Two little 21 month old monkeys!

My Little Sponge

It is amazing how much a toddler will pick up from others on a daily basis. My daughter Ainsley has become our little sponge. She absorbs every gesture, comment, saying or anything else she can from us and others around her. My son Anders could really care less. He picks things up, but he would much rather figure them out for himself. Ainsley's newest little comment is now "No Way" of which she says to any and everything. She's had the "no" answer down for a while now, but now has followed it up with "no way"! For example, "would you like to go take a nap?" Her answer of course is "no way" to which she gets her bears and blanket and heads to her room to do as she's told.

I'm not sure where or how she picked up her latest little fun trick which is taking all her clothes off during naps and in the morning or could be night, not sure which. This includes her diaper so when we go to get her out of her crib, she is naked! The first time it was a little funny and I'm sure we laughed which meant to her that she should continue to do this. This has been going on for about two weeks now and it's not so funny anymore to have a stripper as a daughter. Particularly when she pees on her sheets and I have to change them every morning. UGH! We tried telling her to keep them on and how pretty she looks in her clothes. We scold her and anything else we can thing of, but to no avail. Anyone dealing with toddler strippers? No, I will not be getting a pole for my house!

Anders on the other hand doesn't seem to notice that he has clothes on and could care less. He just wants to go run and play and maybe steal snacks from his sister or anyone else who might have something he wants to eat.

Yes, toddlers are so much fun, but now I have to watch my gestures. (Especially to brothers and husbands) and watch how I say things. I'm not a stripper so I'm good on the clothes taking off part, but we are in the cautious mode in our house! Hope I don't stub my toe anytime soon! Crap!

Family

My only female first cousin, Shawna is turning 50 this week so I had a tea party for her at my house this past Saturday. It was just female family and we had such a great time. I got to use all my pretty china dishes and tea cups like a real grown up.
There were six of us total and it was just a perfect little gathering of female relatives. We laughed lots and of course threw out some really great memories of Shawna and others. However, these get togethers are always a little bitter sweet because my Mom is not alive to be there. I usually try to incorporate something of hers in all my parties as a nod to her and her good taste so in my own little way, she always has a place at my table. I can see her a little bit in all of us, and we have such wonderful memories to laugh and cry over that it helps all of us heal just a little bit when we are together.
We had great food and tea and I had a few hours of grown up talk for a change. I think I actually held my own and didn't throw in any baby talk! Yea! Maybe my brain hasn't completely turned to baby swiss.
Anyway, this post is for you Shawna and wishing you a very Happy Birthday! You don't look a day over 30!

Are they identical? - Really?

Today was one of those days when I had to run errands in between meals and naps and playtime of course. I ran to a department store to get a gift for my mother-in-law for Mother's day. If any of you have twins or even more than one toddler running around, you know this is not an easy task and you must prepare for the amount of energy it takes.
When we finally got everyone and my purse loaded onto the stroller, we are off to buy something (hopefully on sale!) Mind you I am pushing a double stroller which takes some maneuvering because it is very wide. It sometimes does not always fit in the door and is very hard to get through when you have to try to open the door and push the stroller through at the same time. Whew! Yes, I am just barely in the store and already exhausted.
Another thing you hope and pray for is that the kids are not grumpy or crying or just trying to squirm out of their seats. Thankfully all was well on that front.
I am trying to get through the aisles looking at the clothes, of course I am also knocking clothes off the racks from my big ole stroller. My kids also help by pulling clothes off too, which is so thoughtful of them. I finally find a top that I like for her and is on sale (yea!) when a woman comes up and asks if my kids are twins. I say yes as the kids are waving at her saying "hi". She then begins to tell me how her cousins friend has twins that are 10 and are identical like mine. I said that mine aren't identical that they are fraternal. She says "is identical when they look alike?" I tell her "yes". She says "I think yours are identical because they look just alike". Now I didn't want to be mean or rude, but I wanted to ask her if she has had her eyes checked lately because a) mine twins are boy and girl and b) they have never looked alike, not even as babies. I just politely said, "no, they are fraternal". She then calls a saleslady over and asks her if she thinks the kids are identical. The saleslady looks at the "identical" lady like she is off her rocker and says, "well, I don't think so, after all wouldn't she (me) know if they were identical or not"?
After the poll is taken in the store of whether my kids are identical or not, I said "I appreciate your interest in the kids, but we need to go check out now" She said "OK, but I think they are identical and you should dress them alike so you can see how much they look the same." I am smiling at her and thinking OK crazy person, I am about to get a restraining order, but I just said "well thanks a lot" and run like we were on fire, knocking clothes off left and right not caring what was in the way of our semi truck sized stroller.
When we finally checked out and got loaded in the car, I took a deep breath and started the car and remembered that I also needed to go to Target. Crap!

It's a Monday

I don't have a traditional 9 to 5 job where I leave the house and commute so I don't really regret Mondays or look forward to Fridays. I really don't have weekends or are ever off duty so when people bemoan Mondays, I used to laugh at that and say that I am so glad I at least don't have that to deal with. I am paying for that today.

This morning my kids woke up happy as usual and were playing in their cribs. Anders was jumping around and doing somersaults like he usually does. When I finally wrangled him out of his crib, I went to change him and noticed that he was very wet and had gotten his PJ pants wet so I figured I would just change his diaper and let him run around with his PJ top on and just a diaper until I could change Ainsley and his sheets. What could that hurt right? WRONG! After I had changed Ainsley and his sheets and they had their morning milk, I went in the living room to find them huddled together. Let me just say that this is never a good sign for twins. You know they are up to something. I went to see what was going on when I see that Anders is sitting on a book , reading another book without a diaper on. Yes, panic mode set in and the nightmare for all mothers had come true. They had somehow removed Anders' diaper and he either just pooped right there on the floor or dumped it out of his diaper, not sure which. It doesn't really matter because either way is just beyond words awful for a neat freak like me.

After my initial shock and near puking, I see that Ainsley is playing in the poop like it's a toy and has now eaten some. If you just threw up in your mouths after reading this, you are in the same boat as me! I rush to figure out where to start first so I run to get a bag and some wipes to pick up the diaper. I jump in and clean up Ainsley who is crying now, probably because I have freaked her out with my flipping out and puking noises. I then try to get all the other residual poop off the floor while Anders sits there quietly on the book while reading the other one.

I finally get around to Anders and change him into another diaper and definitely pants. He at this point thinks this is all very funny. It probably is funny when you are not the one who is scrubbing your children's mouth, hands and floor to rid the living room of poop. UGH!

Needless to say, I apologize to all of you commuters who gripe about Mondays! I am right there with you. Hurry up Friday!! Happy Monday everyone! This poops for you!

Slacker

OK OK, I know what a slacker I have been on this blog! Ick! I am now going to try to be diligent on my blogging. Can't promise, but will definately try!

The kids are 17 months now and our life is just joyful chaos most of the time. They are walking and all over the place, especially Anders who bypassed walking and just went to running. Yes, my child is black and blue because his feet don't always keep up with the rest of his body, but it is fun to try to keep up with him. They are beginning to talk more which is always fun to try to decipher what comes out of their mouths. Usually it all sounds like bye bye.

My daughter, Ainsley is a little copy cat sponge. She imitates us all the time, especially her Dad. It is so funny to watch her try to be a grown up at 17 months old.

The key to my life is of course organization. I have to be very scheduled and organized or all of my juggling balls will fall to the ground. Luckily, I have always been a little obsessively organized so it just shifted into my mother work. When expectant twin Moms ask me one thing that would help them, I always say that they absolutely HAVE to keep them on a schedule or they will go crazy.(Both parents and babies!) When I was pregnant people always told me it would get easier so I always looked forward to that fact. That is not always the case. My kids are now mobile so it is easier on some levels, but harder on others so maybe it evens out in the long run.

I think the one thing most Mom's want is that they give their kids a better life than what they had. Well, I had a pretty great childhood so that's a tall order, but I work on it daily. I don't always give my kids everything and I don't always solve their problems for them. My one big hope is that they grow up to know who they are and take responsibility for their own lives.

So until next time....Thanks for bearing with me and check back soon for better updates!

Fever!

We have been very fortunate to have 9 1/2 month old twins that have not really gotten sick. We have had a few sniffles here and there, but not really anything dire. Well, that all changed last Friday. My daughter Ainsley had been pretty clingy that day and felt a little warm but we are all always "a little warm" because it's summer in Texas and no matter how much you run that a/c, you are always "a little warm". I didn't really think much about it. Goodness knows I was sweating!

That evening when my husband got home, I had just finished feeding Ainsley and she was just laying in my lap. Believe me, I was taking advantage of this because she is very active and hardly ever let's me hold her like a baby anymore so I was loving every minute of it. My husband immediately thought something was wrong because he knows she never sits still long enough for the cuddling so we took her tempereature and it was 100 degrees. I thought she was just teething again because she usually gets a little temperature when she teethes so we gave her some Tylenol and kept an eye on her until she went to bed.

We checked on her at 10pm and took her temp which was now up to 102. I immediately called the doctor and when he called I explained that she really did not have any other symptoms except the temperature. He thought it might be a urinary tract infection, but wanted us to take her to the E.R. At this point I remembered that there is another baby asleep in his crib so only one of us can go and the other has to stay home.

My husband decided he would take her and I would stay home and pace the floor with worry. He promised to call as soon as he knew something. He took her to a children's hospital and they got her in immediately thankfully and tested her for what they also thought was a u.t.i. At this point her fever was 104. They took off her pajamas(left her bear in her hands of course or else there would have been a riot) and gave her pedialite and motrin. Her temperature started coming down and they ran the tests which of course took until Tuesday to get the results, but still gave her antibiotics. They finally got home around 1:30am and she's wide awake wanting to play. She loves to stay up late and so she thought she would just rock it out and have a party then while we decompressed from stress and worry. A lovely sight I'm sure!

It has been a little crazy here because we were having a barbecue the next day for Philip's birthday, but she was feeling better then. Her fever still went up a little, but nothing like it did thank goodness.

It is the most helpless feeling when a child gets sick and there is nothing you can do. Thank goodness we caught it quickly and she is feeling better now and nearly back to herself. She is already back to stealing Anders' toys so we know she is on the mend. The one good thing out of all of this is that she was not contagious so at least Anders will not get sick. We know that is coming, but it is nice to prolong it as long as possible.

Kiss your babies and thank God for them daily. I know we do!!