My Soapbox

(Sammi in yellow by couch in these pics, Nicki on other side...)

I don't have too many soapboxes (that I blog about...) but TV/video viewing is probably one of my lifelong one ardent ones. We have a lot of rules about TV in our house...always have and no doubt always will. Very much like me...and quite fine with me, too.....the girls are really sensitive to any type of drama on the TV. (heck, I personally get stressed over seeing some regular network commercials.) I think TV/video watching should be tightly controlled and quite limited for toddlers....and to be quite honest...for older children, too.

So...:

1) No background TV allowed at any time...kinda drives-me-crazy....

2) No TV-watching without me or Ed in the same vicinity keeping watch over their reactions.

3) No more than 30 mins a few times a week....

4) We try to limit their exposure to commercials...

5) So far I only allow Mister Rogers, Calliou, Food Network, the Antique Roadshow and their one Elmo movie....and no TV-watching with babysitters..

6) No video game equipment in our house. Yep, for an engineer, I'm quite a fuddy-duddy about technical games & gadgets & computers...plenty of time for that when they are older...

7) And...for me....when the girls are down....Ed can't have any show on if I'm in the room that he knows will distress me. If he wants to watch violent "stuff" or degrading/disrespectful material (shows or movies), then he has to go upstairs to the den and close the door. I just don't believe in subjecting myself to negative and violent vibes. I don't understand a desire (or a market) for that genre and I certainly don't want to waste my energy on being stressed over negative images. Gosh, we get enough real crisis and awful events on the news...

My personal favorite by far (for the girls...and I quite like it too, to be honest....) is Mister Rogers. I tape it each morning and we watch it together a few times a week.

Look at this last pic....Sammi automatically puts her arm across Nicki whenever a "scarier" image comes on the TV. In this case, it is when Elmo first encounters the Grouch in Grouchland. Sammi, you are such a protective sister....

I know that's a lot of rules...and do I realistically stick with them...? Yep, I surely do...

Ok, vent over.....

Happy Safe and Careful TV watching!

Hugs,

Cindy

Ed's Screen Porch Masterpiece is DONE!

Guys, it's really lovely and I just could not be happier. I'm telling you, my husband is talented and dedicated and committed to simply doing the very best he can at just everything he tackles. I've watched him do his best "across the board" for the last 25 years and well....take a look....I'm thrilled!!

Look at Ed's ceiling...tongue-and-groove and painstaking varnish, varnish, varnish....and Ed did all the electrical, too. We have lots of lights, all dimmer-switched..and we have built-in speakers....

My models look pretty good, don't they.....(Samzie in da cap)

Ed and I love sitting out here in the evenings and just chatting and chatting after the girls go to sleep and I love reading the paper in the morning...birds chirping, breeze blowing...just lovely...

Next to the screenporch is an outdoor deck....next year we plan on extending the outside deck and will put in patio/terrace/hot-tub and outdoor fireplace...but that's next year's project.....

Baby in Bag!! Sammi in; Nicki out...

I held the best picture for the last. Look at the smile on my husband's face! He is THE MAN. I'm telling you, he's something else.....

Love ya, SweetHeart Ed. You made this all happen and it exceeded my expectations on every.single.front.....

Love,

Cin

A Lovely Mother's Day Weekend

Nicki and Sammi tumbled out of Ed's car on Friday afternoon running towards me with little tissue-wrapped presents clutched in their hands chanting "open-it open-it open-it, Mommy!" Oh oh oh, how cute. I opened their little gifts (tiny little hand-painted clay pots) and card on my brand-new screen deck that Ed just finished 2 days ago (Ed, it is awesome) and and we enjoyed the evening lounging on the new set of screen-deck furniture that Ed suprised me with for Mother's Day. (I have been pining for this beautiful wicker set for quite some time but thought it was way too extravagant....but, Ed pulled an "Ed" and big-time surprised me with it...Ed, you're something else...!)























Then, today, ....Ed let me sleep in late this morning, he did baby-duty all night long last night, and he made my favorite breakfast....french toast. But, best yet....he taught the girls to greet me with "Happy Mothers Day!" this morning...(actually, it sounded like "happy mudders day") when I came into the breakfast nook. They then proceeded to repeat their chant all day long and it melted my heart every single time they said it. Ooh, they learn quickly what Mommy loves. At one point, after one of Sammi's tantrums today, she looked-up at me and said "Happy Mudders Day, Mommy, I love you so much!" (yep, that was a melt-y moment...)

We then dressed-up in the beautiful kimonos Conkle Jay-Jay sent us from Korea (thanks thanks again....they loved them...) and we took off for a day at the Children's Museum. Jason, the girls insisted on wearing the kimonos all day long.....even at the museum. Wow, they were cuties...everywhere we went everyone was grinning at them all dressed-up in those lovely outfits. "Thank you!!"
Then, we came home, we all played and tumbled for hours this evening, and then read an extra stack (ok, stacks!!) of books at bedtime. Just can't get better than this, can it!

Thanks, Ed....thanks Sammi and Nicki....for making this a very special Mother's Day weekend! I truly do hope that each of your own Mother's Day was as special and joy-filled as mine. I so remember trying to get and then stay pregnant over those 11 years of endeavor until we turned to adoption for our family. Then, the tough tough oh-so-tough years of waiting were not any easier. But, I'll say this once more.....if I had to endure all of that all over again to get these two little angels in our life, I'd so do it in a skinny minute. Keep your chins up, you Moms-to-Be.....keep your chins up......

Hugs,

Cindy

Screen Deck is coming together...yay!!

Hi All.

Have been away for a bit as have been travelling over in Europe for a series of meetings and to hold some training sessions. I actually had a very successful trip...you know how you know when you're kinda in the groove/"in the zone" at times....?.....Well, that's been me lately at work and I'll go even so far as to say I've been having a good bit of fun, too. I think when you do well, it's fun and I think when it's fun, you do well.

Back on the homefront, Ed's having his own quite successful endeavors in that he is in the "short rows" for the completion of this screen-deck. Hmm....I should write up a post that shows the step-by-step pics of the screen deck being born.... The thing about Ed's stuff (and he is a phenom carpenter.....quite talented....he rocks at it. I saw him once design a beautiful mahogany desk and shelves on the back of a napkin...I was there!!...and 6 mons later it was built and it is truly gorgeous....) is that when he builds something, it's here to last through to the next century AND (hopefully) to survive the occasional 75 mph winds and hurricane-effects we sometimes get in this part of the country.....

Here's a few more of pics of Sammi and Nicki playing around the deck while Ed is putting up the screens.

We're in the process of looking for deck furniture now.....what a fun task.....and I'm in charge of the overall "look-and-feel" of the outside room....a job I'm truly relishing. I want it to have a feeling of a retreat...kinda like a spa-y sort of feeling. (you should see Col's porch and deck...truly lovely....I just want to be like Colleen...!) I'd like to have a fountain somewhere in the room, and lots of ferns and dark leafy plants...and we're in the middle of completing re-sodding the ENTIRE yard (yay!) with the zoysia seed that is meant to be a bit more environmentally friendly and more drought-tolerant than other varieties typically used in our growing zone. So, in a couple of weeks the sod-guys come in and they'll also fix up my planting beds along our new deck. I am planning to plant as many gardenia plants as Ed will let me get away with...ah....smells so good. We also are preparing a bed/nook for a honeysuckle vine right next to our screen. So....hopefully....this screen deck really will feel like a bit of a "retreat" by the time I get it all put together.

Hey, please come by and see us on our deck. I'll serve you a fine glass of wine and and assortment of my yummy appetizers.....:)

Hugs,

Cindy

Back on the wagon!

Thanks to so many of you who sent me all the positive thoughts and emails. I'm happy to say that after just a week of rehab-ing a bit and being extra careful, I'm back into Pilates and I'm just fine. Funny, isn't it....I've felt so fit and strong these last five years but I sure did let that little muscle-strain incident get to me. So....I've vowed to keep up with my Pilates sessions...no-matter-what.....!!!

Big-and-Strong-Hugs this time 'round,
-Cindy

P.S. pics coming soon

I Know Better Than This....

I know better than this...I do I do I do. So why did I let it happen?! If you know me even a little bit, you know that I’m a die-hard dedicated East-Coast Power Pilates (which is the original Joseph Pilates program) fan. I suffered a significantly serious sports injury 6 years ago that left me in really bad shape for quite some time (ie not walking for months and months and not normal for 2 years…). After some big-time serious back surgeries and tons and tons (and tons and tons) of rehab and serious "blood sweat and tears" work…and Pilates…I recovered. And, in fact, I recovered to the point I was in better shape post-injury…due to my dedication to Pilates to the tune of 2-3 and sometimes four private sessions a week for the last almost 5 years.

So.... I know better than to back off my Pilates. I know better than this. But I screwed-up, gosh-darn it, I screwed-up. I let work get in the way and I dissed my private Pilates sessions for almost 2 months. And, I’ve injured my back by just leaning over a colleague’s desk the wrong (!) way to look at a stupid (stupid!!) report. When I stood up, I knew instantly I was in trouble. I went to my Pilates session this afternoon and it wasn’t good. So now I’m back in pain. I have a doctor's appt on Wed. I'm taking pain medication. Ed is carrying the load. Darn it, I am mad at myself for letting this happen because I know better than this…. It will all be okay….just need to recover and get back into it….it’s just a road I should not be on because..well, I know better than this…..

Send me positive thoughts, please. I'm feeling blue AND I'm mad at myself...neither good positive sentiments.

Gentle Hugs this time 'round,
Cindy

Thirty-One Month Old Newsletter

Dear Cian-Cian and Liang-Liang,

You just turned thirty-one months old and we’re now heading into our second Spring together. Without a doubt, the four of us are having….well...The.Best.Time so far. You two are chatting a mile a minute, you’re laughing-running-bouncing around, you play together for hours at a time, you’re both healthy…and just seem to be having a lot of fun….

All of us are simply in a really good place right now....

Yep, you’ve really both been a picture of health recently (hope I don’t jinx us by saying this….). You both weighed-in at 25 whopping pounds last night, you are 33 inches, size 5 shoes, and wearing 24-month old shirts/18-month old pants (and sometimes still 12 month pants). Oh my goodness, you are both so cute.

Kelly...look below....does Sammi not look like Katie here? Look at how similar their facial expressions are....

You are both chatting away these days…and sometimes even in complete sentences. Sammi, after we read your new Honey-Bunny book last night, you put your arms around my neck, looked right into my eyes and said “Mommy, I like that book”. Wow!! I almost fell off the chair. And, then, this morning, Nicki, as we were eating our breakfast, you looked across the table at me and said “Mommy you are eating apples, too”. Wow. Whole sentences and sometimes even with the proper pronouns! Hip Hip Hooray!….Other things I’ve written down lately:

Nicki: “Mommy, I’ll be right back”, “”Here’s my ticket, Mommy” (Rony and Anne-Marie, this is from the Polar Express…..it’s all about tickets tickets tickets in their pretend play….).

Sammi: “Mommy, I go play now”, “Mommy, my baby needs blanket”, “I want a surprise”, “I want lav-ee-oh-lee” (ravioli)

Both: “Sister did it”. (Yep, this is funny to me. You both address each other as Sister with a capital “S”. You’ll say, “Sister, take this”. “Sister, that’s mine”, “Nitey-night, Sister”.)

The other notable change over the last few months is that you two will literally play together for two hours with no intervention from me. Wow, I didn’t even know that two-years could do that!! You want me in the same vicinity as you are but you are no longer incessantly imploring me to play with you every minute. You two are perfectly happy playing “pretend” by yourself.

Last weekend (Ed was off on his big ski trip), when I was cooking for hours on end, the two of you played “kitchen” with a few old Tupperware props, paper plates and cups and plastic utensils. You happily frolicked from the kitchen to the breakfast nook to the screen porch and back again. We had my Izzy CDs playing (the Hawaiian with the angel voice), the house was opened-up, and you two played and giggled and scampered around happily for hours. It was pretty-much a magical time for the three of us and I think that all three of us knew that. You would occasionally stop-by and hug my knees and look-up and laugh at me or you'd come running over and slam into my legs….or you would chase each other around and around me and our kitchen island…and then you’d dash away to the "kitchen" you had set-up on the screen porch.

In fact, I remember standing at the kitchen sink thinking to myself that I never wanted to forget the feeling I was having that very minute....the deep-down to-my-core joy of realizing that so many of my dreams really have come true...I have an incredible marriage to my oldest and best friend, I have two beautiful healthy and thriving toddler girls (and twins…wow oh wow), we all have terrific health, we are blessed with amazing simply-amazing friends, good jobs, financial security, a lovely home..oh oh oh….our bounty and blessings stops me in my tracks and takes my breath away.

Oh Liang-Liang and Cian-Cian, I so love you two!

Love,

Mommy