Saturday afternoon

Anderson not showing much enthusiasm...he always takes a few minutes to adjust

Jake reaching for the waterfalls


Mommy and Anderson

Jake

Anderson

We took the boys to the pool this afternoon. When we asked them if they wanted to go Anderson said "I'm so excited!". Unfortunately he has a hard time understanding that after we dress him in his bathing suit we then have to cover him back up with his clothes. If he had it his way he would go outside in the 12 degree weather wearing only his swim trunks. Jake of course just rolls with the punches, whatever we do, however we dress him is okay with him.

The boys have such different approaches at the pool. Anderson stays close to Mommy and enters the pool slowly. He checks out what everyone is doing and stays on the perimeter till he feels comfortable enough to join the fun. Jake however dives right in so to speak. He heads from one area to the next, sticks his face right in, blows bubbles and actually tries to swim. Jake could care less where his Mom and Dad are, he just wants to be in the middle of the action.

It comes with the territory I guess

More times then I can count this week Kevin and I have looked at each other helplessly caught in the wrath of two irrational two year olds. Neither of us knowing what to do, shaking our heads thinking WTF, trying to stop the chaos and make sense of the completely senseless. It feels like we are trying to walk up the down escalator.

A big part of the problem is the endless cold and crappy weather we have been having. We are on month number four of virtual house arrest. We take them out, but because of our extreme bad luck with illness last year we try and stay away from any indoor public play areas so that means we head to Costco or Target and all the boys do is get to ride in the cart. They can't expel any of their pent up energy, have some fresh air, or change their scenery. Sadly they are as familiar with Target as their own home. What they really need is to feel some grass on their feet, go down a slide, wade in a stream, and walk freely without five layers of clothing plus a heavy coat and hat on.

They are having difficulty with transition. They resist getting ready to go out of the house and they cry when they have to come back home. They suddenly decide they are ready to eat and become frantic for food, ten minutes later when their food is ready they decide they don't want to eat because they don't want to stop playing. They tell us don't want something and when we say okay and take it from them, they begin to scream that they DO want it. We give it back and then they cry that they don't want it. Again WTF?

After dinner time we usually take them down to the basement where there is more room to run and different toys to play with. This helps but it is not enough. We REALLY need some decent weather, they REALLY need to be outside, and mom and dad REALLY need a vacation.

Bad Day

Awhile back I blogged about taking Anderson to the pediatric dentist for his tooth that had become discolored after hitting it on the tub. We were told that although it was dying there was no cause for concern and that they would just keep an eye on it. We returned today so that they could take another look. Since our last visit it has really gotten dark and now the other front tooth was beginning to discolor as well.

They took an x-ray and then evaluated him. It was not good news. There is an abscess in his gums that is most likely infected so he will need antibiodics to clear that up and next month he will undergo a double root canal on his front teeth.

He won't be able to eat or drink anything the morning of, this will be extremely difficult as Anderson is pretty demanding about food. They will give him sedation medication to relax him a half hour before the procedure but he will not be asleep during the procedure. He will have to be put in a straight jacket type contraption that will keep him from moving around from the neck down and then they will give him laughing gas if he can tolerate that. My poor sweet Anders. The dentist will then remove the roots and fill the teeth with a white composite material.

The good news is that the dr. said it should be a pretty painless procedure for him. The worst of it will just be his fear and frustration of being restrained. To add insult to injury, pediatric dentists are out of network for our insurance so I guess this means Anderson will have to attend community college his freshman year or worse yet forego his ticket to Disneyworld in August.

Scare Momma

On Monday the four of us were eating lunch together at home. The boys wanted a "treat" so I gave them a pretzel rod. Just a little background, Jake stuffs his cheeks with food. He takes huge bites and often swallows with his little eyes popping out of his head which lets us know the huge clumps of food he is swallowing is not going down easy.

The pretzel rod was no different...I should've known better. He was facing me and I was watching him closely as I usually do. That is till he makes me so nervous that I sometimes have to tell Kevin to watch him and leave the table. Choking is a major fear in my life.

I have choked, like Heimlich choked several times in my life. There was the time I choked on a chicken nugget at school in the third grade. It was my first day at a new school, Valentine's Day to be exact. It was frightening to be a new student in an unfamiliar place not knowing anyone's name, unable to breathe, and not knowing who to ask for help. Then there was the time I choked at my 16th birthday celebration at Chi-chi's, that was graceful and pleasant. I'll have to stop there, I can feel my body tensing up.

So when Jake looked at me with fear and confusion in his eyes I knew all to well what was happening. He was choking on the damn pretzel. I simultaneously jumped out of my chair and yelled to Kevin (who was 12 inches away) that Jakey was choking. I ripped off his tray, threw it behind me on the table and knocked over a bottle of water. Kevin started to unbuckle him and as quickly as it started it was over, he let out a whimper and could breathe again. I then picked him up, held him close and told him that he scared Momma.

Since Monday he has been telling people "scare momma...choke". He was able to make such a scary and frantic situation into such a heart warming one for me. I love that he understood just how much his pain affected me.

Here today gone tomorrow

Jake has forgotten his abc's. We mastered them months ago and moved on to bigger and better things and now it seems his little brain has misplaced them. He now says ABC, sing with me. Not only does he leave out the other 23 letters of the alpahbet but he gets really p'off if you don't high five him for "ABC, sing with me". So being the typical obbessive mommy that I am, I've been reciting the alphabet non-stop to him and making Kevin do it as well. Anderson has started protesting by saying "no abc's" everytime we say them. Ahh, the ridiculousness of it all.

For my own memory, or lack thereof I should say, here is what the bubbies are doing at 25 months....

Recite ABC's (A)
Count to 10 (A and J)
Count to 20 with just a few missing numbers (A and J)
Identify numbers to 10 (A and J)
Identify the letters of the alphabet upper and lower case (J is the master but A is pretty good too)
Can identify at LEAST 15-20 Thomas trains with absurd names...Toby, Terrence, Trevor, Mavis, Diesel, Daisy, Skarloey, etc... (A and J)
Can recite most of Put Me in the Zoo (A)
Can make a tower of blocks 5-7 blocks high (A and J)
Knows the colors red, blue, orange, green, black, yellow, purple, pink (A is the master, J gets it 75% of the time)
Knows the shapes circle, square, diamond, rectangle, triangle, oval and heart (A is the master, J forgets rectangle and diamond)
Knows all the major Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters by name (A and J)
Knows about 10 sounds that the letters make (A and J)
Draws/colors with a seemingly intended purpose (A)
Can sing along fairly well to most nursery rhymes...i.e 50% of the words (A and J)
Brushes teeth (A and J)
If I had to guess I would say that A has about 250 words and J has about 175 words

Although I'm happy with the above accomplishments, I think what I am most proud of is their ability to show love to others. They are such friendly and happy little guys, they live life to the fullest and know how to have a good time.

Catching up on Pics...Part One

Jake's new Lightning McQueen jammies

Anderson showing off his.

Jake and Ashley (or "Ashes" as Jake says)

Jake eating popcorn.

Sweet Anders enjoying some too.

Part Two

Sharing a snack together.


Anderson cuddling up with Mommy

Anderson wearing his new train shirt from his friend Baby Simon. He loved it!

Jake showing off his shirt. Thank you Simon!

My heart is in a puddle on the floor with this one.

Trip to the Henry Ford Museum

Twin babies in a circa 1800s doll house that we saw at the HF musuem.

That's a nurse taking care of them on the third floor, the mom was in the kitchen on the first floor relaxing :)

Grant and Jake inside an old train.


Claire and Jake...Anderson was being uncooperative about pictures.

My precious four

Valentine flowers from my guys. I also got my favorite poured chocolate cupcakes...6 of them!


This weekend we took the boys to the Henry Ford Musuem. We called the McBrides at 8 a.m. and asked them if they wanted to join us and they did so off we went. The boys LOVED being able to walk the huge musuem with Grant and Claire. I was surprised that they stayed close to their family and stayed out of trouble. Jake really paid attention to the trains and cars, Anderson focused a little more on being afraid of certain things.

When they tired out they would ask to ride in the stroller. We ate a quick lunch before we left and they snoozed on the way home. After being home for a couple of hours, we headed over to the McBride's house for dinner and to say goodbye to Nanny and Papa. They will be going on a three week vacation and will be missed.

Relief like no other

It has been a stressful and worrisome week around here. Last weekend I noticed that in a couple of pictures we took Jake had a strange white spot in his eye. I quickly remembered a story I had seen on a news show about white spots that show on a toddlers eyes in photographs could mean a presence of an eye tumor. My heart stopped and I began to feverishly search the internet and other photos we have taken over the past few weeks.

My findings were not what I was hoping for. Jake's eye looked exactly like the example pictures of toddlers that had a retinoblastoma. On Monday morning Kevin called the

pediatric opthamologist and they told us to bring him Thursday morning (yesterday) for a complete examination. Again, not what I was hoping for. I was really hoping when Kevin called that they would laugh at us and tell us we were just being "crazy, overprotective parents".

So I spent the week in and out of panic, trying to think positively, and trying not to throw up. I couldn't even allow myself to "go there". I can't even begin to imagine "there". Yesterday we took him to the opthamologist and after an hour long appointment including the dilation of both his eyes we were told he was fine. There was no retinoblastoma present and in fact his eyes look very healthy. At the end of the appointment the dr. said it was the right decision to bring him in, which made me feel a lot better.

Kevin and I both left with a giddiness, so happy and relieved that Jake and our family were safe from "there". I included a pic of what I was referring in case no one has ever heard of the suspicious white spots on photographs and what to look for.

Just a quick post before I forget this funny moment....

This morning, once again, Anderson was chasing Jake around trying to give him a train that Jake didn't want. Jake finally fell to the ground in defeat and started crying out of frustration. Anderson then replied with "Jaaake, Jaaake, settle down, settle down and be happy!" It's really surreal to watch your words and mannerisms come out of a 2 year old's mouth. Poor Jake, now he's got three people always telling him what he should and should not do.

WTH won't blogger let me space my paragraphs?

Ummm, jumpin on the bed with fake ice cream !?!?!

Jake saying cheese

Anderson saying cheese

I haven't been very motivated to blog lately. I've tried uploading some pictures at least 3 times this week and either my computer won't accept them or blogger gives me an error. Either way I've found myself giving up for the time being and then today I realized its been a week since I shamelessly bragged about my little people.

I think another reason I haven't blogged is over the past week I have read a lot of bad news for families of other blogs I follow. One sweet twin girl the same age as the boys has passed away from cancer, another MOM just found out her husband has cancer, and yet another MOM has found out her 5 month old twinks have a fatal genetic disorder. It's more than anyone can handle and completely unimaginable to me. I feel fortunate to have a healthy family but I'm always aware that this happy life could change in an instant. Doom and gloom aside, here's what my twosome have been up to...

Anderson~He's coming up with all sorts of random stuff. Today I asked him what he was doing and he told me to "wait here one second" and then he took off for his room. When he likes his food he declares that it is delicious and more than once this week he has said whatever Mommy. He's been relentlessly bugging Jake to hold trains he doesn't want to hold. He'll chase Jake around saying "JAAAAAKE, JAAAAKE, here, here" in the most desperate of tones which then totally freaks and annoys Jake. Jake starts to cry and then Anderson starts crying but still insists on following Jake everywhere till he'll take the train. It's bizarre, it's weird, and I feel bad for Jake.

Jake~Jake is currently on a sleep strike which is another excuse I have for my absence. He has skipped some naps and is waking up at the crack of dawn exclaiming "Morning, morning" and by nine a.m. he is dragging and ready for a nap. Between that, his crabbiness from not enough sleep, and my normally erratic sleeping patterns, I've been pretty tired. Jake has really taken a liking to the movie Cars. He loves Lightning McQueen and talks about LMQ and Mack throughout the day. He tooted the other day and starting saying "Lightning McQueen farted". Three days later and he's still randomly saying it.

Life in 3D

Playing cars while wearing their 3D glasses

Looking out the window


Anderson

Jake

Kevin put some 3D glasses he picked up for the Superbowl commercials on the boys today. It was as if they were tripping on acid. They kept repeating "red, purple, green, yah...red, blue green...yah". They aimlessly wandered around and then headed for the windows to see the colors enhanced. They became increasingly frustrated because the glasses were too big for them so Kevin's solution was to tape them on. It didn't phase them in the least.

Why I love being a MOM (mom of multiples)

The socialization they get right from the start (in utero).

Directly seeing the effects nature has versus nurture.

Being able to witness the twin bond and testify to its beauty.

Being forever grateful that my babies made it and are healthy despite the fact that I had pre-term labor.

In awe of my body and the beautiful boys it helped create. I have an incredible new found respect for my body.

In total awe of mothers of twins or more and the magnificance of how we all manage to get it all done in a day.

New found appreciation of life and what it has given us.

A sense of completeness that our family has. Before we had a void until our boys were born.

More empathy of all mothers and increased respect and opening to different types of parenting styles.

Learning to appreciate what I already have and to know how blessed I am in being a mother.