Bengals Game

This blog entry WAS going to end something like this:

"... and we were home just in time to watch the Steelers play what will certainly be more of a "game" than this one!".

It's not going to anymore, but let me start from the beginning........

* * * * * * *















2.5 weeks ago, my family gave me a wonderful birthday present -- two Bengals tickets, fabulous seats. They were originally for my dad and sister, but when they (and my mom, plus a friend) got to go earlier in the season, they decided to make a very sweet sacrifice and give these (much better) tickets away so Kyle and I could go together. Thank you again, guys. Mom, you are right -- the sacrifice is the best part of the present for sure! Well, and the seats ;)

For two weeks we knew that today had potential to get "messed up". Kyle was (is still, in fact) on Jeopardy call - meaning if any resident, anywhere at Children's, calls off of work, Kyle gets to take their spot. Woohoo! We prepared for the worst - or so we thought - and tried to think positively and make the best of the time we may or may not have.

Despite it being somewhat chilly and completely rainy, we were thrilled to get to Paul Brown Stadium about 20 minutes before kickoff. It was the only game we'd attend all year, so we were really looking forward to it. One of the best things about Cincinnati is that even with some of the most disappointing teams in professional sports, people still come out in droves, pumped to support their horrendous teams! :)














As we thought, we had pretty good seats! They were in the side of the endzone, but only 9 rows back!


























Before the game I headed down to the front to say hi to a few people and nearly got my arm ripped off by Domata Peko!



















The game itself was beyond sad. The Bengals just find a way to lose, no? Still, I don't care who is playing and where, it's always fun to be in the atmosphere of a professional sporting event. After all, it was one of the requirements we had when applying for residency -- that the city had at least one, and preferably multiple, professional teams. (We weren't too picky about said teams successes, clearly.)

Still, just for laughs, this is how pitiful. With two minutes left in the first half, please note the Bengals total offense:



















Yeah, not gonna win games that way.














The second half was bitterly cold, and still raining. We stuck it out but definitely at the expense of our comfort. It went from "just a bit colder than great football weather" to miserably freezing. And wet. I think our brains might have froze a little, but we got a cute picture or two out of our delirium --


























After a fairly quick loss, we made it back to the car at about 4pm.... and it wouldn't start. We weren't driving our own car, so in an attempt - we think - to figure out where everything was on the console, the lights were left on.

Two frustrating hours later, AAA has a brand new member family, and we had a (very expensive) jumpstart. [Side note: Silver Lining = Graeter's ice cream on the Square, while watching the pretty Christmas lights and families ice skating!]



















It was not quite the way we had planned the day, but then again when are things ever really? We were so glad to come home to our smiling girls, who are still sick. I think we might even break down and go to their "real" Pediatrician (not that Kyle isn't real, but you know what I'm sayin') because his otoscope isn't a piece of crap like ours. We can't see jack with the toy one we have!


Quick final thoughts:

- Not thrilled with the direction the BenGals have gone. They used to pride themselves on being classy, now they're definitely trending much towards trashy a la (sorry Jen!) the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.
- I'm INCREDIBLY embarrassed to be in a city that boos the snot out of it's own players. Not cool. No matter how bad they suck, booing them is totally demoralizing.
- Not, however, as demoralizing as bolting after the first half. Again -- embarrassing, Cincinnati!
- Totally thrilled that the entire stadim erupts in a little "Sloopy" fun when it's played! O-H--!
- I'm glad we got to watch the final quarter of the Steelers game, which wasn't THAT much more of a game, but at least went the right direction! ;)

And as one final side note, Happy Last Day Of National Blog Posting Month! :)

Home Sweet Home!

We're back home for the first night since Thursday, and boy am I glad. We had nice visits with our respective families, but the girls are COMPLETELY thrown off, still hanging on to their colds, and just in desperate need of some familiarity, structure and downtime!

I'll catch up with photos, video, Thanksgiving stories, etc soon.... but for now, we need to settle in.

Please cross your fingers that Kyle doesn't get called in tomorrow, and can come to the Bengals game with me!

Black Friday Success!

We got up at 2:30am after just an hour or two of sleep, and headed out! We were in line for our first item at 3:00, where I left Kyle and headed out to a few places opening at 4. By 7am, we had hit 9 stores and were back home as our girls were waking up!

We got a car full of stuff, but my favorite is a gorgeous cashmere-wool blend peacoat (MUCH needed to replace my old ratty one!) for $49 that was originally over $200! We got a new digital frame for $30 ($70+ off), Webkinz Lil'Kinz for $3.50, a few gifts for others (that I'm not sure what to do with, considering I'm already "done" with shopping and most of it is already wrapped... might end up keeping some :)), some picture frames and things for around the house, and a small (22") HDTV for $250 (was $550). There was more, but it's all piled in the living room downstairs and my brain is fuzzy.

We got great bargains for sure, but I was mostly impressed with our efficiency! ;)

We're off to Ottawa today, and hopefully at some point in our lives to sleep!

I hope you had a great Black Friday!

Last Thanksgiving...

... I was 7 weeks pregnant, and only a few people in the world knew. I wanted to wait to tell our parents in a fun way, and I think it took that long to realize that I might actually be pregnant after all we went through to get there.

On Thanksgiving day and the day after - as we celebrated with our respective families - we gave our parents and siblings a "Thanksgiving card". You might think this could look suspicious, but I'm a dork -- so it totally didn't :)





























In case it's tough to read:

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good..."

"At this time of Thanksgiving, we pause to count our blessings - including you! / May you enjoy a bountiful Thanksgiving day, / a joyous holiday season, / and a healthful, happy new year!"

"Kyle, Jennifer, Thea.... and our two newest blessings! / (Please keep them in your prayers... they're still awfully small!)"


After answering lots of questions and celebrating with our immediate families, we asked that they not share with anyone else until we felt comfortable doing so (which only halfway happened). It would be weeks until most people, including the rest of my family, would find out. I hear people talk about not being able to contain their excitement when they find out they're expecting, and wish to some extent that I would have had the same experience. Instead, as you probably know, I was skeptical about bringing babies home with me until they were in my arms. Especially in those early weeks, we completely wore out the phrase "cautiously optimistic", and we prayed. A lot. To be honest, since I didn't want what seemed like the whole world following along just yet, we debated not even telling our families when we did for fear that the cat would somehow get farther out of the bag that we let it :) Still, it seemed like an opportune time to do so, and the news was (a little bit) out.


Fast forward a year, and you know where we are if you've been reading along. It's still truly unbelievable to me sometimes that I am a Mommy, with two beautiful Daughters. Times like yesterday when we had meltdown after meltdown because they both a) went on a hunger strike and b) decided they no longer needed naps, it was quite clear :) But seriously, when I look at Elise and Avery I am so overwhelmed with love, and joy, and thanksgiving.

God has truly blessed me, and our little family! It's very easy to forget this when we lost (or I should say chose to give up, especially in times like this!) over 60% of our income so I could be home and raise these girls. Every day we're faced with new financial struggles for the time being, so it's easy to lose track of all the gifts we've been given. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband who loves me flaws and all. I'm thankful for my parents who do the same, in a way I never quite realized. I'm thankful for my sister who, for 16 years now, has evoked so much love and pride and joy than I ever would have imagined while begging for "a" little sister for nearly a decade ;) I'm so glad SHE is the one God gave us! I'm thankful for my inlaws, who welcomed me like a daughter and sister, and who love my girls tremendously. I'm thankful for my home and my health.


I'm thankful and overwhelmed at the grace and mercy of God, and His gift of salvation to me.





And, let's be honest -- I'm so freaking thankful to not be pregnant this time around! Bring on the food! :-P

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Holiday Pictures

Here they are, or some of them anyway! Ironically, the actual prints came back from the lab before the proofs showed up online. Nice :)

These are the poses we purchased:













































































































And these were included "just because" [we go there so often?]






























The gift tags pictured are 2 of about 18 different ones on the sheet ... so cute! The shot on the calendar could have been one of my favorites, but Avery was just too tired of smiling :)

Anyone seen my baby replicator?

We had another playgroup today, and once again it was all twin mamas! :)

4 moms, 8 babies --





























Of course my girls boycotted their morning nap today, so they were incredibly sleepy...















They still did alright :)















Today's date had two 3-month-olds, two 4-month-olds, two 5-month-olds, and two 6-month-olds.... such a fun group!



If anyone in the Cincinnati area has any ideas for locations to meet with infants, please leave a comment and let me know. We have an ever growing list of things to do when the babies get a bit bigger, but would love some new places to explore during this cold winter with little ones!

Christmas Trees

Now that I'm somewhat caught up, I thought I'd finally honor a request for Christmas Tree pictures. Perhaps at some point, I can take pictures of the rest of the decorations and put them in the Picasa album. If you've been here during the holidays ever, you know that no room is left untouched! :) I will definitely be posting pictures of the girls and "their" Princess tree (I finally have an excuse for it!)

Balluminaria 2008

Last night after the game was over, we headed down to Eden Park with the girls, to take part in Balluminaria. It was apparently the coldest of these events on record for the city, and it felt every bit of a record low. Even with gloves my fingers hurt so bad I wanted to cry! Still, I'm glad we went. It was a short experience, but one we will definitely do again!

(Editors note: The adult female in this family (names withheld to protect the stupid) is not very together these days, and forgot a tripod. She knows better, especially considering one of the main reasons she wanted to partake in this event was the same reason the dozens of people set up in the front row alongside of her (all with tripods, mind you) had -- to get cool pictures. Mirror Lake was frozen so the reflections of the balloons are not nearly as spectacular as they could be, but the rest of the blur is 100% that girl's fault.)

{More (very mediocre) pictures in the album!}

Carrots!

A new Saturday, a new food! Kyle got to feed both girls today. They really didn't have any trouble at all with the Stage 2 Carrots! Elise made a decent face to start, but still seemed to enjoy them. I'm not sure if Avery's cold is making everything taste the same or what, but she didn't even seem to notice it was anything different! :-P



























Today we're visiting with some friends for the Ohio State / Michigan game, then we're hoping to get to Balluminaria. If we do, I'll definitely share some pictures ASAP! (Which, in turn, would mean that the days worth of pictures on my camera (including long-overdue Christmas tree pictures) will stay on there yet again....)

Have a great weekend!

Everyone's Favorite Milestone...

This month, each girl hit their 1000th diaper (at least)! How in the world do I know this? Trixie Tracker. It's overkill, it's OCD at its finest, and now you know I use it and love it. :)

It's really not such a new idea. Parent-led scheduling has been a valid school of thought (perhaps the most valid, but I won't go there on a blog not meant for debate! ;) ) for forever. I think that the way to be most successful at it, you know being an authority on parenting (please don't miss the sarcasm here), is to direct your child but not based solely on what is convenient for you, but based on a mix of what your family needs with how the baby tends to be "wired". With the advent of all this newfangled technology ;) came the idea of "data-driven parenting". Some people are probably appalled at the idea, but it works for us (and anyone else that I've heard has taken the time to use it).

The site/program certainly doesn't tell you how to parent, it's just a place to write down all the stuff that makes it easier to do so -- when baby last pooped, first contact of a new food for allergy watching, and - the single reason I got it, and really the only thing I did very consistently -- sleep tracking. Call me a huge geek, but it was SO much fun to see on "paper" when my newborns started consolidating their sleep into chunks throughout the day, and it was even more fun to watch it start happening consistently, to where I could continue fostering what was the most important "sleep habit" to me - putting the girls down awake, letting them fall asleep on their own. It has aided me in figuring out the girls sleep patterns and keeping them on a good schedule as early in life as possible -- starting with the one enforced in the hospital and then moving to one that is THEIR own schedule.

(And seriously -- it has lots of fun graphs, charts, etc!)

So there you go. Maybe some day I'll write a real review on the product, maybe not. It's fabulous, but maybe only to fill the 'void' left by no longer having anything to chart and keep track of! :-P



Anyone want to donate to a diaper fund? ;)

Thoughts?

I'm considering changing emails, to a gmail account. I have various reasons for doing this, despite not being impressed with gmail in the past. I've been an avid Yahoo user, for very good reasons, for probably 10 years. I've tried to "leave", I've tried gmail specifically a few times. I still don't know that I love it, but it offers features that are almost too good to pass up, for me personally (labeling emails to separate them without messing with folders, checking AND replying from various email accounts, etc). That being said, I hate the hassle that comes with new email addresses, and I just changed mine probably 2 years ago... and also, gmail doesn't have any good names available! :) I currently hold jennifernkaufman at gmail dot com from a previous attempt, and automatically hold chateaukaufman at gmail dot com by hosting our blog on its own domain. The first is so long, and the second I GUARANTEE you will get misspelled often, considering my name is misspelled enough in and of itself, forget adding a french word. No offense to this fine country, or the human race, but many people just aren't ready for that. Especially phone customer service reps. ;)


Thoughts?

November 20, 2007

Our "headcount" ultrasound (especially necessary considering my ridiculously high beta) revealed.... it's twins! I tried not to let myself get too attached to the idea since it was only week 6 and Vanishing Twin Syndrome is WAY more common than people will ever know since we don't routinely do early ultrasound, but you know that didn't happen. I was attached to the idea even before seeing them on the screen! Weren't they cute? ;)

This is the life...

We just got back from getting holiday portraits and running some errands. The girls are due to eat, but are surprisingly just opting to play instead of freak out.

Elise is on her belly, leaning 'over' Avery, who is on her back. Elise blows raspberries, Avery cracks up at her. Elise looks at Avery sweetly, Avery talks -- telling her to do it again? She does so, spraying spit all over her sister's face, making her laugh even harder.

I in turn laugh at them, out loud, causing them to look quickly in my direction. I get on the floor with them and laugh some more... they laugh at me... we all erupt in giggles at one another.

I am so blessed.

Saucer (and Jumper) fun!

Now that they are big enough :), the girls really love the Baby Einstein Discover and Play Entertainer (saucer) and the Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper (jumper). They love being able to be "upright" and see the world, and they enjoy the toys that are on each of the centers. It's so much fun to watch them concentrate on a task, or crack themselves up :)




































































{A few additional pictures in the Picasa November Album!}

Sweet Sleeping Girls

5 months, 1 day! :)

If you're keeping track, the girls turned 5 months old yesterday! You know what that means....























































































I was just telling Kyle that already, I can hardly remember them being newborns. They change and grow every day, and - if you're a mama you know what I'm saying - I have totally mixed feelings about this, for sure! Nevertheless, we're having a ball.

Both Elise and Avery are incredibly social right now. Their faces light up when they see familiar people, and they share smiles generously with strangers, too :) They enjoy sitting in the swing so they can see across the room while playing with toys on the tray, but don't usually use it for swinging.... go figure! They are really starting to love their exersaucer and jumper - even moreso now that their feet reach!

As I mentioned, we totally got rid of the specialty formula. The girls seem to be tolerating the "regular stuff" just fine. We are really starting to introduce lots of new foods, too! They have had (and mostly enjoyed) rice cereal, oatmeal cereal and now sweet potatoes, and we plan to introduce a new food each weekend while Kyle is home. As per the norm, we started with stage 1 foods.... but I think we might just skip to stage 2 for thickness (but still sticking with single-ingredient stuff to start). They really have always done better with fairly thick cereal, so the stage 1 stuff is so watery they don't really know what to do with it. "That stuff is for babies," they tell us ;)

We tend to think that 'spitting up' - which is really not adequate to describe the fountains they spew 24/7 - is for babies too, but apparently not just for little babies. Our big girls seem to be throwing up MORE as we introduce solids... odd. They still get Zantac two times per day, which keeps them from being in pain at least. Still, I don't know how they grow. Everyone that spends time with them (pediatricians notwithstanding) says they've never seen babies lose as much volume and still grow. I personally have just never seen so much laundry! :-P

We're working on sitting up either supported or in a "tripod" sit, but they still don't quite have the hang of it. Their back and abdominal muscles are getting stronger by the day though, so I'm sure it won't be long!

They continue to sleep about 12 hours at night, but not restfully. I imagine because they are teething and wakeful, they take turns each night either waking up to play at the most awful hours, or crying out and needing consoled (while sleeping, mind you) a few times each night. Hopefully this will pass, but I know I can't complain overall! Daily napping is.... getting somewhere :) Generally speaking, they nap around 9-11am, and 1:30-3:30pm. One or both of these naps, for one or both girls, is not as nice as it would first appear :) They usually wake after one sleep cycle (40 mins or so) and play for quite some time, so they aren't actually sleeping... which leads to cranky babies by the evening, so they often will take a catnap of 20-40 minutes between 3 and 4, which gets us to their (still early) bedtime of about 6:30. Phew!

They are still comfortably wearing 0-3 month clothing, although they are getting too long for some of the shorter 1-piece outfits. 3-6 month stuff still swallows them whole :)

Finally, around here we have had our holiday decorations up for about a week and a half now. The Christmas trees are up and lit as of this weekend, but not decorated yet. The girls are enthralled with them, as you might expect! As I type it's snowing big, beautiful flurries.... I can't wait to share this holiday season with our two most precious gifts!