Our Kids

So scratch the plan for today.  The girls insisted on  napping at around 950 so once again we know who is in charge.  And for those in the back not listening, it ain’t me.

Not so well.  The girls wore me down, well actually Piper did.  After about 45 min of protest (Piper rarely cries, she just protests until she gets what she wants with no tears) I went in to get her so the maybe Lela could get some rest.  But when I opened the door Lela popper her little head up and said, I am not sleeping either.  So we got up and made due with the rest of the afternoon which was okay but they were definitely tired.  I think Lela was even saying sleep/please in sign language by 630PM.  Today we are doing the same thing, waiting on nap time and we will just shoot for one nap today with an earlier bed time.  Maybe this is it, they are getting ready for one nap a day.  We will see……

What is up with that nap time? I just can’t figure it out and I guess I am not really supposed to:) LOL! So the girls still nap in the morning and they were napping about 1 hour and 45 min and then during our trip to Texas they switched to 1 hour in the morning and 1 in the afternoon without trouble and no crying. It was a 2 hour time change so they were a bit out of their element. Now we are back and trying to get back on some sort of schedule. They are starting to really dislike the afternoon nap but they can’t go until bedtime without one, they become quite emotional without a nap. So we are struggling to get something going. I am totally okay if they want to nap just once a day but every time we try that it goes haywire, they don’t seem to be ready.

Today I waited an extra hour until 10:30AM to put them down for their morning nap but they only slept 1 hour 15 min anyway. So here we are at 3PM and I am forcing them to nap, they are tired but they are letting me know in no uncertain terms that they are NOT happy about it. I guess I will just have to listen to the crying so they can get some rest. Lela goes down relatively quickly but Piper stands in her crib and cries at the door. I can tell she is standing by the sound she makes. Lately I have been going in to get her but after she cuddles with you for about 15 min she wants to play and doesn’t get a nap at all. Today I am standing firm and I am not going to go and get her, it sucks but I think that is best for her. They need some extra rest due to the slight case of the snifflies that they have. Anyhoo, I guess I should busy myself with some chores to take my mind of Peeps.

The girls are on the mend, you can’t even tell that Lela had a thing (not that you ever could) and Piper is getting over her congestion.  I am so glad that she is dairy free because I think this bug would have hit her so much harder had she been consuming dairy.  We went out to the movies today and left the kids with granny and grampy, it was a nice day out.  But as nice as it was I am too addicted to the little girlies and can’t wait to get back to see them again.  Sometimes I think I need to try harder to be away from them from time to time but then I figure there will be plenty of time to be away from them and for now all I want is to be with them.

I met a lady with twin 3 year old girls this morning and we had a nice chat.  She said she was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I thought “oh crap the light in my tunnel must be an oncoming train since her girls are 3 and I am seeing the light now!”  Anyway, it was nice to chat with her about her girls and what she was doing with them socially etc.  Reminded me that I need to get involved with the mother of mulitples group asap (I keep forgetting about the meetings) so that the girls can socialize and I can chat with other and realize that I am not totally insane.  Anyhoo, father’s day tomorrow, with the girls feeling puny we did not go out and get anything for Jason so we will be fixing him a yummy pancake breakfast and letting him sleep in (until 7AM at the least:) as our gift to him.  He truly is the most wonderful father and husband that I could ever ask for, don’t know how he ended up in our life but I am grateful to the path that brought him to me and to the girls.

Sappy, sappy, sappy

Well it has been a little tough getting the girls back  into their routine or them getting me back into their routine, either way.  They have been wanting to skip the afternoon nap which makes for a tough afternoon and an early bedtime and an even earlier wake up time:)  Turns out the little ones are feeling a bit puny, maybe a tiny bug is going through their systems.  Lela was having a little digestive trouble and this morning Piper is runny nose lady.  The good news is that today they are taking their afternoon nap and I think they need the extra rest.  We have been eating fresh raw foods today to help bolster their immune systems plus some yummy zucchini muffins (cooked, not raw:) to brighten their faces.

We have pulled out all the toys, the tunnel, the pop up play house, the aero bed and made a real mess of the house but I think it makes them feel better.  I want them to be right as rain for their daddy’s second father’s day:)

The girls are doing great readjusting, we did our usual this morning, a run in the park for me and then playing at the playground for the, eating our apple on the way home and then down for a nap around 10AM.  All is well and I have time to update the blog on what we did in Texas.

So the flight was uneventful, the girls stayed awake the whole time but were angels.  I think I was still wound up about the trip and got a little nauseous on the plane but managed to hold down my cookies and all was well when we arrived and got settled.

It took the girls a few days to warm up to everyone and Piper was a little more clingy than normal but I think that was due to the molar activity.  She gets her teeth all at once and although only 4 came in during our trip I think she is working on at least 8 including her bottom eye teeth so ouchie for her.  After we got all settled we headed out for SeaWorld on Friday.  The girls liked Shamoo, it was a very big fish.  Piper got really excited and did the sign for fish very enthusiastically with both hands while screeching and smiling, Lela was in a trance just ooogling the big fish.  They enjoyed most of the shows we saw and the penguin exhibit.  It was very exhausting for everyone and they needed a big nap to get rested up.

After a couple days of rest we headed out to the lake.  This was their first real water experience other than the bath.  They really liked it but that was mostly because of the cool boats that granny got them, they could sit in them all wrapped up and safe and they liked that, even Lela the one who hates the bath.  Piper would kick her legs as fast as she could and make waves, Lela like kicking too but she was not as vigorous.  After swimming they chased a duck up the way and that was very exciting.  They insisted on walking back to the cabin and that included a very steep hill and a bit of a trek but they loved every minute of it.  Back at the cabin we hung out and played and got really good at signing the word bug.  There were lots of bugs to look at and follow around.  We had a great time.

The rest of the trip was spent playing in grandma’s lush backyard on the swing set, the see saw, the sand box and the play pool.  We also played with bubbles, watering cans and anything we could get our hands on even the cat, Spidey.  HA!  I am sure Spidey is glad that we are gone even though I know everyone else misses us.  The girls even got to spend some time with their cousins and their Aunt and Uncle.  They never really warmed up to their Uncle but it was the first time they met him and he was very courteous to stay out of their way so he did not frighten them.  They sat with their cousin Judson while watching a signing DVD and even played with their cousin Kalieugh and Aunt Shel.  We had a great trip and are looking forward to going back again.

We are back home safe and sound from our trip to Texas which was lots of fun but tiring.  We will spend the rest of this week working to get back into our timezone and relaxing.  While I am writing this the girls are reexploring their nice clean house (daddy cleaned).  The flight was good and uneventful, Lela managed to stay awake the entire time and when she saw her daddy and got tucked into her carseat she fell fast asleep.  Piper slept for about an hour and the rest of the time we did signs, played up and down and chatted.

I have about 80 pictures that I took while I was away plus some that my mom took on CD so be watching kids over the next week or so and I will add as many as I see fit, the ones with me in my bathing suit will not make the site (yes you are welcome).  All in all we are glad to be home and thankful that Grandma and Grandpa let us invade their house for almost two weeks.

While we were there Lela cut one new tooth on the bottom, that gets her to 7 and Piper added 4 molars and that gets her to 12.  The girls are getting very chatty and really making an effort to talk but still signing away.

Well, Mystique and the girls are in beautiful San Antonio right now… they’ve left me.  Suprisingly Mystique said it wasn’t for good, but I’m still wondering why she just bought one-way tickets and seemed to pack a whole bunch of stuff.

But anyways, if she were to leave me for good, I’d know why.  We had a terrible time last night… it seemed like the perfect storm occurred, and not in a good way.

First, I happened to have a busy day at work… stuff was breaking, I was fixing stuff, breaking more stuff, you know the drill.  All while trying to get home at a decent time so I could spend some time with my three favorite people.

Meanwhile… the girls decided that they didn’t need to sleep, so skipped their afternoon siesta.  I’m not even sure they had a good morning nap, either.  The point is, by 4:30pm the little ones were restless and grumpy.

So I actually made it home around 5:15… not necessarily early, but also not late.  We played with the girls for a little while, but then they got cranky and tired, so off to bed they went.

For a nap.  After only about an hour of sleep, both the girls woke up and started yelling at us.  I think I actually heard words like “Hey!” and “Get in here!” and “Stop dropping blankets on me Piper!”  They were m-a-d mad!

Being the style of parents that we are…. we ignored them.  Went out for pizza and beer.  Did some shopping.  That sort of thing.  Certainly didn’t retrieve them and hug them and get a kick out of the fact that they were wide awake all of a sudden.

Ok, so we did.  Cute little buggers… they played for a while, then we put our foot (feet?) down and said “bedtime!”  So we put them to bed… and they slept.  Like little angels.

Until my cell phone rang.  Work was calling.  I broke something. At least that’s the short story of the call.  The long story has many more excuses and explanations but is really quite boring and not pertinent to a blog about our kids.

What is pertinent is that the girls seem to loathe the sound of my cell phone’s ring.  Either that or they thought it was for them because almost immediately they started clamoring for the phone.  It sounded like crying, but I think they were really just trying to answer the phone thinking this time it really was Elmo calling them.

Mystique consoled one baby while I talked nice and loud into my cell phone.  That really made things easy for Mystique… me yelling and screaming “not my fault!  Not my fault!” on the phone (or at least I’m sure that’s what it felt like for Mystique).

I came to my senses and walked outside after a bit… said hello to the dogs who, now that I mention them, weren’t very helpful earlier in the evening when they were barking at some phantom thing on the other side of our wall.  I continued to talk, walking around yard, or “land mine central” as we like to call it.  I probably should have checked my shoes before coming back in the house.  Oh well.

So I managed to fix things at work (or at least pretend to fix things, who really knows), but during that time the girls woke up at least three times.  Wailed a bit, then went back to sleep.  I think they felt something coming up… they knew we all had to get up very early the next morning (7:30am flight) so they wanted to do their part in keeping mom and dad up.

While I was working Mystique was busily packing and loading the car… I think she stuck Buster into a suitcase, but I’m not sure.  Earlier in the day she baked me a cake (because she thought I might starve while she was gone), but it seems like a chunk of that has mysteriously disappeared.  While working, though, I managed to avoid carrying out the large pieces of luggage, but I did show up just in time to load them into the car for her.  Such a helpful husband.

And so that’s how the night went… Mystique finally got to bed around 10:30pm or so, and thankfully I didn’t get any more work calls where I had to use my loud voice again.  I babysat some servers for a little while and got to bed around midnight or so.

That 5am alarm came quick, I tell ya… me and Other Zombie got up and got ready.  Off to the airport we went where we managed to get to the gate just in time for boarding, so a quick kiss and off they went.

I heard from Mystique earlier and the flight went pretty well and they’re safe and sound in San Antonio.  I hope they all can finally get some rest because all three of them deserve it.