Adventures in Sleeplessness

Often times, Lidia likes to shower with me. I don’t mind because this is time that I get to spend with just her–no boys to step on her attention. We have great conversations in the shower (and plus it is much easier to wash all that hair of hers).

This morning, she joined me in the shower and we were talking about this and that. Suddenly she points to me and the following conversation happens:

L: What is those, mom?

M: You know what that is.

L: Breasts!

M: Yes, those are breasts.

L: I don’t have breasts.

M: Yes you do, they are just small. They will get bigger when you get older.

L: Yes. But your breasts aren’t up, they’re down.

*mom stands in awkward silence for a moment, wanting to laugh but also lamenting the truth in that statement*

M: Yes…You are right about that.

So yesterday, I was observing the boys in the living room and I saw Gavin walk away from Liam. Around his neck he was wearing a pair of toy binoculars.

When I saw Liam get up and high tail it after him, I no doubt expected a squabble to ensue over said binoculars.

When Liam caught up to Gavin, he put his hands on his shoulders, whipped around in front of him (hands now on the front of his shoulders) leaned forward and planted a big loud wet one (accompanied by a “MWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” sound) right on his face.

I about died. It was the cutest thing. I was grinning, laughing and getting misty-eyed all in the same moment.

The best part was the look on Gavin’s face after this transpired. He turned around with the cutest smile on his face that totally said, “Aww, my brother loves me!”

I will try to remember this moment the next time I see Gavin dragging Liam down by the hair because he wants to sit where Liam is sitting….

Well, the Princess made a new milestone in little-girldom last night. She had her very first friend stay “all night long!” She was quite excited to invite her friend Naomi for a sleep over.

First let me re-cap our day. We were pretty busy for the most part. I got up and got everyone fed and ready so we could meet some friends on the East side of town to play at a park. The kids had fun, it was a beautiful day–warm and sunny, but still a nice breeze.

We came home and jumped on our usual routine–lunch, and then nap for the boys. (Or rather, the nap that wasn’t really a nap as both boys had slept the last 10 minutes of the ride home–thus re-energizing themselves enough that they would not sleep again). While the boys napped (er… hung out in their cribs making noise, playing and intermittently fussing), the girls and I had some fun dying play silks with Kool-Aid. (Playsilks: think silk scarves used in play–they are really quite fun and can be anything from dress up clothes, baby blankets, dancing props, picnic blankets…whatever). The girls had a blast with that project and even more fun playing with them once they were dry. They are still playing with them this morning and are very proud that they put the color on themselves (they were white to begin with). Once we got the boys up, and snack was eaten, we sunblocked up again and sat by the pool. That sound so much more glorious than it really was (well, for me anyway). The kids had a fabulous time in the kiddie pool. I had fun playing lifeguard :) After a couple hours, it was time to go in, get dry and start dinner.

Dinner was delicious–we made one of my favorite dishes: Apricot-Ginger Glazed Salmon. So simple, yet so yummy. Even the kids will eat this one–and all of them are very fussy about which meats they will eat, and how they are prepared.

After dinner we split into teams. There was much sunblock and sand to be washed off of the 4 small people in our charge. It was boys against girls- Adam bathed the boys in one bathroom, I bathed the girls in the other. The boys were done first (they don’t have all that hair to wash! Nor all the pretend play that seems to happen whenever these 2 girls get together). Once everyone had hair combed and were properly jammified, the 2 teenies went to bed, and we set the girls up with popcorn and a movie. Finally, the man and I got to relax for a while. The girls really didn’t need us much while their movie was on, but once bed time hit, I knew any relaxation would be over. The teeth were brushed, the tucking was done. A slipped out with a goodnight and wandered back downstairs (with monitor in hand because I knew they would need a little bit of “supervision”). I sat down in my chair, with a sigh, and flipped on the monitor.

Yes… Let the giggling begin.

There were no less than 10 treks made up the stairs by us (mostly me) in the next hour. There were tiffs to mediate, shushing to be done (Lidia’s room borders the boys room on one wall, and they were getting loud enough that they were waking the boys), and drinks of water to be gotten.

There was much giggling to be done, in proper little girl fashion. Of course, I expected this, and it did make me smile, fondly remembering my own sleepover days. After that hour, suddenly things became quiet and we knew that the exhaustion of the day had finally caught up with them. So they were asleep by 10:30–earlier than I had expected, really. Lidia is a master at keeping herself awake, no matter how tired she may (should) be.

I was hoping after this late night, they would sleep in–not so much luck, on Lidia’s part anyway. Lidia was up watching t.v. when I got up at 7:30 to get Liam up. Gavin slept til almost 8–Naomi, until at least 8:30 (I believe Lidia may have suck in and woke her up when I wasn’t looking).

All in all, however, it was a successful sleep over. Lidia had her usual melt down once or twice, but she is 4. What can I expect, really? She isn’t all that used to someone being here full time, getting into all her stuff (the stuff in her room that the boys aren’t allowed to touch).

Today, I’m hoping to take it a little easy and get some things done in the house (though that will be hard with the weather being so nice outside!)

I’ll leave you with a couple pictures from yesterday.

3 of the 4, enjoying the pool–Liam really preferred to splash from outside the pool…

Gavin loved being in the pool with the girls…

Liam stayed in the shade, a lot, too, so it made it hard to get any good shots of him…I guess he’s all about sun protection ;)

Awwww… BFF?

Please enjoy these whilst I try to write a post this week (in between chasing small people).

We’ll start with the Princess, since she’s the eldest.

She had a grand time collecting dandelions…

But there’s always time to monkey around…

Next in the birth line is Gavin (still my Peanut Butter)

He finally figured out how to make the dandelions work…

But not without a few mishaps…

And last but not least my lil’ Jelly, Liam gives the dandelions a try…

But moves on to rocks and sticks…

Yes, I have been MIA–for a long time. I apologize. I get behind and it suddenly becomes an overwhelming task to post a blog because I feel like there is SO much that has happened. I could never possibly catch up and relay it all. So instead, I just shy away from it. Needless to say, the family is not happy about this.

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!!!

Just thought I’d throw out a quick note about what the guys are doing these days–you know, all their cute little tricks.

Gavin is:

-standing and cruising on furniture
-walking behind the little push toys
-clapping his hands (MIGHT be saying yay, not sure yet)
-saying: all done, more-more, Uh oh and boo (complete with hiding and peeking motions)
-still has 2 teeth, but seems another is thinking about joining the party soon
-signs: more (sometimes) and all done
-standing up without holding on to things (no real steps yet, but he’s thinking about it)
-drinking out of straw and sippy cups just fine
-feeding himself exclusively (well except yogurt and applesauce–Mom’s not ready for that morning mess)
-sleeps through the night ONCE in a while (only nights that his brother is up a lot)

Liam is:
-standing and cruising on furniture
-walking behind push toys
-clapping his hands
-saying: uh oh (and maybe boo, not sure if it was him or brother)
-still has 6 teeth, no signs of more yet
-signs: more
-drinking out of straw and sippy cups without issue
-stands up without holding on–will even tip his cup back and drink, while standing there. No steps yet.
-feeding self completely (see yogurt and applesauce rule above)
-sleeping through the night ONCE in a while (only on nights his brother is up a lot–I sense a conspiracy here)

Not long and my babies will be toddlers… crazy…

We now begin a new category… Things I never wanted to hear my preschooler say:

“I got the beer, Mom!”

A Belly Lament
by Me

On my post-twin body, I’ll be blunt.
It’s my belly that suffered the brunt
For it stretched out so wide with 2 babies inside
now it looks like a butt on the front.

Feel free to join in my limerick game– let me know if you write one, so I don’t miss it :D

This weekend we journeyed to the pumpkin patch for a little fall fun. The Grents went with us, as did 3/4’s of the Tanck family. A great time was had by all–so much that Lidia just couldn’t handle it anymore. By the time we got home, Lidia was a total mess. This year we went to Schuster’s Playtime Farm, different than the place we had gone to the previous 2 years. They had this little barnyard area with some animals, a fort, some little sheds turned into themed play houses, slides, tires to climb on, a giant roller slide… Plenty or things to wear out the mini-people. They even have a little animal “train” (the engine looked a bit like an ATV ;) ) the kids could take a spin on. Of course, there was the traditional hayride to the pumpkin patch and the picking of the pumpkins. I genuinely enjoyed myself and I think everyone else did, too.

I’ll post a few pictures to be enjoyed here, but the rest can be found in the gallery.

I finally got our vacation pictures up! They can be found in the gallery. Enjoy!