Missed Opportunity

Today we were at the Library checking out books to knock out list One of our Summer Reading Program. Maybe I had a case of the Montuesdays (which is a case of the Mondays when your first "official" day of the week starts on Tuesday due to a Holiday) but I was feeling a little short-fused. A woman stopped us to ask if Kate and Audrey were twins, which usually doesn't bother me. Who doesn't love babies? And two of them? By all means, I love to hear how cute my kids are- but today I politely stopped for a moment, thanked the woman and proceeded on in. Emily is 3 and has been acting it lately. Not that she is bad, she's just 3 and I have to remember that. I just wanted to get the Library trip done and back in the car.

While in the children's section checking out books, I saw other mothers. Mothers who had patience, mothers who were reading and doing puzzles with their kids. All of which made me feel like the Bad Mommy because I simply wanted to get our books, get home, and not make too much of a scene with 3 children age 3 and under (which, as it turns out, is darn near impossible). As we walked around and got our books, I noticed a little boy (I would have guessed about age 2) with his dad. This little dude had one arm that ended at his elbow. I didn't notice it in a negative way but in more of the same way when you notice a child has curly hair, or lots of freckles, or is short/tall. I simply noticed. And if we hadn't almost mowed him down with our train stroller, I probably wouldn't have noticed him at all.

The theme of this post is 'I just wanted to leave', in case you hadn't picked up on it. But, when Emily asked if we could stop and do some puzzles the aforementioned Bad Mommy Guilt crept into my head and I told her she could do one puzzle. Emily sat down and ended up sitting across from the little dude who was almost our ninth first stroller casualty of the day. Emily is waaaayyy into other kids right now. She says 'hi' to anyone and everyone, asks me if we can go to the houses of people we pass while driving, and gets genuinely offended when the kid 3 cars over doesn't see her wave. While doing her puzzle, Emily looked over at Little Dude and said to me, "Mommy, why is his arm like that?" Now, this is a moment I had practiced over and over in my head. Not all scenarios were kids, but I practiced what I would say to Emily when she did start to notice that people are different and what I would say when she pointed it out. When I practiced in my head, the scene would start much like it did today. Emily would take notice of someone who was not like her and point it out. Not in a bad way, but simply in that innocent child way- much like asking 'why', she simply wanted to know. In my head, I would tell her that God made us all different, and because of these differences we are all very special. We would go on to talk about how if we were all the same the world would be a boring place. In my head, she would ask questions "Can he throw a ball? Does it hurt?" and I would explain that he could do everything she could do. It doesn't hurt, he was born that way and he was perfect, just like she was. In my head, I had all the right answers.

And in real life, I had a brain-lapse. Maybe it was the Montuesdays, maybe I didn't think Emily was old enough to notice, maybe I just simply didn't think when I saw Little Dude that this would be my opportunity to make my child aware and open to differences. Whatever it was, when Emily asked me about Little Dude, I panicked and said, "He was born that way, that's how he was made." End of explanation.  After a brief pause, Little Dude's dad spoke up and said, "Yep he was born that way. It doesn't hurt him and he can do all the things you can do!"

I was crushed. What I had done? Or better yet, why didn't I do more? I am sure I looked like a crazy self-centered mother in the eyes of Little Dude's dad. And yes, I am sure he answers that question a lot and will for years to come, but I am very disappointed in myself. I know that this isn't the only time I will be faced with a difficult question, but I still feel like I let my kids down. Like I let Little Dude down. I can only hope that next time I am able to summons my inner Super Mom and have all the right answers. That should I flub and get caught off guard I will be able to get back on track and redeem myself. I'm sorry Em. I'm sorry Little Dude.

Outta the mouth of babes

Or toddlers. Emily had her last day of school Tuesday and I thought it would be a neat idea for her to dictate a thank you card for each of her teachers. Alright, so I stole the idea from Jim when they did my mother's day card, but it's still a cute idea!

Annnnyyway, we got the first card done and were working on the second card. Emily was getting bored- which is understandable, I mean she had to come up with three things she wanted to thank her teachers for. So she whips out, "Thank you for everything."
Me: "Uh, how about you try again"
Em: "Thank you for nothing."
Me: "Actually, that's sort of rude. What else ya got?"
Em: "uhhh...... Thank you for nothing."
Me: "Yeah, still not gonna write that...What about thank you for circle time?"
Em: "Yes, thank you for circle time! Mommy, what's rude?"
Me: "Ask Daddy when he gets home."

And yes, if I can't figure out how to answer a question that Emily has, I tell her to ask her dad. That, my friends, is Sane Mothering 101.

My Children...

... are strange. Like REALLY strange. Kate walks around and laughs hysterically at nothing. She walks around with her blankie on her head until she runs into something and falls over. She crawls around with her head on the floor until she bumps into something. Are you noticing a theme here?

Audrey screams. Screams when she is happy, sad, mad, content, tired. You name the emotion and she screams. She scrunches her eyes closed and attempts to walks around. She goes into our bathroom, goes through my drawers, finds lotion/soap/toothpaste/body spray bottles and sucks on them like they are bottles.

Emily loves peas but won't touch corn. She sleeps with socks on, no matter what the temperate is. She refuses to get herself dressed. She declares herself the "tootiest".

Ok, so that last one is Chance, but he is weird too.

Obviously they get all these strange traits and habits from Jim. =)

Neglected

Neglected doesn't even begin to describe my poor blog. Abused is a better word. I had 10 5 posts in 2010, and here is it May 2011 and I haven't posted at all. So, here goes! An update of basically the past year.

Emily- is in preschool, actually she is almost done with her first year of preschool. She loved it! She started out the year a timid little girl who would sit and watch the other kids run and play, and now she runs wild and has to have "one more slide" down the slide in her room before we can leave for the day.
-She got her first haircut (at age 3) and her hair is still curly, curly, curly!
-She has moved onto bigger kid books such as "Fancy Nancy", and she of course loves princesses, dress up, and anything girly.
Audrey and Kate- They are now walking- make that running- all over the place. Usually in opposite directions. They are ornery beyond belief and so much fun!
Jim- Continues to be the only employed person in our family. He also works from home on Fridays, which is really nice.
Me- Gained three lbs since the girls have pretty much stopped nursing. Looks like I will be dusting off my running shoes...

With Chance as my witness, (actually we are dog sitting and in addition to Chance sitting here staring at me, I have Holly, Rocky, and Dude also keeping an eye on me. Guess that is what I get for sitting at the kitchen table and snacking while blogging. Little moochers...) I will pay more attention to my poor little bloggy-blog. Or at least I will give it a good try!

Emily

On July 5th, Emily was officially 2 1/2 years old. Man, time has just flown by!! Emily is such an amazing kid. She was a perfect baby (isn't hind sight 20/20?), always so happy and enjoyable. She has always been one to do things in her own time. She didn't crawl until she was 10 months old and didn't walk until she was 15 months. While it worried me at the time, when she did crawled, she just took off. The same with walking- there was no stumbling, she simply walked down the hallway and that was that. Now, at 2 1/2 she is walking and running and climbing. She loves to ride bikes, loves being outdoors and going to the park- although mostly she likes to just watch the other kids play. She loves to be on swings- she could swing all day! She also loves to ride in the stroller, she is a stroller kid!!

For Emily's first Christmas, we gave her her first baby doll. Emily was just shy of a year old and even at that young age, she took her baby into her arms and rocked it. She has always been a nurturer and is an amazing older sister. She asks for her babies first thing when she wakes up and she loves to help give them their pacifiers. The other day we were loading up the car to head out and she grabbed her "baby Elizabeth", put her in her car seat and carried her out to the car while I took the twins. She is just an amazing little Mommy. I think it comes with being the oldest.

I have strived to find the perfect balance of letting Emily be a kid and teaching her manners. It's hard, I know she is only two, but I hope to teach her how to be grateful and humble. It was made clear to me the other day that we are on the right track. I don't remember the specifics of the situation, but Ali gave Emily something- glasses for the 4th of July maybe- and Emily's eyes lit up, and she said, "For me! Oh, thank you! Thank you!" And it was in that moment that I knew we were doing something right!

Jim and I have both been making an effort to make Emily feel special- she tends to get left out since the twins require so much work and attention at this stage in their lives. We took Miss Emily to the movies the other day and we all had a blast! We let her choose who puts her to bed, and we have also been working hard to make Emily feel helpful in her big sister roll. She is old enough now, and so are the babies, that she can helps us more and that makes her feel very special.

Emily is such a beautiful, loving, amazing kid and we are so blessed to be her parents!


Newborn Emily


Emily at 4 months old


9 months


15 months old


18 months


2 years


It's hard to be 2 1/2!

Spring into Summer

So Jim just informed me that I haven't updated the blog in, oh, months. So here we go!
Emily News- Emily is growing up fast! She is currently in an "I can do it myself" stage. Although, she can't do it herself most of the time, so she wants me to help her but she also wants to do it herself- makes for some serious meltdowns but we are getting through that. She is also in that phase of her life when every other word out of her mouth is "Why??". So curious, and yet so annoying all at the same time! =) We are currently working on potty training and for the most part it is going well. A few minor accidents, but overall good! We have a standing pool date on Thursday afternoons at 1:00 to swim with Emily's cousins and it is a lot of fun! Emily is like a fish in the water, as long as she has her pool floaty on. She isn't scared of the big pool and will even let us dunk her at times. Emily had to have some blood taken today and she was a CHAMP. She didn't cry or even flinch when the nurse stuck her. They took 10 viles of blood and she sat on my lap and watched the whole time. She is getting to be such a big kid!!
Twin News- The girls turned 4 months old on Saturday! Where does the time go? Kate has started to roll over from her back to her belly. Although she hates it when she gets to her belly, so we spend a lot of time rolling her back over. Audrey rolled from her back to her belly for the first time today as well! At their 4 month check up Kate was 12.1 lbs and Audrey was 12.11 lbs. Both girls are gaining weight and are growing like weeds! We recently got out the jumparoo for the girls to play in, they like it for about 5 minutes and then they are done. The girls went to their first Royals game last weekend and I have to say, they weren't too impressed. I don't blame them, it was hot! We have moved the girls out of pack n plays and into a crib at night. The next step will be getting them out of our room and into their own room- someday.
Jim News- Jim recently competed in Corporate Challenge at work. He ran an 800, coached the soccer team, and I am sure I am forgetting something. Ferrellgas is doing well in their division and may even come in first! Jim has been playing with our church band 2-3 Sundays a month and he continues to play on his league soccer team.
Amanda News- I recently helped plan our annual church garage sale, and we had a great turn out! Lots of items donated and we raised money for our childrens and youth ministries. Next up is Vacation Bible School where I will be in charge of Crafts. I have recently taken to cloth diapering the twins. We were going through 16 diapers (minimum!!) a day with the twins. Hard on the pocket book and harder on the planet- so thanks to my sister-in-law, I was able to give cloth diapers a try. Turns out they are easy and I love them! Plus, there is nothing cuter then a baby in a cloth diaper! We have also been getting organic produce delivered to our door weekly and we recently acquired a rain barrel. Next up is to get a composter and we will be set. I never thought of myself as a "green" person but I am quickly becoming one!

I will leave you with some pictures of our adorable girls!

Who's who?? Seriously, I am not 100% sure on this one!


Emily with Kate (left) and Audrey (right)


Emily looking beautiful on Easter


Our Family!

Twins Birth Story

Friday, February 26th was a busy day! We got to the hospital at 6 in the morning and got checked in. By 7, I was in a room and around 7:30-8 the doctor came in and broke my water. The nurse asked if I wanted an epidural then and I decided to wait and see how labor progressed. I didn't want to get the epidural too early and slow things down. Wow, I should have taken the epidural then!!
15 minutes later I was having HORRIBLE back labor (Which had actually started the night before, but I just assumed was another discomfort) complete with full body shakes. I rang for the nurse- Now, my nurse was just wonderful, but she was new and had never delivered twins, so she was being extra thorough and taking her time. An hour after being called, the anesthesiologist showed up for my epi. This whole time my back was cramping and spazzing, but the contractions were only reading about 50 on the machine. Trust me, they were full on! I got the epidural, and somehow the doctor missed. So after all the prodding, poking, tape, the works, he had to take it all out and start again. He started in with the needle just as another contraction hit and I lost it, I started bawling. Poor Jim and nurse! Finally the epi kicked in at around 10:15 and things were MUCH better! The nurse was taking her time and putting in the catheter. She checked me about 10:45 and realized I was fully dilated and 100% effaced, it was time to go! Jim scrubbed up, the nurses scrubbed up, and off we went to an operating room.
We entered the room at 11:06. It was extremely cold and my shakes got worse, so they covered me with heated blankets and that helped some. There were a whole slew of people in the room, nurses for me and for each baby, the doctor, the anesthesiologist in case I had to have an emergency c-section, and (because so seldom are twins born vaginally) a handful of other residents and people to watch. I pushed 5 times, had a quick episiotomy, and Audrey Ann was born at 11:12 weighing 6 lbs 4 oz. I had her on my belly until it was time for Baby B to be born. They quickly scanned my belly and Baby B did not flip- she was still head down. The doctor broke my water and got her head down in the birth canal, u/s tech stepped away, and it was time to push again. We passed off Baby A to get cleaned up, pushed twice, and Katelyn Marie joined us at 11:18 weighing 5 lbs 15 oz. Both girls were 19" in length.Kate scored an 8 and a 9 on her apgar and Audrey had 9's both times.
We had no NICU time! We decided to name Baby A Audrey at the nurses suggestion, A for Audrey. They are nursing great and I tandem nurse them as much as possible. We came home that Sunday and had our home follow up visit with the nurse. They are both starting to gain weight again and we are doing really well! Nights are tough, but we are getting it slowly. It was an extremely easy delivery and we have been so blessed with family and friends taking care of us while we get used to life with two babies and a toddler!

Mommy and the twins!


Proud big sister!


The newest members of our family, Audrey and Kate!