Hollyhocks

We're Back On!

Shoot! Some gals really want to drink tea!!!! We're back on ladies with at least 5 lovely tea drinkers. I'll see you on Saturday and I am really looking forward to it!!!!Sondra, Nicky, Barbara and Mary Ellen- I'll see ya there. 11am. Looking forward to it. White Linen Tea House.

No Tea For You

 

Now I know why we all have blogs...because it's too hard to get together in real life. All for good reasons, many of the people who initially thought they would be able to attend the Blogger Tea will now not be able to be there so, in the interest of not having people drive from an hour or more away for small numbers of folks, we'll have to cancel...which means, of course, that I won't have to decide which hat to wear of these 2 beauties...

I guess you'll all have to go back to living in my computer.

Nothing's Changed

 

Last weekend I went to our local independent bookstore to browse. Saturday morning is my "me" time when the DH is home with the twins and I wander through the Farmer's Market and have a cup of tea..while it's still hot (!!!). I went to the register to buy the cookbook "Zucchini and Chocolate" and the man at the resister asked me to update my frequent buyer information. After he verified my address he said "o.k. so nothing's changed in the past year"............

It immediately hit me that wow...everything's changed in the past year. I haven't been an OT for 7 months, I spent 4 months on the sofa, I have 2 children now, we painted the house, I recovered from pre-eclampsia, my dad went to live in a nursing home and really, my address is the only thing that hasn't changed.

I think, look and act differently now. I try to devise ways to get the twins to the nursing home by myself so we can visit more often, I worry that I am not holding one as much as the other, I plan to do crunches but never seem to do them, I hear babies crying when they are not and wish they weren't when they are.

For those of you who have children, what were the first few months like? And for those of you who don't, what has changed for you since October 2007?

  

We drove out to Hurd Orchards yesterday for our yearly visit and I changed diapers in the back of the Subaru for the first time. We also stopped in a park on the way home and fed the babies. That was fun. It was a perfect fall day in Western NY.

 

The shop at Hurd Orchards is the stuff of autumn dreams. I bought a still-warm loaf of oatmeal honey bread and had some, toasted, with Thimbleberry Jam this morning. I still have Pear Fig Jam to try and the cider was wonderful. We ate huge Peanut Butter cookies on the way home.

 

They serve afternoon Tea at the orchard and there is a little house next to the shop, decorated with vintage appliances and this...

 

A sewing machine that has been idle longer than mine! On the way home we stopped at an antiques barn and saw these...

 

 

The panels are part of a project, started by a quilter, to decorate area barns. There are some on Route 104 and more nearby. I'll have to find out where the rest are so we can take a drive and see them all. It was a perfect day.

So, although our life is unrecognizable to us after all of these years of continuity, we are adapting and looking forward to all of the experiences that lie ahead. Kitten laughed for the first time on Saturday night-twice! We cried. Rory is now smiling all of the time and she coos with a real baby voice. We are very lucky and very grateful. Cadbury is, as always, our rock.

I did complete one project last week, aside from cooking and baking up a storm...

 

I folded every stitch of fabric that I own (there are 2 more shelves not in the photo...shhh!) with a folding board and enjoyed every minute. I may ultimately be more of a fabric collector than a sewer...

Thank you for visiting Hollyhocks. I hope most of your change was good.

 

Butterscotch Pecan Cookies

 

The recipe for the butterscotch cookies can be found on the Land O' Lakes website along with many other yummy recipes. Consider yourself warned though...these cookies are addictive. 

 I'll close with a couple of photos of the twins at 2 months!

 

 

Thank you for visiting Hollyhocks.

The View From the Crib

  

Hi everybody. Joe here. I'm pretty sure they're dressing me in girl's clothes. Mom says since the dogs are blue this getup is for boys, but look at the collar...and the gathers...

I wanted to give you a little insight into what it's like to be a baby in this house...

First of all, they call the dog their "first son" and they pretty much let him do whatever he wants, which includes sneaking up on me and sniffing the top of my head or my ears. There's nothing like a cold, wet nose and dog breath to wake a guy out of a sound sleep...which I enjoy after a nice bottle of formula...

 

Mom calls this look "milk drunk".I get so happy after a bottle...until...Rory and I are forced to sit in our own urine and excrement for MINUTES!! until we are able to communicate the situation to our parents. Sure they address the problem, but frequent oversights allow drops of moisture to touch my delicate skin...I scream as soon as it happens and they are walking faster now. They also tried some discount diapers which I am not happy about. I fight diaper changes by kicking and crying and trying to flip myself over.

 

One night these rookies took us out an hour and a half before feeding time and forgot the diaper bag. About a half hour later I started screaming by way of warning them that time was short. I screamed for about 15 minutes and mom ran into Target for pre-made formula and bottles, which she filled in the bathroom after sanitizing the immediate area. They always remember the bag now.

 

I do worry, but they really love me and they think everything I do is pretty cute and adorable. I have baby cologne that smells great and they sing to me and move my arms like I'm talking. I try to do cute things like when I cry I say "nye" or "ning" (mom gets a kick out of that) and I hold up my hand in a 4 for dad's work.

They moved us into our own cribs because Rory was turning herself around and kicking me. I would lay there and wait for help and Rory would scream her head off. I think because I was in her way. We're sleeping much better now that we wear our velcro swaddles every night...so cozy. Well, I'll let Rory tell her own story.

I hope they dress me in boy's clothes when we go out at least.

Thanks for visiting the babies at Hollyhocks!