Sunday, October 25, 2009

Oooohh pictures...

They were not good. Not at all. The short version? Declan was COMPLETELY uncooperative and Madelyn wouldn't stop crying. It was terrible and hilarious all at the same time. Enjoy these pictures, they are doozies.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbAccess.aspx?e=5477817

password: kids

Friday, October 23, 2009

Wow, just...wow.

Things are a tad crazy here. And by that I mean right now. Madelyn is SCREAMING in the crib next to a wide-awake Macey who is just looking around. We've resorted to letting Madelyn cry for the time being (tonight) because she is fed, changed, dry, burped, everything. I feel like I am somewhat losing it with this lack of schedule thing. If you know me at all you know I am not a highly scheduled person, but I do love knowing what to expect with my kids and when naps will happen and how many times I'm going to be up at night, and with these little girls it's all a crap shoot. NOTHING is the same from day to day and it's really HARD. The first few weeks/months I would swaddle them and put them down to sleep (in their carseats, which we don't do anymore, hmmmm) at around 1pn and they would sleep until 5pm, sometimes until 6. It was glorious. I thought I had wonder-babies who regulated themselves into a schedule. Ummmm, no. That has gone away and now it's anyone's guess who will sleep and for how long and how crabby they might be on the other side of it. I'm honestly tired (hahahaha) of it and it's hard of all of us. I am short with my older kids and all of that.

I'll try not to whine from here on out....some updates on our lives.

Caden. My big boy will be SEVEN years old tomorrow, Oct 24! I just cannot believe it. I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished. He is excited about his birthday and says "happy song" a lot...I think that's what he wants to have sung but still won't let any of us actually sing it.

Avery is still really enjoying preschool and doing very well. She's also having a blast with ballet once a week and it's so cute to watch her do that!

Declan is walking. I'm sure I've mentioned that before but it begs repeating. He's such a precious boy toddling around and taking in everything around him. James took him tonight for a haircut because tomorrow we are finally taking all 5 kids to have their pics taken together in their Big Brother Big Sister Little Sister shirts. It's about time, no? I'll share those when we have a link.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

It's 11pm

and I am sitting up with a still fussy Macey. This baby girl has decided that you must replace her pacifier every 10 minutes at bedtime and you must attend to her needs for several hours after her twin sister has already been asleep at night. It is getting QUITE frustrating. Madelyn has been asleep for 3 hours now and Macey is finally having another bottle which I hope will send her into sleep as well. She has also decided that she HATES to be swaddled so she wakes herself up during the night as well, again requiring that you replace the pacifier. James has been kind enough to take the 4-4:30 feeding while we are on vacation which I am so thankful for.

Speaking of thankful, I adore my husband. He let me sleep in until 11am this morning. I know some of you just spit out your coffee that a grown woman can sleep that long and others of you are all kinds of envious but yes, I slept in until 11am and enjoyed every second of it! I always say the best sleep happens after 5am. And I got a ton of it today!

Today has been pretty quiet. Caden and Declan have both been napping every day with grandma or grandpa. I think Caden is coming down with something and not feeling 100%. During naptime today I took all 3 of my girls and we drove around for a few hours while James, my dad and brother went to a casino. I found some neat shops that sell primitives that I must get back to before we leave as I couldn't go in anywhere, just drove and found out where they were. Did I mention that we forgot to bring any strollers whatsoever along with us? Brilliant move, for sure. Ugh. But I was able to go into Wal-Mart with the 3 girls. Do you even KNOW how many people say, "Oh, twins?" and I say, "yes", and they say (with 2 pink carseat covers), "boy and girl?" and I say, "no, girls" and they say, "are they identical?" and I say, "yes!" (sooooo thrilled that I know for sure!) and they say, "I always wanted twins."? And I honestly reply, "I never truly wanted twins, but now that I have them I couldn't imagine life without them!"

Monday, October 12, 2009

Does time truly change?

I mean, it has to. How can time move so quickly when you're on a vacation and so slowly when you're at home. Maybe it has to do with monotony. I'm not sure, but I can't believe Monday is drawing to a close already and we're looking Tuesday in the face!

Traveling to Galena was a dream. We never stopped one time except for James and me to use the bathrooms at a rest stop. We each took a turn and left the kids all in their car seats. My parents took Caden and Avery with them so we just had our 3 littlest so it was very quiet. Declan watched Dora's Puppy Power DVD (it's "Daa doo" = Dora to him) and the twins slept. The entire time. Not one peep! Granted, it's only just under 4 hours but still, we thought that was pretty amazing. I got to read some of the "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" that I got from the library and I'm trying it out...more on that later.

Kristi, before I forget, the jumper is from Southpaw Enterprises that we got for Caden. I can give you more info on it once I get home.

So let's see. We arrived Saturday early afternoon and got settled in. My mom and I took Caden and went to get groceries and eat at Culver's while everyone else stayed in the hotel/condos and ordered pizza. Then it was bedtime - Caden, Avery and Declan are sleeping in with my parents and brother and we have the twins. They are fighting a nasty snotty/full nose so haven't been overly happy here. And then James came down with it last night and today has been taking Alka Seltzer left and right and is just downright miserable. Right now we just caught up on Amazing Race online and he is now snoring next to me.

Ok so sleeping. Um, it's not going the greatest. Mostly it's Macey who doesn't like to settle down and go to sleep without a lot of intervention. The book I'm reading asserts that you put them down after a brief (but consistent) period of soothing, whether or not they are asleep. No problem, that's what we've always done with all of our kids. However, twins are a different ballgame, especially when they are sharing a crib. Macey likes to cry her blessed little eyes out, while Madelyn looks around and then finally goes to sleep without usually any pacifier replacement at all. Last night it took nearly 2 hours to get Macey to finally fall into a deep sleep on her own in the pack n play, and this included MANNNNNNNNNNNY times putting the pacifier back into her mouth (which I'm not even sure is "allowed" according to this book honestly) and tonight it took over an hour. Progress? Sheesh, it's frustrating. But this book says children wake up early and wake up repeatedly during the night because they don't get enough sleep, and putting them to bed earlier will help. So we're trying that. And we're trying to let them cry a little longer (maybe 10 minutes is all I can handle of full-out crying). So far, I can't say I am impressed with the results, but we ARE on vacation and they ARE sick. So we'll see......

Caden and Avery have truly enjoyed the indoor pool. It's nice to see the changes in our kids. Today I was able to take Caden AND Avery to the pool by myself for an hour! Previously, that would have been impossible, and mostly due to Caden, but recently he's come around and is really showing that he can be more enjoyable with things like this, which is SO good for a mommy's heart. Declan got in yesterday, but we put him into his floatie and he SCREAMED so loud I thought the whole place would come running. He was terrified. It took him a long time to smile again, but he did stay in the floatie for a good, long time. I think we'll try again tomorrow when James can help again.

Friday, October 09, 2009

And if you said they were identical twins...

You were correct! They called with the results yesterday morning and they ARE identical twins!! We don't have the paperwork back yet with all the technical stuff, but they are monozygotic twin baby girls. I have to admit, I am THRILLED with this news. I mean, who ISN'T fascinated with identical twins?? It's just such a wonderful blessing from God. Remember when I posted when we found out it was twins and how upset I was? I am so glad I am over that! You probably are, too.

We have some other big news that is much more difficult to share. Friends of ours (Heidi and I have been in Bible studies together and were both leaders together last year) found out just yesterday that their 3 year old has leukemia. This was very difficult news to hear and just so hard to know what to do for them. Ross is a pastor and Heidi is his awesome wife - they have 3 children and live here in Pella. If you want to follow their story you can find out more about little Ian here: https://www.carepages.com/carepages/Ian_Davidson Please be in prayer for them whenever you think about it!!

Tomorrow morning we leave for Galena with my parents and brother. We'll be in touch! I can't leave the laptop at home so you might receive some updates from Illinois!

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Some Declan cutes.

He is honestly at one of my favorite ages for little ones. The things he does are so very precious! Like right now, I am at the computer (duh, I know, shut up) and he keeps toddling up to me with mini pumpkins, saying "apple!" so proud of himself! I say, "pumpkin" and he tries it, then comes back with "APPLE!"

His other favorite things are hats. He says "hat" so precisely it makes me laugh. Avery has this big cowboy-style Gymboree straw hat and when he dons that and walks around saying "hat" it just melts me!

He's also in a big Elmo fan stage. Again, hearing him say Elmo with such precision just tickles me. And man, does he love that red little Elmo! Should make Christmas fun and easy!

Another one - "owie". Everything is owie. You change my diaper, it's owie. I put on a hat, it's owie. Which is often followed by whining/shrieking, but we are talking about the CUTE stuff in this post.

So there you have it! I think every mother should take the time to unabashedly brag about her children, and I thank you for indulging me!

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Gotta have a little patience.

At least that's what God keeps telling me. Harder, though, to actually practice it at times.

Yesterday was supposed to be the day we got the results of the twins' DNA test. I finally called late into the afternoon (I have, admittedly, been calling there routinely "just to check" on the progress - they SAID it was ok!!!) and there was a problem with the exact machine/robot the twins' test was on. Of course. They were going to have to put it through another robot. Not sure how long it would take, maybe one more day? Maybe more?? Sigh. I want to know SO much. No, it doesn't matter but I just want to KNOW!!! Have patience, God whispers. Easy enough for YOU to say, God - YOU already KNOW if they are identical or fraternal!!

Ok so in other major news around here...Declan is walking!!! Yes, he's going, and he's going like he's been walking for months. Little turd! Friday when Grandma Jean was here she said she remembers he was taking more and more steps, but still crawling quite a bit. Yesterday when she was here he definitely walked more than crawled. It.is.so.flipping.cute to see him toddle all around, I can hardly stand it. PROUD of you little man! It only took 20 months! But who's counting??