It's Really Bugging Me!!

At 7:30 am Monday ( as I am coming out of my morning fog enjoying a nice warm cup of coffee,) Christian comes running and says very loud and excited :

"Mom..Mom hurry quick there is a bug with BIG legs".

I casually say, seriously?

He says "YEAH, A BIG BLACK SPIDER" and threw out his arms! Come on mommy, look its behind the tree" Then he takes off back to the bug.

Okay, you all know how I feel about ants and spiders. I am a freak with spiders. Spiders are worse than ants. I actually have a panic attack if I see a big one. I jumped up, ran to see where it was AND..AND..I SCREAMED! It was a spider. One of Florida's UGLY, furry brown spiders that are the size of a nickle (body).

Not realizing I was screaming "oh my god, oh my god it's a spider" in front of the kids, I finally realize I have to kill this thing. I have to figure out how. To the normal person, there is no thought process, you kill it. Right? Grab a paper towel and smash it. Not me, I froze. Ken has ALWAYS been here when a spider has been detected in our bug proof bubble house and he takes care of it as I cower into a fetal position and scream until it's dead. It is ridiculous.

Then the next stupid thing came out of my mouth: "Christian, stand guard, I am going to get the dust buster" because the thought of trying to smash it and it jump on me..ewww. The thought of it crawling to where I can't find it...ewww. Then I said "Forget it, don't stand guard, everyone on the couch". I sprinted, got the dust buster and sucked it up. Then I thought, oh shit is a dust buster going to kill it? So I kept it running ( the dust buster) started sucking up any dirt in the house thinking for a split second the tiny dirt will kill it. Nope, still moving. I grabbed a garbage bag, went outside and dumped contents. It freaking jumped and started crawling and I am standing there screaming and jumping like a fool as the kids laugh at me saying "do that again mommy, do it again". Now what, I don't have shoes on. All I can think is "smash it, smash it"!! But with what? So..naturally I take the dust buster and start banging the spider. Dust buster survived, spider didn't.

I called our Pest Control and repeatedly played phone tag with our guy. Finally, he called and Ken happened to pick up the phone and I overheard him say casually "Yeah, just the ants to the left of house". WHAT!! So I speed dialed bug guy back and said, no you have to do our quarterly treatment early!! We have bugs!!! As I described in detail each of the 3 bugs we have had over the past few months, he just said.."Man you know to much, who told you about all this"? Oh no, my beloved bug guy Rich is no longer with the company. This guy doesn't know how neurotic I am, so I interrogate the poor guy. He just says, "Let's just take a look" . Let's just take a look????

Oh, poor bug guy...
Oh poor Ken. Once I hang up with the new bug guy, Ken gets slammed with my comments, not giving him a chance to answer:

"Who is this guy"?
"Why is he questioning what I want"
"Why is he telling me HE is going to assess, I just assessed and I am paying"!
"Ken, call him back".
Ken's one comment: "NOPE".
Me: "Why? I am going to cancel the Dr.'s appt tomorrow so I can be here and clearly explain to him what the problem is". I even almost canceled doctor's appointments so I could be here so I could specifically tell him when, where and what I saw. A SPIDER.

Christian thinks it's a joke. Hell, everyone does. Christian realizes the insanity and likes to see me scream. Today in the car he said very loud "Ma....Mee...there is a spider crawling on the back of your seat".

I couldn't freak because I was driving and I started yelling "Seriously, seriously, Nicolas is it true? Nicolas- Christian is there a spider?" - like 100 times. Nicolas just laughs, "No mom..we are just kidding".

I swear, we do not have a lot of bugs, I have the perimeter's of this house treated like we are in a bubble... but if I see a furry spider you better believe the bug guy is getting a call.

Shit, as I type this I just looked down and saw a dead one next to my table. What the hell. But it's dead. Gotta go, gotta call the bug guy!

First Day of Pre-School

Boys started their first day of school and they loved it!!! Success! They didn't even say goodbye to me. I just got a "bye mom" and they were off to their new adventure. That morning I woke up early thinking why on earth am I worried about them starting school today, they are so ready and I just have to give up that little bit of control. Then I realized I was more afraid of the bigger things - FALLING ON THE NEW PLAYGROUND and freaking RED ANTS. Yes, that is the truth.

I even told Ken that in the morning and he said "Don't worry they are going to be fine". My sister called me and said..."ARE YOU READY FOR DROP OFF, how are you doing", as she knows my neurotic-ness of leaving the boys. I simply said- its the damn ants and playground crash that is making me crazy. She just laughed and said, "you got to move back up north Sista"!!

Here's the thing, I never was afraid of red ants, just kept away from them but then when I was in college, I had a huge red ant attack. I didn't know it was happening because it happened so fast and the next thing I knew is my friends were ripping off my stockings and throwing me into a bathtub because they attacked my whole legs. As my fear of a new playground without direct supervision- well, I was a dare devil, like most kids and slipped on the top monkey bar as I was trying to do a perfect flip and got a horrible head concussion. I got back up and did it again of course, after a week of hallucinating (just kidding - hey maybe that is why my brain is so neurotic at times). So, here we go with the rest of the boys first day story:

Playground -I get a call from the school. Nicolas crashed on the pavement and flipped his Cozy Coupe. What kid flips a damn cozy coupe? Mine! Teacher called, said he was fine. But when I got there, he couldn't move his thumb and it had swelled up. It was suggested that I take him to have it looked at. So, off we went to the doctor. He sprained his thumb along with a few other bumps and boo-boo's. Bumps and Boo- Boo's fine, thumb will just be sore for awhile, if you ever had a sprain, you know how that goes. But with lots of icing, TLC, ibuprofen and that Bactrim spray, he is GOOD TO GO today. Thumb sore but he can move it fine!! Oh wait but there is more.......................

Nicolas doing his Happy Dance before going, before the crash

Next part- the Ants. As I was signing the accident form, the teacher's assistant comes up to me and says " Geez Jody, I think Christian might of been bite up, his leg is bleeding and its on his shoes and hands. Let me go clean him and see. Then for some reason, all I could do was laugh and said out loud "Come on seriously, you got to be kidding me..the two things I was worried about occurred......"! Weird shit just seems to happen to me. It has been a running joke in our family since I was 5 and crashed my tricycle into a telephone pole to avoid oncoming traffic of a busy road. (Hey again..maybe that is why my brain is so wacky)! I just don't want the boys to have my Karma of clumsiness.


Well, that was our first day of school. Boys loved it, played, made some new buddies and we are hoping they will want to go back Tuesday after the Ant attack and playground flip. As for me, I was actually fine with all this. I still hate those damn ants. Playground, I can deal with, boys will be boys..rumbles and tumbles but those damn red ants, why are they even in existence! Even Christian asked me yesterday : "Mom, why did god make red ants that bite"?

Flippers N Fins!

Ken and the boys ventured down to Grandma Paula's today for some TLC and Nicolas / Christian were so excited when they saw their special treats! Flippers and Fins! Grandma had been on the look-out for a long time for this special gear (since the boys mentioned they wanted to be scuba divers) she even found it in the colors they prefer! It was a smash hit! Ken even took each of them down to the bottom of the pool to get a toy and he had them reach and grab the toy..yes we are talking deep end here and ...yes I had a HEART ATTACK when he told me that one!!! You don't even want to know how that conversation went....save that one for a rainy day. But the boys are doing really good swimming, we go probably about 4 times a week now... (Sigh on the dreaded sunblock battle).

Do you recognize these little divers?

Jammed Packed

Usually I do not like filling our every waking moment on the weekends with activities but after having a cranky week with boys and so much rain- I greatly welcomed our flurry of activity. This weekend:




• 
  
  Boys went swimming at Grandma Judy's.



• I got go to my grandma's to help my grandparents and family with a garage sale ( I am a garage sale junkie - well the selling part and I realized my Uncle is exactly like me..he just gives the stuff away like crazy for little $ but ends up with some great cash flow because his purpose is to get rid of the junk and the money comes in)!!



• We went to the beach with my family and everyone chipped in so I got a break and really relaxed floating in the water.



• We had some friends over for playtime and birthday fiesta. The boys are always so happy when they have Addison over and it was so cute that they made her cupcakes.



• Although, I had 3 resumes and a trashed laundry room/kitchen I tried like hell to keep it out of my mind, hence the mayhem in my household on Monday. Boys were cranky, I was cranky and WAY TOO MUCH TV for boys which always makes me feel guilty!!



• Today off to the pool with some of our friends, praying the rain doesn't come and praying for no M.E.L.T.D.O.W.N.S!!!

In this photo, right before Nicolas stuck his face in the cupcake, Ken secretly heard Nicolas say to himself "Okay, here I go"!! Like he was pumping up himself to face smash a cupcake.

Look at those Baby Blues

Happy Birthday Addison!

Jess loving her playtime with the kids! Me- loving the playtime break!!

The Final Countdown

The countdown is on...the boys start preschool in 12 days. I have so many MIXED feelings about this. On one hand, I know it is a wonderful opportunity for them to learn more things, meet new friends and have some separation from me. I like that their school is Christian based and I am excited that they will be able to help me learn more about teaching them about God and our faith. And a welcomed break!

(Photo of the boys with their buddies doing a camping theme/ preschool setting with some of my girlfriends)

On the other hand, I struggle with that they are only 3 and I know next year they will be going 5 days a week for 1/2 days for Pre- K. Wow it is so weird to think my kids will be in Pre-K!! So my days of doing what I want with them anytime, with my girlfriends are almost over. They have 19 years of structured school coming up so why not make it as fun as possible with me and their buddies for the next year? Lack of monitoring, what they are exposed to, keeping that sweet little innocence for as long as possible that they have right now...ohhhhh, that part really sucks.

We have made a joint decision to try it out since they have been excepted at a program that we have been on a waiting list for the past year and half. This is one of the many hard decisions to come. The first thing someone said to me in the class (A parent) was "Are these the twins, we are so excited they are in the class"! I was glad she was excited about my boys but annoyed they were labeled as "The Twins" and not Nicolas/ Christian as you would do with any other kid. They are individuals!!! Yes, I know I am contradicting myself because I talk about "twin experiences, raising twins"....but I am the mom! I have learned to say very nicely, "Oh you mean Nicolas and Christian and went ahead and introduced them as Nicolas and Christian". The teachers were sweet and nurturing. They did ask me at open house:

• "Have you considered separating them in school"?


• "What are your views on this"?


• "Is there anything you can tell us you want us to focus on with the dynamics of twins"?


• "Do they play with other kids easily or go to each other" ?

They actually picked up on one unique dynamic that I never realized and I was encouraged this is going to be a good experience, with great teachers. I have to say though I wasn't prepared for some of these questions and just said "Let's see how it goes, you can share with me your perspective as they participate in class and I then I gave them information about each of their personalities, how to encourage and honor their differences. I made that part VERY CLEAR about honoring their differences. Like I said, lots of decisions, mixed emotions and now I can see how they will very easily be labeled as "The Twins".

Nicolas hunting for bugs and looking at them with his magnifying glass during our camping theme.

This was a cool idea is anyone wants to try it for a snack- they went "Fishing". We took a pretzel, they dipped it in peanut butter and fished for "Goldfish".

Brotherly Love

Occasionally Ken and I separated the boys so they could each have their "Alone" time from each other and with us. I ventured with Nicolas to my Grandma/Grandpa's house and Christen went with Daddy to pick out a movie - Bugs Life ( I know lame for Christian but he didn't seem like he was feeling great- hence the sick fest later that night). After being separated from each other, it was so cute. They ran and hugged each other, told each other what they did and then when it was movie time, they snuggled up together. Normally, they like to have their own space when we watch a movie, that is why I had to snapped a few photos.

I know- this photo is on my last post but it is so cute of their hands.

It's A Twin Thing

I am in a deep sleep with my ear plugs in last night, it's 2 a.m. and I hear a slight sound of one of the boys crying and as Ken checks on them, I hear Ken's muffled voice telling me something. Thinking he just said "I'll check on them" I snuggle back into my blankets, thanking god for a great husband. Then... I hear another muffled sound from Ken, pull out my earplugs and hear the dreaded words "Christian got sick". Clearing the cobwebs out of my head, my body kicks into overdrive as any mom does and sprint upstairs, thinking Oh Lord, here we go.

The crazy part of this was they literally woke up and got sick about a 5 minutes apart. Usually, it is one then the other a few hours or a day apart but never simultaneously. It felt like one of those "Twin Moments".

We have 2 floors so it seemed like NOTHING was upstairs that I needed and I was running up and down for 15 minutes trying to figure out where do I even start cleaning. I kept forgetting to grab all the needed supplies: their clothes, extra bucket, paper towels, towels, Clorox, Lysol, medicine, crackers, water, and a thermometer. Good god it seemed like I was running a marathon. This time the boys knew the game plan- bath, bucket, watch TV for a few minutes, crackers then medicine and back to bed. I, on the other hand seemed off my game and it felt like an eternity to get it cleaned up.

Each time this has happened at night (during the daytime it doesn't bother me) I can never rest my mind or fall back asleep for a hour or two because I listen to make sure they are okay, worry about them, start getting anxious that Ken and I will get it. I want to discuss the whole thing with Ken "Do you think it was something they ate? Do you think it was because I took them to the gym? Do you think that was why Nicolas didn't eat well? What if we all get sick at the same time"? Knowingly, I am not going to get answers and knowingly Ken is probably not listening since he is snoring away, I still have this incredible weird need to verbalize all my thoughts.

As I finally drifted back to a blissful snooze around 4:45 a.m. Christian woke up just to tell me he "Didn't get sick". Hooray! Then he proceeded to chat up a storm for about 20 minutes. I love the extra snuggles, love that he isn't calling me because he is sick, I just wish it wasn't 4:45 am!! Finally, I started thinking.." So glad you didn't barf buddy but please don't wake me up to tell be about it"!! because you never know what will be next when you have sick kids or when your next moment of sleep will be. I actually just put them down for a morning nap because they were getting cranky as all hell. They must be feeling a little better because they were arguing and Nicolas got mad and said "Christian, your toe is not tall"! Mention anything about not being tall like daddy and it really pisses him off. As sit here and drink my quart of coffee, I am praying they are able to take a rest and also take their usual afternoon nap...do you think there is a chance of that one?

Ten (Eleven) For Tuesday

1. Today Nicolas told me : "I don't want to be Handsome, it's hard”.


2. When we put on Diego, they both told me to stop singing to the intro and to stop dancing. What can I say, I was happy that I was going to get 24 minutes of quiet.


3. We had an exciting moment this afternoon, the Weeble Wooble Treehouse came (this thing was around 25 years ago and it still brought the same excitement).


4. Poor Nicolas ended up in the E.R Saturday night after having a Shrimp allergy reaction, no shellfish for at least 2 years. Next day, we were at a party and someone spilled a shrimp platter, shrimp juice hitting the floor while Nicolas walking barefoot. Panic attack in mom!


5. I took the boys to the gym today, Nicolas didn't want to go and Christian said: "It's okay buddy, we will have fun”.


6. I made a meal last week that turned out to be so bad that the boys refused, Ken choked it down with some Red Hot and after I gave it to the dog, the next morning we had to give him Pepto Bismo. Yes, it was that bad!


7. I read in a blog that accurately described 3 year olds - they are like "Mini drug addicts". Think about that statement, doesn't it seem so true at times? Can be so sweet but in a second’s notice they can turn into a moody, spastic person. For example, Nicolas didn't want to eat breakfast this morning. Then all of a sudden he got mad when Christian and I went ahead to eat and started with our prayers. Then he looked at me and said, "Mom, I love you so much". Melted my heart, after I was so mad he wouldn't come to the table initially. Maybe I am the one that acts that way?


8. The boys were making a ridiculous sound over and over today, when I asked what they were playing, they said : "We are playing puking baby" Like dah mom you should know that. Nicolas ran in and said: "Mom, I just can't keep up with cleaning the puke, there is SO MUCH".


9. Yesterday Christian told me "Stop Mom, your making me crazy".


10. Christian trailed into the kitchen with his tunnel and said he was a Very Hunger Caterpillar with a big butt.


11. We all took a 2 hour nap today. I am reading the craziest book called "Hunger Games" which is keeping me up to almost midnight and I cannot put it down even though I am a zombie. It is the first of 3 books and I just heard they are going to make a movie out of it.

Mayday...Mayday...

Mayday....Mayday.....

What do you do when your kids love to float face down in the water without sending shear panic in the pool? Both Nicolas and Christian like going into the deep end of the pool, relax and float but FACEDOWN, holding their breath. At first, I freaked out but then my girlfriend who was a swim instructor said they will pull up their heads when they are done....sure enough they do. BUT it still sends panic to all the parents when they see a kid just floating.
Yesterday, a mom started running towards Nicolas and I said calmly.."He's fine, he just likes to float". She looked at me like I was a nutcase (as I would too if I didn't know) and then I found myself saying to the boys loudly in front of her.."Guys, you have to stop doing that, your freaking out all the parents".

OUCH..that pavement is hot!Give Mama-Cita a kiss!