The Wilson Avenue Adventures

First of all thank you to everyone that prayed for us last week while Darlene had her surgery.  Everything went great.  Darlene is doing well.  Still a little sore sometimes, but hopefully on the fast track of recovering!  Last time it was arthroscopic procedure.  This time it was actually an incision.  So there is more healing time needed now. The hardest thing now is Darlene being around the kids when she can't pick them up for a few weeks yet.  It is killing her that she can't pick up an hold her babies.  She does as much as she can, bathing, changing, feeding.  So she is at least getting some good time with them.  But it isn't the same.  She plans on being able to persuade the Dr. when she goes in for her check up to ease up on the lifting restrictions.  Nothing over 10lbs currently.  Violet is at 15lbs and Ryan at 18lbs!  They get so big, so fast.

Darlene is going under the knife again.  This will be the 6th surgery she has had since we have been together the last few years.  6 too many if you ask me.  You would think I would be a little used to it by now.  But it is almost the opposite.  Seems like I get more worried now. I would be absolutely lost without Darlene.  My wife, my friend, lover, mother to our beautiful children.  And so much more. A person tries not to think of the worst, but obviously you have to think about some things, and the worst always pops in there. So do me a favor and pray for us tomorrow morning. Thank you.

I have been using some vacation time and such the last few weeks to stay home on the weekends to help out with the kids and whatnot.  I gotta say, it has been pretty nice.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving we went out to  Hess Tree Farm .  We got a perfect little tree to put on a small table in the office area.   Here is a video of us decorating it!  It is amazing the things you can do while holding a baby! It smells so good in the front room now.  The twins love looking at the lights on the tree. I think I have everyone's Christmas gift taken care of.  Looking forward to everyone opening their gifts now. Lots of things coming up as well.  December 15th is a big day.  I graduate!  Time to start applying more for other jobs!  Darlene is also going in for her hernia surgery that day.  Hopefully that goes well.  She won't be able to lift the kids for 6 weeks.  That is going to be interesting.....  Going to be needing lots of help from family and friends that is for sure.

It is that time of the year again.  The time of Thanksgiving.  A time where many of us sit and think of all of the things to be thankful for.  I always have so much to be thankful for. Family and friends, you guys are the main ones.  I am so blessed to have each and everyone of you in my life.  Thank you for all of the help and support you have given me.  I know it is somewhat vague, but you know in your own hearts if you have been there and helped or not. My wife  Darlene .  She is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened in my life.  I know I can always count on her.  She is my best friend.  An awesome mother, kick ass wife, and sexy ass biatch.  And she has given me a couple of great things to be thankful for. The twins: Violet and Ryan have turned our lives upside down.  And its been great.  Sure you have your bad days, but the next time they smile or give you a giggle, or even look into your eyes as your are holding them in your arms you forget about all of those bad

GigglePants Ryan Laughing So here is Ryan laughing the other night.  Makes you smile!

Just wanted to share the link of Darlene's blog. Check it out! http://twicethediapers.blogspot.com/

Being a parent is one of the most demanding jobs in the world.  Darlene and I were talking about this last night. It is truly astounding.  Does anyone really ever think about it before they do it?  I mean sure, have a baby.  Sounds simple right?  It is just amazing that people can create life, but they are not done at that point.  That is really only the beginning.  That little baby turns into a person, a person like you and I.  It just blows my mind when I think about it.  You are responsible for caring, loving, teaching, etc.  Sharing everything that you know and then some.  It is almost daunting when you think about it.  Yet people have been doing it for years! Maybe I sound like I am talking crazy, but just sit down and think about it. Something for you to "Think on Thursday" about.

So I was talking about getting my new camera...  I haven't shown off any pictures yet!  So here are a few of them... Just getting my feet wet!

So the twins have been sleeping through the night for some time now.  Darlene and I enjoy it a great deal, but this morning.....   Ryan decided to roll over at 4am.  And then proceeded to cry.  Darlene got up with him, rolled him back over and he went back to sleep for an hour.  I got up with him at 5 and there was no way he was going back to sleep.  I really hope this isn't a pattern starting! What can we do about it?? Any ideas?

Wow, I can not believe that it is November already.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be a dreary rainy day.  Good thing I got all of the yard work done this last weekend.  Erin and Sarah took the kids with them to their parents house.  It was a great chance for Darlene and I to get a good amount of things done around the house.  Always a great feeling. The twins will be 16 weeks old this week.  Can't believe how fast time flies.  They are starting to be a little more "fun" now.  Talking more, laughing more, crying less.  Their moves are not so crazy, yet they still are. Love this little graphic. Ryan has rolled over once in his crib.  I have seen it almost happen one other time as well.  I know Violet is right behind him.  Both have had small moments of them holding their own bottles. I am excited...  Darlene is going to be writing a blog also.  Mainly about the twins.  We came across a very funny blog and decided to run our own also.   www.assholebaby.blogspot.com   Re

Halloween is one of our favorite Holidays.  This year it will be toned back, but we did find some cute costumes for the kids!  I also have to find my fog machine to see if it still works or not.  I don't think it does.... Darlene and I went on a date last night.  Lake Aire had their $11 steak and lobster deal.  It was pretty good.  Steak was delicious.  Darlene added mushrooms to her steak and WOW.  They were some of the best mushrooms I ever ate.  They were worth the $4 we paid for them.

Darlene and I had a good time in Milwaukee this last weekend.  The kids were being watched by Grandma Debbie, so we were able to have a night away!  We went to Holly's wedding, it was a very fun time.  We both felt like we could have slept for days that next morning, but the bed was too hard and I was getting restless.  We did some shopping and at at AJBombers, excellent hamburgers.  It was a low key day for my 31st birthday.  The Packers won, but the Brewers lost.  I am just saving my energy for when we go to Vegas next year at the beginning of October.....  Good times!

Wow.... October already!  Time is just flying by!  The twins are just over 11 weeks now.  They are growing everyday.  Some things have been a little easier to deal with, but it is still a lot of work.  A mega game changer that is for sure. The temps have been falling, and it was a bit rainy the last week.  Kind of sad that Winter is right around the corner.  Fall still is my favorite time of the year.  Cool nights, crisp sunny days, and beautiful colors on the changing leaves.  I recently purchased a new camera.  New to me anyways.  Canon 40D dslr.  I have a 50mm 1.8 on it right now and a 75-300 4-5.6 coming in the mail.  Excited to get some pics of the changing leaves and of course many more of Violet and Ryan. I have been thinking lately that I am a very blessed man.  I used to think that nice guys always finished last.  There were many times where things just didn't work out for me or I would get screwed because I did the right thing and was the nice guy.  I think that has ch

Taking care of the twins is no job for one single person.  It is hard enough with just Darlene and I together.  If you are a parents of twins and took care of them all by yourself for the first two months then you are a ROCKSTAR . Violet is pretty laid back and doesn't fuss much unless she is hungry or needs to be changed.  Now Ryan on the other hand is one fussy baby.  I thought that we might have made some improvements yesterday, but now I am not so sure.  We are using gas drops, feeding him more upright and burping after every ounce.  It has helped a lot.  Now he was only fussing in the evening instead of ALL DAY .  He was OK in his swing for about 25 mins, which is a huge improvement.  The other issue is that he won't nap during the day.  And the only way that he will stay down for any period of time when he does is on his stomach.  ( I know we are terrible parents ) If both of our kids were like Violet then things would be much better for us. We are going to continue

Life as we knew it on Chase Street has changed.  Changed for the better?  We hope so because it can't get any worse! As many of you know we brought our twins Violet and Ryan home on my father's birthday, July 17th.  The first few days were hell.  We had wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.  We called in some back up (our parents)  Having someone there to help us out was awesome and helped us so much.  Some of the best help we had was from Darlene's book club ladies.  They took turns cooking us dinner a few nights a week.  That was awesome. 2 hours of sleep over a period of 30 is not a good thing.  Thank goodness for family and friends that helped out. It's crazy how one day you are going about your business and then one day everything changes.  You no longer matter and now you have two little people that need to be taken care of before anything else happens.  And we are OK with that. Being home with them has been the best.  Even though they may be crying

So due to some staffing issues the twins will be here no later than July 14th now.  Apparently the doctors schedules were off so now it is all figured out. A c-section is surgery.  I don't think that many people realize that fact.  It can be serious.  I know Darlene is pretty nervous.  I get nervous also.  Since we have been together I have seen her go through 4 surgical procedures.  It doesn't get easier at all.  This time she will be awake, but I will be there right next to her.  I hope that I can keep her comforted with all of the stuff going on.  And of course we will be meeting our twins for the first time. I am excited to just spend time with them and bond.  Looking forward to see what features they got from which parent.  Very nervous but excited at the same time.  I will have the camera there with us and documenting things as they happen.  I just pray that everything goes well and Darlene and the babies are healthy.  Like I mentioned before, this is serious. I am s

The twins are coming soon!  As of right now Ju ly 15th is going to be their birthday.  We have scheduled the C-section.  Darlene is still really hoping that they will get head down and that she can experience labor.  She is a little bummed about the idea of a "scheduled" delivery.  I think it is just that part of us that wants to be able to tell out kids and others the story.  (So we were sitting around watching tv or at 3am I woke up and my water had broke so I told Jason to get ready and he stubbed his toe.... something like that I assume.)  I had read that sometimes when you play babies music in the womb is makes them move around and they end up with their head down.  So we have making play lists and Darlene has been laying down with headphones on her belly.  The twins tend to move quite a bit!  The other night one of them punched or kicked so hard the remote flew away!  It was amazing!  The twins actually have moved a little bit.  They are still transverse and the quar

The majority of things are ready for the twins.  But when you sit down and think about it there seems to be a lot left to do.  All of those little things.  They really add up.  And then I think..... is anyone ever really READY?  I don't think they are. Another thing I have been thinking about lately is the fact that I will probably have to take a pay cut to start my new career in Information Technology.  That isn't going to be easy with 2 additional mouths to feed now. Things have just been putting me into a little bit of a slump.  I will get out of it I know.  But I just felt like venting a little bit.

As of right now, except for minor things...  The renovations are complete.  And wow are they great!  Still can't believe it myself. School is done for the semester.  Just waiting to start my Summer class next week.  Hopefully get that finished up before the twins arrive, then only one class left!  Wow, never would have thought that I would have gone back to school again.  But I am glad I did.

I attended the welcome home ceremony for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight last night at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee.  It was a very neat experience to give the veterans a welcome home that they deserved.  I drove up there after class and met up with my family.  There were a lot of people there waiting to cheer on the veterans.  It was great to see. To Grandpa and all of the other veterans. THANK YOU.

That is all we have left to do on our current projects.  Painting and installing trim, putting up shelves in the closets.  The nursery carpet is being installed as I type!  This weekend Darlene's mother Deb is bringing over the crib and changing table.  And we will be able to start putting away the awesome gifts we got from the babies shower!  They have taken over the office area.  It is very exciting to say the least. I am getting all of the rest of my school work done for the end of the semester.  It is coming up so fast.  Hope I can get it all done! Speaking of work... I better get back to it!!

The bathroom renovation has started and is in full swing.  Overall things have been going pretty smooth.  I was hoping for more help on demolition weekend but a few people flaked out.  My buddy Mike Branstrom was there and ready to work.  Could not have done it with out Bricks and his bag of tricks.  He got the majority of the walls framed up after we ripped everything out.  We were definitely tired that weekend.  After that things progressed well.  Electrical installed, plumbing installed, new insulation with a vapor barrier.  My dad and Ron got the plumbing for the toilet relocated.  It went pretty good.  I thought we would have had many more issues, but we didn't with that.  It is mounted temporarily for now, but it really helps for all of Darlene's late night bathroom trips. Most of the drywall went up this weekend.  Ron was busting it out yesterday while I was at work.  Just have to get the tub drain to stop leaking and then it is mud time!  Hoping to get it all done by t

That's right.  The time has come.  The renovation is going to start soon...... We were able to decide on a color for the nursery.  It is a pistachio green with a buttermilk color for the trim.  It looks great!  Thank's to Sarah Meehan for painting!!  We are also going with a "pond" sort of theme.  Frogs, turtles.... things like that. Another item that my Dad and his buddy Ron worked on was getting a hole cut out in our kitchen cabinets for a dishwasher.....YAY!!  I am not a big fan of doing the dishes.  Darlene has pretty much banned me from doing them.  But with the installation of dishwasher it will help both of us out. As you can see with the title of this blog I gave a shout out to Nate Dogg who passed away last night.  Not my cousin "Nate Dogg," the real one. Bathroom renovation begins this week.  The dumpster has been delivered and is patiently waiting for us to fill it with all kinds of wonderful junk.  It will happen.  That is a given.......

Darlene and I are trying to come up with some color ideas for the nursery.  So far we have picked some shades of green for the walls and a cream/white for the trim and slightly lighter shade for the closet doors.  This Thursday we should know for sure what the sexes are of the twins.  We will be able to run with our paint choices then!  I really want to get the nursery "finished" before we start on the bathroom project.  And that project is happening less than a month from now! So it looks like this weekend I will be painting something!

The nursery is doing a lot better.  The last few weeks have been hectic.  My dad has been a lifesaver.  He has helped me paint a couple of coats on the new drywall and helped me hang up one of those closet organizers.  The closet organizer was not the easiest thing to install!  But it is up and looks good.  So the progress report up to this point is.....   New insulation, electrical, drywall, paint, closet organizer.  We have some carpet ideas, but nothing for paint yet.  We are waiting to find out the sex of the twins before we pick the colors of the nursery.  I hope it is very soon! This weekend I hope to finish up the electrical and start working on the trim.  The weather is supposed to warm up a little bit this next week.  I hope to get the replacement window installed also.  Here are some pictures that I promised:  I hope to get more progress done in the next couple of weeks.  The bathroom project is looming in the very near future!

We have started our spare bedroom renovation this month.  And wow....  it seems like it is a little more dusty than when we did the first bedroom.  Things are going along very smooth.  There were a few hiccups along the way.  It happens a lot in older homes.  But I am very thankful for the help that I have had on it.  My father, brother and father's friend have been helping out.  I would not have been able to do it without them.  Everything has been ripped out.  All of the old insulation, drywall, lathe, plaster, electrical has been gutted.  All new going back in.  At this point right now it is re-insulated and the drywall is up.  Spraying texture tonight!  Then its time for a clean up and then paint fest ensues.  Well.... at least the primer and ceiling and closet can get painted.  We are not sure what color to paint the room yet.  We might have to wait a little bit before we decide how we are going to decorate it. So that has been taking up all of my free time lately.  Work, Sc