This and that

Yesterday I got a baby fix! Oh, my! Those two girlies are so very sweet! Their poor Mama is exhausted beyond belief, though! Say a little prayer for her, willya? Also, the Drs are keeping an eye on the twins' weights. Jen's milk hasn't come in (she is nursing...or trying to!) and Cadence lost a whole POUND! YIKES! Hayleigh lost quite a bit, too. So, they are not allowed to sleep longer than 3 hours; they are to nurse for 12 minutes, and then be "topped off" with a bottle (breast milk if available, otherwise formula. Between nursing, caring, and pumping, Jen got 3 hours of sleep in 24. And there is little we can do, since she is nursing, and trying to establish her milk supply. Patience...hopefully in a month, things will have evened out!

Yesterday we had early dismissal, due to the snowstorm. So I spent the afternoon holding the girls, and putting tiny bows and barrettes (which I made!) in their hair! Daddy was out plowing snow, so I was filling in! No problem! :)

Today we had a 90 minute delay, which is nice in terms of sleeping in, but CRAZY in terms of the day, because it squishes all my runs together, giving me little time in between the morning and noontime ones. Basically, I had just enough time to run to our town's food bank and go "shopping"...yep, we are that poor! Well...money poor...but really, we are blessed...we have a home, each other, and folks we dearly love and who love us. What could be better?!? And thanks to the the food bank, we have food! They don't have meat, or much fresh stuff, so that is a bit sparse around here. But we have lots of canned goods, thank the Lord! We will never starve! I had 10 min. to run it home, then it was off to work again.

Tonight was ShaoXi's Winter Band Concert. She apparently liked performing, as she came home and said she decided she WOULD take band again next year. She was sure she didn't want to, but I am glad she is going to hang on a little longer. This is her third year, and I hate to see three years go down the tubes. On the other hand, this is one area I won't push her in. If she wants to quit, she may, although NEVER in the middle of the year. That is BEING a quitter, which I don't tolerate. But she is SO dedicated to her ballet, and dances four days a week, and so many hours, that anything else she does above that is gravy. Of course, grades are paramount in our home. And she does well. Last year she was high honors all year. This year the first trimester was honors. Truth is, as long as she tries her best, and gets at least a C, I wouldn't be upset. I mean, C is AVERAGE...if the teacher is truly using the "bell curve", then the biggest majority of the class is getting a C. Anything above that is better than the norm, in my book. Do I love to see the A's and B's? You bet...but she pushes herself far harder than I ever would, really. This is a kid who will never allow herself to just let slide through anything. She is motivated and eager, for which I am thankful.

That's about it from here. Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the week: Thursday. It is the ONE weekday that Shao does NOT have dance, and so it is much more low key, and we can have a nice dinner together. I like that. Summer will be nice...no dance after the first week in June. While she misses it some, it is also nice to have 3 months of down time. She is pretty good about keeping limber, and practicing, etc. Like I said, the kid is motivated! She sets her alarm clock, gets herself up, dressed and fed every morning, and off on the bus by herself. I'm there, but I don't get up until she comes in to say goodbye on her way out the door. What a kid! Blessings....Nancy