn’t even over an office affair, this was only a platonic friendship with a guy friend who was laid off!

My take on Juno

I saw Juno last night and it really struck a chord with me. It hit me hard, because this is the first movie EVER where the “happy ending” could possibly be SMC-hood. Most other films out there that address the topic of a woman getting knocked up out of wedlock have a neat-n-tidy, formulaic ending of the couple getting together at the end and raising the baby together, no matter how big a cad the guy was in the beginning. Yawn.

Here instead was a fresh film with a fresh message: there is no such thing as a perfect home and family. The characters mature as they come to realize this: Juno cries heartbreakingly when she realizes she cannot provide a fantasy home for the baby; Vanessa places Juno’s note on the nursery wall where the picture of her perfect family (read: husband, wife, child) was supposed to hang; and Juno’s stepmom knew it all along, by marrying a single dad and upbraiding the ultrasound tech.

Lm and Lk, you are my happy ending.

Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien – Voltaire

(The perfect is the enemy of the good.)

Mr. Serious

This guy is one happy camper. Lm is running around all the time laughing. He loves to play hide and seek and peek a boo! He loves it when I give him somersaults and read him funny stories. His brother is such a ham that he is laughing at him constantly. Yet when the camera is brought out, he gets that deer in the headlight look and puts on his Mr. Serious face. But don't let this guy fool you, he's got a sense of humor and loves to laugh!

The Case of the Missing Boots

My mom was missing one of her winter boots, and we thought it got misplaced, until one night I happened to notice that Lk has started taking shoes and throwing them in the waste basket. Hmmm....and suddenly both my winter boots were missing, too. I've always just taken out the trash without looking at it, so I never would've thought my shoes would be in there. The latest casualty is that one of my black Dockers is missing, and my mom mentioned she'd last seen Lk holding the other one when I wasn't home. So that's 3 pairs of good shoes gone (that we know about) and the forensic evidence is pointing squarely at Lk. You'd think a couple of crime TV buffs like my mom and I would've figured this out before we're forced to wear our summer sandals out in the snow, but we sure missed the boat on this one. Live and learn!

Meal Times

Mealtimes are not what they used to be. In other words, I used to actually be able to eat! Now it's all about feeding my little guys and maybe grabbing a snack after they are in bed. (This is how you lose the baby weight--I'm actually 7 lbs lighter than I was before I conceived them.)

Both my guys love food, especially Lky. It seems he could eat to oblivion. I once asked my daycare lady if she'd ever found a stopping point for him, because I haven't. She said that three times in the past year, she has seen Lk reach a stopping point. Lm is a little picker; he's suspicious until he's tried the first bite. Their favorite food right now is Grandma's angel food cake. They stuff their mouths so full they can hardly chew. Anything that is found on the floor is pretty much fair game until or unless I find out about it. After all, I don't like them eating paper or dirt.

Made the Cut

I still have a job, thank God. In fact, I have even more of one. They did the layoffs this morning, and I am so grateful my number was not called. 60 were let go. The stress has been tremendous. One of my work friends who is also a single mom got the ax, and so did my boss’s boss—he had the corner office, and would not come back after he had his meeting so my boss had to pack up his personal things. Throughout the morning we could see people walking out with their boxes.

All morning it was like a funeral here. They made no announcement of who got the cut, so we found out through whispering among the cubes. Some people wandered by just to see who was still sitting at their desk. One guy from upstairs told me that he’s the only one left out of his department of 8—and they made him escort his coworkers out the door!

And yet, my department went out for lunch, so relieved that we are actually joyous. None of us were let go, and though we are sorry for the ones who were, we feel like we dodged bullets. I desperately need my health insurance for L&L. I need to provide for them because they only have one parent.

So now we will be getting more work to take over some things that others were doing before. Bring it on. The more job security, the better.

Layoffs & Widespread Panic

I came in to some bad news at work today. There are going to be layoffs over the next two days, “deep cuts” due to erroneous budget forecasting for 2008. 20% of the entire company will be laid off. That’s 50 people. I could easily be one of them since I have only been here for 3 months.

There is widespread panic, rumors, conjectures, and otherwise a poignant silence. Silence because we all fear if we draw attention to ourselves we will be chosen for the layoff. In my department of six, three of us are single parents and the sole support of our dependents.

This morning my coworkers and I stood around whispering and speculating, our faces absolutely white with fear. To a person, we’re all convinced it’s going to be us. One said he’s sure he’ll be let go because he was hospitalized last year for a bad back and it’s put a hit on our insurance premiums. I said it’s me because I am new and my twins had ear infections and trips to the doctor these last two months. One said it’s her because of a domestic dispute against her ex that our boss’s boss knows about. That’s the level of paranoia we’re dealing with here. At the same we’re trying to comfort each other by saying, “No, it won’t be you. You’ve got too much experience” or “Everyone likes you, they’d never let you go.”

I even went into my boss’s office and shut the door and begged him to tell me if my job is safe. He does not know and in fact is as worried as I am; he’s a single parent too, and has been having chest pains all weekend over this.

It goes without saying that I will be devastated if I lose my job right now. I just had to deal with this in September when I lost my job of 4 ½ years. I can’t go through that again right now.

Bye-Bye & Mr. Bare Bottom

At 18 months my little guys are very mobile and very verbal! Here are a couple of examples of this. Lk is waving to himself in the mirror and saying Hi and Bye to himself before bedtime. His new thing is saying this to himself in the mirror.

They also don't like to have their diapers or clothing changed. This picture of Lm on the left is typical of what happens when I need to reach for a new diaper or piece of clothing--he's quicker than I am and runs away half naked until I manage to catch him.

Lm

Here is my Lm last night during our nighttime routine. He sleeps in a separate room than his brother. I had set up the nursery hoping they would share, but so far it hasn't worked out. One would cry and wake the other. I hear many twin moms say they had their twins share not only a room, but a crib as well in the beginning. I value their sleep too much to try that, however I did move Lm into the nursery a couple of times, but the results were not fruitful. That is, when I heard laughing during their "nap," I went in and saw them having a stuffed animal fight and flinging things to and fro. So now they're separate.

For Lm's routine, I put him down and he loves it when I throw his blankie over his face. He grabs it and plays Peek a boo with me. Then I go, "Peek a boo, beep beep beep!" and give him eskimo kisses with our noses. Then I give him lots of kisses and tell him I love him and hand him his stuffed Mickey Mouse and turn on his music mobile (he, too, disassembled it months ago). He likes to suck on the corner of his blankie like in the pictures. When I leave he sometimes will start to cry, and I leave it go for a couple of minutes. If it's longer I sometimes bribe him with a graham cracker. I know, I know I shouldn't, but sometimes it's the only way!

Lky

He's his Momma's boy, alright! We have this whole routine when I put him to bed. First we wave bye bye in the mirror (a new thing he's learned), then I set him in his crib with his paci whereupon he proceeds to assume the position as in picture#2. He tries to do a somersault but fortunately can't yet succeed! Then I give him his giraffe and crocodile and blankie and tons of kisses and turn on his mobile music (can't run the mobile as he disassembled it months ago!), turn on the humidifier and say "Night, night, Lky! I love you!"

18 Months Old

My twin boys turned 18 months old on January 8. Part of me wants to keep them babies forever. In this photo, they're wearing their new Gymboree shirts that they got for Christmas from their aunt and uncle.