Another weekend past... (Warning, Its a long blog)

We didn't do very much this past weekend which actually was very nice. Last Monday Paige woke up with a runny nose and I followed the next day with sinus congestion. Ethan's nose started running a day or so later and Dallas was of course all stopped up a few days later. Gotta love a summer cold, not! They are so difficult to get rid of!

Paige and Ethan have only had a small cough with their runny noses which is probably from the drainage. I have been sucking their noses with saline, pushing liquids down them and luckily their colds or allergies have not progressed. I on the other hand was just not feeling well near the end of the week. Since all our our weekend plans included pregnant women and children I decided to cancel them all. It was not that long ago that I myself was pregnant and I remember how miserable it is to be sick and pregnant. If you get strep throat you take Tylenol and curse the day you stopped to say hello to that cute runny nosed coughing kid in Target who gave it to you!

Saturday we were supposed to have our good friends Hillary and Phillip over to visit. They live on the other side of the metroplex by John Mark and Wendy so we rarely see them. Hint...hint... you people all need to move over towards Arlington! Hillary is currently pregnant with their first baby and it is a girl. She is 28 weeks along and has had a wonderful pregnancy. I wasn't really sure if we were a threat to her but I didn't want to take the chance and neither did she. We rescheduled our visit for September and Saturday was now open. I was very sad not to get to see them both but somewhat relieved just to be able to rest in pjs all day Saturday. We had a great relaxing day and by the end of the day I thought maybe I had canceled too soon...

Sunday we were supposed to go visit our old neighbors, Ed and Nancy, at their new house in Benbrook and go swimming. Since Nancy is 7 months pregnant we decided to cancel our plans with them as well even though we desperately want to see them. We will try again soon! We haven't seen them since they moved in April. We were also supposed to get together with our best friends, April, Mike, and Reese on Sunday. April is a little over 3 months pregnant and Reese was already showing signs of an ear infection so we cancelled that as well. What was I going to do with the kids all day? We had been in the house all day Saturday and were getting a little stir crazy.

Dallas left early for his fantasy football draft in Irving Sunday morning. He was going to be gone until after lunch so I figured I would get the kids out of the house. I got them ready, packed up their diaper bag, got myself ready, and we were out the door. I had thought about taking them to the park but wasn't really sure yet. I just didn't have it in me to pull that wagon around the entire neighborhood on a walk. I was still not really feeling my best. Once we were in the car I came up with another idea. Since we were out I would stop by Diane (my boss) and John's house and take a look at the bunk bed we are getting from them this weekend. Neither one of them has seen the twins in a long time so the visit would serve several purposes.

I called them and John said yes please come by. Once I hung up the phone I realized that it was 9 something in the morning. Oops! I have got to stop calling and planning things so early in the morning and remember that not everyone has to get up at the butt crack of dawn like we do. Although I do give the kids credit for sleeping in on the weekends now! We have gotten up to an hour and half extra sleep on weekends lately. WONDERFUL BLISS! As soon as we pulled up to their house and I let Paige out of the car she took off. Down the long sidewalk she went. I went after her, brought her back and proceeded to get Ethan out of the car. Before I could put Ethan down she was off again. I carried Ethan to where Paige was up the sidewalk and they both walked to the front door. They were eager to explore the new household.

We went in and they went nuts! Diane's house is in a round with all halls eventually leading back to where you began. I had to quickly run around the house shutting doors. I put them both in the play room which is where the bunk bed was located. They played while I looked at the bed. I am so thrilled about getting this bed for our guest room. When we have guest with kids over the kids can sleep on the top and the parents on the bottom. Perfect! The top bunk is completely barricaded and the latter is built in the side railing. It is white and they are giving us the mattresses for both top and bottom. I am very excited to change our guest room. We have too much furniture in there currently and it is the first bedroom set Dallas and I ever purchased. I have been looking at it for 7 years and I don't ever want to see it again! Thank you Keith for taking it all off our hands!

After I was done looking at the bed I trapped the kids in their living room so we could visit a minute. Once I was sweating and wore out I decided it was time to leave. The kids had torn up magazines, turned over pictures, pushed buttons on the TV, played their piano, and started their carpet cleaner... I would say it was time to go. On our way out the door I thought screw the park I am exhausted!

I got Paige in the car while Ethan proceeded to pick some of Diane's flowers. Once he saw me coming his direction telling him to stop he of course hauled butt the opposite direction. I caught up to him, strapped him in the car seat, and we were off again.

Once I had cooled off in the car's ac I decided that I would take a stab at the park after all. I pulled up to the Deaver park not far from our neighborhood and it was almost empty. A few girls were playing basketball in the back with their dad otherwise we would have the entire park to ourselves. I got them both out of the car and walked them to the play area. I should have known when I had to take off after Paige through the parking lot straight out of the car that this was a bad idea. They have never been to a park before and I should have waited for Dallas so I wasn't out numbered but we had fun nevertheless.

They liked climbing on the play ground equipment but I was a nervous wreck. The equipment was labeled for ages 2 to 5 and they both wanted to run opposite ways. One would go towards the slide opening while the other went for the next step up. After a few minutes on the playground I decided it was time for them to run instead of me running.

I put them down and just let them be. They were very good besides trying to eat the cedar chips in the playground circles. Even in the playground areas they would both run opposite directions every single time. I think they planned this while riding in the back seat!

Question of the day...
Why must we be going in totally opposite directions at all time?

I decided it was time to swing. They of course loved the swings and they were in the shade. We stayed in the swings for a while and I took the opportunity for photo opts. I wasn't going through all this and not getting any memories, damn it.

Once we were done swinging I decided it was time to try the bigger playground. I know this sounds really stupid but I really wanted a picture of them on the bridge. I thought they might think it was cool to stand up on the bridge and look down. Nope, I'm stupid. They didn't give a rat about standing on the bridge they wanted to run over it. Then they wanted to run to the next thing that caught their attention. At one point I thought Ethan was just going to lay down on his tummy and slide down the big swirling slide. Oh My Goodness, No! I quickly realized that the picture was not worth all this when Paige looked at the fireman's pole with a determined glare. Oh no you don't Missy. I grabbed them both and got us off of that dangerous thing.

I put them both down on the grassy area to run their little hearts out. Remember I am still trying different things each weekend to get Ethan to take his full nap at home. This past weekend my strategy was very simply... wear him out! They really enjoyed running around free in the grass. They decided to check out a tree and a picnic table while I followed close behind.

Run babies run!

Of course Paige has to go under the table instead of around it.

There were a few too many hills and such for my liking so we walked down to the little soccer field so they could run without me worrying about them falling. This was a great idea except they once again took off in opposite directions. Ethan ended up on one side trying to climb the wooden steps built in the grass while Paige was making her way to the basketball court to join in the game. My goodness those kids are so fast! I decided to take a few pictures so I could show Dallas what had happened and that was my first mistake. While I took the pictures I let them get further apart and I ended up running like back in the high school days to retrieve them both.

Paige had her her heart set on the basketball court the minute she got down here.

While Ethan thought the steps looked interesting...

I realized at this point that I would have to carry them both back to the car because we had gotten way too far for them to walk back. I held their hands as I decided how I was going to do this. I had to balance the camera strap on my shoulder and pick them both up from the ground. Huh... Well I did it except that Ethan kept slipping down because he is so heavy and I didn't have a good enough hold on him. We had to make a stop at the picnic table and readjust. We made it back to the car and I got them both back in the car somehow. I gave them a drink of water and sat in the ac trying to remember why I had decided to come to the park. Oh yea, so THEY could run off energy so why was I the one who was exhausted.

We made our way home and it was almost lunch time. I unloaded the kids and started getting everything ready. After lunch we played a while and then it was nap time. I was certain the kids would sleep great since they were exhausted from the morning. I was wrong once again. Paige slept for a little over an hour but Ethan just wouldn't have it. I rocked him, I patted his butt in bed forever, I even laid on the floor of his room on a blanket with him. Nope he wasn't going to sleep no matter what I did. He never took a nap and he hasn't done that in a long time. We survived the rest of Sunday and survived is the key word.

Dallas was exhausted from going out with Mike Saturday night and getting up early for his draft. Paige was exhausted and pissy from Ethan waking her up. Ethan was of course a nightmare because he didn't take a nap. I was not only exhausted but by the end of the day I had started to cough more and more. By the time I went to bed my chest was burning and I felt horrible. Dallas was coughing more and we both pouted as we got in bed knowing we had to get up early and prepare all the kids food for Monday. Maybe sleep would cure it all...