Each day is a new adventure

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Monday, August 22, 2011

18 Months Old



The trampoline



Brooklyn exploring

They wanted to eat the balloons so we had to take them away.






Our new friends.


Mommy is so proud.



Trying to out pick her brother.




He broke through the gate to the kitchen!
I cannot even fathom the fact that the twins are already 18 months old!!!  Each day their little personalities develop even more and it is so fun to watch all of the different things they do.  They are curious about anything and everything and it seems that Brooklyn is forever climbing on something while Tayden is digging through something.  They love to steal each other's pacifiers and laugh with each other.  They play very well with each other and have even started teaming up to break through the gate to the kitchen.  They have succeeded many times.  They are still doing great their sippy cups and we have discovered that they love pineapple and kiwi. 

Last week Tayden had his ECI appointment.  Both the coordinator and therapist could not believe the progress he had made in the past month.  They hadn't really ever heard his little voice and during their visit he wouldn't stop talking.  He said all of the words he knows and did all of his tricks.  They think that he might not qualify for speech services!  Brooklyn will hopefully have her evaluation in September so that we can start speech services for her.  She is meeting all of her developmental milestones, we just need to work on talking more.

This weekend we attended a birthday party for my college roommate's son - Maddox.  They had the party at ASI Gymnastics.  We got stuck in terrible traffic so we missed the gym time, but the kids were able to play for a little bit and they loved it!!!!  They wanted to check everything out and especially loved the trampolines.  We have a gym close to our house and are considering starting them in a once a week class.  For their age group the parents get to participate - that could be fun! 

I survived my 11th First Day of School today.  It actually was a very smooth day.  I have finally adjusted to getting up so very early and need to start going to bed sooner.  My sleep is hindered by the fact that I am trying to finish The Help so that I can go see the movie this weekend.  I have heard it is absolutely wonderful.  My school started DEAR (drop everything and read) time this year and I am so excited to be able to bring a book and read for 10 minutes. 

Have a great week!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Summer Vacation - Week #7 It's Getting Hot in Here

My last week of vacation turned out a little bit differently than I imagined!  On Wednesday evening it started getting very warm in our house.  Considering that we are days away from setting a heat record, we didn't get too concerned until it temp starting rising the later it got.  Tim woke me up in the middle of the night and it was 85 degrees in our house.  We realized that we needed to get the twins up and get to my mom's to cool down.  We spent all of Thursday at SueSue's house playing.  By Thursday evening we thought that the problem was solved so we packed up and came back home. 

Friday morning when I woke up, I immediately knew that the problem was not fixed, only worse.  I was already back up to 85 at 8:00 a.m.  The twins had a check-up with their doctor, so we quickly got ready and got out of the house.  After the doctor visit (I will give details below) we ate Japanese food at one of our favorite restaurants - TAKARA.  We then went to the house only to pack everything up again.  We spent most of the weekend at SueSue's and my very sweet brother-in-law got the new motor installed on Saturday evening.  He came over three nights in a row after working all day (14+ hours) in the sweltering heat - THANK YOU CRAIG!!!!!  My mom was in Abilene visiting my grandparents, but she kindly let us stay and make a BIG mess!!!  We packed up and headed home to a nicely air-conditioned house late Saturday evening.  Everytime I started to get frustrated with the heat, I would quickly think about people who don't have air conditioning and those that have no place to go when their AC goes out.  We were so fortunate to have a family member who got it fixed and a family member that opened her home to us.  Tim showed houses on Sunday so I spent my last day of freedom (haha) hanging out with the twins.  We had a great time!!!

The twins' check-ups went really well.  Brooklyn now weighs 25 lbs. (82nd percentile for 30 weekers) and is  31 inches tall (68th percentile for 30 weekers).  Tayden weighs 27 pounds (82nd percentile for 30 weekers) and is 30.5 inches tall (31st percentile for 30 weekers) - poor guy needs a growth spurt.  Dr. Hunt said that they both looked really great and have grown so well.  They got all of their 18th month vaccines and will not have to get any more vaccines until they are 4!!!  They will get flu shots, but nothing major for quite awhile!  She was very impressed with the variety of things they will eat, but did advise us to stop bottles completely.  We had cut down from 4 to 2 (1 morning and 1 evening).  The times we had tried to eliminate bottles before, we ended up giving in because they were not drinking enough from their sippy cups.  When we talked to Dr. Hunt about this she said that for a few days they wouldn't want to drink a lot, but that eventually they would start drinking more.  So when we returned home on Saturday evening, the twins had their final bottle.  It was a bittersweet moment!  It seems like it was just yesterday we were propping them up on their boppies and feeding them bottles every 2-3 hours.  Time has flown by!!!  On Friday night at my mom's both babies crawled up in my lap with their bottles and fell asleep - this has never happened!!!!  What a great memory of one of their last bottle feedings!  They have done really well with their sippy cups, but still don't drink as much milk as they did from bottles.  On Monday morning when I got up at 5:15 for my first day back they both woke up and started crying.  I tried to give them sippies and they both pushed them away.  They wanted nothing to do with them!  It was hard not to give in, but we stayed strong and they ended up falling back to sleep. 

Brooklyn is slowly starting to talk more and more.  She now says WOW, bye bye, hi, set, go, and a few other words.  She loves to climb on the couch and run away from her brother.  When she laughs she puts her hand over her mouth.  They love playing together now and it cracks me up to watch them chase each other around the living room.  Tayden's cry is now HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY!!!  This is really special in the middle of the night.  He loves pointing to everything even sissy.  He seems to say a new word every day.  Just now I looked over and he had the phone to his ear and was having a conversation.  We got the twins a toy piggy bank and some blocks and they have had a blast playing with them.  They will put all of the coins in the pig and then open his tummy to get them all out and start again.  They like to stack the blocks and then knock them down.  They still love reading books and looking at picture cards and will bring them to us so that we can read them over and over again.

My training this week has gone well!  It is so very hard to believe that my summer vacation is over!  I enjoyed every single minute I had at home with the twins and I already miss them during the day, but I know they are in good hands with their daddy. 

We are over the stomach virus and have air conditioning - life is good!!!

Coloring with his new triangular crayons - of course I save the finished product for their baby books.

She loves to draw and write.  They have Magna Doodles and she carries it around with her writing notes.  She is definitely a list maker in training!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Summer Vacation - Week #6 SICK, SICK, SICK

As I was writing my post last Monday, Brooklyn was getting sick with a stomach bug.  She continued to throw up for three hours - every 45 minutes or so.  Once we finally got her settled and got in bed, Tayden started throwing up, which lasted for about three hours.  It was a very long night and we had a lot of dirty laundry!!!!  It was terrible to see them both so sick and not be able to do anything to make it stop.  Those of you that know me well know that this scenario is my worst fear.  I usually run as fast as I can from anyone that looks like they might get sick.  I made great steps forward in conquering my fear after having vomit in my hair and all over my clothes.  I didn't drop the kids and run - I held them and comforted them.  Everyone told me this would be the case when I had children, and it looks like there might be hope.  Tim was a lifesaver and cleaned up each mess while I gave baths.  It didn't phase him at all - what a guy!!!   

On Tuesday they both slept a lot and were not their normal selves.  They weren't really hungry and didn't want to drink anything.  Tayden started having issues from the other end that are still occuring today, but MUCH better.  He did vomit one more time on Thursday.  Brooklyn was much better by Wednesday, but on Thursday she started running a fever of 103.  This continued off and on until Saturday, so Tim took her to Cooks' Urgent Care Center (I stayed home with Mr. Poopy Pants).  The doctor said that her ears and throat looked like they were starting to get infected, but her strep screen was negative.  She gave her some antibiotics and she has been fever free since that day.  She is back to her normal chipper self climbing on furniture and being dramatic.  My mom came over during the week and when she started to leave - Brooklyn started crying and headed for the front door.  When she was even with the tv she turned, stopped crying completely, watched for a few seconds, then started crying again as she grabbed on to SueSue.  It was so funny!!!  Acting might be in her future

The stomach virus claimed two more victims in our family - Tim and SueSue.  I am not quite sure how I avoided this terrible fate, but am so glad that I did.  When Tim first started feeling bad I thought he was faking it so that he could have a break from the sick kids, but he was definitely not kidding!!!  Everyone is now on the mend and we are trying to make the most out of every moment of my last week home.  I cannot believe that summer is almost over.  I wish that the 100+ degree days would be over.

Now for some news about Tim...  He has decided to get his EMT certification this Fall!  He loves real estate and will continue buying and selling houses - his career is actually going better than ever, but he wants to also pursue a career in the medical field (this has been a dream of his since before we started dating).  He started applying for some part time jobs - to help him get his foot in the door in this field, and he got three job offers within a week.  Each of the proposed schedules would allow for him to still stay home with the twins during the day!!!  We are prayerfully considering each position and know that God will lead him in the right direction.  Our schedules will be a little more hectic, but we will make it work!  I am so proud of him for follwing his dream!!!  Please keep him in your prayers as he begins this new adventure!

We are considering leasing our house so that we can finally move.  We desperately need the space and not too many homes in our neighborhood are selling - they are quickly all becoming rental properties.  This is another aspect of our life that we are in constant prayer about.  So many exciting changes!!!!

I hope you all have a great week and are able to stay out of the heat.  We love you!!!

New grill

Hotdog bun

turning all the knobs

She might feel sick, but can still manage to climb

Tayden wanted to get on the ladder with Daddy




My cousin Kasey and her husband David sent us these AWESOME bibs just in time for football season!  GO STEELERS!!!!!!!

Thank you Kasey and David!!!!