Kids Playing Peek a Boo

I guess they were playing for a long time but Jen got the camera and they stopped. Darn kids.

Sick Again

Ever since I got to VA I've been dealing with vertigo. I don't know for sure but I think it was motion sickness from the ship sitting in water. It's been tolerable for the most part but super annoying. Today I woke up planning on going to the doctor at some point but I was interrupted by the stomach flu or food poisoning. I never really got stomach flu until I had kids and since Hayley was born I think I've had it like six times. (The worst was Christmas Eve 2006, I got most of the relatives sick that year) I pretty much spent the day balled up on the recliner waiting for the next episode of throwing up. Fortunately I only threw up once. Last time I was sick Jen bought me some medicine that suppresses throwing up and man I was shocked at how well it works. So I'm trying to recover from my super aching back and a headache now.

I was planning on helping Jen take the twins to their helmet appointment too. Jen was a trooper and she handled it without me. She took Hayley to a daycare center ahead of time and came back for the twins. They are under the point at which helmets are recommended but the doctor suggest one more month. At least the end is in site I guess.

Happy Birthday Jen

Sorry I'm in VA and not there to enjoy it with you. What a crappy hubby I am. I'll try and make it up to you along with the 50+ makes I still owe you.

Christmas Shopping with Hayley

So I took the afternoon off to shop for Jens present. Hayley and I hit the mall. I figured it would take just a few minutes to find some stuff. Well we hit our first store and Hayley noticed Santa so we waited in line for about 40 minutes so she could sit on his lap. They suckered me into buying some pics too. It was kind of funny cuz Santa asked Hayley what she wanted for Christmas and she turned to Santa and asked him if he liked her shoes. That was really funny.

Eventually we made our way around the mall and I loaded up on a bunch of presents for Jen figuring if I buy a ton of stuff she'll like something that I got her and she can return the rest. I was going to get her a automatic car starter but it would've been over $400 dollars after installation so I punted on that idea. I saw some necklaces at Target that I thought were nice so I brought Hayley there and I let her pick out one from her and the boys. When we got home she told Jen "Mom we got you a necklace!!!" I told her that she was supposed to keep that a secret. Well when she was with Jen later she said "shhhh it's a secret, but we got you a necklace". Funny stuff. Oh well I guess.

Congrats JEEEEEAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!

Jean graduated!!! Wooohooo. Nice work Jean. You worked hard going to school while working full-time. For those of you who don't know Jean, well she is the reason Jen and I hooked up. My roomate at the time, Scott, and Jean were kind of dating and they made a date to go to a bar. Well Scott didn't want to go by himself and Jean didn't want to show up by herself so they brought Jen and I. Scott and I got to the bar early and had a few beers waiting for Jean. When they show'd up we hit the dance floor. I didn't notice Jean brought anyone at the time, instead I just kind of jammed around the dance floor. There was a DJ there from KCLD 104.7 in St Cloud. They had a best pickup line contest and I had just read a email chain that day full of "best pickup lines" so I entered the contest with one of the lines I read in that email and won the contest. Good times.

After the bar closed down we were all walking out together. I still hadn't been introduced to Jen yet. We were almost to the door and Jean asked me and Scott if we would take her and Jen for a ride on our crotch rockets. We agreed and we ended up riding around St Cloud and the surrounding areas until sunrise. Jen got my number that night and at the time I wasn't really interested in a girl friend but Jen kept calling and calling to do stuff so eventually I fell for her. I basically stayed that year at Jean and Jens apartment. Scott and Jean broke up a few months later. :( and the rest is history.

Anyway, I didn't really mean to hijack Jeans congrats blog post. Jean graduated from St Cloud Tech back in the 90's with an accounting degree. She got a job in the cities and decided to go for a bachelors degree in accounting. So Jean congrats again. Hopefully your investment in yourself pays off. Now that you're out of school maybe we can turn you away from the dark side of what is the Democratic party. :P j/k

Sledding

One thing I was looking forward to with moving back to MN was being able to take Hayley sledding. It was a perfect day for it. Lot's of fresh snow and it wasn't too cold. We started out on a small hill and Hayley had a blast. Then I asked if she wanted to move to the bigger hill and she said yeah so we trecked over to the other side of the park where the hill was about twice as high. It was quite a workout walking through all the snow and up the other side. So I wasn't to happy when Hayley was scared to go down. So I talked her into riding down with me. Everything was going great until we hit a snow mound and snow flew in Hayley's face. She didn't like sledding much after that. But I got her to go back to the smaller hill for a couple more runs. She got bored and wanted to play at the park instead. Good times.

Here's some more video's and pics from the day.

Box Seats for the Wild

I just got done watching the Wild from our companies box seats. Sitting in box seats is an awesome way to watch a game. I basically sat at a bar and watched the game. We had appetizers and free beers. On top of it all the Wild shut out the Blues 4-0.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Willmar this year.  My brother had a packed house of about 30.  One nice thing about having a big family is that there's generally no shortage of family at holiday events.  The kids were awesome and the food was outstanding.  There were five kids under 10.  The family is having a mini baby boom.  Anyway, while looking through pictures I think I found my favorite picture of the twins so far.  
** Correction ** Lisa informs me that my kid count is off
I just read the blog…CORRECTION: make that 8 kids under the age of 9!
1. Paige
2. Lilly
3. Dillon
4. Chloe
5. Maggie
6. Hayley
7. Braxtyn
8. Elliott



Checking out their reflection.

Back to the 80's

After surfing the Internet got boring today I decided to watch some old videos from way back in the day when MTV used to actually play videos. This site http://www.mtvmusic.com lets you view just about any video from the past, it so reminded me of the 80's. I used to record videos to VCR and watch them over and over. One of those video's was Bad Medicine from Bon Jovi. Man I can't believe the outfits and hair from back then. To think I was in 8th grade when it came out just blows my mind. Life without the Internet is just weird to fathom.

What's Best For The Consumer, Is Best For The Economy, Is Best For The Country

With the presidential election just around the corner and all the crap going on with the economy, banks, mortgages, etc. I've been reflecting on our choices of candidates and who is better to lead our country through this rough patch our country is in. I find it amazing that both parties are trying to blame wall street greed for putting us in this mess. Ultimately it boils down to us, the individuals, that got us into the trouble we're in. When a bank offers a loan that is easily out of ones means to afford the monthly payments, is that wall streets fault that the individual didn't take a step back and calculate what they could truly afford? Is it the banks fault for offering adjustable rate mortgages when rates were at an all time low? Is it really that hard to calculate what the monthly payments will be if the interest rates go up? I understand the dream of owning a home and when we bought our house we spent more than we probably should've. However, with that being said, we spent a lot less than we were approved for. And now that we had twins we're living in a two bedroom house with 3 kids. Our house is worth 20k less then what we owe on it so we're going to be living here a while...wait maybe we should just walk away and let the government deal with it. Yeah, no. So why doesn't either candidate say something to the effect that we need more discipline in the consumer market and not just oversite of wall street and the banks? Well that would be unpopular and certainly lead to defeat come November.

So back to the topic of our presidential options. Neither party has really hit on what I feel is the most important issue and that is balancing the budget and paying down the national debt. The interest on our debt was 400 billion in 2006. That's half the buyout of the banks. Imagine if we didn't have to pay this interest year in and year out. Just think, about 20-25% of your taxes every year go to pay interest on the debt. Just think of what our future holds, if our government tanks, all our savings will be worthless. And who's to blame for this mess, well the voters that votes these guys in office and then don't demand a balanced budget. I could keep beating this drum but that's enough said.

As for the title of this blog post, we live in a consumer driven economy. If there's not a customer to buy a companies product they go under. Our auto industry in the US is not competitive and therefore countless jobs have been lost because of it. It has nothing to do with NAFTA, the consumers are choosing what companies stay alive. Companies need to be able to reach as many consumers as possible and they need to stay competitive. The population of the US is just over 300 million, the population of the world is 6.6 billion. So it really doesn't make sense that raising taxes and restricting trade on the richest corporations and businesses is going to somehow fix the situation that we're in. The last thing we need as a nation is the government trying to dictate which companies are evil and greedy, and then taxing them for being successful. The richest people and companies will move where it makes the most sense to do business. It happened in California and it'll happen to the country. We are the richest country in the world because companies can reap the biggest reward here as opposed to any other country in world. If that incentive goes away so will the rest of our jobs. And just remember, the rich already pay a huge percentage of our taxes already and they are consumers as well and we need them buying things to keep our economy strong.

So who do you think I'm voting for??

Kids update

Hayley has been busy going to preschool on Thursdays and Fridays. She seems to be enjoying it. Braxtyn and Elliott are rolling over and are getting a lot stronger. They love to stand against things as long as Jen or I are there to catch them when they fall sideways. I got home today and Braxtyn was going crazy rolling over and scooting backwards. Pretty entertaining stuff.

Hayley and I playing Mario Kart Wii style.

Braxtyn and Elliott playing in their toys

Braxtyn Scooten

Six Months Old!!!

Wow what a ride. Time has been flying by since the twins were born. It seems like yesterday that Jen, Jens Mom and I were trying to soothe these guys the second night we had them home. I've never heard so much crying in my life. We still joke about how Jens mom couldn't wait for her flight outta San Fran that next day. I so would've considered giving the twins up for adoption during those first few months. My head was so foggy from no sleep and the constant crying. Fortunately for us they are two fun babies now. I'd take credit for it but Jen would probably beat me silly. She spent many a night telling me to get my crabby butt sleep and that she didn't want to listen to me whine anymore. So I say to Jen "Nice Work!!!", she definitely deserves a nomination for mom of the year.

Braxtyn Bouncing

Just a quick video of Braxtyn bouncing.

The Helmets Are In

For the last couple week the twins have been wearing helmets to help with their flat heads caused by Torticollis. I'm pretty disappointed that our doctor in CA didn't warn us of it during their one month check up. Both Jen and I tried to rotate the sides these guys would sleep on but they would eventually wiggle their way back to the other side. We should have had them in physical therapy earlier which could have helped them sleep better and reduced the all day crying we had to deal with. I'm not sure what the change is now, whether it be physical therapy or they have just grown out of it, but they are much happier babies now. Even though they both have ear infections again. They sleep a lot better, although they are attached to their pacifiers so a couple times a night one of us has to get up to put it in when they cry. It's amazing to watch them go from a full out cry session to sleeping in a second after putting their pacifier in. I guess that's the next habit to work on breaking.

State Fair

We went to the State Fair for a couple hours the other night. It was pretty fun and the twins didn't cry at all. The food was good but I didn't get to eat fried candy bar on a stick. After eating a turkey sandwich, a caramel roll, and two corn on the cobs I was full. We stayed late to watch the fire works since Hayley didn't get to see any this last forth of July. Hayley was a little bummed she didn't get to ride any rides. She went down the slide with Dad and Mom so hopefully she wasn't feeling too disappointed.

Comparing the Twins to Hayley

More then once I've said "why can't these twins have the temperament Hayley had when she was a infant?" I know a parent shouldn't compare their kids against siblings but it's tough not to. Especially when they are so different. Hayley was so easy going and she was always smiling. Everywhere we went she'd smile at strangers prompting comments such as "she's a keeper" and "what an awesome baby". Hayley was the only baby out of 10 that did not cry at her baptism. By four months Hayley was sleeping through the night most of time. When she started teething she would wake up a here and there but for the most part a quick comforting and she'd be back sleeping. When Hayley was born she had to go to the ICU for four days to monitor her for a possible infection. Having this IV in her head didn't bother her a bit.

Anyway, since the twins were born they have been in constant need of attention. It's so stressful to take them anywhere because it's inevitable they will end up crying. Especially on long road trips. Since they seem to sleep better in the truck we'll even bite the bullet in gas money and drive it instead of the car. They aren't too bad during the day, but around 7pm they start their usual cry fest. One or the other is always in need of something and they do not enjoy laying on the floor like Hayley did. It drives us so crazy. When we had Hayley we didn't know what to expect. It was such an awesome experience we couldn't wait to have another one. Now we sometimes question having more then one. Which makes us feel terrible. There's a couple across the street from us waiting to adopt another child and here we are complaining. Hopefully now that they are closing in on four months old things will get better.

Wally Worst

After about a year of procrastinating getting our hallway painted I finally got to it today. It's been a major pain in the butt. It started a few years back when the wall paper started pulling away from the wall. When Hayley started crawling she tore a bunch more of it off. Eventually I tore off the wall paper when I was home last Christmas which caused a chunck of sheet rock paper and mud to get ripped off as well. I tried skimming the wall but after I sanded the wall I primed the wall only to have a bunch more sheet rock paper come loose. Finally I just started ripping a bunch of the sheet rock paper off and I tried priming over that. Needless to say it looked terrible. I finally gave up and decided I'd spend some time on it to do it right. Since Jen was in Little Falls this week I skimmed the wall again with mud and sanded. I repeated the processes a few times until I got the desired result.

I got up early today (9:00am) to get some more primer and paint from Wal-Mart. I was the only person in the paint area for 10-15 minutes or so. I had picked my color out so I waited for the employee behind the counter to finish putting away a cart full of stuff. Clearly one could see I standing next to the counter waiting for help. Then a couple came walking up looking for paint and they asked a question and the guy started helping them. When he was done I asked if I could get some paint mixed. He said "I was helping them first, I'll get to you when they're done". We'll this is fine but they were picking out a color. So this guy couldn't help me quick and while they were picking out their color. At first I was just going to wait but after thinking about it for a sec I said screw it and I left my cart in the isle with my grocieries that I'd picked up and left. I went to Home Depot where the paint guys behind the counter were more then happy to help me.

I really can't stand Wal-Mart. Why people continue shopping there is beyond me. (Myself included) They've basically undercut all their competitors to the point where there is no competition anymore in many towns. Luckily I live next to a Super Target, it's to bad they don't sell paint.

The Car Seat Dilema

A couple weeks ago we drove home from Little Falls and the Twins fell asleep in their car seat. We brought them in the house and just let them sleep instead of trying to move them into their crib. They woke up about 8 hours later. Whenever we put them in the crib both twins generally wake up once a night or about every 4 hours. Two nights ago they both got up twice and woke up super early. So being super sleep deprived we decided to try letting them sleep in their car seats last night. Braxtyn fell asleep at 9 and Elliot at 9:30. It's 6:30am now and both of them are still sleeping.

When they slept for 8+ hours last time in there car seat I mentioned it at work. I thought maybe we should use their car seats all the time. A girl overheard me and stopped by my cube to tell me that her doctor said that it causes the back of their heads to become flat. I wonder if there is a way to prevent the flat head thing in a car seat. In the crib we use a blanket to prop them up on one side or the other but that's difficult to do in a car seat.

Hayley's First Time Fishing

Sunday Hayley's uncle, Matt, wanted to take Hayley fishing. We were planning on heading home early so my dad could meet the twins for the first time. We tried to sneak in a quick fishing trip, but as it always turns out a quick trip turns into an excursion. The fish were biting within 10 seconds of casting so it was a ton of fun for Hayley. Hayley's grandpa caught a fish and after to unhooked it, he dropped it on the dock and it bounced up into his drink. That was pretty funny. So needless to say we missed my dad. Sorry dad. Anyway, hopefully they'll get to see them soon like over the 4th of July. In the mean time here's some video of Hayley catching fish.





Head on over to the photo gallery from the day if you're interested as well these videos are in full resolution too. Although taking video into the sun didn't work so well.

Unpacking More Boxes

I've basically been on baby watching duty as Jen is going through boxes. She's about half way. I can see outside the porch windows now. It's starting to look promising. Here's some pics of my big helper and the twins.