Pictures for Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj

Finally got to the root of the problem - I reached the limit on my photo storage and had to add more! Some of the topics we covered for each letter were: giraffe, gingerbread men, gorilla, grapes, hat, hippo, heart, humpty dumpty, ice cream, iguana, ice, icicle, igloo, jesus, jelly beans, jelly, and Jack & Jill. The themes kind of fell to the wayside, but now that I am on summer break, we are back on track.

2 Year Check-Up, Letters Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj

I tried to post pictures with no luck!! Check back soon... I have fallen behind on my posting due to the insanity of May! I survived the end of the school year! I will be in the same room next year, so I was able to spend my time getting all of the Literacy materials to their new storage location and move most of the Special Ed. materials over to my room. It is a little bit overwhelming to look through all of these materials that are a bit foreign to me. The current Special Ed. teacher has been WONDERFUL!!! She has walked me through many of the materials, the ARD process, her handy dandy binder where she keeps all of the IEPs, and they even made notes for me so that I will know what level each of the students ended the year on, so that I can start there in the Fall. I have some very big shoes to fill and I know that I will be making many phone calls to this amazing teacher. She is starting her own school for children with special needs and I wish her the very best in this venture. God opened a door for her, which opened a door for me - crazy how things work! I have easily made the transition of being at home with the twins all day, every day and I LOVE IT!!!! The kids are doing extremely well!!! They are getting into everything!!! Our house was baby-proofed, but they have busted through the drawer locks and tonight, five minutes after Tim installed a lock on our freezer, they had worked together to remove it! They say the funniest things and keep us laughing. When changing an especially dirty diaper, I often times make the comment, "What did you eat?" The other day I was changing Tayden and Brooklyn leaned down to his face and said, "What did you eat?" Tonight, after removing the freezer lock, they managed to remove the handle from the entire freezer. I put it on top of the fridge and she opened the double doors - causing it to fall. She calmly said, "Holy Moly!" She loves to give hugs and say hello and is all about telling us what she is doing. She will say, "I climbing, I jumping, I hopping, I playing, I eating." She still loves putting on her tutu and dancing around the living room. She has mastered the art of being adorable when getting in trouble. I will be scolding her and she will close her eyes while flashing the cutest smile ever, or hug me and say, "So cute!" Where does she learn these things??? Tayden is obsessed with learning in any shape or form. We watch educational videos on YouTube, read books, and work puzzles all day long. He wants to know the name of everything and says things daily that amaze us. He will say, "T is for Tayden, M is for Mommy, D is for Dada, B is for Booklyn (no r), and S is for SueSue." Last weekend he was playing in the front yard and got bit by a mosquito multiple times. These bites quickly swelled up. I got concerned and took him to the new Pediatric Urgent Care by our house. I was filling out the paperwork and the lady asked me how to spell his name. When I finished he walked over to the window and said, "Brooklyn, Brotqug." It was precious!! He loves his sister so much and always wants to make sure that she is included. The doctor said that he was having an allergic reaction to the bites and that we should give him Benadryl every 4 hours and keep the bites covered to keep him from scratching as much as possible. They are much better now! My mom came over for dinner a few nights ago and he picked up her bottle of water and started to pour it on himself. My mom heard the water, turned to him and said, "What in the," to which he responded, "world?" Needless to say there is never a dull or quiet moment in our house. There is a lot of laughter and a lot of talking, and I wouldn't have it any other way! We took the twins in for their 2 year check-up on Friday. When they had RSV in February, Dr. Hunt told us to wait until summer to come back, so that is what we did. She couldn't believe her eyes. She first met the twins at 5 lbs. and 7 lbs. and now they are each over 30 lbs. When we first took Brooklyn to the office for her first shots (two days after being released from the NICU), the nurse commented that she was the smallest baby she had ever given a shot to - boy have things changed! Both twins got an excellent bill of health - answered prayer!!!! She gave us their percentiles compared to other 30 weekers, and then we also asked for the percentiles comparing the twins to 40 weekers (toddlers their same age who went full term). We were pleasantly surprised!!! Here are the breakdowns: Brooklyn - 35.6 pounds, 35.5 inches tall Percentiles for 30 weeker: Weight - 99% and Height - 87% Percentiles for 40 weeker: Weight - 98% and Height - 71% Tayden - 32.7 pounds, 33.2 inches tall Percentiles for 30 weeker: Weight - 91% and Height - 18% Percentiles for 40 weeker: Weight - 86% and Height - 9% (she assured us that we should not be alarmed about his height, and that he will get a growth spurt very soon).

Slideshow of Spring Pictures

My Animoto Video

Mother's Day and the Letter Ff

We had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!  We combined our big family celebration of Mother's Day with my little sister Jamie's birthday on the 12th and had a great dinner at the Olive Garden.  On Mother's Day I woke up to beautiful roses and my favorite breakfast being prepared by my husband.  We spent the day hanging around the house as a family and it was perfect!!!  Tim and the twins got me a precious necklace with Brooklyn, Tayden, and 2-18-10 (their birthday) engraved on little charms.  For dinner we took Tim's mom to the Mexican Inn.  The twins loved getting to see Grandma.  Brooklyn still comes up to me and says, "Thank you for my flowers," in a very high pitched voice, which I guess is how I sounded when I first saw them.  Everytime she sees my necklace she says, "Happy Mother Day."  It was a great weekend getting to celebrate motherhood.  I do feel strange being thanked for being a mother.  I feel like I should be thanking the twins and Tim for making me a mother.  For as long as I can remember the things I wanted most in life were to be a wife and mother.  God has made my dreams come true.  It is the most stressful, demanding, exhausting job I have ever or will ever have, but I am reminded many times each day of how it is the most rewarding, beautiful, soul shaking job I will ever have.  

I truly believe that one of the greatest parts of being a mother is the appreciation it gives you for your own mother.  When you are up in the middle of the night with a sick baby, it helps to know that someone did the same thing for you.  I really have to remind myself of this on the days when I have been pooped on and vomited on :-).  The love of a mother is beyond amazing.  I know that my husband, my children, and my family loves me, but no one has loved me for as long as my mom has - 34 long years!!!  She has been a chef, a nurse, a cheerleader, a counselor, a repairer of all things broken, a comforter, a true friend, and most importantly a constant example of a Christian woman and God's love for me.  Now that I see her as a grandmother to my own children it is refreshing to know that there is someone in this world that loves my children as deeply and purely as Tim and I do.  Mom you are a true blessing!  You have endured great trials and survived many battles which have made you stronger than anyone I know.  I love you and appreciate you more than you will ever know!! 

Tim took Brooklyn to a pediatric dermatologist last week to check on the discoloration she has on her arms and tummy.  The doctor believes that is is eczema, which we knew she had on her legs.  He gave us a presription cream and recommended we start using a different soap and lotion.  He thinks that her skin tone will begin to even out. 

I did get the 175 pictures that my sweet friend Ann Marie took and I am working on making a slideshow of our favorites to post on the blog.  That should be up in the next day or so.  She got a lot of great shots and I am very excited to share.

My beautiful roses

Fire truck and fire man

Tayden was concentrating very hard and holding his crayon just right.

my necklace - love it!!!!

My precious little man

My adorable little princess

My double blessings

hugs

fish, frog, fans, Farmer in the Dell, and Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Letters Dd and Ee

I have fallen behind on posting!! May always seems to be one of the busiest months of the year and it is definitely the case again this year. The twins are doing great – growing and changing each and every day. They can now say a few sentences, omitting a word here and there, such as, “Where dada go?” and “Sissy see moon?” They still adore books and music. They sing all of the time, even when there is no music playing. Tayden will sing a medley combining Baa Baa Black Sheep, Winkle Winkle, Happy Birthday, Where is Fumbkin, Jingle Bells and Jesus Loves Me. Brooklyn will dance along, loving every minute. They have both become obsessed with going to the car wash (thanks Dada), and anytime that we get ready to leave the house they want to go there first.

Our daily “preschool time,” usually goes really well, or they have no interest at all. I have quickly learned when it is best to save an activity for later. In the last two weeks we covered Dd: duck, dog, dinosaur (theme), dolphin, and donkey.  For Ee we covered: egg, elephant, Elmo, eagle, elf, and envelope.  The theme for Ee week was the sky – sun, moon, and stars. They love anything that involves the glue stick and have more fun pulling off the items that we have glued down.

ECI came on Tuesday and we had a fantastic session.  The occupational therapist brought a lot of more challenging puzzles and as soon as she walked in the door Tayden started saying, "Puzzle?"  She was amazed at how much the twins are talking and commented that their vocabularies are exceptional for two year olds!!!  Our last visit (hopefully) and final evaluation is in late June and she believes without doubt that neither of them will qualify for services any longer!  What a blessing!!!  I am eager to see how they score - the age equivalency. 

Last week was a rough week emotionally for me. Our sweet school nurse lost her battle with a very brief illness. This was a hard loss for our small campus, compounded with the loss of a young teacher last year. Both of these women battled courageously against very aggressive illnesses and were called home within a matter of months. This loss was a huge reminder of the fragility and preciousness of life. I was in need of some happy news, so I turned to the blog I had recently started following – www.averycan.blogspot.com about a precious family whose 5 month old daughter Avery was battling SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). Her doctors expected her life expectancy to be around 18 months of age. After receiving this crushing news, her amazing parents started a “bucket list” of things for her to accomplish before her life was cut short. The family took a ton of pictures documenting these tasks being accomplished and always gave commentary that made me laugh out loud. They wrote the blog through the eyes of a 5 month old, which was really clever. As I pulled up the blog, I could not believe my eyes. Precious Avery lost her battle to SMA, only 24 days after her diagnosis. Needless to say, that night was especially bittersweet for me. I held the twins a little tighter than usual and gave a few more hugs, kisses, and I love yous – what a powerful reminder that we should never take being healthy or having healthy children for granted.  Again, I must remind myself that so many things I place as priorities on my to do list, do not matter at all in the grand scheme of things.  All that truly matters is my faith, my family, and my friends.

My parents always made sure that we did things daily to make memories.  We ate dinner together - at the kitchen table and we faithfully took family vacations, where we shared moments that we still remember as if they happened yesterday.  I remember specifically when my dad insisted on going through a carwash on our way out of San Antonio (who washes their car before getting on the highway for 5 hours?).  He felt the need to roll his window down to fold the side mirror in, and at that very moment we were all blasted with the turbo stream of water intended for the window.  He was wet the entire way home.  My parents created a legacy for us that I am already trying to share with the twins.  Both of my parents were extremely hard workers that provided for our family and made huge sacrifices so that we could have the things that we did.  That is important, but what I remember most is the memories of a family life that we shared together every single day.  My parents walked each step of life with us - they were hands-on parents that taught us what unconditional love was (my mom still does).  They loved each other and gave us an excellent example of what a blessing your mate can and should be.  I hope that when my time comes, the twins will be able to have those same memories to hold on to, until we are reunited.

I know that heaven welcomed these new precious angels, and they both now live illness-free, without pain, hurt, or fear – the same knowledge that comforted me when we lost my dad. I cannot help but think of the individuals left behind. In both situations, the family’s “normal” became caring for their loved one’s every need. I often wonder how they got out of bed the next morning and continue to do so each day, to face a new day without the person they had been taking care of for so long. How will they be able to resume the "normal" activities of their lives - now that there is a huge emptiness?  I continue to pray that God will surround these families with peace beyond measure, and that they will be comforted in knowing that as Christians, death is not final, nor is it goodbye.  I long for the day I am reunited with my dad in Heaven, and for the moment I can meet my Savior face to face.  I would like to leave you with a powerful thought.  Avery’s dad put things beautifully when he said, “Do you live life dying, or die living life?”

Dalmation puppet

dolphins

Caught him reading

Ducks

Brooklyn waiving like a politician

Dinosaur puppet

Look who I caught coloring...

Doctor Doggy

Elf

Making eggs with cotton balls

Brooklyn chose to glue her egg to the door

Then helped Tayden do the same

Notice all of the beautiful coloring

stars

eating lo mein - one of their favorite foods

elephant puppet

Below are the pictures from photo shoot #1 that we purchased.  Our scanner is not too great, so on the pictures with a dark background you can seem a million dust particles.