Birthday's and Things!

Yay for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... ok at least it's not as obnoxious as some of the shows can be!

Kiley and Kara are babbling more and more now. Little personalities now and we are starting to see the terrible twos on the horizon (more temper tantrums) Dada, baba, Mama, Bumpa (grandpa), shoes, kitty... those are a few of the words off the top of my head that they can now chitter chatter with.

We just had a wild, crazy, fun, whirlwind, weekend. Tom's family came over to visit and I have come to one conclusion... we need a bigger house! Perhaps that will be in the future, I can't wait to start looking again though the thought scares me just a little. We celebrated Abby's third birthday and she is loving her birthday presents.

It was wonderful going to the Science Center and eating out at a pizza buffet. But mostly we just really enjoyed spending time with family.

What did she get? I'm glad you asked...

Barbie house, Barbie computer, Barbie furniture, Barbie Bike... Barbies... Princess towel, Princess Dresses, a baseball set, ponies, Barbie cars... and a tunnel (did I forget anything? I lose track!) Do you see a theme here?

So she did very well and is a very happy Barbie Princess... girl...

But what I think she enjoyed the most were the people that came to celebrate with her, and blowing out her three candles (the first attempt ended up with a nice layer of shiny spit) Her birthday cakes were strawberry (her favorite this year) and she had balloons too. It was a good time and now we have a whole year to look forward to the next bit.

We bought a zoo pass for families, I believe it will prove VERY useful this summer. We have already been there twice. It is just nice to run around and look at the animals when we aren't sure what to do with the day. We are hoping to go down to a bigger zoo this Summer but we'll see how it goes! We have a lot of plans to get in this summer.

Yum...

Kiley and Kara ate Desitin out of the tub... TUB... and guess who opened it.

I also had to dig chalk out of Kiley's mouth...

Apparently my food isn't good enough?

Worms and things

Abby and I share a kindred heart for worms apparently.. we spent part of our walk today rescuing them from water puddles and returning them to their mommies in the grass...


Kara is obsessed with the heaviest baby doll that we have (weighted to feel like a real baby) It is amazing to watch her lug that thing up the stairs and carry it around with her. It even went to church with us last Sunday.

Kiley is my cuddler and my attached baby. She loves to hold my hand, sit in my lap, be read to, played with, cuddled. She also loves to stick her tongue out when she thinks something is funny... or just to be funny.

They had their 18 month appt today, and a few shots. I hope they don't develop chickenpox from the vaccine like Abby did. I'm not sure I could handle that over Easter weekend. It's supposed to be rare so we will see! Kara is 24lbs... Kiley wouldn't let them put her on the scale. (I think she is 26) I might try weighing her myself tomorrow.. lol

Tooth Fairy Abby

Abby was pretending to be the tooth fairy tonight. She brought me a present from Santa, a giant yellow rubber duck (in a box)


It was extremely funny. I don't think we understand the Tooth Fairy tonight... but she was a fairy in a dress bringing gifts from Santa.


lol


It's funny how there are some nights that all I want is for Abby or the girls to go to bed... and then once they are asleep all I want to do is crawl back into bed and cuddle with them.  like tonight lol, it's almost that feeling you have when you are little and overwhelmed or scared and just want to crawl back in bed with your mom because she is 'safe'

I love that world where tooth fairies can bring you presents from Santa......


May I remember that in the middle of the night when Abby or Kiley or Kara are scared and want to crawl into bed with me... and may I snuggle down with them, even if they kick me in the face when they are squirming. lol

Snakes and Swings

Abby found a worm today... she thought it was really cute. She even held it for a little while before she decided it needed to go home to it's mommy and found it a little dirt spot.

We also found 2 garden snakes on our walk (one on the way, one on the back) ((Maybe it was the same one)) She also thought this was cute and we investigated it. She later told me it was the Mommy worm... hahaha

Kara wanted to try the big girl swings today, in fact I had all three on the swings at one time. I wanted a picture but getting all three to stay on long enough for me to snap a picture on my phone is pretty tough. We played a lot in the nice weather today :o)

Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice and the rest of the week... not so nice. I'm thinking I might take the girls to the zoo despite the fact that I have a test to study for on Wednesday. It is getting harder to get motivated ... ugh. But I try to remind myself that no one will let me study when they are awake .

Barbie Bike and Rocks

The other day we had a very hard time leaving Toys R Us with Abby because she saw the infamous Barbie Bike (A bike Barbie can ride on with you) A pink plastic Barbie bike. She was quite upset we wouldn't buy it for her and was very distressed. (melt down!)

SO we talked to her after her period of grief about how she would need to save up her money to buy the bike for her Barbie. That she would have to work for her money and that we would put it in the piggy bank. My mom also talked to her about how she would have to do little jobs to get money, like picking up rocks in the backyard so that Daddy wouldn't hit them with the lawnmower.

(this is the bike, you can hook it onto your handlebars so Barbie can ride with)

Well I had forgotten about the rocks but Abby sure didn't! Today while we were out playing in the backyard I noticed she was looking around the yard and picking up rocks. All on her own! I didn't even need to bribe her or convince her why she needed to do it. So she earned $1 towards her Barbie Bike. :o)

I think it is important to teach the concept of things and money early and continue on as they get older, gradually working up. There are certain things she won't earn money for (picking up her toys, room etc) Because those are just part of living in our home. But I hope that she can start thinking about how things cost money, and to get money it takes work. :o)

Perhaps I will make up a chart she can color in as we get closer to our goal. Something we can both be checking as she earns her money. (And make it more real for her.)

Road Trip

A photo from last Thursday, the girls all playing out on the backyard patio. What fun it will be this summer!

Mommy Date

I was going to just head off to bed but decided I had better get this down in writing... lol

Abby and I had a mommy date this morning. Surprising how much fun that can be with an almost three year old. She really is becoming more and more my little companion. Another issue... she is starting to really really love shopping. I don't know if it's the getting out of the house or the spending time with me... or getting things. But she gets really excited when I tell her we are going shopping. We started off in the mall because I needed to get her some sandals that match her little dress. I decided to have her do a little free photo session at a place here in town, I just wanted to see how she did with another photographer....

But back to shoes. Turned out there was a sale that you could buy one and get the other pair for a dollar. Great for a parent. Well I convinced her on the first pair but couldn't get her to wear the second pair. Why? She wanted the cheap plastic giant purple flower sandals. Did we get those? If they had been anything other than 29 dollars for a pair of cheap plastic giant purple flower sandals. So no... we did not. I got her a cute little pair of white sandals with gems and another brown leather pair (that she still refuses to put on)

We then went looking for bows and wow that was a job. Why don't they sell pony tail bows? (i had her hair in pigtails) Good grief!

But we got the photos in, after a lot of work from mom. The verdict? Cute photos... still convinced I could do better if only I had someone that could be as silly as me and know how to make her smile like I can. (At one point the 'meep monster' was attacking the photographer) Don't know if she appreciated it but at least I got her to smile and laugh instead of cry!!!

So we went out and got ice cream and shared a cheese burger after that. I'm not going to lie, that was the best thing ever. Even Abby told me that "Mommy, I had a lot of fun with you."

What I didn't include in the above story was how hard I we had to work to prevent meltdowns and tears. Ever since she has been sick things have been more difficult for both of us in maintaining a 'neutral level.' But despite all of that, all of the frustration, the looks I got at the shoe place because my three year old is melting down... all worth it as we shared a cheeseburger and icecream. Best 5 dollars ever.

Apples and Pears

If I planted a pear tree it would grow me apples right now..

That's right apples. But at least it's a fruit right?

So at last I come back to this keyboard and put down a bunch of words and phrases and goofy kid quotes with a silly photo tucked in for good measure. Since everything else I have tried to do tonight has gone ridiculously wrong I gave in and decided to blog.

We spent the day with my inlaws, we drove down to visit because a dear person had come to visit from a far far away land. So I packed my cranky three-some into our minivan and caravaned down with all of the crazy semi drivers. The drive was fairly pleasant though I'm sure that the girls are tired of watching Dora Fairy Tale Princess... or you would think so.

Kiley and Kara are on the upswing and for the most part seem to be doing quite well now. They finished their last dose of medication today and head back to the ENT tomorrow afternoon to recheck everything. Good grief I hope we are done with ear stuff for a little while!

They played and played and enjoyed exploring a new territory and digging out all of the toys from the toyroom porch. They even took really good naps and all in all we had an enjoyable day. Two singing bunnies came home with us and have been a source of entertainment (probably more the adults even than K&K lol) There is something so fascinating about them!

Ok... not this type of singing rabbit. But he is so cute I had to include him... look at him!

Kiley loves to walk around and take me by the hand to discover places, Kara on the other hand would much rather explore without me and yell when she needs me to come find her. 

I thought of two other words K&K know: Bumpa (did i mention that one before?) and Hi!

Abby is still not back to 100%.... at this point I would say that she is about 40%

I sure hope that antibiotic kicks nasty illness soon.

I think that if I had a day off, with just Abby, and she were having an out of the world good/awesome day. We would play Barbies. And we would both be happy. (And for some reason that thought makes me tear up)

We have been having a lot of hard days. 

And I have been praying for patience a lot... and a quiet spirit, and a loving spirit. Because I can't do it alone.  

Busy!

Ok I'm making myself write on this darn thing if it kills me. As you all probably know my kids have been sick, I've had a lot of clinical hours and we are getting to the final countdown to graduation. Combine this with a few health annoyances on my own end....

All of this equals one very tired mom.

After 6 days of fever I finally decided enough was enough and brought Abby in... they diagnosed her with Bronchitis and a sinus infection and put her on an antibiotic. Goodness I hope that means the end of this! I cannot handle many more days of sick kids. Thankfully I have had a lot of help from my mother and mother in law. (and the grandpas too... we can't forget them)

I'm starting to watch K&K's verbal development a little more and really trying to push them to use more words. Out of nowhere I suddenly was like... they are 17 months old... and speak like 12 month olds! (where did the time go?!) I know our pediatrician warned me that with the combo of a lot of ear infections and them being part of the multiple club ... they were at a higher risk for it.

Want a complete list of the words they say? Kiley: Baba, Mama, Dada, Ba (Bath), Mum ... and bumpa?
                                                                   Kara: same... with no thrown in
So ... what? Well it's not a (Oh my gosh!) worry type thing. It just means... hey pay attention your girls are not picking up words like they should be on their own and you need to get working with them on this.

Darn them and their twin language lol. They understand what WE are saying with no problem, they comprehend a great deal. It's the SPEAKING part they don't do. They know those words and perhaps a few more... but we probably only here them here and there, and not all in a day. National Speech and Language Assossciation says they should be starting to put two word phrases together and know at least 10-20 works plus names...

From everything developmentally it's not the number... it's the track. Are they doing this, but just slower rate then kids? Nope. I can't remember the last time they picked up a new word.

But anyways. I'll talk to the pediatrician about it, we'll work at it... they'll be fine.
-----

And then Abby, oh my gosh is that kid learning like crazy! She problem solved today and it was amazing to watch. She took the kite I made her, grabbed a Tupperware container, placed the string in the Tupperware, placed a rock at the end of the string and then dropped the kite over the edge so that it would swing in the breeze. She was so excited.

We also met a little girl in the park today, her and Abby played so well together I thought they were the same age because they both acted similarly. then I found out the other little girl was an entire year younger. Wow.

(funny story: Abby-sitting on the couch near me. I hear little toot sounds and ask: "Abby are you tooting by me?" she replies, "No mommy, my bottom's just making noises")

hahahahahaha

We are enjoying the nicer weather