Valentine’s Day

I have never been a huge fan of Valentine’s day personally. It’s kind of a cheesy day for couples to celebrate being in love and for single people to mourn over not being in love. Blah, blah, blah! ha! I have always said that if Travis’ wants to celebrate Valentine’s day that is fine, but that its a lot more fun when he gets me stuff or does something special for me on a day when it’s not expected! But, since having kids, it is a fun holiday to celebrate the love in our family with them.

This year was the first year that the girls enjoyed the candy and even the Valentine’s. They were so sweet. And of course the boys loved making Valentine’s for their friends and enjoying the Valentine’s their friends gave them from school. When I was shuffling through some old papers a few days before Valentine’s I found the Valentine Zane made for Travis last year. It was just incredibly cute and so sweet. He had written “Happy Valentine’s Day, Daddy!” on the inside and had decorated the outside with hearts on the outside.  Then, the Friday before Valentine’s day Tate, I was digging through Tate’s backpack to get out his papers from school and I find this little red heart card with a stamped heart on the front that said, “Happy Valentine’s Day” and then I opened it to find the most precious hand written note I have ever gotten from Tate. It was simple and plain, but so incredibly adorable. Inside on the blank card, Tate had written: I love you. *SIGH* oh my heart just melted when I read that.  It just showed me that my little Tater is growing up and the fact that he had not only written, but taken the time to ask his teacher how to write “I love you” on this card was just so sweet!

We had a nice day together as a family. We got to cook lunch for the college kids at our church. We made chicken enchiladas and some yummy dips. The meal was a hit and we enjoyed getting to share a meal with the college kids. Our kids enjoyed it too and all the attention they got from them! Then we enjoyed a nice relaxing day at home as a family. It was a lot of fun!!! Valentine’s day used to be about Travis and me, but now it is about our kids!!!!

Valentines…

I think we can all remember those years of Valentine making and distributing as kids. The excitement of picking out the perfect card for our friends and seeing all the Valentine’s your friends gave you.  The last couple of years the boys have brought Valentine’s to preschool, but neither one really got into it too much since they just had to sign their own name on them instead of writing all their friends’ names on the cards. This was to make it easier for teachers and kids to distribute them. So, this was our first year of  writing all the names out. I was going to buy Zane some Valentine’s and let him write on those when he informed me that he wanted to make all his Valentine’s. What?!?! Make them??…sigh….  The first time he mentioned it, I just kind of brushed it off. Then the day came closer and I figured I would just convince him that we should buy his Valentine’s. Nope…that was not going to happen! Not only did Zane want to make his Valentine’s, but he knew exactly what he wanted them to look like, how we should make them AND who would get what color! ha! He is such a planner so this should not have surprised me like it did I guess, but I was just so surprised by the details that had swirling in his little brain. So, we got to work on his Valentines. What he wanted was a heart shaped Valentine card that when you opened it, was two hearts. We did one for all the other kids in his class and 3 of his teachers. He was definitely ready to be done writing names by the time we got done, but he did a good job on them! He was also thrilled to pick out the candy for his cards and to my surprise, he picked out mini candy bars.

Travis and I are so blessed by Zane. He continues to be such a sweet little boy and so easy going. He is growing up so fast and its hard to believe that in a few months he will be done with Kindergarten already! He keeps talking about how he gets to move on to 1st grade after May and I keep telling him I can’t think about it yet! ha! He and Tate get along so good and have so much fun together. And the girls are in love with Zane. He is constantly helping them with stuff and is always so patient with them. Since he is on our first born and has such a type A, planner personality, he keeps Travis and I on our toes. For example, when we ran to the store last night (just him and I) as he was getting out of the car he said, “Did you remember your list, Mom?” HAHA! I did actually remember the list, but he knows that his mom’s brain is sometimes scattered. It is a good thing he checks in on me once in awhile!

And what about Tate and his Valentine’s? He wants me to make him some for his party tomorrow. I asked him to pick out what colors he wanted. His choices: black, blue and yellow.  I was fine with that and actually didn’t think much of it, just knowing Tate isn’t our conventional, go with the flow kid. Later, before bed, I heard him telling Zane, “I didn’t pick Valentine colors for my Valentine’s!”  Haha! No surprise there. And he already informed me that he is NOT writing his name on ‘all those Valentine’s and that “I can’t do that all by myself!” lol!  He is definitely our baby boy! No doubt about it! He is his own person and we love him for it! I can’t remember the last time a day went by that I didn’t laugh at something he said or did.

My Little Helpers

After having boys and not really knowing any difference, Travis and I didn’t know what to expect when having twin girls. And to be honest, only in about the last month or two have I really started noticing a big difference as I watch  my toddler girls and remember what the boys were like at this age.

I have said it a million times before, but I’ll say it again. The year between 1 and 2 is probably one of my favorite times in parenting. Don’t get me wrong, it is exhausting and draining and you feel like you should probably just record your voice repeating the same 10 things you say all day to continuous play back to save your voice.  Some of the phrases on this list would include: leave your sister/brother alone, give that toy back to them, we don’t hit, are you all done?, STOP throwing your food, biting hurts, get out of the cupboards, you can throw a fit, but that isn’t going to give you what you want, come back here right now, NO!, you need to listen,  leave the TV alone, etc. You get the idea.  Besides all the fighting, biting, toy throwing, food throwing, hitting, screaming, temper tantrums, boycotting of naps, and the newly learned independence there are so many fun things to enjoy and cherish!

One of theeee most precious, newest things the girls have started doing is helping me with stuff. Nadia is like my little side kick. She is where ever I am and always wanting to help. Now, usually one doesn’t really enjoy letting a night quite 18 month old help with tasks around the house. As we all know that definitely adds precious time to every task. However, in my situation, it is better than the alternative which is holding her while doing everything or…letting her scream on the other side of the gate while shaking it profusely as if she is in a small cage and can’t get out even though she has the whole living room and toy room to roam. Sigh…..so I have been letting her help me. She is very particular I am realizing, not to mention thorough! If there are things out of place, she is picking them up. Her newest thing is to say ‘hop’ (translation: help) if she can’t get something by herself.  Yesterday she was trying to throw some stuff in the garbage which is on the other side of the gate in the kitchen. If Kinzey finds something that needs to be thrown, she just chucks it over the gate and moves on with her day. Not Nadia though. She will come and repeat her new word over and over and over and OVER again until Travis or I help her with the gate so she can open the lid to the trash and put the garbage where it goes! One day she found a mug laying either in the kitchen or living room. And she took it and set it on the window sill in the living room where we set our drinks. It’s just cute to see how she pays attention to details and is very worried about everything finding its way to where it belongs. Kinzey loves to help me too, but it’s on her terms and is usually motivated by whether or not her sister is trying to help. If Nadia is helping then Kinzey seems more apt to help. Both girls are so proud of themselves when they are able to help me. It really is so sweet!  I am hoping this holds. I could use a little help around here! haha!

One other area that Nadia’s personality is really coming out is in her caring and concern for people, especially her sister. If Kinz is crying for any reason, Nadia is right there with her nuk, blanket and maybe even her cup. If I get Nadia a sippy cup, she says, “Kinney? Kinney? Kinney?” over and over as a question as if to say, “what about Kinzey’s drink?” Once I get Kinzey’s drink, I hand both cups to Nadia and she makes sure to bring Kinzey her cup.  Kinzey is not so worried about meeting her sister’s needs. She has more important things to do such as dancing constantly and throwing balls around the house! ha!

One more quick story that was just too precious not to remember. This past week was the first time that I saw the girls ‘talking’ to each other. Kinzey fell and got hurt and of course, Nadia was right there to comfort her. I come around the corner to find Kinzey sitting on the floor crying, Nadia standing by her rubbing her head saying something over and over. I didn’t understand any of it, but knew that she was trying to comfort her. Kinzey looked up at her sister and using her hands was talking away in an unknown language. She stopped and Nadia started again and then Kinzey said one last thing. It was just SOOO SWEET! They were talking to each other! Awwww….. I know from watching my boys become such great friends, that these girls will be friends too and it is so fun to see them starting to interact with each other in ways other than by stealing toys from each other or biting!!! Oh toddlerhood…you really gotta love it!

Video Games Anyone?

What is it with boys and their toys?? We got a Wii for Christmas for a family gift. We gave it to the boys, but obviously we knew that we would all enjoy it. I am not a big video game person at all, but there are some games that I really like. The New Mario Bros. is one of them.  The boys’ favorite games right now at the lego games: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman.

When we first go the Wii set up and going, I was a little concerned that Tate would not be into it as much as Zane and that maybe this wasn’t the best gift for him. I was wrong. The child and his brother are obsessed. Every morning, the first question I get is, “Can we play Wii?”  Usually Zane sends Tate to ask me. I am not sure if it’s because Zane knows that Tate can usually convince me that anything is a good idea or if he just knows that Tate will do whatever he says? lol! Funny how that works with siblings. Anyways, It is nice that the boys can play together and they usually get along for the most part while playing. They have their moments, but overall it has been a good thing for them. Especially since it takes team work, negotiation, communication, self-control and problem solving skills to play a game with someone who is on your team not against you!

Who enjoys the Wii the most though? It’s the big kid at our house—Travis! haha! The funniest thing about it for me to watch is Travis trying to play with the boys and him getting frustrated with them b/c they don’t want to do what he wants or they are just ‘playing’ and not trying to win! lol! Let’s just say–I think it is as good for Travis as it is for the boys! And it all gives me a good laugh! That’s definitely the best part!

Moms and Food

Maybe you other Mom’s of young children can relate to my recent realization about food and kids. There is some sort of unsaid rule that says when you become a mother, you forfeit your right to food. This takes many different forms. In the beginning, you are so busy caring for your child that you forget to eat or even when you remember, you get distracted and forget about it and then realize it an hour later sitting on the counter, cold as ice. This is annoying and an adjustment for sure. We are past that stage now at our house because the babies eat when we eat, what we eat and at the table with us. I still haven’t eat a hot meal in almost 6 years, but I think you just kind of get used to that. Or tolerate it at least! ha!

Now, we are on to the stage where we any and every crumb of food in our house never goes unnoticed and as soon as the girls have the realization that what they are seeing is in fact food, the begging, grunting, ‘mmmooooah’ sounds, and pointing start happening and if no one responds or not soon enough, then a fit (or two) soon follows. I wish I had a dime for every time I uttered the words, “HOW can you still be hungry?” lately. They must be growing! I have never seen such hungry little things. Now, I wouldn’t mind this new phase so much if it just involved feeding them their food. Obviously that is part of my responsibilities as a parent and I really don’t mind, however, there are no limits on who’s food they NEED at any given time.  Any time anyone has any food, at all, no matter what, the babies think they NEED some or all of it. Now, this is a great diet plan–giving away half your food at any given meal or snack–but, it can lead to a very unhappy Momma! For example, this morning, I was starving and grabbed a granola bar off the counter. Nadia eyed it before I even had it open and was pointing, grunting, moaning and giving any other gesture that she thought would get her at least a bite of my granola bar. I don’t mind sharing. In fact, our family often shares food with each other and so this is not anything new, but once in awhile, a Mom  just wants to enjoy her entire granola bar herself! *sigh* So, I tried to trick her by giving her a bite of something else, but….she was not convinced and continued to grunt, groan, and point until I finally gave her a bite. One bite turned into another and pretty soon I had about a fourth of a granola bar to call my own.  Well, let’s just say that it’s good I bought the value box. After a few granola bars, I figure I had  the sum of about a whole bar after giving most of each bar away to the girls!!!  I don’t see this getting any better. So..here’s to cold meals, eating candy bars in the locked bathroom, and sharing with my babies!!

Boys..

I love being a mom to boys! They are the sweetest, most adorable, and funny little boys I know. They are however, turning into bigger boys these days and their fascination with all things boy have changed a bit. I remember growing up thinking that boys do gross things something and laugh at things that girls don’t laugh, but I forgot how true this was until recently. Zane thinks this stuff is funny, but seems to know that it is somewhat inappropriate so he mostly just cheers Tate on. (like Tate really needs encouraging! ha!) Tate has recently become obsessed with burping, tooting, and boogers.  Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?  This started as a slow progression over the last year or so. I started realizing that he would burp at the table and then giggle or toot and say something silly, like, “Did you smell that stinky toot?” and then laugh! Just typing this gave me the giggles. But, I knew it was really getting out of control last night when Zane came running out of his room after being tucked in saying, “MOM! I can’t sleep because Tate is wiping his boogers all over my bed!!!!”  I have to admit that it was hard for Travis and I not to laugh at least a little bit after we got after Tate and sent Zane back to what we hoped was a booger free sleep zone. Oh man, I forgot how funny boys are and that they are fascinated by these types of things. Why? I am sure we’ll never know!  And here I thought Tate eating rocks a few summers ago was rough. I guess I didn’t realize what I was in for!  I must say, even though they tend to be stinky, silly, rough, busy, and wild at times, I wouldn’t want it any other way! I love my boys!!!

New Challenges….

As the girls keep growing and changing we are experiencing new joys as they meet milestones, grow and change. I LOVE this age. It is theeee sweetest, most adorable age I do believe!  Of course every age has its ups and downs, but…I love where they are at right now! They are now 17 months old. They are both such sweet girls and they love their family SO MUCH which is just so precious.

I thought I would list some of the joys of this age:

-the way that Kinzey and Nadia fight over who gets to sit in my lap. And when I am sitting on the floor if one is sitting in my lap, the other one squeezes her way in too. Sometimes she ends up on her sister and sometimes she ends up next to her sister!

-the fact that Kinzey will bring me book after book after book for hours and gets so excited to have someone read to her

-Nadia making a way for her to get my attention. her newest thing is to try to turn my body towards her if I am standing doing something else

-the way Kinzey holds her hands palm side up, out in front of her and curls her fingers in and out to let me know she wants me to pick her up.

-how Nadia gets all her ‘stuff’ (her nuk, princess blanket, and cup) and struggles to walk with everything through the living room or to where ever we are so she can get picked up when she is tired or just needs a little extra TLC

-the fact that Kinzey isn’t afraid of her brothers when they are wrestling with each other and that she gets right in the middle of the Zane and Tate and holds her own with them

-how Nadia constantly is babbling in her own language, but looks so serious whenever she responds to a question, tilting her head and using the intonation in her voice as if she is carrying on a real conversation with us even though we have no idea what she is saying!

-how the girls are starting to make each other giggle over silly things like when one of them gets really close to the others face, or one waves a toy in a certain way. sometimes I am not sure what they are really giggling about, but its so sweet!

-how Nadia says over and over and over again in a high pitched voice “Hiya Dada, Hiya Dada Hiya Dada!!!!!” Every time he comes home for work.

-how Kinzey drops everything to run to the gate when she hears Travis voice as he walks in the door from work.

-how both girls can’t get close enough to their Daddy when he’s first home: climbing on him, pulling on his pants to get picked up and how their little faces light up when he scoops them up in his arms and kisses their little necks and the giggles and squeals that follow are priceless!

-how I am treated like a celebrity every time I enter a room even if I have only been gone long enough to shower or clean up the kitchen. the excited greeting I get from both girls is so precious and I just can’t help but let it melt my heart every time!

-how Nadia follows Kinzey around the house with things she thinks her sister needs all the while saying, “Kin-ney” and then proceeding to try to shove a nuk in her mouth or make her take a drink out of her sippy cup, or holds out her blanket to her until she finally grabs it only to chuck it in the other direction as soon as Nadia isn’t looking!

-how the girls fight over who gets to throw the diaper in the garbage can after I change them.

-how I can tell that Kinzey is totally exhausted when she is doing things I know she normally would never do such as shut the tv off over and over, and when I put her to bed and she chucks everything out of her crib as if protesting to the whole idea even though after being left alone for about 30 seconds she is sound asleep.

-how both girls climb up the stairs saying ‘gogogo’ as if its one word.

-how Nadia and Kinzey will nod their heads when you ask them a question. the best part is when they pause as to think about which way to shake their head to make sure we know what they really want.

–that Nadia is still our cuddler! And although it is so precious and sweet, my arms can only handle multitasking with 26 extra lbs attached for so long. during the day!  I often times find my self getting food ready, cleaning, emailing and most anything else I do during the day with my little side-kick at my side or in my arms!

–how both girls are thrilled to get new clothes or shoes and as soon as they realize its for them they want to put it on immediately. And once they have done that they are rummaging through the bag to see if there is more where that came from!

–whenever either of the girls finds what we call a ‘pretty’ aka hair tie, bow, ribbon, barrett, etc. they instantly want it in their hair. they show us this by putting the object up by their head and on top of their hair. such little girls we have!

Now for some of the challenges of this age: Have you heard of the toddler creed? Well, here is a copy of it in case you haven’t…..

The Toddlers CreedIf I want it,
IT’S MINE!

If I give it to you and change my mind later,
IT’S MINE!

If I can take it away from you,
IT’S MINE!

If it’s mine it will never belong to anybody else,
No matter what.
If we are building something together,
All the pieces are mine!

If it looks just like mine,
IT’S MINE!

If it breaks or needs putting away,
IT’S YOURS!

This sign was up in the one of the toddler rooms I worked in when I was getting my bachelors degree years ago and I never forgot it.  Right now this is where we are at…mine, Mine, MINE!

Some of the challenges we are facing with two toddlers in our house include:

-tag team mess making. I have found the two of them making messes where ever possible several times now. unfortunately it always brings back a flood of memories from the boys’ toddler years….mostly the kind of memories that make you say…Oh dear and God help me!!!!

-fighting, fighting, fighting and did I say fighting? Yes. I did. Some days are better than others, but even though we have two ( or more) of everything girl in our house, the fighting still happens.

-biting—yes I said biting! I have never had any trouble in this area with the boys. I do have a biter though…she’s sneaky and quick and as sweet as pie! …sigh….what to do!

-independence—not even 18 months old yet and both girls are starting to show their desire to be more independant. Nadia was VERY upset at me the other day for not letting her continue to blow dry her hair (on low w/ some assistance) after her hair was dry…..

-walking or should I say running in two different directions. this one is pretty much self explanatory. let’s just say the double stroller is still a staple at our house.

–purposely doing things to bother their brothers such as turning off the tv in the middle of a show or shutting off the wii before they had a chance to save their game. this isn’t pretty…I’ll leave it at that!

–Nadia is still incredibly scared of strangers and strange places. When she is uncomfortable she wants to be held constantly.  She has probably stayed in the church nursery only a handful of times in her life. We have found that when someone comes to our house to babysit she does much better. Kinzey on the other hand is social and happy and loves people and the church nursery (thank goodness!).

–the squealing, talking, giggling and crying that happens between the girls when they are put to bed. Sometimes its laughing because they are delirious and find everything funny, and sometimes its crying because one of them steals the others stuff through the bars of the crib. And occasionally I have found Nadia awake in the mornings making a yelling sound—happy, yelling—by leaning over the crib and aimed right at her sleeping sister. When I go in there to remind her its not time to get up yet, she continues to yell at me in the same silly way and then giggles as I lay her down. Hmmm….this isn’t going to get better, I am afraid!!

–how Nadia crawls into the dog kennel as soon as we head into the entry way to go upstairs to bed. as soon as she gets in the kennel, she shuts the door and giggles and giggles and giggles. she has learned that most times I don’t want to crawl in that disgusting kennel to get her so I stand there saying things like, “Nadia come out of Lady’s kennel right now!” while she giggles and plays. Eventually I crawl half way in if she hasn’t decided her little rendezvous isn’t up yet….yuck!!!

–that Kinzey has learned to let Lady out of her kennel and its usually at the most inconvenient times ever….!

It is obvious to see that the positives definitely outweigh the negatives at our house! We are enjoying this new stage of life with twins called toddlerhood! So far its been a blast!