2 sets of twins

so today i went to sam's with amanda, and we had all our kids with us...i love the sam's shopping carts because they hold two kids up front. so we put both babies up front and both toddlers in the back...we were walking through the store and amanda saw something she wanted to go run and get, so i just stopped as i was the one pushing the buggy, and waited for her to come back..and there were quite a few older folks that kept staring at me, and one older guy stopped just long enough to comment: "WOW two sets of twins, you've been blessed, they are adorable" i didn't get to correct him, because he was already walking off...but he said it rather loudly, and a few people turned to look and smiled...i couldn't help but smile back...as i thought what it would really be like to have 2 sets of twins only 2 years apart! i certainly wouldn't be bringing them to sams without extra help!!

picture tag!

so i've been meaning to do this for a while, thanks jenn. the fourth folder in my pictures, fourth picture would be: 

 and this is a cloth diaper that i made from recycled t-shirts (and if anyone has any donations that would be awesome). yeah, that's right. i cloth diaper. i look for ways to cut our costs so we can get out of debt, and for me, that means cloth diapers. it's actually quite fun to sew them up and see them so cute. and heck, aside from the thread and elastic, they're free!!! oh, and what's better, i can sell these once i'm done to another mama, so i actually come out ahead. 

if you're wondering, the diaper above is what you would call a pocket fitted diaper, you stuff an insert from the front which has a flap that folds over to cover the opening. i stuff with microfiber. it absorbs 8x it's weight in liquid, and works on daniel and kathryn overnight!!! i could finish the diaper off with some velcro or snaps to keep it on, but instead i use a snappi, it's quick and velcro or snaps is not cheap. what's a snappi you ask? check it out:

pretty cool. now, the one thing i do have to buy is a cover to contain the moisture and keep the diaper from wicking on to clothes, but once again, they resell very well. one example of a cover:

i think it's cuter than a disposable, and i've been doing it for 3 months now, and it works for me. my friend amanda and i are working on sewing up some diapers and selling them. i'll let you know how that goes. so cloth diapering still exists...who knew???

oh and i've decided i'll take on the NaBloPoMo challenge too. here we go!

and my heart stopped

so lets set the stage...on friday my friend Amanda was trying to pack up everything in her apartment so her husband could move it into their new apartment, well, i knew she was going to be busy, and so i called her up and volunteered to watch her two kids (michael 3 and benjamin 8 months) well, it's like having 2 sets of twins, our kids are so close in age, however it really wasn't that bad. so i have 4 kids to watch... and michael says he wants to go see the ducks. (we have about 10 ducks that hang around the apartments hoping for food...) ok, we can go see the ducks...sure. well, i get kathryn's shoes on and i put ben in the stroller cuz he's the heaviest baby, i have daniel in my arms, and i open the door to let everyone out the door. michael walks out the door first, and kathryn is trying to put the stroller out the door and running into everything, so i tell her let me get the stoller outside, and then you can push it. well that just wasnt good enough for her, she got all upset, and went outside to find the ducks while i push the stroller outside. i get the stroller over the door jam and realize i only see michael who is a few feet in front of me, and the ducks aren't sitting underneath my neighbors truck...so where are the ducks? on the other side of the  parking area next to the mailboxes (about 50 feet away). and kathryn is running after them...and the ducks are quickly making their way into the ditch...right next to the road. i scream kathryn's name...she keeps going, i scream (fairly loudly at this point)"kathryn get over here now".. she turns and looks at me with a sarcastic look like, "make me"...all the while i'm getting the sroller off of the sidewalk so i can go get kathryn, until...she turns and starts running toward the road (cuz she knows i'm coming to get her, so she's trying to run away) and she's like 5 feet from the road, i'm at least 50 feet from her, as soon as i see her turn toward the road... i scream. the kind of scream that is so high-pitched and wavering you can barely understand it, the ear piercing scream of fear..."KATHRYN KATHRYN  NO!!! NO NO!!" and of course as i'm screaming i'm sprinting daniel in hand, which i nearly threw out of my arms concentrating so hard on stopping kathryn...running as fast as i can and screaming as cars zoom by...i reach her just as her foot touches that white line, you know, the one that marks the outside of the lanes... i reach for her arm and pull her back for all i'm worth...and as i do, a car in that lane flys by. i nearly collapse in the thought of what almost happened... i'm shaking so bad dragging kathryn and barely holding on to daniel making my way back into the house.... tears falling down my cheeks, while screaming, "DON'T YOU EVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" i can barely think straight, and i guess kathryn is freaked out too, because she starts screaming and crying.... i just get everyone inside and try to breathe.

if i was a second later than i was in grabbing her, she would have run into the middle of the lane and the car would have hit her, and killed her no doubt. the speed limit on the road in front of my apartment is 55, but i can't tell you how many times people tail me on that road cuz i'm only going 55... it's a bit different from the neighborhood speed limits of 25 or 30... and just seeing it play in my mind while i was running to grab her...yeah, it felt like my heart stopped beating. it took a while to settle down and to calm kathryn down too after that. i tried to explain to her in the most calm voice i could muster, that if she runs out in the road, the cars driving by will hit her, and hurt her really bad,so we never go near moving cars. as soon as she heard the word her she starts bawling her eyes out again. wheeew...i don't think i could take witnessing that happen to kathryn...

and what's worse...last night (saturday) coming home from getting groceries, all the traffic was stopped for quite a ways, right before my aparmtent, and there were numerous cop cars with their flashing lights, and right behind the church on joe may road, their was a heliocopter!!!! oh no! yeah, someone had to be air-lifted to the hospital. i saw a guy walking down the road (traffic was stopped at 10 pm) and he said there was a really bad wreck, and i asked him if i could take the other lane to get past the cars to get to my apartment...and he said yeah, so i did, and this wreck was about 50 feet from the driveway to my apartments! just reiterating how people can't drive and how dangerous a road it is. 

how cute!

so i just had to share a few cute pictures before i went to bed. 

it's toddler john!!! how cute was he! i think daniel really does look like a combination of both of us. 

so i stuck daniel in kathryn's bed while i did clothes on their floor so he could see us, and he just got into the cutest stares...

then he would smile really big. i love it when he smiles!

i love this one. he's a thinker.

notice kathryn with a purse full of crayons. lol. she's a funny one. 

this is an adorable picture of my kathryn. it's gotta be my most recent favorite. she's standing in her highchair hoping to get something off the counter without me catching her...yeah, she's a sneaky one.

i was reading bedtime stories to kathryn in a chair right next to daniel's crib when i looked over and saw him peaking back at me! i think it's cute how the rungs frame his face.

so this is what happens when kathryn sneaks off to her room with her markers and mommy wonders why she is so quiet...she colors her lips blue. and of course she is trying to hide them when i want to document it. lol. she also colored her legs brown...at least it wasn't daniel right?

and she tries to put her shoes on "zizzy" her all-time favorite plush.

daniel the flexible lad likes to suck on his big toe when his thumb just doesn't cut it. and of course while i'm trying to diaper him he's gotta have his toes.

this is just cute. Ali one of the sweet girls that comes to the playgroups couldn't get enough of daniel.
today both kids peed all over themselves through the night, so a good morning bath was needed...and since daniel can sit up now, they get to play together in the tub. 
and when they got out...mmmmm nothing like having clean babies to lotion and kiss!
and we went to play with amanda and her kiddos michael and benjamin... daniel is sitting straight up...it almost looks weird. lol. 

well, that's it for now, more to come later. i sure do love my kiddos. goodnight.

House hungry

so i helped my mom move in to her "new house" throughout the last week and it really is nice. i saw things i really liked and it made me start thinking about certain things i would want in a house... 

this tuesday we went to Aaron and Lisa's house and had dinner with them and they have a beautiful house as well...the living area is huge, i really liked that! so then i started recalling how many other couples around our age have houses...and then it really hit...

I WANT A HOUSE!!!! (pouting like kathryn when she doesn't get her way) it's not fair, why do they get houses and i don't...ok, then reality sets in, and i remember just how much work a house is...more square footage to keep clean, more rooms to potentially get messy, a yard to tend to, when something goes wrong it's all on you! a bigger mortgage, homeowner's insurance, water bill, higher electric bill, sewer bill, trash pick up...ok, what am i forgetting all you homeowners out there....

needless to say...i still went online and checked out some houses, and thought to myself, but now is the time to buy, we could offer about 10 grand less and they'd jump on it...our mortgage wouldn't be that high if we had the best interest rate, a 30 year mortgage and no PMI...oh yeah, we have no money to put down, dave ramsey advises no more than a 15 year mortgage that comes out to be no more than a quarter of your take home pay...and for us...that would be....a mortgage of 70-80 thousand...what in the world can you buy with that?!? oh well, we know we are working on being completely debt free, and that will take another year, so until then, no house for us...

on a funny note...i tried feeding daniel applesauce yesterday, and oh...it was hilarious. he kept making the funniest faces...never spiting it out, so i got the camera and took a video...

super woman

wow what a day i have had. 

i washed, dried, folded and put away 6 loads of laundry. 

i changed the sheets on all 3 beds

i vacuumed the entire house

i mopped all the tile in the house

i washed the dishes

i made a few batches of baby food for daniel

i made dinner

i cut out some diaper patterns

and of course amidst all of the above, i fed, diapered, and entertained daniel and kathryn.

so man, all i need to do now is get a job right?!? put me to work! HA. so to all you men out there who complain about having to go to work, and say you'd love to be able to stay home all day...yeah, think again. as one of the great baby blue's comic strip says (after playing with the baby, chasing, etc for hardly 10 mins and being out of breath the husband turns to his wife) he says "i want to make sure it's clear that i don't go to work to make money to support my family, i go to work to get a break"!!! yeah, being a SAHM is no walk in the park. i mean, being a mom is consuming enough of your time, much less trying to find time for the other things, that if you don't do it, it'll never get done. so, why then with a day that was very productive do i feel so crappy? and why can't i go to bed! 

kathryn was hilarious today. she saw the "bug house" that i had put away about 2 months ago because she was throwing it around (it is a little house my pawpaw's good friend built for me when i was a wee little one, so i want it to be taken care of) and she wanted to play with it. so i told her if she let me fold some laundry while she colored a bit i'd get it down for her. well, i also have this old art set (markers, oil based crayons, colored pencils, paint etc) that i had also when i was a little girl, and some how it survived this long, so i'm letting her use the markers (they are almost gone anyway, so not too much she can harm with them) and so she had fun putting the markers in an empty wipe container, and taking them out through the small slit at the top. when i was done with the laundry (the markers entertained her for the whole time!) she helped me put it away, and when she was putting some of the clothes away in our room she saw the bug house again, and kept pointing and saying " buh house, buh house" so i took it down for her, thanked her for being good, and gave it to her, and the first thing she did was start putting the markers in the house! there is no denying that she is a miniature version of me for sure!! that kept her entertained for a good hour! she was playing with them on our bed, and surprisingly she fell asleep in our bed for her nap! i was so shocked!!! she was really good all day! i think i'll have to do something special for her tomorrow. devote lots of time for just her! well, anyhow. i had better get to bed

did a hurricane come through?