One Year down and a lifetime to go!

I can't believe one year went by and no blog about it at all.

I was a little thrown off as my computer was sent to be fixed before the 1 year warranty ran out. (it was one of a couple of gifts for birthing the twins) We had family in town and then we've been going ever since. So let's see if I can catch myself up.

One year (+) ago...

Aldan Douglas

Theron David

Jon and Auntie April getting ready to come into the OR. You have to deliver twins in the OR in case you need an emergency c-section at any point. Luckily I delivered them both naturally (with epidural). My Dr. also let me deliver on the bed and not on the OR table, which is not what they normally do! Can you imagine? Whew!

I have valued this year so much. I've seen my family, good friends, and neighbors come around us and support us. I've found some deep hidden strength to make it through the days, weeks and months (with the generous support of those that came in to help those first 4 months!). Making it through this first year with twins has felt like such an accomplishment, I can't stop pinching myself that we made it. I know I've said it many times, but we've been so blessed by these boys. The twins, although lots of work, have been fun. I'll be real here too- there have been some really hard times. This winter they seemed to struggle with ear infections and teeth acquiring. We were really sick for about a week after Thanksgiving, and that was REALLY difficult too. Nursing although now ended, was great, but a welcome relief to make it to a year and be done. I just never saw myself as a mom of twins. I love human dynamics. Watching families and friends and all sorts of dynamics that we encounter in life. So having twins has really brought up some interesting family dynamic issues. Do we treat the twins the same? Do we force something between them and Caed? How does our first born get a fair share with the dynamic of three immediate kids? Are we running a daycare now? and lots more!!

All of these things pass through my mind, and although I could read to my hearts content, I am sure, I don't. I would prefer to love these kids without a pretense of why I may be doing one thing or another. I want them to know that we treat situations differently- things weren't 'even' with me and my sisters, so I am not concerned about fair or even, just loving them and helping them grow into the men that God has created them to be. I think that will look different in each of them as they grow into their personalities.

It's been an experience to go from one kid to three. Our life feels so full, and well, our home, and car do too. At the seams to be exact. We can't take anyone home with us in the car, and our house occasionally sees a friends of Caed's to nap, but we wouldn't be able to have another kid in this house. (if it were up for discussion, which it is not) We are so excited to see how our lives unfold with Aldan and Theron in it. We love them so much and we're so happy to have them as our sons. We have a wild ride ahead of us I am sure. Back to reading Bringing Up Boys!

(for some reason I can't get more photos uploaded, and I've waited long enough to try to get this post up, so I'll try to add a photo of Aldan later!!)

,

so proud!

My sister kik ran a 10k 3 weekends ago. This weekend my sister Heather did the biking part as part of a relay team in a duathalon (20 miles, super hilly!). (her husband did the whole thing today too)

so proud of them both. Kik is 40, Heather is 37. First races ever.

I "run" a 5K tomorrow if my tummy is feeling better. It won't be impressive, but it's a start. For me it's a mindset change to make health a priority. I don't care my weight number if I've got the energy and ability to chase these kids and my grandkids around one day.

Yay for sisters (working on April who's got asthma to do something too)!

(ps. I just got my computer back after being fixed, and I am so happy!)

funny kids

today we had two particularly funny incidents with the kids.

First was Caed. I was walking around on my hands and knees with him on my back (like a horse) and I crawled into the kitchen. My knees killed me on the tiles. I told Caed to hold on, "i am old". He said "yeah, I know, you're going to die soon." Wow. What an encourager he is! I can't tell you how shocked I was over that comment!!

Second was the babies. I went to Target at naptime and Jon told me the twins were talking and laughing the whole two hours I was gone. When I called him on my way home, he said they had settled down but one of them was fussing. I said okay, but leave them up there (they haven't been napping well and I'm trying to get Theron to actually lay down and nap!). When I got home Theron was still fussing. i let it go on for a bit, but then decided to go in and get him. I went in and he was without pants. I quickly looked at Aldan, who was sleeping, and he was pantless too. I thought I saw the pants in Aldan's crib. I quickly left, with Theron pantless, and brought him downstairs. I asked Jon if he put them to sleep without pants (thinking they were too warm?). But he didn't. So all their laughing and jolly good time up there without napping produced two babies without pants, and their pants in Aldan's bed. I wish I had a video monitor, and could have seen that! How did they get their pants off (especially Theron who is less coordinated) and then decide Aldan needed them in his bed? Man, this kids are getting organized!

I guess there will be more of this stuff in the future- and I can't wait!

spam

I just changed some of my blog settings, I was getting spammed with junk and I was sick of getting them! Sorry to you if you post a comment with anonymous setting and it won't let you anymore...stupid people who made me make the change...

on the move

yup, Theron is on the move. He started crawling forward on Saturday...Sunday he didn't get much chance to practice, and today, he was crawling back and forth through the house, getting into all the 'first' trouble Aldan got into.

Whew, this kid made it before our 1 yr. appt. next week with the pediatrician, just in the nick of time!

Exciting times around here!

Early Birthday Celebration

While Jon's parents were here we celebrated the Twins 1st birthday a little early. We had a great time. We took the family to the circus to kick off the festivities. That was exciting! We got in our seats (big apple circus- great seats all around!) and about 15 minutes after sitting in our seats, there was a nice big 'clunk'! That's a great feeling when you are 20-30 feet up in the air. We quickly, and not so easily, filed out- I was on the inside of the row with Aldan, Caed and the backpack. I tried to leave the backpack behind to just move quickly, but Caed was insistent on keeping our stuff with us. He freaked out, and so I had to try to appease him by grabbing the backpack too. It was the juggling act, and spooked us a little bit. We stayed to watch the rest of the show in new seats, but Caed was NOT happy! He kept asking to go home, go to the car, or go to the his stuffed animal kitty. We kept him in the fun with us, and he did relax by the time it was over, but it took the whole time for him to gear down. The twins did pretty good the whole time- there was lots to look at! I think it's a great thing to do with kids- it's easy for them to stay occupied, and it's entertaining for everyone...

We came home and we ate pizza, salad and I had made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the babies. Yum! They loved them (of course!) My sister April came, with boyfriend Tom (who partly saved the evening with feeding the babies all their dinner, so we could prep everything else!) and our good friend Katrina and daughter A- and of course Grammie, Grandpa and us. It was a fun evening, kids running everywhere and wrapping paper and presents strewn about...


It's so funny to teach this age kid how to unwrap a present...it's just not possible...but how quickly they start to understand what it means. i think of Caed now dying to unwrap gifts, it only took 3 years to get it, and it's lots of excitement from here on out for him!

and actually as soon as a present was unwrapped, the wrapping and ribbon became more fun to them anyhow. So I see how wrapping paper begins it's attraction to kids...

our friend Katrina bought these adorable shirts for the boys! LOVE THEM!!! (and now we can wear them 2 or 3 times officially) So excited to be celebrating this birthday with them!

I am looking forward to changing the babies seats around, no more jarred food, and soon their own mobility. It's nice they don't places quickly, but carrying them around is a real bummer. It makes it really hard to have twins! I need them to start to move upright, on their own.

Everyone always remarks how different they look- and they do look opposite! And they have opposite personalities (at this point). But wherever I go, I get lots of comments about having 3 boys, having twins, and how well we are doing (out and about). It's funny how expected those comments begin to be. Oh life...

We'll certainly have more celebration, and I'll post those too.

Dedication and fun

We had the twins dedicated at church last Sunday. Despite the illness going around our house, we did it anyway! They were good because they were so dopey from being sick! We believe in dedicating the kids, not baptizing them, since baptism we believe should be a conscious choice by them. It was so sweet, the congregation prayed over us together, and we were reminded what a blessing these kids are to our family. It's so nice to do a dedication because it does keep parenthood in perspective. Our pastor usually holds the baby being dedicated, but since we had twins, and they are nearly a year old, we held them. (I made sure that Jon held Theron!)...just the continuing difference of having more then one baby at a time.

Our church meets in movie theaters in various locations around the city. We used to attend a service held at the theaters in Union Station, but the theaters closed there and so they moved the service to their only owned location- the coffeehouse around the corner. The basement is designed for services, and other functions and has always had a service on Saturday evenings there anyway. Anyway, so that's why it looks a little non conventional, there isn't much about it's appearances that is!

There are rare opportunities to get a whole family shot at this stage since the babies still don't stand on their own and need to be held...It makes it hard without getting in the ground with them, and well Jon doesn't like doing that too often...but we did get a couple, thanks April!

To beat the dinner time fussiness I often pull out a couple of pots and pans and some mixing spoons to distract them, it usually works for a little bit at least...and they seem to like doing it without fighting over the various pieces.

And we had a little fun with one of the leftover boxes. I put them in together and pushed them around, they are so cute, aren't they? What an amazing thing to look at them and think they are both ours! It fills my heart to get to love on these two babies. (and well we love the big brother extremely too, of course!)

What a week!

Last week on went to the pediatrician on Friday, the twins were out of sorts. I had to take all three, and going to the pediatrician is a feat. I can't stroller them in because of front steps to the office, and small waiting room for double stroller. So on the advice of a friend, I bjorn one, hold one, and hope Caed listens to me while we walk on the sidewalk. (no crossing streets)

Theron was diagnosed with an ear infection. Aldan was chipper and fine. I have quite the dramatic experience trying to get the prescriptions filled, entailing the pharmacy worker telling me it would be an hour- I say okay and go get something for Caed and I to eat for lunch. I come back and prescription is not ready (at least they have a drive thru!) and it would be 2 hours! What are you kidding me? I have three children in the car for an hour already! I need them now. at that point the twins desperately needed a nap but i decided to stick it out because she had said an hour! I can't lug them all back out to the car to pick the scripts up later! I was getting a prescription for Amoxocillian and Albeuterol filled, doesn't that tell you anything?

Well we go through the weekend, the twins get dedicated (pics to come) while sick (Aldan def. has something at this point, but I only have Tylenol to give him since the Dr. didn't find anything on Friday) and they did well. We kept them out of nursery and in the service the whole time, so we wouldn't get any babies sick. Monday, kids are out of sorts, more so Aldan. So I make an appointment on Monday afternoon for Tuesday. Tuesday Caed wakes up with a bad cough. I decide to keep him home from "school". We all four go to the peds office again. Aldan has pneumonia. great. I mention Caed's cough, but she didn't look at him. Tuesday night Caed wakes up with Fever in night. Wednesday he wakes up with 103 fever. Man!

But I call Dr. about dosing for him for cough medicine, and I had Aldan's script filled and picked up by Jon on Tuesday night. Finally today, the whole day everyone seemed to be doing so much better!

My in laws arrived for a visit on Wednesday, and the kids have enjoyed having the extra sets of hands to hold and care for them. It's been a bit of a break for me since they can be entertained better now. I even got out today for a couple of hours to run around and do some errands, all by myself. My mother in law even folded all my laundry today- what a huge task!! And she fixed some holes in Caed's jeans that I'm hoping will get them some more wear out of them when the twins can fit in them!

We go to the circus tomorrow with our circus! We start the twins 1 yr. celebration! I am making homemade carrot cake cupcakes and we'll order pizza. Yummy! More celebration to come the week of their birthday too!

Before it warms up too much...

Here are our snow pictures! I know a little late, but I've wanted to post pictures from the second or so storm...and I've got new pictures to post from the twins dedication!

Here is Caed next to our car on the snow:




We brought the twins out in it too:

Jon made a tunnel/cave for Caed:

Jon shoveling (one of many times!)

Caed's friend A borrowed his football helmet:

Horse Flys, Stink Bugs and Babies- Oh My!

Since the blizzard, and hence an ever so slight warming trend, we have begun to see Horse Flies in our house. There were 4 in the basement and one upstairs in our back room. The kind that you find on the beach! I don't like them on the beach, but if I lived near the beach and had them I maybe wouldn't be so offended that they've taken residence in my house. Luckily they are a slow moving variety (maybe due to their appearance while it's still cold?) so it's easy to kill them. We've killed a couple of stink bugs too in various locations.




Bugs are not something I enjoy getting rid of in the house. I try to be brave for the kids' sake, but I fear it's not quite effective, as Caed screams every time he sees one. (this includes the ever present "spider cricket", which we haven't see much of lately) I still try to calm him down and remind him they aren't dragons, or something else quite as viscous as he makes them seem when he screams. I try to convince him he's supposed to like them and take them to play outside for his mom. It's been a tough sell. even the "take the bug back to his mommy" doesn't work.


Aldan and Theron are mostly 11 months old today (darn short month!). I have been trying to figure out how to officially celebrate their birthday next month. They will be 1, so they won't remember it, but I feel as though I need to celebrate for us. The blessing it's been to have them, and how we've really be blessed by others as a result of their birth. I'm still thinking it through....it's been amazing to have made it this far.





I started weaning them a little earlier them I thought I would, but I am ready. I can't believe I nursed them both for quite so long. When I am presented with a challenge like that, I usually want to overcome it, or back way down. I was up to do it. I committed and there was never a second thought- I wanted to get through most of the winter with nursing them, and I did. Whew! Now to gain a little more independence. I will also be gaining a bunch of time I hope. Right now, nursing two, dressing two, changing two, preparing food for two, feeding two, getting two cleaned up, changed again, and put down for naps/bed takes a lot more time then I give it credit. Cutting out nursing will hopefully give me the chance to squeeze in a clean up of some sort, or working on something developmentally with them instead. I usually run around during their nap times trying to catch up on everything around here...and I still have a 3 yr. old to give attention to and help. I hardly get the chance to blog or e-mail, one because they don't nurse as long, so I don't sit with the computer, and two because since they are more mobile, I need to chase after them, or they are pulling on me....it's just this stage. I am okay with that- but I am trying to be patient and enjoying this for this time in our life.

The babies are lots of fun, laughing a lot and making tons of messes around here. And I am laughing with them, and going around cleaning up after them. Rado helps occasionally too. Our furniture will need to be replaced after this stage. We wrongly chose a non-busy fabric and well everything shows up, even where we clean shows up....Caed has been playing with Aldan a lot lately too, running after him- getting him to chase him...and well Theron just cries to play along. He's still not moving- much. He will spin himself around, and scoot a bit, but he's pretty much left in Aldan's dust. I try to make up for it, but I do want him to be frustrated so it motivates him to move himself. I try to balance it.

It is amazing how two kids, fraternal twins, can be so different. They both do things in such different ways. I love comparing their differences because they are so obvious right now. Theron turns the pages of the books. Aldan will touch those touch and feel books, Theron won't. Aldan moves around, Theron doesn't. They are both offered the same food, and yet Theron is solid and Aldan is "squishy". It's fascinating...