Easter Egg Hunt

The kids were able to participate in 2 Easter Egg hunts; at their grandparents' church and at Curious George's new school.

Thing 2 finds eggs with the help of a lovely young lady.

Thing 1 drops one of her egg while picking up another! Thankfully the boy handed it back to her.

Curious George was Mr. Speedy Gonzalez and was zipping through the grass gathering eggs.

Thing 1 looks for some more.

Time to count the eggs!

Thing 1 realizes that the eggs open and inspects what's inside. Nothing!?

Curious George wins a blue bunny rabbit for coming in 2nd for the most eggs. Notice his 'boy' construction basket.

Note Curious George's very very short hair. He was using a pair of child's scissors cutting up paper by himself when he calls out to me. "Mommy, I cut my hair!" I see him holding a few strands of hair and thought, phew. That's nothing. I wander through the dining room where he was doing his cutting and notice tons of hair on the floor. Oh my! I check to see his head and right on the top is an almost bald spot! Daddy 'tries' to fix it without a razor and let's just say that after 10 minutes, he had to rush to Walmart and get a clipper.

This is Thing 2 hunting for eggs at Curious George's new school.

Thing 1 hunts for eggs with Mommy while Curious George hunts by himself!

After being off school for a month, Curious George had too much energy and not much to do. While here at their Nana's and Papaw's house, Daddy and I have decided he needed to get back to school. We found a great pre-school by a local Baptist church that Curious George now attends 3 days a week for 3 1/2 hours. It's very different from his old school, but at least he is learning and having social time with new friends.

getting adjusted is a slow process

We have now been living with the hubby's parents for exactly a month tomorrow. I've gone back and forth several times to do some cleaning in our house, Curious George has been back once and Daddy and the girls have not been back at all.

The girls, being young, took only a several days to adjust. I think bringing their cribs helped a whole lot. Though they have been moody while I'm gone. I think that at their age as long as Mommy and Daddy are there, they do fine.

Curious George is a different matter altogether. The first week, he was overtired and over stimulated all the time and he was moody because of it. We've kept up with his nap but he still couldn't get adjusted. Finally after a week, it seems we've found the balance of rest and stimulation only to find out a couple of days later that it wasn't the case. He is always 'engaged'.

Last week he started part-time preschool (MWF half days). It gets him back to organized activity but so far it hasn't settled him down. Last week I had to take him back home to attend one of his best friend's party and while home the change in him was instant. He viewed it as a down-time immediately. He played, watched movies and ran errands with me and rested.

He is still tired and now having trouble napping. He is clearly tired at times but still unable to sleep. Because of this, he has been more than a handful since we've been here. Daddy and I don't normally see him this difficult at home unless he hasn't had enough sleep for several days in a row. And I am afraid people are beginning to think he is always a difficult child. He definitely keeps Daddy and I on our toes and keeps us engaged, but he is not this difficult all thr time. He is pretty happy being with his grandparents and able to interact with cousins, he just can't fully rest. His mind is constantly going one hundred miles an hour.

Daddy is still having difficulty finding a job. I am starting to worry how Curious George would fair here and whenever and wherever it is we would be when Daddy finds a new job.

Curious George's Birthday Party

We need to backtrack a little bit so that I can post pictures and videos from the Curious George's momentous 4th birthday party on March 14th.

Firetruck birthday cake

Eating pizza and chips with friends.

Thing 1 eating her lunch with Nana. Unfortunately, there was nothing she and Thing 2 could eat at the party except chips. Everything else had milk.

Papaw assisting Thing 2 with her lunch.

The party started out with 1 hour 15 minutes of play. And here is a very memorable video of Curious George getting ganged up by 3 girls. I bet he enjoyed it.



After play, it was cake time!

Thing 2's first trip to the ER

I had just gotten back to NC after being back home in VA to do some cleaning up in the house to get it prepped to sell while leaving the kids with Daddy to look after. We're all exhausted and hoping for an uneventful evening. The following are the events as they unfolded.

I was changing Thing 1's diaper and putting her in her pajama while Thing 2 was walking around; Daddy and I were chatting the entire time. Suddenly, Thing 2 approaches Daddy crying with a very small toy in her hand. She coughs and points to her mouth. Instantly, I yelled at Daddy to check her mouth because she is choking. Daddy puts a finger (a pointer finger! I yell at him to use his pinky) in Thing 2's mouth and Thing 2 cries harder. She spits up. By this time, I left Thing 1 diaper-less to rush to Thing 2. I put her on my lap while she cries harder. I am panicked at this time so I shove my pinky down her throat and do a sweep. Thing 2 spits up blood. I continue my sweep down her throat and she cries and turns blue. I sweep with my finger and thought I touched something. I can't get it because she bites me. Daddy then hands me a small toy to put in Thing 2's mouth so as to prevent her from biting me. I yell at Daddy for coming up with a dumb idea. Thing 2 continues to cry but I can't do anything more so I hush her and calm her down and yell at Daddy to call someone.

After a few minutes, Thing 2 calms down. I call our pediatrician back home and spoke with the doctor on call. I described everything that unfolded and she suggests to take Thing 2 to the hospital just to make sure that the toy didn't get in her lungs. So we drive to the hospital and after a total of 2 hours (which isn't bad in terms of ER wait time goes) and xrays, we find out there's nothing lodged in her throat and there is nothing in her tummy. PHEW! But wait, what was all that?? As far as we can figure, the gagging happened after Daddy shoved a big fat finger down her throat. And the spitting the blood by the time I took over was probably due to Daddy's finger nail. Turning blue was probably due to all the shoving of finger we were doing.

Late last night when all are quiet, Daddy and I agreed on a few things: 1-we absolutely do not mind having gone to the ER to be safe rather than sorry. We would spend our life savings to keep our kids safe, though thankfully, our COBRA coverage has already kicked in so we didn't have to and 2-Daddy spazzed out (and he freely admits it) big time!! I am not the only one, ha! But having risen to this occassion, I realize that my trigger is the sight of blood.

Chit-Chatty Thing 2

There has been a lot going on this past few days, with Curious George's party on Saturday and with us finally moving to their Nana's and Papaw's place on Tuesday. Life is very busy and there are a lot of photos/videos to share but just don't have time to do that.

But there is something I'd like to share with Miss Thing 2. She has been chatty this past few weeks. For the past couple of months, she loves to pretend to talk complete with gestures and facial expressions but of course, none of us understand her. In the past few weeks, she's been repeating words, use them regularly and pronounce them clearly. She started with the word "water", "apple", and others I can't seem to recall this very minute.

Yesterday, when I caught her doing something she shouldn't, I told her to stop. She didn't listen. I called her again and then she turned to me and said, "What?" I had to ask Daddy if I heard her correctly. I did. Then when she bumped her head one time, I went to her and asked if she had an owwie and if I needed to kiss it. She rubbed her head and replied, "head hurt, hurt." Her first string of two words!

This evening we went to a church dinner and while charming the folks, she went out to a few people (including me) and said, "what?" in a New Yorkan rudish way.

Chatty little monkey!

Happy 4th Birthday, Curious George!

Yesterday was the big 4 for Curious George. He requested to have pancake for breakfast and requested candles. I wasn't planning on blowing candles because his birthday party is on Saturday. Thankfully, I had left over candles from previous birthdays. Phew! He opened our presents after breakfast and then we headed to the Playroom to have some fun - videos on that to come later.

Words Words and more Words

Lately the twins have been spouting and pontificating more and more. Just some of the recent shenanigans from them are:

Twin 1 frequently calls her sister "Jo" or "Jojo", but twin 2 has not been prone to calling her sister. Just the other day Twin 2 is on the couch when twin 1 climbs off the couch, and she called out "Kagie, you okay?" This was a first in our hearing.

Both twins will now ask if you are okay, usually followed by a pat on the back and a hug.

Twin 2 will try to have a conversation with you, a very animated head shaking arm shaking conversation. She gets very animated, especially if you start talking back. Of course it is usually not understandable but it is cute.

Twin 1 just today has been saying "Matthew go away" and yes it is VERY clear. When I came home from a job fair she wanted a hug, and when Curious George tried to join in, this is when she said it.

Of course curious George got a little out of control due to excitement and decided to push. As I calmly told him not to push, Twin 1 came running up and shaking her finger at her older brother saying "no no no, no pushing".

It is rather amazing to see them grow and start talking like this. It seems only yesterday they were so tiny..

-Daddy