Monsters Are Eating My Brain

It’s been a bit too long since I posted. My apologies! I have only life as an excuse. For a few weeks there, my brain was spinning with all the STUFF we had going on.

August 12-15 we went up to Eagle River, Wisconsin for an extended weekend vacation. Adam’s parents go up there each year for a week in the summer. We stayed in an adoreable cottage (the same place they have stayed for a few years) that is right on Catfish Lake. It was a nice time, but it would have been nicer to have a longer stay. That was just not feasible with the need we will have of vacation time at the end of the year. Lidia had a good time, but was a little overwhelmed, I think.
She had a few issues with making good choices that made the last 2 days a bit difficult. (She has always had a hard time with unfamiliar places). We made it through just fine, though. Hopefully next year we will be able to take a full week!

When we came home, my family came for a little visit (my mom, my 2 sisters, my niece and 2 nephews) and they proceeded to clean my house for me and do all that yard weeding that I have not been able to do since being pregnant. I can’t say enough how thankful I am that they took the time to do this for us! What a weight off of my shoulders. It was hard to think of all the deep cleaning and stuff that I just KNEW I would not be able to do before these babies get her. Adam wasn’t going to have the time to do it, between working and taking care of Lidia in the evening when I can’t be up and around a lot. (Thank you again guys!!!!)

August 25-28 we went camping at Warren Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan. This is one of my favorite camps because of the beautiful beach! We usually go most years with my sisters families, and this year we invited the Tancks to go with us.

So somehow, (in an effort to save toll and gas money) we managed to pack 2 families worth of gear in the Tancks’ Trailblazer (don’t ask me how… but Jenny was determined).

The camp was nice, though it sprinkled on and off (mostly at meal times–so we’d get plenty of excercise taking everything out, then putting it away quickly) all weekend. We went down to the beach on Saturday and did some swimming, which was nice. The water was not too bad, for Lake Michigan and even I was in there some of the time. Lidia, of course, loved it. When we put the combination of arm floats and a swim vest on her, she was actually able to keep herself afloat. She thought she was hot stuff after that. “I fwimming!!!!”

My sis was nice enough to bring a cake along to camp, as a belated Happy Anniversary for Adam and I (Oh yah, that’s right, August 22nd was our 8th wedding anniversary!!). Well, imagine a decorated bakery cake and the nice little plastic container it comes in. Now, you know the noise that the cover makes as you take it off of the cake? Well, imagine the noise that plastic cover makes at 1:30 am, right outside your tent, as 2 excited raccoons are trying to rip it open and get their little hands on the goodies inside. It is a horendously loud noise, and not easy to identify at first. Ooops. We left the cake out on one of the picnic tables….. I of course am bolted awake by this noise. Eventually I say “what is that?” to which my groggy husband replies “it’s just rain or water off the trees.”

“What?? That is not rain, something is out there”

So the brave pregnant wife gets up to investigate (whilst the sleepy groggy husband stays in bed–nice…..). I put on my glasses and first shone the light out onto the table from the tent window. Reflected back at me are 2 sets of little green eyes reflecting in my flash light–attached, of course, to 2 chubby little ‘coons who are in HEAVEN because they have found this delicious frosted dessert just waiting for them on a picnic table. I mustered up my best threatening voice and hissed “Get out of here!” at them—right… They looked at me a sec, then kept eating. So I poked my head out the door and said it again…. the hesitated, but got down from the table. As I turned around to put my shoes on and go out to take care of the mess, both quickly ran up to take a few more bites. This time, they were not sure if I was serious. Even with me 3 feet from them, they were not about to leave their treasure. I had to pick up something nearby to whack the table and show them I meant business. Then they were gone and did not come back. Now I had to figure out what to do with the cake/garbage. Thinking back on it, I should have just dumped it out on the ground in the weeds and let them have at it… but I didn’t (sorry ‘coons). Eventually I *finally* got my husband to come out and take the cake (along with a garbage bag we’d forgotten) to the dumpsters. (No, I won’t be letting him live that down any time soon). Unfortunately, however, in the excitement I had left the tent door partially open. Quietly, a few mosquitos slipped into the tent and proceeded to feast on my daughter for the rest of the night. UGH! (Poor baby :( )
Sunday, we went to the beach after lunch, but it was a “red flag” day. This means the water and waves were rough enough that swimming was not encouraged at all. So Lidia mostly splashed a bit at the shore line, and we just enjoyed being out on the beach on a sunny breezy day. Eventually the air turned cold and we headed back to camp for dinner.

Sunday night was the kicker.

at around 1:30 or 2:30, it started to rain. Actually it was pretty much pouring most of the night. It finally slowed down around 8am, but by then we were already packing up our soggy camp. All of the tents ended up with water in some form (some worse than others!). Luckily, we only had a few small puddles of water, at the corner tent seams. Nothing to get too worried about. Eventually we managed to pack it all back up, wetness aside, and make our way home.

In summary, it was a fun trip, though. Little bit of wet and a few mosquito bites didn’t ruin the trip for us :)

August 30th we had our 25 week appointment at the “mama baby doctor” which included an ultrasound. Both babies seem to be growing well and doing just fine. We reconfirmed that baby B is still a boy, but Baby A we did not get a good look at this time around. They are both laying closer to a head down position now, so I’m secretly hoping they stay that way for good!

Mama only gained like 6 or 7 lbs time… I think that makes me needing to gain 10 or 15 more to get to the twin gain “goal”. That shouldn’t be an issue (though my tummy is getting squished these days, which is totally affecting my appetite). I had to do my Gestational Diabetes test (the infamous orange drink) this week. I haven’t heard anything back on it, so most likely it came out fine (yay!). Nothing really to report other than that. We go back on September 20th! (bumping up to every 3 weeks instead of every 4 weeks). Things are going fast!!

Yesterday, Adam’s family threw a little shower for us, which my mom, sisters and niece also came up to attend. It was so nice! We received a lot of gifts that will really help us get ready for these babies! So much less we have to buy. It has been a bit overwhelming realizing how much STUFF we need for these babies (things we didn’t need for Lidia because she was already 12 months when we brought her home). Clothes are one of the biggies as we have no teeny clothes and, well, we probably would like to avoid dressing the boys in pink after they are 12 months, too ;)

At any rate, it was a lovely day (though I was and am exhausted from it all) and it has really helped us immensely! Now it is time to buckle down and see just what else we need to prepare for these babies. Seems like we are running out of time….

Posted: Sunday, September 10th, 2006 @ 8:43 pm
Categories: Adventures, The Twin Journey.
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