1/31/07 Wow, it's been while. No real excuses this time, just life.... The kids are doing pretty well. They have runny noses again, but I guess who doesn't when it's 3o degrees outside. Lucas and Soph are talking so much, and in such different ways. Lucas greets us formally with a "Hello mama, Hello dada." Soph is more laid back with a "Hiiieeeee!" They are repeating the alphabet now and know the Wiggly party dance from the Wiggles in it's entirety. They love to dance, and anytime music is on, they bust a move. When there is no music, I usually hear them singing Itsy Bitsy spider, or hush little baby, usually accompanied by rocking baby dolls. They also love to dress up and have fallen in love with my beads from New Orleans. They wear them everywhere, and it's like a little party everyday when they "rediscover" them in the morning. They are still loving running around the new house, and have perfected Marco Polo. I don't know if I have posted since then, but our Physical Therapist called and told us that the kids did not qualify for therapy anymore. As excited as we are for this GIANT milestone, we are pretty sad to see Salim (our therapist) go. He's been coming to our house for almost 2 years now and the kids are really attached to him! Congrats to the kids though!
Sophia has named one of her babies Sissy and carries her around in one arm, and PoppyPee in the other. She breastfeeds both (Although not at the same time) and tries to fit them both in the doll carrier. What a goof!
Lucas is really into reading and cars. We satisfy both of those with the "Cars" books he got for Christmas, which both Will and I have memorized and are now almost worn out. He also likes to tell us about EVERYTHING he sees first thing in the morning, so we get a play by play of what's going on in Lucas's world, For example, "Ditta (Sophia) is sleeping, Mama feeding Bella, Dada to work in his truck, Doggie sleeping.". All at once. It's quite a lot to hear first thing in the morning.
Bella is getting SO big. We've blown through 0-3 month clothes and are now fully into 3-6 month ones. She's almost too long for the 3-6 month sleepers, so I guess we'll be into 6-9 month ones soon, She is sleeping better, although not great. She's SO interested in watching the kids, and she giggles everytime they are near, even if she can just hear their voices. She has finally started to like her swing and bouncy seat (thank god), so I actually get 5 minutes here and there to cook dinner, go to the bathroom, etc.
As for Will and I, we are enjoying them. They are growing up so fast. We knew we'd love our kids, but who knew you could love them so much? :)
1/21/07 Bella's rolling like a pro now, and is pushing WAY up when she does tummy time. She's getting so big and loves to talk! How funny is it to hear the two kids talking in the backseat, and then shortly after they finish whatever they are saying, I hear a little coo or "aaah" or what sounds like an approval of whatever they have just said coming from the littlest car seat. Too cute!
Lucas and Soph are talking like crazy now, They repeat EVERYTHING we say, and have picked up so many words lately. They say two and three words together, and really get their point across! They have been having a great time upstairs in the playroom, since we finally got the gate up and their playhouse up there. They love to run/stomp/march around upstairs and they are also loving throwing their bricks (don't worry, the cardboard ones) around the room. Lucas is still extremely obsessed with keys, and Soph can't go anywhere without PoppyPee (her baby... she named her...). PoppyPee has her own swing and carseat, and she gets carried around just like Bella. Speaking of, the kids realized the other day that Bella doesn't have any teeth. This was a very disturbing fact for Sophia, who got really upset and whined like "What do you mean she had no teeth???" I tried to explain that they will grow in when she gets older, but now we have to check EVERYONE for teeth, including the dog and random people we see on TV and on the street. Gotta love asking strangers to show their teeth..... Is there an appropriate way to ask someone to pacify your screaming two year olds who are pointing at their own teeth, then at the other's person's teeth and screaming "teeth! teeth!" It's an interesting site, I'll tell you that.
The kids have also watched me breastfeed Bella enough that they are starting to respond to it. Not only do they breastfeed their baby dolls, but this morning, I was getting dressed in a hurry in the living room (right by the laundry room where all the clean clothes are) and I was putting on my bra. The kids saw this and started pointing at me and yelling, "Naaa eat! Naa eat!" Yes, that's where Naa eats, and when I asked where they eat, they both ran and pointed to their booster seats. Silly babies.
Lucas has started to answer yes to any questions that he agrees with, or any questions that he doesn't know the answer or doesn't understand. He only answers no to questions that he doesn't agree with or knows the answer is definitely no. For example, do you like broccoli (NO). Does Bella have teeth (NO). Do you know the president of the US (yes... he doesn't understand that one). So Will and I get a kick out of asking all sorts of fun questions that he answers YES to, like , "Is mama the most beautiful mama in the world?" YES, hey gotta take the compliments where I can get em :)
Lucas has also started telling on himself. When he does things he knows he isn't supposed to do, he comes to us saying, "No no no" and shaking his head no. Then he will take our hand and take us to what he did. They also tell us when they need a time out and when they are done with the time out. They'll learn soon enough to tell on eachother, for now, we're getting a kick out of the fact that they are telling on THEMSELVES!
Soph has started really singing, which is so much fun. She sings to us, she sings to her babies, she sings to Lucas, she sings when she is playing by herself, she LOVES to sing to Bella (who coos back). I gotta get it on video. She's actually a pretty good singer too!
Will update more later, gotta go get the kids ready for Mother's Day Out!
1/15/07 Bella ROLLED over today!!! She rolled over during tummy time, and then again after Will got home (I think the second time, she was just showing off:). She's growing up so fast! She loves to "talk" to us and also likes to stand on her own, just needs help balancing! She's so cute too! I know I know, where are the pictures???? Well, I'm working my way through boxes trying to find the powercord for the camera. I have a few new pictures, but I can't download them or take new pictures until I find it... GRRRR
Lucas and Soph are doing pretty well. They have colds, but hey, who doesn't. They are LOVING the new house, with so much space to run around and explore. They have fallen in love with Marco Polo, and play with us and then with eachother up and down the hallways. I guess it's basically hide and seek, but they get clues when the "hider" responds. They are getting really good at it too! I'm having trouble finding good spots to hide these days!
Another biggie this week, the kids got booster seats. We have abandoned the high chairs, and have substituted boosters, placemats, and non skid plates. They are doing pretty well with them, and are really excited to be sitting in big kid chairs. They have also started telling us before they go to the bathroom, so we have started sitting them on the potty when they say they have to go. We haven't caught any in the potty yet, but we JUST got the kids size potty seat yesterday, so we'll see. They really like sitting on the potty though, which is cute.
All in all, a fun and productive week. I'll update again soon, hopefully with pictures next time!
1/9/07 We're back in Memphis! We drove in on Saturday night, arriving home around 3am on Sunday morning. Needless to say, Sunday and yesterday were days of readjustment. We're finally starting to get back in the groove today, which didn't actually take us that long. Wanna know why??? Because we are all healthy (yes, you heard me correctly, I said we are ALL healthy!). Amazing what 2 weeks away from Mother's Day out will do :)
The kids had a great time on our trip. They got to spend quality time with relatives, and got to be ornery in someone else's house! Sophia spent most of the time carrying around baby dolls. She's become quite the little mother. I thought it was rough with two kids, but she had about 5 babies she was taking care of while we were at Nana's house. She spent most of her time carrying them, wrapping them in blankets, feeding them (both bottle and breast), and putting them to bed. My mom commented that she wasn't sure what was going on in our house though, because Soph would carry the babies to bed, put them in, THROW the blanket on them and scream, "Night Night!" at the top of her lungs at them. I guess she'd had enough of babies that day? I can relate some days.... :)
Lucas has really gotten defiant, and is so cute about it that it's hard to be mad. He pushes and pushes, just to see how far he can go. For example, we were eating at Nana's counter and he put his foot up on it. I explained to him that we don't put feet on the table and told him to take it down. He looked me dead square in the eyes and put his other foot up too. I was so shocked that I almost laughed. Of course when Sophia saw that I was upset, she started scrambling as fast as she could to get her feet up too. They are characters! Lucas has also started talking SO much more. His favorite word contines to be NO though. Surprise Surprise...
Bella is growing up so fast! She is already pushing up (see picture in album) and rolling from side to back or side to front. She pulls herself up when you hold her fingers, and actually pulls all the way up to standing. She's 2 months old!!!
I went ahead and put all the pictures in the December album, so check them out (there are a TON). Will update again soon!
1/1/07 First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! We've been too busy to update! We left Memphis for Indianapolis on the 22nd at 8PM at night, shortly after we left the minor medical center with Bella, who still had ear infections. We arrived in Indy around 4am, with sleeping children, which was nice. We decided that we needed to make sure the kids understood that not all the presents were for them at Christmas time, since they just got done with birthdays and opening all sorts of gifts, and would be doing it again soon, so Will and I packed up Lucas and Soph on Christmas eve day to go to the Dollar Store. We let the kids pick out whatever they wanted for Nana, Papa, Aunt Neenee and Uncle Ryan, who would be there for Christmas morning. We decided that if they kids picked out presents, helped wrap them, and then delivered them to the people on Christmas, they might understand the concept of giving better. Well.... the people in the dollar store thought we were completely insane. As i stated earlier, we let the kids pick out WHATEVER they wanted, so phrases such as..." Super Glue, nice pick Lucas!" and "Glow Sticks are GREAT for Uncle Ryan, Phia!" were exclaimed throughout the store (keep in mind, they know that 2 year olds are picking out super glue and we seem excited about this). All in all, it worked out fine and the kids had fun giving the presents the next day too. The reactions to the gifts were definitely worth the dollar! :)
Christmas was great... the kids are officially spoiled rotten. They got all sorts of wonderful things, including a basketball net and ball, to which Lucas about had a fit because we couldn't get it out of the box and put together fast enough (I think it took about 2 minutes to do). I am pretty convinced that we funded someone's early retirement at the Little Tykes corporation with the amount of stuff they got from them, including, but not limited to... Toddler beds (a racecar and a dollhouse one), a basketball net and a remote control car. Their stockings were also filled with leapfrog frogs that can be personalized, aqua doodles, and many many many other wonderful things. All in all a great success.
New Years brought a little family new years party, even though dada had to fly back home on the 31st. We dressed the kids up as New Years babies (check for pictures to follow) and made a fort to play in. The kids are experiencing all sorts of new things at Nana and Papa's house, like Kindermusik CD's (they actually have rhythm and can keep a beat! Plus, we discovered that Lucas LOVES marching!) and baby cradles (Soph can't get enough of feeding and putting her dolls to bed).
Bella is finally pretty much over her ear infections, although she is still on antibiotics that upset her tummy. She's happy and smiling alot of the time now, and really responds and flirts when people talk to her and smile at her. She's growing up so fast! She already pushes up during tummy time (ok, not all the way up... come on, she's only 9 weeks!), and loves to play the "pull on mama's fingers to sit up" game. She's a character and the kids are still in love with her.
Ok, enough, it's bedtime and I'm exhausted. More fun and updates to follow!
Posted by our3babies
at 10:26 PM CST
