Another sister update

This morning she was told that she will be staying in the hospital on bed rest until the babies are born. We all pray that will be another few weeks, at least. The longer they stay baking, the less time they will have to spend in NICU. Thankfully the NICU at her hospital is awesome and I have every confidence that they will take excellent care of my nephews. But no one likes to see a child go through all of that.

My sister has never had to stay in the hospital, except when she had her son. This is going to be very hard on her. Also, her son is not at all happy. He got angry with her last night because she did not pick him up like she’d promised and told her “I’m done talking to you.” It’s breaking her heart. Her husband, thankfully, has gotten a wake up call. He’s staying with her in the hospital, though he is considering getting a hotel room nearby instead because the couch is not at all comfortable for sleeping. My mom and his will be helping to take care of W and staying with my sister when her husband is at work. I wish there was something I could do.

All I can do is pray. I know this is in God’s hands. He knows the best plan, even if it’s not the one we would have chosen. I just pray His plan is for these boys to live long, healthy lives!

Update

The latest update from my mom is that they are keeping my sister for at least 2-3 days. She’s now dilated to a 4. They have her on a Magnesium Sulphate drip and the contractions have stopped for now. They’ll be giving her a second shot of steroid in the morning. If she goes home, it will be on bed rest.

Please continue the prayers!

Prayers Needed

My sister, as you know, is pregnant with twin boys. She is 31 weeks as of Friday. She’s been feeling bad lately, but didn’t think much of it. Well, she had an appointment today and is 3 cm dilated and apparently having contractions. They’ve got her in the hospital for observation this afternoon and hope to be able to send her home later today, depending on how that goes. I’m pretty sure they’re giving her a steroid shot, and I would guess something to stop the contractions.

My mom and I have been very frustrated because her husband has booked a trip to Germany for July 3-12. We’ve been angry that he even considered it this close to the end. Mom says that the doctor had said she expected her to make it to 38 weeks and we think he must have taken that as gospel. Every time she told him she wasn’t feeling right he would say “You’re not having the babies now.” I swear that man is the most clueless one of the entire gender! Well, at least a close second to his father.

Anyway, pray that she’s able to bake my nephews for at least 6 more weeks and that their idiot father will decide to stay in the country. I appreciate it!

Calmer waters

Now that VBS is over, things are calming down around here. I feel like this whole month was just a whirlwind of activities and I’m certainly ready to breathe a sigh of relief. Oddly, Kyla has not had a terror since Thursday night. I’m grateful, believe me. But it kind of throws off my theory about being over tired… She had to have been tired on Friday. She didn’t nap. Well, no. I take that back. They fell asleep on the couch watching TV (yes, I was being a lazy parent). She did scream once that night, but it only took a few minutes of holding her hand to settle her back down, so I’m not sure if it counts. And the next morning they slept until 7:45! That NEVER happens. I can’t remember the last time they slept past 6:30.

Anyway, we’re getting back into our usual routine. Today we’ll probably meet up with twin friends and spend the afternoon at home. Maybe I’ll even fill the pool with water so they can play out there. It’s nice to not have anything we HAVE to be doing. I felt like, towards the end of the week, I was fighting them when we had to go anywhere.

Tuesday we’ll do a Costco run, Wednesday we may hit the library and my dad and his wife are coming by for a visit, Thursday we have the kids’ 2 year checkup, and Friday we’re going to lunch with friends. While this may sound like a busy week, it’s much more calm that last week was. It’s just the way I like it. Enough activity to break up the day, but not so much that we’re all exhausted.

VBS and Night Terrors

I haven’t posted anything this week for two reasons. One, we’ve been doing VBS every day this week, so we’ve been really busy. Two, Kyla has been having night terrors and keeping all of us from sleeping much, so brain function is at a minimum this week.

VBS was interesting. I want to say it was fun, because in some ways it was, but mostly it was exhausting. I forgot how much energy it takes to wrangle first graders. Yes, that was my job at VBS, while the twins were in the nursery. From 9:00-12:30 every day this week I was the “crew leader” for 10 first graders. Three girls and seven boys. Obviously, I knew none of them, since I’ve only been attending this church for a couple of months now and I did not teach in this school district (not that any of them were in school my last year). However, it didn’t take long to figure out their personalities. There was the typical cast of characters. “The Monkey,” “The Pleaser,” “The Clown,” “The Giggler,” “The Shy Guy,” “The Follower,” “The Quiet Observer,” “The Complainer,” “The Helper,” and “The Friend.” I really enjoyed getting to know each and every one of the kids. I don’t know that I’ll ever see any of them again, but I would like to.

I also got to meet several adults, though we didn’t have a lot of opportunity to talk. But I feel like at least now I know a few friendly faces and can work towards getting to know more people in the church community.

And the twins had a lot of fun, I think. I wish I could get more out of them than just “Church. Fun.” when I ask if they had fun. Lucas nearly ran into the nursery each day, which is different from what he had been doing on Sundays. Kyla, on the other hand, was not so enthused. I think that had more to do with the lack of sleep and being totally exhausted than with not liking being there. She was always all smiles when I picked her up. So I don’t think I tortured them too much. I will say that every time I had a slight down moment I was wondering what they were doing. And I wanted so much to sneak a peek each day at break, but knew that if they saw me it would make them go nuts when I didn’t take them with me, so I restrained myself. I know I signed up for this to give the kids time away from me, but it is killer to feel like I’m missing out on a chunk of their day. This trying to be a good parent thing can be tough!

And now for the night terrors…

Every night since Monday Kyla has been waking up (or not really waking) screaming. Nothing we do calms her down, and it’s more like when we try to comfort her she screams more. It generally takes 45 minutes or more to settle her down. And poor Lucas is losing sleep too because she wakes him up. Several times he’s groggily said “Ky-ya, stop.” 😦 I feel so sorry for him. I assume that her terrors are mostly due to being so exhausted from VBS (8:30-12:40 is a long time to play so hard when you’re 2) and can only pray that things will get better as we return to our normal routine. On Tuesday night I think I got maybe 2 hours of sleep, total. On Wednesday night N was sweet enough to take the monitor and let me sleep the whole night. He says she was up several times, but not as bad as Tuesday. Last night she went nuts at 9:30, then again around midnight. N ended up sleeping on the floor in their room the rest of the night. 😦 And today they had barely settled down for nap when someone started a lawn mower and all hope of a nap flew out the window. Later in the afternoon they fell asleep watching TV. Which means that we’re having trouble getting them to go to bed this evening. *sigh*

They have their 2 year checkup (yes, it’s really late) on Thursday. I plan to talk to the doctor and see what she has to suggest. But hopefully things will have settled down by then. (Please, Lord!)

Ten years ago today…

N and I got married.

My bridesmaids and I had stayed in a hotel room together, drinking champagne and talking until midnight or so the night before. We got up early and headed to the salon to get our hair done and found out that two of the four girls that were supposed to work on our hair had called in sick. One of which was the one that knew what to do for my hair. We had to take turns getting our hair done and I was the last. I cried as I watched the girl do my hair completely different (to me) from what I’d wanted. Then The Muppet Theme song came on the radio and all I could do was laugh (N and I are both Muppets fans).

The ceremony itself was quick (only 8 minutes) and some of our late guests missed it entirely. We spent way too much time on photos and the reception felt like it was over much too fast. N and I both changed our clothes and came back out to head to the honeymoon. N stood next to his dad, looked across the way and proudly said “That’s my wife.” His dad said, “Are you sure about that?” Upon second glance he realized he had just called my sister his wife! (He still hasn’t lived it down.) After much teasing (and me actually joining him) we said goodbye to our guests and climbed into our limo (gift from MIL) to head to the airport. (It smelled kind of funny and later we discovered someone had left their to go box in the back window.)

We hadn’t really gotten to eat much at the reception, so we grabbed a bite at the airport while we waited for our flight. We arrived in Florida around midnight and to the Disney Caribbean Beach Resort around 1 AM. It was a very full, very exhausting, very special day.

Happy Anniversary, Babe. I cannot (and do not want to) imagine my life without you in it. You are my best friend, the best dad, and the person I most want to see every single day of my life. Thanks for putting up with me!

Party Wrap-up (finally)

I had planned to type up something about the twins’ birthday party sooner than now, but life (as usual) got in the way.

Friday N and I spent the entire day shopping for and prepping food. The kids weren’t too happy about that, but the sitter we’d lined up to watch them that day tore her meniscus and had to back out. We spent WAY too much money on food and really over estimated how much we would need (as usual). Next year I say we order pizza. 😉

Friday night was rough. Lucas woke up around 4:30 with a raging fever. I gave him Tylenol and brought him to our bed, but he was not interested in sleeping. We ended up turning on Wonder Pets for him to watch, just to calm him down. Once Kyla was awake we put in Cars so we could get a few more things done. I took Lucas to the family practice N and I go to (the pediatrician’s phone message didn’t list Saturday hours, but I’ve since found out they are open on Saturdays) and found out that it was “just” an ear infection and we were okay to continue with the party plans. I’m ashamed to admit that the kids watched Cars twice and Toy Story once by the time we put them down for a nap.

My mom and nephew arrived around 12:30, just as we were finishing up lunch. Kyla didn’t nap at all, but thankfully Lucas slept for about an hour and a half, waking as the guests began to arrive. He definitely needed it. We kept him pumped with Tylenol and Motrin (alternating) to keep his fever down and help him be less cranky. He wasn’t a happy camper at the beginning or end of the party, but he did enjoy a nice chunk of it in the middle.

We got a kiddie pool for the back yard and several of the little guests really enjoyed it, along with the bubble machine MIL brought. The adult guests (that weren’t watching the kids) sat in the house visiting. I felt bad that I wasn’t able to talk with more people for longer chunks, but I’m sure no one was offended (at least I hope!).

Along with family, the guest list included LD and her family (minus the step-kids), two twin-mom friends (and their twins), and some of N’s friends and former coworkers (some with their kids). Our original RSVP list was 40 people! However, “only” 33 came. And 12 of those were under the age of 13.

We had to coax the kids into the house to get them to open presents so people could feel free to leave if they wanted to. They got quite a haul, as I expected. I’m glad I cleaned out the play room! I’m still not sure where we’ll put it all. And thankfully, people looked at the wish list I’d made for the twins, so many of the items are going to be great for Tot School! Right now I still have all the presents in the living room so they aren’t mixed up with their older toys. We’re having a play date here at the house tomorrow and I figured it would be fun to have the “new” toys out to play with. Though I also expect to spend some time out in the water.

Instead of giving out traditional party favors (which always seem to be choking hazards), I decided to make some I Spy beanbags. I got the idea from here. This is the final product:

(there was also one with bees on a green background with yellow rice)

And this is what they were filled with:

Not every bag had these exact colors, but they all contained these ten items.

I think they turned out well and the kids seemed to like them.

After most of the guests had left, MIL was SO kind and did the dishes for us. 🙂 One less thing for us to do to clean up. Actually, clean up wasn’t too bad, considering. Now if I can just get it to stay relatively clean for play group tomorrow. 😉

My mom and nephew stayed through Monday morning. It was fun seeing the three cousins play together. Though for some reason my nephew prefers to play with Kyla. He’ll call to her from the other room, but if Lucas follows he gets upset. He’s always been like this and it completely baffles me. Lucas seems to be fascinated by W and watches him so he can imitate what he does.

As for my sick boy, he had two more rough nights and ended up sleeping in bed with us for part of both nights. Last night was the first time he slept the whole night in his own bed. It’s been rough on all of us. Poor Lucas fell asleep in his high chair at lunch yesterday and in the shopping cart at the grocery store today! I’m so ready for him to feel better, and I’m sure he is too. I’m going to be making an appointment with the ENT to see if we need to replace the tube that has worked its way out. I am pretty sure this is the third ear infection since discovering it wasn’t in place.

Over all, the party was a success, but I think we need to scale back for the future. Of course, it’s hard trimming the guest list when you have so many family members, but perhaps we can find an alternative way to feed the masses.

I want to apologize for not having more pictures. I was so busy playing host, I didn’t take a single one! The pictures I do have were taken by my uncle or my friend that borrowed a memory card because she’d left hers at home.

Happy Birthday- 2 Years

**I wrote this last night, but our network went down right before I hit “submit.” So it says “tomorrow” but really it’s today!**

Wow. My babies are two years old. Okay, technically it’s tomorrow, but I figure we’ll be a tad busy and I won’t get to make a post then. It’s so hard to believe that two years ago today N and I were in Oklahoma trying to get some sleep on a bed and cot in the tiniest hospital room I’ve ever seen, knowing we would be holding our babies the next day. It was certainly difficult to sleep.

And the next day was such an emotional day. I cannot even explain just how amazing meeting our children was. So tiny and frail. Holding them for the first time was simply amazing and scary at the same time. Suddenly we were parents. And our hearts were (and are) more full than they ever were before.

And now, two years later, they are such little people. So full of personality and spunk. They amaze me every day and fill our hearts with so much love. N and I couldn’t stop giving them kisses tonight as we put them to bed. And all the fights and time outs from the day slipped away as we heard the most special people in our lives tell us “uvoo” (love you).

So what’s the latest from the dynamic duo (as LD calls them)?

Language & Communication

I can’t even count the number of words they have in their vocabularies. Granted, most of the time we need to have some sort of context to figure out what they’re saying, but they are becoming much more clear as each week passes. And they are definitely trying to speak in sentences. And not just 2 word sentences. Sometimes they string together 3-4 words. They still use some signs occasionally too. It cracked me up when Lucas was clearly trying to communicate something to my sister and she had no clue what he was saying. Turns out he was trying to show her where the toy she was looking for had ended up. I said “What? You don’t speak Lucasese?” 😉

Gross Motor

We’ve been working on the throwing and Lucas is definitely trying. Though he doesn’t get it very far, he’s doing better. I blew up a beach ball today and we played with it by throwing it, rolling it, and kicking it. I’d tell them which one to do and they’d do it. It was cute. Also, Kyla’s favorite thing to do lately is play Ring Around the Rosie, which is adorable.

Fine Motor

They are really enjoying coloring and using stickers lately. A few times we’ve cleared the breakfast or lunch dishes from the table and brought out the colors, at Kyla’s request. I let them play with stickers a few times too, which really is just them taking stickers off a sheet and putting them randomly onto a piece of paper. But it works on the pincher grip, so it’s useful. Except after he sticks them all on the paper, Lucas likes to pull them back off and then they don’t stick anymore and we end up with stickers all over the place.

Cognitive

When I type up these monthly updates I reread the previous month’s post so I don’t repeat something from before. I can’t believe how much they learn each month. Not only are they still recognizing O and D, Kyla pointed to an exit sign the other day and said “T.” And she can point out 1 and 2 as well. She still tends to say “1, 2. 1, 2.” if we aren’t helping her count, but I know she can get to 5 if she tries. Lucas has started to count as well. And we’ve taught them to say “two” when we ask them how old they will be tomorrow. 😉

I’ve realized that I am doing Tot School like activities with them frequently, I just don’t plan them in advance. I do what feels right at the time. My friend and I have discussed doing Tot School together with our 4 kids. We’re going to start when the school year starts in August and we’ll take turns as to who plans the activities. We’re both really excited. I’m going to try to come up with a loose theme plan for us to follow for August and September so we can start planning activities and pulling things together. I figure the sooner we start planning the easier it will be to get it all together. I can’t wait to see what we come up with!

Social

While they are both still very comfortable with our friends and family, Kyla has recently gotten clingy and shy. Which is weird for her. On Thursday we went out to breakfast and when one of the waitresses tried to talk to her she covered her eyes and tried to hide. She wouldn’t come out until I told her that the waitress was gone. She did it several other times too. I assume it’s a phase and she’ll get over it soon.

Oh, and we went to Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday for their cousin’s birthday and they both freaked out when the big mouse came out. I guess I don’t get to take them to Disney any time soon after all. 😦

After talking to a fellow M.O.M. who is a twin herself, I’m realizing that we need to give them time apart more often. Right now the only times they are apart are when one or the other is sick and I can leave the well one home with N while I take the other to the doctor. Mom offered to buy us a 3rd car seat to have for N’s car so we could each take one. I think we may take her up on that offer so they can have one-on-one time with us, and also so they can learn how to be more independent of one another.

Eating

I still find it interesting how different my kids are with eating than my sister’s son. She has to bargain with him to get him to eat. And while I do a little of that (like telling Kyla she has to eat more burger before I’ll give her more fries), it’s rare that we have those battles. But honestly, I have been awful about feeding them crap lately. Of course, that was mostly because of traveling (we just got back from out of town), but I’m going to have to get us back on track.

Sleep

There were 5 days in a row that they did not nap. And boy was that exhausting! It was because we weren’t at home, but it sucked anyway. Thank goodness they napped today or there would have been major issues. I am NOT ready for no naps, that’s for darn sure. Honestly, sleep in general was pretty sucky while we were out of town. On Saturday night Kyla woke up every 30 minutes (just as I would be drifting off to sleep again) screaming her head off. I think she must have been having nightmares because she would be crying “Mom. Mom. Mom.” even though I was right there (I brought her to bed with me). And on Sunday night Lucas woke up screaming and nothing I was doing would soothe him until Mom suggested letting him watch an episode of Wonder Pets (which I hated doing, but was at my wits end and was willing to try anything at that point). We should be getting back into a normal routine by next week, so hopefully we won’t be having any more issues.

Affection

My sister gave Kyla a baby doll and stroller for her birthday (she gave Lucas a race track and cars) and I swear the girl has barely put that baby down since she got it. And if Lucas even attempts to touch it or the stroller, she goes ballistic. I think we may have to get Lucas a stroller just to stop the biting and hitting that’s been going on. I think my favorite moment, though, was when she took the baby into their room and tucked it into her bed and closed the door so the baby could go night-night. 🙂 She also will sing parts of songs to get me to sing them to her. Particularly “Sweet Baby Mine” (my version of Sweet Caroline). Lucas is loving to give kisses lately. And N has got them doing first a regular kiss, then an Eskimo kiss. It’s so cute!

Discipline

Well, the days of sweet Lucas seem to be over. He’s started being much more aggressive and isn’t giving in the way he used to. He’s also throwing tantrums like a pro now. What happened to my sweet child? I don’t like having two tantrum throwers!

They are both biting, hitting, pinching, and pulling hair like crazy. Which is driving ME crazy. I still use time out, but it doesn’t seem to change anything. They both tell me when they did something they shouldn’t, and after I let them up they will even tell me why they were sent to the corner. They will say “Hair, no” (or whatever it was they did), but a few minutes later they do it again. I realize it’s hard for kids this age to have impulse control, but I’m getting tired of seeing bite marks on my kids. If anyone has any suggestions for changing this behavior, I’m all ears! I’m not liking how I end up reacting after the 900th time in a day and something needs to change.

Okay, even though I keep ending with the “discipline” section, I feel it’s important to emphasize that the discipline part of our day is much smaller than it sometimes may seem (even to me). Over all they are great kids and I can’t imagine my life without them.

Happy Birthday, Babies! You make Mama so proud! ❤