The Princess and The Pea(s)

We took the kiddos to the studio today to get their pictures made in their Halloween costumes. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story today.

Brock

Braden

Tink Twirling

So sweet...

So mischievous...

We had a lot of fun at our "shoot" today. Hope you all enjoy these pictures as much as we do!

Running Can be Hazardous to Your Health

Everything was going a little better, getting a little easier, so I decided I was ready to start getting back into shape. I didn't really want to join a gym because I don't care for the idea of paying someone a lot of money to drive to their place, put my stuff in a locker, my kids in childcare, get on a machine used by dozens of other sweaty people, try to act as though I really enjoy being there, and then getting everything together and going back home. Not appealing at all.

So I decided it would be a great idea to start running in our neighborhood. Now mind you, I haven't "run" for exercise in almost twenty years. I think, I'll start slowly and build up my endurance; it will be great. My loving hubby got me a Nike Plus for my IPod and I loved it! It keeps track of how far you've run, how long, how many calories, etc. It is extremely encouraging to someone who really wants to improve her physical conditioning through running.

I had been running for about two weeks and my knees were really starting to hurt. Hubby encouraged saying, "I hurt, too. You just run through it and it will get better." I wanted to believe him, so I kept running for another week. By this time my body is screaming at me to stop this nonsense and get my knees checked out. So, wanting to be responsible, I scheduled an appointment with the orthopedic clinic in town. They couldn't get me in until two days later so I waited. My knees were getting progressively worse, and the left one kept giving out on me. Day of appointment, guy takes x-rays and says, "Don't see anything on the x-ray, we'll put you in a brace and in PT three times a week for three weeks to build up your weaker muscles because your patella is tracking wrong." Okay. PT the next day goes alright, but doesn't seem to help any. I do my at home exercises wanting to obey the therapist.

Saturday night, while at Chuck E. Cheese (where a kid can be a kid), I was pushing the boys in the stroller and it ran into something that didn't move and my leg kept going. Huge mistake. I screamed very loudly, no one came to my rescue (T and S were spending her tickets) and I hobbled out to the car trying not to cry. I know something is very wrong at this point.

Monday morning, I went back to the clinic and sat in the waiting room until someone could see me. Luckily it was the other guy this time, the one who knows what he is doing. He ordered an MRI and gave me a Cortisone shot. Shot hurt like a mug, but didn't help at all. After the MRI, the tech told me she saw what looked like a deep bone bruise, a stress fracture, or a fracture on my tibial plateau. She couldn't say for sure though since she wasn't the radiologist. The next morning the doc calls and says I have stress fracture and the brace I was using was actually making it worse because it was pressing directly on the fracture. I say what does that mean for me? He says, "Stay off of it completely for four to six weeks." Doesn't he realize I have TWO BABIES?!!! How on earth could he possibly think I could do that? He says, "Come in and get a super duper fancy brace and crutches for when you have to walk." Seriously?

I tried that for a week and then I had to be honest with myself and realized I was not minding, so I wasn't mending. I called yesterday and told on myself. He made me come in and get a cast. From my groin to my TOES!!!!!!!! Unbelievable. So now I have this HUGE honkin' hot pink cast that won't allow me to put weight on my leg at all with the hope that it will start to heal now. I will have this for at least three weeks. So now, I have a wheelchair at home to help me move the babies about and try to maintain some independence and usefulness to my family in the meantime. My dad came out for a day last week to help me, and my mom is coming Friday night to help me while T is on call this weekend. I don't think I could survive if she wasn't coming. Thank you, Dad and Mommy, for coming to rescue me

Our Little Ballerina

Sydney didn't get mentioned last night, so today she gets her own post. She had quite a big summer. She had gymnastics with Miss Brandy again and she started ballet. Gymnastics is still her favorite and her donkey kicks are starting to get really great. She loves doing them. All the time. In the living room, the bedroom, on the ottoman, on the couch, at church. Really anywhere there happens to be a little extra room. Sometimes she performs the maneuver dangerously close to her brothers and gets in a little bit of trouble. Her cartwheels on the other hand, well, let's just say, sadly, I think she takes after her mother on those. Maybe someday she will do one, but it's not looking too good right now.

Her first experience with ballet did not go quite like I thought it would. She had a teacher that was a little, well, not fun. She is probably an excellent teacher for experienced dancers, but not so much for beginners. I understand that teaching ballet to three year olds is like trying to herd cats, as my dear hubby likened it to, but couldn't you at least try to make it fun and enjoyable? Sydney came home and said, "Ballet is kinda hard for me; I think I'll just do gymnastics." That just broke my heart because as you can see from the pictures below, she was extremely excited about ballet before it actually started. We switched to a different studio for the fall and based on the one class she has been to so far, I think it will be a much better experience for her. Her teacher is Miss Lugene and she seems to have the perfect disposition for teaching beginners. Sydney left her first class just bubbling with smiles and laughter.

Our Little Ballerina

She loves taking pictures on the stairs.

In her tap shoes. She loves them. Our floors do not.

She has become quite the expert on her tricycle.

We will get her a bike for her birthday. She can't wait!

She really loves our new house. I will let Sydney tell you in her own words, as dictated to me, what she loves so much about her new house.

"I really like my bunk beds the best cause Ardyn gets to sleep over. I think we will be best friends for ever and ever. And I love that Ardyn lives down my street so I can see her all the time. I love my sandbox in the backyard and my swing-set. I love having my room downstairs cause I get scared by myself. And I love the Woodlands playground and I am going to be a Woodlands Bear!"

We have really been blessed by the new house. Having everyone downstairs is more wonderful than I ever could have imagined. I was unsure about living on this side of town at one time, but I was so wrong! It is really great up here. No traffic, people actually play outside, it's incredibly beautiful- lots of hills and trees, the golf course is right down the street. It takes a little longer to get to church, but everywhere else we go is pretty much the same distance. And since we live in Amarillo, that distance is never more than fifteen minutes.

Our backyard has been just incredible this summer! We are out there every day and there is so much to do. It is fairly well protected from the fierce Amarillo winds, so it is quite pleasant. We have a great porch that wraps around the whole yard and it is a fun place to sit a spell and watch the kids play. The boys love being outdoors. If they are screaming out of control, we just take the bouncers outside and let them get some fresh air and watch Sydney's crazy antics. She loves entertaining them. She likes to "hold court" sitting on the fireplace with the boys in their saucers hanging on her every word. They all just adore each other. She has come a long way from crying on the floor in the sonographer's room when she learned they were brothers.

Preschool starts tomorrow and she is so excited. All her friends are in her class again and she asks me everyday if it's Tuesday yet. We have already coordinated her first day outfit with her little friend Saige. Pink playdress, pigtails with pink hairbows, pink socks, pink tennis shoes. Pink pink pink. Can you guess what her favorite color is?

Arydn and Sydney making cupcakes at their first sleepover.

Being silly in the tub.

Taking a bath after one of their many swim dates.

Eight Months Old Already!

If anyone reads this, please post a comment so I will know someone is still checking my blog. I will be very surprised if anyone actually reads this since I have quit updating it. So sorry to my loyal readers. Both of you.

Today the boys are eight months old. I know. I can't believe it either. Quick run down of all their stats:

Braden has two teeth and has just now decided to start rolling over. He has been able to do it for several months, but he is on "Braden time" and simply didn't want to do it yet. He is very curious and always wants to see what is behind him. He is very reserved most of the time. He is extremely coy and smiles primarily with his eyes. You can get him laughing sometimes, but it takes a lot of doing. He is pretty even tempered most of the time, but when he gets mad-brace yourself- because he cannot be calmed down until he is ready. He has a nasty temper and a very shrill screech. He does not like loud noises. At all. He has been sleeping through the night for the most part since June. He does wake up on occasion, but goes back to sleep pretty easily.

Brock. Oh, Brock. He is a ham! He will smile at anyone and anything. He has these amazing belly laughs that are just contagious. He has been been rolling over and army crawling for quite a while now and refuses to stay on his back. He sleeps on his tummy and always has his lovey at hand. He just got his first tooth on Friday and boy were we relieved. I was starting to think it would never come through. His emotions change on a dime, but he is easily soothed most of the time.

The boys are really starting to interact with each other-especially through jealousy. They cannot stand it if someone picks up the other one and not them. They will go from perfectly content to banshee if they see the brother get picked up and not them. They steal toys from each other and food, as well. If we give one a toy because the other one had one and they didn't, the one that had a toy will stop playing with his and look at what the other one is doing. They are the most fun to watch in the bathtub. We have this great little baby bath that I call their "boat." We can fit them in it together and they will kick each other and eat each others' feet. We have many photos and much video of bathtime.

Their favorite activity of all is watching Baby Einstein videos. Specifically, "Baby Van Gogh-World of Colors." They will be shrieking and then they will hear the unmistakable music of the DVD starting and they will stop what they are doing, turn, and look for the video. Pavlov's dogs...

We have still not had them tested for zygosity yet, but we do think they are most likely identical. To be more precise, I think they are mirror image twins. Google it, it's really cool. We learned at about five months old that Brock is left handed and Braden is right handed when they started sucking their thumbs. It is the cutest thing I think I have ever seen. They will snuggle with their monkey lovey, rub it on their face, and pop the thumb in the mouth. I will carry this sweet memory with me for always when I want to remember my sweet little boys as babies. I hope everyone gets to enjoy this precious gift with at least one of their babies.

I have run out of steam on my post, but I have much more to share. So if anyone actually reads this, please comment so I will know I am not just wasting my time blogging and I will post again tomorrow or Tuesday.

Great News!

We accepted an offer on our old house yesterday! Thank you to you all for your prayers. God is surely taking care of us. We both really heard His voice when we bought our new house without having buyers for our old one. It is so nice to feel confident in Him. I wish I was able to live like that every minute of every day, but somehow I always seem to get in my own way. We will not close as soon as we would like, but at least we have a buyer. Praise be to God!

The kids are all starting to feel better, but that darn thrush will NOT go away! The nurse called me today just to chat (I LOVE our doctor's office!!!) and I mentioned the thrush problem. She asked if I was still nursing and I told her yes. She said that is why it is not going away. Because I have to TREAT MY BREASTS, TOO! Now why couldn't someone have told me that, oh I don't know, TWO AND A HALF WEEKS AGO!!!! Jeez! So now I have to put this fantastic yellow medicine all over the girls four times a day. What am I supposed to do with that? Just not wear a bra, or get it all yucky? Not wearing a bra doesn't sound too bad actually...

So our bestest nanny in the whole world has been on a much needed vacation with her family this week. And boy have we ALL missed her!!! I think she is having a fabulous time cause she texted me that she met Stacy and Clinton at the amusement park in Denver. How cool is that? She comes back on Thursday and will be here on Friday morning. I can make it. I can make it. We have had one of Sydney's preschool teachers here helping us today, but she was exhausted after a few hours. She kept telling me, "I don't know how you do this every day. I just don't know how you do it." She is supposed to come and help me again on Thursday, too, I just hope we didn't scare her off...

Brock and Braden started MDO on Monday. It went pretty well, all things considered. Neither of them ate very well, but they don't for me either. They will go back tomorrow and hopefully it will go even better. Sydney told me tonight that she LOVES that her "bubbas" go to school with her now. She thinks it's so cool they are right across the hall from her and she can check on them. She is such a great big sister. Now if we could just keep her from squishing them...

Has It Really Been This Long?

If you are reading this post, thank you. I fear I may have lost both of my loyal readers. We have been very busy the last month and a half and I have not wanted to blog in any of my free moments. I have most likely chosen to sleep.

Brock and Braden are now four and a half months old. Brock weighs 12 lb. 10 oz and Braden weighs 12 lb. We are just thrilled with their progress as they are now on "the charts." Brock is in the 4% and Braden is in the 2%. We take our victories where we can. They do not sleep through the night, but they are doing better and better each week. They typically wake only around 2-3 am and then they are up for the day between 6 and 7. They had a pretty rough week this last week. On Sunday, I realized they both had thrush. And on Friday my mommy radar was going off again and sure enough they both had strep throat. Add their twice daily dose of Xantac on top of everything and they were getting three different medications throughout the day for almost the whole week. One was twice a day, one was three times a day and one is four times a day. Times TWO babies. Let me tell you, that is a lot of medications. I will be glad when we are well again! And Miss Sydney was sick, too, with the adno virus and a secondary bacterial infection on top of that. She had a z pack for three day and an antibiotic eye drop. If I never see our pharmacy again...

Oh yeah, and we moved.

We went through the building process last year (if you followed my other blog) and decided not to move into it since our other house never sold. Neither of us felt quite right about taking the risk of moving into that house since our other one wasn't sold yet. We were working with the architect and our builder drawing up plans for another house (which was being bid out at the time) when Tony found a brand new house completed finished and completely perfect for our little family. We decided to take a chance and made an offer even though our current house still hadn't sold. We moved in last weekend and WE LOVE IT!!! It is just absolutely fabulous and perfect for us. The builder used to work with our other builder so the quality and little touches are much the same. This builder built the house for his family, but the family buying his old house backed out and he had to sell the one he built. There are so many fantastic touches throughout the house, many of the very things we have always wanted in a house that we built. And some of the things were actually better than the house we designed. I will try to post some pix when Tony gets the other computer hooked up (that is where the pix are downloaded.)

I will try to post more frequently in the future! I have missed you all very much!!!

So Much Work!

If it feels like I haven't blogged in forever, it's probably because I haven't. In case you didn't know, two little babies are A LOT OF WORK!!! Every time I finish with one baby, I have to go right to the other baby. It feels more like an assembly line most of the time. I don't feel like I have really bonded with either baby yet and it hurts my heart. Sydney and I did nothing but bond when she was a baby.

Long gone are the days of Mommy and Sydney. We used to spend hours just playing and reading books. Now she's lucky if I get to read her one book before bedtime and help her brush her teeth. At least she had me to herself for three full years. The poor brothers will never know what that is like. Another mother of twins once told me that twins learn patience from a very early age. I am not sure what age they learn it at, but I sure wish my boys were there! I wake up with one of them before five every morning. And it's different each day. We try to survive until our friend, Rena, gets here a little before 8:30. She started coming Tuesday- Friday during the day to help me keep my sanity. She gets here, I take Sydney to school at 9, and on a good day I come back home and go back to bed until I have to pick Sydney up from school around 2 or 3. On other days, I have the weekly errands that must be taken care of before I can try to get some much needed sleep.

A typical night for us right now looks like this: Sydney to bed before 7:30. Bottles at 8:00 and bed for the boys around 8:30. One or both may stir a few times before we feed again at 1:30 or 2:00, if we're lucky, which requires whoever is staying up with them to settle them until the mid-night feed. And then they both go back to sleep until one of them wakes up around 4:00 or 4:30 just to hang out. And then the other one wakes around 6:00. And this week Sydney has been getting up before 7:00. And thus, our day begins all over again.

Just in case you missed the point of this post, TWINS ARE A LOT OF WORK.