The Unofficial Chatterbox Thread! Everyone is Welcome!

[sameyeyam]

Either I am totally oblivious nowadays, or less people are noticing/caring about the twins. We only had one twinnerazi moment at the FM. It seems to be getting less and less. Not that I mind, most of the time, but some people say the most bizarre things! Like the time some woman asked me how I could tell them apart. Are you kidding? Look at them! MAybe if they looked even a little similar. But They dont even look related!

Perhaps if you could spit 8 of them out at one time, act like a totally disfunctional family, get your own reality show...well then maybe more people might notice the multiples.

DD is 3 weeks younger then her cousin (a boy) she was just telling me not long ago that every since they were little kids they've been telling people they meet that they are twins. It's funny, because they really don't look very much alike, but it's just something they've done since they could remember.

 

[staley7580]

Giggling over the last pic.. want to add a voice bubble over Jazzy "Stop with the pictures already! Geesh! The things I put up with in this family"

Vinny says "Aw, C'mon sis... give her a cute one."

I know it!! I was just dying after that picture! I took so many of the kids together trying to get a good one of all four of them. I didnt get ANY! So I went with that one.. It just cracks me up, because that is so her personality!! GEEZ mom! Im so done here!

Perhaps if you could spit 8 of them out at one time, act like a totally disfunctional family, get your own reality show...well then maybe more people might notice the multiples.

DD is 3 weeks younger then her cousin (a boy) she was just telling me not long ago that every since they were little kids they've been telling people they meet that they are twins. It's funny, because they really don't look very much alike, but it's just something they've done since they could remember.

Im good!! I was so miserable just having two of them inside me!!

How funny! Kids crack me up!

I was going to show you guys this picture I found.. It was me the day I went into the hospital. I am pretty sure I had my own gravitational pull by this point. I cant believe I was so HUGE!

 

[staley7580]

Joining the cluttery-messyness team ( 750 sq ft, how about you?). Baby stuff takes up a ton of room and then add kid toys.. and grown up guy toys too, bursting at the seams.
I've sacrificed and eliminated TONS of stuff when we moved, some of it I still miss.

Great pictures! Amazing how much all of your beautiful kidlets have grown.. I had to check and think of the ages, got confused for a bit thinking Kaylee was in 1st grade or something.

Loving the red hair there-- awesome!

Pretty dress and cool that you can make your own Mei Tai , I almost failed sewing in home ec.... Can't sew a straight line at all. I admire those of you with the mad sewing slkillz... Bravo well done!

I forgot to answer this one.. We are right around 700 sq ft. I feel like we are busting at the seems. we ARE going to move... just waiting for our tax return.. Next year. Im so done with this place. Im also trying to figure how we are going to do sleeping arrangements.. If we have 4 bdrooms, we are good. But that wont happen. I just dont like the idea of Mikalah sharing a room with the babies. She would keep them up all night! And their temperaments are totally opposite. Alex is just like Jazzy.. and really has a strong bond with her... and Mikalah is just like Vinny.. and has a bond with him! Gah. Such a conundrum!

Isnt Mikalah HUGE?? and she has gotten so skinny. She has gone DOWN in clothing size. What kid does that??? I dont get it. She is so darn pretty.. Jasmine looks just like her, but darker complected.

His hair is wicked! It is really faded out right now, but it looked good when I did it. My MIL hadnt seen it.. and sdidnt know about it.. We went over there a few days ago, and I had forgotten about his hair.. I heard this really loud.. OH MY LORD!!! It was too funny!

I made the girls matching outfits.. I think they wore them to Allisons house.. They are cute! I totally messed up on Mikalahs dress. So I just cut the back out, and added those straps. Makes it a Megan original. the Mei Tai was really easy. Just a couple of squares and some straps. i cant sew in a straight line either. I dont have a lot of patience.. So I tend to rush. Like.. All the time.

Have you guys seen True Blood?? OMG. I totally have a vampire crush. I feel like a 12yo. Eric is just so babe-a-licious!! HUBBA HUBBA!! And he is TALL. I dont know if you guys have noticed, but a lot of actors tend to be on the short side. I like TALL men. Hes a little scrappy for me.. but thats okay. Its the pale, undead look Im going for anyways.

I am way to wound up for it being 11:30 at night. Im bored. Frelan had to work Friday night, for the money.. but BOOO for me being alone. So he was home last night with me, but he was cranky. and the babies dont like it when he is home at night. It throws them all off. He didnt get any sleep today.. I felt really bad for him. He kept trying to lay down, but just coulnt fall asleep.

Hmmmm.. any thing else new in my life? Ohh.. Vinny has realized that he can scootch himself in the general direction he wants to go in. SOOO CUTE! Dh was playing video games, and Vinny kept scootching over to him. We would pull him back, and within minutes he was there again! I just love that kid! We have started just throwing a big ole blanket on the floor for them, Vinny is so all over the place. Pretty soon he will be scootching down the hall towards the kids bedroom!

 

[sameyeyam]

I forgot to answer this one.. We are right around 700 sq ft. I feel like we are busting at the seems. we ARE going to move... just waiting for our tax return.. Next year. Im so done with this place. Im also trying to figure how we are going to do sleeping arrangements.. If we have 4 bdrooms, we are good. But that wont happen. I just dont like the idea of Mikalah sharing a room with the babies. She would keep them up all night! And their temperaments are totally opposite. Alex is just like Jazzy.. and really has a strong bond with her... and Mikalah is just like Vinny.. and has a bond with him! Gah. Such a conundrum!

Isnt Mikalah HUGE?? and she has gotten so skinny. She has gone DOWN in clothing size. What kid does that??? I dont get it. She is so darn pretty.. Jasmine looks just like her, but darker complected.

His hair is wicked! It is really faded out right now, but it looked good when I did it. My MIL hadnt seen it.. and sdidnt know about it.. We went over there a few days ago, and I had forgotten about his hair.. I heard this really loud.. OH MY LORD!!! It was too funny!

I made the girls matching outfits.. I think they wore them to Allisons house.. They are cute! I totally messed up on Mikalahs dress. So I just cut the back out, and added those straps. Makes it a Megan original. the Mei Tai was really easy. Just a couple of squares and some straps. i cant sew in a straight line either. I dont have a lot of patience.. So I tend to rush. Like.. All the time.

Have you guys seen True Blood?? OMG. I totally have a vampire crush. I feel like a 12yo. Eric is just so babe-a-licious!! HUBBA HUBBA!! And he is TALL. I dont know if you guys have noticed, but a lot of actors tend to be on the short side. I like TALL men. Hes a little scrappy for me.. but thats okay. Its the pale, undead look Im going for anyways.

I am way to wound up for it being 11:30 at night. Im bored. Frelan had to work Friday night, for the money.. but BOOO for me being alone. So he was home last night with me, but he was cranky. and the babies dont like it when he is home at night. It throws them all off. He didnt get any sleep today.. I felt really bad for him. He kept trying to lay down, but just coulnt fall asleep.

Hmmmm.. any thing else new in my life? Ohh.. Vinny has realized that he can scootch himself in the general direction he wants to go in. SOOO CUTE! Dh was playing video games, and Vinny kept scootching over to him. We would pull him back, and within minutes he was there again! I just love that kid! We have started just throwing a big ole blanket on the floor for them, Vinny is so all over the place. Pretty soon he will be scootching down the hall towards the kids bedroom!

I would say get a 3 bedroom, let the 2 babies share one, let M & A share the other one (they are young enough it won't be a big deal). In a year or two then put the two M & J together in one room and A & V in the other.

Cooper went down in pant size this summer. At the end of last year he was wearing size 14 regular. When we went school clothes shopping he needed 12 slim or 14 slim. 14 regular's were literally falling off of him. Think it's because he was way more active this summer. But he tends to do that, chunk out for a bit and then shoot up and get skinny.

BTW, when we were at Kohl's school clothes shopping with him we had a bit of a run in with the dressing room attendant. We were in the boy's section and had DS trying on clothes. I took DD and her bff with me (both 17yo). He went into the dressing room by himself, but would come out and show us what he was trying on so we could make sure it looked good and fit good.

Well along comes this male clerk who looks at us (all standing OUTSIDE the dressing room, with armloads of BOYS clothing). He tells us that this is a boys dressing room and that we need to go to the ladies section because we could make the male customers uncomfortable. WTH??!! I told him my son was trying on boys clothing and he said that maybe we should take him to the ladies dressing room with us. WTH?!! I said, he's 11 and I don't know what your problem is, but he will be using the boys dressing room! We aren't shopping for ladies clothing today, only boys clothing for my son. He said, well some men are intimidated by women in their dressing room. Again WTH?? I said, this is the "little boys" dressing room, "mens" clothing and dressing room are clear on the other side of the store. There are doors on each stall, it's not like we are peering under the doors hoping to catch a glimpse of a 10yo in BVD's!

Seriously, there were other mom's standing around, in the stalls with their sons, etc... Honestly, there was nobody over about the age of 12 even in that section. I bet the average age of kids in the dressing rooms was about 6! I'm thinking about sending them a complaint about their new Kohl's Dressing Room Nazi's!

Nope, haven't seen True Blood. Not my kinda show, I like warm & fuzzy. But I'm guessing it's something my DD would watch.

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Hello!

 

[funnygarcia]

wow, that's weird!
Odd, when we are at Jc Penney's I see wives wait around the men's dressing room all the time. Vice versa too, if the women's has a chair outside the door you will see husbands waiting patiently (mostly older couples).

E calls it the "man chair"
He tolerates shopping with me if the store has a place to sit. Some places are better than others... there is a women's store at our closest mall that has several comfy chairs, magazines and even a water feature near the fitting room. I take my youngest DN in there to dabble in the water and climb on chairs while his mom shops next door at Gymboree. At least one older man is there sitting, reading the paper.. passing time.

 

[funnygarcia]

I was thinking megan... with the amount of foreclosures/short sales on the market.. It might be a bit easier to buy a house right now.

If you close before November 30th (I know, major crunch time!) you would get a first time home buyers tax credit of about $8000.

There are a bunch of programs for "targeted" population groups (Latino, low income, disability, Native American, etc) and "targeted" areas where organizations have funds set aside for first time home buyers. It's just a matter of taking the classes in your area and having someone on board who knows what is out there!

I found this as a starting point..
http://www.hud.gov/buying/index.cfm#programs
http://www.wshfc.org/buyers/index.htm

We haven't figured out the logistics ourselves yet.. it might be too late.. but hey ya never know! If you aren't committed to locations/ school district that would open up more areas to find a home in a price range that you can qualify for now... get down payment and closing assistance .. move this year

We need to sign up for our own classes, in our case we are trying to limit ourselves to one area of the metro due to school district choice. Likely would not find a home at low cost in our current district.. average is $200 K more than we can afford. BUT we are lucky to have open enrollment in our state. Opens up a few more areas without being too far to drive for school.

 

[funnygarcia]

The human body is an amazing creation.

So at the end of the pregnancy, did you have only a few pieces of clothes that would still fit over the belly?

 

[stitch1986]

saying hello! since I havent in awhile, anyone miss me lol haha anyways excited getting stuff ready for my trip in 6 days!!!! wow cant believe it is now single digits now!!

 

[sameyeyam]

The human body is an amazing creation.

So at the end of the pregnancy, did you have only a few pieces of clothes that would still fit over the belly?

RU talking to Megan, to yourself or just anyone in general?

Well I will answer that question. 20 minutes after having DD my stomach was gone. Literally gone! Even the nurses commented "wow, you were all baby"! It took me about 2 weeks to fit back into my regular jeans, although since my hips had spread they were a bit snug. I did finally end up going from a size 3 pants to size 5. I did buy some maternity clothes, but ended up not wearing most of them, except for a couple of professional looking work dresses. I just wore looser shirts and some of those baggy "MC Hammer" type pants that were in style and Target sold for $5.

With DS, I had him 6 weeks early. So I really wasn't that big with him since I skipped that last 1-1/2 months of hugeness. Same sort of thing, but I did fit back into my jeans (albeit a bit snug) within a few days of him being born.

With both of the babies I had bad heartburn. So I'm guessing I carry my babies more vertically than horizontally. DD was looking at a photo of me preggers a couple of weeks ago and asked how pregnant I was in the photo. It was taken the day she was born, right before we left for the hospital. She was guessing I was about 5-6 months pregnant. Honestly I felt like I was huge, but looking back at the pictures I really wasn't.

saying hello! since I havent in awhile, anyone miss me lol haha anyways excited getting stuff ready for my trip in 6 days!!!! wow cant believe it is now single digits now!!

Have fun and try to stay cool!

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Good morning.

Sad news...we had to return the little gray and white kitty last night. When we got her last Saturday she was sneezing all the way home. We took her to the vet on Tuesday and he gave her some medicine for an eye infection but after a week she still had runny eyes and nose and was still sneezing and now the first kitty had started sneezing too so we decided to take her back. When you pay $400 for a cat is should be in good health right? We are still deciding if we want to get a 2nd kitten again. Pearl had fun playing with her but we may just stick with one.

 

[staley7580]

I was thinking megan... with the amount of foreclosures/short sales on the market.. It might be a bit easier to buy a house right now.

If you close before November 30th (I know, major crunch time!) you would get a first time home buyers tax credit of about $8000.

There are a bunch of programs for "targeted" population groups (Latino, low income, disability, Native American, etc) and "targeted" areas where organizations have funds set aside for first time home buyers. It's just a matter of taking the classes in your area and having someone on board who knows what is out there!

I found this as a starting point..
http://www.hud.gov/buying/index.cfm#programs
http://www.wshfc.org/buyers/index.htm

We haven't figured out the logistics ourselves yet.. it might be too late.. but hey ya never know! If you aren't committed to locations/ school district that would open up more areas to find a home in a price range that you can qualify for now... get down payment and closing assistance .. move this year

We need to sign up for our own classes, in our case we are trying to limit ourselves to one area of the metro due to school district choice. Likely would not find a home at low cost in our current district.. average is $200 K more than we can afford. BUT we are lucky to have open enrollment in our state. Opens up a few more areas without being too far to drive for school.

Awesome... Thank you. I will show those to the hubby!

The human body is an amazing creation.

So at the end of the pregnancy, did you have only a few pieces of clothes that would still fit over the belly?

Ummm... pretty much that one shirt. It was a three X. everything else I wore... my belly button stuck out. My pants landed right under it, and my shirts right over it.

Looking back.. I KNOW I was miserable. You know.. Logically, I know. But I dont remember it! Mommy amnesia!!

 

[sameyeyam]

Good morning.

Sad news...we had to return the little gray and white kitty last night. When we got her last Saturday she was sneezing all the way home. We took her to the vet on Tuesday and he gave her some medicine for an eye infection but after a week she still had runny eyes and nose and was still sneezing and now the first kitty had started sneezing too so we decided to take her back. When you pay $400 for a cat is should be in good health right? We are still deciding if we want to get a 2nd kitten again. Pearl had fun playing with her but we may just stick with one.

So sorry about the kitty. We just get our kittens free at the Feed Store and so far they are healthy. But once we got a dog that had parvo, $1500 and several blood transfusions later she was cured. We got her at the Humane Society and when I called a day later to tell them we took her to the Emergency Overnight Vet, she was sick, they said we could bring her back and they would put her down. No thank you! They did also say that they would have to destroy all the rest of the dogs that were in with her. I understand, but it didn't make it any easier.

Awesome... Thank you. I will show those to the hubby!


Ummm... pretty much that one shirt. It was a three X. everything else I wore... my belly button stuck out. My pants landed right under it, and my shirts right over it.

Looking back.. I KNOW I was miserable. You know.. Logically, I know. But I dont remember it! Mommy amnesia!!

Yep, there are good deals on houses out there right now if you can at all possibly swing it. Especially for first time home buyers.

Mommy amnesia...why yes that's a phenomenon that occurs to help preserve humankind. If we remember anything at all about pregnancy and birth, then we would only have 1 child for every 2 people and eventually nobody would be left to inhabit the earth.

 

[funnygarcia]

Alison, thanks for the expired coupons!
You do realize Megan and I are truly jealous of your non-existant post pregnant belly history. Weight gain in pregnancy is very common among my family, even birth control pills was enough for me to gain about 5- 10 pounds in my skinny early 20's. And now.. well...


Sarah, aww sick kitties are no fun..was the vet concerned about the illness being anything very contagious? Like Alison was saying.. Parvo or other "kennel" illnesses can make all the animals sick. Hope your current kitty is okay soon!

Mommy amnesia.. oh yeah... I think I told E "no more" right after I had J (it was a rough induced labor) .. I promptly forgot just minute later. He reminded me later when we discussed having "one more" a few years later.

 

[funnygarcia]

Lots of driving back and forth across the river.. two appointments done, scrip dropped off and waiting for the surgery scheduler to call.

Typical scolding by his nurse and doc but no mention about the communication snafu regarding the San Diego trip.
E decided to start the push to do "extended" with his machine. Do treatments at night, slower speeds, better quality of life.. held out the carrot that this would help resolve his high phosphorus levels that they nag about every month. His neph had clue, his nurse said "it's coming" and had discussed it briefly with a nurse at Nx Stage. I happily pointed out that centers in Washington (Northwest Kidney Centers) are already doing this.. doc's reply "you have been reading a lot" umm yeah, nothing new there.

See normally it would be called nocturnal treatment, but the FDA hasn't approved the machine for nocturnal use.... slap a different name down and viola! Extended treatment.... that happens to occur while sleeping at night.

Next was his appointment with the surgeon, he pushed, he prodded, he listened with doppler to his messed up fistula/access arm. He agreed with what E had already figured out. There is still blood flow but the venous side is "funky'd up" , I swear the doc (southern drawl accent) really wanted to say the "F" word but decided to be polite Discussed strategies and expectations, now just need to get it scheduled. E is grumpy because it involves an overnight stay, now why couldn't this happen a few weeks ago?? Before school started??
He also encouraged him to quit smoking, handed over a scrip for Chantix.. woohooo!! $30 a week habit really bites the budget KWIM?? Hopefully insurance will cover it and E won't be too terribly grump in the process.

 

[tinkermell]

I have PICTURES!!
Babies

Vinny looking up.

Jazzy

Mei Tai I made..

Kaylee in the dress I made her..

Back of the dress

Alex

Megan, Your pictures are so bloomin cute!! The babes also look so healthy and happy!!

I would say get a 3 bedroom, let the 2 babies share one, let M & A share the other one (they are young enough it won't be a big deal). In a year or two then put the two M & J together in one room and A & V in the other.

Cooper went down in pant size this summer. At the end of last year he was wearing size 14 regular. When we went school clothes shopping he needed 12 slim or 14 slim. 14 regular's were literally falling off of him. Think it's because he was way more active this summer. But he tends to do that, chunk out for a bit and then shoot up and get skinny.

BTW, when we were at Kohl's school clothes shopping with him we had a bit of a run in with the dressing room attendant. We were in the boy's section and had DS trying on clothes. I took DD and her bff with me (both 17yo). He went into the dressing room by himself, but would come out and show us what he was trying on so we could make sure it looked good and fit good.

Well along comes this male clerk who looks at us (all standing OUTSIDE the dressing room, with armloads of BOYS clothing). He tells us that this is a boys dressing room and that we need to go to the ladies section because we could make the male customers uncomfortable. WTH??!! I told him my son was trying on boys clothing and he said that maybe we should take him to the ladies dressing room with us. WTH?!! I said, he's 11 and I don't know what your problem is, but he will be using the boys dressing room! We aren't shopping for ladies clothing today, only boys clothing for my son. He said, well some men are intimidated by women in their dressing room. Again WTH?? I said, this is the "little boys" dressing room, "mens" clothing and dressing room are clear on the other side of the store. There are doors on each stall, it's not like we are peering under the doors hoping to catch a glimpse of a 10yo in BVD's!

Seriously, there were other mom's standing around, in the stalls with their sons, etc... Honestly, there was nobody over about the age of 12 even in that section. I bet the average age of kids in the dressing rooms was about 6! I'm thinking about sending them a complaint about their new Kohl's Dressing Room Nazi's!
.

Gee.. I would be mad too!!

wow, that's weird!
Odd, when we are at Jc Penney's I see wives wait around the men's dressing room all the time. Vice versa too, if the women's has a chair outside the door you will see husbands waiting patiently (mostly older couples).

E calls it the "man chair"
He tolerates shopping with me if the store has a place to sit. Some places are better than others... there is a women's store at our closest mall that has several comfy chairs, magazines and even a water feature near the fitting room. I take my youngest DN in there to dabble in the water and climb on chairs while his mom shops next door at Gymboree. At least one older man is there sitting, reading the paper.. passing time.

Dave calls it the "sympathy chair!"

Good morning.

Sad news...we had to return the little gray and white kitty last night. When we got her last Saturday she was sneezing all the way home. We took her to the vet on Tuesday and he gave her some medicine for an eye infection but after a week she still had runny eyes and nose and was still sneezing and now the first kitty had started sneezing too so we decided to take her back. When you pay $400 for a cat is should be in good health right? We are still deciding if we want to get a 2nd kitten again. Pearl had fun playing with her but we may just stick with one.

That is the pits Sarah. I'm sorry.

 

[staley7580]

You are so right about the after baby belly thing here! I gained so much weight with Alex.. like 70 pounds!! After MIkalah, I wore my prepregnancy jeans out of the hospital.. Not that that is saying much though, I was pretty big before I had her. With the twins.. There was no way I would fit into my prepregnacy clothes.. I think it was two weeks before I even tried my jeans back on. I blame it on all my muscles and such being so stretched out.

Seriously though.. The muscle separation from carrying twins is unreal! I can feel how messed up my tummy muscles are. I have this huge bulge that sticks out, so creepy! The only thing that can fix this particular problem is surgery... I just need to loose a bunch of my fat first. Cause THAT is going to happen!

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Sarah, aww sick kitties are no fun..was the vet concerned about the illness being anything very contagious? Like Alison was saying.. Parvo or other "kennel" illnesses can make all the animals sick. Hope your current kitty is okay soon!

The vet compared it to pink eye in humans. So far Pearl is doing okay.

 

[funnygarcia]

Seriously though.. The muscle separation from carrying twins is unreal! I can feel how messed up my tummy muscles are. I have this huge bulge that sticks out, so creepy!

Hernia?
E has this bulge thing that pops up if he leans back (noticeable above his round belly fatness). It's freaky looking and reminds us of the Aliens movies.. ewwwwwwwwww!

He had one abdominal hernia repair, but the surgeon didn't use mesh, just used his own tissues to close it. Few years later and the abdominal wall popped open again, it's like he never had the repair.

When he later had inguinal hernia repairs done he asked that the surgeon put in mesh.. I don't blame him.. the inguinal ones were painful.

They popped out after his first full fill when trying peritoneal dialysis (a tube is placed in the lower belly, you instill several liters of dialysate liquid into the tube.. drain out after a few hours. Repeating several times per day or use a machine at night to auto fill and drain. It uses your own peritoneum, it's the lining that covers your organs, as the dialyzing membrane.).

Where does an inguinal hernia pop out, you ask??
In most cases it's one side of the groin.. in E's case.. it popped out lower...

He had ummm a big package.
It was freaking hilarious at the time, E was not quite as amused.

 

[funnygarcia]

The vet compared it to pink eye in humans. So far Pearl is doing okay.

That's good!