TST - Like Mother Like Daughter

Miss Daisy is a constant source of entertainment! But, I think, this story will be one for our scrapbooks!
The other day, we were on our way to pick up Lily from school. Daisy was snacking on some Lucky Charms in the back seat. I stopped to get the mail and hopped out of the car for a second. When I got back in, Daisy started crying. I turned around to check her out and she had her entire finger shoved up her nose.

I asked her, "What's in your nose?!"
She wailed, "CEREAL!!!"
I pulled the car over and wondered how this incident was going to end.
Luckily, Daisy is VERY good at blowing her nose.
I pushed the empty nostril closed and told her to blow her nose.
After 3 good blows, a decent sized piece of Lucky Charms flew out of Daisy's nose.
Crisis averted!

My Mother thinks this story is Hi-larious.
Because, you see, when I was about Daisy's age...........

...I experienced a similar episode.
Only, instead of cereal, mine involved a flouride pill.
I can remember my Mom handing me the pill. I also remember hiding behind the couch and "trying something new" with my pill.
I must have looked guilty when I came out of my hiding spot.
My Mom asked me where the pill was and I shoved my finger up my nose to show her.
I was not able to blow it out of my nose. I had to have a visit with the Dr, who tried to use metal instruments to remove the flouride pill. WITHOUT SUCCESS!

I'm sorry, Dais, that we get to share this quirk! ;)

For more true stories, visit Once Upon A Miracle.

TST - the Most Disgusting Thing Ever!

This is a true story I wish I wasn't telling!

When we moved here, the thing I worried about most was dealing with unfamiliar bugs.

We have lived here for 6 years and I have only ever heard OTHER people's horror stories.

Then the other night, my world came crashing down!

I had been running around downstairs with NO shoes on just seconds before DaddyO yelled my name in a very shocked tone. He had been turning off lights and somehow saw the Most Disgusting Thing Ever, running around on the floor. The MDTE was the exact same color as the tile.

Prepare yourself! And runaway to a safer blog if you need to!
This is what destroyed my sense of safety in our own home:

Black Light does not make for the best lighting, but isn't it just gross that they glow like that?
Now I worry every time I reach in to a drawer or in to the bottom of a closet and with any little tickle, I am positive there is one of these crawling up my leg!

We put the dang thing in a jar so we could show the kids to NEVER mess around if they saw one of these. It has been in the jar, ALIVE, with NO AIR for 2 days. They are very hard to get rid of! YUCK!

What's the worst you've got? Just in case I need to runaway!

For more true stories, visit Once Upon A Miracle!

TST - The Record Breaker

It's back, it's back, it's back! True Story Tuesday! Yay!!!

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Daisy is determined to break all family records for major milestones. She has reached most milestones before any of my other kids. She doesn't seem to care at all that I want her to STAY a baby!!

On her first birthday, we thought it would be helpful, to get her a walker. You know, help her figure out the whole "walking" thing! ON the very day she received the present, she started doing this:

Luckily the walker doubles as a baby stroller!

For her second birthday, we bought Daisy a little training potty. Wishful thinking since the previous family record for being potty trained is a few months past 3 years old. See, I do not enjoy potty training and I procrastinate until it becomes embarrassing as long as possible! I also find it easier to potty train when my kids can communicate better with me. Good excuse?

I wasn't expecting much the first time Daisy tried out her potty. And although she felt right at home on her "throne", she did not produce any excitement.

Later that day, we brought the potty downstairs so she could show the entire family. After everyone left she wanted to test it out again. I was absolutely shocked a few minutes later when the potty started playing a magical tune that meant something had just happened IN the potty. She stood up and sure enough there was pee pee in her potty! We were shocked and sooooooooo excited! We were clapping and giving her high fives and she loved every minute of it! All of this ON her 2nd birthday!

Since then, we have been having diaper free test runs in the mornings. Every time she sits on the potty she is able to "go". She was doing really well last week with only one minor slip-up when she peed on Ashton's bed. She came out of his room and was just as happy as she is when she goes on her potty.

So it looks like she is going to shatter the potty training record!


Visit Once Upon a Miracle to hear more true stories!

TST- I Finally Have a Name for my Camera!

I've had my camera for about 6 months. In that time, I have tried to come up with a unique and interesting name for her. Nothing seemed to fit her personality!

Then, the other day, something happened that sealed the deal and I KNEW exactly what her name should be!

It was Thursday morning. I knew I needed a picture for my Friday Letter of Intent. My camera has only left the house a few times, mainly because she did not have a proper carrying case. But on this day I decided it would be fun to prance around with my new camera bag.

I did prance. I got the shot I needed. I then carried Daisy and my bowling bag, with my precious camera inside, back to the car. I placed the camera bag on the floor of the car while I put Daisy in her car seat. When she was safely strapped in, I hit the automatic door closing button, hopped in the front seat and drove home.

Once home, we went inside for some lunch and then Daisy went off to have her nap. I decided to try to finish my LOI. Early, for once!

I typed up the letter and went to retrieve my camera so I could add my photo, taken with my super secretive photo taking abilities!

I went out to the car, but the camera, in its cute little bag, was not there!

I thought maybe I had already brought it in the house.
I thought maybe one of the kids brought it in.

There was a lot of searching but NO camera.

I was sick! I was shaking and saying not so nice words over and over and over.

Where had it gone?

The only time I had opened/closed the sliding door had been when I put Daisy in the car and when I got out of the car at home.

Maybe it fell out of the car at the Aquatic Center? If that was the case, did I run over it with my car? If someone found my beautiful, new camera and it's darling camera bag,  would they actually turn it in?

I didn't think so!

How could I lose something that expensive? What about the 100+ pictures on the camera card inside the camera?

I called the aquatic center.

Me: "Hi, I was just calling to see if you maybe had someone turn in a camera in a red camera bag?"

My new best friend: "YES! Someone found it in the parking lot!"

Sweet Relief!!!

And so, I shall call her Lucky!

For more true stories, visit Once Upon a Miracle.

TST - THE Aquatic Center

It is gettin' hot around here! 110degrees last weekend.

We recently found out about a really great Aquatic Center that is very near by AND is very reasonably priced. It has waterslides, a lazy river and a super cool playland IN the water! We told the kids we would take them there over the weekend. I used it as a bribing tool to encourage good behavior. I went online and showed them the virtual tour.

They were VERY excited!!

Sunday afternoon, after Daisy's nap, we loaded all of our swim gear and ourselves in to the car and headed to this cool pool. We stopped for lunch. Big mistake!! We arrived at the aquatic center about an hour and a half after they had opened for the day.

They were FULL TO CAPACITY! We didn't really feel like standing out in the heat, waiting for 6 people to leave so we could go in. There were people ahead of us in line too. We decided to bag the waterpark for now and enjoy some swim time at Grandma and Grandpa's pool.

The kids were DEVASTATED!!

Fast forward to Monday morning. The boys have their first swim lesson at the same aquatic center.

Their lesson is the last class before the waterpark opens to the public. After their class, we get right in line to be one of the first families to get back inside.

The kids were SO happy!

They had a great time keeping cool in the pools. I enjoyed the lazy river and watching my kiddos go down the waterslides. We had fun!

On our way home, I asked them what their favorite part was about the waterpark. They said "THE SWIM LESSON!"

Go visit Once Upon a Miracle to hear more true stories!

TST - Lily's Ears

When Lily turned 7 years old, she decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. DaddyO and I thought it would be a good birthday present so we took her to get it done. Once she hopped in the chair the tears and hysterics began. I was really loving that it seemed like we were forcing her to get her ears pierced! Lily survived the drama and she left the store with pretty little flower earrings. Due to all the commotion, I didn't get any pictures.

This is one of the only pics I have of Lily with her ears pierced.

Shortly after the piercings, DaddyO and I went on a little trip to Hawaii. Without Kids! I was so excited to shop around for some new earrings for Lily and I was on a mission to find a starfish pair (anyone see Aquamarine?).

After much searching I did find a pair of starfish earrings and not long after our trip, it was time for Lily to remove the original studs and start wearring regular earrings. We tried the starfish pair first and of course her ears became incredibley infected! I had to take the earrings out and Lily absolutely refused to let me put anything back in! So, the holes closed up.

Fast forward to Lily's 10th birthday (that's how long it took to recover from the first piercing). Lily received a gift certificate to Claire's. I casually mentioned that she could use it to get her ears pierced. She thought about it for a few days and finally decided that she DID want to get her ears pierced again. We took her to the mall and she picked out a pair of earrings that were almost identical to the pair she picked out when she was 7.

There were no hysterics, but there were a few tears!

There was still the feeling that everyone else in the store thought I was forcing her to get her ears pierced!

But, she survived and happily ended up with pretty pierced ears!

Then she paid for her siblings to ride this little merry-go-round.

Visit Once Upon a Miracle to read more true stories!

TST - Diaper Recycle

*I am re-using a post I published back in October along with a little update at the end. If you have already seen this, please feel free to skip to the end!*





I know you have all been dying to know how I dispose of diapers, right? RIGHT?! Simmer down! I will tell you!

I have been changing diapers for 10 years. Ten joyful, fun-filled years! How to dispose of the diapers has always been a dilemma!

With Lily we had the Diaper Genie. I liked the concept and enjoyed spinning the diapers around. I don’t know if it was just the 2000 model, but I didn’t think it worked well at hiding the delicious diaper smell! We donated it to an "expecting" family member.

Then, twice the babies equals twice the smell. So we thought it would be funny to throw the boys' diapers in the kitchen garbage can. This worked fine until we had to throw something else away and when we lifted the lid horrific smells would blast us in the face and linger/spread through the kitchen. That kind of stench does not belong in the kitchen.

With Daisy, I started by just putting the diapers in a grocery bag that was hanging on the back of her bedroom door. Pretty soon that started stinking up her room and I knew that something needed to be done! Here is my solution:

I got this 3 gallon metal step-on garbage can and put it under the sink in the kids’ bathroom. Let me just tell you that this is a dream come true! There are 3 layers of nasty odor protection. First, the garbage can lid keeps diapers and their stench inside the can. Second, the cupboard adds an extra stink barrier. And third, if things are smellin' really rotten, we can just close the bathroom door. Also, since these kinds of odors routinely emanate from the bathroom it is not so devastating when the diapers are especially smelly!

While we’re on the subject of diapers, has anyone had babies that remove their own diapers and leave special treats in their cribs or on bedroom floors? Oh! My boys LOVED to disrobe themselves! One morning I walked in and one of them was peeing through the bars of their crib. Another time, someone had left brown smudges on the bed, sheets and down the wall with an unusual surprise on the floor. We remedied this situation by duct taping their diapers. Problem solved.

Here is Daisy modeling the darling duct taped diaper look. I am such a dope and never took pictures of the boys with their duct taped diapers! Bad Mommy! I just smacked my hand!

Daisy was duct taped for the sole purpose of being photographed. And as you can see from the photo she says "rock on" to duct tape!

My Grandma wrote a funny poem about twins and their mischievous activities. The poem was inspired by actual events that were carried out by my twins and my Mom’s twins.


Duct Tape Diapers

Terrible-two twins

(Mom’s immediate melodrama)
Have psychic connections
That double the trouble

Without a word
Or using their unique private language
“A” opens pantry door, “B” pushes in stool.
Soon both are eating five kinds of cereal off the floor.
(Mom puts a lock on the pantry).

“A” finds Mom’s lipstick, “B” smears it on four shoe soles.
Both gleefully tramp across the white carpet.
(Mom finances a new rug and stops wearing lipstick).

“A” opens a box of margarine, “B” takes off the wrappers.
Dining room wall makes a canvas for “oil” painting.
(Mom gets a prescription for Prozac).

Early morning
“A” and “B” commune about stripping down bare-naked.
Soon cribs and clothes and kids are turd-dotted.
(From then on Mom duct tapes the diapers).

--G.N.B.


Isn’t that fantastic! I love it!!

P.S. Since I wrote this post, Daisy has decided that she likes to take off her clothes AND messy diapers while she is in bed. It looks like duct-tape might be in her future. I think I saw some different colored tape at the store the other day (besides gray). Pink would look nice!

Update

After the previous incident, Daisy did not keep up with the diaper disasters, until a few weeks ago.  Now she is a Diaper Houdini! The pink duct tape WAS purchased and is working very well!

It's a little bit hard to see the cute pink strips. Daisy was not interested in posing to show off her diaper! She was much to busy checking herself out in the mirror while she danced to Lily's musical card!

Now that you are done reading THAT, go visit Once Upon A Miracle to hear more true stories!

TST - Lily's Birth Story

10 years ago today, I became a Mom. After 1.5 years of trying to conceive and one round of chlomid we were pregnant with our first baby! She was due 2 days after our 2nd Anniversary.

It was a high-risk pregnancy due to high blood pressure which I seemed to only experience at the Drs office. At 35 weeks I was put on bed rest with twice weekly Non-stress Tests. At 38 weeks, with my blood pressure still high even with medication, the Dr said it was time to induce.

On April 13, 2000, we arrived at the hospital at 8am. The nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor and started my IV. At 8:30am my Dr came in to break my water and the nurse started me on pitocin. I was 2cm dilated. We were all pretty sure that I would be in labor ALL DAY!

By 10am I started having pretty painful contractions (about 3 or 4). My Mom asked the nurse if I could get an epidural because SHE was in a lot of pain! hee hee

At 10:30am the anesthesiologist came in to give me an epidural. I had one last PAINFUL contraction before the meds kicked in and I started making weird grunting noises. I had no idea what was going on! The nurse said "I think she is ready to push!"

She checked me and sure enough, I was 10cm dilated. Good thing they didn't check BEFORE I got the epidural.

It was 11am and I was ready to start pushing but my Dr was in the middle of a c-section so we had to wait. I chatted with family members and took a little nap.

The Doc finally showed up at 12pm. After several pushes, Lily's head made it out (tmi?). The Dr said "The cord is wrapped around her neck. Tight!" He had to cut the cord and then told me that I had 5 minutes to get her out or she was going to bleed to death!!! No pressure!! I got her out on the very next push and they whisked her away to see the pediatrician.  I got her back a few minutes later and she was absolutely perfect.

From start to finish, my labor was 4 hours. (could have been 3)
Not bad for a first timer!

My sweet Lily Lin weighed 6lbs 6oz and was 19 inches long.
Man, I ♥ this girl!!!

This was one of my first ever scrapbook pages. I couldn't find these pics

 anywhere else so I had to scan the entire scrapbook page.

4 generations. We were all born at the same hospital.

Heather and Lilies

Only 3 days old and already protesting her mother's photo shoots!

Go visit Once Upon a Miracle to hear more true stories!

TST - Bite Me

This is ONE of the stories that shattered my Mother's image of me being a perfect angel when I was little! Although I seemed sweet and innocent, I was a little bit sneaky and naughty. I know! It's hard to believe! I may have snuck huge handfulls of parmesan cheese out of the fridge and kept a scooper of Tang behind the couch so I could stick my tongue in the cup any time I wanted a sweet snack.

Those were minor offenses compared to this story of a mean little girl!

I think I was almost 6 years old and my sister, Bre, was 18 months. I believe we were making a cross country trip in the big blue station wagon and I was bored. Since we were not in seatbelts or carseats, I invited my sister to join me in the very back of the car. I wanted to test something.

My brother and sister, twins, liked to entertain themselves by biting eachother (my twins did this too).
I had never been bitten before.
I told her to bite me.
She happily obliged.
I cried.
She got in trouble!

OH, that is SO not nice. I confessed and apologized many years ago.
Sorry Again Bre!!

I just wanted to share this story for my Sis who is having a bit of surgery tomorrow.
We Love You Unkie B!!!

Here is a pic of me and all my sibs, a few years after this incident:

Heather, BreAnne, Rory, Teak

Run over to Once Upon a Miracle to hear more true stories!



*Heads Up! Next week's theme for Monday Mugs is "Bubbles"
Get your photos ready!*

True Story Tuesday - Crashing Down

The other day, during Spring Break, I was upstairs scrubbing toilets (*cough*ok maybe I was laying down) and the kids were downstairs reading books (ok, maybe they were watching some cartoons). I had given them strict instructions to stay out of the kitchen and not to go anywhere near the pantry.

I heared an incredibley loud CRASH!

I knew glass was involved and I yelled "Don't Move!!!" in an attempt to keep injuries to a minimum.

I ran downstairs. All of the kids were standing in the family room with Scared to Death eyes.

I turned the corner in to the kitchen and found this:

I stood and stared at the mess for about 10 minutes trying to figure out where to start (and taking pictures). There was glass shattered across the entire kitchen. SOMEONE had used the pantry shelves as a ladder in an attempt to grab the forbidden box of cookies at the top. This is something we have caught all of our kiddos doing at one time or another and they KNOW they are not supposed to climb the shelves. Well, this time they got a big surprise. The shelf did not hold and the huge jars that were once filled with flour and sugar crashed to the ground. I'm not sure how they climbed down from the shelves AND dodged the jars at the same time!

Go visit Once Upon a Miracle to hear more true stories!

True Story Tuesday - Excuse ME!

It was June 2008.

I was about 6 months pregnant with Miss Daisy.

We were on a mini-vacation at a local resort.

We were all enjoying the beautiful pools and the kids LOVED the waterslide.

I was relaxing in a lounge chair and trying to get pictures of the kids swimming.

I made asked all three of them to sit on the edge of the pool for a quick photo.

I was using hand gestures to get them to scoot in to position.

I guess he couldn't tell that I was trying to take a picture.

Yes, that is a stranger, obviously dying to be in a photo with my cuties. I briefly thought about tracking him down and letting him know that I had a pretty cool picture of him jumping in to the pool.

NOW head on over to Once Upon a Miracle to hear more true stories!

True Story Tuesday - Early Riser

On Sunday morning, Bailey woke up before anyone else.

He didn't bother a single sleeping family member!

He turned on the computer.

Opened up MicrosoftWord (I have no idea how he knows how to do that! school?)

And typed up a letter:

I love you so much Mom and one other thing,  I want to kiss you so much and I love you so much Mom ok again so much done ok also To Mom from Bailey ok

Go visist Once Upon a Miracle for more true stories!

TST - Recycled Ashton

Rachel says it is OK to dig in to the blog archives and use a previous post for True Story Tuesday. So today, that's what I'm gonna do. Nothin' miraculous, amazing or outrageous but mostly hilarious and totally true!

This was originally posted on 6/9/2009:

You may remember, from a previous post, that I enjoy killing birds! And if I can get rid of two of them with only one stone I am a happy camper. So close your eyes and imagine my joy from this day: (um, you may want to read this before you close your eyes! tee hee!) Ashton, Daisy and I were in the family room watching a little Spongebob. The room looked like a disaster area. Blocks and lego discs all over the place. There were also crumbs everywhere from snack time gone bad! I was trying to figure out how I was going to get the place cleaned up. Then it hit me: Ashton LOVES to vacuum. Every time we are vacuuming around the house he asks if he can have a turn. So I said to him "Hey Ash, I'll let you vacuum in here if you clean everything off the floor." His eyes opened wide and a huge smile came over his face. He immediately started picking things up off the floor and had finished the job in about 5 minutes! He then spent the next 20 minutes vacuuming.
Happy kid: check
Clean family room: cha-eck!

Yesterday(6/8/09): I decided to start having one-on-one time with each of the kids. Every Monday, I will take one of them to swim all by themselves at Grandma's. No competing for Mommy to watch their pool tricks! Last night was Ashton's first turn. When we got in the car he was smiling from ear to ear! And he kept saying "I don't know why I'm so happy!" Cute boy! He had a lot of fun having Mommy, Grandma and Grandpa all to himself.


Today(6/9/09): Ashton is mad at me because I wouldn't let him have cookies for breakfast. He said "If you don't let me have cookies I'm not going to listen to you!" Then he locked and slammed every door upstairs. Cute boy! I am taking deep breaths and trying to ignore him!!


Now you should go visit Once Upon a Miracle for more true stories and maybe post a story of your own! Old or New!