Girls are fun

Tonight after dinner I was cleaning up as I usually do. The girls were all playing together quite well. This does not happen as often as I would like. ;) Anyway, I could hear Madeline stomping around upstairs and then I heard the gate close which meant that she was coming back downstairs. Madeline was busy being the "little mommy" as she usually is. I hear her in the living room trying to tell Ava what to do and I am just laughing to myself about how cute these kids are! The next thing I see is Lucy walking around the kitchen with the cutest dress up outfit on. A snow white top and a pink, I don't know, ballerina thing?? Anyway, she is laughing and she must think that she looks sooooo cute...and she does! LOL Next thing I hear is Ava laughing and she is wearing Madeline's Princess Aurora dress up which is 10 times to big for her. The girls see each other and proceed to laugh some more. Madeline is very proud of herself for dressing the girls up. It was just such a sweet moment to see all three girls laughing and having a good time together. It melted my heart. :)

I guess I need to be updating more often! The busy life we live in the Siler house has put a lot of the things I do on hold. So, here is an update as to what we have been doing. We started a retaining wall project in our backyard about a week before Christmas and we are still working on it. It seems like every step takes 4 days to complete, but, it is FINALLY almost done so that should make some more time for me. Other than that I started my classes last week. I really think I am taking on more than I can handle though. I have 3 classes, one with a lab, for a total of 10 units. That might not seem like a lot, but when you are taking care of three kids, a house and a husband, that is a lot! I am really thinking hard about dropping my Anatomy class with the lab. I need to get all A's in my classes to better my chances of getting in the part time nursing program and with the load I have I will not be getting A's. I have until the 26th to withdraw from the class without it showing on my transcript. Maddie's school is getting a bit more challenging for her. She is in the highest reading group and I think they are finally at a point where she is not bored everyday, which is huge for her. She comes home reading books all the time. It is SO incredible to see her learn and grow. I have been trying to help out at her school at least once a week. I am a firm believer in parent participation. I love being able to be a part of Maddie's life this way and watch Maddie excel. She is such a smart little girl.

The twins are now taking one nap a day. They are in that phase where 2 naps is to much and one may not be enough. It has been a rough week, but I can see it getting better. They sleep about 1 1/2 to 2 hours for their one nap and I think if they increased it to 2 1/2 hours they would be much happier. On a brighter note, Lucy language is exploding and Ava is starting to talk a little more too. They are both happy and growing well. Plus, they have not been sick for a few weeks!! Knock on wood, right?

I got my hip x-rays back and they were normal for the most part. My PCP said they were great, but then when I went to go see the orthopedic Dr. he pointed out a small abnormality of my hip bone and the socket. He said there is a slight chance that I could have been born that way, or it was a resulting injury from the pregnancy. He wouldn't go into detail about my options because he wants me to have another test done first. The test is an MRI with a needle in my hip joint to fill it with dye... (I hope this does not hurt!!!) He said after we get the results of that test we can discuss our options. He did day that he knows a great physical therapist, but he doesn't think he would be able to help me... This leads me to believe that surgery may be my only option, but I am going to TRY not to go crazy thinking about that... the last think I want to do is have hip surgery!

Anyway, every one is happy and healthy. I will try to get some pictures up soon!

One more thing

Last night Chris, Maddie and I all went to this show at Arco Arena called "Walking with Dinosaurs". I have to admit that I was not all that thrilled to go to this show. Don't get me wrong, I was interested, just not thrilled. Well after seeing the show I was amazed! I was interested the whole time and it was so awesome seeing the life like dinosaurs. Maddie loves dinosaurs so we have been reading up on them in magazines and various books which made this show even more interesting. I wish I could have taken some better pictures, but they would not allow flash photography, so I got what a I got.

This is some wild weather we are having!

The news said that we would have a big storm coming into California today, and this time they were right! The rain and wind started last night and peaked around noon today. We lost power to our house for about 2 1/2 hours. At first I thought the rain and wind was fun, but taking care of three kids with no power is quite a challenge! Our house was dark and for the first time in my life I experienced making lunch for the kids by candle light. LOL We ate in the dark and no one seemed to care. :) As a result of the heavy winds and rain we have 3 sections of fence that blew down and now need to be repaired, a tree that fell down right on the border of our neighbor's yard and ours (thankfully it is their tree!! :) ) and we had some minor flooding in our backyard. Over the last year Chris fixed the drainage problem we had at our house which would leave us with water in our heater vents in the family room and the sump pump going off every 5 seconds... This year I am relieved to say that the sump pump has not gone off one time and there is no water in our heater vents. :) Good job honey!

Chris is working today and helping whoever needs help. He started his shift at 8am and when I talked to him tonight at 7pm he said they had gone on 12 calls already today! Wow, and the day is only half over. Unfortunately, he still has to work tomorrow too.... poor guy is going to be exhausted! Not that is has been any easier at home...

A pain in the... hip!

Finally, after 16 months of pain, I went to the Doctor yesterday to find out why my hip is still hurting. After I gave birth to the twins in August of 2006 I have had limited motion and I have had to limit my physical activity due to my left hip hurting. ( Their combined weight was almost 13 pounds, no wonder!!!) After working out at the gym or going on to long of a walk I would wind up having very bad pain that would cause me to limp around for a few days. I have read many articles on the Internet saying that this is common, but it usually goes away by 6-8 months post partum and occasionally can take up to 12 months. So I waited, and I waited, and then I waited some more. Finally, after being so frustrated that I can't work out and get into shape the way I want to, I decided to get it checked out. The Doctor confirmed that is is my hip, not muscular, so now I have to go get an x-ray done. The Doctor seems to think that I may have chronic inflammation, which I would have to get cortisone shots for, or I may have injured the actual bone. There was one condition that really scared me that is called hip osteonecrosis. This is where my hip bone has decreased blood flow (caused by the pregnancy) and the bone starts to die. Whatever the reason for the pain I am looking forward to getting it fixed so I can resume with my active lifestyle. I am in the worst shape of my life and it really sucks not being able to do anything about it...