Adventures in Parenting

Today we were outside cleaning off crates and I saw a moth that blended in perfectly with the wooden crate.  I brought Logan over and he had to touch it of course and it flew away.  A couple of seconds later, we saw it get eaten by a bird.  We also saw a stink bug and I told Logan not to step on it because it would be very stinky.  He says, "It's an ucky diaper bug!"  Yes, anything that is stinky is an 'ucky diaper'  If he ever hears anyone fart he says, 'ucky diaper'.  Or if something is stinky, it's an 'ucky diaper'  which is how it becomes an ucky diaper bug.  I wish I could get some of things he does on video and send it in to America's Funniest Videos.

We are still working on the potty training with Logan.  Today he had a couple of accidents, one being a poopy accident.  Or according to Logan, a butt.  For some reason, he calls poop, butt.  It's kinda cute.  Yesterday, he went outside and had taken his off shorts and pullup and was walking around with these around his ankles.  I found him like this and told him he needed to get inside now and he says, "I have a big butt in my pants!"  This means he has a big poopy, which he did.  I think that's why he took them off.  I don't know why he did it outside though.

Sometimes Logan will go to the potty by himself.  Not very often though.  I found him like this a couple of days ago.  I have told Vince so many times to put the lid down!!  Poor Logan was trying to hover.  No, he does not know how to pee standing up yet.






Last night, Logan decided he wanted to wear his bear feet slippers to bed and this is him showing off.  Notice the blue bear in the right corner.  That is a baby toy that I brought up for the girls which used to be his.  He has reclaimed it.  Along with lots of other toys that are way too young for him.

At three years old, Logan is afraid of the dark, ghosts and monsters.  I never wanted my kids to be scared of these because I used to have these kinds of fears when I was a kid.  We never let Logan watch anything scary or violent.  Unfortunately, an older child put these thoughts into his little mind and now he won't sleep with the lights off.  He has a night light and I leave the light on the hallway.  So when he has the lights on, he doesn't go to sleep.  He just plays.  This is greatly messing with his sleep and I don't know what to do.

This is him playing with his Etch a Sketch when he should be sleeping.










The girls are loving their toys now.  It's so fun to watch them.  This is one of their favorites at the moment.  Busy Gears.  You press the button and it lights up, plays music and the gears spin.  They are always pulling it back and forth between them.  Like a tug of war.

They're doing their superman pose.  Kind of.  Oh, and I guess I was wrong about what muscle they're strengthening.  It's more the scapular retractors.  I really need to start studying this summer.  School will be back in session before I know it.

I love this picture.  The Winnie the Pooh is a toy that Vince had when he was a baby.  Logan was playing with Anna and she is loving it. 

  

Even though I never planned for having kids this close together, I'm kind of glad it happened.  Logan loves his little sisters and I don't know if he'll remember his life when they weren't around.




And last, but not least, Anna is either kicking Aimee in the face or Aimee is sucking on Anna's foot.  I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

Oh and we did decide to girl ear splints for the girls as well, which is what you see attached to Aimee's ear.

Mover and the Shaker

Since the girls started moving in my belly, I thought that Aimee was going to be the mover and the shaker.  She flipped and flopped every week.  Sideways, head down, then breach and did it all over again.  I was sure that she would be the one who did most of the moving or at the least the first one.  Anna is moving all over the place.  She isn't crawling and she isn't scooting, but somehow she makes it to other side of the room to play with Logan's toys.  I saw her today going for the package of baby wipes under the ottoman and became very frustrated when she couldn't reach it.  Aimee just rolls back and forth, but that's about it.

When Logan was little it was easy to keep the floor clean because it was just me, Vince and Logan.  I didn't worry too much about him getting little objects into his mouth.  Except for the pieces of carpet he used to pull out and choke on after he tried to eat it.  With the girls though, they have a lot more options of fun things to put in their mouths.  Logan's hotwheels for example.  He probably has 100 hotwheel cars and they always manage to get into the living room where the girls are.  Logan also likes to walk around the living room while he's snacking and drops crumbs everywhere.  It's like a treasure trove to the girls.  Well, Anna anyway.  Unless it's within arms reach, Aimee could care less at this point.  But Anna lifts her little butt in the air and tries to move forward and then lifts her legs and arms off the floor, like superman.  She's strengthening those erector spinae muscles(that's the PTA talking)  I don't quite see how the superman is going to get her across the room, but she always does it.  Aimee sometimes does this too.  I'll have to get a picture and show you, especially when they're doing it at the same time.  It's super cute.  Super cute because it's superman.  I think being awake this late is messing with my mind.

I finished my Eat to Live book and as soon as I can go grocery shopping, I'll be starting.  Vince may have to put up with a long shopping trip because I'm not used to shopping in the healthy area of the grocery store so it could take awhile to find everything.  I really should be getting to sleep.  The girls have been getting up at 5:30 lately which isn't very fun.  Makes for an exhausting day.  Until next time.

Sweet Words

What are the sweetest words your child has said to you?  My favorite is, "I love you."  I've waited three years for Logan to say this to me.  I don't know why it took him so long because I tell him everyday that I love him.  Last night he woke up crying, I went in to check on him and he said,
"I need a drink."  I got him a drink from the kitchen, brought it back to his room and he says, "I love you ,mommy."  I have heard this before, but usually when I say it first.  It was so beautiful and wonderful all at the same time.  This is kind of a sappy post, but this means a lot to me.  Especially since he has not been the easiest child lately.  He constantly wants attention and sometimes I'm not able to give it to him.  I might be dealing with the twins are trying to clean that house, that has been put off for weeks because of life.  When he doesn't get the attention he craves, he acts out.

This summer, Vince and I are hoping to take Logan on a small vacation, no twins allowed.  My parents have agreed to watch the girls a couple nights so we can take Logan, just Logan.  He deserves the time with us and I can't wait to go.  Vince's work is shutting down for two weeks in July.  This happens every year, so we are just going to take the vacation during that shut down.  I've been scouring the internet trying to find a place that a three year old and two parents would enjoy, which doesn't involve St. Louis or Chicago.  We've been to those two places so much, I wanted to see something different.  I think we've settled on Kansas City, MO.  This city recently opened a large aquarium and a Legoland.  It is has amusement parks and a zoo.  This sounds perfect!!  Now, I just need to find a cheap, nice hotel.

The girls are doing wonderful.  They're eating baby food now and it getting it everywhere.  I'd forgotten how messing feeding a baby can be, let alone two babies.  They're constantly sticking their hands in their mouths right after I fed them a spoonful of food.  They blow bubbles and food goes all over.  The bibs don't seem to protect their clothes very well and I'm changing them after almost every feeding.  I'm so thankful we have a washer and dryer in our house.

Anna

Aimee

I myself have already attempted two diets this summer and have failed.  I'm on my third and I'm hoping this is the one.  I haven't actually started, I just got the book, "Eat to Live" by Dr. Fuhrman.  Once I finish reading it, I hope to start soon after.  This is about cutting out lots of animal protein.  Your diet should consist of 90% fruits and vegetables and 10% animal protein.  I'm a little nervous to start, but not only is good for weight loss, it's wonderful for you health in general.  If you have a chance, read this book.  It really makes you look at all the crap you're putting into your body.  What makes it worse is, I'm giving Logan this crap too.  So if this works for me, I'll be trying to change Logan's diet as well.  Little by little of course.

One Year Ago

It's hard for me to believe that one year ago I found out I was having twins. The day before my 26th birthday. Going into the OB/GYN and just expecting to hear that, "yep, your positive home pregnancy test was correct, you are indeed pregnant." Instead hearing that I was pregnant with twins. It just went so fast. My midwife gave me the sono picture, sent me to the lab to get blood drawn and then refers me to a specialist who deals with high risk pregnancies. And then of course almost passing out while I was waiting to check out. I had just been accepted into the physical therapy assistant program at ICC. I knew there was no way that I was giving that up though. I had been trying to get in for two years and with the twins coming, I was really going to need a college education. We were also in the process of looking for a new house. We had to move out of Peoria and fast!

The girls are five months old now and Logan is three. I love my children very much, but they can also get under my skin, but honestly who can say that their kids don't. Logan has been taking a nap the past few days, I'm sure in part due to the fact that he just got over an illness. He won't nap in his bed though, he'll lay on the couch and fall asleep. I think he likes that he can choose where he gets to nap. On May 8, I'm taking Logan in to see a speech therapist. His vocabulary really doesn't seem to be where it should be for his age. I can understand 70% of what he says, the problem is he doesn't have a very extensive vocabulary. I don't know why. I read to him every night, he repeats anything Vince or I say, but yet he can't put a whole sentence together. Like, instead of saying, "I'm hungry," all he says is "eat." Or instead of, "I don't want to go nigh nigh," he says "no nigh nigh." I hope it's nothing too bad and that it can be worked out before he starts preschool.

 The girls are rolling machines now. They haven't started scooting yet, but I can tell Aimee is getting close. Once she's on her belly, she'll stick her butt up in the air and get her legs underneath her like she's ready to push off. Nothing yet though. I'm almost thinking I need to start planning for their birthday already too. What do you do for a twin first birthday party? I have no idea. The only thing I've come up with so far is Thing One and Thing Two from 'Cat in the Hat', but we don't really even read much of Dr. Suess in this house. So I need to come up with something better. Any ideas?

April already?

Wow, my goal was to write in this blog once a week. I guess life just gets in the way.

So things have been going good. Logan is still not potty trained and is just getting over a double ear infection. This is his second go-around, he had an ear infection earlier in March and then got sick again. This medicine seems to be doing the trick this time. He is the most stubborn kid I have ever met. I almost think it would be easier to just keep him in diapers for the rest of his life...joking. But, man am I getting tired of changing three sets of diapers. Vince really is no help when it comes to diaper changing. He refuses to change the girls and will only change Logan's if I beg and plead. What a wonderful husband(says the wife sarcastically).

The girls just turned 5 months old! I cannot believe how fast the time is going. They are almost half a year old, *sniff* :( Aimee has been rolling over from her back to her tummy for about a month now and just started rolling from her tummy to her back. So she is all over the place. Anna just recently rolled from back to tummy. Even though she is the bigger twin, she seems a little behind. I know you aren't supposed to compare twins as twins. They are their own person. But Anna is just a little slower than Aimee. Aimee smiled and laughed first too. I love my little girls. I don't know for sure if they're identical, but they do look a lot alike. In the future, I plan on getting them tested just because when people ask them if they are identical they will be able to tell them for a certainty. If they are identical, I think when the egg split that they each got half of a personality. At 5 months old, they are nothing alike. Anna is SO jealous!! If I pick up Aimee, Anna will cry and fuss. If Aimee is eating, Anna will cry and fuss. Aimee couldn't care less. She is so laid back and she loves to talk.

We recently started them on rice cereal. Just a little bit. Aimee is doing pretty good with it, but Anna is still shoving the cereal out with her tongue so she may not be quite ready yet. Both girls adore their older brother. Whenever he is around, they just smile and coo at him. He seems to like them too, for the most part. He is pretty jealous still. Whenever we go out in public and someone stops us and starts oohing and aahing over the twins, Logan starts to act up. He does this anywhere we go. So if you happen to see us out and about, make sure to include Logan too :)

I will do my absolute best to keep this blog updated with news about the twins and pictures. School will be done in a month so I know for sure I will have time then.

I Wonder

To be completely honest, sometimes I wonder if things would be easier if it was just me and the kids. Don't get me wrong, I love Vince, but sometimes love isn't enough. Yes, I understand he works 10 hour days and is tired when he gets home and has to be in bed by 8pm in order to be up at 3am. He works from 4am-2:30pm. But as soon as he walks in the door he goes downstairs. I tell him he should stay upstairs with me and kids, but he says he likes it downstairs and that me and the kids should come downstairs. Well, the only thing we have downstairs is the laundry room, storage, Vince's video game room and the family room which consists of two couches and a tv. I'd rather not take the kids downstairs just to sit them in front of the tv. I don't know why he doesn't understand that. The only time he comes upstairs is when I yell at him that I need help with the kids. Otherwise, it's just me. The only thing that he is doing for our household is providing an income and he doesn't even make enough to pay the bills thanks to child support and the fact that he only makes $9/hr. He causes me lots of stress because I'm always getting after him about taking care of the kids. I don't want to have to ask for his help, I want him to just help. I go to school, clean the house(when I have time)take care of the kids(he won't change the girls' diapers) and I even make his lunch for him. I haven't been making dinner for awhile because I just don't feel like it. So he makes himself something to eat and then goes back downstairs to do his own thing. Never mind that I have to study some nights. I again have to ask for his help. I don't like to diss on people, but I think Vince's mom did a lot for him growing up. Because now he doesn't want to do anything to help me. He won't clean the house ever. He never empties the garbage can. He doesn't fill, run or empty the dishwasher. He doesn't do laundry. He pretty much doesn't do anything. I don't believe in divorce, but I'm really getting tired of doing everything. I know he loves the kids, but I need that help from him. I don't know....

Back to Work

The time has come for me to start back to work. This Saturday will be my first day back after 12 weeks off. I cannot believe how fast it went. Thankfully though, I will only be working on the weekends so it won't be too bad. I'm also excited that it will be first shift as well, so I will still be able to put Logan to bed every night. We've got a little routine going and the one time I had Vince do it, Logan was very upset. Daddy didn't give him a kiss goodnight and I always do. :) Vince also had this past week off work because CAT shut down half of their line and there wasn't enough for everyone to do, so he stayed home. It will be a little rough without a paycheck next week, but we'll manage.

School will also be starting back up this month too. I received a letter in the mail from ICC telling me that my financial aid was terminated because I've accumulated too many college credits over my college career. My teachers had told us this happens to students every so often. It's because I went to dental hygiene before I started in the physical therapy assistant program and that was quite a few credits. Anyway, my teacher had told us if this happens they can write an appeal letter for us, stating we are in a program and will finish in such a such time and won't be on financial aid forever. I emailed my teacher and she told me that the rules have changed and now when this happens, the only way they can write an appeal is if we have 12 hours or less credit hours to go. Well, I have more than 12 so there is a good chance I won't be able to use financial aid anymore. Which really sucks because now I have no idea how I'm going to pay for college. I hate money. It's so stressful! I'm going to call ICC tomorrow and see if there is anything I can do.

I finally got my potty training book for Logan and just started reading it. I can't wait to get through the whole thing and try to get him peeing and pooping on the potty. I sure hope it works. One thing it did say is that I need to get a doll that wets itself so he can demonstrate to me how one is supposed to sit on the potty to pee. We went to Wal-Mart yesterday and got the doll. Logan loves this thing and says it's his baby. Now I just have to finish the book and we can get started.

The girls are doing wonderful. On New Year's Eve they slept for 5 1/2 hours!! I couldn't believe it. Last night wasn't as good, but hopefully they will start sleeping longer during the night. Anna is still sleeping wonderfully on her tummy, but Aimee hates it. I was able to buy another cradle swing since both girls really seem to like it and usually sleep pretty well in it. Craigslist is an awesome place to find baby items for decent prices. That is where I have found almost everything used for the girls. Except their crib, I found that at a garage sale for $15. I love a deal. I am starting to tell a difference between their cries as well. Anna doesn't sound quite like a newborn anymore and has a shriller cry. Aimee is still my mellow baby. When I'm changing her diaper, she'll just look around and just be content. Anna still cries everytime I change her diaper. Both girls are also in 0-3 month clothes now as well. No cooing or smiling yet, but hopefully soon.

Logan has been a bit of a pain lately. He likes to shriek at the top of his lungs and this always wakes up the girls if they are in the same room as him. I tell him to be quiet because the girls are sleeping, but he continues to do it. Or he'll run onto the couch when I'm holding one of the girls and almost collides with them. I get after him about that too, but all he does is laugh. I've attempted to do time out, but he won't sit there and I have to hold him in his chair. I don't think that's what I'm supposed to be doing though. I want his to sit there on his own. Will he ever learn? I have also started spanking him. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Honestly, having the twins really isn't that difficult right now since they can't really go anywhere. My real issue is Logan. If it wasn't for him, things would be so much easier right now. I love him to death, but sometimes I just wish I could send him to grandma's for a week.