My sweet twinnies

Since Emily started kindergarten and I've had more time with just the twinnies, it's been so much fun to watch how they relate to each other. Yes, they bicker like sisters, but there's something different. They are such good friends, closer than just sisters (as I see from how Emily relates to the others). I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to raise twins and I'm just really enjoying every minute with these sweet girls. The total discomfort and pain of the twin pregnancy pales in comparison to the joy of watching these girls grow up. During my pregnancy I was so overwhelmed at the thought of having twins, but they are nothing but pure joy. Here are a few picture of them from today.

I wanna go to Awana!

Proud of those vests!!

This is what I've been hearing nonstop around our house--" I wanna go to Awana! Is today Awana day?" We just started going in November and the girls LOVE it!!!! When Emily was sick and had to miss an all-day field trip with school, she didn't care at all. But when she heard she also couldn't go to Awana, it was like the world was coming to an end! She was heartbroken! Emily's super-duper memory has her sailing through her book and the twinnies are learning an amazing amount too. They were SOOOO proud when they earned their vests and books recently, and Lainey even wore her vest to bed for the first few nights! They insist on wearing the vests most days, including to the library, Target, etc. Here is a video of them reciting the pledge of allegiance, as well as some of their Bible verses they've learned at AWANA.

You know you've spent too much time at the doctor's when....

Your son holds out his arms and yells "DADDY!" when the dr. walks in the room. Yeah, that happened.
This morning the doctor confirmed that Daniel has another ear infection. We've been given the go-ahead to get tubes, but I hate to do any surgery until I know it's absolutely necessary. That's one thing we learned from Emily's tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy nightmare (which, by the way, didn't solve anything). So we're gonna take the "wait and see" approach and see if he gets any fewer ear infections as we head into spring. He got plenty last spring and summer, so I'm not too optimistic, but you never know.
Now if I could only get my earache to clear up. Just fluid, no infection as of Saturday, but I'm very tempted to take a swig of Daniel's augmentin. Ouch, it hurts!

I don't get it!

I really don't get it. We stayed home and did NOTHING social for the past EIGHT days while we potty trained. No church, no playgroups, nothing. Yet somehow, my poor baby Daniel is running a fever of 104 again. How does this happen?! Where is he getting these germs?! He doesn't have the symptoms of croup (and Emily's been well for a while anyway) so I really don't know what it could be. He did, however, hold his ears and say "hurt" so maybe it's another ear infection. Or I guess maybe he never got over the last ones. I don't know. It's just baffling to me that we can come down with sicknesses while never leaving the house. I need to move back to Florida! I guess if he's still got the fever on Monday we'll be paying our buddy Dr. Smoak another visit.....

3 year old conversation

I overheard Lexi and Lainey having this conversation the other day. It cracked me up!

Lexi: When I get older, I want to be in High School Musical. Don't you, NiNi?
Lainey: No, I can't do that. I would be so tired.
Lexi: Tired?
Lainey: Yes, they never sleep! All they do is dance and sing ALL THE TIME! I need to sleep so I can't be in High School Musical. I'd just get too tired.

Snow Day!

Yesterday was Emily's first "snow day" from school. We were all so excited when the forecast said "2-4 inches" but I knew better than to really believe that. I got up almost every hour during the night to peek out for snow. Well, what we got was pretty pathetic, even for this Floridian. Even my little southern kids didn't get too into it. There wasn't even enough snow to make a snowball! They kept getting handfuls of dirt and mulch whenever they tried! All I could do was laugh at what all of our northern friends and relatives would think of our "snow day" :) The kids played outside for about 10 minutes, then got cold and wanted to come in for hot cocoa (definitely their favorite part). Oh well, at least we got a day off of school, which is always helpful when you're trying to potty train :) The last picture shows the disaster that is my playroom after 8 days stuck at home with sick/potty training kids. I think the kids have pulled out every last toy that was in hiding and shoved them all into the playroom! Now I know why people up north need basements!

Daniel the Wonder Boy

Enjoying an M&M prize

I am on CLOUD NINE today! Daniel is really getting the whole potty thing! Everyone warned me that boys were harder to train than girls, but Daniel has definitely been way easier than the girls. Emily's lingering croup really helped us out over the past week, as we were stranded at home anyway and could get lots of potty training done. Today is his 4th day of this and he's been diaper- and accident-free all morning! Of course I put him in a diaper for naptime. And it's not even the "stay ahead of him" game anymore. He's telling me when he needs to go, he runs over to the potty, and goes right away! I'm in shock. I'm still going to put him in diapers when we go out for a little while, but I can see diaper-free days on the horizon. Now if we can just get that snow day tomorrow and stay home another day, we'd really be set! I'm so proud of him!

P.S. I have no idea where he got that cut on his belly. It appeared on Friday as a bruise/rug burn and is now a nasty looking scab.

*Update: HOLY COW! He even stayed dry during his nap! This is nuts!!!

My Special Girl

Of course all kids in any family are different, but Lexi seems to be the one to really stand out in our family as having lots of quirky little differences. Thanks to Elaine for encouraging me to notice the things that make her special instead of playing the comparison game :)

These pictures show one thing that's unique about Lexi--she writes with both hands equally well, and sometimes simultaneously! She cracks me up!!!

Some of her other quirks include a very mixed up view of time. When referring to the past, it's either "tomorrow" as in "We watched that tomorrow" or "a yong day ago" as in "A yong day ago I was 2". Another phrase she uses is "tomorrow after that" which I think means "the next day". As you can imagine, it makes it really hard to figure out whose turn it is to do things!

Hurray for Bobby!

Daniel has started telling EVERYONE that his name is Bobby. If someone asks him his name, without hesitation he answers "Bobby". Identity crisis? Today we ran by Emily's school so she could quickly pose in the class picture and come back home. While in the office, people would ask his name and he'd tell them Bobby. Of course the rest of the conversation would go like this:
"Well hello, Bobby."
"Actually his name is Daniel"
"But he just told me it was Bobby!?"
"Yeah, I know. But it's Daniel. Or you can call him Bobby. He answers to both."
Then a look of total confusion....

So anyway, since we were stuck at home for another day, I decided to try potty training. I was armed with juice and m&m's so I felt pretty well prepared. I was shocked at how quickly he took to the process!!! On his first day of potty training, he peed on the potty THREE times and pooped once! I couldn't believe it! I told him that he could call anyone he wanted to if he pooped on the potty, and he had it in his head that he wanted to call PopPops (my dad). So the whole time he was on the potty, he just kept repeating "Poops. PopPops. Poops. PopPops." I know my Dad is honored that Daniel chose him, even though he now associates PopPop with poops....

I'm not really expecting that this is "it" for potty training, since I know that we have places to go in the coming days and can't really make all 3 girls sit at home all day staring at Daniel on the potty. But at least it's progress!!! Hurray for Bobby!

Here we go again...

Well, it turned out to be a good thing that I rested up on Monday night, because last night was a doozy. As always, Emily was still up at 11pm, but she also had a fever and kept complaining that she didn't feel good. She finally went to bed, but at 3:30 she woke up with the telltale signs--wheezing badly, barking, fever of 105....It's croup. Again. I honestly couldn't count how many times our family has had croup, it's been so frequent. I guess my kids are just very croup-prone. So croup-prone that last time we were given a prescription for prednisone to fill and keep in our fridge to dole out on an as-needed basis. I do feel better knowing that if things get really bad in the middle of the night, instead of rushing to the ER (again) I can just give them the prednisone. The doctor warned me that Daniel will probably be next, since he's the most prone in our family. We'll see. Poor Emily is so miserable she hasn't budged from the couch except to follow us upstairs and make her bed on the playroom couch. She hasn't eaten and the doctor's visit was...um...interesting. Remember how much she hates doctors? I thought she had outgrown that, but apparently not. At least she didn't bite or kick him this time, but from the moment he walked in the door she kept yelling "BYE BYE. BYE BYE. MOMMY, TAKE ME HOME!!!" Of course she still won't stand on the scale, but instead kicks it and screams. The other 3 were staring at her like "What's her problem?" Ah, my dear Emily. Pray for us all :)

A Happy Day

7 hours. I still can't believe I got SEVEN hours of uninterrupted sleep last night! That's cause for a party!!!
Over the past month, we've had another bout of really rough nights. Here's what the typical night in our home looks like:
7pm: All four are in bed. Lexi, Lainey, and Daniel fall asleep almost immediately. Emily's mind is racing and she can't go to sleep.
7pm-11pm: Emily comes out every 20 minutes (or bangs on the door if we've locked it) and asks for help getting to sleep (one more story, one more song, watch some tv, get a drink, etc)
10:30-11pm: Emily finally crashes and I can too.
11:30pm-5am: Lexi and Lainey start their every 20-30 minute wakings. "I'm scared." "I'm thirtsy." "My back hurts." The reasons are as endless as the visits themselves and are sometimes even just 10 minutes apart.
5:30am: Lexi and Lainey finally settle back to sleep
6-6:30am: Daniel wakes up and the day begins. I can't leave him in his crib for long or he'll either climb out or squeal so loud he wakes the girls.
6:30am: Lexi and Lainey get up.
7:45-8am: Emily the night owl wakes up and I run around like a mad woman trying to get her fed and ready to leave for school at 8:30.

So, you see, nights are not my favorite time of day. But last night I got an uninterrupted stretch from 11pm-6am!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! What a way to start a day!!!

THEN, to make it an even better day, Lainey's chiro appointment went really well. He can already see that she's straightening up and we'll probably be done in regular treatments in the next month, then she'll just have to keep going for touch-ups every few months. Woohoo! I think we've dodged going back to PT! When Lainey found out this morning that we were going to Dr. Arnone today, she got SO excited. She said "He makes my back feel sooooo good!" So I'm glad that it's helping the pain, that's what matters most.

Now I'm off to continue the "Thanks for sleeping through the night" Party that we've been having today. :)

Take the challenge!

Lexi drinking her veggies

Daniel drinking his "hulk juice"

After my post about Daniel's horrible diet, my friend Rachel shared with me about the Green Smoothie Challenge. This is life-changing!!! Since then, we've been making our green smoothies every day and I can totally feel the difference. I hate veggies and usually go weeks without eating any. I don't mind salads, but usually don't put forth the effort to make a good salad and rarely have the time to sit down and eat one. But the Green Smoothie Challenge is something I can totally handle!

You commit to drinking 4 glasses of green smoothie per day, so about 32 ounces each day, for 14 days. I felt the difference after just 2 days. I have so much more energy and don't even crave junkfood! Normally I eat ridiculous amounts of sweets each day (chocolate, ice cream, etc). But since starting this, I completely don't care about sweets. The true test is that I have a giant bag of m&m's in the cupboard and I haven't even been tempted to open them! The other benefit I've found is that I have much more energy. I used to drink at least 3 cups of coffee each day, but since starting this I haven't had a single cup. I just don't feel the craving for it and I'm not sleepy so I don't feel like I need it. I've also heard other people notice clearer skin and other great benefits.

The best part is, it's so EASY. All you need is a blender and some fruits and greens. Here's the first smoothie we tried:

1/2 head of romaine lettuce
3 bananas
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups water

Blend all together in blender. Use more or less water depending on how thick/thin you like it. They recommend blending the fruit and water first, then adding the greens. I find in my blender it works better to do the greens and water first, then add fruit.

I liked this recipe but the kids weren't completely sold.

The next recipe was definitely the kids' favorite:

3 handfuls spinach
a bunch of kale
12 frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 banana
2 cups water

The kids really liked the strawberries in it. Lexi drank 3 glasses of this the first time I made it! The 2nd time I made the mistake of putting too much kale and she didn't like it as much. Spinach makes it smoother.

Read more at http://www.greensmoothiechallenge.com

Return of the Tort

As some of you know, Lainey's been complaining about back and stomach pain for quite a while now. I took her to the ped. and they ruled out digestive stuff so today we went back to the chiropractor that she saw regularly as a baby. Well, just as I feared, the torticollis is returning :( I knew it was, but was hoping I was wrong. In St. Louis, Dave's family commented on how cute it was how Lainey tilts her head to one side for pictures....Dave and I both knew what that meant. Not just a cute mannerism, but the return of torticollis. Dr. Arnone found that one shoulder is higher again and one hip is higher, which explains her lower back pain. Thankfully, it hasn't yet made her spine curved (scoliosis) but that is a real risk if we let this continue. We're scheduled to go back to Dr. Arnone for the next 3 weeks and then reevaluate. I know this isn't really a big deal, but after spending her entire first year having PT 3 times a week and the chiro on the other 2 days, I just thought those days were behind us. It makes me cry to even think about going back to that. I always knew that this would be something we'd deal with forever (it caused some orthodontic issues that will be dealt with later, for example), but I wasn't really expecting this. So please pray with me that this will be resolved quickly and her pain will go away. I also worry about Lainey and the fact that she's more aware now of what we're talking about when we refer to her "asymmetry", etc. I want her to always know that she's beautiful, inside and out, and don't want this to be a big deal for her. I'm not seeking help to try to make her perfectly symmetrical, I just don't want her to be in chronic back pain already at the age of 3.

The 6th

Today's the 6 of the month....So Daniel is 23 months old today, Lexi and Lainey are 3 years 8 months, Emily is 5 years 7 months, and I'm 29 1/2. Yikes! I won't focus on that last one ;)
Although Daniel's verbal skills aren't like Emily's were at this age, he is still learning new words every day and it's so fun to hear his little voice. One of his favorite things to do is to dance with his mommy :) He grabs my hand and points to the cd player until I put on music, then asks me to pick him up so we can dance. Such a sweetie. For quite a while, he was surviving on a diet of milk alone, no solid foods whatsoever (hence his very tiny size). But lately we discovered some new favorite foods (I hope no dieticians/nutritionists read this!). His foods are now: Pop Tarts (not even fruity ones, but the brown sugar cinnamon kind), pizza, and donuts. Yikes!!! Thankfully he still LOVES milk so I add some instant breakfast to it each day to give him some extra vitamins and protein. He still won't eat any meat or cheese except on pizza, but hopefully we'll get there soon.

2 more Daniel videos

For the longest time, the girls have been afraid to go upstairs by themselves because they say "There are tigers up there". If I ever ask one of them to get something upstairs, they insist on taking a buddy up with them to protect them from the tigers. Somehow Daniel has bought into this fear as well, and now claims that there are "roars" in his room. :)



He also has started putting together 2 words, here's a video of that :)

Bubby

Ever since the girls first met Daniel, they've called him Bubby (trying to say Buddy but couldn't say the "d"). Now that he's talking, he calls himself Bubby, or sometimes Bobby. :) It's so funny that he thinks that's his name, even though I usually call him Daniel and he answers to that just fine. Whenever he sees a picture of himself he goes crazy, saying "Bubby! Bubby!" and pointing. Enjoy the video :)

High School Musical Mania

Over the last couple of years, I've been hesitant to let the girls see High School Musical because I thought it couldn't possibly be appropriate for the 3-5 year old crowd. "How on earth could my preschoolers relate to a movie about high schoolers?" I thought. When Emily started kindergarten, it quickly became clear that she was the only one in the class that hadn't seen the movies. I started asking around at church and the overwhelming reaction was that these movies were completely harmless and cute, and in fact not even geared towards high schoolers. So, we watched the first one together and loved it. The girls were hooked. I now have 3 High School Musical-crazed little girls!! For a very special treat on New Year's Day, I took the girls to go see High School Musical 3 at the dollar theater (I had never taken them to a movie with "just the girls"). Dave offered to take them for me and they quickly informed him that this was a "girls only" outing. :) They were absolutely in heaven the whole time!!!! I guess Lainey didn't know what the whole movie theater thing was about, because part-way through the movie, she turned to me and said "Mommy, this is just like watching a movie!" :) Believe it or not, the HSM movies are the only Disney movies they've EVER seen! They have zero interest in watching the princess movies, but they could watch HSM several times a day if I let them! Of course, I limit it to once or twice a week and they fill in the other times with listening to the soundtracks, acting it out, or making character puppets. They're hooked, I tell ya! Below are videos of the girls singing their favorite HSM song. Watch for Emily dancing in the background of the twinnies' song :)