Never a dull moment!

Its been awhile since I written anything. Here I thought I would have all this free time to update my blog regularly. Ha Ha Ha. There are so many little things to take care of when you move out of state, I am learning. I joined a gym which I am really excited about. Although its been hard to go on a regular basis because life keeps happening. I am able to take the babies with me and they go to child care. This is great because it gives them an opportunity to interact with other kids. I am hoping it will also help with their speech. The negative is that they are exposed to new germs and that is what happened after our first visit. They got sick and so did I. We had our first experience with stomach flu. Now I know what its like to clean vomit up from, well, everywhere, including the car. The stomach flu morphed into some kind of cold virus and we were all down for two whole weeks almost. So, no working out for me. Since then I have been able to try several classes including Yoga, Barre, and Zumba. Not which I like the most but its nice to have the variety and keeps me from getting bored.

Unfortunately, my grandmother go very sick about a month ago. My mom was supposed to come visit in March but had to cancel her trip. We lost my grandmother on April 1st. She was 94. I will miss her a lot and enjoyed living close by for the last 15 years or so. It gave me the opportunity to get to know her better than any of my other grandparents which I am grateful for. She set such a good example of what a woman should be, strong, independent and loving. I know she has not been happy for a long time though and wanted to be with her husband, my grandfather who passed in 1992. So, the next day I traveled to Dallas to meet my mom and Aunt and we drove to Tulsa for the funeral. It was good to see my mom and the rest of my family although it is so sad it is always to say goodbye to someone we love. As we were driving away from the cemetery that day I left I realized I had been to four funerals there in the last 5 years; my dad, my grandfather, my uncle and now my grandmother. I hope I don't have to go back for a long time. Although I realize as I get older more and more people I know and love will go, I think my family could use a break.

It was good to get back to Virginia with Tommy and the babies and I even felt like I was home. We have been able to find a beautiful house by Lake Monticello up on the mountain. It is 3 and a half acres, close to the lake and absolutely beautiful. I will write a blog on the house another time but feel its important to mention. Tommy and I cant wait to be there and make it our own and we are sure the kids will love  it.

On top of all this I am in the process of getting ready to start volunteering at the hospital in the NICU and bedside in Acute Pediatrics. I have done my first health screening, which includes a TB test and my next one is Wednesday. Then I go back one more time on Friday and I am hoping to get the "all clear" so I can start training. I am so excited to hopefully make a difference for some of these babies and their families. Having my own babies in the NICU for so long was such a difficult thing to go through. Not knowing what was going to happen, if they would survive, if they would have long term health issues. Wanting so badly for them to be home with us and having to leave them every night. It was all the people that worked in the hospital that helped us through that time and I want to give back in some way. The plan is to start next week if we are able to find a babysitter by then.

Georgia, Jolynne and Mickey are doing really well here. They have much more space to run around in, are saying so many new words every day and getting better at expressing themselves. They are definitely two year olds though and some days can be challenging with all their fighting and temper tantrums. They are also turning into quite the escape artists. They will be 2 and half years old at the end of this month and I will post a more detailed update on how their doing. I want to wait until I have the results from their speech and developmental evaluation that is taking place on Friday. In the meantime, we have been trying to get them out of the house on the weekend and take them to new places. We went to a winery and flew kites a couple weeks ago, we took them to the home and garden show where they got their faces painted, and last week we took them to a carnival where they rode on their first rides all by themselves. Although they all 3 had a great time, the girls did especially. Mickey was afraid of a lot of stuff there which I am sure is just a phase. Its really awesome getting to see them experience these new things and watch their faces. I cant wait to do more new stuff, starting with Easter this coming weekend. We will be dying Easter eggs and doing an egg hunt! We will even attempt to take them to Church.

Look out for my updates on the new house and the babies health. I will continue to try and post more updates than I have been. Its been a crazy couple of months and the next few months will probably be even crazier. My best friend and her family are coming to visit memorial weekend, we will be taking a trip to Richmond to the zoo for Mothers Day, moving into our new home (hopefully) mid-June and then my mom and nephew should be here. Never a dull moment for us! Loving every moment! Here are some pictures to enjoy of our new adventures in Virginia!