My bad.

Really these kids keep me hopping, too. Strangers say this to me all the time–and it kind of annoys me… but, yes.. I do “have my hands full.”

I’ll just give you a quick synopsis.

Lidia:

The girl is doing really well. When she first started going to preschool (she goes 2 afternoons per week), we would ask her if she had fun and, though she seemed like she was having fun on observation, she would put on this dramatic flair, proclaiming that she did NOT have fun. (Insert 4 year old eye roll here.) Now, however, after a few months, she loves it and cannot wait to go. She speaks of her friends constantly and incorporates them into her pretend play even though they aren’t here.

Suddenly she is blooming! I know she is learning a couple things here and there at school, but they are mostly play based. Even without our trying, she is learning to write a ton of letters, her name, she’s drawing very coherent pictures now. Her people drawings are adoreable, to say the least.

Gavin:

My little Peanut Butter is

running EVERYwhere. He discovered how to climb onto the kitchen table almost before he could walk and has been doing it ever since. It has lost some of its thrill now (thankfully) but I still have to remove him a few times a day. He still has just a handful of words, but he does a great job communicating with body language. He nods yes if he sees something he wants, points etc. He will bring things to me when he needs help and goes to the fridge and to me and back to the fridge when he’s trying to tell me he is hungry or thirsty. Over all, he is doing fabulously!

Liam:

My Jelly is as sweet as ever. He is a super affectionate kid and is always good for a tight, cheek-to-cheek squeeze. I LOVE it! He pretty much started walking right before Gavin and, though he’s still a little less steady than Gavin, he keeps up just fine. He only has a couple words, but also communicates well with his body. He nods appropriately, signs more and all done. He gets his point across and we haven’t really had too much issue figuring out what he wants. He is doing great, too.

Family:

Over all we have been happy and healthy. We’ve only been sick twice. Thanksgiving was a HORRIBLE stomach virus that started with the boys and trickled its way through the whole family. Liam and Gavin, then me, then Adam, then Lidia. Not fun. That was the first time the boys had ever been sick. Also really the first time Lidia had been sick since we’ve had her home. Yes, last Thanksgiving was not one to be remembered.

About 3 weeks ago, Adam came down with a yucky cold virus–stuff, cough, lingered for a week etc. Well, Lidia ended up getting it less than a week later. Next Gavin fell and then Liam. Lidia was pretty sick, I felt so bad for her. It’s the first time she’s had a REAL cold virus. She was just miserable. Gavin and Liam were pathetic, too. I have never seen 2 such miserable babies. They got all of it and then fever on top. Then Liam started croup coughing really bad. We ended up taking the boys in to the doc where she decided he was bad enough to give him a steroid shot for it. He breathed so much better that night. What a relief. She looked in their ears and they were clear. It was a cold virus, as I knew. The next day it seemed they were getting better, but then the day after that they started fevering again. The 3rd day after the doctor visit their fevers spiked back up to 104, almost 105. So, we packed them back up and off to the doctor again. This time, it had settled in their ears. Gavin had double ear infection, one of which was about to “rupture”. Liam had one, and a fluid filled ear that would have probably ended up in the same state. SO. A round of antibiotics later, we are FINALLY started to act half normal again, and I am sleeping again. Was a rough 2 weeks!

To boot, Adam was sent to the Philippines again. He has been gone for about a week now. One of my sisters came and stayed with us for the first week, which was nice!! We enjoyed her visit and it made some things a lot easier (like getting the girl to school). This week we are on our own, however. We’re not doing too bad–but we are ready for Daddy to come back home. I’ve had to get creative to shovel, shower and get the girl to swim lessons and school. But we are managing, so it’s all good. He’ll be back Saturday.

I know I’ve been slacking on pictures, too. I will get some up this week. I’m having issues with finding batteries at the moment, so haven’t been taking enough. The rechargeables aren’t holding a charge anymore and I don’t have any others at the moment. I promise, soon there will be pictures!!

Anyway, as I have 2 small people crying at my feet, I will have to wrap this up for now. I will try not to slack anymore!!!

Way to go, Peanut Butter!

This year, however, we conspired with the Wisconsin Grents and came up with the plan to spend a week in the Orlando area. Papa found a good deal on some time shares which made the whole thing much more affordable and plans were locked in place. While we weren’t too keen on trying such an adventure with just the 5 of us, 2 extra sets of hands would make it all much more enjoyable and relaxing.

Thus, Saturday the 15th of September, we packed the 7 of us and our load of luggage into the van and headed off to the airport. We received a few looks as we marched through the airport with 2 infants, a preschooler and 3 car seats. Boy, they should have seen us before we dropped off our luggage. On that note, Adam and I did manage to keep our luggage down to 2 large suitcases and one small one. That’s decent for 5 people, right? We did have some extra baby stuff that had to come with.

Anyhow, the flight was not bad at all. I really feel that having the kids strapped into their car seats made it much more familiar and comfortable for them. I nursed each of the boys once during the flight, Lidia was well behaved and we had minimal squawking and screaming. At one point, Liam was asleep and we began descending. He did some half asleep fussing on and off for about 5 minutes and then was out again. I have a feeling his ears were paining him, as mine were popping at about that time.

The hardest part came when it was time to un-buckle Lidia’s seat from the plane seat. The buckle was positioned such that it was in the middle of seat with the latch plate up against the back of her seat. I could not get the thing to let me lift it and release the buckle because there wasn’t space to lift it. I looked like a total dope. Even the pilot was like, “How’d you get it in there?” Well, you don’t have to LIFT the buckle release to buckle it, you just put it in. Finally, Adam suggested we try reclining the seat and that gave me enough room to unlatch the thing. I had bruised up/sore hand to show for it, though.

At any rate, we eventually made it here to the resort. Our “room” was essentially a small apartment with plenty of room for our family. Next door we the Grents in a identical (but mirror image) suite. Adam’s aunt joined us on Monday and it proved to be a lovely vacation.

Sunday and Monday we spent getting settled and just doing some pool lounging. Even the boys were digging the swimming. It was pretty hot, so I can’t blame them! We may have another fish on our hands in Gavin. Liam is a bit more timid, especially about water touching his face, but he still enjoyed himself.

Tuesday was spent at Magic Kingdom. Having grown up with Disney, I can’t help but have a special place in my heart for many of their stories and characters. Lidia had a fabulous time. She was in princess heaven and loved all the little rides. Even the boys enjoyed some rides. The Small World ride was like baby eye candy. They were both totally amazed, watching everything and looking everywhere. Occasionally you’d hear an amazed “Ohhh” come out of their mouths. It was quite funny. While the song was crammed into my head for the rest of the day, seeing the looks on their faces made it well worth the ride. For Lidia, I think the biggest highlight was meeting one of her favorite princesses.

Wednesday was to be spent at a water park, however, it rained for most of that day, therefore we chose not to go. Instead we bummed around the apartment for the day and went to Arabian Nights for dinner. My review on that? The food was alright–edible, but nothing fantastic. The show was a bit cheesy at times, however I still enjoyed myself and it kept me entertained. Lidia, however, had a blast! Watching how excited she was made my night. Every time there was a break in the store she would shout excitedly “What’s gonna happen next, Mama??” It was quite cute. So was so into it that she showed not the least bit of sleepiness during the show, even though we had the girl out a good 2 hours past her usual bed time. Gavin fell asleep early in the show, Liam stayed awake for most of it. He, too, seemed quite interested in watching. Over all, a good time was had by all and it was worth the trip (especially as we had discounted tickets into the show).

Thursday was another day at Magic Kingdom. We chose to do 1 park in 2 days, so as not to feel rushed or overwhelmed and I must say that turned out to be a great decision. We were able to see everything we wanted to see, and it didn’t even matter that we had to leave a tiny bit early due to a storm on Thursday. Lidia was even able to go on Splash Mountain, which my little thrill seeker loved. I would have taken her on it again had the line not been so long. I think we are going to have a roller coaster girl in her.

Friday we went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney’s water parks. It was a nice, hot day for it. Lidia thoroughly enjoyed the kiddie area and even the boys did some splashing before they passed out for their afternoon nap. Adam and I were able to break off for a little while and spend some time together in the wave pool and on a few slides. They had quite the wave pool! This is the first of this type I have encountered. All the sudden there is a loud “BOOM” and a huge wall of water is coming at you. It knocked me back a good 20+ feet and that was even while holding on to Adam’s hand! We had fun, though. It’s been a long time since just he and I played together. Eventually we went back for Lidia and took her with us on one of those family raft slides. It was a pretty tame slide that 3 or 4 people could fit in one raft. There were water falls and such that pummel you on the way down. Lidia loved it so much that we took her on it 5 or 6 times. She would have went again if it weren’t almost time for the park to close.

Alas, Saturday came and we did a little bit of souvenir shopping before it was time to head off to the airport. The evening flight was slightly delayed due to a bit of a storm front that arrived in the area, but we eventually settled in for the trip home. Gavin fell asleep before we even boarded the plane. He stayed asleep most of the flight, but woke for a while toward the end. He was fussing a bit, just as our own ears started popping so we assume he was probably having a bit of ear pain. Liam fell asleep after take off and slept until we took him out of the seat after landing. Lidia fell asleep after the much anticipated warm chocolate chip cookie were handed out (supposedly something Midwest is “famous” for now?) I won’t complain, they were yummy cookies. After loading everyone back into the van, and making the drive back to Madison (we had flown out of Milwaukee), we arrived home just before Midnight.

So that’s vacation in a nutshell. We enjoyed ourselves and are glad we went. However, Adam could have done without the cold virus he brought home as a souvenir…and then shared with me. Liam is sleeping horribly again (while Gavin is only getting up once a night, yay!) so the combination of my being up much of the night and the cold is making vacation recovery a bit slow.

Seeing as how we had our hands full of kids or were directly involved in activities much of the time, we came home with very few pictures to show for our vacation. However, we are going to nab the Grents pictures so as soon as I get those, I will be posting some pictures in the gallery.

Over the weekend the guys turned the big 9 months old!

In honor of this occasion, Liam cut his 2nd tooth.
Gavin thought about it, but will remain toothless for now. He doesn’t seem to mind. He may just pop 2 at once–there are 2 suspicious bumps on his lower gum, accompanied by cranky behavior…

In related news, the whole fan damily trekked to the doctor’s office today to see just how much these bugs have grown.

They are looking quite healthy, of course, and came out with a clean bill of health.

Gavin measured in at 28 inches tall (putting him in the 40th percentile) and weighed 18 lbs 11 oz (putting him in the 19th percentile).

Liam measured in at 28 1/2 inches tall (putting him in the 58th percentile) and weighed 18 lbs 9 oz (that’s the 18th percentile).

So, Gavin is still shorter than his brother, though he is closing the gap–however, he has now reclaimed the lead in the weight race (he was the “big guy” at birth, after all), pulling past his brother by all of 2 ounces. If you remember 6 months, he was 15 ounces lighter than his brother. All in all, they are staying pretty close in size, which is nice for the purposes of dressing them–no need to have 2 different dressers and separate clothing by size. Makes mom’s life easier for now. I’m having to put away a lot of their clothes from summer and summer is not even over! I’m buying 12 months now, which are a bit big, however they’ll work for now and (hopefully) get us into at least the beginning of winter… Time will tell.
Soon I will be ordering them some cute little shoes form Preschoolians because they offer a 40% discount for twins!! Can’t beat that! (Thanks for that tip, Laura!)

Their next appointment will be at 12 months! That will not be a fun one. It will consist of vaccines and a finger poke–blood for a standard lead test. Yuck. I remember all too clearly doing that with miss Lidia when we came home from Russia. The poor thing. Took them forever!! Maybe I should make sure the Dad can come with us on that one…

The last weekend in July, we headed off to see the Michigan family. We had a great time. Lidia especially enjoyed swimming in my sister’s pool with her cousins. We even got the boys in there, their first swimming experience. At first they were unsure, but after some time they relaxed. The weather was beautiful, we had a baby shower for my niece, and we even took the family out geocaching. I think it’s safe to say at least some of them are hooked! I’ll share one, but you can see more pictures in the gallery (a sub album of the Michigan Family album)…

Of course, I get a great picture of one boy and his brother’s in the background with his finger in his nose… Boys!

Also in the past few weeks, the guys have learned many new tricks! They both figured out how to put themselves into the sitting position from their belly–something that has made them quite happy. They learned this one day apart, too–first Liam, then the next day, Gavin did it. As shown in the previous videos, Liam also went from crawling backwards to crawling forward (and on all 4’s–not the army crawl). He’s a little shaky still, but he certainly gets where he is going. Gavin has also begun crawling on all 4’s, rather than his initial “army crawl”–which was quickly followed by the ability to pull himself up to his feet on the furniture! The video posted previously is only the 2nd time he managed to get to his feet. He did this as we were preparing to leave for Chicago for a family wedding. The guys are also eating mostly table foods with us now. They still eat some baby mush, but for the most part they are gumming away at our foods and loving it. Sometimes it takes a lot of energy to gum down all that food, as you can see from my Peanut Butter’s sleeping, messy face.

Last Wednesday, we went to Olbrich Gardens for their annual “Blooming Butterflies” event. We had a great time spotting the lovely butterflies and plant life, along with the various waterfalls and large pond Koi. Inside we were able to view the butterfly hatcheries and watch butterflies in chrysalises and brand new butterflies taking their first flight into the garden. Lidia remembered the “Butterfly Lady” from last year and was disappointed that the same lady was not greeting guests in her beautiful butterfly attire on this visit. We took a small stroll outside, too. I had not actually walked around the outdoor gardens before. They are breath-taking! I would love to go back some time just to enjoy the outdoor gardens.You can find an album with many pictures from our visit in the gallery.

This past weekend we took a small trip to the Chicago area to attend the wedding of Adam’s cousin, Robb. We headed down Friday night, so as not to be rushed on Saturday morning–a wise decision. We were able to do some relaxing and swimming in the hotel pool on Friday night–the boys’ 2nd swim experience. They seemed to enjoy themselves once they relaxed. Lidia–The Fish–loved it, of course.
The wedding was at a neat little church in the Ukrainian village area of Chicago. It was a lovely wedding and reception. We had a nice time! Worth the trip. My one regret was that in all the rush and such, I did not get a good picture of all 3 kids in their sweet formal attire. They were just adorable! I find that I have so many babies in my hands, there just doesn’t seem to be room for the camera, too! I did get some shots, though. I will share a couple here, but the rest can be found in–you guessed it–the Gallery!
By the way, Congratulations Robb and Theresa!! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us!

Lidia thoroughly enjoyed her first Kiddie Cocktail–and her first taste of soda (to my knowledge). She probably won’t taste it again for a long long time–but it was a special occasion, after all.

Liam was Mr. Grins all through dinner. He would get this look on his face every time I showed him pictures on the screen of the digital camera–it was quite funny.

Poor Gavin just didn’t have it in him to stay up and party past bed time. He just went to sleep instead.

(Excuse the cutesy baby voice I’m talking in–I just can’t HELP it!)

This was taken a few days ago. He is already much faster and will probably be up on his hands and knees soon…

Eventually we hope to have Lidia take over this blog when she is old enough, but for now it allows for her news to be shared without being buried in the life of Mom and the Twins.

You can find her here at Lidia’s Castle. Enjoy!

Proud big sis “holding” Liam for the first time (not the greatest pic sorry)

Mama and boys sneaking in some snuggle time

Mama and boys

Dad and Liam have a snooze

Gavin snoozing

Liam having a snooze