I'M BACK - did anybody miss me? Ok, we'll I missed you!!!

Last weekend was PRETTY crazy with family life, so I need to take a step back, catch my breath again (shed a few tears), pull up my BIG girl undies, and start fresh.
Everything things seems to be a bit better. I really could go on, and on, about how my family thinks I am their own personal servant, but I'd rather not.

This blog has always been my "outlet" for when things get tough, but some things you just don't really need to share with the rest world, right? You know like, husband and wife issues, kid issues, dog issues, fish issues, etc, etc, etc...are you catching my drift?

Let see, last week was a total bummer. Found out Carson and Cooper are ranking pretty high for another surgery next year to repair the repair. Does that make any sense? As you saw in a couple of posts prior, Carson and Cooper's skulls aren't closing the way they should be, and the ridges need to be smoothed down. I SERIOUSLY think they forgot to mention that to us when we first were considering surgery. "Carson and Cooper's surgeries, may require surgery. Are you cool?" AH - NO! I don't know how common this issues is of not closing correctly, but it's happening to almost everyone else's kids who had the same surgery. What's with that???

Carson had an appointment with a new "loser" of a pediatric neurosurgeon. OMG!!! It was
T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E!! Carson was needing to be seen for her rocking that she does. We are trying to pinpoint why she rocks. Is it neurological? Is it a sensory thing? Is it a comforting thing? Is it buggin' the hell out of her mother thing? We don't know. So, we saw Dr. "loser".
Carson and I were waiting ever so patiently - which is tough for a 22 month older you know, and in walks Dr. EGO! My first impression, HIGH SCHOOL PREP WHO WOULDN'T GIVE YOU THE TIME OF DAY! There was no, "Hi", I'm Dr.Loser" or "Hi Cindy, Hi Carson, nice to meet you?" Or "Hello, this must be Carson." It wasn't like that at all. I would guess he is probably Very early 30's, and thinks he is the shit of all SHIT! If you had a question about who made the BIG BUCKS in the room, you knew as soon as he walked in. No question there!
I was asking all sort of neurological questions, and he was looking at me like, you're wasting my time lady. Finally, after 10 minutes, the ego came down a bit an I was finally able to talk to him, you know, as GOD to peeon. I had mentioned that I had asked Dr. Jensen to repeat a CT for Carson -since is had been 6months since her last one. He agreed, and called for a CT (Gee, I am so glad I am on top of this CT thing. When in doubt, order a CT. Seriously, I could be the doctor.)
So, once again we will be heading down to CHW on the 10Th for another CT. Carson is just thrilled - I know it!

Then on Friday, I found out that my childhood friend's Grandfather had passed away. You know, If women had balls, I'd tell yah, God had just kicked me straight in the middle of them. If my week hadn't started off like crap, it was sure ending crappy. Kerri's grandfather was a grandfather to all of her friends. He will be missed deeply. So, we will be at the funeral this week. I am so sorry Kerri!

We did however have a terrific weekend. My wonderful friend Molly's little guy, KJ, had just turned 5 and was having his birthday bash. In btwn all of that they are trying to sell their house. We'll guess what???? I know the ending of that saga. If you need to catch up on that, go here. I guess you will just have to wait until she posts again. Or for a 100.00 I will tell you the ending. Are you a gambler? Do you REALLY want to risk it?????

until next time....

Come on over ---->

Hey Everyone:

If you haven't noticed I broke my blog!! See ---> No sidebar. So, I decided to start new!!!

If you would like to continue stalking me and my family, here is the link.

Hope to see you there!!!

http://coletwins.blogspot.com

I believe

Today, Carson and I will be leaving once again for Children's Hospital for her surgeries tomorrow.

I know it is no where near the magnitude of last years surgery,

but it STILL scares me, they STILL have to put her under, and they will

still be surgically repairing her.
I don't know if there is ever an "easy" surgery, But I guess for us, this is it.

STILL doesn't make me feel any better.

I will report more as I know more.

This will be our life line to our friends and family.

I will update when I can.

I don't really like this video, but love the song.

Thanks

Diamond RioI Believe

Music Video Codes By Music Jesus.com

Happy 7th Anniversary Matt!

Tomorrow is Sunday, which is also the 19th of August, which is also our 7 year anniversary. I am sad that I don't have any wedding pics to post, But I do have this.....

Our wedding song - If you listen to the words carefully you will hear something else strange that happened with us. Maybe it was a sign of what was to come. To me it's just plain weird.


We've been through a lot in the last 7 years. We are happy to say we are an Internet success story though! Who would have thought a boy from Indiana and a girl from Wisconsin would have made it this far. To be honest, I never told my parents the real story of how we met until the day of our "couples" shower. I was afraid my parents wouldn't approve, but that is all behind us now.

Matt - I know it hasn't been the easiest the last year and a half, we've had some heartaches, but we've replaced it with a lot of laughter. Thank you. Thank you for being by my side.

I love you!

Happy Anniversary!
Thanks for the Suburban!

Our family is now complete

Ok - so we made a big purchase today and when I say big, I mean BIG.

Last week my girlfriend and and her dear husband made a purchase as well, but for a different cause. Kevin may need to take his clients out to lunch. Who wouldn't want to ride in this sweet car! I wish that car would work for our family. But no. See, their aren't to many options for a family of 6 - 4 kids in car seats, a 60 lb black lab, and a dbl stroller!!! Would we fit in kev's hot wheels? Again - HELL. NO.

I have now entered the sisterhood of mommies with Suburbans!!!
Here's some pictures of the new ride.

It's the final count down

I just realized that I have not posted any THUNDER THIGH THURSDAYS in awhile. I know it's Friday, but decided to drop it in anyways.

I have finally hit 90 pounds!!!!! It's now the final count down to 100lbs!

!0 lbs in 3 weeks??? Is it doable? We'll have to see. I would like nothing more than to have lost 100 lbs in 1 yr.




Here is a before picture:
















And a now picture: (ok, so my loving husband cut off the top of my head - you still get the idea - 2 legs, 1 pant leg. )
We will try for a better picture tomorrow.




At 90 lbs, I am now down 7 pant sizes, and 4 shirt sizes. YAHOO!

A day at the lake

Radiothon for Children's Hospital

Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we were involved with the Woodward Radiothon at Lambeau Field.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to tell Carson and Cooper's story so they could tape it for the radiothon. It is gut wrenching to hear all the different parents, and kids tell their stories, but to hear your own, is a whole different ball of wax. I teared up every time they played it. In one day I heard it played 5 times. My kids thought I had lost my marbles. By the time they played it for the 3rd time, my kids would run in the opposite direction just so they would have to see my eye fill with tears.
You don't think it will ever happen to you. You always seem to think it will be someone else's kids, but this time, It WAS mine. And - you always thanked the lord that your story was never the worst. BUT - the DJ's always made you feel like you had the worst, especially because we had to go through everything twice. After our story was told, the DJ's would comment on it. "Can you imagine - just for a second - what it must have been like for Matt and Cindy to hear that both of their babies would need this horrific surgery to repair their skulls? How would you feel if your doctor told you that they would need to make an incision across their scalp, cut apart their skulls in a puzzle like fashion, and place it all back together again with plates and screws. Can you just imagine what it was like for them? This could never be done at any other hospital. Children's hospital was there for this family. The doctors were there for this family. Children's hospital saved their children's lives." It was weird to hear. But, it brought the money in and I guess that was the whole point of this radiothon. In March of this year, it was National Doctors day. They asked us to write a letter to a Doctor who has impacted our lives the most. I was torn btwn the Neonatal doc and Dr. Jensen - our Cranial Facial surgeon. So, after I thought about it a bit, I decided to write 2 letters to Dr. Jensen. I wrote the letters as if they were coming from Cooper and Carson themselves. Anyways - he and the staff liked it so much that they asked permission for it to be read on the air as well.

Friday night they held a concert for all the Children's Champions. It was so loud that we spent a good portion of it outside the stadium. At 7pm they held a little ceremony for all the CC kids. They gave each child a medal and a build a bear. It was cute. Carson was so proud of her medal and Cooper was so proud of his bear!
We met up with a friend of mine and her husband who have triplets (2 boys / 1 girl). We delivered 1 week apart from each other, the kids spent time in the NICU together, and her little girl Amelia has also gone through the cranio surgery with Dr. Jensen as well. I hate having so much in common, but it's nice to have someone who has also walked in the same shoes you have.
Here are some pictures from our fun Friday night.


Enjoy

Treat yourself today and help

Today is the start of the 3 day Woodward radioathon here in our area for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

I went on air to tell our story to help get people to donate. It was tough, but I wanted to do everything I could to help raise money.

NOW, TODAY, it's your turn to help. Today only (8/9/07) - if you purchase a blizzard from ANY Dairy Queen in the US, they will give 100% of the blizzard proceeds to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Please - treat yourself today and help children like mine get the best possible care that there is.

Thank you

And the beat goes on

It's been a long week around here. Matt left to go backpack with my dad and others last Friday, so I have been ALL alone with 4 kids.
That is up until last Tuesday when Molly offered to bring the kids up and stay with me for a few days. Not sure if 6 kids and 2 moms was the answer I was looking for (more like 2 moms at a day spa while the others go to drop in daycare for lets say, oh - 3 days), but we had a blast!!!

Tuesday we met up in Oshkosh to do a little shopping - you know RETAIL THERAPY!!! But we didn't get to far. We hit just a few stores before 6 kids got out of control (yes, really!)
So, after a little pizza, a whole lot of screaming and crying, we managed to get the kids to bed, somewhat, the girls anyways.
I had decided to invite a few friend over who "stalk" Molly's blog to come over and meet her. My friends Angela and Michelle, and Michelle's baby Ruby came for a little girl time. Notice I didn't say quiet girl time??? Because it was anything but!!!! 4 exhausted / excited boys refused to give up. It ended up being a long night!!!

Wednesday - Yet again, we tried to finish some shopping in Oshkosh. This time we decided to add 3 more children and 1 more mommy ( that's a total of 9 children - all under the ripe age of 5, and 3 moms. Not bad , right???). Oh the looks we got. I felt like we were a part of the BIG LOVE series on HBO. I had to laugh. We got looks, we got comments, but it didn't no stop us from achieving our goal - spend money!

Thursday - we did a little home time. We started our morning off with a little "slip and slide " action. Go here to view the action. Yes, even I had a few good slides!

After cooling off, we packed up and headed out to the EAA AirVenture Museum. KJ spun Riley and Keegan's poor little heads with all his plane knowledge. I can not believe this kid. He knows it all. WOW - I am so impressed with you KJ!!!

Our day ended with a sad goodbye to our friends. Hope to see you again soon you guys!!!

In need of some help

I am giving another push for our Brigg's & Al's walk in September. I can't believe that it is almost August already. The walk is just around the corner.

At this point I am 55.00 dollars shy of what I raised last year.

I can't even begin to tell you how Matt and I feel about Children's Hospital. I went on air (taped) for the Woodward radioathon (for children's hospital) 2 weeks ago, and I had a hard time keeping my eyes dry. They kept asking me, " What would have happened if there was no NICU for you children to go to??" "Would they have survived?" "What would have happened if there were no doctors in our area who specialized in Craniosynostosis?" "How would your children be if they didn't have the surgery done???"

No, my children probably would not have survived without the NICU, and they most likely would have brain damage if no surgery could have been performed. There would have been no room for their brains to grow. It doesn't really hit you until you actually sit and think about it all.

For you that live in my area, the radioathon will be on WHBY 1150 August 9th - 11th. Our story will be put to music and played a number of times over these 2 days. It is very similar to the St. Judes radioathon - if you've ever heard it.

Most of you know that our children were asked to be in the spot light for this years walk. Their pictures and stories are in the booklet that you get with the walk info. They will also be honored at the starting line of this years walk. We will pass by hundreds of thousands of people raising money to help children like ours.

Please help other children like ours, and those who are worse off then ours. They need the best doctors and facilities that they can get.

The little guys have their 1 yr. post op appointment on the 23rd of August. We should find out then if Cooper will need a second surgery for his metopic suture.
Carson will be having 2 surgeries at once. She will be having tubes placed in her ears, and she will be having a tear duct opened. We are hoping to have this scheduled for late august early September. Carson has had some low tone hearing loss that we hope will return when the fluid is released from her ear drums. This will all be done at Children's.

Please pass this on to anyone else who you think will donate.

Please also remember, we are not just walking for Carson and Cooper this year. We are also walking in memory of my friends little girl Lydia who was still born in May.

To donate, just go to the upper right hand side of my blog where it says DONATE NOW.

Thank you.

They all go puking 1 by 1 hurrah, hurrah

I think the on - call nurse said it best to me yesterday when I called to make an appointment for the doctor. "Holy Cow - I can't imagine having 2 sets of twins - WOW, you must be busy." So she continued to ask which child needed to be seen. When I told her all 4, she just about dropped the phone. She asked what the the issues was, I told her all 4 were vomiting - She said very loudly, " you have 4 children under the age of 5 and they are ALL VOMITING?" I said yes, and she says "HOLY CRAP - YOU POOR THING!"

Cooper started throwing up on Saturday. We went to Matt's company picnic and things were great. Coop didn't eat anything strange - matter of fact he ate everything that I did. Later in the day we went up to the lake, and that night the county was having it's annual fair. Matt, My dad, the 4 kids, and I went over to see what all the excitement was about. They had adult rides, kiddie ride, animals, and food galore. It was fun. We first stop at this little motorcycle ride that just went around nice and slow. Each motorcycle held 2 kids, so we put Coop and Keegan on 1, and Carson and Riley on another. It seemed they were all having a great time. Cooper even starting clapping at one point.

They were having such a good time, we left them on for 2 rides straight. After that we hit a few other little rides. Papa and the older kids took a turn and then Matt and I took a turn with the kids.

We had fun. UNTIL...... Papa, Matt, and Myself were playing skee ball and turned to see why Cooper was screaming hysterically and there it was - LUNCH! All over Cooper, the stroller and even managed to shoot some into the front seat of the stroller at Carson. It was gross. We striped the poor kid naked, put on the sweatshirt I had packed, RAN through the animal section and headed home. We had just assumed it was the rides that did his little tummy in. He seemed to be ok that night. No more vomiting, but had a 101.00 temp. Hummmm. Little did we know, the rest of the group would soon get whatever little GI bug that was going around. Carson struck in the car, while i was ordering lunch for the kids at burger king. "I'll have 2 cheeseburgers plain, a small.......Never mind I have a child throwing up in the car!!!!" She was a one time only barfer as well. Keegan struck at 10pm on Sunday night and at 2am, 7:45am and 7pm. After the doctors appointment Riley started to complain of stomach pains and sure enough, she struck at 6pm, 6:30p, and 7:30p. I was not feeling myself last night either but seemed to make it through without puking. Matt leaves for his backpacking trip on Friday with my dad, brother, and friend, and I sure hope to god he doesn't get it. If so, it should strike today.

We did it!!!

We moved Carson and Cooper into big kid beds!!! It was a struggle the first night trying to keep everyone in bed, but I believe they finally got the hang of it!!! It is so sad to know that there will never been another crib up in this house. Man they grow up fast.
Here are a few pics.

Part 2 of our vacation

Here we go loop dee lou

Ok, so I know I have not posted since June 22, but I have an excuse. My mom and I drove all 4 kids (mind you they are all under the age of 5) to my grandmothers house in New Jersey. A total of 1100 miles. We learned that a 5 point harness carseat means only 5 hours of driving - MAX! So we did a little sightseeing, visited an old flame from high school, and played with a few cousins along our way. It was fun.

Here are a few pics. More to come tomorrow.

Will it ever stop?

Will the big man upstairs EVER cut me a break??? I am thinking NOT!

As I posted before, Carson had a few doctors appointments this week. On Tuesday we met with the ENT. He tested her hearing, checked for fluid behind her ear drums, and was ever so nice to tell us she has a lower tone hearing loss AND she needs to have surgery to put tubes in her ears. Great. Oh but wait - it gets better. On Thursday we meet with the opthamologist. Carson has a clogged tear duct. Wanna take a guess at what he told me??? If you guess SURGERY - You WIN!

It has just been a nightmare for this tiny tot.

Ok, I understand that each surgery last a whole 10 minutes, but it's the fact that she has to go under for each that kills me. In between appointments and a rummage sale I did a little research and figured a few things out. Carson's Eye doc is at Children's in Milwaukee. The ENT is here in town. So, I decided to find a ENT at Children's so the 2 docs can work together during ONE surgery. Doing it this way postpones her tubes by almost 2 months, but I think it will be better that she only has to go under once instead of twice.

She is truely becoming my MILLION dollar baby.

~NICU bill for 26 days: $700,000 dollars

~MRI for Craniosynstosis: $4,000 dollars

~Surgery for Craniosynostosis w/room and board: $150,000 dollars

*Each and every day with my baby: priceless.

The View

Just a few things that hang on our walls -

Matt and I had this made in Key West on our honeymoon.

Our neighbors were throwing away this old window and decided to use it for our "art work".

We got this as a wedding gift.

A picture of all four kids "piggies"

A hand painted plate from Mexico

What's on your walls?

Mumbo jumbo

I know I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog. It has just been so hard to get a few minutes to type. It's summer time and everyone wants to be on the go!!!


This week is no different. Tuesday, Carson has an appointment with the ENT - Ear, nose, and throat guys. We are trying to figure out why she has been struggling with ear infections. They will check for fluid, they will do a hearing test, and let us know if she needs tubes or not. Wednesday, Carson and Cooper have and appointment with their physical therapist who is from the county Birth to 3 program - that is at our house. Thursday morning, Carson has an appointment with the Ped. Opthamologist (sp?). He is with Children's hospital, but we got lucky and got in while he is here in our town. We believe Carson has a clogged tear duct. Not sure what they will do, but we have been told that she may need a minor surgery to fix it. Thursday afternoon I am going to try to get a rummage sale started, and Carson and Cooper have an appointment with the Early Childhood teacher who is also through Birth to 3 - at our house. Friday, I am going to continue my rummage sale and get packed for our trip on Saturday. Saturday, My mom, all 4 of my kids, and I are driving out to New Jersey to see my grandma. In between, we will be staying for few days at my MIL and we'll stop to see my cousin in PA. I think we will be gone for 10 - 12 days.


Sometime during this week I will take time to use the bathroom, take a shower, do the dishes, clean the house, feed the kids the dog and my dear husband, and if I am lucky, I will get in a few loads of laundry.

Oh yah, and today - I finally hit a loss of 80 lbs! Wahoo!

Man's best friend ~ again

OK, so I know all of you are going to think I am totally whacked, but I have an announcement to make. We have an addition to our crazy family. Let me be the first to introduce to you Jake, our new 6 month old black lab.

It's kind of funny how Jake (aka CoCo) came to us. Friday there had been a bunch of rummage sale within a couple of blocks of our house so I decided to take the kids for a walk. The first sale we stopped at was just about 5 house down from ours. I had bought an almost new Britax Marathon car seat for 35.00 and JAKE! Yup, We bought Jake at a rummage sale. The family that was having the sale - their daughter and her family live in an apartment and they are going to be moving. They have 2 dogs, but could only take one to the new place so they had decided that Jake need to find a new home. He was perfect and I fell in love. He is house trained, kid trained (they have a 4 yr old boy), he came with all of his shots and was very well behaved.

When Matt came home for lunch, the kids and I walked him down so he could meet Jake (aka CoCo). 15 minutes later, Jake was on his way back to our house!

He is such a good dog - we couldn't be happier.

This past Saturday, Appleton had their annual Flag Day Parade. This parade is the longest parade in the US. The twins club that we belong to walked in it. This is our 3rd yr walking. It was a ton of fun. This year is also Appleton's 150 yr birthday and because of that, the University of Wisconsin's' marching band was asked to join the parade. If of you know anything about the UW band - you'll know that they are a fun and crazy group. After every football game they play what is called a "5Th quarter". They play a ton of fun songs that everyone gets up and dances to. Anyhow, unexpectedly, we were lined up right behind them in the parade. It was fun to listen to their " 5Th quarter" music while we walked.

Hope all of you had a great weekend.

We Three Girls

I was looking through some old pictures today and I found a picture of me when I was about 4 years old. I thought it would be fun to put all three girls pictures together. I would say we are definately related!

Over 155

I thought I would take a minute and and show off Molly and my accomplishments.
Together, we have lost over 155lbs!

Stressed out Crazy Fun

Thursday we took a bit of a long weekend vacation to Indiana to visit our favorite family - The Rays, and to Chicago to visit Papa Cole and family. Here are some of our favorite moments.


We really had a great time. In Indiana - It's always fun when the kids out number the parents. All I can say is, "Pizza waitress lady,We are so sorry for bringing in 6 overly tired children."
It is always worth the sress, and craziness.
Thanks Rays for such a fun time.

Walking in memory of Lydia

As everyone has read in my previous blog entry, our family, and the twins club family, has been saddened by the loss of a twin. Lydia Eve Zoromski was still born On May 10Th. Her twin sister Ruby is a beautiful, healthy, little girl. Ruby has also just been diagnosed with downs syndrome.
We hope to god that they never need the assistance of Children's Hospital, but if they do, we would like to help provide for Children's.

As Children's Champions, Carson and Cooper would like to walk in memory of Lydia and for Ruby who may someday need the care of doctors at Children's.

Please help donate to this cause. Families like ours, and the Zoromski, may someday need the wonderful doctors at Children's.

Please help.

Here are our stories: http://www.firstgiving.com/ColesCranioClan

Thank you.

Please say a little prayer

I think today was one of the toughest days of my life as being a mother of twins. Something happened today that I hoped I would never have to do.

A few months back a proud mother expecting twins arrived at our monthly twins club meeting. I remember sitting with her at our meeting, getting to know her and learning about the beautiful girls that she would soon be delivering. Just a few days ago, that day finally arrived , but the totally unexpected happened. Her first daughter, Ruby came into the world at 4:51pm, and has been Diagnosed with having down syndrome. Her second daughter, Lydia, arrived at 4:53pm - still born.

How does this happened? Why does God do this?

Today was Lydia's visitation and service. I can't even begin to tell you how hard it was for my friend Jenni and I to see this family. No parent should ever have to go through this pain.

Please, If you have a free moment in your day, please say a prayer for this family. They are going to need every little bit they can get in the next couple of months.

Thank you.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all you great mothers!

Do the Draft in NYC

Ok, So I mentioned that we spent some time in New Jersey with my grandma, aunt, and cousins.
Did I mention we went into NYC to see all the NFL draft stuff? It was held at Radio City Music Hall and they had tons of stuff to do within those few city blocks. We had a great time.

"Where the hell you been Papa?"

Yea - I am finally back. I can't believe it has almost been a month since my last post! As my kids were taught to say by a friend of ours, "Where the hell you been papa?" If they were to be reading my blog, I am sure that is what they would say to me, not my dad.

First and foremost, I would like to to send out a big THANK YOU to all that donated to our March of dimes - Walk America. We had a blast. A bit chilly, but fun.


We also just got back from a trip out to New Jersey to see my Grandma. I'll post more about that on my next blog.

Some of you have asked about my Thunder Thigh Thursday, well - It's in a holding pattern. I have not lost anymore and have actually put on just a few, but I am trying to get my hormones back in order from my hysterectomy. Hopefully I'll be back on track in the next few weeks or so.