The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:
Ryan is starting to walk! He will take about 3 steps at a time and then sit down. It is so cute because he gets so excited about it, and he laughs and laughs. Jenna isn't too far behind. She will pull herself up on something and then let go and stand there for a minute. I cannot wait to see them running around together, it will be the cutest thing. Here's a pic of them in their jammies getting ready to go to bed:

We have been having lots of rain lately. I love the rain! I wish that it would rain more. Macey and Heidi love the rain, too. They like to run around in it and splash in the puddles. Ryan and Jenna prefer to watch the rain from the comfort of their warm, dry house.




Our Mastiff Jake is getting so big so fast. He literally grows overnight! One night he was not quite as tall as Zoe, and the next morning he was taller than her. I still love him so much, he is so good and so incredibly smart. He loves me, too. When I am sitting on the floor playing with the twins he comes over and plops his backside right on me and just sits there on my lap. He better get his fill of it now because soon he will be too big for that!

He's already as big as the twins!

The Bad:
Well, we managed to make it 3 months without any surgeries. I finally had my appointment with the chronic pelvic pain specialist yesterday (I waited 4 months to get in), and within 30 seconds of my appointment he told me that I would be having surgery again. This makes 4 surgeries for me in about 1 year. He has to go in and take out some stuff that they didn't take out when I had my hysterectomy. I am pretty frustrated that I have to go through this all over again. The cool thing is that this surgery is done with a robot! The bad part of that is that they will have to make all new incisions, so I will have a grand total of 6 incision on my abdomen. Scars don't bother me, but I really wish that they could just go through my hysterectomy scars. He found a couple other problems too, but both of those can be taken care of without surgery. His surgery scheduler is going to call me today to get that scheduled. Ugh.

The Ugly:
(Warning: graphic content)
As I said before, we are doing waxing in school right now. Last week my instructor said that she needed a model for a Brazilian wax. My thoughts were that if I was the model, she would do it quick and right, and then I wouldn't have to have someone who was just learning do it on me. I'm not real shy about my body, so I volunteered. So on Tuesday, she had me change into a drape (I don't know why, you're completely naked from the waist down anyway), and she got to work. Like I said, I'm okay with the whole nudity thing, but I guess I didn't take into account that the instructor and all 5 other girls in my class would be standing around just staring at me naked from the waist down. She did the first 2 strips, and holy cow I thought I was going to come off of the table. But I was thinking, "Just bear with it, it will be over soon." Then she says, "Okay, everyone gets to practice now!" Ummmm, excuse me! You are going to let 5 people who don't know how to do this rip hair off my pubic area?!?! The other girls were upset because they could see how much it hurt and they just wanted to have the instructor do it fast and get it over with for me. But nope, she made them all do a strip or 2. Some of them did it fast, which is better, but a couple of them were afraid to hurt me so they were doing it really slow, removing 1 hair at a time. I was screaming, "DO IT FAST!!" I am not sure how many profanities came out of my mouth, but I think I might have set a world record. To make matters worse, the wall of the room is all windows, so everyone who walked by got an eye full. So after everyone had their turn, she said she would just finish it up. Phew, now it will be over soon. Wrong again. The other girls went and started waxing each others' legs and underarms, and any time one them then needed help, she would leave me there naked on the table to go help them. Two hours. That's how long it took to get my Brazilian wax. The best word to describe that experience is "traumatizing". I don't think I have ever experienced pain like that, except maybe a few times during childbirth. Now, you are all probably never going to get a Brazilian wax after that story, but just know that this was definitely not a normal experience, and you can get it done in about 15-20 minutes in a much less humiliating environment. Needless to say, I will not be volunteering any more.

Ouch!

Waxing hurts. Especially when you do your full legs! And your underarms. But it will be worth it, and I will keep waxing until I take my laser class and can laser it all off. Next week we are waxing ALL other areas. Ummmm, yeah. Ouch.
Getting kinda nervous:

Just grin and bear it:

Chakeia and me:

Olympics!

I have been obsessed with the Olympics this year! We DVR every broadcast, and then watch them over and over. Michael Phelps is amazing, and I think that Shawn Johnson is just the cutest little thing ever. I am so glad that she finally beat Nastia and got the Gold on the beam. Heidi is really into the women's synchronized diving, and Macey is excited about the synchronized swimming. And for obvious reasons, we are all enthralled with gymnastics. I was really upset when Alicia Sacramone got completely ripped off by the judges when they scored Cheng Fei higher even after she fell and made multiple mistakes. Alicia deserved that medal, she got robbed. Hopefully we will see her in 2012.

Speaking of gymnastics, Macey and Heidi are in a program now at their gym called TOPS that will prepare them to be at competition level at age 7-8 and Elite level (what you see on TV) by age 12. They are doing so well, I love that they get into it so much. We just want to be sure to keep it fun for them so that they don't get burnt out.

Ryan and Jenna are growing up a little more every day. It is so fun to see them play and interact with each other. Jenna is doing awesome with sign language. She signs milk, more, all done, eat, cracker, bath, and a couple more that I can't think of right now. She mimics everything I say, and she is saying a whole bunch of words. She is also quite the little dancer. Whenever any music comes on, she starts shaking her booty. It's so precious. Ryan is going to be walking soon. He can take steps, but he would rather just be carried around all day. He is a little monkey boy. He wraps his arms and legs around you and won't let go, and he climbs on everything. I am so excited for them to start walking (yes, I said it). It will be so cute to see 2 little diaper tushies running around together.


School is still awesome. We are learning full treatments now, and I must say that my skin is looking pretty good! Getting 3-4 facial treatments a week is fabulous. We are going to be learning waxing next, and I can't wait.
Here's me giving Sharon the Professional Facial Treatment:

Bonnie, Chakeia, and Ms. Sutton:

Samantha:

Donna:

Thanks to everyone who gave their input on puppy names. Samson was my idea and my favorite pick, but Scott and the girls really like Jake, so Jake it is. It's a good name for him, and I like to call him Big Jake or Jakey. He is so sweet, I love him so much! I went shopping the other night and spoiled him a little with dog beds, treats, and toys. He was a good boy that day, he deserved it. His brothers are doing good, I have been emailing with the families that adopted them. They are going to bring them over sometime for a puppy playdate, it will be fun!

Final Score: 4 Kids, 2 Dogs

It was a bittersweet day yesterday, we sold 2 of our Mastiff puppies. I really wish that we could have kept them all, but 3 Mastiffs is just way too much, even for me, and especially with 4 kids. But we did keep one of the little guys. He is so precious, and he is already about 20 lbs at 8 weeks old! The puppies we sold have been renamed Brutus and Diesel, so cute!
Here's puppy loving his new bed:

And snuggling his baby:

And here's Zoe, so happy to be the Top Dog again:

We are having a tough time agreeing on a name for him. So far we have Major, Duke, Jake, Tyson, and Sampson. What do you guys think? Any other ideas? He is the perfect puppy, so he needs a perfect name. I love my new baby boy!

Family Pictures

Here is a sample of the family pictures we had done on the twins' birthday. We had Annie Randall do our pictures, she is so sweet and awesome, and she went to high school with my sister Lisa. Thanks Annie!

Birthday Party!

The twins had a great birthday party! It was a busy day, and they did so good. We had a big family photo session in the morning, the birthday party in the afternoon, and a UFC fight party in the evening! The twins loved their cakes, had a blast opening and playing with their presents, and loved all the attention they got from all of their birthday guests. Everything went smooth, except for a birthday cake tragedy. I was making a big castle cake, and it was so cute until I put the finishing touches on it and then the back of it totally crumbled. My mom went to the rescue and ran to the store for me and we got it handled. But Ryan and Jenna's cakes turned out really cute. It was such a fun day, we feel very lucky for all of the family and friends that we have. Thank you to everyone who came to the party and made it a great 1st birthday for Ryan and Jenna!

Double the cake, double the fun! My little babies are turning one!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN AND JENNA!!! I cannot believe that they are one today. Well, technically they won't be one until 6:10 and 6:12 tonight, but close enough. I love my little twinkies so much. They have taught me so much about love, patience, multitasking (hahaha), and humility. I cannot wait to see how fun the next year will be with them.

I am super busy getting ready for their party, but I will definitely post pics later. Happy Birthday little Peanuts!

104%

I got 104% on my first big test at school! Obviously, there were some extra credit questions. The test was 330 questions and 24 pages long. There is so much more to skin care than just facials, it is unbelievable. But I am pretty proud of myself, especially with everything else I have going on right now (4 kids, 5 dogs,...).

Speaking of dogs, we have decided that we are going to keep one of our Mastiff puppies and rehome the other two. We just don't need over 600 pounds of dog around here. They are almost ready to go to new homes, so if anyone is interested in buying one, let me know. These are the two that are available for adoption:

Halloween

Yes, I know that it's only August, but I just couldn't resist buying these Halloween costumes for the twins when I saw them. I cannot wait to see them in them!

Tons of Fun Stuff!

The past several days have been very eventful for our family! It's all good stuff, which is always nice. Over the weekend we had a swimming/BBQ party with our friends Joe and Angie Giannotti, and we had a great time! The kids all had fun playing with each other.





Yesterday Ryan got his first hair cut, and he looks so handsome! It's short enough now that we can spike it, and I just about die of cuteness every time I look at him.



Our little Jack Russel Carley has been nipping at the twins lately, and I am so afraid that she is going to end up biting one of them, so we are sadly going to have to rehome her. Scott said that I could replace her with another dog, so I started searching and found some puppies that I have been wanting for a really long time. I didn't think Scott would go for it, since it was an English Mastiff! They are the sweetest most beautiful dogs ever, but they are enormous! Much to my surprise, Scott said I could have one! He went to go pick one out for me last night, AND HE CAME HOME WITH 3 OF THEM!!! The mother had died giving birth to 9 puppies, and the owners had bottle-fed them all. Scott thought it would be fun to take several of them to help these poor people out. I don't know how this is going to work out, but we will see. The dad was 175 pounds at 1 year old, and the mom was 175 fully grown. They are the cutest little things ever. They are all males, and we named them Maximus (Max), Caesar, and Zeus.







And finally, Macey and Heidi started school today! We were all so excited. Macey went to 1st grade, and Heidi is in pre-K. Macey didn't want to kiss me good-bye in front of her friends, so I guess I am just going to have to get used to that. Heidi gave me a quick kiss and then went to play with her friends. So now I am home, the twins are sleeping, and I should be studying for my test tomorrow but instead I am blogging and playing with puppies!