3 in the bath

I am in a fog today because both my son and I couldn't sleep last night. Daddy thinks it's because he wasn't home (he worked from 2 to midnight). Perhaps he's right. I got probably less than 3 hours of sleep because once I was finally able to fall asleep, the boy woke up.

Anyway, I have nothing to share. Even if there was, I'm too comatose to notice anything. So here goes. Here's a picture of my three little ducklings on their first bath together.

Big Bro enjoyed playing with the girls' hair.

a night at the state fair

With all the fun we had at the country fair, we thought we'd try the state fair. So we had planned on going after the kids' nap (for Big Bro to recuperate from Soccer earlier in the morning). But things rarely go according to plan - the boy didn't nap. Fortunately, he fell asleep on the way there.

Here is what greeted us right at the entrance. Big Bro was immediately transfixed on the Native American Dance. It was a great dance, and the music was live.

Thing 1 on the left, Thing 1 on the right.

For $5 and a chance to catch fish 3 times (which he did in less than 5 minutes), he won a lovely neon green monkey (which he now has to take with him to bed). The know the toys are cheaper bought outright, but Big Bro sure had fun winning them.

This was the girls' first carousel ride. The girls had could ride for free; we had to pay for Big Bro and Daddy's ride wrist bands. I didn't get a wrist band since the chances are low that we'd all be riding together. So on this picture is Thing 1. I was going to make them all ride the second time to swap Thing 1 with Thing 2. But at the last second, I asked if I could go with Thing 2 and the operator let me in! So the carousel was the one and only ride we all went in together.

Daddy, Big Bro and I had our first fried Oreo. Surprisingly, it was actually pretty good. :-)

eating on the table

I tried the girls on Big Bro's sponge bob table, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. This is snack time, and on the menu is Graham Bug Bites cracker (milk free!) and cut up bananas. I also gave them a fork to try out for the first time. I find the fact that their feet do not reach the floor very cute. (Thing 2 on the left, Thing 1 on the right)





At one point, Thing 2 looked like she was trying to get off the chair, so I stepped in and helped. But based on her loud whailing, she didn't want to get off. So I had to sit her back in. She was then happy again.

Big Brother was snacking on the big table at the same time, so I had to check with him that it was alright for his sisters to use his table. He said yes. I suggested that we buy a square table, in order for everyone to have a space. He said no. He said he wanted to sit on the big table. But I may look at a square girly table anyway.

walking shoes

We found out at the shoe store that Thing 1 is size 5 Wide and Thing 2 is size 5 Regular. So I dug out Big Brother's box of baby shoes to see if there is anything the girls can use. I found a brown pair of sandals that I bought for dressy occasions. Unfortunately, by the time the dressy occasion came, the shoe was already too small. But as luck would have it, it's size 5 Wide! Yay!

Here is Thing 1 looking like a sassy big girl on Big Brother's baby shoe.



And here she is walking in them. The clanking sound is just hilarious. And her stance... very funny. By the way, I was not choking her at the end of the video.



Then there is a matter of this red Wiggles which has become a source of some loud noise. As was obvious from the previous videos, everyone wants it. Daddy and I agreed that we may have to buy one more. I think we can get away with just one more since of the girls is content just pushing whoever is on it. We'll see.



Thing 2 and Big Brother "playing" together. Thing 1 has been whisked away to bed at this point to keep the peace.

nap times

The girls were supposed to be taking a nap, instead I find this. I was hiding the entire time with just my arm and camera sticking out. But they did finally notice me toward the end, at which time they started calling "dadadada". Thing 2 is the one that keeps turning her head. Silly thing. Daddy said, "it must be the lacquer!"

That is baby towels wrapped on one edge of the cribs, since they've been chewing on it. Unfortunately, crib bite guards (if you notice those 2 long pieces on the floor in front on Thing 2's crib, they get pulled up and thrown out regularly) are only for flat/straight edges so I had to come up with a contraption myself. Then one day they were able to pull off the towel and chewed the wood some more (to the point of splintering), hence Daddy's lacquer comment.

In September, Big Brother started preschool 3 times a week instead of everyday. At the time the girls were napping 2 times a day (11am and around 3 pm). With Big Brother napping at 1pm (2 hour nap). The first Tuesday was tough because after the girls woke up from their morning nap, it's time for Big Brother to take his. And when Big Brother woke up, it was the girls' time for their afternoon nap. It was tiring because I never had quiet time for myself. I tweaked the girls' nap time and put them down at 10am for 1 hour nap, and then at 2pm for the afternoon. This allowed me 1 hour of alone time from 2pm to 3pm when Big Brother finally wakes up.

But for the past 2 1/2 weeks, the girls to to sleep at 10am without a problem. At 2pm, when I put them in their cribs, they stay awake for about 1 1/2 hour before falling asleep. I've moved the afternoon nap to 2:30 and then to 3pm, but the same thing happens. For the past 2 days, they don't fall asleep at until close to 5pm!

Today, I decided to start with 1 nap. Instead of napping at 10am, I kept them awake until after lunch at 12pm. They were of course supper sleepy the whole time, but they made it. I was hoping for a 2 hour nap once they finally went down, but to my disappointment, they only napped for 1 hour. I didn't get them out right away hoping they will fall back asleep, but no such luck. It'll be an early bedtime tonight, for sure. Hopefully they transition quickly. It'll be great to have them nap with their big brother on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is so much fun!

Daddy worked on Sunday, so today he took a day off. We decided to spend the morning in the Botanical Garden. It's beautiful! We had a chilly start to our day and thought we all would be shivering the whole day, but the sun finally came out. There was barely anyone around, so the little man had the run of the place. The children's garden was awesome and had a great big tree house that was stroller accessible. The girls were able to walk/crawl around.

We left right at lunch time and headed to the mall. Unfortunately, the great outdoors made everyone sleepy, but the mall is just 10 minutes away. Big Bro had a 10 minute power nap and didn't sleep any more after that.

We also stopped over to the shoe store to look for 'real' shoes for the girls now that they're starting to walk. The Robeez they have is not for outdoor walking at all. But we had no luck.

Here are some pictures from the Botanical Garden. We took the camera with us, with freshly charged batteries, but NO memory card. Oi! Thank goodness for phones with cameras.

Thing 1 plays on the bench, while Big Brother plays on the sand (in the background). Daddy and I had to work on keeping the girls from joining him. We knew they'd be having sand for lunch if we let them.

With all the excitement, the kids had a late morning snack.



The magnificent tree house!



Thing 1 (pink) and Thing 2 (purple) playing in the tree house. Big Brother was here too, but he was too speedy to be caught by my camera phone.



Daddy and the kids on the way out. Big Brother was fascinated by the tree.

We all had fun. There was a minor meltdown in the mall because of the lack of nap, but it was still a fun day. Tiring, but fun.

Thing 2's first steps by herself!

Thing 1 and I were just rolling around on the floor today when out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Thing 2 taking a few wobbly steps toward us. I couldn't contain my excitement, so I bolted up and started cheering her own. Then I grabbed the camera and made her do it again. :-)

After the few steps, I think she realized that she wasn't going to get hurt if she had to sit back down if she couldn't gain her balance. So now she's walking about 3 feet at a time.



Notice the frown she gave me after she fell. As if it was my fault!

weekends are starting to become really fun

The little ducklings are starting to play with each other and it's starting to get quite loud in here. Big Brother is quite good with his sisters. He is conscientious about playing with the both of them and giving them turns. But the girls have other ideas. They both want the same thing and want them now! Case in point, they both want to push Big Brother on the Wiggles car. But Thing 2 is not as adept at taking steps yet so she gets left behind. And when we enforce turn-taking, the other screams her head off. Oi.

Soccer Time

It was a family affair yesterday at the Y. Thanks to Daddy, the little man was even better at Soccer. He can now steal the ball, whereas last week, he was unsure of what to do. He stole the ball a couple of times and headed to the right goal (yay!). Both Daddy and I were on the field to give some instructions. Daddy was behind him cheering him on, while I kept in front in his line of vision. I anticipated where he would be so that he could hear and see me. Unfortunately, this almost lead to some lasting embarassment. He stole the ball and headed to the goal. But the ball went 1 foot outside the goal. But since I was there, I almost kicked the ball in myself! Thank goodness to some last minute self-control, I didn't. Unfortunately, a couple of on the field saw it, including the coach. He came up to me and was laughing about it. I just had to laugh at myself. I think perhaps next week, I'll stay behind the little man.

Here is a short video. As you can imagine, I got overly excited when the little man stole the ball, I didn't get to take a video.



And here are some half-time fun pictures with Daddy.

Thing 1 was happy in the stroller, but Thing 2 could not be contained.

Half-time and tickle-time all in one.

Thing 1 can walk and Big Bro has huge feet

Thing 1's confidence in her ability to walk doubles everyday and finally this morning, I caught it on video.



After driving Big Bro to school, we headed to my orthopaedic appointment. We arrived 15 minutes early so I freed the girls from the stroller and let them roam around. Luckily for me, they didn't roam too far. They provided great entertainment for the people there.

Unfortunately or fortunately (it depends on which angle I view it), I will have to undergo arthroscopic surgery for both my knees. The 12 weeks of physical therapy provided only minimal improvement. The doctor can do the surgery right away, but it's not that easy with 3 little ones. I opted for about January to coordinate help from the hubby's parents. The surgery will only be for 1 knee to see if it improves. If it does, then the other knee will be done as well. If it were up to me, I'd go for both knees but it doesn't make sense if there is a possibility that the surgery won't help.

My two princess were wearing dresses today. The weather was on the cool side (finally!).

Thing 1

Thing 2

Big Bro's ginormous feet: Size 10 shoe at 3 1/2 years old
(about 7 1/2 inches)

I decided to buy Big Bro a pair of new shoes last week and found out that his feet is even bigger now. I picked up a size 9 toddler, but he was quick to tell me that it was too small when I attempted to put it on. So I looked for the foot size measuring thingamabob. I couldn't find it so I had to ask a lady who works there. She measured his feet and said he was a size 10. Ten?! In some stores, size 10 is already a youth size! Oh my. For the whole day, Big Bro kept saying, "I'm a 10! The lady said I'm a 10!"

the big scary great outdoors

At 9am, I decided to take the kids out for a walk in the neighborhood. I though an hour would do everyone good, since it's such a nice cool day today. But just getting ready took 15 minutes (changing the girls' diapers, sippy cups, getting the stroller and loading them into the stroller). Then just when we reached the end of the driveway, the little man decided he wanted to ride his trike. So we had to trek back and get the trike and I had to run around looking for his helmet.

Finally, we were off. I had to repeat, "Stay close to the grass, not the middle of the street!" a billion times before it finally sunk in. I'm so glad we live in a double cul-de-sac street! We didn't get far, but we did stay out there for nearly an hour.

The girls took a nap the minute we got back, and the little man snacked and played by himself in his room. I got about 30 minutes of quiet time to myself!



Looking back to make sure we're all still behind him.



A little grouchy for having to stop for pictures.

(Thing 1 in the back, Thing 2 towards the foreground.)

some twin fun and mischief

The girls are becoming quite mean to each other. They hit and bite each other. When the little man was this age, I was right there to do some reverse time-out. I either put him down if I was carrying him, or turn my back on him when he hits. We've been doing the same thing with the girls, but it's not been as effective because they reinforce each other's bad behavior. Sometimes the other think it funny being hit and giggles, so the other keeps doing it. Oi! Just this weekend, Thing 1 bit Thing 2 on the arm. Hard. There was no mistaking that cry of pain. I didn't know how she was hurt at first, but then a the evidence appeared a minute later. Her arm was swollen for a day or two.

On the other hand, Thing 1 is becoming more and more confident with herself and takes more and more steps. She walked 3 feet just yesterday. She no longer does a head dive after taking two steps. Instead, she steadies herself and walks some more. Thing 2 now experiments with standing up by herself in the middle of the room, just like Thing 1 did a few weeks ago.

Today, fun consisted of riding on Big Brother's Wiggles push car and one pushing the other.

techno gears mega marble

Aside from Soccer, what occupied our weekend? Well, there was the Techno Gears Mega Marble that the boy saw at Costco. He actually wanted it more than the big Tonka helicopter (which is now in his Santa list), if you can believe it. I was chosen to be the play buddy for this one, so at 7AM, we woke up bright and early to start assembling it. It took us (me and the boy) 5 hours, until finally I was getting cross-eyed and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong at one point. I called Daddy to finish the rest (it took 1 more hour to finally finish). But both Daddy and I couldn't believe the attention and dedication the boy put into it though.

We also had a new chore chart put into effect. The boy refuses to do things himself (like dressing, going to the bathroom, etc) so after very long planning, we finally have a responsiblity chart to get him motivated (stickers for reward).

Oh, and we also bought a costume. For the past couple of years, we've bought costume days before Halloween and end up scrambling around. This year, we thought it best to buy early. But early isn't always best. Now the boy wants to wear it all day long. I took a picture, but I thought against posting it so that it can be a surprise. But I will say one thing, or maybe 2. Star Wars.

Soccer at the Y

The weather was great today, so we finally had our first Soccer session at the Y and what fun it was. Unfortunately, Daddy couldn't make it because he wasn't feeling well (the girls stayed home with him).

The first half hour was practice and the coach had great activities for the Strikers. They played Simon Says, Battleship and some kicking drills. The 2nd half hour was for the games (3 on 3 only). Big Bro volunteered himself for the first game, which unfortunately resulted in a mini-melt down later because he realized later that he wanted to be with his best buddies (also in the same team). We really don't keep score, but the way it went, the other team kicked the Strikers butt. Either those kids has been playing before, or they just had way too much energy. Nonetheless, everyone had fun (meltdowns and all).

not so little anymore

The girls had their 15-month well baby check today and received a couple of shots.

Thing 1 - 22 1/2 lbs, 29 3/4 inches
Thing 2 - 22 lbs, 29 1/4 inches

and for record keeping's sake (by some miracle, I still have Big Bro's 15 month paper)

Big Bro - 28 lbs, 30 1/4 inches

Mobility check:
Thing 1 - taking 4 steps by herself
Thing 2 - climbing fearlessly

At 15 months (June 8, 2006), Big Bro was trying to be a dog:

Matthew and I were in the backyard this afternoon enjoying the cloudy day. He was busy pulling his toy wagon filled with the two garden ornaments from the front yard (a rabbit and a frog). When he saw Koby (the younger of my two miniature schnauzers), he stopped to walk to her. Koby was busy munching away at the slightly tall grass that has grown around the crab sandbox. When Matthew got to her, he bent down on all fours. I thought he was just going to pet Koby, but boy was I wrong! Matthew placed his mouth on a tall grass!!

I placed my hand on my forehead, closed my eyes and shook my head. What next?!

4 steps to freedom

Little Miss Thing 1 just took 4 steps toward me before she went top heavy. Yay! She's been taking 3 steps the last couple of days and now she took 4.

climbing little monkeys

The girls are becoming quite the little monkeys lately, especially Thing 2. She climbs on the anything she can prop her leg on. Unfortunately, neither one has yet mastered the concept of edges so there are a lot of falling going on. I have this sneaking feeling that one of these days the bumps would be a bad one, but I sure hope I'm wrong.

Thing 2 climbs on the rocking lazy boy and and climbs on the back, while Thing 1 watches on. Thing 1 is probably taking notes on the technique.
By the way, Thing 2 now has 2 extra teeth on the bottom for a total of 8 teeth.

Thing 2 reaches for Daddy as he takes the picture. This little one sure is having fun climbing on everything.

Thing 1 likes to limb too, but she's not climbing everything she sees....yet.
(She has 1 more teeth coming out the bottom and one more getting ready to peak through. It's been bothering her these past couple of days that she's not been pigging out like she used to.)



You think we're exaggerating about calling Thing 2 a monkey?

fun fun and more fun

I saw my chiropractor today and being Tuesday, I had the 3 musketeers with me. My appointment was at 9:30; I knew it would be a great time to venture out in the big big world with the 3 of them for the first time. So we went to the mall, played on the coin operator cars, had lunch and played at the play area. I think second to being a great time (early in the morning is usually a tantrum free time), what worked is that we had gone over the rules over and over before getting there.

Rule 1: You must stay close to me at all time. "I cannot protect you if you run far away from me."

Rule 2: You have to listen to Mommy or we will go home right away.

Rule 3: You have to potty with the rest of us. (Nothing worse than abandoning food at the table just to run to the bathroom - with a toddler and a double stroller!)

Rule 4: If we all cooperate with each other and have fun, we will do this again another time!

Of course rule 1 and 2 went straight out the window once we got there because he saw the new coin operated cars. But thankfully, thanks to a new parenting outlook I am trying to put into practice, nobody blew a top today and we were quickly right on track for an awesome time.

Of course the first order of business is to ride the train, what else?

Then off to the firetruck. With it being so roomy, I let the girls join in the fun.

But then they cried when the I put them back in the stroller. :(
(It's Thing 2 in the window)


Thing 2 and Thing 1 trying to follow big brother and conquer the tree slide.

Thing 2 tried to climb the bridge. But it was a little hard with shoes on.

Thing 1 investigates the boat. Thing 2 heads to something more interesting. All put the girls in the boat with Big Bro, so they got to enjoy the boat together.

is he having fun? or is he silently asking for help?

On a lovely day, sometimes the kids just want to be with their Daddy (or more to the point, they all want to be ON Daddy). Halleluiah!

I think it's all fun and games until someone yells for help!

And Daddy is yelling for help. Can't you just hear the silent scream?

But the kids sure are having fun with him.

(Thing 1 in pink, Thing 2 in white)

Happy Grandparents Day!

For all the great things grandparents do, thank you!

Happy Grandparents Day

Nana, Papaw, Grandma!

we survived!

The boy was home Thursday since he is now in preschool for 3 days, instead of 5. I had been preparing for this for a couple of weeks and have decided that the best way to go is to loosely follow his class schedule; mainly the nap, snack, outside time. I think the best thing was the outside time since it tuckered him out. I had the girls in the exersaucer on the deck and we blew bubbles. The boy then played with the water guns and then we played soccer. The soccer tired him out, which worked out nicely. When we came in, I put the girls to nap and then asked the boy to play in his room quietly. I told him I wouldn't be able to go up there if he called me because I had to work. He agreed. I was going to get him after 45 minutes, but he came down himself after 40. But that was 40 minutes of quiet bliss for me. :-)

We did craft paper projects, played in the ball tent, and a few other activities. It was tiring for me, but at least there was no tantrums.

Here are the ducklings playing in the ball tent. (Thing 1 in blue, Thing 2 in pink)

the boy can write his name!

We are very proud parents of a 3 1/2 year old who can write his own name. Yup, we're very proud. They are all in caps, but the lower case will come in time. This is without help. All I did was to hold the dry erase board and remind him to start at the top instead of the bottom (as in when writing the T, he started his line from top to bottom).

Too bad it's on a dry erase board, but it will be immortalized on this photo. :)

(Oopps. I just noticed that date I wrote on the bottom. This wasn't on Aug. 2nd, the boy wrote his name on September 2nd.)

Is it sectoral heterochromia?

This is the little man's left eye. Look closely. Do you see anything different? Do you see the darker area on the lower left quadrant of his eye?

This is his right eye for comparison.

While waiting in line for one of the rides in Water Country USA, I noticed something in the little man's left eye. I thought it was a shadow, so I changed our position and looked, yet it was still there. It freaked me out. I asked Daddy to look at it and he casually said, "Oh yeah, I noticed that a few months ago but you weren't home so I forgot to tell you."

When we came home, he researched it online and found the term, sectoral heterochromia. It certainly does look like it. And then he searched all our pictures and sure enough, Daddy found it on picture as early as 1 year old. How could we not have noticed it before?? Though certainly, having had this for so long and not had any other symptom is a good thing. The girls have their 15 month old check next week, so I may casually ask the pediatrician about it then.

NOTE: For those internet searchers who come up with this post when Googling "twins" and "heterochromia" I have a post about one of my twin girls having heterochromia also here "one twin has sectoral heterochromia".

playing with the cousins

On Sunday we went to Water Country USA, but we had a late start since we were all absolutely exhausted from the day before.

Big Bro had an opportunity to play Lego with his cousins.

The girls looked on from the living room while Big Bro and cousins played in the hall way.
(Thing 1 left, Thing 2 right)

Busch Garden

Nana, Papaw, and the cousins spent the weekend with us. On Saturday we went to Busch Garden and on Sunday, we went to Water Country USA.

It was very hot and very humid on Saturday but we did manage to ride a few things. We took Big Bro to a bunch kid places that he was able to ride by himself and enjoyed them all. All three little ducklings didn't nap. I was sure the girls would knot in the stroller being the easy babies that they are, but the heat was just too much. We went to an indoor eating place and they managed to rest. At about 7, the girls finally fell asleep.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 right after arriving.

Thing 2 sweating a whole lot.

I took Thing 1 to ride something to get her out of the stroller. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do the same with Thing 2.

Big Bro enjoying a ride. Thing 1 and I are on the next dragon.

There was a second or two that we lost Big Bro and it was a second too long. We were all hovering around and no one was keeping an eye on him and he ran off. I was terrified that I had Daddy put a luggage tag on his shorts. Funny, I know, especially that it bugged him. I had a talk with him on how to approach a mom should he get lost again, which is actually a talk I should have given him way before getting there. And how come I didn't have any tag on him??? I learned my lesson.