for babies who take off their hair clips and eat them

Thing 1

Thing 2

HA. Try and take that rubber band off, why don't cha! It's around your hair only about 10 times.

um, they are twins!

I find this so funny, I just have to share it.

I was waiting in the lobby of my physical therapist. I had the girls in the stroller and I was talking to them. They were dressed alike, and yes, they are identical twin girls.

Man: (smiles and plays googley eyes with the girls)
Me: "K, J, can you wave hi?"
Man: (smiles some more and looks to be ready to say something but stops himself) "They look like they're only days apart!"
Me: (completely surprised by the stupid question I tried to form a smile) "Actually, they are only 1 minute apart."
Man: "Wow." (looks dazed and confused)

Wow, so far this comment takes the cake!

big brother learns to write

Thanks to a great preschool book I found this weekend, here is big brother's first attempt on writing his letter A.

deja vu - weren't we just here a few weeks ago?

Thing 1 came down with a fever on Friday night. Her fever broke the next day, but now she's feeling more miserable than before because she's very congested. Her nose stuffed up and runny making it difficult for her to sleep. Her chest is also congested making her cough horribly.

After dinner tonight, it's Thing 2 has a fever. She's now sleeping in one of the play pen in our room so that I could monitor her in the middle of the night. Thing 1 is alone in their room, coughing every now and then. They just both had the same symptoms 3 weeks ago!

I worry about the twins when they get sick because they always have wheezing. I think this comes with the territory of being preemies. When the little man was a baby, he was right there in our bed because we co-sleep. So even though I worried about him, I at least got sleep. But with the girls, it's difficult.

Last night I took Thing 1 to our bed because she's coughing and wheezing, but the minute I laid her on the bed she got excited. She crawled everywhere and climbed on , top of me and Daddy. She did this for 20 minutes until I finally gave up and put her back to her bed where she slept instantly! Today we're trying out the play pen idea next to the bed. So far it's working out. I haven't heard a peep from Thing 2.

Big brother is coughing too and having trouble getting a good night sleep. He woke up at 3 am and came to our bed, which irritated Daddy because it woke him up and he couldn't get back to sleep. He actually got mad at me as if I made the little boy sleep with us. Finally in his sleep hysterics, he stormed out of our room to the guess room to get some zzzzz's.

practice walking

Once in a while, the twins do get out of the play yard. :-) And today, Thing 2 uses her time to practice taking steps. I tried to let Thing 1 do the same, but she was too afraid of falling. Notice how her hair stick out all over the place?

This is before Thing 2's bath (taken this morning after dropping off big brother at school).



And this is what happens after the bath, after all the dirt and grime gets washed away. (Her car seat now faces forward!)



By the way, this is a partial evil eye. The camera was too slow to catch the whole thing.

running errands with a 3-year old & having fun!

I was on church nursery duty bright and early this morning and of course I brought the little man with me. I don't think the husband would let me keep volunteering if I were to leave all 3 chitlins with him. It was fun, even though there was a 1-year old and a 2-year old that would really prefer not to be there. But for some strange reason, the total of 11 kids that were running around wasn't really too bad. I guess it's because they weren't mine!

After church, the little man and I went to Costco and bought a few things, including one ginormous box of diapers and one equally ginormous box of wipes. The little man is getting to be quiet fun to be with when he isn't throwing a tantrum. And he only has them lately when he is getting sleepy. We saw a fireman rain coat and he wouldn't let me put it back down. I didn't really want to buy because it's lined, and this boy being as warm blooded as he is he would just sweat like mad while wearing it. But, we ended up with it anyway.

Here we are having fun while eating lunch at Costco.

birth order

I once mentioned to a friend that I am a lot stricter with my first born, than I am with my twins. She replied by saying that this is usually the case. It got me thinking....

With the little man being the first, it was 'learn as you go' sort of parenting. He was already 11 months by the time I introduced a sippy cup (not that it was needed all that much because I was still breastfeeding at the time). At 12 months, I was still spoon feeding him pretty much everything because for one I didn't know better, and two it was less messy than letting him feed himself. Then one day, I came across a book (or it could have been a website) that said that by 12 months, babies should be given a spoon to experiment with.

Nowadays, at 3 years 4 months old, both Daddy and I are still too controlling. We've found ourselves steering him off of a toy that he really wanted because we think he's too old/too young, too big/too small. In the most mundane things in life, both Daddy and I sometimes control too much with this little boy, who just happens to be the most independent kid you will ever meet. Everything is "I can do it myself!", "let me do it", "Mommy, I did by myself!". I still remember when I took him to new playground at about 14 months. He took off from me and got as much as 20 feet away without ever looking back if I was still behind him.

Today, the twins enjoy less "fussing over": I gave them a sippy cup at 7 months, I let them self-feed as soon as they could bring their hands to their mouths, they can make a mess without me freaking out about the amount of mess I have to clean later. I don't know if it's because since there are 2 of them and it's harder to control 2 compared to 1.

It is a little unfair for everyone involved and I feel a little guilty. The boy received a lot of one on one time but always on the receiving end of experimental parenting. The twins get a lot less one on one but is the recipient of 'wiser' parenting techniques.

random tidbits

Big Bro:

• Big Bro regularly says, "you hurt my feewings!"
• Big Bro exclaims, "it's maybe diarrhea" before he flushes the toilet.
• Big Bro's favorite TV shows to watch at the moment are Max & Ruby & Blues Clues.
• He now sleeps in his room.
• Big Bro can count to 20, but both 13 and 14 are pronounced "firteen".
• Big Bro recognizes all of the alphabet.
• Big Bro can buckle his own seat belt.
  

Thing 1:

• Thing 1 bites when nursing.
  
• Thing 1 cries everytime she sees someone eating.
• Thing 1 sometimes looks at me and says, "bah mama!".
• Thing 1 can out-eat Thing 2 and Big Bro any time.
• Thing 1 has been experimenting with standing up for a few seconds without holding on to anything.
• Thing 1 loves to sleep on her tummy.
  

Thing 2:

• Thing 2 bites when nursing.
  
• Thing 2 smacks me with glee. When I tell her "no hitting, only loving hands", she stops, frowns at me and then smiles and hits me again.
  
• Thing 2 imitates words she hears by sound the ends; "isssss" for fish.
• Thing 2 puckers up when we ask for a kiss.
• Thing 2 opens and closes her fist if you sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
• Thing 2's car seat now faces forward! (since yesterday).
• Thing 2 loves to sleep on her tummy.
  
  
  

first hairbrush

Thing 1 woke up from her nap sooner than Thing 2, so I whisked her away downstairs to have one on one time. I gave her the brush I bought for their first birthday but just never got around to giving it. How slack am I?! But to be fair, it's just lately that their hair seems to grow very fast. It's now going down to their eyes. I've tried many clips on them, but they keep pulling it off, especially Thing 1.

Here she is with a hair clip on. The only reason why Thing 1 didn't try to take it off was that she was too preoccupied with the brush.

beware the evil eye

After 5 weeks of going to physical therapy twice a week, the girls have become very familiar with the routine. Once I get called, Thing 1 twists around (she sits in front) to see where I keep the crackers and when I don't hand it fast enough, she gets very vocal. And quite loudly I might add.

Everyone in there loves these two, even the patients. Thing 1 continuously chit-chats with everyone and cries when she's out of crackers. Thing 2 took a while to start smiling, but today she did finally start. But one of the therapist 'over stayed' her welcome in talking to them (she said because Thing 1 was enjoying the conversation so much!) and Thing 2 started crying for me. She couldn't see me right away because I was paying so it made her cry even worse. After that, she gave the therapist the evil eye. Oooh, she gets Mommy's evil eye look down pat.

The nice therapist felt shamed, but I think I made her feel better when I told her even I get the evil eye. :-) But then I ran out of crackers. GASP! Now the nice lady happened to have graham crackers so she gave the girls some. Of course they stop crying. We'll see if the lady is now Thing 2's best friend on my next appointment.

Is it evil eye or evil eyeS? There are 2 eyes, after all. Oh well.

milk allergy

I finally took the twins to the pediatrician to discuss their milk allergy. I went on and on and on about eliminating milk completely for a couple of weeks and then starting a food diary for a few days, and noting the reactions to milk products. I then stopped the milk products for 2 more weeks and then introduced cheese and they had the allergic reaction again. They developed a rash around their mouths and wherever the milk happens to drip, and they got runny noses. During a particularly bad reaction, both the girls developed welts.

He said that as far as allergy goes, it's pretty mild. He mentioned that tests at this age is pretty inaccurate but it is worth looking into to see what we're dealing with. So he gave me a name of a pediatric allergist. In the meantime, we can keep with soy milk. Should it turn out that we have to avoid milk for a long time, then we will discuss other ways of getting calcium into their bodies.

I'm not particularly happy with the casual manner of the conversation (I'm worried, and the doctor is not), but at least we've been referred to an allergist. We'll see what happens then. Milk allergy may be common before the age of 3, but it doesn't mean I don't have to worry. There is absolutely no history of food allergy in both mine and my husband's family. At least when the girls get tested, I will know whether to freak out when Thing 1 steals Big Brother's milk.

buckle up!

I do believe I can finally spare my back by not crawling inside of the mini-van to get to the 3rd row in order to buckle my 3 year old in. Yesterday I asked him to buckle himself in and so he tried, no so successfully, but I was there to give him pointers. This morning when I drove him to school, he was able to buckle himself without my help! Yipeee! Of course I need to check to make sure the seat belt isn't over the arm rest of the booster and that it isn't twisted.

Life has gotten just a tad bit easier. :-)

a game without winners and losers

Big Bro finally gets to bat left-handed. Since T-ball began, if you set him up initially, he positions himself to bat left-handed. But the coach turns him around, and makes him bat right-handed. We've since found out it doesn't really matter since he can apparently bat with either hand, though. Daddy talked to the coach and told him to try to let him bat however he wanted.

Did you notice the boy in 3rd base who ran after the ball instead of running home? So funny! The mom used to apologize the first 2 games, but she doesn't anymore. Why would she? we're just all happy these kids can last an hour in hot humid heat every Saturday!



This game is awesome. There is no winners or losers, yet there they are taught sportsmanship. There is only one more session left and T-ball is done. Soccer is the next in September.

T-ball Trophy

First, the little man wanted Daddy to be with him (in red).

Then he requested that he wanted Mommy. (Notice we're wearing the team hat!)

Still tackling whoever gets the ball, who cares if they are in the same team.

Another team mate beat the little man to the ball this time.

The Cheerleaders
(Thing 1 in the front, Thing 2 in the back).
They cheered the best they could, even if their backs were turned against the game. It was hot and humid and this is the only position that afforded them shade.

The trophy! and not just any trophy, it's a personalized one with his name!

conspiring twins

Some time this morning, I got two baby books and showed/read them to the twins. They loved the pictures of the babies; Thing 1 kissed the picture of a girl repeatedly. Then I left them to enjoy the books on their own. After I had gone to the kitchen and walked around aimlessly for a few minutes staring at the dirty dishes and pondering whether I wanted to clean them or not, I go back to check on the girls and found them ripping paper covering the binding and eating the paper! So I take the books a way.

Late in the afternoon, in preparing to leave to meet the boys for our Friday picnic, I gather diapers and baby wipes and took then inside the play yard to change diapers. Consistent to what I've been doing a lot lately, I leave the box of wipes in the play yard. I then go upstairs and get dressed. By the time I got back down to the living room, here is what I saw.



I swear these two girls conspired to drive me crazy today when I am already going crazy suffering from womanly pains (cramps).

where does it all go?

Thing 2 hasn't stopped stuffing her face since the weekend. Just watch her put all of that waffle in her mouth. It's quite fascinating.



Thing 1 also stuffs her face, but she seems to be more lady-like today.

Right after I shot these videos, I run to the laptop to upload them on youtube. After 10 minutes, I go to check on the twins and here is what I saw.



After eating all those waffles, I guess there's nothing else to do but to take a late morning siesta.

little tricksters already

We were at Big Brother's school waiting for him to finish playing so we could head home yesterday when the girls played a neat trick on me. I had put a hair clip on Thing 2 because her hair is getting in her eyes. But had to take Thing 1's away because she kept taking it off and putting it in her mouth. But while at school, I happened to notice that Thing 2's was gone. So I did my usual sweep of her mouth and found nothing. I looked around her seat and the floor and the basket part of the stroller and didn't find it. Then I happened to see Thing 1's hand closed in a tight fist. I checked it and there it was. Did I mention that Thing 1 is on the front and Thing 2 is in the back? How on earth Thing 1 got a hold of Thing 2's head is beyond me. Oh, and did I mention that I was inches away from them the entire time and still I didn't see how it happened.

I just love my Daddy.

Daddy's birthday is this weekend, so we had his birthday lunch on Tuesday with the twins. Big Brother was in school. Sorry, little man! While eating lunch, Thing 2 took breaks in between every 2 -3 bites to lean over on Daddy and wrap her greasy little hands around his arm. She kept doing it over and over through the entire meal. We're not quite sure why she did it, but it sure did give her time enough to chew her food and not choke herself like she and her sister did over the weekend. And of course, Daddy just ate up the cuddliness.

Thing 1 sat beside me and both she and I just went about our business of eating yummy yummy Italian food.

Notice we took the booster seat with us. It was great!! For the first time while out, I didn't need to feed the girls first before I could eat my food. We all ate together.

conked out on the drive home

The little man conked out 20 minutes into the long drive home on Monday. But notice the train track still in his hands. He will probably hate me for posting pictures like this when he gets older.

Here is Thing 1. It took her a little while to fall asleep being next Big Brother. But she finally fell asleep after her fingers found her mouth.

more trains

trains, cars, fire trucks, trains, and more trains

I don't think you're ever seen this much excitement from a 3-year-old. The problem is, that we built up the trip by telling him he would be able to ride in a train. But the way the trip was structured, the train ride was after 2 hours of walking around and looking at the countless trains. When it was finally time to ride the train, he bee-lined for the train like someone was trying to nip his behind.



Look at this boy grinning like a fool.



Here is 3 generations in front of the this 1925 train (picture on the left), but it's actually 5 generations.. Papaw shares his story of riding on this train with his father, and his grandfather running it. Poor little man doesn't know yet that there is another legacy here in store for him - the big belly.

The picture on the right is Daddy and Big Brother's cousins...and no, they are not really funny looking. The sun just happened to be in their eyes.



And here we are, the women-folk. I got a work out carrying Thing 2, but Nana had Thing 1 who is even heavier. Silly me for leaving the stroller at home. Never again!

Nana has good food!

Thing 2 and Thing 1 had their first real chicken, roast beef, and ham this weekend.

Thing 2 stuffed her mouth with a banana.

In trying to stuff our large family in the mini-van, we had to down size a few things. The girls' Graco high-chair were not going to work at all for the trip, unless we wanted someone to ride in the cargo top. So we bought two booster seats instead. These Firsher-Price Healthy Care Booster seats were our answer. It worked out quite well. The twins got to show case their self-feeding ability to Nana. Would you believe each of these two munchkins ate more than their Big Brother at each meal?

gone fishing

Fishing was the big hit of the day on Saturday. The boys (Papaw, cousin B, Daddy, Big Brother) all had fishing rods and introduced Big Brother to his first fish ever. There was a rumor of a rule about baiting your own hook, but somehow I was able to cast without doing so and without a license!

Big Brother had a blast, and best of all no limbs got caught in the hook (Papaw has a story about an a hook on someone's ear when he was young? eww). But I think he probably got a little board waiting for a fish to bite, but he surely wanted to be told when cousin B caught one so he could touch it. Touch meaning poke the fish with one finger.

While the boys were fishing, Nana and I wore the girls and took a walk around the park and watched the geese. I had Thing 2 go with Nana, thinking that if she could see me, she wouldn't mind being carried by someone else. (She suffered from major separation anxiety during this trip.) But it didn't matter, she fussed a little bit, that is until Nana got moving.

We found geese that were hanging around people that were feeding them, so we took a look. The girls were fascinated. There were a couple that thought Thing 2's toes were yummy, but Nana wasn't going to let those pretty little toes get nipped at. Then came Big Brother to check out the geese, too. A lovely family gave us some of their bread to feed the geese, so Big Brother got busy. He thought it was all fun and games until the same one that thought Thing 1's toes looked yummy thought he looked yummy too. "Mommy, it's going to eat me!", he shouted as he hid behind me.

After an hour or so, the humidity was too much so we rested and had drinks. I guess Thing 1 was hungry, she started eating the string of my hat. Daddy found the whole thing amusing and very cute, so here we are. Daddy was present by the way. But I only got a picture of him looking lazy and playing with his cell phone. We don't want the kids looking at this blog 15 years from now thinking their Daddy is lazy, now do we. :-)

Thing 1 faces forward

We are at the hubby's parents right now spending the weekend. We took the drive on Friday afternoon just in time for everyone's nap. There is something remarkable about this trip, since it's the first time Thing 1's car seat faces forward. We were re-shuffling everyone to maximize the space in the minivan and ended with Thing 2 and I in the middle row, and Thing 1 and Big bro in the 3rd row (with Thing 1 directly behind me). But I couldn't get back of my seat upright. Thing 1's car seat was take too much room. Then we decided to turn her car seat forward, but not before we weighed her though. By our scale, she weighed in at 20.5 lbs. With the car seat facing forward, there was plenty of room for me to stretch my legs! Thing 2 had to remain rear facing though.

Daddy kept teasing me about breaking down about this momentous event. He reminded me of the one lowly tear I shed when our son was able to use a public high-chair for the first time when he was four months old.

guilty no more

Our lower level AC conked out on us on Tuesday. It was blowing air, but it wasn't cold. I thought it was a good idea to keep it running, thinking that at least it was circulating the air. But apparently, that wasn't the best thing to do as it only made the house humid. The AC repairman could drop by that afternoon but gave me a 5 hour window. That wasn't going to work since I had to go and pick up the little man from school. So it was not until last night that it got fixed. In the meantime, we spent a lot of time upstairs in the master bedroom.

Let me just say that the twins knew instantly that there was not a play yard enclosing them. And with big brother in the mix, it was a free for all apparently. Big brother and I were sitting on the couch reading a bed time story, Thing 1 was busy inspecting corners she hadn't been into before, and Thing 2 was busy eating any lint or hair she could find on the floor. Big brother was working on his milk but left it on top of something, and Thing 1 found it a short moment later. She put it in her mouth and loved the chocolate milk. There was a big outcry from Big brother when he saw it, "That's my milk!!" he says. He runs over to Thing 1 and grabs the sippy cup. "You're not my best friend, Katie!", he says and cries some more. When I was sure Big brother wasn't going to strangle Thing 1, I go and run over to Thing 2 to stop her from eating a big knot of hair from the carpet (ew!).

After a few minutes of quiet, I return to reading the book. A few seconds later, I see Thing 1 found Big brother's sippy cup again. I look over at Thing 2 and she's crawling towards another piece of lint, or hair, or whatever it was only she could see. Oi!

Daddy walks in on us an says, "This is why we have the play yard." Yay, Daddy is home!!

the bangles are beautiful, but they are definitely not edible

The bangles that the girls wore the other day are beautiful. They were all but forgotten while we were at therapy (but that could be because of the animal cookies they were too busy stuffing in their faces). But that afternoon, I noticed that the short chain that connects the 2 edges of the bangle were just dangling on Thing 1. I checked it out and the link that connected it to the bangle was gone. (Momentary panic set in at this time.) I shoved my forefinger and thumb in Thing 1's mouth (I usually just use my pinky, but desperate time calls for desperate measures. Who cares if my fingers were bigger than her mouth!) and started the sweep. AHA, there it was.

So, adieu pretty bangles. The girls can have you back when they have their own chitlins to panic over. Well, maybe not that long. After all, you're the first piece of jewelry they ever had (thanks to some very thoughtful relatives).

feminine charms with boyish clothing

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are sporting boy's clothing today. It seems only boys' clothing are ever long enough to cover their knees to afford a little protection when crawling. But no worries, I think the butterfly hair clip and the bangle more than brings their feminine charm.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!
(Thing 2)

ET phones home. I do hope she's getting a good reception.
(Thing 1)

a smooch

Is there anything more special than a smooch from a big brother?
We know it won't be long until headlocks and take downs become the norm so we cherish moments like this. (Thing 1)

finally, fireworks!

The little man was constantly asking to see fireworks all day long, and thankfully I was able to find one that was rescheduled yesterday evening at 9:15. I didn't want to raise his hopes again, so I cautioned that if there was a storm, there wouldn't be any fireworks. But thankfully, though the clouds were cloudy and there were a few rumbles of thunder, it stayed dry. We packed up the kiddies and went the little man's 2nd fireworks ever. (His first was at Disney World when he was 18 months old). He was so excited, he couldn't contain himself.

We watched from the Target parking lot, which worked out really well. We got there early so we were able to read some bedtime stories. When the the fireworks started, Thing2's eyes grew as big as a silver dollar, and Thing1 looked ready to throw a humongous wail. But Daddy stayed in the car with them and they calmed down holding onto his hands.

We had a late night, but fortunately, for once in this little boy's life, he woke up late at 8am allowing us to sleep in a bit longer.

sporting a big boy haircut

Someone's hair was getting too long. With him overheating all the time, we thought it was finally time to just shave it all off. Well, OK, it was ME who thought it should all go. I gave fair warning to Daddy that the little man was ready for his haircut, but it took him a few minutes before he joined the party. When he walked in on me, I was using the 1-inch hair attachment on the top of the little man's head. "I want the top long!", Daddy said. Um, you should have ran up here when I called you. Here is the big boy modeling his new do.

Thing2 and Thing1 hangs out with Big Bro.

my 1-year old are swimsuit beauties

Had we made it out to the water park today, this is what the girls would have looked like. The hat is from LandsEnd, but I only got the pink because apparently, they ran out of the white. So for the past week, I went from store after store to find another similar sun hat, but couldn't find one. Finally, I phoned LandsEnd and just ordered whatever color they had. I ended up with a red one, shipped super fast for free! Gotta love the costumer service there!

I took the picture and Thing2 ended up squinting because of the flash. And after that, she just kept on doing her squinty face. Notice her 4 huge upper teeth and the 2 on the bottom.

Gotta love Thing2's many silly faces.

Thing1 displays her lovely swimsuit. She's been playing with her tongue for the past several days like that. She has the same amount of teeth Thing1 has, but you wouldn't know it since she's always hanging out her tongue!

Thing2 discoveres the sexy back hole! Hers have one too.

Thing2 now gets fascinated by her sister's hat. Did she want to wear the red one instead?

July 4th: a bust

Since Thing1 was feverish last night, we decided that it would be better to let her rest and stay home. So Daddy stayed home with the girls, and I took Big Bro to the water park. Big Bro had an absolute blast. He actually tired a grown up enclosed slide. We weren't allowed to go together, so I went first so that I could get him right when he came out. It was dark, it was fast, and water just sprayed all over my face. Good thing I had the little man wear his goggles. As he emerged from the slide, he was almost turned over to his belly and had a slightly scared look on his face. I asked him how it was, and he said he got scared and the water went in his mouth. I reassured him that he was so brave for trying a grown up slide, but he didn't have to do it again. After that, we just enjoyed getting wet, getting splashed, and splashing people.

I was able to get him out of there with the promise of seeing the fireworks tonight, but that ended up being a bust. Right at 5pm, a severe thunderstorm rolled in. By 6pm, it was clearing out, so we left the house by 7pm to watch the county firework show. By the time we emerged from our neighborhood, there were branches dangling off of trees, in the middle of the road, and some crews reparing power lines. Surely it wasn't that bad? So off we went to our destination, only to find out that the fireworks was cancelled because of the damage the storm caused.

Of course the little man wasn't too happy about it, so we ended up doing a detour to the ice cream shop before heading back home. I am hoping the county will reschedule the fireworks tomorrow.

poor thing, it's her turn

Thing1 lays on the floor amidst the rowdiness.

It's only fair I document her lashes, too. :-)

Now that Thing2 is better, she tries to play with Thing1.