A helping hand

When the kids were first born, I was excited...well, not necessarily excited in my sleep-deprived state...I was happy to answer to Linus' and Sadie's every beck and call. They needed someone to take care of them and I was only too willing to oblige.

As they got older, more and more of my day was spent on trying to keep the house picked up and less on catering to their every whim. I mean, I love to give them food when they are hungry, or a toy that is out of reach, or read a book to them when they ask me to.

What I don't love is picking up the toys 5 times a day so I don't break my neck by tripping over them.

Or cleaning up blueberry smoothie that has been thrown on the floor, walls and the dogs' heads because I am trying to get them to use spoons like civilized people.

Or pee that has been squirted over every sqaure foot of our living room because I didn't put their diapers on fast enough after bath time. (But let's save that for another post).

I'll just say that lately I have been waiting for the day when they can help me out around the house instead of the other way around. And I think this is finally starting to happen. Yeah!

They are learning to pick up their own toys after they are done playing with them. Granted this takes a lot of positive reinforcement, redirection and handsprings over a 10 minute period, but nonetheless it does happen.

They both love to help me out with the laundry on the rare occasion I allow them into the garage to switch out a load.

They are learning to put on their own shoes. Or in Sadie's case, her socks and her shoes. But not necessarily on the right feet or in the right order. (That is worthy of a picture if I ever remember to take one).

And they love to help out with the dishwasher. Just this morning after we unloaded the dishes, I left the room for 30 seconds and came back to find them continuing to unload the already empty dishwasher:

Now I just need to teach them how to re-load the dishwasher with all of the dirty dishes that are still in the sink.

*******

We met up with the older kids playgroup this morning at the house of one of the moms. I took a few pictures and tried to capture the scenary overlooking the bay but it didn't really come out. Trust me, with a gorgeous view and enough toys for half the kids in San Diego (including a bubble machine), we all had a great time.

Eureka!

I used to pride myself on being in-tune to the kids. You know, understanding what they need and being able to provide it for them in a timely fashion. When they were younger it was relatively easy: milk, sleep or diaper change. That was pretty much it.

Then, we took them to their 18 month age-adjusted NICU follow-up. Apparently they have been talking to me for weeks and I haven't been able to understand a word, but the Evaluator sure did. Since I was with Sadie and Brian was with Linus for their separate evaluations I can only vouch for Sadie's vocabulary (but Brian swears that Linus is the same). She would point out each time Sadie said a word, and every time I would respond with "Huh? That was a word?". I couldn't distinguish any of her "words" from any of her other "babble". And to think that this entire time she was explaining to me Einstein's theory of relativity and I just couldn't understand her...that little smarty-pants.

Another example of just not being able to understand these guys started a couple of weeks ago. Linus would repeatedly run to the kitchen sink, point to it and start whining.



I had no idea what he wanted (and neither did Brian, so that made me feel a little bit better). But this little guy was insistent. There were days where he would do this 10 times and each time I would lift him up while he pointed into the sink full of dirty dishes and tell him that "Yes, mommy is embarrassed by my inability to keep the house clean too".



Apparently I didn't get it, or I didn't clean up the dirty dishes fast enough for him. He can be so particular at times.

Then, this morning I finally got it! So this is what the little bugger has been babbling about all along:



I mean, all he had to do was tell me.

*********

I won't bore you with mundane details about my day today, but I will show you some pictures of our fun outing with the younger kids playgroup. Enjoy!

Day 3

No clever title today, just an overall good day. So, this will be kind of boring but I have to keep Brian updated and send him pictures of the kids!

Once again a 4 am wake-up call courtesy of the dogs, but I think I'm getting used to it. Our big plans for today were meeting up with Katy and Fieldin at Sea World.

We started out the morning by playing in the dirt parking lot on the way to the entrance. Sadie was pushing around the wagon and Linus was throwing rocks, and when I tried to put them back in the wagon Linus threw a little tantrum. My anxiety started to kick in...

Once we were inside, we visited the horses (because doesn't every aquarium have Clydesdales?) and then on to see the big arctic animals. A particular favorite of all the kids were the beluga whales





Then it was off to see the penguins, manatees, dolphins, and the trampoline with foam shapes for the little kids (which was the true favorite)





By lunch time Katy and I were wiped out. The kids slept the whole way back home, didn't wake up when I put them in their cribs and then slept for another hour. Life was good.

Once they got up it was more pool time, then dinner which consisted of the usual chicken and vegetables but I added some guacamole for some fun. And for dessert...berry smoothies! You can tell that not a single bite managed to get into their mouths.




Thank goodness the pool was still filled and is literally 10 feet from the highchairs. After a quick plunge and then another 30 minutes trying to splash all of the water out, we were ready for bed.

Like I said, today was an overall good day. You're missing all of the fun, sweetie!

Second verse, same as the first...sort of

Day 2 without Brian started out exactly like yesterday. The dogs started barking at 4:15 am after seeing a cat. (Why cats can't sleep until dawn is beyond me). Then the kids were up by 5:30. I was thinking to myself, "Great...Here we go again."

After an early start, I foolishly tried the Animal Park again today since it went so well yesterday. [In all fairness to my intelligence (which is under debate at this point), I rationalized that Monday could not be nearly as crowded as the weekend]. We got there right as it opened, parked in the second closest space to the door and I let the kids wander out of their stroller as soon as we walked through the doors. Yippee!!

All in all they did pretty well. (Much better than yesterday at least). We started out spending about 45 minutes on the decks leading to Condor Ridge and only passed a handful of people the entire time.

This was a good thing since Sadie spent most of that time removing her shoes and hat then running away, while I frantically tried to put her shoes and hat back on.

When I finally reeled her in, we had a nice lunch overlooking the African Plains



But, I guess they didn't get enough to eat because they decided to eat some dirt for dessert

followed by a trip to the Discovery Zone.




After a pretty long nap, they woke up in a great mood. We played in the pool, played with trucks, rode the Chicco Train, ate, then baths again in the pool. (I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to jinx anything).

All in all a pretty good day. I guess I'll take an early wake-up if this is what I get to wake-up to.

Day 1

This week is the first week that Brian has been out of town since the kids were born. I had a practice run a couple of weeks ago when he went to Palm Springs, but he was gone less than 24 hours, and he was only a couple of hours away if I needed him to come home, so I don't really count it.

Now he is in New Hampshire for a conference.

Staying in the dorm of a boarding school.

With a roommate.

Talking science for an entire week, non-stop.

Actually, I think he might have it worse.

So, on Day 1 of "No Brian", things got off to an early start. Namely, the dogs decided to freak out at 4 am when a cat ran through the backyard. After more barking and whining, I eventually dragged myself out of bed and into the shower at 5:15. The kids were up when I got out and we had a pleasantly uneventful morning getting ready to leave the house to get to the Wild Animal Park when it opened at 9 am.

I have to say, I love the Animal Park that early in the morning. There's hardly anyone there and the animals have all just been fed so they are out and about, and easy to see. I foolishly let the kids out of the stroller to run through the empty walkways and so they could see some of the animals close-up. This was fine for about 45 minutes until the park started getting a little more crowded, and the kids started getting a little more daring.

Eventually we had to leave early because I was sick of chasing a screaming Sadie in all directions while Linus jumped in puddles and ate dirt.

That meant an early car ride home at 11 am.

Which meant an early nap since falling asleep in the car is inevitable.

Which meant an early wake-up and a VERY long afternoon.

We filled our day by coloring (ourselves)

Swimming in the pool, and then getting back in after dinner for bath time

And having a dance-off right before bed. (Linus won).

Maybe we'll have another exciting day tomorrow. And when Brian is home in 5 days 18 hours and 16 minutes, he can enjoy the fun with us. (But who's counting?)

Playgroup

As most of you know, I am a huge fan of playgroups. The kids were pretty old when I joined one (about 10 months), but once we were able to get out of the house and be around other kids I jumped at the chance.

I should preface this story by saying that preemies aren't allowed out of the house until closer to a year of age, and definitely not during cold and flu season, since they are much more susceptible to germs. Also, I didn't have the desire to get out early on because we had so many friends and family visiting and helping out. If I remember right, we also spent most of our time during those first months at various doctor appointments so we did manage to get out of the house quite a bit even though it wasn't doing anything too fun. However, after everyone left and our doctor's appointments started to dwindle, I went stir-crazy sitting in that house all day.

Our first "fun" outing was to a New Mom's Tea that the Twins Club we belong to was hosting for new moms of twins age 1 year or younger. (At this particular New Mom's Tea, there were over 20 moms there which means more than 40 kids, a record that has yet to be broken. Can you imagine? Since then the age limit has been changed from 1 year to 6 months since the poor mom hosting that day needed a super-size bottle of Maalox after we left). At that time the kids were 10 months and already cruising, and they were far more advanced than many of the other sets of twins who were contentedly sitting in their carriers or on a blanket while I was trying to corral mine into a corner so they wouldn't step or fall on anyone. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed and told myself that we would probably be spending the next 10 months stuck at home too since it was too hard to get out with them. Then, as luck would have it, a couple of very nice moms came over to my corner and they invited me to join their playgroup. That invitation was the beginning of a new life.

The following week, and with much anxiety, I packed up the kids and headed to a nearby park to meet some new moms and their twins. I was greeted by about 5 or 6 moms with large blankets spread out under a huge tree and babies laying all about with various toys, some happily playing and some screaming their heads off. I felt like I had a new home. To top it off, one of the moms that happened to be there had twins in the NICU at the same time as Sadie and Linus. Actually, they were Sadie's neighbors since Sadie and Linus were separated at the time. Not too long after we were discharged, we saw this same mom and her twins in our pediatrician's office just by chance, and now we were in a playgroup together. Small world, huh?

I look forward to every Wednesday so I can meet up with these moms and vent, ask questions, or just talk to other adults which rarely happens when you're with small twins all day long. Sometimes we meet at parks, and other times at people's houses. I've hosted a couple of times, one of which was just after the kids' first birthday.

In this particular playgroup, Sadie and Linus are the oldest which has had a few challenges along the way. The most difficult being their ability to move around so much sooner than some of the others. They were already cruising when we first met everyone, and some of the babies were only a couple of months old. There was one rough transition period where I would be the only mom running around the park trying to chase down my two, while the rest of the moms still sat contentedly on the blankets under the huge tree.

But, it's funny what a difference a year makes. Now all of the kids are walking and we have long since moved from underneath the tree to only places that are fenced-in and childproof. One of the places that has been a big hit is a basketball court that is great for all of the ride-on toys that people bring. (Not so great for the guys that come and try to play basketball on the other court. I think we've scared them off).

In addition to a monthly Mom's Night Out, which also has saved my sanity, our group has met up for a couple of family gatherings on the weekends. The latest of which was a BBQ at a local park where there were numerous double strollers, several radio flyer wagons and 14 twins under the age of 2 running around. And for some strange reason we all left saying we wanted to do it again!?!

Some of the moms in this group meet regularly on other days throughout the week so we actually see each other quite a bit. I've also joined another playgroup where we are the youngest, and it is very interesting to say the least when a bunch of twins age 2 to 3 are running around. But, I'll save that for another post...


And here's a cute picture of the kids for your viewing pleasure:

Do you feel the love?

When Linus was a newborn, we used to joke about the fact that he hated being kissed. I would kiss his cute gigantic round cheeks and he would just start wailing. He hated being beside Sadie which made me question this whole thing about the "twin bond". I was so glad when we got a second crib so they could be separated and Linus could finally get some peace.

Over time, he started getting a little bit better. (He would tolerate being beside Sadie, but he still hated kisses from me).

My, how times have changed. Now he loves getting kisses. He will step right in between myself and Sadie if she is getting kissed or hugged so he can have his turn. He will go so far as to kiss the dogs, open mouthed, just so he can get in enough lovin' for the day. (I don't think the dogs really appreciate this).

The best is when you ask him to give Sadie a hug and he's more than happy to oblige.

Now I get the whole "twin bond" thing. You've just got to love twins.

Happy Father's Day

I had asked Brian what he wanted to do on Father's Day since I am so incredibly lame for holidays and never remember to get him a gift. He, predictably, said that he wanted to watch the US Open. I told him that I would take the kids out of the house in the morning so he would have at least a couple of hours of uninterrupted tv watching. So, I loaded up the kids and took them to one of my favorite parks, where luckily 3 other moms from our twins playgroup were hanging out because, predictably, their husbands were watching the US Open. We had a blast playing in the sand, climbing on the playground equipment and generally wrecking havoc. Sadie even found another little girl's pint-sized stroller with a doll in it that she pushed around for half an hour. I guess I really do need to get her one of those things...

But before I left I had asked Brian to blow up the swimming pool that we bought the kids last year, but never used because the day that it arrived the weather turned cold and it has been in the garage ever since. I figured he could use the bike pump and work on it while he was watching tv.

Little did I know that the bike pump didn't have the right adaptor to fit on the pool.

And that he had to blow the whole thing up himself.

With his asthmatic lungs.

And that this is an incredibly large pool.

With dual paneling to make it more sturdy.

So, it took him 2 hours, which coincidentally was the entire time that we were gone.

And he proceeded to sweep the front porch before he put the pool out there so it would be clean, then he filled it up for us so the water would warm up while the kids took their nap, AND had lunch waiting for me when I got home with the kids.

Did I pick a winner or what?


Happy Father's Day sweetie. I love you.





PS) Even though I am lame, I did agree to cut his hair which I absolutely hate doing. So, am winner wife after all :)

Accessories

Yesterday the kids and I tried a new place for playgroup which turned out to be a lot of fun. It's this warehouse that has been converted into a huge play space for kids. There are open tables in the middle for adults and for people to eat, but the entire perimeter consists of these little play houses. You know, a little grocery store with carts and a checkout line, a play kitchen with all of the amenities and more cabinet space than we have, and even a little bistro where you can get "coffee" and sit at little pint-sized tables in the "garden". Very cute.

After taking a few minutes to get acclimated to the place, Linus immediately takes off for the Fire Station where all of the trucks and, for some strange reason, alien figures with large feet are. I guess because these alien figures were wearing hats that resembled a fireman's hat, they were lumped in with the rest of the Fire Station gear. Go figure.

Meanwhile, Sadie somehow managed to find a tiny stroller and a baby doll that she proceeded to push around for almost an hour. At one point she even disappeared into the doctor's office so she could put the baby to sleep in the bed they had in there. Even though I have tried really hard to not gender-sterotype these two, they definitely have innate preferences for "boy" things and "girl" things. Not being a girly-girl myself, I have no idea where Sadie picked up on this whole doll thing since we haven't ever really played with dolls at the house. Hmmm...

Another thing that Sadie has learned to do is accessorize. (Again, I have no idea where she gets this from since neither myself nor Brian are much into accessories). But, she makes a point to get a pair of shoes as soon as she wakes up and then wears them for most of the day. Usually, without much else on since it has been so hot, but the shoes must always be within arms reach. She also got a watch from the dentist that she likes to wear, her hat, sunglasses, a towel around her shoulders... You name it, and she tries to accessorize with it. She even figured out how to accessorize with zucchini slices by eating a whole in the middle and wearing the zucchini ring on her wrist. Poor Linus doesn't want to feel left out, so he usually has on shoes and the occasional barrette. But, Sadie is the one who is all about accessories. You just know that the first word out of her mouth when she starts talking is going to be Prada. *shudder*

Texas...It's bigger than France

Recently we made our first trip by plane with the kids to Dallas for their baptism and to see our families. After we stepped off of the plane, we had a great vacation. (We're not going to mention the plane ride ever again). Actually I will briefly. Here we were in the airport blissfully unaware of how the next 3 hours would turn out:

OK, now we're never going to talk about it again.

Once we were in Dallas, the party started. It was so much fun to see all of the cousins playing together and taking such good care of Sadie and Linus. Hopefully our guys will turn out to be just like their cousins. I would say the same for their aunts, but one of them (who will remain nameless) started teaching them bad habits as soon as we entered the door. Here she is after feeding Linus cake. (Well, you can see who ate most of the cake):

Another first on this trip was taking the kids swimming. Even though Sadie liked to splash her feet, Linus was the true water baby. By the end he was wanting Brian to catch him as he jumped straight into the water. I guess I need to sign these two up for swimming lessons. In addition to swimming, they are quite the paddle boaters

(Again, notice who just had cake).

They even liked the jet ski

But mostly Sadie just wanted to sunbathe

And of course the baptism was wonderful. Everyone was very patient even though the kids were climbing on the altar and trying to run out the front door. I am very thankful that we had it with just family and not in front of the entire congregation. Afterwards we had some pictures taken, and I am happy to report that this time "someone" wasn't on a sugar high.

As soon as we get the professional pictures back I will post those too. I hope they turn out. Thanks to everyone who made it such a memorable trip. We might just have to do it again sometime.

(Oh, and Maureen, you know I'm only teasing. From one sugar addict to another).

Remembering...

Yes, I am finally attempting to start a blog. I have wanted to do this for awhile just to keep family and friends updated, but now I am starting to see the need to journal about their lives. I mean, these guys crack me up everyday and I know I'll forget all of the cute things that they're doing...especially since I can't even remember if I brushed my teeth in the morning.

When Molly came to visit after the kids were first born, she gave me a journal which I thought was a terrific idea. And, I used it diligently for the first couple of weeks, then less often, until I stopped right around the time that Sadie had her first intestinal surgery. I often catch myself wishing I had written more down, so hopefully this will be my new "journal".

I mean, before you know it they go from this

to this

At least I will always remember who wears the pants in this family, even if I don't have clean teeth.