A Change

I have neglected this blog for too long and I apologize.  I really don't have an excuse other than I had other things to do and this was just put to the way side.  Things are going to change.  Logan eats so unhealthy and it's because I got lazy when he was younger and just didn't feel like cooking meals after school and work.  So far, the girls are getting a balanced meal for most every meal.  They still like their fruit and some veggies.

I have decided that we are going to be healthy this year.  I am going to start making healthy meals for everyone.  Vince has already told me he won't eat anything with vegetables and that just means that he will have to make something for himself.  I hope to post every day as to how we are doing.  These are not recipes I have come up with myself.  I have been scouring the web and pinterest to find some good healthy food.  I don't think it will be easy, but this is something I feel I need to do and I'm hoping this blog will hold me accountable.  So here we go!!

The kids are all doing great!  Logan will be 4 yrs old this month.  I can't believe how fast the time flies.  We are doing a Spongebob themed birthday and we already have his presents picked out.  We just need to buy them now.  The girls are walking and getting all over the place.  At least once I day I find them in the bathroom playing in the toilet.  Logan is doing better putting the lid down, but Vince still can't seem to remember to do it.  Probably has something to do with the fact he has been leaving it up all his life and it's a hard habit to break.  They still haven't said any real words.  They may have their own chatter though.  When I get them out of bed after a nap or in the morning, if one of them is still asleep, the other will lean into her crib and start chattering to get her up.  It's very cute. 

Vince is heading to Chicago tonight to get Logan a new bed.  He was getting too big for his toddler bed so we made the decision to buy a new one.  We ventured out yesterday and looked at a few furniture stores and found some we really liked and then I decided to do a search on craigslist.  We found a bed in our price range in Chicago.  Since Logan's room is so small, we are getting him a loft bed.  He'll have to climb a ladder to get up to the top bed and underneath the bed is a dresser and spot for a tv and shelving.  There is also a trundle bed on the very bottom.  It's perfect for his little room.  I haven't seen it in person yet, but Vince should be home in the next few hours and we'll get it all set up.  Better get the girls to bed.

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....