If you choose to accept this mission...

Ah Friday. The therapist has left, no more strangers in my house until TUESDAY. The girls are doing well with their therapy. I've managed to get S. to stick with drinking from the sippy cups; D. will still take a sip, run away and come back for another swig...its a work in progress.

Yesterday, S. walked almost three steps across across the room by herself. I was afraid to breathe too loud, watching her tentative little steps. Then she sat down - no fanfare, like it was all no big deal! Crazy. D. loves to climb on and off the couch. My slipcovers are completely pulled off the couch from her using them to hoist herself up.

Their molars are coming in, and they're in a lot of pain. S.'s knuckles are raw from her chewing on her hands all day. D.'s gums are swollen and inflamed. Someone once told me that if we were to teethe as adults, we'd go insane from the pain and discomfort -- and I believe it. Anytime there's something wrong with my teeth, I'm ready to claw my face off.

The heat continues. Can't wait for fall. The girls have a piece of shit air conditioner in their room -- its one of those stand-up units. We used this unit deliberately because it doesn't make the girls room COLD, just comfortable. By next summer, they'll have blankets in their beds, and I can install the brand new A/C I bought for them. This piece of shit unit has a water tray at the bottom that fills up with condensation - when the tray fills up, the unit shuts off. On nights that its particularly humid, the A/C will run for about six hours before shutting down. We put them to bed at 8pm, so by 1am, the unit shuts off.

This means I need to go in there and empty the tray. Otherwise, they'll be sweating their balls off by the time they wake up at 7am.

Every single night I tiptoe into the room, and I feel like Tom Cruise in "Mission Impossible" -- the scene where he breaks into a secure room by hanging from a thread? I sneak into the darkness (barefoot of course), feeling the cool pergo floor under my feet. I remove the water tray, and the unit beeps EIGHT times; I count the beeps, then pause and listen for the girls rustling around in their beds. Exit the room, dump the tray, pad back into the darkened room, replace the tray (unit beeps again, requiring another pause), then power the unit back on, and make my exit.

I'm still scarred from the days when S. would wake up at the slightest noise, and it would take her FOREVER to get back to sleep. One night recently she woke up -- or at least I think she did -- I was about to leave the room, when she sat straight up and looked at me. I whispered, "go back to sleep baby. its just mommy", and made a hasty exit. Strangely enough, she laid back down without a peep -- which leads me to believe that she was still asleep when she sat up. Weird, huh?

Anyway, here's the Friday Fun for this week. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

1. Do you have a favorite place to eat? - Touristy though it is, I love Ruby Foos in Times Square NYC, or there's a little local joint that I love.
2. Do you have a favorite meal? - Not really. Depends on my mood.
3. When you cook, what do you like to make the most? - Simple stuff. I enjoy making chili and meatloaf.
4. Do you have multiple sets of silverware, special and every day. NO. I deliberately just went with stainless steel flatware.