Our Kids

Well we tried a new dentist today. The last few experiences have been awful for me so I thought I would offer the girls a change. I told them that if they did not like the new dentist we would just go back to the old dentist. I don’t know it was the change, their age or what not but they all did famously.

Lela went first and got xrays and was soooo good. Then Piper and she was apprehensive, coy and then finally gave in to the xrays. No xrays for Landis. Then it was time to see the dentist. Lela got right up in the chair and opened wide and had her teeth checked and even scraped a bit. She has a bit of an underbite. She is also due for a cleaning so we will go back on the 19th for that.

Piper had a harder time with the dentist but eventually gave in and sat on my lap and laid back in the chair and opened wide. Her teeth have excellent spacing on top and bottom and a good bite. Also she does not need a cleaning so we will wait another 6 months for her.

Then it was Landis’ turn. The dentist (who is a female) told Landis it was her turn and Landis said “go” which meant leave not get in the chair:) But she got in my lap and we laid back and surprisingly she opened her mouth got her teeth counted (16) and showed her bite. She was super. Doc said that she had excellent spacing on the top but crowded on the bottom.

All in all I could not be happier with our dental visit, yahoo! One less stressor for me and for them.

Well Landis turned 2 today! She is such a ham diego cracking me up and everyone else all the time. She is reserved with folks she doesn’t know and doesn’t go crazy in public but she is a ham for sure. She is kind of like me where if someone chuckles she will just keep on and on making the person laugh and laugh. She can’t help herself. She loves to dance, she sings the ABCs in her own way, loves itsy bitsy spider, dora, barney and elmo. She is a very typical 2 year old minus temper tantrums unless she is very tired. She still sleeps with us but slept the entire night last night with the girls in their sleeping bags in the living room for our “camp out.” So she is growing and changing every day and we are very proud of her.

It is no secret (except maybe to Lela) that Lela i s not the most helpful child, it could be that or it could be that Piper is THE most helpful child so it makes Lela appear unhelpful. Anyhoo, Piper is always at the ready to run and get something for you, turn off a light, bring over a dish etc. where Lela just looks at you with a glassy stare.

Today the girls were getting their milk out of the fridge and I asked if one of them could hand Landis her milk since she cannot reach. Lela looked right at me reached in to the fridge, got out her water took a long refreshing gulp, put it back and closed the fridge. Argh! Piper who was not at the fridge walked over opened the fridge and got Landis her milk from behind Lela’s water since she so nicely placed it right in front of Landis’ milk. I tell ya that child.

Then later I asked Lela specifically to go and get Landis’ water, the girls had gone in to get their waters and I asked them to bring out Landis’ when they came but no one did. I was busy tying a skeleton to a tree. Lela would not get it, she didn’t even budge. HA!

Now to make this fair Lela has been going through something lately. She loves to talk about vampires, witches, halloween and such and I think she puts up a really brave front but with all this bravery and big talk I think she has scared herself silly. She has started waking up in the night and calling for us to come get her (instead of her usual walking in to our room) and she is hesitant to go anywhere alone, even to get her panties and her clothes to get dressed. She won’t admit she is afraid, something that Piper routinely does, and I think she is just acting tough since Piper admits that things scare her. It is an interesting twist in their symbiotic twin relationship and we will have to see how it plays out. I think this is one reason she is being less than helpful lately, she doesn’t want to do anything alone.

This Sunday we did a segment on the local Arizona news morning show for the upcoming mothers of multiples rummage sale. Since I can’t say no I was rope a doped in to doing it with another mom (who looked fab on camera I must say) and I got to bring along Lela and Piper. It was fun, they got to be on the set during 45 min of taping. It was fun to watch the action happening all around and then when it was our segment they were right in the front watching it all unfold while riding on a scooter and a plasma car.

Since Lela loves TV I figured she would really get a kick out of the studio with the 100s of TVs going. I called them over to show them the control center and Lela looked for about a half a second before heading right to center stage where the interview happen and making herself comfortable. I guess she would prefer to be in front of the camera versus behind the scenes, lol!

I don’t think the girls realize they were on the news even though we showed it to them. I think they thought it was just another video. Landis was at home watching with dad and got to see us live and she seemed to get that, she was also distressed to see her Dora doll up on stage as a prop, lol!

Last weekend Piper had a fever and was tired, so she slept. The next day her fever was gone and she was up and about like nothing happened. I thought it was strange but we moved on. A few days later Lela had a fever and got tired, slept it off and was fine. Two days after her fever Lela told me her throat hurt, I gave her a lozenge and sent her to bed. The next morning she said her throat still hurt so I looked inside and it was classic textbook strep. Zowie! They have never had it before (thankfully) and had no other symptoms and seemed fine. I was a little taken back by the suspected diagnosis but took them in the doctor to confirm. It was in fact strep, turns out Piper and Lela had it. So we are on a course of antibiotics (something I don’t normally do) and a course of probiotics to put back in the good guys for 10 days. It is funny because the medicine tastes like bubble gum and the girls think it tastes gross. Sometimes I laugh at what they don’t like…coffee cake, donuts (who doesn’t like donuts), bubble gum and lots of really sweet stuff that most kids dig. Anyhoo, all is well and no one else (ie Jason, myself or Landis) got the strep thank goodness. Good thing Grampy and Grammy were out of town or I am sure we would have given them an early Halloween present:)

That is right the Haslup clan is expecting a new baby girl the first week of February 2010! We couldn’t be happier or more excited. We are so blessed with our kids that we could not call it quits at 3. I so wanted 4 girls and am over the moon. All is well, baby is super, girls are totally excited, Jason is outnumbered (but ecstatic), prego mommy is tired but great.

It is amazing what adding a couple hours of “school” to your day can do to make you feel so busy! The girls are doing great at Desert Sun, Lela is really blossoming and it is so nice to see. It seems like the week just rushes by, I feel I am now in that stage where you wake up and go whoa how did my kids become teenagers. I am working on making sure we slow down but between my volunteer work with the school, the multiples club and hitting our usual haunts like the library etc we are super busy.

The girls have started journaling. Basically what we do is they draw a picture or write words in their journal and I put the date on or write words to go along with the story, it is kind of fun and they seem to enjoy it. It will be a fun thing to look back on in years to come.

Jason started encouraging the girls to make up and tell us stories some time ago. They really enjoy it. Yesterday in their journals they “wrote the story” and then told me all about it.

Here is a story from Lela:

Once upon a time there was a dinosaur. They lived on the beach and they had big trees. Along came a witch and along came a ghost. Along came a vampire! It was Halloween! The End.

Here is a story from Piper:

Once upon a time…..

Two princesses went to their home. They went home after they went to lunch. The mom princess was in the office working on the computer. The two princesses asked if they could play with their little baby princess. The End.

Notice how Lela’s story is totally fictional while Piper is based on something that probably happened in real life. So interesting:)