A year in review...installment #2

Moving on to February...

Feb 1: Superbowl. Ethan and I wore 3-D glasses for most of the evening, which made me pretty dizzy.

Feb 5: Court 8:30am. I can only imagine this was one of the many times Crazy was supposed to appear and did not. Who knows, who cares.

Feb 6: Ethan and I drove to Northfield to get Dylan & Owen's cross-stitch framed. I'm fully aware that there are several framing places within the Twin Cities that I could patron rather than driving to the greater Twin Cities for framing. But it takes SO long to make these cross-stitches, and my mother-in-law has trusted this guy with hers for years, so it's worth the drive for peace of mind. And...it turned out great.

Feb 9: Went to a Mom's of Multiples support group with the mom of Ethan's twin friends from ECFE. This was interesting, but as my twins were 9 weeks old and I was in the 0-6 month group, we talked mostly about transitioning to solid foods, and I was nowhere near. I needed to talk about how to get some sleep. The better support turned out to be the conversation over drinks the two of us had after group.

Feb 10: Toddler Tuesday. Ethan wanted nothing to do with the singing event that was going on, so we went to the train table at Barnes and Noble and I drank copius amounts of coffee. Delightful all around.

Feb 11: Twins 2-mo well-baby check; Oak City for dinner and drinks with two of my best buds from college.

Feb 13: A high-school friend gets married. My in-laws do an overnighter with our kids, two of which are not anywhere close to sleeping through the night. Bless them. I go a "little" overboard with my temporary freedom, drink at least a magnum of Chardonnay, and do not sleep well. Oh, the regret I felt the next day (I felt other feelings in addition to regret, as you might imagine!). We spend Valentine's Day at home, very low-key. We watched There Will Be Blood...that was disturbing.

Feb 16: I place my first Let's Dish order...to pick up the next day. I should really start doing that again. Dish N Dash is the service they have for those of us that find no thrill in doing our own meal assembly...or are rather too busy to make time to do so. Pay $20 and they do all the assembly for you and give you a time at which it's ready to pick up...ready to go into your freezer! A meal serves 6 and you can request them to be split, which was ideal for the number of "real"-food eaters in our family at the time.

Feb 17: My first Girls Night back, at which I was not the "pregnant one". Yay.

Feb 21: Sandberg sibling dinner. Mancini's. I had a full-fledged panic attack on the way there. It was cold outside...really really cold. It smelled like toilet in the area of the bar where we sat after dinner. I was designated driver. Despite all of this, it was an awesome time. Andy's siblings and their significant's are all fabulous.

Feb 22: My mom came back into town for my last week of Maternity Leave. I was sad...she made me happier.

Feb 25: Pepitos 6:30. I believe this was a dinner out with my Mom, sister, and aunts.

Feb 28: "Olaf Black and Gold Winter Gala" is scratched out and "Dinner @ 6pm" is written in. Appears that we bailed on the Gala in favor of something else. Were we with you? What did we do? I guess I can't really remember it all!

Looking classy in our 3-D glasses.

A common scene. I miss having sleeping babies on me. They are always on the move now. But I love that they cruise over to give me a hug when they notice I'm watching them.

The infamous wedding. I don't really remember taking this picture, but at least I don't look a mess. Empire-waist is pretty forgiving at 9 or 10-weeks post-partum. I planned that on purpose.

Making banana bread with my favorite big-brother.

A year in review...installment #1

I have a hard time throwing away calendars, planners...anything that has recorded parts of our lives. So, to alleviate this issue this year, I'm documenting 2009 here at the Suburban Zoo...

Sandberg 2009, a year in review...in installments by month...I've added in some details that only I, Hilary with the steel-trap memory (unless I've been imbibing), can recall. Why, just today, I was telling my parents and Andy that Ethan's favorite blanket is the one that my parents' friends gave to us while I was expecting Ethan in August of 2006. It's just a blue fleece blanket that says "Baby" on it, but strangely, I remember that kind of stuff.

Disclosure: If this bores the crap out of you, I promise a wonderful recap of possibly the most wonderful Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, in the near future...promise.

Jan 6 - My 29th birthday - Mom and I went to the MOA with Ethan and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. A woman in the elevator had a newborn baby and I commented that I had 4-week-old twins and she said she couldn't believe it...and I instantly felt better about the maternity jeans I was wearing.

Jan 7 - Mary came to clean. Remember this bitch? Oooh...is that too harsh? She was our cleaning lady...and a good one...who had started working for us when I went on bed-rest the August before. One day, she just stopped showing up. We'd always paid her, we (or my parents, actually, because they were subsidizing the cleaning person at that time) gave her a fat Christmas bonus, she oohed and aahed over our kids, I always asked her about her new grandson...when she didn't show up the one day, I called to see if I had marked down the wrong day...she never called me back. My mom and I theorized about what could have happened to her...I even checked the obits. We settled on witness protection. Just a month or so ago, I heard from the friend who had recommended her that Mary almost started cleaning for them again. Guess it must have been something I said. I like Annette better anyway.

Jan 10 - My Mommy went home. That sucked. She had stayed with us for over two weeks after coming to visit during the Holidays. She was an amazing help...assisting with middle-of-the-night feedings, doing laundry, cooking...we couldn't have made it through these initial days without her.

Jan 11 - Party to celebrate my god-daughter turning 2. This might have been the first time out for a significant number of hours without D & Owen. Even I, with my steel-trap mind, was too sleep-deprived to recall much from this event...except that Emily shared her Blues Clues cake with her sister, Lauren, and Ethan and it was hilarious.

Jan 13 - 6-week check at the OBGYN. Clear. TMI? Sorry.

Jan 22 - Happy Hour with SV friends at Don Pablo's...I do believe this was my first time out kid-less since the twins came home. I was shaking with nervousness (excitement?) when I arrived. I had two beers. I felt human again. I dried my hair for that event. It was a big deal.

Jan 23 - Must have felt good about getting out the night before, because I did it again. Andy and I went out to dinner with my sister and her husband as our Christmas gift to each other. We went to Luci Ancora. Earlier that day, Andy bought me a size-up pair of Joe's jeans and surprised me with them before dinner. A zipper, a button...I felt even more human on this day.

Jan 27 - Timber Wolves game. Looks like I was really getting into the groove of leaving the house. I don't recall much from this evening...must have had a couple.

Jan 29 - The first Synagis (RSV) shot for the twins. Good Lord, those were a pain in the tail...and expensive too. But I brought it upon myself. One of the twins wasn't even recommended to have them, but I made a crazy fuss about it and had my ped call Option Care to get them to recommend it, and for my insurance to cover it. Still, couple hundred bucks a pop...preemie boys born in the Winter with an older sibling that goes to a weekly ECFE class with other germy kids...I slept better at night (wait, who am I kidding?! I wasn't sleeping at night in January, but you know what I mean) knowing they got these shots each month during the Flu season. Worth every penny.

Jan 30 - Went to a party to celebrate a friend turning 30. There was all sorts of drama earlier in the evening before this party...but it eventually turned out to be the catalyst in repairing a long friendship that had been on the rocks for awhile. And that reminds me that I have a lunch-date to schedule.

Jan 31 - Baby shower for my sister-in-law, Emma. I co-hosted this event with my mother-in-law. It was a great time...good food, fun games, great people...we didn't even know it was Linnie in there at the time. That seems crazy now.

There are other things about January that I'd like to remember. "School 10:15" is a weekly appearance on the calendar. While I was on maternity leave, I got to go with Ethan to his ECFE class almost every week...that was so FUN! It was great to meet his teachers and little classmates.

There are also lots of "Cec"s and "Anne"s on the calendar...My sister, Cecily, was unemployed by choice at the time and one of my besties from college, Anne, was on break from her MBA program...both of them were able to come by frequently to help with D & Owen and give me some much-needed adult conversation. That was fantastic!!

Oh, 2009...the "year of survival", as we called you. It seems silly to be thankful that it's almost over...because we should be thankful for every year that we have...but still, I'm thankful that's it's almost over. I came into the year with a sense of fear...of the unknown, mostly. Do we have any idea what we are doing? Will we sleep ever again? Will the stress destroy us all? It's easy to say in retrospect that it wasn't as hard as we thought it would be...but really, as I think about every month of the past year, it really wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. We are blessed with truly good kids...and, as the Hillary with two "L"s says..."it takes a village"...and we definitely are a part of one.

Sleepy, but happy, Daddy.

Mommy, Ethan, Dylan, Owen...early morning...but it looks like I'm showered and dressed...way to go, Mommy!

I love this picture...Ethan with his rosy cheeks. Owen on his left, Dylan on his right.


7-week-old twins. Owen & Dylan. They are so still. At almost 13-months, this idea is totally foreign..

Dreaming of a white Christmas?

A again.

I should not jump to conclusions all the time, but I will assume that most of you reading this are from MN, or have some connection to the tundra at a minimum. If you're like me, you just got in from dealing with almost a foot of new snow, part of an estimated 16-24" dump we are in the middle of. As much as I like the song noted in this title, I don't think Bing Crosby did much manual schlepping of large volumes of snow at the point in his career where he sang that one.

"For my next set, let's start off with 'I'd like to dig a ditch and get blisters'. Hit it boys!"

There are of course silver linings though. Whether it is a bunch of snow to dig out of or a storm that knocks trees down or whatever, our neighborhood is picturesque. It is really what I want our kids to grow up seeing, and I don't think it exists everywhere anymore. If you looked out there today, you would have seen members of several households going from house to house digging out each others' driveways. We don't ask each other, we just do it, because that is what great neighbors do. We all have each others' backs, the Golden Rule in action, and I don't want to live anywhere else.

So much to be thankful for this year. Here are a few:

• The first Christmas with the five of us at home together
• The first Christmas for my niece
• Gainful employment in a tough economy
• Seeing my buddy Paul alive and well this morning out in the snow
  
• Christmas eve with H's family (everyone has printed programs for Xmas Eve, right?)
  
• Christmas day tomorrow with mine at our house, and watching E open presents
• Oh yeah, and of course, Santa Crunch (MN Timberwolves mascot for you non-NBA fans)
  

Well that's it for me. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...........

I'm here

Oh yeah, so I like, um, have a blog still, right?!

People, I'm sinking...sinking, sinking, sinking. There is too much to do, too much going on, too much stress, not enough sleep and not enough time. 'Tis the Season. I'm trying to focus on what is truly important, and not get stressed. Work will get done...it always does. Tomorrow, my parents will be in town, we have several FUN Holiday gatherings coming up, we are hosting Christmas Day...our first Christmas Day that the 5 of us will be at home for, and I am TRULY excited for all of this. Andy and I each have the week after Christmas off from work (and hopefully we will not log on more than 3 times a piece!)...and I am hoping to just hang out and soak up time with my boys.

I just have 3 more days that I need to make it through. I need hugs from my Mommy and Daddy...and thankfully, they will be here tomorrow.

Moving on...I have been writing down quotes from Ethan so I could write an "Ethanism" blog post, and wouldn't you know it...I can't find the piece of paper...figures. But, I remember some...

The best I've heard recently was when I was talking to Ethan last week about getting a big boy bed...trading in the race car bed for a twin. I asked him when he might be ready for that, and without hesitation he said, "Maybe next Tuesday" I just about peed my pants. But since he was still talking, I held it together. He said, "Maybe next Tuesday. Next Tuesday, the movers will come and pack up my race car bed, put it in their moving truck and TAKE IT AWAY!" Okay, I really thought he liked that race car bed. Sometimes, he's very dramatic.

On a similar note, I just asked him tonight when he thought he would see Gramma Nana and Grampa Dode and he said, "Maybe on Tuesday"...in fact, tomorrow IS Tuesday...so that worked out well. But, he definitely has a crush on Tuesday.

Recently he told Liz that she could stay here and live with him, Dylan, Owen, Mommy and Daddy, and then asked, "So, do you want to or not?"

Another new thing is blaming things on his body parts...."My fingers wanted to pick my nose"..."My feet wanted to kick Dylan"....Um, no, these excuses do not work, but I give him an A for creativity.

****

Daddy forgot to mention the 1-year stats in the last post. Dylan is 24 lbs, 75th percentile for height and weight. Owen is 21 lbs 4 oz and about 35th percentile for height and weight. Still maintaining the 3 lb spread in weight and Dylan is slightly taller. They are both in the 90th percentiles for head circumference, in true Sandberg fashion.

We've moved on to whole milk. We've stopped buying pureed baby foods. They are eating most real foods...I even tried miniscule pieces of apple tonight and they loved it. The flexibility...oh, the flexbility. The poop...oh, the poop. There's just a difference. And within the next year, I'm hoping to be done with that too. And on that note, I can absolutely not believe that they have been in size 4 diapers for awhile now. When Ethan was potty trained he was in size 5 diapers. I have a huge box of leftover size 5 diapers in the garage, and I'm betting that we will be using those soon. Are they really that old already, or are they just bigger than Ethan was...or is time just flying by at an abnormally fast pace?! Slow down, babies...don't you know this is Mommy's last time with "babies" (in quotes, because they will always be my BABIES!)...and I don't want you to outgrow your chubby baby cheeks anytime soon. Here, eat a cookie.

And since it's unlikely that I'll post again before Christmas....Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Feliz Cumpleaños niños

"A" here.

?Por que es el titulo en español?

Well, when reflecting on life's noteworthy milestones, I often reflect on the genesis of our little familia. Anyone who was around us while H & I each ventured to South America back in Jan 2000 probably has a feel for the transformation we have had. Not to say we were worse people back then, that is for the rest of you to say. I will just say we are different now, and yes, probably for the better.

So the opportunity to reflect in this post has been brought to you by Owen & Dylan. Babies, no mas. That's right, we have toddlers. Tuesday was their first birthday, and we will never have a "baby" again. That is an odd thing to think about. At my old age of 30, up until now there have been so many firsts, and this is a last. I can't help but think how fast it has gone since that very first awkward moment of waiting for the results of the first home-pregnancy test. It's cool though, cuz' we have 3 perfect and healthy kids, a gift that very few get to experience. They just no longer happen to fit the infant category.

Enough with the sappy Daddy talk, and on to the good stuff. Here is the terrible twosome, 1 year old. Of course, H baked a cake. That's what good mommas do.



There are rules people, and one of them is you let the babies eat the cake, I don't care how healthy you try to be. Just give the kid(s) the damn cake.


So this is where I am in life. I first met H in October of 1999. 10 years, 3 boys, and zero regrets. My family, circa December 2009. Hasta Luego.

New blog headers...and new blogs

New blog header...couldn't keep logging on here and seeing these babies that I don't even recognize anymore. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the 1st birthday coming up on TUESDAY!!

My amazing sister-in-law started this blog....www.divorcedbefore30.com...she is an incredible writer, and an incredible person. Check her out.