Rain Rain Go away... :)

We had a wonderful day at home with Tom and the kids. The weather was nasty and wet and cold but it was nice to snuggle up indoors. I will be ready for this rainy bit to end so that we can go outside and play again! The girls are taking it well being cooped up and we have tried to make a few little trips out of the house to make things easier for us all. I love this picture of my girls... Abby's shirt says "Big Sis" but it's hard to read when she is so snuggly with her sisters.

It sounds like my new stroller will be coming tomorrow! (Or perhaps the day after... it's hard to know) But I'm so excited about it and cannot WAIT until we can all go for a walk with it! It will make our trips out much easier. It is a Schwinn Double Jogging stroller that has some pretty cool features like individual reclining seats and a  front wheel that can be either locked or allowed to swivel. I wanted to have it before Abby's 2nd birthday party. :)

Kiley only woke up once last night at 3am.  Now Kara was up 5-6 times or more but at least Kiley was only up once! (There are days I swear having one baby is easy as pie... lol) But Kiley slept amazing in the crib and I'm hoping that she will continue this sleep pattern... even if I think that is wishful thinking. But maybe! I'm trying an experiment and put Kara into the crib tonight to see if she sleeps as well in it. If so there is a good chance here in the near future that we may be figuring out some way of getting both girls into a crib. But then we have to figure out where to put it!

For those of you waiting for the Barney dance... I have tried to video it unsucessfully twice now. She danced... but stopped by the time I got out the camera. It seems like she has a sixth sense that can figure out when I'm about to record her doing something super cute. Oh well! Perhaps I just need to be better prepared with the camera. At least the battery is charged now!

Abby can mimic pretty much everything we say now which means that are television viewing options are extremely limited right now. Which is ok... we should be cutting more of it out as it is. Hard on a rainy day though! It is amazing to watch her learn 'our language' and when to use certain phrases. Like today she said "Want apple" today when we were grocery shopping. Which might not seem like much compared to what she has been saying... but this was totally unprompted and she used the word 'want' to tell us that she 'desired' the apple. Ok enough tech speak but after 'studying' Spanish for how many years it is amazing to me how kids pick up language and learn it so quickly. She can also sing the entire Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song and she is working on the 1,2,3 Jesus Loves Me song along with her Abby Cadabby Lullabye.

My favorite thing that she says is still "Mommy hold you Abby" My heart melts into a pool of mush when she says that. Or "Sorry Mommy!" when she does something naughty. Oh it's hard to discipline when she so earnestly says that she is sorry! Especially with those beautiful brown eyes. We are really starting to see her beautiful personality come through... like any two year old she can be a little 'terror' sometimes but she truly does have an empathetic and caring heart. I hope that I can continue to nurture that!

Well time for bed before babies awaken. :) Aren't they special?

Happy Mother's Day

If you still read my blog I'm sorry that I haven't posted much lately. Things have been a little hectic around here as I had finals this last week, have been editing for three different photo sessions and combined my efforts with a neighbor to participate in a city-wide garage sale.

So yes a little crazy.

The girls finally seem to be on the mend even if Abby's little nose still likes to keep running. Thankfully they are all starting to sleep a little better. I 'think' these last few nights I've gotten a little more sleep finally. I think they are sleeping in 3 hour stretches instead of 30 minuets to an hour. I know of at least twice when I was so tired I couldn't get up to get one of the girls out of the crib... but honestly she went back to sleep and it was just a few minuets of crying. It makes me wonder if I should be letting them cry a little once in awhile at night?

The strategy won't work with the bassinet though as it is too unstable and small for me to let one of the girls get worked up in. Part of me wonders if I should get another crib or how much longer this arrangement will last. I have a suspicion that they sleep better in the crib. Do I move a piece of furniture out, buy another crib? I can't move Abby out of a toddler bed... or would she be ok? A lot of questions... I'm not sure what the right thing to do is yet. Any suggestions out there?

Can I just say I love my girls? I love how Kiley snuggles her head into my shoulder and makes these soft squeaky sounds when she is happy to see me and how she grabs my face in her hands and tries to eat me. Or how Kara makes little roaring/growling noises when she is excited and how she laughs when I play with her. Did you know that when they see me they smile? They search for my face in a crowd... how special is that? And Abby... I love when she wants me to hold her and my heart melts when she plays with her babies or sings or takes my hand in hers. I love when she can sense that I'm having a bad moment and she tells me "It's ok mommy" while patting my back or giving me a hug.... she kisses my owies and tells me "No more owies mommy.."

A few of my favorite mother's day quotes to ponder and enjoy:

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along.  ~Margaret Culkin Banning


A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.  ~Victor Hugo


A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.  ~Tenneva Jordan


Sweater, n.:  garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.  ~Ambrose Bierce


Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love.  ~Mildred B. Vermont


Happy Mothers Day :)

Somewhere over the rainbow....

"Weeeeeeee".... "Faster! Faster!" (Abby while driving in the car, directed towards Tom) lol

The nights and the days are melting together a bit. Sleep is coming few and far between and I'm constantly amazed at my ability to function on such little sleep. I feel a bit crazy sometimes though! I'm not sure if I need to put a call into the GI doctor... part of me is hoping this latest sprawl of sleepless nights is due to them being sick ... yes sick again... but as night after night after night of getting woken up every 30 minuets to an hour or them being up and down and up and down for 3-4 hours... I'm getting tired.

I can't wait to sleep again! Everyone says to medicate them... get them back on the Prevacid that wasn't working. And I'm just not ready to put them on the formula full time yet. I took a look at the ingredients the other day and it just makes me wonder. Can it really be that good to put something that has 50 ingredients into my baby's body? So the madness will continue :)

Poor Abby got sick again, along with Tom, Kiley and Kara. Thankfully as of right this very moment I'm not sick. THANK GOD! I'm not sure how I would have survived. I'm wondering if this means the end of the church nursery. I think there are too many germs there and my children's immune systems always take a hit after being in there. So ... guess we'll have to avoid it.

Kiley is really up on her hands and knees, she took her first attempts at crawling tonight but face planted. She'll get it down soon. Kara seems like she could care less and would prefer to make her way through rolling. I guess it works too well! They are really talking up a storm now and love to grab your face and eat it or your hands or anything within arms reach...

Babyproofing this time around is going to be a nightmare. Abby just likes to share her things too much! How do you explain to a two year old that sharing her fruit snacks with her sisters isn't a good idea! I love her willingness to share but we have had to explain that those are ABBY'S snacks and that babies are too little yet. Still cute though.

We have a busy week ahead of us I hope the weather improves some!

Mini Post

I've had very little sleep in the last three days so no energy to post much.

Abby is sick again. Coughing and gunky nose... she looks absolutely miserable. Poor thing can't stay healthy for very long lately it seems. And of course it's Friday.... Kiley and Kara had runny noses tonight too. 

Kiley had a lot of fun splashing in the bath tub and she is up on her hands and knees and is rocking. Won't be long before she really crawls!

Kara isn't far behind Kiley in the crawling arena but prefers to get around by rolling... and roll well she does. 

Abby and I play in the backyard almost every day as long as it is nice. She loves to draw with chalk, swing and go down the slides. It makes me feel like a kid when we do silly games like 'fight' over whose slide it is. I love her laugh and how excited she is to have me play with her. I need to remember to continue to play make believe with her and encourage her imagination. I'm trying to cut back on tv and cartoons but it's hard right now when I'm so tired and the twins aren't sleeping as well. Hopefully we will get back on track with sleeping 2-4 hour chunks at a time and if the weather is great we will really cut out tv from our days. She also has really gotten into playing with 'putty'. I need to get her some Play Dough tools so that she can use those instead of her silverware lol.

I just got the babies to sleep and I need to crash. Sorry about the delayed updates...

Pools of Drool

Sleep Deprivation... thats what I'm blaming my uncounted absences on. lol

I think I have narrowed the culprit down to teething (once again) but just as we had started to get *gasp* 4 hours in a row we are back to 1, 1, 1, 2, 1 ,2... 1/2 hour stretches...1/2 hour stretches! There comes a point if you wonder if it is crazy to even TRY to sleep. At 6am this morning I gave up and Kara got to take a ride in the swing... I was feeding Kiley and I had been up 3x at 2am... then 1/2 hour stretches until 6... i was done lol. So I made poor Tom get up but at least he was gracious enough to do it. It was kind of funny he couldn't see and was so tired that he picked up Kara upside down! Oops! He quickly figured it out though. lol  I even went to bed a few minuets after they did last night because I was so tired. Thankfully I did because that was the longest stretch they slept.

Poor teething babies...

Kiley is playing with a onesie on the floor. Her favorite toys are usually some soft cloth thing that she can scream into. I wonder if she will share her love of clothes like her sister does? Every single stuffed animal/baby doll has a pair of pj's, a onesie or a pair of 'real' pants on. They are a colorful assortment. Kiley and Kara are up on their hands and knees now and can really get places.... again I remember we have no gate. I'm planning on going to a specialized baby store and picking up a wide swinging gate. The other day when I went to Bible study the mom there had the nicest one... and it was so easy to get through (for the adults) It probably would be a little safer too since it won't be just 'hanging' there. Kiley loves faces so watch out!She takes your face in her little hands and 'attacks!' She loves to eat your chin and cheeks.

Let's see... Abby is really into her Little People doll house right now. Tom and I tend to play quite a bit with her on that. She loves the little grandma and grandpa and often thinks they need to go to bed or eat. :o) She is growing up so fast! Her language skills are exploding and I've had so many people remark on them. The other day she was looking at these flashcards of 'smiley faces' and she could identify when the face was mad, scared, happy and sad... with no prompting she knew exactly what they were! She loves to have us draw the faces and really is into figuring out emotions right now. "Babies sad face... they have owies..." *Kisses the baby* "No more owie" (SO CUTE!)

The weather has been chilly and wet so no outside for us. She did travel with my mom to watch my sister's track meet. It was a good thing she did because K&K were soooo fussy while they were gone it might have been too much for me to handle cranky babies and a bored Abby. (There wasn't anyone else home at that time) But she had a great time running around with my mom. All of our family is amazing... they all pitch in to help when they can when we need help. God has blessed us... we have an awesome support network!

I painted our bedroom, I'm trying to go for a 'nice cozy feel' instead of the long suffered 'storage closet' feel. lol. Part of it is my fault as all of my craft things and photography props spill out of the closet but I'm working on organizing it! I have finals this week and some classes to do for work... yes I'm still employed at the children's clinic! We are thinking of moving the crib into our bedroom and switching my dresser out into the nursery... but we'll see what happens. They aren't sleeping the greatest right now as it is. I had been hoping to transition them into sleeping in the crib together. Here is a cute video of them playing together. Enjoy!

SPRING!

Yikes! I'm behind! Yesterday was so crazy busy with Abby's appointment and then a photo session in the afternoon and my sister's trackmeet later. So here are some of the highlights....

Abby's appointment went VERY well. She did awesome! She did this bubble activity (she loves bubbles) and they had her put a straw into a cup of soapy water and blow... hence bubbles. I was surprised at how well she did but the activity ended when she sucked up a mouthful of the soapy water (yuck!) It was so fun to watch her sit and play and she had a lot of fun too. We discussed her amazing escape artist abilities (from the carseat) and now I have a number to call and see if I can get some help because it scares me that she can get the straps off. I would hate to get into an accident and have something happen. I'm hoping they will be able to help.

My mom came and watched the girls while I went off to the photo session. Brave lady! My dad also came along to the track meet so at least she had some help. They said Abby did so well and she loved watching my sister run. She twirled in the grassy areas and did a few little dances to show off for us. It was a very busy busy day but the weather was absolutely perfect.

It's starting to thunder now and Feebee is pacing the house trying to figure out what is making the noise. It is funny! Abby just got done with her cherrios and is driving her baby doll in a wooden truck. I've got laundry and some sorting on my list of things to do. My mom is coming over again with some others to play. They should be here any minuet.

Did I mention? Kiley and Kara are scooting all over now? Oh my goodness do I need to get a gate above the stairs soon! Abby is playing more and more with them and has even tried to make them stop crying by comforting them or giving them toys. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am by that. I cannot WAIT until they all play together! Though the longer they aren't mobile the easier it will be for me! I got some new fabric colors for tutus and plenty of headband materials. I can't wait to sell them at the garage sale coming up here in May! What a busy spring it is looking to be!

Coffee Coffee Coffee

I threw on another pot of coffee... yes it's 7pm but Tom is meeting up with some of his college friends tonight and that means a few more hours of supermom. Abby is watching an Elmo birthday DVD. She loves this dvd soooo much and because she loves it so much... I do too! She almost has the entire Elmo's world routine down which is hilarious... she even laughs when he does. I really need to record it :)

(Kiley)

K&K are teething and I feel so bad for them. They sure are fussy because of it! Poor Kiley seems to have it the worst as she is having troubles staying asleep. I had her asleep earlier but she keeps waking up so I'm giving her a chance to swing and hopefully that will keep her asleep for a little while so that I can finish making some pizza and get a few minuets of down time.

The weather was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous today! It felt almost like summer really. I made a tent out of a blanket and put it on the deck. Abby was so cute going in and out of it, she just loved it! We played out in the backyard for awhile with bubbles and chalk, played on the swings and the slide. We even went out for a walk with K&K. Brave I know! But I felt silly sitting inside with all of them when it was so nice out. It's just hard to take both babies and play with Abby by myself. I put Kara in my Beco on my back, Kiley in the carseat and Abby walked next to me for the first two blocks. Her little legs got a little tired and she just walks a little too slow so I picked her up and set her on top of the stroller 'ledge' where you can put your drinks or belongings. It actually worked really well! Abby just held on and she felt so cool because she thought she was driving.

Pizza buzzer be right back!

Abby is learning things so fast. She swings on her tummy, can count to THIRTEEN, and loves to sing ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. (I love it when she sings) She is really on a diapering kick and loves to diaper all of her stuffed animals and baby dolls. Now I need to learn to hide the 'good' diapers and give her the type I don't like because they leak. We've been doing really well on no injuries as of late and I'm SO thankful for that. A healthy Abby is fantastic. I recently have been in a crafty mood and made a few tutu's. One has a 'ruffled' bottom and Abby loves to dance around the house with it... it's just hard to get it OFF of her because she likes it so much. I need to make one that she can just play in. I'm planning on using this special one for a photo session that I'm doing tomorrow.

(Kara)

Yesterday we went down to my mom's house and played down there for awhile. They have a rainbow play system (an older one) and Abs loves to go down the slide and swing with Grandma and her buddy (my brother). Feebee always likes to tag along and will actually jump into the van. She likes to visit too I guess :)

Well time to get Abs all cleaned up and hopefully I can keep the babies happy long enough to give her a bath. We'll see I guess! Have a good night.

A mini break

I probably won't write for a few days... I need to think about some things a bit. Don't worry about us we are still here and still doing ok....

Ho Hum

Feeling like I'm in a bit of a slump right now... I don't know if it's the lack of sleep getting to me or just Abby being sick so long. Kiley and Kara are teething now and are even more fussy then usual. This mommy is worn out. Even Tom is teething lol (long story)

It was a good day, we went to the Falls Park and had pizza and Abby played on the rocks and looked at the water. She even waved goodbye to the ducks and the bubbles and the rocks. I'll let the pictures explain the rest I guess. We went to the park and went for a walk and Kiley slept on the way to the park and Kara fell asleep in the Beco on the way home. I really like having Tom home. It was nice to spend some time as a family.

In April

Abby has been a little off these last few days. I'm not sure if she is still hurting or if it is from being sick but she is very weepy/clingy/sad and can be quite naughty. The sad/weepies make me sad though. Bedtime & naptime have gotten very hard. She criiiiies when we lay her down for naps and you have to pry her arms from around your neck so that you can lay her down. "Hold you, hold you, hold you" she says over and over again. It took me a few minuets to understand that we ask her "do you want me to hold you?" ..."yeeess" Therefore she was telling us that "hold you" meant "hold me" This is a new thing for us.... she normally doesn't like to be held....

She was afraid of trains the other day and wouldn't play outside... so I took her out with me and we watched them. She used to love them.... Then today she was afraid because she heard a plane.... again something she used to love. I try to reassure her but she gets very worked up about it. I'm not used to the afraid Abby! Of course speeds, dangerous drops and burning hot objects are still fair game as far as she is concerned so we have to watch out for that!

I feel torn as a mom though... because she is so NEEDY right now.... which would be fine except that I have two other very NEEDY little twinkies in my house and when I'm alone things can get a little out of hand. Every bone in my body hurts... I feel like I just run and run and run and run and give... till I'm not sure I can go any more. And now as I sit and write I feel like I should have done more.This afternoon they were all crying... but I just had to lay down on the couch for a few moments.... things got better after Tom came home and we went for a walk, grilled hamburgers and went to the park. She had fun... we will have to go more often now that it is getting nicer out! The walks must be helping, I've lost 10 pounds in the last month! not sure where it went but it was nice to step on the scale and see that.

K&K are really pushing up on their hands now and can scoot around the floor. They aren't 'crawling' but through means of scooting 360 and rolling they tend to get where they want to for the most part. We will need to get a baby gate up sooner than later! The sounds they make are really cute too. Kiley's is very wet and Kara is very coooooey. In fact I woke up to her coo at 7am this morning... it wasn't a good night and the morning was far too early! I really love snuggling with them... but on that note they are sleeping and I need to be. I'm too tired to stay up this late any more!