First Injury of the Summer

The date on this photo is wrong...it was taken today, August 31, 2008.

Last night around 9:00, Brian was chasing the 4 little girls around the living room, growling. He startled Clare, who spun around to run away, but she lost her footing and went down on her left arm. Immediately she starting saying that her arm was numb. I knew that didn't sound good, but most people who know Clare are aware of her "tendency to over-dramatize things," so I had her rest quietly for a while to give the initial pain and indignation time to fade. After 15 or 20 minutes, though, she was still crying harder than usual, couldn't rotate her wrist, and her legs were shaking.

After a few quick phone calls and an emergency baby-sitter (thanks, Mam-Mam) we were off to the E.D. During a surprisingly short (45-min total) visit, it was confirmed that she did indeed break her arm - a buckle fracture of the left radius near the insertion. They gave her a half-cast wrapped in a bandage, which will be replaced by a full cast this week, which will probably be on for three weeks)

She's not in much pain at all and is in pretty good spirits, all things considered.

Here's the picture we'll use when she wants to engender sympathy...

Clare lost a tooth!

It's been at least a year since she lost her bottom front teeth, so she was so excited when her top one started to wiggle. She yanked it out herself. Here's a picture of the Toothless Twins, Clare & Heidi.This was Tuesday August 4th. On Sunday, Clare left for 5 days in New Jersey with maternal grandparents, and she came home on Thursday the 13th with the other top tooth wiggling. By Friday she had pulled that one out as well! No more corn on the cob for a while!

Some unforgettable moments in July...

Aren't they cute? Here's a rare moment when the're not mad at each other, both ready to leave to work the same shift at the same stand at the park. Too bad they can't stand each other, huh?



These next two really need no explanation...




Noelle has developed an affinity for lying prone on the cool, hard floors. She does this all the time. Andy even found her like this one night when he found that she was missing from her bed. It's gotten a lot more complicated now that they can reach doorknobs and let themselves out. He went to check all the windows one night during a terrific storm, and only found one twin in bed. After a quick search, he found her all alone downstairs in the dark, fast asleep face down on the kitchen floor. Go figure.


They have both recently shown a fondness for eggs. Cracking them, that is. I stepped out of the room while getting ready to make breakfast. Probably went to do something lazy and frivolous, like use the bathroom. Anyway, they both figured out how to push a chair over to the counter. Two chairs and eleven eggs later, this is what I found when I returned.
They did it again today in the upstairs kitchen, even though I had the fridge barricaded with a full bucket of drywall compound. I have no idea how they moved it.



This is Noelle learning a new trick. Click on the picture for a close-up so you can see the pleased-as-punch little smile on her face. Argh - I went through this once already with Brian! Oh, and they can both scale up to the top of that chain link fence in the background.


The perennial favorite - the yellow truck. This was a gift from Pap & Mam on Brian's 2nd birthday. It is now missing the door, the tailgate and the gas cap, but they still play with it every day. I will often find Natalie in particular, just sitting in the driver's seat.No matter how much grass we now have, inevitably the truck ends up pushed in the bare dirt section.


This was taken right before the carjacking.



Here they are at bedtime on their 19 month "birthday." Natalie is closer to the bed rail. Gosh, look how long their legs are getting.

Video: Backyard Carjacking

Natalie is in the driver's seat, and Noelle wants in. And she gets in, too. Little stinker.

Cooperative play, my eye.

Be It Ever So Humble Part III - the second floor

I finally got around to taking pictures of the upstairs. First of all, the piano was delivered last week and tuned this week. We are very happy to have you back, piano! We had it placed along the stair wall. Our lovely but disgruntled tour guide Clare will show you to the upstairs. You go up three steps, and turn to the right for the rest of the staircase...

There is an accordion-pleat door at the top of the stairs. It doesn't slow the babies down much, though.

At the top of the stairs there is a wide hallway with five doorways - two to the left, one straight ahead, and two to the right.

Turning immediately to your left, the delightful Theresa will escort you into the first bedroom, belonging to herself and Clare.


They have a built-in vanity top and dresser along the wall.



A rainbow mural on the wall

And a tall, deep closet with built-in drawers
The previous owner left the beds and the bedding for them. She even bought new stuffed animals for their beds!


Back in the hall, going clockwise, the next door leads into the twins' room


They share a double bed, with enough room for a tired parent to lie down in case they are taking too long to fall asleep. We are leaving it with clean, wide-open spaces for now. There is another tall, deep closet in this room, perfect to play hide-and-seek.
The next door leads into the 2nd floor bathroom


Continuing to the right, we enter the danger zone . . . Brian & Conor's room


It is a spacious room with a linoleum floor, perfect for cars and legos.

Here they are seen exercising their thumbs, vis-a-vis playing GameCube. The room has a built-in air conditioner, and the boys routinely keep it about 56 degrees in there. Conor had a sore throat the second week from keeping it so cold.


The room has a large closet with folding doors. They put a dresser in there to keep more floor space open for construction, or smackdowns.


Clare (and her glass candy dish) would like to show you into the next room. We never thought we'd be able to say this, but it's our SPARE ROOM. Imagine that, a room that has no occupants, and no urgent and immediate purpose! It is actually what is known as a walk-through bedroom. You have to go through this room to reach the next floor, which doesn't allow for much privacy.

We thought about keeping the twins here, since this room is just below the master bedroom, but then anybody wanting to go up to the rec room would have to pass through the twins room (or NOT, if the babies were sleeping). So the plan for now is to use this room as a school room once we start school again. Right now it's another cozy place to hang out and we've been keeping the computers there as well. I refer to it as The Lounge.



Just behind the door is a built-in bookcase, and a closet on the other side.





That window on the left faces out onto that inaccessible high porch that can be seen from the exterior pictures. One of the projects on our to-do list is to replace that window with french doors that open onto the high porch.


The closed door is another closet, albeit a shallow one. The plan is to open up the space between the light switches and make another built-in bookcase. Theresa is standing in the open doorway that leads to the third floor- the master bedroom, storage areas, third floor bathroom, rec room, upstairs kitchen, and Sarah's & Scott's bedrooms. But those pictures haven't been taken yet, so ta-ta until next time!