Family Update

No new news on Hubs' shoulder. We're getting the feeling that the doctor that supposed to provide the second opinion is giving us the brush off. So we're researching other doctors. If anyone knows an orthopedic surgeon in the Portland, OR area who specializes in shoulder injuries please let me know.

My parents are back in town after being gone for the past 2 weeks. They attended my dad's family reunion in Kansas and also went to the Christian Counselor's Association Conference (say that three times fast!) in Nashville, TN. So you can look forward to more of my mom's restaurant reviews covering different places they ate while on their great adventure.

I for one am very glad that they are home. I tend to take their help for granted, and whenever they leave I quickly realize how much they do for us. They watch the girls so Hubs and I can go out, they provide a huge and very important part of my social circle, and my mom is flat out awesome when it comes to helping with projects such as canning peaches or making jam. I know I tell them thank you all the time... but seriously, there aren't big enough THANK YOUS for what they do for us.

To celebrate their return, they came and babysat for us last night so that Hubs and I could go out for a date! HURRAY!! And since Hubs birthday is next week, and my parents are going to watch the girls so we can go out again... I decided that it was MY turn to pick where we were going to eat. So I picked On The Boarder. Why? Because we had never been there before and I've wanted to go there for a long time due to rave reviews from friends, and Hubs HATES trying new places... so HERE WAS MY CHANCE!! And oh man, it was GOOD! The first bite Hubs took of his carne asada steak was enough to practically melt him into a puddle, that's how good it was. And my combo plate with beef empanadas, chicken enchilada, and beef taco were all fantastic. The only thing we weren't wild about were their chips and salsa. We both prefer white corn chips, and theirs were yellow corn, so no matter how awesome they were for yellow corn chips they just were not as good as white corn. We also indulged in margaritas, because what Mexican meal is complete without them, right? We started off with their most expensive top shelf margarita, and then decided to try their "shaken margarita. My opinion? The top shelf was excellent, but pricey. Next time I'll just go for the shaken because it too was very delicious and was enough for the two of us to share.

And then we went and bought a Wii! And came home, and hooked it up, and played! So far I'm lovin' it! In fact I'm gonna go play some more after I finish this post. I'm ashamed to say that my Wii age is 74... and I'm really hoping that I can blame that on the margaritas but in all seriousness I just can't hit a baseball if my life depended on it regardless of my alcohol intake. Hopefully I can do better today... but I'm not betting on it. lol

So a lot about me... but what about those cute little kidlets??

Well, the kidlets are doing just awesome! Mommy feels like she needs a vacation though. They are getting SO busy!!! By the time nap time comes around I feel like I'm going to fall down. And when they get up I sigh and think, HERE WE GO AGAIN!!! I'm trying really hard to enjoy it, and they do provide an endless source of fun and entertainment and love (let's not forget the LOVE!), but they totally wear me out. I feel like I'm in a constant state of exhaustion from which I will never recover.

But enough doom and gloom! Weren't we supposed to be talking about the kids??

They are constantly doing funny stuff, and I am constantly running for my camera, and then when I get it on and point it at them they come squealing and running at me and I totally miss the thing I was trying to capture!!! So as a result I have very few pictures of them over the past few months. I think I need to hire a film crew to come follow us around for a day just so I can get some memories on tape!

So what would a film crew capture in our typical day?

-Dancing, lots of dancing. Cute adorable toddler dancing. Dancing that involves jumping, kicking of feet in the air, and spinning around in circles until they are dizzy and fall down.

-Ziva blowing spit bubbles, and then saying, "Buh boowwww" which is the signal for me to pop the bubbles with my finger.

-Books books BOOKS!!! Pointing to pictures, saying words they know, indicating that I should tell them what something is, and for Ziva... identifying a few letters. Her smartness somewhat terrifies me.

-Moving furniture. BECAUSE THEY CAN! Carrying chairs to things they want to reach, and then standing on them, and helping each other out to reach whatever it is they need to get their grubby little hands on.

-Much more proficiency with spoons and forks. Lately I give them each their own serving of yogurt or applesauce (yes, mommy is getting braver!). Yesterday once their faces were all messy Ziva said "Beeeer". What honey? You want some beer? "No, Beeeeeer!" Oh! BEARD! Yes honey, you have a beard. Tee hee!!

-We've discovered the trick of putting their pajamas on backwards in order to keep them ON at night! Yes, for weeks and months I've woken them up only to find them totally naked and soaked. Super awesome laundry practice for mommy! Hoping this whole backwards jammy trick will continue to work for a while.

-Anya is becoming more assertive about keeping toys, and is becoming more territorial of Mommy. Part of me kind of hopes that she's swaying away from the Daddy kick she's been on for a while. But the other part of me really doesn't like to be guarded like a dog guards their food. When Ziva comes close Anya will put her hands on my face and then push her face right up against my faces so that our faces are smooshed together as if she's saying, "I NEED YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION NOW!!!" I get it Anya. I do... now can I please have my face back?

New Developments and other odds and ends

My mom keeps reminding me that I need to write this stuff down, so here I go! You're welcome, Mom. :)

The girls are getting very good at taking their clothes off. During our morning walk today Anya somehow was able to get her shirt off while strapped inside a 5-point harness! Still have no idea how she did that.

I often leave the living room, only to come back 5 minutes later to a naked Ziva. She's started taking ALL her clothes off any time she gets her diaper wet or dirty. This morning I walked in after she had pooped, and she was in the process of taking off her diaper. She looked at me and hurriedly finished taking it off, and then ran to the changing station saying, "Poop! Yuck, yuck!" The other day after a #2 I was changing her and she said, "Poop. Yuck. Bye-bye poop!"

On a somewhat related note, Ziva also hates sleeping with ANY clothing on, including her diaper. So every morning for the past week when I go to wake her up she's totally naked and sleeping in a puddle. She always seems kind of surprised to be all wet, like whoa! How did that happen?

These things lead me to think that Ziva is pretty darn close to being ready for potty training. I think that maybe on Monday I'll try to help her out with that and see what happens.

Elmo Mania has hit our house with a vengence. Ziva says, "Melmo" all the time, and Anya will readily go and get the Elmo doll if we prod her with "Where's Elmo?". But in Ziva's mind pretty much anything that's red is "Melmo" including a pile of tomatoes on the kitchen counter. She saw those tomatoes and signed and said, "More?" "More Pees (please)?" "More Melmo?". I kept trying to explain to her that those were tomatoes, not Melmo, but she wouldn't hear of it. I finally had to shove them into the fridge to get them out of her sight.

Coloring has become a favorite past-time. Yesterday their EI teacher pointed out that Anya is more interested in the process of coloring, and Ziva is more interested in the result. In otherwords, Anya jumps right in with the colors, making lines and circles and dots and seems to really enjoy doing it herself. Ziva on the other hand would much rather watch me draw or color things and only does her own coloring if I push her to. Ziva often brings me their magnidoodles and asks me to draw on them. I almost never see her do her own drawing with them, but Anya draws on them all the time.

Dancing is also big on the Fun list. Anya likes to spin in circles and has a lot of really great dance moves! She starts dancing pretty much as soon as any music comes on and I seriously think she's a better dancer than I am (that really isn't saying much!). Ziva really likes to dance too, but her moves are really different. She really likes to do a bouncing motion bending her knees, it's become her signature move. And when she really gets going she'll jump up and down.

We are really having a lot of fun with them these days which is such a blessing! If it weren't for them we pretty much would lay around and complain about our aches and pains. Instead we're dancing, and tickling, and laughing at their antics! It makes us realize at how good our life really is despite our circumstances.

Small Victories!

Brushing the girls' teeth has been a major struggle. So much so that I'm often guilty of just giving up and not even trying. Gross!!

But last night I decided to try a new approach. In the past I've just taken their brushes into the living room and brushed their teeth sans toothpaste. Well I finally got some training toothpaste (the kind that's safe to swallow) and decided to give it a go. I took a chair into the bathroom, got the brushes and toothpaste all ready, and then I went and got Ziva. Took a few minutes to convince her that she should stand on the chair rather than sit. But finally I got her on her two feet and gave her a taste of the toothpaste. Hmmm... this might not be so bad! I told her to look in the mirror, and she did, while she allowed me to brush her teeth with NO struggle!! And then I tried to teach her how to spit, which she thought was hilarious! Then I put some water in my mouth to demonstrate how to swish, she was laughing so hard she could barely stand up! And then we were all done. She started to get upset about being done, but when I assured her that we'd do it again tomorrow she calmed down. Then it was Anya's turn. Anya had a more subdued response, but she was also willing to give it a go and her teeth got cleaned. She was very interested in playing with the water, and was fascinating by my gargling demonstration.

Anyway, it was really fun! It's so exciting to see them learning new things and getting excited about the most basic things that we grown-ups take for granted. :) Certainly a bright spot in what has been an otherwise crummy week.

Such an Accomplishment!

I have LIVED to tell the tale!!!

Yes, that's right, I took the girls grocery shopping.

Now that may not sound like such a big deal, but it's hard. And something that I don't usually do. Normally I try to time my grocery trips so that Hubs can watch the girls and I can go by myself. But today, well... today I just got a little bit crazy and decided to give it a whirl.

In case you don't have kids or only have one, here's my little breakdown of what such an adventure involves.

First, I folded up my deluxe double stroller and loaded it into the car. I don't have one of those really cool lightweight ones that fold up like an umbrella. No, mine weighs about 35 lbs. and is about as convenient as brushing your teeth without your hands. But I've been living with it for 2 years now and at this point I'm not willing to spend money on a better one.

Next I go get my kids. One has no pants on and the other has a poopy diaper. So it takes a few minutes to get everyone clean and presentable. I grab one kid to load into the car while the other watches TV. I take the first kid and strap her into her car seat, close and lock the door, while I rush to go get the other one. Turn off the TV, thankfully this one still has her pants on, and I take and load her into the car.

I do a mental check to make sure I have everything, including my brain, that's always a good thing. Thankfully I have everything I need including my earth friendly shopping bags. So I put myself in the car, slam the door, and WHEW! Am I sweating already? Just a little bit, hopefully no one will notice.

So off to the store we go! At this point I'm feeling very proud of myself for even considering this. I've taken the girls to the store before, but always to just grab a thing or two. Today I'm doing the big weekly trip, which means I'll have to get a cart while pushing the stroller... man... why am I doing this? Should I turn around and go back home and forget this ever happened? Stay calm, Amy. You can DO this!!!

In addition to the little pep talk I give myself, I also say a little prayer, "Please God, let this go easier than I expect! Let there be nice people who make room for me and my cart + stroller. AMEN!"

What I'm really hoping for is a store employee to come along with me to do my shopping. Why don't they offer that kind of service??? I'm sure there are other people who would use it.

I pull into the parking lot. Get out the stroller. One child has apparently learned how to work her arms out of the straps. Oh great! I tell her no-no while pointing to her straps and then get her out and load her into the stroller. Then I wheel around to the other side of the vehicle and get out the other kid and put her in too. Shut the doors. Oh wait, the bags! Open the doors, get the bags, shut the doors, set the alarm. Am I sweating again? Dang it! Well hopefully it's just a rosey glow.

Into the store we go! At least it's cooler in here. I pick a cart and pray it's fully functional. With one arm I push the stroller, and with the other I pull the cart behind me. Right off the bat an employee says, "Hey, that looks like WORK!" I say, "Psh, it ain't nothin'!" But what I'm really thinking is, "Yeah, it is, wanna give me a hand?!?"

It takes me a while to figure out how to navigate the stroller, which really needs two hands to stay on course. Finally I figure out that if I use my right arm, and push it with my entire forearm I can push with my hand to turn right, and my elbow to turn left. I get lots of strange looks. Oh well.

On my way out another stranger comments, "Wow! You're a pro!" I say, "It takes practice."

At the check out the lady asks if I'd like help out to my car, "YES!!!"

It took me 3 hours, usually it takes me 2 so that's really not too bad. I'm not sure that I'll repeat this event again anytime soon. Not unless I'm bored and have a lot of energy that I need to expend. But it IS possible, and I CAN do it, and that makes me feel like I climbed Mt. Everest today.

Note to Ziva

Dear Ziva,

I know you're only two. I know you have boundless energy and a relentless curiosity about the world around you. I know that you have this drive inside of you to explore the world in a hostile takeover fashion. I know. Believe me, I know.

But could you please oh please stop exploring your diaper contents during nap time? It may seem like a great place to find art supplies, but it's yucky Honey. Really REALLY yucky!

Thanks so much,

Your Momma

Speach Development and a Crib Party

My mom keeps telling me that I need to write this stuff down, otherwise I'll forget. I know she's right, but so often I get caught up with making this blog all nice and semi-professional (HA!) and wonder if people will care what my kids are up to. I figure the only people who REALLY care about this stuff is me, Hubs, and the extended fam (and some of them might not care either!).

But since this is really the place where I share my thoughts, I don't keep a journal hidden under the mattress or anything like that, this is it baby! I better start writing some of this stuff down, and write down here because it really isn't going to happen otherwise.

So if this bores you, come back tomorrow. lol

Ziva has added a few words to her vocabulary! On Monday she said, "Mama" for the first time! She pulled an old photo of me and Hubs out of my Bible and pointed to him and said, "Dada" and then pointed to me and said, "Mama". She's said Dada before, but this was the very first time I've heard her say Mama, and she said it very matter-of-factly, as if "Duh, I know this people!" were going through her head. lol, it was very cute!

She still says Bye all the time, but now she also says Hi and Go. Obviously leaving and arriving are very critical to her and she wishes we would Go all the time! Thankfully as far as she is concerned Go to the backyard is just as good if not better than Go in the car to actually Go somewhere.

So I think that all of Ziva's words at this point are Go, Bye, Hi, Mama, Dada, Yay!, Mo (for more), and Ga (for dog).

Anya does a LOT more babbling, but much fewer actual words. She says Dada and Bye and that's about it. You can tell who her favorite parent is! lol She does do a lot of imitating, and there have been a few times when we've turned our heads and asked each other, "Did she just say, 'Lets go to the store?'" I think that's because her babbling is becoming very pronounced and often sounds like she's talking full sentences. She's still a very sensitive little girl, and gets her feelings hurt quite a bit. I find that I spend a great deal of time comforting her, and often feel the need to shield her from certain situations. Hopefully I'm not making matters worse.

There have been lots of cute stories, and my mom is right, because right now I'm not thinking of any. DANG IT! I hate it when she's right...

Ok, I just thought of one!

The other day I heard them laughing upstairs during nap time. I had just put them down for their nap 30 minutes prior so it was NOT time to wake up yet. Fearing another poop party (yes, Ziva does get her diaper off by herself, we now duct tape it on and use onesies over the top to keep them on) I went up there only to discover that they've learned how to play peek-a-boo with each other using the crib rails as a little hiding spot! After I walked in they squeeled as if to say, "Yay! Mom is here to join the fun!" And then they gave me a little demonstration to show me what was so funny. LOL Since I was up there I went ahead and checked their diapers, and they were both indeed poopy which was why they were still awake and able to invent their little game. But after I changed them and put them back in their cribs they went right on back to playing and never did take a nap. The rest of our evening didn't go so well as a result, but it was still pretty funny. Stuff like this are what makes twin parenting so much fun though! It's so fun to hear them squeeling and laughing in the other room and know that they're just having a good time with each other! Warms our hearts!

Twins: In their native habitat

Shhhhh....

We must be vewy vewy quiet...

The twins in their native habitat are easily disturbed. The docile... oh who am I kidding?... sometimes aggressive beasts... will pounce at the slightest provocation. Great care must be taken to avoid such a catastrophe.

And there they sit! You would never know by looking, but these are truly savage beasts.



Alas!!! We have been spotted! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!



Oh the fangs!!! Guard your vital organs!!! (No seriously, you might wanna do that!)



Absolutely vicious I tell you!!!



We may never live to tell the tale!



Look, the pink one is using some sort of sideways maneuver! If we live we should report this new behavior to the authorities.



And look at the purple one! I've never seen such shaggy mane! She must truly be a rarity.



Whew! Well it looks like we might live to see another day... They spared us this time, but will they be so kind tomorrow??

National Day of Prayer

Hello there! I'm Amy, and these are my fraternal twin daughters, Ziva & Anya. They're 22 months old and exploring new territory every day!

I'll get into my original blog plan for today in just a moment (the National Day of Prayer). But I'm hoping some of you who are reading this are visiting my blog for the very first time! That's right, I'm the featured blogger today over at Multiples... and More! I'm so excited!!! I've never been a featured blogger before so I really don't know what to do! I'm not sure what will be posted over at MaM about me, I sent them a pretty huge long list of links and pictures that they might wanna use. In true Amy fashion I couldn't decide which ones were good! And then when I went back to read some of my old stuff... well, I liked all of it so I sent them all of my best entries. Not hard to do since I've only truly been blogging for 5 months.

So for those of you who are interested in what's happened in my life over the past 5 months, here are some of my BEST posts! I thought about doing a Top 10 sort of dealie but that would require some actual decision making on my part...

Recipes:
Introduction to Mystery Spice Monday
Lemon Chicken & Artichokes with Dill Sauce
Heavenly Pork Roast
Cook Once, Eat Twice! aka Taco Dip & Italian Turkey Meatballs
Totally Yummy Brownies

My Girls:
Tiptoe... Through the Tulips...
Twin Expectations
Our Birth Story
Picking an Unusual Name for Your Baby(ies)
A Day in the Life
Mother of Multiples Groups

The Infamous Other:
Beautiful Like Me
The Boys
This Morning a Year Ago
My Bissell Steam Mop
Looking for an affordable house??? READ THIS!!!

Like I said... indecisive! I hope that doesn't scare you away from my blog forever. :) You will come back and see me again won't ya?!

Anyhoo...

So back to my original plan for today's post. The National Day of Prayer. If you are a church going sort at all you'll know that today's the day to pray! (Ok, I realize we're supposed to pray every day!) Specifically I think it's important to pray for our country, for our leaders that they make wise decisions, for our economy, for our soldiers, and of course for our friends and families who are going through tough times.

I thought it might be fun to do something a little interactive today, especially since hopefully more people will visit here today than usual. If you have a prayer request, about ANYTHING going on in your life, or even going on with someone you know and care about, please share it with us. Just post a comment, you can do it anonymously if you like. And then if you have any time today, please read other's comments and pray for them. Lift each other up in prayer. And pray for those who visit this blog for the first time today, that they will be encouraged and blessed.



And if you think about it, I have my own prayer request today. My dad has stage 3 prostate cancer and he's going in for surgery to remove his prostate today. Somehow I don't think it's a coincidence that such an event is taking place on the National Day of Prayer. Everyone I have talked to about my dad's surgery has told me that they knew of someone who had the same surgery (apparently 3 out of 4 men end up with prostate cancer at some point in their life) and it completely cured their cancer. So I'm feeling pretty certain that my dad will be ok. However, I saw him yesterday, and I could tell he was worried. So pray for peace for my dad. That his nerves are calmed, that everything goes smoothly and according to plan, that God guides the surgeon's scalpel and that my dad will make a quick recovery. Amen!

If you would like to post on your own blog about your prayer request, or to encourage others to participate in the National Day of Prayer, please feel free to link up!

Aloha Friday!

Last week I participated in Aloha Friday over at An Island Life. It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of new bloggers, and I had my largest group of visitors to my blog ever! So I've decided to do it again this week. :)

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate in Aloha Friday just head on over to her blog. :)

My question this week is:

If you have/had toddlers living in your house, what are some fun age-appropriate activities that you did with them? I did some google searches last night to find some new things to do with the girls, but I didn't find anything particularly exciting. My girls are 21 months old, and so far they're non-verbal (we're starting Early Intervention soon). Any ideas??? I could totally use the help here.

Just Another Day

Last night I made that Cheesy Tavern Soup. Well, the recipe sounded divine! But the results? Not so much. I found it to be edible, and Hubs took one sip and said, "Gah! What's in this??" Needless to say, the soup that was remaining this morning (aka nearly all of it) was fed to the garbage disposal. I was pretty bummed about it, but Hubs reminded me that failure was all part of the spirit of exploration, and that it was inevitable that I would make something that wasn't as good as it sounded. He's right. He usually is. Damn, I hate that! lol

This afternoon we're headed to the girl's first Early Intervention appointment to learn more about their speech delay. Yesterday it really hit me how difficult things were getting to be to parent children who can't communicate with us. I know all parents experience some of that in the 2 year old age set. There's obviously a lot of frustration on both sides when a child is pre-speech. Lately there have been so many times when one (or both) girl (s) will throw a tantrum simply because I don't understand what they want or need. I'm pretty good at judging when they're hungry or tired, but anything else and I feel like I'm talking to a space alien.

Hubs is really not looking forward to the appointment. He's convinced that the whole thing will be about our failure as parents. He's sure that it'll just be one thing after another of things we should be doing, and of course the obvious conclusion that we should have been doing these things all along. Hubs tends to be frustrated with how long a 15 minute Dr. appointment can take, so I really hope he can just chill out and relax for what should be a 2 hour appointment.

Pray for us. Honestly, I think the girls will probably have a lot of fun (playing with other people's toys is ALWAYS fun). But it's us as parents that I'm a bit concerned about. Will they tell us that we've been slacking for the last 21 months? Will the improvements that they suggest work? Will Hubs go stark raving mad at the 45 minute mark?

I'll keep ya posted.

Anya's New Do

As I'm sure you've noticed in many of my pictures of her, Anya has quite a bit of hair.



Until recently, there wasn't much I could do about it besides cut it, and I just wasn't ready for that. So we just kept pushing it out of her eyes every time she held still long enough. We tried clips and such, but although Anya didn't seem to mind, Ziva was fascinated with such adornments and would pull them out of Anya's hair. So poor little Anya just looked through a veil of hair to see the world.

That is, until just a few days ago when I decided to try the rubber band approach.

And thankfully, Anya is now big enough to protect herself a little better and won't let Ziva anywhere close to her hair. WOO HOO!!!



Oh, did I mention the girls are sick again? Yup, they both have colds... again... So that should explain the spacey look on her face and her refusal to stop watching TV even for a second.

Looking back, I should have just turned it off.

But I'm starting to feel yucky too so my brain is only 1/2 functional.

Sorry.





And of course, the cutest picture of the day is of Ziva, the child I wasn't trying to capture. lol But if bringing out the camera perks her up for just a minute then it was well worth it!

Things I Love Thursday

Today I'm participating in Things I Love Thursday over at the Diaper Diaries. Hop on over there for more great things!

Thanks to Weelicious for introducing me to to this great product!!!

Tilty Cups!!!

They just flat out rock, that's all there is to it.

We struggled for months with other sippy cups from the grocery store, we tried gerber, playtex, plus several others with no go. My girls were just not at all interested, and we kept going back to bottles. I felt like a looser because at 18 months old my girls we refusing sippy cups.

Regular sippy cups have 2 problems. #1) Poor design. In order to get any liquid out of them they have to tilt up the cup till it's almost vertical. Most kids are not coordinated enough to manage that at this age. #2) They have to suck really hard in order to get anything out of them because of the valve. Now, valves are good in that they don't allow any dribbles to drip out onto your carpet, but they also make it much harder for kids to drink. My kids got VERY impatient with valves and would end up crying and throwing their cups in frustration because it was just too hard to suck anything out of them.

Enter the Tilty cup! They have a slanted plastic piece inside the cup that forces the liquid towards the spout without having to tilt it up very high. Brilliant! Plus, no valve! They're slightly messier than a regular sippy, but my kids associate milk with cuddle time anyway so they're usually right there with me when they're drinking milk. If I am going to leave them unsupervised with a sippy I just use one of the old valve type sippies. BUT, they prefer the Tilty over regular sippies simply because they're so much easier to drink from.

Plus, they have a lot of benefits that any mom would love. BPA and PVC free plastic. Machine washable. And they're pretty cheap, only $6 for a 2 pack. So you get a lot of extra bonus features for roughly the same price as a regular sippy.

If you're interested in getting your very own Tilty cups you can order directly from their website.

Here's a picture of my happy girls enjoying their Tilty cups!

My First Way Back When-esday

I told myself I wouldn't follow blogging protocol, but... I don't know, I guess I'm caving to peer pressure today.

Maybe it's because I ended up taking Ziva to the ER last night only to find out that I'm a paranoid mom who's kid only has some sort of virus. They kept asking me things like, "Does she have a fever?" "Only a mild one." "Does she have a hacking cough?" "Umm... not really." I felt like a total idiot... They sent me home with proper dosing instructions for Tylenol and the keep-her-hydrated speech.

Came home to a cranky sick Hubs, and woke up this morning to a sick and crying Anya.

So my day is headed off to a fabulous start, and I'm tired and praying I'm not going to be sick too.

As a result, it seems like the PERFECT day to join in on Way Back When-esday and think about happier times.

So here's the girls in their stroller and Baby Legs when they were about 13 months old. I LOVE this picture of them!




It was taken up at the lilac garden in Woodland, WA. My parents invited me and the girls to go with them, and I'm so glad I went! It was a glorious day, and the girls had a great time getting out, we didn't get out often back then!

Language Development of Twins

My girls are behind. I know they are because at 19 months old Ziva pretty much only has 1 word (bye bye) and Anya has maybe 3 (bye bye, ba ba, and no). Neither says Mama or Dada.

So today I called Early Intervention and made an appointment. The soonest we could get in was March 10th. My guess is that by then they will have made significant progress and I'll end up calling and canceling. That's pretty much what happened a few months ago when I called because they hadn't started walking yet. Murphey's Law: As soon as you make an appointment for a problem, said problem resolves itself.

Anyway, I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I'm reading the book Raising Twins. And since there are a few twin mommies who follow my blog I thought I'd share a couple paragraphs about why twin language development is different from singletons. It's pretty interesting stuff!

"When a baby is born, its parents' initial communication is made up of smiles, cuddling, gestures of affection and cooing at their newborn. Parents also seem to intuitively imitate their baby's vocal sounds. There have been studies that indicate that the children of parents who used a lot of "baby talk" were faster to acquire expressive language skills. These parents may also have been particularly physically affectionate with their infants, so it is not really possible to pinpoint the reason their children were ahead of the language curve. Yet knowing as we do the overall importance of early one-on-one communication between parents and young children, environmental factors give us important clues about language development in twins. Twins usually engage in three-way (triadic) conversations instead of two-way conversations. They have less language directed toward them and less opportunity to participate verbally. The more available the mother and father are to the child, the stronger the symbiotic communication between them. Parents of newborn twins typically do not have the luxury of extended periods of one-on-one time with each baby. This may account, in part, for some of the delays in twins' language acquisition that sometimes occur.

Multiple births are at a higher risk of prematurity than singletons, and researchers have long associated low birth weight (typical of premature infants) and other complications of prematurity with developmental delay. A 1986 study compared low birth weight twins with low birth weight singletons (less than 1,500 grams) ranging from one month to four years of age. They found there were intermittent differences in hearing and speech at some ages but not at others. They also found that there were no significant language differences after the age of two and that by four years, twins measured ahead of non-twins on several measurements."

So hopefully, in a couple years time they will even out with their peers and there will be no noticeable delays. But until then, it's getting kind of frustrating. I'd really like to be able to communicate with them in a more significant way than what we're doing now.

Anya babbles non-stop, but really doesn't say many real words. She does ask for things that she wants, but usually it's by pointing or going over to the thing that she wants me to get for her. She does LOVE books though, which is encouraging. She loves to look at the pictures, and often vocalizes what she sees in her own incoherent "language". She "reads". But if I try to sit down with her she quickly gets upset, she'd much rather be on her own to "read" than have me read with or to her. Anya is more social, she makes better eye contact, and is very jolly and giggly. She loves to be tickled and roughhoused with.

Ziva is a much quieter child, and doesn't verbalize much at all, but she pays attention to EVERYTHING. She says bye bye, and has said night-night once. But I think she understands a lot more than Anya does. She obeys commands, she likes to play little games and picks up on new ones very quickly. She stacks blocks, and arranges her food. And since they have several matching or similar toys she will often get one, and then find the other that corresponds. So I know she's smart. She has 2 signs, "more" and "bye bye", and she uses them at the appropriate times and pretty much signs "more" any time she wants anything. She is very very very busy, and so far has done everything at least 1 month ahead of Anya.

I feel kind of lost. I have no idea what I should be doing to help them. I'm sure there's some totally obvious things I could do that would help them along, but I have no idea what those things would be. I'm sure they should watch less TV and do more activities, but again, I have no idea what those activities should be. I often feel like I'm failing them, and that makes me very sad. I really wish that appointment with EI could be sooner because I feel like I really need help NOW, not 2 months from now.

So if any of you mom's out there know of some good online resources or something I'm ALL ears! :)

I feel a change a' comin'!

Two days ago my sweet little Ziva woke up from her nap SCREAMING! I thought it was because she got her leg stuck between the crib rails, she's done that several times before. So I rushed upstairs as fast as I could, she really sounded like she was in a frenzied state of panic! Poor baby...

When I got into the room I could not believe my eyes!

My sweet little baby was straddling the front rail of the crib!!!

My heart leapt to my throat as I rushed to her aid!

Luckily she when she got up to the top she scared herself and started screaming, otherwise she probably would have fallen and hurt herself!

She's always been the adventurous/active one so I knew she'd be the first to try something like this. And I've heard many many stories of crib escapades, so I wasn't overly shocked, I was expecting it. I just had no idea when it would happen.

Since then she hasn't tried it again. But I know it's only a matter of time until she forgets how scared she was and goes for another attempt.

This morning when I went to wake her up she immediately stood up in her crib and flung her leg up to the top of the rail like she was just going to come out and get me! So I'm sure it'll happen again...

Unless...

We take the rails off the crib and turn them into toddler beds. ACK!!!! Talk about terrifying!!!

But it's gonna happen sometime, and I would rather do it sooner than later if later means having her take a really bad fall.

Of course in order to make this happen we have some major baby-proofing to do in their room. They don't know how to open doors, so we don't have to worry about that... yet... But they have this big bureau in their room that needs to be secured to the wall, and perhaps a lock for the sliding closet door. They do make such things don't they? I'm sure they do! Right? lol

So part of the reason I'm saying this and putting this out there is because if I write about it, then it gives me more motivation to make it happen. And maybe I'll get out this weekend and buy the supplies we need, and then convince my hubby to install everything for me. :)

One of my goals for the next 6 months is to get the entire house baby-proofed. Right now the girls spend the majority of their time in the living room which is gated off from the rest of the house and is perfectly 'proofed. But my kitchen, dining room, stairs, etc, still need to be done. See? Write it and it happens! Hopefully...

Bye-Bye Ba Ba

My girls have officially switched from bottles to sippy cups. I know that's really not a major accomplishment since they are now 19 months old, but I feel like it's a BIG step! So I thought I'd post a picture of Ziva demonstrating her Ba Ba mastery.



Now we're working on eating from actual plates and using actual utensils rather than just grabbing with our hands. Exciting stuff!

And since this post, at it's roots, is all about savoring my girl's babyhoods while they're still babies (sort of! ack!) I thought I'd share this sweet picture of me and Anya after she had a bath a couple weeks ago.



All wrapped up like a little bitty baby...


PS: I have 10 Dr. Brown's bottles if anyone wants them! FREE if you can come pick them up!

Ringin' in the New Year!

I almost called this post "Makin' a Joyful Noise" but since the pictures actually WERE taken on New Year's Day I decided to go with this title. :) We really didn't plan these pictures at all. The girls just decided that the tins that some dresses came in on Christmas would make good drums (and I think Daddy introduced the plastic spoons to the mix). This kept them busy for a good 30 minutes.

Here's Daddy & Anya. Yes, I know Anya needs a haircut. I was perfectly settled about cutting it until someone commented, "But you'd be cutting off the hair she was BORN with!" And now I'm very unsettled about it and it's getting pretty shaggy.



I think she's still pretty cute though.



Yup, very cute. :)



Ziva decided to join the fun!



Ooooh, this was a really good idea Daddy!



And I know I've posted this picture of Ziva before, but it's seriously the BEST picture of her I've been able to capture in a Looooooong time!



Most pictures of her look like this:



So thank you very much Aunt Suzy and Uncle Wayne for inadvertently giving my daughters their most favorite toys. lol

Labels

I'm reading a pretty good book right now. It's called Raising Twins from Birth Through Adolescence: What Parents Want to Know (and What Twins Want to Tell Them) by Eileen M. Pearlman and Jill Alison Ganon. I'm only about 1/2 way through it but so far it has a lot of really interesting things to say. Sometimes it's hard to get into a book when you only have 5-10 minute segments of time to read, but the way this book is laid out I can usually get something out of it during such a time stretch.

Right now I'm knee deep in a chapter about Labels. I think all parents who have more than 1 child have to deal with such issues to some extent, but to parents of twins or more it's even more difficult to avoid labeling your children. It's how the human brain works. We look for differences in order to find unique qualities that set one person apart from another. It's how we define people as individuals. But with twins some comparisons can be hurtful or even damaging.

So I've been looking at how I've inadvertently "labeled" my kids. Several family members have looked at Ziva and commented on how she's going to be the "tomboy" someday because she's very active. And I've found myself automatically giving her the green or blue cup to drink from, or dressed her in more neutral colors instead of pink or purple. Or go just the opposite and put her in the most frilly shirt possible to fight off such a stereotype. Either path I go with this I end up being upset with myself afterwords.

And Anya, who since the beginning has been known as "the shy one". I find myself often shielding her from new people or situations, anticipating that she will get upset before she even has the chance to make that choice for herself. Yet she was the one who warmed up to Santa Clause right away at a kids Christmas party, not Ziva. So obviously I need to give her more space to be open to new people and experiences so she can learn to make those judgments herself.

It's so easy and simplified to say child A is ________ and child B is _______. The challenge is in allowing your children to just be who God created them to be and stop putting them into little boxes and expecting them to stay put. Because the child who is rebellious and challenging today may very well be the helpful and considerate child tomorrow.

As one fraternal twin girl in this book put it, "There is really no good twin and bad twin. Each one is good some days, and each one is bad some days." I think that's a pretty apt description of the twin experience. Just like you and me and everyone else, they have their good days and their bad days. Sometimes they take turns on those days, and sometimes they decide to be good or bad simultaneously. And Lord help me when they're bad simultaneously!

18 Month Check Up

I thought I'd take a break from Christmas... and MAN do I need a break!... to give the update everyone's been hoping for: the 18 Month Check Up.

So a grumpy-due-to-not-enough-sleep Hubby and I went to take the girls to their 18 month Dr. appointment. Word to the wise, if your hubby works nights like mine does it would be wise to schedule the appointment for late afternoon rather than 11am during his normal sleeping time. If you're not wise, then you'll be like me and drag a very sleep deprived grumpy hubby to your twin daughter's doctor appointment, a task which is about as much fun as getting a root canal.

I swear... I don't know who stressed me out more during this appointment. My screaming twin girls, or my Hubby. Although I suppose I will take some of the blame for that.

Sigh.

Anyway, we did find out that Anya is 22 lbs. and 32" tall, and Ziva is 20 lbs. and 31" tall. Which puts Anya at the 20th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height, and puts Ziva at the 4th percentile for weight and 40th percentile for height. So of course the Dr. quized us on what we were feeding them and how much they eat, which we assured him was an astonishing quantity.

But we do have some concerns about their development. At this point they're "supposed" to have 20 words each, and they each have less than 5. Plus we have some concerns about Anya's fine motor skills. So we have a referral to Early Intervention and we're waiting to hear back from them to get an appointment to have the girls evaluated.

I'm really not worried, I know they're smart, I just feel like I need to learn how I can help them learn better.

So that's about it! :)

I promise another post about Christmas II tomorrow with pictures. :)

And then the day after that I'll post my recipe for Paprika Chicken.

Stay tuned!

First Kisses!

I was going to write about something completely different, but then this morning when I was playing with the girls something wonderful happened.

With a face like this:


You would think Anya would be the first to pucker up!

But instead it was Ziva!

I was playing with Anya, a kissing game where I would purse my lips and make very dramatic "MMmmmmmm Muah!" kissing noises. Each time I'd do it Anya would lean in for a kiss on her head or cheek or chin or whatever. And she'd giggle and wiggle each time with wonderful toddler enthusiasm.

And then Ziva decided to climb up on the couch with us to join the game. I've played this game with Ziva before in pretty much the above described method. Except this time something was different. There was a curious gleam in Ziva's eyes. And she pursed her own lips, leaned forward and said, "mmmmmm" as she kissed me right on the lips! And OH did my heart do flip flops, in a strangely similar fashion to when their father first kissed me!

I gotta say, this parenting business really is amazing!