Christmas Eve

Christmas #4:We start Christmas Eve with breakfast at Grandmother's. Heather and I helped cook for the first time. I guess we're grown ups officially!

After we force the kdis to eat, we tear into the gifts. The hit gifts for the kids were Webkinz, more about that later!Ashton's favorite gift was a chef outfit complete with her name on it since cooking cupcakes is her and Grandmother's thing!
A quick aside: the ball just dropped as I type this. They say what you're doing at midnight on New Year's is what you'll be doing all year so I guess get ready for some great posts this year!

We always take family shots in front of the tree, see the much grown Dodd clan (note my carefully crafted matching outfits and Wesley in a baseball outfit since he spit up on his nice outfit!). We also always take a sister picture. When I said time for a sister picture my sweet baby girl ran and grabbed my hand bc/ the only way she got over her severe disappointment of not having a sister was by deciding that she and I are sisters, so she figured she should be in the picture and I didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise!
Wesley models mine and Jon's favorite gift- formula!
The scariest for moms and most exciting for kids gift was this go cart from my dad. I can't even wrap my mind around it yet!


We actually got time for naps. Jackson was so cute. He fell asleep while building his electric circuits kit, one shoe on one off.

#5:Christmas Eve night, Mawmaw's. We celebrate with over 30 people (the scary part as I look about all those people I realize they all come from Mawmaw's 4 children, like me one day- LOVE IT!). The twins fell asleep on the couch. It was funny because they were sleeping in the exact same position. I absolutely love this picture of Will with the tree lights behind him.
Wesley and his too cute uncle Ty.
What a great big brother, teaching Will how to play piano already!

After all this fun, time to head home and jump in our matching pj's before Santa comes!

Christmas Cuteness

This is dedicated to Ashley who asked if I were ever going to blog again! I know Heather'd be asking to if she were in town. Sorry for my absence. I just take too many pics and was dreading going through them and choosing then shrinking them from our 8, yes 8, Christmas get togethers, not counting Sunday School party, friends get together and the kids' 5 Christmas shows!

Here goes, get ready to do some scrolling!
#1: A Clark Christmas: Friday night at Uncle Jimmy's church. Last year this is where we made our 1st big twin announcement and were met with nervous silence! No announcements this year (boy, did we answer that question a lot at all the Christmases!).

#2: Floyd Christmas: Saturday night, Legos for Jackson plus Tyler's help building them and a fashion show stage for Ashton. Tyler also brought a girlfriend for the 1st time who was a big hit bringing the Underdog movie for the kids!


#3 Christmas Eve Eve at Grandmother's: Sunday night filled with early gifts and lots of games. Justin was a lot of fun making hilarious faces every time the big kids would drive their remote control car close to him. My dad works all year I think to come up with a Christmas prank. It used to be on us, once it was on my great-grandmother (one of those jumping ball baby toys wrapped up and laughing, she cackled!) and now it is on our kids. Therefore, the remote control car was wrapped and started moving away when the kids would try to open it!


So much fun already and Christmas not even officially here!

Of Cribs, Grinches and Singing Babysitters...

It is only 10:30 a.m. and so much has happened in the Dodd household already that I had to post about it even though I should be cleaning!!! It all started with a momentous occasion for the twins who slept in their cribs in their own rooms last night! This is very ironic for those of you who know how my poor husband killed himself to build them a nursery in April when I was put on bedrest, and now 8 months later they are using it for the first time!

My sweet, laid back Wesley lay right down in his crib and watched the rainforrest music and lights show on the side of his crib until he fell asleep. He woke up at 12:30 and 4:00 but went back to sleep after I inserted a pacie. When he awoke at 5:00I brought him to bed to snuggle with me just like I used to Jackson (who consequently slept in my bed until age 5, so maybe not the best idea, but really sweet!). He then slept until 8. This was the first night in a few he hasn't eaten. I'm so excited he slept so well in his crib, see..

Then there was Will...Jon had to swing him to get him to sleep. He wasn't as amused by the rainforrest as Wessie! He was be out cold and Jon would lay him in his bed, and he would scream like he had laid him on a bed of nails! It was awful! It took almost an hour to finally get him to sleep out of Daddy's arms. Yes, I know everyone says to let them cry it out, but that is hard to do when you have another one in the room you don't want to wake up! As usual, once he got to sleep he was fine. He didn't wake up once until 10:00a.m. looking very pleased with himself...
Onto the next child's drama. Jackson had to dress as the grinch today. We dressed him in green clothes, and I sprayed his hair green. He looked great! However, the face paint we had bought was only for adults. I decided not to let him wear it because I didn't want him to have an allergic reaction at school. Well, he had a come apart. Forget everything he did have, he could only focus on the one thing he didn't have! I was so frustrated with him because he wasn't seeing how cute he looked! Then I got downright mad when he wouldn't smile for a picture because, you know me: it's all about the scrapbookable moments! In a not-my-best parenting moment (boy, there's been a lot of those this week) I threatened to put his Webkinz in time-out all weekend (a fate worse than death to a 6 year old) if he didn't smile for my picture. Here it is, notice his heart that is "5 sizes too small". I even made him a bigger heart to change to when he wants to be the reformed grinch!

Upon reflection, I don't know what I was so upset about. My son is obviously a method actor. He was just getting into character! So, without threats and forced smiles by mommy, here's the REAL grinch as seen in my living room this morning!
Not to leave out the girl...After breakfast the babies like to sit in their bouncy seats and watch TV (bad parenting rears it's ugly head again, but they get mad if I put their toy bar on the seat as it blocks thier view!). I told Ashton to watch them and ran upstairs to grab a quick shower. When I got out I heard Wesley fuss, and then Ashton start singing. The crying stopped. I snuck down the stairs, camera in hand to see Ashton putting on a concert for her baby brothers. She was singing and dancing (songs from High School Musical, of course) and the boys loved it! You can't beat a singing babysitter, just ask Mary Poppins! (Please note the huge box of goldfish on the table that she grazes out of all day if I don't hide it!)

So, that's our Dodd day so far. There's much more to come as we try to get the green hair color out. and then we have a big trip to see Santa and the lights at Opryland tonight!

Photo Shoot

Today was the twins' 4 month pictures (we're late for the 3 month bc/ I had to cancel bc/ I was in the hospital). Though I'm kind of ruining some Christmas presents for family, I had to share these cute pics!

Catching Up

Where was I in October and November? Not blogging apparently! I'm going through some pics form then and trying to catch up on things I missed on my blog. I had to post these pics from my brother's band contest because I am so proud of him following in my band footsteps like I've always brainwashed him to do! He's in Page High's band. They are GREAT, which is a big change from when I went there. I went to Page Middle but was less than excited about joining their small band, which was the main reason I transferred to Franklin. I met Jon at band camp, so it was obviously meant to be. In fact, he was actually wearing a bra and make-up the first time I saw him as part of a rookie torture scheme. I can remember it so clearly, though I'm sure he wishes I would forget it or at least stop talking about it!

Anyway, back to my little brother. Page is now incredible! I LOVE watching them perform. This night was the state competition at Independence. Tyler plays the trumpet, though my favorite thing is to watch him play cymbals in drum line though it sometimes appears he's going to be decapitated with the moves they do! They won state for the 4th or 5th time in a row breaking the record! They also won lots of others awards as you can see by the big pile of trophies. For some reason I took awful pics that night of them marching, so I'll just show off pics of him with his loyal fans (me, my mom, and stepdad). I'm not sure how it happened that my "little" brother became this really tall 16 year old!

Big Boy Milestone

Today was a big day in the Dodd house as the twins had their first food! They weren't crazy about it as most babies aren't. I was surprised though because my chunky Wesley never turns food down, but he actually liked the food less than Will. Wesley made the classic awful face I remember Jackson making. Will didn't love it but took it in stride and even smiled some.



Of course, Jon had to get in on the action!

We are trying the cereal as a way to get them sleeping thought the night. They are actually kind of sleeping through the night. The problem is; they are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Wesley falls asleep early. About 10 Will wakes up in the best mood raring to go. He's really cute and fun at that time of the night. I have to fuss at Jon for playing with him and getting him all riled up at bedtime, just like he does the big kids. Several nights Will has kept us up past midnight while Wesley snoozes. I'm afraid Jon is spoiling him (albeit out of despertion) by doing his famous "swinging" that he spoiled Jackson and Ashton to before they could fall asleep. Will is definatley a night owl like his mommy. Unfortunately, Wesley takes after his daddy and is apparently a morning person. He wakes up about 3 or 4 to eat! My little piggie can't sleep through the night because he can't go that long without eating! I actually don't mind getting up with him that much. It's amazing how simple it seems to get up with just one baby! Jon and I keep laughing that we'll never again have sympathy for those with just one baby!

It was bound to happen...

and it finally did. It's a good thing Jon had his "procedure" because we can't handle 5 kids apparently. Here's what happened (and I pray that child services don't happen to read my blog!). Baylor came home with us after church to hang out until choir practice. We had to drive to church seperately since our van can't handle 5 kids. I was a little ahead of Jon with the babies and the girl. Jon pulled in when I was carrying Wesley in. I made sure he saw me with Wes. The big kids were running around, and Jon and I were doing a dozen things. Suddenly I stopped and asked Jon if he brought Will in. He said he didn't! Will had been asleep THANK GOODNESS! He was only there about 5 minutes, but it was a horrifying feeling. Like I said, it was bound to happen! Of course, having twins we work really hard not to play favorites, or least favorites as in this case! So, since we left Will in the car, we let Wesley ride to church last night not fully buckled in-yikes! Jon and I decided it probably wasn't our best day in parenting history, and I know that he is thrilled that I'm posting it for the world to see! Here's to a better tomorrow (and by better I mean hopefully less than 50% of our children's lives will be endangered! YIKES, I'm abbout to call child services on myself!).

Gall Bladderless Blogger...

So, I'm back. I wonder how many times I'm going to start my blog with that sentence after long absences. Of course, it isn't like I've been off on exotic vacations or eating bonbons. I stopped blogging a few weeks ago because every time I tried to think what I wanted to talk about all I wanted to say was, "My back hurts! My back hurts!" I figured you poor people are tired of hearing the sob story that has been my health lately. After suffering with what I thought was the worst back attacks of my life all night I would be exhausted during the day. Finally, the Friday before Thanksgiving when the pain was so horrid I became sick to my stomach Jon finally took me to the ER. I had my gall bladder out early Sat. morning. I was supposed to go home Sunday afternoon. Jon already had groceries in the car and my pain prescription filled, and my IV was out when my temp. went up. They kept me until Tuesday when I walked out in all my open down the back gown glory and informed the nurses' desk that they could find the doctor to release me, or I would release myself because I hadn't seen my babies in 5 days, and I was going home! It worked, and I got to see my babies who I swear had grown- A LOT!
I'm so afraid all of you will quit reading my blog because something bad always seems to be happening! So, I'm determined to always see the positive things! Instead of continuing to be bummed about the fact that I've been in the hospital 7 or 8 times in the last 7 months (I have honestly lost count!, I have decided to celebrate all the things I learned from the situation. So, here goes...

What I learned from emergency gall bladder surgery:

1. I can't handle my morphine. Not only did it make me itch and swell, I had lots of conversations with people that didn't weren't in the room.

2. I am mean to my husband when in pain and on drugs. When they wheeled me in from surgery, I asked him to get me ice. After 3 starts, he still hadn't given me ice. I informed him he had 30 seconds to get me ice or I was going to divorce him. The nurse got a kick out of it! I also continually mummbled in my drugged state, so he would lean in to hear me. Then I would come to and tell him to get out of my face!

3. Though for 16 weeks I have been dreaming of sleeping through the night, it's not as fulfilling when you're so drugged you can't appreciate it.

4. When on said drugs and forced to watch Soaps for lack of anything else on, it is very disconcerting when they are doing a hazy dream scene. Add that on to your actual dream like state and things get really out of whack and you think you might be totally loosing it.

5. Doctors and especially nurses don't hesitate to give you good drugs when you have a good reason (probably becaue it makes their patients easier to deal with), but use them sparingly. I came home with 2 bottles of Oxycotin. I took one (pill, not bottle) when I got home and 20 hours later when I came to, I decided maybe some Tylenol would be better. If I had any less morals I'd try to sell it to pay our medical bills! JK:)

6. Showers are an underappreciated luxury, and 5 days is WAY too long to go without one.

7. Being a recovery room nurse would be fun (Sonja, feel free to sahre stories!) because I'm pretty sure when I woke up I heard one nurse tell the other, "She's out of it. She's already told me she's straight 3 times." Which begs the question what was she doing that made me feel like I should tell her I was straight! Scary and embarrassing!

8. When the doctor tells you you can't go home until you start walking more in order to fend off pneumonia, you will walk the halls for hours on end even in an open-backed gown and an extremely unwashed state!

9. 5 days is way too long to go without seeing your babies (unless of course, you're somewhere tropical with your husband!).

10. Lastly, this being my first surgery experience after learning how I respond to medication and that they hurt, I am beginning to rethink my dream of having some work done to have some unmentionable areas restored to post baby status!

There you have it, 10 wonderful things learned from a horrible experience. I just hope the hospital doesn't see this or they'll probably try to charge me for the learning experience like they did for the murky water they called a liquid diet! Also, FYI don't quit reading my "bad news blog" as my new year's resolution is to stay Jon's "vertical wife" as he calls the non- bed rest/hospitalized version of me that can actually do housework! Here's to a hopsital free new year and a return to happy blogging!