The Binky Diaries

Wordless Wednesday: Goofy Faces

2012-01-31T20:22:00.001-05:00

BRB

2011-11-28T23:37:00.001-05:00

Emily's main question/concern these days is "you come back?". She asks this question a lot. She also likes to reassure people, like her teacher at school, that she will be back. Thankfully this new realization that you will return has made things like the drop off at school easier. As long as she knows you will come back she is happy.

This leads me to my favorite term of the moment..."later". It is such a wonderfully non- specific term. It allows you to reassure the child that you will be back later or something will happen later and it may be in 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days or 5 months but you won't be lying, it will happen "later". I rue the day I can no longer freely use this term.

Lizzie at 4 Years 5 Months

2011-11-25T23:10:00.001-05:00

Lizzie will be 4 1/2 on December 6th. In March we will be registering her for Kindergarten which is so hard to believe. I'm pretty sure just the other day she was cruising tables at The Pleasant St. Tea Company with her other little friends. Now her favorite thing to do is to have a play date with her best friends or to paint and draw. She is also a big fan of the Spanish class at her preschool.

At this stage Lizzie can writer her name, recognize numbers and the alphabet and can even recognize some short and simple words. She knows how to use an Apple mouse and can find her way around my iPad (although not as well as Alex). She is also a little chatterbox and pretty much never stops moving or talking unless you plop her in front of the tv. She takes an acting class on Tuesday nights and her teacher, Jape, says she should be a news presenter since she is always giving a running commentary.

Lizzie absolutely adores animals and is the reason we now have a dog (Buffy), cat (Bitsy), fish (Princess Fish) and two frogs (Astrid and Hiccup) plus the crickets which are really frog food. She is not without her problems though and we have been dealing with some behavioral issues. She can have epic meltdowns (we had one today in Petco) that involve her pulling her own hair in frustration. She has also been disrespectful to her teachers at school and mean to her friends. But we are working on these issues and she is getting better. She gets stars for when she gets a good report from her caregiver. When she gets 300 stars we will be adding a new animal to the house. It will be a rodent of some type...sometimes she wants a mouse, sometimes a rat and sometimes a hamster...today it is a hamster. She is pretty close to the 300 so I think Santa will be bringing the cage and everything needed for whatever the rodent-du-jour is.

We also continue to have sleep issues with her which I think is a classic mistake most parents make with their first child. When you have the time to spend putting a kid to bed you take your time, read lots of books and perhaps lie with them as they fall asleep. Of course later when you have more kids that has to go but it is a hard habit to break with the eldest. So we continue to lie with her as she falls asleep. On the days when she has a nap (at school only) it takes forever but on the days when she doesn't it is thankfully quick. She also gets up in the middle of the night and joins us in bed...not every night but quite often. I just figure she won't be doing this when she is 13 and I don't mind the cuddle time.

In general Lizzie is a lot of fun to be around. She is really helpful around the house and a cuddlebug. She is a little fashionista who will only wear shoes which allow her toes to wiggle. She loves her family and is loved by all who get to know her.

Sly Family Menagerie

2011-11-20T22:07:00.001-05:00

I used to tell Greg that I wanted a chaotic house full of kids and animals. I guess I got my wish! Lizzie is a huge animal (strike that, anything that moves) lover so now we have a dog, a cat, a worm farm, a fish, two frogs (these are mine) and crickets (really food for the frogs but I have to do it behind her back then quickly replace them).

Turning 40

2011-11-19T21:41:00.000-05:00

I turned 40 on November 6th but I honestly don't feel like I'm middle-aged. Truth be told I am actually excited to be this age. For one I am probably in the best shape of my life. I ran my first half marathon this summer along with lots of other 10ks. I also improved my minute per mile time by a whole 60 seconds this year so im not only running farther, im running faster Last summer I ran mostly 5ks and ended with a 10k. My goal next summer is to run at least three races 13 miles and over. My first race in my new division will be an 8k turkey trot tomorrow.

I feel more confident about myself and my place in the world. I have a good husband and three great kids. We have a nice house in an awesome location and I have a job that allows me to work from home. I also like my job and am up for a promotion so things are moving in the right direction. This is much better than 20. I say bring it on!

Wordless Wednesday: Disney Ears

2011-11-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

Last week I attended a conference on a Disney property in Orlando. I brought back these hats for the kids.

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T09:00:00.003-04:00

Happy Halloween from Sheriff Woody, a butterfly and a Viking princess (her idea)!

Bath Time

2011-10-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

I hate bath time, really hate it. Three kids in a tub is NOT a good thing. We've tried to get Lizzie to take a separate bath but inevitably she ends up in the tub with Alex and Emily so I give up and they all take a bath together.

We only have one bathtub in this house and it is in the master bedroom. It is a lovely clawfoot tub but it is shorter than the average tub to fit in a smaller space. So they all squeeze in to the tub. It starts out ok but quickly descends in to chaos. There is splashing (which they aren't supposed to do), me yelling, me getting wet, then they start bugging each other so they start screaming and crying.

Of course even if we manage to avoid that there is the hair washing which also causes screaming and crying (Emily and Alex) and by the end of it my back is killing me from all the bending over.

So that is why I hate bath time and let Greg do it whenever possible!

Wordless Wednesday: Three Little Pumpkins

2011-10-19T12:00:00.001-04:00

Things I Didn't Think I'd Have to Deal With Yet

2011-10-18T22:39:00.000-04:00

When you think about becoming a parent you consider sleepless nights, breastfeeding, babyproofing the house and possibly even what it might be like to have a teenager but what you probably don't think about is dealing with things like bullying and peer pressure when your child is still in preschool.

These are two big issues we have had with Lizzie lately, much to our surprise. There is actually a common factor between the two as well, another little girl (let's call her C) at Lizzie's school who is rather mean and has caused Lizzie to be worried about what this girl thinks.

Case in point, when I get Lizzie ready for school in the morning she won't wear certain clothing if she thinks C won't like it (of course these days it also has to have a twirl factor...she is such a little girlie girl). While Lizzie is no longer in C's class they still see each other in the morning when all the kids are together and on the playground. If Lizzie and C are playing together and other kid tries to play with them C won't let them. C will tell the other girls that their clothing smells or she doesn't like it or something like that. Clearly very mean and clearly affecting my daughter and her decisions.

I certainly don't want to blame C for everything my daughter does as she has to take responsibility for her own actions but I don't think she is a very good influence. This leads us to the second problem, bullying. You might think Lizzie is being bullied by C (which she might be) but that isn't it, Lizzie was actually being the bully. She was hitting, spitting at people, calling them stupid and generally being a mean girl. So mean, in fact, that kids were refusing to go out on the playground when she was there and she actually sent another girl home crying.

We were horrified! You always hear about teaching your child how to deal with bullying but you never hear about what to do if you child is a bully. I know some parents actually encourage this behavior but we definitely don't. I found a great article on 4 year old bullies with a lot of great tips so we sprang in to action to try and nip this problem in the bud. In conjunction with her teacher at school who gives us a report at the end of each day we implemented the following:

A reward system (using iReward on my iPad) - her ultimate goal is a hamster for 300 stars
Less TV (1/2 hour in the AM and a 1/2 hour in the PM)
More 1:1 time with Mommy and Daddy (this was a plan I already had put in to action, each child gets 4 months out the year and during that month they get 1:1 time with each parent)
Dinner time at the kitchen table with family (unfortunately it's mostly me and the twins, Greg doesn't get home until 6:45 pm)
Earlier bed time (this one is challenging when she naps at school)
Less artificial colors and flavors (already something I was striving for)
Using a stress ball at school when she is feeling frustrated or angry

It's the last bullet point that I think was the most effective. Everything else on the list is great and much I had wanted to do anyway. She has only used the ball once but somehow knowing it is there has given her peace of mind. She has also been instructed that when C is mean to the other kids she is supposed to walk away and play with the other kids (this has also worked well).

I am happy to report that since we implemented this plan we have not had a bad day at school (she had a bad day with Nana but I can handle that) AND she has realized on her own that perhaps C isn't the best person to be hanging out with at school. I am very proud of her and she might even get that hamster before she reaches 300 stars!

Alex at 2 years 4 months

2011-09-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

When I was pregnant with the twins I was worried about having a boy. I was so used to having a girl that I wasn't even sure how to buy boy clothing. Thankfully that feeling didn't last long and now I can safely say I am so happy I had a boy and two girls. Alex is my little man! He charms me every day with his smile and his brains.

At two his language his amazing clear and complex. He is speaking in full long sentences with nouns, pronouns, conjunctions, verbs, etc. He repeats everything you say and will correct himself if he says something the wrong way or in an incomplete way. You can practically see his little brain processing everything around him.

I'm not sure he'll ever be an athlete though. His feet are flat and he pronates when he walks. I really need two get him some new orthotics to help with it.

Alex is a sensitive little boy and could easily spend hours playing games on my iPad. In fact it is the first thing he asks to do in the morning. Some times he is in a mood and doesn't want to be touched or bothered. He will screech if you get near him. Alex is a big fan of screeching in general! It's amazing how high his voice will go.

He continues to be pretty easy to put to bed and a good sleeper. Definitely the best of the three. These days he likes you to read him a couple books before bed and wants you to sing Baa Baa White Sheep. After you put him in his crib he also likes to "read" his books before falling asleep. He is still in a crib but doesn't seem to mind. A friend is giving us a cool fire truck toddler bed this fall so he will be out of the crib soon.

Neither Emily nor Alex has shown any signs of being ready to potty train but I suspect when Alex is ready it won't take long. He is a very smart little boy.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 9th Anniversary

2011-08-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday: Big Sister

2011-08-24T13:32:00.002-04:00

Big Sister from Rebecca Sly on Vimeo.

Stuck at SFO

2011-08-20T02:41:00.000-04:00

It's Friday night and 11:30ish on the pacific coast and I'm currently stuck at San Francisco airport. My flight back home was supposed to take off at 10:30 pm but has been delayed until 3:30 am (about 1/2 before it was supposed to be landing in Boston).

I'm tired.
I've had a long week of meetings which were productive but exhausting.
I miss my family.
I'm missing half my Saturday and my plans are getting messed up.
I have a 7 mile race on Sunday morning.
I'm weepy.
I'm not usually good at sleeping on planes but I'm going to try like hell tonight.
I'm wearing flip flops and my feet are cold.
I'm jealous of everyone sleeping on both the east and west coasts right now.
I'm not a big fan of Jet Blue right now.

When Something Amazing Happens

2011-07-31T21:55:00.001-04:00

What a beautiful summer weekend we had! Gorgeous sunny days with nary a cloud in the sky and temperatures in the 80's. On Saturday Greg took Emily to the dump with him then out for a little treat (we are trying to find ways to spend a little 1:1 time with each kid). I took Lizzie and Alex on a walk in to town for a trip to the "penny" candy section of The Country Store. After nap time my parents and I took the kids to Long Beach for the first time while Greg stayed home to get some work done around the house. We hung out by the creek at the beach and hunted for snails and crabs pretty much the whole time.

But it was Sunday when the amazing thing happened. Actually, I think many amazing things happened. The first amazing thing was when all the kids slept in until 8 am! So nice!

Then around 10 am day we went to the beach down the road from our house. We all went this time but it was almost high tide which doesn't make for good crab hunting. However the kids found a good place to play so I was actually able to sit on a rock and let the tide come in around my legs while I watched them. Bliss! That was the second amazing thing.

I went out and ran 8 miles in the hot sun (in preparation for my first 1/2 marathon on 8/7/11) during nap time then came home and took a shower. The twins took a decent nap so I had a little time to recover and recharge. When everyone was awake they wanted to watch something on TV so I put on an episode of Calliou (23 minutes) and went outside to mow the front lawn and water the plants. At some point I realized that it had been awhile since I had been outside and hadn't heard anything from the kids. I went back in to see that Calliou had ended and the kids were all in the playroom actually playing together happily. I quickly snuck out before they saw me and it was all ruined.

They played together for about an hour!!! I kept sneaking around to check on them because I couldn't believe what was happening. THIS was the truly amazing thing! Greg and I were both able to get chores done around the house while they played without our assistance! This is big folks!

In case you were wondering the lovely summer weekend ended with a walk in to town for hot dogs and ice cream. Perfect!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wordless Wednesday: Twin Love

2011-07-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Cakes

2011-07-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

Alex and Emily's Cake Pops for School

Lizzie's 4th Birthday Cake

Lizzie and her cake

Alex and Emily's 2nd Birthday Cake

Emily at 2 Years 3 Months

2011-07-02T22:21:00.000-04:00

My little Emme is our outdoor girl. She is very happy when she is outdoors doing something, anything really. In particular she likes to go for walks in our wagon. She is also my most stubborn child and my most hardy child. She will fall, skin her knee then get up and carry on as if nothing has happened except for the fact that she would get mad at the ground and yell at it. She will not only get mad and yell at whatever caused her to fall she will also get mad at you if you try to help her.

She absolutely adores her Nana and always asks to go to Nana's house when we get in the car. When she sees her Nana her whole face lights up and she yells out "Nana" very loudly. Emily also prefers to hang out with the adults. If the other kids run off to play she will hang back with whatever adult is around. I used to do the same as a kid. I always preferred hanging out with the big people.

The girl knows how to shop!

Her language is coming along but you still have to spend a lot of time with her to understand what she is saying. Since she is the shortest of the three kids she can't quite climb on the playground equipment like the other two but she certainly tries to keep up. Emily also loves to come up and give you kisses and hugs. She is a very loving child who loves to laugh!

Emily is now sleeping in a big double bed. The transition happened naturally. She has always had a double bed in the same room as her crib and occasionally Greg would sleep with her in it when she was having a rough night. Then one night when I went to put her to bed she asked to sleep in the big bed. So I pushed the crib up next to the open side and tried to block off the end as best as possible. Now she has a bed rail and continues to be a good sleeper.

She is a good eater, the best of the three. She eats almost anything I put in front of her which is very refreshing after the constant food battle I have with the other two. Emily has a wonderful goofy sense of humor and we love her wide range of expressions!

When a Vacation is not a Vacation

2011-05-30T17:47:00.001-04:00

When is a vacation not a vacation?

When you have to spend a full day traveling with two two year olds and an almost four year old.

When 2 out of 3 of your children finally fall asleep 10 minutes before the landing process starts and you have to wake all 3 of them up so they can sit in one place buckled in. Then during this time you have to forcibly hold one in their seat while they scream harder than you have ever heard before finally passing out.

When you are in another country with a big time difference that your children need to adjust to.

When the weather at home has finally improved and is feeling like summer but the weather where you are is cold and rainy.

When you are staying at someone's house that aren't used to having three active kids running around. I'm not sure you can really prepare for it, especially when you are used to living a quiet life. It is stressful for everyone involved.

When your overtired children are cranky and bored and probably want to be home.

When someone who is not your child's parent aggressively yells at them when they do something wrong causing extreme distress in your child.

When one child is on antibiotics for yet another ear infection then one of the parents gets one too!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

April and May 2011

2011-05-16T22:28:00.001-04:00

Things have been very busy in the Sly household of late but particularly with me. The first week in April I had to go to California on business. The second week was spent making a birthday cake and cake pops for the twins 2nd birthday which we celebrated on the 17th (another post on that later). There were many late nights spent baking and decorating. The next week was filled with manager training at the office which involved a long commute to the office and a deviation from my normal routine. I work from home 4 days a week which, at a minimum, allows me to do laundry. Easter followed the training and Easter Bunny related activities. The final week in April involved a sick child and a walk for charity.

Phew.

Then comes May....so far this month I have had more sick children, run a 5k race to support the school system which was followed by a trip to the ER on Mother's Day with a case of Bursitis. I have had two meetings for my multiples group, walked/run in a 1/2 marathon (in 2 hours 40 minutes), got runner's knee and am now preparing for a trip to England with the family. We are going to my sister-in-law's wedding, hanging out with Greg's family and hoping to see some friends.

Wish me luck! I will be returning from the trip with a 4 year old!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Perspective

2011-04-04T11:07:00.001-04:00

I know this is morbid but sometimes I look at my children and think about the fact that if I were to die at this point they probably wouldn't remember much about me, if anything. Understandably that thought makes me very sad and while I know that they are gone it also makes me feel very deeply for all the moms that have left this earth before their children. I can only imagine the pain they must feel if they know they are going to die as opposed to dying suddenly.

You might wonder what has prompted this musing. As I write this I am on a plane on my way to the Bay area for the week for work. We experienced some particularly rough turbulence not long ago and I could only think about my children and how much I would miss if I were to die. They are my life, they are everything to me and I love them in a way that only another parent would understand. They may drive me crazy but they also delight me, every, single day. When my husband and I finally sit down exhausted after a busy weekend or workday we talk about the funny, infuriating and charming things our beautiful children have done and I like that. I don't want to talk about politics or celebrities or even work, I just want to talk about my kids.

One of the main reasons I run is to keep myself healthy. I didn't start having children until I was 35 so I know I am going to be an older parent. Even though I'll be older I want to be agile and active. I want to be there for my children for a long time. I really hope I have that honor!

(Sorry for the rambling because even though I'm a pretty experienced traveler that turbulence scare the piss out of me. It definitely puts a different spin on things when you have kids.)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Street Ambassadors

2011-04-03T17:38:00.001-04:00

Now that the weather is getting nicer and the days are getting longer my kids are starting to spend more time outside. I pick them up from school by 4:30 and it only takes us a few minutes to get home so now there is plenty of time to play outside.

Another thing you should know is that the street we live on is a popular one for people out running or taking walks. The street is a big horseshoe and much of it (but not our part) is right on the ocean so it makes for a nice scenic walk and it's not too busy with cars.

So, combine my kids being outside in the front yard and all the people walking/running by and what you have is three little Walmart greeters. They say hi to everyone and get very offended if the people don't say hi back. In fact Lizzie is very puzzled that not everyone responds.

So if you walk by one night be sure to say hi to our street's little ambassadors. You will know our yard because it looks like there is a daycare there!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Day

2011-03-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

Just a snapshot of my life...here is my day today:

At some point in the middle of the night Emily cried but went back to sleep, Lizzie woke up and joined us in our bed, Emily cried again, this time harder so Greg brought her in to Lizzie's room and slept with here there.

6:00 AM - Greg's alarm went off. I got up to take a shower and get ready for the day.
6:30 AM - I wake up Greg (and therefore Emily) so he can shower. Alex is crying so I get him dressed then get Emily dressed. We head downstairs to get breakfast.
6:45 AM - Lizzie joins us downstairs for breakfast. I get everyone fed, shoes on, hair brushed and finish getting Lizzie dressed.
7:15 AM - Greg leaves to catch the train for Boston.
7:30 AM - I get everyone's coats on and pack up the car with all the kids and tote bags with lunches and stuff for the week.
7:45 AM - Start the process of dropping the kids off at school. Finally able to leave around 8sih.
8:10 AM - Head home, have a cup of coffee, eat breakfast, clean up the kithen and check email.
8:50 AM - Leave the house and drive about 25 minutes to the podiatrist. Get two cortisone shots, one in each foot in an attempt to fix my Morton's Neuroma.
10:00 AM - Get back home. Work. Collect the kid's laundry and change the twin's sheets.
10:30 AM - Team conference call.
11:30 AM - Chat with manager on the phone.
12:00 PM - Start doing kid's laudry. Heat up lunch. Empty dishwasher. Go back to work.
1:00 PM - Another conference call. Continue laundry. Work.
2:30 PM - Another conference call. Continue laundry. Work.
4:00 PM - Stop work. Start heating water for kid's dinner. Do a little dinner prep. Continue laundry (this time a load of the adults).
4:15 PM - Leave to pick up the kids.
4:45 PM - Return home with the kids. Finish getting dinner ready (roasted turkey from last night, pasta with parmesan cheese and broccoli).
5:00 PM - Feed Emily and Alex. Get Lizzie's plate ready but she won't eat because she finished her lunch in the car.
5:15 PM - Clean up Emily and Alex, let them down to play, give them popsicles because they did so well with dinner. Lizzie
5:20 PM - Lizzie begs for popsicle but she can't have one until she eats dinner. She says she'll eat it if I feed her but she won't eat the turkey (which she loved the night before). I feed her the pasta and the broccoli.
5:35 PM - Lizzie decides instead of a popsicle she wants to "wash the dishes". I pull up a chair so she can stand at the sink. Her bandaid covering a hangnail then falls off. I decide I need to clip it off. She won't let me. She needs to use the bathroom. I help her and continue to try to get her to let me help her. This goes on for awhile. In the meantime the twins get up on the chair and start playing in the sink water and with the dishes. Water gets everywhere.
5:45 - I pin Lizzie down on the coach and with much screaming manage to painlessly clip her hangnail. I then give her a bandaid.
5:50 PM - I remove the now soaked twins from the kitchen and bring them in the playroom to get them changed in to their pajamas. Lizzie continues to cry in the kitchen but eventually joins us.
6:00 PM - The kids watch Nemo and continue to play for awhile while I clean up the mess in the kitchen.
6:10 PM - My manager tries calling me but I can't get to the phone in time. Check email and answer a few questions then answer a text about said emails.
6:30 PM - I have to pin down two screaming and twisting twins while I torture them with a toothbrush.
6:45 PM - I put Alex to bed. Greg returns home and shortly after puts Emily to bed.
7:00 PM - Start cleaning up the playroom for the cleaners (who come tomorrow) and to give myself room to exercise.
7:10 PM - Manage to squeeze in 30 minutes of Wii Just Dance 2.
7:40 PM - Brush Lizzie's teeth and bring her up to bed and floss her teeth.
8:00 PM - Take a bath (this was silly, I really didn't have time for it).
8:15 PM - Get out of the bath only to discover Emily has woken up with a poop and diaper rash. Greg has changed her but now she is wide awake plus Lizzie is upset because she is "scared in her room".
8:30 PM - Lie with Lizzie while Greg tries to put Emily to bed without too much screaming but fails.
8:45 PM - Greg returns to finish putting Lizzie to bed while Emily screams herself silly. I go downstairs to finish picking up the house, put together a quick dinner for Greg and myself and make lunch for the kids.
9:30 PM - Greg and I finally sit down to eat.
10:00 PM - Stop blogging and fold the kid's laundry.
10:30 PM - Go to bed (I hope!!!)

What was your day like?

Swimming Lessons

2011-03-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

About a month after Lizzie turned two we start her weekly swimming lessons at the local YMCA. For the length of her first two lessons she screamed her head off and clung to me as if for dear life. At her third lesson she started to relax and it wasn't long before she was proudly "swimming" around the pool on her own with a bubble on her back. We've kept up the lessons (except for this past summer) since then and the spring before she turned 3 she transitioned to the preschool class where the parents don't need to be in the water...it was bliss.

On Saturday that bliss ended and we were back in the pool with Emily and Alex for their first swimming lesson. Much like Lizzie's first lesson both of the twins screamed the whole time. Emily was mostly complaining but Alex clung to me for dear life. Do my kids really think that I would let them come to harm? I mean, seriously. When your children are screaming it is very hard to actually participate in the lesson so we basically stood off to the side and tried to point out Lizzie in her lesson so they could see it wasn't that bad. Alex would calm down from time to time then start up again.

Lizzie even got in to the pool with us after she was done with her lesson to show them how much fun swimming was but to no avail. In the end we got out of the pool a little early so I could get Lizzie changed and off to her gymnastics class. I'm really hoping that it only takes a couple lessons before we can all relax and have fun. It will be even better once they are old enough to join the preschool class and we don't have to get in the pool anymore!

Common Phrases

2011-02-27T21:46:00.000-05:00

Here are some phrases (and words) you will here around my house these days (don't worry, I'll translate if needed):

"Need help" - Alex

"Where go?" - Emily

"Bump head" - Alex

"Ki Ki Moo" - Alex (His favorite book is called Click Clack Moo)

"Bi bi bop" - Alex (lollipop)

"Do you still love me when I'm bad?" - Lizzie

"Last day" - Lizzie (this means anything in the past from a couple minutes ago to something that happened months ago)

"Mommy, are you happy?" - Lizzie (usually this is being asked when one of the kids is making me very unhappy)

"Shooose" - Emily (She is asking for juice but in reality it is milk)

"Ticka ticka ticka ticka ticka" - Emily or Alex (They are really saying tickle ... or rather they are asking to be tickled)

"Mommy go" - Alex (This is a command from Alex while simultaneously being pushed to move somewhere)

"Isn't that silly?" or "Won't that be good?" - Lizzie (I think I say these a lot...it's amazing how you start to hear yourself in your children)

Did I Sign Up For This?

2011-02-06T21:58:00.000-05:00

I'll admit it, there are moments when I want to quit and when I wonder to myself, "did I sign up for this?" These moments don't usually last very long and they almost always happen at the same time of the day. This is the time of the day when I first get the kids home from school. I pick them up around 4:30 and it is a short ride home however when they walk in to the house they are usually very hungry. I think they are also quite tired and somehow they feel like they can just let loose. Any and all crankiness that they might have been feeling throughout the day comes out so I end up with three screaming (and sometimes fighting) children.

Since it is winter I also find myself desperately trying to take off all their boots and coats as they bark all their demands at me. If I have my act together then their dinner will be ready to go so I can minimize the chaos by getting the twins in their high chairs with their sippy cups full of milk and a plate full of food. It's only at that moment can I start to breath again. But heaven forbid if I actually have to cut up some food or heat something up in the microwave, it's like the world is about to end. Our microwave is in our pantry so sometimes I just shut the glass paneled door and watch them wreak havoc while I escape for the 30 seconds it takes to heat the food.

After everyone has eaten and has been cleaned up then life returns to normal. We play and read books for awhile before it's time to get ready for bed. We do baths three nights a week (not my favorite either at the moment) and the twins are usually in bed by 6:30 pm these days. Greg gets home at 6:45 then takes over with Lizzie. She is asleep by 8 and I am in bed by 10. I really do love my children but sometimes I wonder, "did I sign up for this?"

The Cheerleader

2011-02-05T13:55:00.002-05:00

On December 6, 2010 Lizzie turned 3 years and 6 months old. So what is my first-born like at 3 1/2? She is definitely a child full of energy. She will go non-stop all day long and pretty much the only way to stop and make her rest is to put on a movie. She particularly likes Pixar movies. Toy Story 1 and 2 have been on constant rotation for quite awhile now and for Christmas the kids got the third movie. She now has a Woody doll, a Jessie doll, a squeaky alien, Ham, Rex, and Buzz Lightyear. Many of those Santa delivered.

She is also no longer napping. This was more our choice then it was hers. She was taking forever to fall asleep at night so we decided to cut out the naps and now she passes out after a book or two. On the academic front she is starting to recognize her letters and numbers. She usually goes to the grocery store on Sunday with me while the twins are napping and we practice her numbers using the aisle numbers.

On Saturdays we have been going to swimming lessons at 9 am and gymnastics at 10 am. She is doing really well with her swimming. Her teacher has taken almost all the air out of her bubble so essentially she is swimming on her own now. Sometimes you just see this little head bobbing around barely out of the water. Her gymnastics class is essentially guided play at this point with a focus on learning some basic physical and listening skills. How well she does in that class really depends on the teacher. She listens very well to coach Katy but not so well to the younger and less experienced coach Abby.

People who meet Lizzie always comment on her energy and enthusiasm. She really does tackle almost everything with a zest for life. I hope that this continues as I think it will take her far.

What We Did During Our Christmas Vacation

2011-01-07T21:57:00.000-05:00

Greg and I took the week off in between Christmas and New Years to hang out with the kids. The week started with a blizzard that knocked out our power and was followed by a sick mommy. We had planned a trip to the Boston Aquarium on Tuesday but it got delayed until Thursday. I wanted to get there when it opened at 9 but we didn't arrive until closer to 9:45 but it wasn't packed yet and there was no line to get in so that was good.

We could be stupid, smart or brave but Greg and I decided to go with just a kids backpack and a leash. We started with Emily in the backpack and Alex with the leash. However, after we stowed our coats in a locker Alex started melting down so we decided to put him in the backpack. He wasn't happy there and he wasn't happy outside it, he was really freaking out and we weren't sure why. This lasted for about 10 minutes and even after he stopped screaming he kept pushing my head away (he was on my back).

He might have been upset because we had to pull the kids away from the penguins to deal with the coats or he could have been overwhelmed but thankfully things calmed down and we were able to enjoy our trip. All the kids especially loved the big tank in the middle. I remember loving it too when I was a kid.

We only stayed there for a couple hours then grabbed lunch at their overpriced cafeteria (we really needed to sit down for a bit) before heading home. At was at this point that Emily decided it was her turn to start freaking out, this time we can safely say she was tired. It didn't help that we couldn't find the car in the garage and had to walk around for awhile with a screaming child (once again, with me).

A good day with book-ended freak outs! I guess it wouldn't have been a trip with three little kids if there weren't a couple meltdowns.

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T21:45:00.000-05:00

Bad Day, Good Day

2010-12-28T22:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a bad day, a very bad day. It all started on Sunday actually, the 26th. A large storm blew in bringing snow, rain and high winds. At some point in the middle of the night we lost power and around 5 am Alex woke up and started screaming in terror. Apparently he is quite scared of the dark. He was so terrified he wouldn't let me put him down for awhile. Lizzie had already joined us in bed earlier so she too was woken up when I brought Alex in to our room when trying to decide what to do. So the four of us headed downstairs to light candles and eat an early breakfast.

I thought I'd put a votive candle in Emily's room in case she too was scared of the dark but the mere squeak of the door handle was enough to wake her. Fortunately we have a gas stove to cook things with and a wood stove to heat the house so the power cut was manageable just not very much fun.

We finally got our power back around 2ish so thankfully Greg and I were able to shower (and I could change in to clean pjs!). Unfortunately this was also the time when I started feeling sick. It progressed throughout the rest of the day until I couldn't really move and was sapped of energy. It peaked while Greg was putting Lizzie to bed and then I crashed around 9.

Cut to the next day...Greg let me sleep in until around 8:30 am. I was feeling about 90% at that point so we decided we needed to cure the kids cabin fever. After we both had showered and dressed we headed out to a place called Monkey Joes. It was our first time there as it is a bit of a hike to get there however it was much needed and a lot of fun. It's basically a room filled with fancy bouncy houses including one for toddlers. I highly recommend it! After we took the kids to McDonalds and they did a great job eating their lunch and behaving themselves. We didn't get much of a nap but it was ok because we weren't home very long before we took the kids out to get new snow boots. Now that was a good day. We even managed to eat dinner together which is a rare event thanks to the kids needing to eat around 5ish.

Christmas Traditions

2010-12-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up at Christmas there were things I would do every year with my family, they were our traditions. I remember helping my parents decorate the tree and it was always my job to set up the manger (despite the fact that I'm a heathen). We always went to the Rockport Christmas Pageant and I was even in it for many many years until I was finally Mary. My mother always made sugar cookies and we always helped her decorate them. My father would always read The Night Before Christmas to us on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning Santa used to leave our stockings on the end of our beds so we would open our little presents first and let our parents sleep just that little bit more. We weren't allowed to see the tree in all it's glory until my parents were awake and we weren't allowed to open presents until we had a breakfast of bagels and smoked salmon. We always opened presents one at a time and when we were done at our house we went over to my grandparents house for more presents.

I fondly remember all those Christmas traditions with my family and hope to be able to start some of my own with my children. Some I'm going to steal from my parents like reading The Night Before Christmas before bed on Christmas Eve, going to the Christmas Pageant, opening presents one at a time, putting stockings at the end of the bed and decorating cookies. But I also hope to create some new ones.

Next year I think we'll invest in the Elf on a Shelf and start that tradition. This year Lizzie helped me decorate the Christmas tree which had to be one of the best days I've ever had with her. Lizzie also helped me make some chocolate pretzel snacks tonight which I think would be fun to do every year. I also bought all the kids matching pajamas which I plan to give them on Christmas Eve. I want to start some other traditions with them as well.

What are your Christmas traditions?

Tricky Question

2010-12-11T21:11:00.001-05:00

Today was a beautiful day for mid-December. The temperature was relatively mild and the sun was shining so even though it was late(ish) in the day (around 3) we took the kids to the playground down the road from us. It is actually a really great place for the kids and a nice walk to get there. We get to walk down a country lane through a horse farm that runs behind the school.

Today we took the kids in wagons and as we walked across the baseball field towards the playground we were approached by a very enthusiastic developmentally delayed female adult. Admittedly both Greg and I were a little wary at first but simply because we weren't sure if she would try to pick up the twins or not. But since she was with her father and they were playing at the playground I figured we didn't have anything to worry about and returned her happy greeting.

The kids were a little wary too and weren't so sure about this large person who was behaving more like a little kid. We played for awhile at the swings then moved over the play structure. The other "kid" was also playing over there and would occasionally emit sounds of joy or stress as she played. Lizzie turned to me and very loudly asked me why this person couldn't speak. I think she was very confused to see an adult acting like that.

At this point I had to stop and think. I was presented with a question that I wasn't sure how to answer. I didn't want to offend this person's father who was standing right there and I wanted to explain it to Lizzie in a way that made sense. So I told her that some people grow up differently and can't do things that other people can do even if they are big. Then I pointed out that she may not be able to talk but she was having fun just like Lizzie was. This was not a situation I had anticipated nor something I had thought about explaining....how would you explain it to your 3 1/2 year old?

The Tornado

2010-11-24T22:11:00.000-05:00

Picture the Tasmanian Devil from the Bugs Bunny cartoons and you'll have a pretty good idea of what Emily is like. She is like a tornado leaving a path of destruction wherever she goes. If it is on a shelf it must come off, if it is inside a bin/drawer then it must come out and if it is a piece of paper it must be ripped. I think order is morally offensive to her.

Along with generally causing chaos in the house she is also the messiest eater. Alex is fairly neat when he eats (except tonight when he got Leek and Potato Soup in his hair) but Emily generally gets her food everywhere...in her hair, on her clothing, all over her face, etc!

She is also the bully of the house. Lizzie is always telling me that "Emily is mean". Sometimes Emily walks up to Lizzie and just pulls her hair for no reason. Tonight my husband told me that today the twins were playing then fighting then when he went in to check on them he found some WWE action going on. Emily had Alex down on the floor on his back while Emily sat on him and wouldn't let him get up. She even has a cackle which she uses regularly.

Emily doesn't seem to be afraid of much. She will climb on top of chairs and go down slides. She is an adventurous soul with no fear, even when she needs to have some. She loves to shake her head, say no and waggle her finger at you when you want to do something like brush her teeth (which she hates). However, lest you think she only knows how to say "no", she will also nod her head when you ask her if she wants to see Nana or if she loves Mommy and Daddy.

Emily is a also a Mommy's girl. When I was out in California on a recent business trip it took her a few days to adjust to the fact that I was gone. Her first day at daycare she cried for 3 hours and kept going to my picture. In the morning when she was done eating she would check the house for me. This went on until one morning when both she and Alex were in their high chairs eating breakfast. Emily said "Mommy?" and Alex said "No". Apparently that ended it!

Interaction

2010-11-21T21:09:00.000-05:00

I'd like to offer up this scenario as a typical interaction in my house...

Emily asked to play a game on the computer in our kitchen so I booted it up and started the game. When she sat down to play Lizzie noticed what was happening and wanted to play too. I pulled up another chair for her to play with Lizzie. The game has a special keyboard designed for kids with only a few keys. When Emily and Lizzie played the game together there was lot of banging and screaming and general mayhem.

I took Lizzie out of the picture and let Emily finish playing. Then Alex wanted to play so I sat him in the chair and once again Lizzie decided to play as well. Only this time there was giggling, key pressing and general happiness.

Welcome to my home.

The Book Worm

2010-11-18T21:28:00.000-05:00

Alex is my little book worm. He loves to sit on the ground and look at a book. It calms him down when he is upset however try to take it away from him and then he will definitely be upset. He also has the best facial expressions that always make me smile. He is very ticklish and loves to be tickled. He makes a smacking sound with his lips to show you he wants a tickle session, usually when his diaper is being changed.

I think he is starting to recognize when he feels the need to poop or has just pooped. He'll come up to you and say "poopy". He copies almost everything you say and is starting to put two words together. He calls Lizzie "Di di" and Emily is called "Ni ni". Lizzie and Alex play really well together and love to make each other laugh. He pretty much follows her around the house.

Alex always has a sparkle in his eyes and is generally quite laid back (at least compared to his siblings). He seems the most adaptable of all my children. As long as he has his books and is fed then he is fine with any situation.

His walking has greatly improved although he will still use his arms to help him balance. He ends up with a lot of mouth injuries as he always seems to fall face forward on to something. I'm tired of seeing his mouth full of blood and will be very happy when he is physically more capable and confident.

I'm so glad that I have at least one boy along with my two girls. It's amazing how much love you can have for your children!

Massachusetts Mothers of Twins

2010-11-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I attended the Massachusetts Mothers of Twins convention with some of the wonderful ladies from my local chapter the North Shore Mothers of Multiples. I have always been a big believer in support groups. When Lizzie was born I went to a mommy/baby group run by the hospital where she was born. It was there that I met an amazing group of women, many of whom I am still friends with. The group and the women helped me immensely. Just having that group of women who were going through what you were going through was wonderful.

My twins club does the same thing in a different way. With my first mommy group we were all going through the same thing at the same time but with this group everyone has kids of different ages so there I get to learn from women who have already been through (with multiples!) and I get to help women who are just entering the multiples world. Plus, there are a few of us that have the same combination of kids and that helps too. I really love all my mommy friends, both with singletons and multiples!

So this weekend I got a chance to spend two days with some of them away from home and kids. This year the convention was being hosted by a club south of Boston. I started out the morning with a trip to Ikea to pick up a much needed desk and bookcase for our home office. I'm going to working from home 4 days a week now and need a better setup. Then I met the ladies in Wrentham for outlet shopping and lunch. After much needed retail therapy we went to the hotel to check-in and have pre-party snacks and drinks. At around 8 pm we dressed in New England sports tops and went to the party. It was mainly a dance party with a DJ but we also had to do a karaoke song. My group re-wrote the words to California Gurls and made is Massachusetts Gurls. For your enjoyment and possible torture...

I had such a great time at the dance party! I love dancing but hadn't had a chance to really relax and let loose for a very long time. I definitely danced the night away and even managed to do the Electric Slide! It's great when you can be cheesy and not have to worry about it. Saturday was about breakfast, workshops (crafts and cooking for me), lunch and a great keynote speaker (a comedian who had twins...she was very funny). Finally they did the raffle part (raffles are a big fundraising thing..there were tons of them).

The next National convention is in July and in Chicago...I'm very tempted to go but you will most definitely find me at the next Massachusetts convention! Thanks ladies!

Three is Tough

2010-10-27T20:19:00.000-04:00

Anyone who tells you that three is worse than two, believe them! Our three year old:

Is incredibly defiant (she spent a whole day at daycare not listening to her teachers...just to begin with)
Yells a lot
Is very good at procrastinating when it comes to:

Bedtime
Brushing teeth
Getting dressed

Harasses the twins until they cry
Subtly elbows/hits/pushes the twins
Can be very cranky in the morning
Doesn't listen if she doesn't want to

For awhile we would send her to her room when she hurt the twins because she hates to be separated from what is going on however while she understood what she did wrong it didn't seem to be stopping her from doing it. So this weekend we started an incentive system, she's definitely a carrot person.

We have a star chart in the kitchen where she gets a star for going the morning/evening without making the twins cry or for not yelling or for having her teeth brushed within a 5 minute time limit. We also give out random stars for positive things she does like being really polite. After 5 stars she gets a prize. We have a box with lots of little toys and a few pieces of chocolate. So far the chocolate is the most popular prize. She's doing great with the tooth brushing, ok with the twins and horrible with the yelling.

On the other hand when she's in a good mood she is a lot of fun to be around. She wants to know about what letter words start with and can pick out "L" and "P" (and possibly others). There are moments when she plays really well with her brother and sister, definitely my favorite parts of the day. She is very well-spoken, very polite and has lots of positive energy. While three is definitely tough I like it better infancy and toddlerhood!

Wordless Wednesday: My Three Little Pumpkins

2010-10-20T14:36:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday: Mmmm Cake

2010-09-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

Dental Woes

2010-09-16T19:29:00.000-04:00

You know those days when you feel like a failure as a parent...well today was one of those days. Lizzie had her first dentist appointment with a pediatric dentist this morning. I am out of town so Greg was the one to take her. Considering what a struggle it is every night to brush her teeth, Lizzie was a star during the appointment. She let the dentist look at her teeth and take X-rays. Apparently she was an angel. That's the good part.

The bad part came when the dentist started rattling off all the things that were wrong with her teeth...cavities, de-calcification, potential cavities, etc. This is when Greg started to feel the guilt at not having done the right things (and me when I spoke to him on the phone later). As I said, teeth brushing has always been a massive struggle although it has gotten a little easier lately. There have been times where we have to had to pin her down to get her teeth brushed. Because of that we haven't been anxious to get her to brush twice a day. We also haven't started yet on the fluoride toothpaste she has to spit out. Nor have we been flossing.

At school she drinks water but at home we've been lenient and let her drink lemonade. There was also a time where she was really in to the tiny little Dum Dum lollipops (we stopped that while ago). She is definitely a girl who loves her sweets and we definitely have been far too lenient on that front.

Alas, all of that will be changing. There is a new regime in the Sly household. Lizzie will be brushing her own teeth (with a little help from us) twice a day with flouride toothpaste. Things like lollipops and lemonade will be a special, but rare, treat (as it should have been all along). We will also be brushing the twins teeth twice a day (Alex is easy, Emily is difficult). Today I felt like a failure as a parent but at least it isn't too late to learn from our mistakes and change our ways (and thankfully these are just baby teeth).

It's tough to be tough.

Race Analysis

2010-09-15T19:19:00.001-04:00

This was the summer of 5k races for me! Apparently 5k races have gained in popularity in the US so it's always easy to find one close by. For those who aren't familiar with the metric system, a 5k race is 3.1 miles. If you had told my old self that I'd be running 3+ miles regularly I would have thought you were crazy.

So here are the races I have run in 2010 thus far:

9th Annual Rockport Fathers Day 5K
June 20, 2010 - Rockport, MA
85 out of 144
Total Time: 32:08
Minutes per Mile: 10:21

This race started right around the corner from where I live so it was a good 5k to start with. In fact, the route went by the end of my street so Greg and Lizzie were able to come out and cheer me on while the twins napped. Running my town tends to mean running on hills but it also means having a beautiful view. On this race route you are almost always going up or down a hill however you also run along the ocean for much of the way. I will definitely run this one next year although I may run the 10k route! Hopefully the family will come with me to the start because they also have fun family things going on while the race is happening.

Whistleblower's 4k Road Race
July 3, 2010 - Lanesville, MA
91 out of 132
Total Time: 23:51
Minutes per Mile: 9:36

This was another race that was close to home (not walking distance though) and also had a nice route that ran by the ocean. It was another hilly route with most of the downhill at the beginning of the race. It's always tough to end a race with a hill. It was a hot day so I'm not sure how I managed to run so fast. My back was killing me at the end most likely due to a faster pace then I was used to. Overall this was a fun little race with a nice route. After the race there was a barbecue and games for the kids. I will definitely try to run this one next year as well.

Yankee Homecoming 5k
July 27, 2010 - Newburyport, MA
1303 out of 1942
Total Time: 32:56
Minutes per Mile: 10:36

Newburyport is about 45 minutes away from my home town. It is a very nice town and a common tourist destination so it was another beautiful place to run. The route itself was flatter than my other two but ended in a hill. This race was A LOT bigger than the other two and tons of people line the streets to cheer you on. It had a very different feeling than my first two races and probably would have been overwhelming if it were my first race. The day itself was VERY hot and humid. I was thirsty before I even started running and thanks to the masses of people it took awhile to get to the start then it took awhile to really get going. This race was timed using an RFID tag which you attach to your shoe however I don't think it registered when I crossed the start line so I suspect my poor time was partly due to a tough time getting started plus the heat. Thankfully there were many official and unofficial water stations along the way as well as people spraying you with their hoses. At the end there was tons of food and drinks to partake of and lots of people milling about. If I can manage it (it's during the week), I will probably run this race again next year.

34th Annual Magnolia 5k
September 2, 2010 - Magnolia, MA
165 out of 208
Total Time: 31:14
Minutes per Mile: 10:05

This was a hot summer to start racing! The night of this race was another really hot and humid one. I actually got stung by a bee about 20 minutes before the race started which wasn't really a good way to start things. There was a one mile fun run before the 5k race for kids but otherwise not a lot of things for kids to do. The route itself was hilly, but since this was another close-to-home race I would have expected nothing less. Part of the race took you along the ocean which thankfully provided a decent little breeze. However overall it was a not a route that I enjoyed. One stretch of the route actually looped back on itself so you ran down a long stretch of road and on the other side you saw the faster runners passing you. The route itself actually repeated itself as well for a certain segment. I'm not sure if I'm going to run this one again as it definitely was my least favorite so far.

Run the Goose 7k
September 6, 2010 - Gloucester, MA
148 out of 215
Total Time: 45:02
Minutes per Mile: 10:22

I ran this race with my cousin which was a nice treat. Thus far I have always been running by myself which can get lonely. I think it is easier to run when you have someone to distract you. My time might have been better but I stopped to walk with my cousin a few times as she wasn't used to running on so many hills. It was a rather hilly race however they were small rolling hills around a reservoir. Most of the route took place away from cars which was a nice treat. The day was sunny but with no humidity and a lot cooler than it had been. It was definitely perfect running weather. The race itself started from the same location as the Around the Cape 25k race so there were tons of people milling about beforehand. After the 7k there was a children's fun run and they race organizers provided bananas, oranges, water and Gatorade for the runners. I really enjoyed this race and will definitely run it again next year. I particularly like the long sleeved t-shirt I got which is blue and has a goose on it!

So, what's next? On October 11th I'm running my first 10k! It is a women only 10k that takes place in the heart of Boston. There will be about 7000 runners there so it should be a whole new experience. I think my cousin is running in this one too. Greg is going to come in to Boston with me to support me. I'm really looking forward to it but I have yet to run 6+ miles so I guess I better start practicing! I also plan on running another 5k at the end of October in Salem, MA.

Wordless Wednesday: Racing

2010-09-08T16:01:00.001-04:00

These pictures were taken on Labor Day. I ran in the Goose Cove 7k with my cousin. I've run in a bunch of races this summer and plan to talk about the different races and how running makes me feel. Stay tuned.

ER Trip #1

2010-09-04T21:58:00.000-04:00

Today was Alex's first trip to the emergency room. It figures that soon after our insurance doubles the ER co-pay we have to make a trip. Mainly it happened because I was being a bad mommy. It happened in the morning, I had just gotten up (I get to sleep in on Saturday morning) and Greg was upstairs taking a shower. I was in the the sun room with the kids where we have a large sectional sofa. The kids had taken all the pillows off the sofa and placed them on the floor in case they fell off and they were running around on the sofa. As I sat there and watched them I knew it wasn't going to end well and yet I did nothing. Bad mommy.

Next thing you know Alex went off the couch head first and whacked his bottom lip on the too-close-coffee table. As with most mouth wounds there was blood and lots of crying. The cut under his lip looked deep so I thought I should take him to the emergency room. I left the girls with Greg (he took them to the playground), bundled Alex in to the car, picked up my mom and headed to Beverly Hospital where they have a pediatrician in the ER.

They actually have a great ER there for kids. There is a special room they can play in with toys, they have a triage room set up for kids and once on the inside they have fun murals on the wall with African animals all over them. I spent some time taking Alex around to look at the animals while we waited for the pediatrician. We were also able to get a DVD (Cars) for him to watch while we waited. I was very impressed at how good Alex was through the whole thing. It's amazing how much kids can surprise you. This was late morning so he really needed a nap and food. I had brought some snacks and milk which helped but he was so good.

In the end, after the Dr. prodded the wound, it was determined to be superficial and he didn't need stitches. I was happy about that but it also made me feel like I had over reacted. I really don't want to be one of those moms but I also don't want to take chances. It's a tough line to walk. So that was Alex's first trip the ER. Lizzie has had two so far and Emily none at this point. What a way to start a three day weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: More Summer Fun

2010-09-01T16:33:00.001-04:00

Emily loves to sit on chairs!

Baba and his two girls.

Wordless Wednesday: Water & Sand Table

2010-08-25T10:44:00.001-04:00

This table has been a godsend (thanks Auntie Erin & Uncle Sam)! It's probably the only time that all three of them play together happily (for at least 5 minutes).

Two Down...On to the Talking!

2010-08-24T13:24:00.000-04:00

As of Wednesday, August 18, 2010 Alex started walking more than crawling! His walk is a little awkward as he turns out his right foot to gain more balance and still drags his right leg a bit. I think with more practice this will right itself. He also continues to see a physical therapist so hopefully she will help as well. It's so much fun to see him walking around the house. I definitely prefer it to crawling!

There is something magical about my mother's house. This is where my kids spend their Wednesdays and it also seems to be where they meet their major milestones. I guess all that attention from Nana is a good thing! Thanks Mom!

Vegetables

2010-08-22T22:05:00.000-04:00

This summer I have had the pleasure of passing by the produce section of my local grocery store. Normally I spend a good 1/3 of our grocery money there but right now I have two other sources. The primary source is a local CSA. This isn't the first time we have used a CSA for vegetables. One year (pre-children) we tried an organic farm in a near(ish) town. The produce was great however it was out of the way and you had to do some of your own picking which isn't exactly what you want to do after work. This year we are using Farmer Daves. The farm isn't completely organic and not quite as close however they deliver to an area close by and it's still massively better getting vegetables from them then from all around the country. I love picking up our weekly share on Mondays with the kids. We always run into friends and the kids get a chance to play on the swings with their friends.

My second source is my little garden in the backyard. In it I have growing Black Prince tomatoes, yellow tomatoes and Brandywine tomatoes. I also have purple peppers, eggplant, carrots, pumpkins, butternut squash, golden raspberries, green peppers, strawberries and basil. Most of these things only have one plant so it's not as big as it sounds. The tomato plants have totally taken over and actually killed the zucchini plant I had. So far there are no pumpkins, two butternut squash and about four eggplant. The carrots, peppers and basil still need time to grow so we'll see if we actually get much from them. I'm getting tons of tomatoes though and they are really yummy!

With both of those sources we are getting lots of vegetables and fruit (also have a fruit share). Since the kids are still small Greg and I don't always get through it all and I hate throwing things away (although that occasionally happens). So this is what I've been doing late at night...

Lizzie at 3 years 2 Months

2010-08-21T21:46:00.001-04:00

My first born turned 3 on June 6th! I am learning that being three means connecting the dots and by that I mean I feel like things are starting to click in to place for Lizzie. Her little brain is suddenly able to process things like time and distance. Tonight we even had a discussion about gravity. We were looking at her "magic wand" (a plastic tube filled with colored granules, some kind of liquid and sparkly things). She wanted to know why, when you tipped the wand upside down, everything sunk to the bottom. So I explained to her that something called gravity caused things to go down instead of up. I know that she probably doesn't really understand but I think somewhere it is starting to click.

She is also constantly asking "why?" even when it doesn't make sense. For every answer you give her there is another "why?" until you get to the point where either the answer is far too complicated or you don't actually know and at that point you just have to say "because it is". Thankfully she usually accepts that for a little while.

She also continues to be extremely active. In fact, the more tired she is, the more she bounces off the walls. The only way to get her to sit still for awhile is to turn on Nick Jr. or put in a movie. On TV she loves Max & Ruby and Dora the Explorer. Her current favorite movie is Toy Story (1 & 2). We even took her to see her first movie in a theater (Despicable Me). She watched the whole movie, never made a fuss and had a great time. Now that she is loving Toy Story I think we might take her to see Toy Story 3.

Lizzie absolutely adores books. We have to read her three or four books every night before bed. Speaking of bedtime, that is still a chore. The twins go down very easily but it takes Lizzie awhile to wind down then she likes you to lie with her while she falls asleep. This task usually falls to Greg who also usually falls asleep. I have to go wake him up so he can eat dinner and do a little something before going to bed.

Shortly after Lizzie turned three the Binky Fairy paid a visit. She took away all her binkies and left a worm farm as a present. As usual, with all major transitions it wasn't nearly as bad as we had anticipated. She asked for it a lot but in the end she accepted that it was time to let it go. She has replaced her binky with stuffed animals. She isn't always particular to which animal she needs to have with her however she does have a few favorites. Their names are kitty, moose, duck, sheep, giraffe and Nemo (a clown fish we bought in NYC).

She is such a little light in my life. She is vivacious, well-spoken, energetic, bubbly, temperamental, moody, stubborn, willful, magnetic and loving.

Pioneer Woman

2010-08-08T21:38:00.000-04:00

I am wondering if in a past life I was a pioneer woman. One of the things I love to do is to make things from scratch. This includes my most recent effort to make mozzarella cheese. I took a gallon of raw milk and transformed it in to a low-moisture mozzarella in an evening. I've also been pickling the cucumbers we get from our CSA and making golden raspberry jam from the champagne raspberries we have in our back yard. If I had the time I would bake bread a few times a week as well.

I also enjoy crafting with my hands. I have been known to cross stitch, quilt and sew my own curtains and pillow cases. I have a big bin of material that I would love to do something with. If I had the time I'd even try making clothing. In the past I have scrapbooked, made candles, created amulet bags and different kinds of jewelry. I have even taken a piece of wood and turned it in to a jewelry holder that hangs in my room.

Maybe some of you are familiar with the disease, "I can do that". I walk in to a store or a restaurant, see something and think, "I can do that". It's horrible but fun at the same time. I also get the following question a lot, "Where do you find the time for this?". I've been thinking about this a lot and the answer is that I just don't stop. Seriously. I stop from about 9 - 10 (and not always) when I watch a little TV before going to bed. Otherwise from the minute I get up in the morning until that one hour at night I am always doing something from getting myself ready, to dealing with the kids, to working, to running errands, to cooking, to running, to making things. *phew* I need a real vacation.

New York City

2010-07-30T22:25:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Lizzie and I had a little adventure down in New York City. The reason behind our trip was to attend my cousin's 50th birthday and CD release party on Saturday. On Friday we took the 6:30 am train from the Rte 128 stop. This meant getting up around 4:30 and leaving Rockport at 5 am. We were joined on this trip by Nana, Uncle Caleb and Great Aunt Susan. So we were all up early! The train journey took us about 4 hours which thanks to a DVD player went very smoothly. Once we were in the city we said goodbye to Susan went she hopped in a cab to stay with my cousin while the rest of us walked from Penn Station to our hotel up on Lexington and 49th. This put Lizzie to sleep so she managed a bit of a nap which lasted through dropping off our baggage and ended right before we got to our lunch place.

After lunch we took her to The Central Park Zoo and The Children's Zoo. Both were lots of fun and great sizes for small children. The thing that struck me the most about the two places was Lizzie's ability to attract other children and befriend them immediately. In one place she ended up holding hands with another little three year old girl and in the other place she quite happily played with a really adorable three year old boy. She has such a magnetic personality. I hope that in the future she uses it for good and not evil. If she does end up being in the popular group in school I can only hope that she is also a good and kind person and not a mean little bitch.

We met up with the rest of my family for dinner up on the upper east side. Lizzie absolutely adores her "cousins" (actually second cousins as her only real cousin lives in Papua New Guinea) so she had so much fun sitting at the end of the table with the kids (I was not sitting next to her). Considering how much sleep she didn't get that day she did so well! When it was time to crash in the hotel room she definitely crashed. It was pretty much instantaneous! She actually slept in between mommy and Nana while Uncle Caleb slept in the other bed.

Day two had us breakfasting at a really awesome restaurant on 50th and 2nd called Le Pain Quotidien. We had a really wonderful breakfast made from organic ingredients with great coffee. Afterwards we took Lizzie too Dylan's Candy Bar. She was like a kid in a candy shop! Ok, she was actually a kid in a candy shop and she loved every minute of it. She just went around putting lollipops in our basket (her favorite). I had to stop her from putting the whole store in to it! She definitely has her mommy's sweet tooth. After Dylan's Candy Bar Nana and Uncle Caleb tried to do some shopping but soon realized that is not very possible with a three year old. We took her to FAO Schwartz but by then she was really tired and I think she was overwhelmed by everything there. She wanted ALL of the stuffed animals but in the end we got her to pick one, a clown fish who we call "Nemo".

After another stroller nap we headed down to the party which was being held at a Cuban restaurant at the South Street Seaport. The restaurant was a little awkward for the party so it was quite crowded in what little open space there was. So we found a booth to hang out in while we waited for the music to start. Lizzie amused herself by bouncing around and hanging out with her cousin. My cousin and his band (The Love Handles) played music off the CD which was fun to hear. We ended day two by going out for Mexican food and renting The Princess and the Frog in the hotel room. Both Nana and Mommy fell asleep while watching the movie but not Lizzie! (Uncle Caleb went out on the town to look for "hot babes").

On day three we went out for a light breakfast at our favorite restaurant, checked out of the hotel then headed uptown for brunch with family and friends. After brunch everyone went over the The Met to see the bamboo installation on the roof. It was definitely interesting but the day was hot and I think we would have been better off going to a playground. In fact, we managed to slip in a couple minutes at a nice playground before we needed to head back downtown to Penn Station. Our train was scheduled to leave at 3 pm. It was a complete nightmare getting to the train once it arrived. A massive amount of people were trying to get down a tiny escalator to a narrow platform. In the meantime people were still getting off the train. Uncle Caleb ended up carrying Lizzie as they wouldn't let her go down the escalator in the stroller so we actually got separated for a little while. Finally we managed to find seats in the same car although not all together. Thankfully someone moved so I could sit next to Lizzie as opposed to her sitting on my lap which was a very good thing as we ended up being on the train for a total of 7 hours (as opposed to the 4 it should have been). There was an electrical storm that downed a tree up in CT which fell on a line that controlled the track. This wreaked a lot of havoc with our journey but we finally got home around midnight.

I definitely like visiting NYC but next time I think we'll go in the spring or fall. It was hot, noisy, crowded and smelly. I was thankful to be back in my little seaside town with the cool ocean breeze. Lizzie was so amazing on the trip with relatively few meltdowns considering how little sleep she got and how many new things she was experiencing.

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Fun

2010-07-21T15:50:00.000-04:00

One Down, One To Go

2010-07-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

I'm am pleased to report that Emily started walking for real this weekend! Up until Saturday she was taking a few steps here and there but would always pitch forward at the end. Something clicked though on late Saturday and she began to take lots of steps. By Sunday she was walking more than crawling. She is very cute, she will take a bunch of steps, always trying to carry something, then sit down hard on her butt. Then she just gets up and tries again. I'm guessing by the end of this week she'll be a decent little walker.

Wordless Wednesday: A Rare Moment

2010-06-30T09:21:00.000-04:00

First Day at a New School

2010-06-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

A funny little story about the twins first day at their new school....

They are both in a room called the Toddler Transition room. There are no cribs in this room or high chairs. When they eat they sit at a tiny table with tiny chairs. It is very cute. I'll have to take a picture. When they sleep they sleep on mats on the floor (covered by a sheet) with blankets. When they went to nap today the teachers put their mats in different parts of the room. However, Alex decided to crawl over to Emily and lay down next to her! So they put their mats together.

I think this is twindom in action. At home they sleep in different rooms. At my mom's house on Wednesdays they sleep in different rooms. Only when they were very tiny did they sleep next to each other. Emily was definitely having a much harder time with the transition today and clearly being close to each other was a comfort for both of them. I wish I had a picture of it!

The Faces of Your Children

2010-06-14T21:40:00.000-04:00

What do you see when you look into the faces of your children? I have a whole bunch of photos on my office wall that face me when I'm at my laptop (which is always!) and quite often I find myself looking at these photos. It always makes me feel better to look in to the faces of my children and today I found myself thinking about their eyes, their smiles and their personalities.

Because they are my children they are so beautiful and precious to me. I would never expect anyone else (except maybe their family) to see what I do but I think you would feel something similar when you look at your children.

In Lizzie's face I see her enthusiasm for life. She gets so excited about everything and possibly because of this has no problem making friends. Both kids and adults seem drawn to her and I can only hope she continues to be my little adventurer.

In Alex's face I see his gentle spirit. He is the most laid back of all my children and loves to just sit and look at books. His current favorite is "Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see?". I think he wants so badly to be able to walk and talk but some of his developmental delays are holding him back. His face just lights up though when he sees me in the morning and he gives me the most wonderful smile.

In Emily's face I see her cheekiness. That little girl has quite a temper and will often scream defiantly when she is angry or frustrated. She can be very somber when surrounded by people she is unfamiliar with but when she is around people she knows she loves to smile and has the best laugh ever! I also see how stubborn she is. I think she is going to give us a run for our money.

As a parent I think it is hard to put in to words how much I love my children. They are a lot of work, can make me angry and frustrate me to no end but in their beautiful faces I see my future and am so happy that their souls chose to join our little family.

English or American?

2010-06-11T22:11:00.000-04:00

For anyone who doesn't know me personally, I'm married to an Englishman. My husband was born and raised in the western far-reaching suburbs of London. His parents live over there as well as his sister. His brother lives in Papua New Guinea but that's another story! So needless to say he pronounces words differently to myself who was born and raised in a northeastern far-reaching suburb of Boston, MA. I don't have a Massachusetts accent though so don't go imagining I sound like Cliff Clavin or anything! I would say I have a fairly neutral American accent but if you know me feel free to disagree.

Where am I going with this? Well, put yourself in my three year old's shoes. Both mommy and daddy use the same words (most of the time) and yet we pronounce them in different ways. It's been interesting to see what kind of affect this would have and recently we learned what it is. She has started correcting our pronunciation!

I think it depends on who says the word first to her or who says it the most often who has the right, in her mind, pronunciation. For example, when we read Make Way for Ducklings we pronounce the word "Mallard" differently. I think I read the book to her first so she will correct my husband when he reads it. He tends to give her a bath every night so she thinks the way he says "bath" is correct and that is the way she says it.

Some pronunciations are quite obvious but others are more subtle so it always amazes me when she hears the difference and "corrects" us. For example she notices the difference in the word "library". So she is clearly very aware of what we are saying and the distinctions. We have tried to explain to her why we are different but I don't know if she really understands yet. It will be interesting to see how this grows and changes over time, especially once her peers are aware that some of the words she says are a little different. Will they embrace it or will she be teased in to pronouncing things the American way?

PS - Check out those links on the words. You can hear the different ways we pronounce them!

Twins at 13 Months

2010-05-25T11:56:00.000-04:00

Emily and Alex had turned 13 months old on May 18, 2010. It seems like every day they are changing and doing something new. So many amazing things happen in the second year of life!

Eating
They are both on 100% table food and will pretty much eat anything put in front of them. They don't seem to be very enthusiastic about meat though but they love pasta, cheese and vegetables. The other day Lizzie (who also loves asparagus) gave Alex two of her half-eaten asparagus spears. He had a great time eating them! I don't think I would have expected that.

They are off formula and on whole milk. Alex liked whole milk immediately but it took Emily a little bit longer. I was worried for awhile as their Dr. wanted them to drink lots of whole milk and said 2% wasn't a good substitute. Apparently the fat helps their brain development. We are also down to one bottle a day at the end of the day.

Sleeping
Alex is the star sleeper in the Sly household. When he had a double ear infection and conjunctivitis he still slept soundly through the night. In general Emily is a pretty good sleeper too. When she also had her double ear infection and conjunctivitis she would wake up about every hour, fuss then go back to sleep. If she got really upset I would go in to soothe her but I quickly realized that this is counter-productive and while I could get her back to sleep the minute I put her down she just cried even harder. So now if she fusses or cries in the middle of the night I let her cry it out. It doesn't usually last for long and thankfully has seemed to stop all together.

Moving
It seems that Emily is focusing on her physical development while Alex is working on his verbal skills. Both babies are crawling like champions and cruising as well. It took Emily longer to start cruising however she is now trying to stand on her own. Just this weekend she stood by herself in the kitchen and drank from her sippy cup. She walks very well when you hold her hands so hopefully it won't be long until she is walking on her own. Alex still needs to work on his balance and I've only seen him stand on his own briefly. He cruises really well but when you walk him around he takes giant steps with his left foot and sort of drags his right foot. His physical therapist recommend supportive shoes with "cookies" or arch support. Our pediatrician recommended Arch Angels but they don't make them small enough so for now we bought him a nice pair of Merrills and will do some more research in to getting custom arch support made for him.

Communicating
While Emily has better balance, Alex is really excelling in the verbal department. If you ask him what a duck says he will answer "quack quack". He will also tell you what a cow says and he will roar like a bear. I'm pretty sure he calls me Mama and he calls Greg, Daddy. He makes a wide variety of sounds and loves to "talk". He is very easy going in so many ways and always has such a lovely smile in the morning. Emily babbles as well but not on the same level as Alex. She definitely doesn't know any animal sounds yet but she can certainly tell you when she is angry. That child has quite a temper and will get very angry with you if you try to take her away from whatever she is doing. She is also very attached to her mommy and now gets upset when I leave her at daycare.

Animal Sounds from Rebecca Sly on Vimeo.

Health
A couple weeks ago both babies had double ear infections and conjunctivitis. That was definitely not a lot of fun. It was Alex's second double ear infection in a row! Otherwise they have been in good health. Thankfully while Alex's head remains large he has had no signs of pressure. In fact, I think the rest of him is starting to catch up with his head and Emily is starting to thin out a bit.

Recent Stats

	Weight	Height	Head
Alex	21.88	30.5	19.75
Emily	20.81	29.5	18

Circus Stress

2010-05-14T09:33:00.001-04:00

Lizzie and I had a fun adventure planned for yesterday. We were going to drive to Beverly and take the 5:03 train in to Boston. We were going to walk over to Quincy Market for a quick dinner then head over to Government Center to catch the 6:30 pm Big Apple Circus show. We had some friends also going to the show and we were going to take the T with them to their car and they were going to drive us back to the train station to get our car. Sounds like fun, right? Well, here is what really happened....

I picked Lizzie up from preschool around 4ish, changed her clothing and we hit the road. We got to Beverly in good time, found a great parking spot next to the train station (on the outbound side, had to cross the tracks to get to the inbound side) then munched on some snacks I brought as we waited for the train. I arrived on time, we boarded, Lizzie picked a seat, we sat down, the train started moving then quickly stopped (I would say it moved about 10 feet). A couple minutes later I heard a police car and thought "crap, I bet someone or something was hit". And I was right! It turns out a woman was hit by the train as it started to pull away from the station.

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x712206998/Patient-32-airlifted-to-Boston-in-very-serious-condition

I should probably feel bad for this woman but I don't because you really shouldn't walk in front of a moving train or even a train pulled up to the station. You just don't walk in front of a train.

The conductor initially said we would probably leave in about 40 minutes but as time ticked away and Lizzie started getting really restless I decided that it might be better for us to drive. However the train was blocking the places where you would normally cross to get back to the outbound side so we we thought we might have to walk down the road to get to the other side. I also ran in to another girl that was going to the circus and decided to offer her a ride. She was by herself and was meeting her date in Boston. So Lizzie, Chelsea and myself discovered that we were able to cross the tracks (illegally) behind the train to get to the car.

The drive started off fine however when we got to the Rte 1 exit off Rte 128 it was backed up. I decided to keep going and take Rte 93 in. Traffic slowed but it was moving so we were still hopeful we might get there in time. Dinner beforehand was definitely out of the question but at least we'd see the whole circus.

Do you ever have those days where you feel like the universe is conspiring against you? When we approached Boston we were suddenly stuck in really bad traffic. We crawled for awhile and as we approached the North Station exit we decided to get off there and just figure out how to get to Government Center (they are pretty close but Boston is NOT easy to drive around and I didn't have my Garmin only my iPhone). There was more traffic when we got off the exit so we crawled once again. It was mainly for people getting off on Storrow Drive so thankfully once we got past that we were able to make our way towards North Station. Finally things worked in our favor and we managed to find the Government Center garage. Lizzie was being really good the whole time however as we were sitting in traffic she kept saying she was hungry and had to pee which was only adding to my rising stress levels. Poor things.

It was such a relief to park the car and find our way to the circus. Chelsea met up with date and we said goodbye. I grabbed some food (hot dog, popcorn and Twizzlers - per Lizzie's request) when we got there and headed in to the show. We had front row seats but only managed to see one act before the intermission. We missed the horses which really bums me out but did get to see the dog act and the trapeze act. Once I was able to relax we had a good time and Lizzie enjoyed herself. Thankfully getting out of Boston was easy and the ride home was uneventful. Taking the train was going to be a big part of the fun so we'll definitely have to make another trip in to Boston soon. Today I still feel like I'm recovering from the high stress levels.

Lizzie and her friend at intermission. What's better than a dinner of popcorn and Twizzlers?!

Wordless Wednesday: BFF

2010-05-12T09:27:00.000-04:00

Big Girl

2010-04-30T09:48:00.000-04:00

When did my little girl get so big? This morning Lizzie got up all by herself and came downstairs to join me and the twins in the kitchen. I went upstairs to get her clothing and when I came back down I didn't see her in the kitchen but quickly heard her say "Mommy, I'm going pee". I went in to the bathroom expecting to see her on her little pink Bjorn toilet but what I really saw was her stool pulled up to the big toilet and Lizzie sitting on the edge. She didn't even put her toilet seat on it. She was holding on and doing her business, all by herself! How did this happen?

New Challenges

2010-04-29T14:26:00.000-04:00

From experience I know that with kids once you get used to something it will inevitably change and yet somehow it stills manages to surprise me when it does.

Lizzie turns three in June and up until recently she hasn't really been interested in opening doors. The door knobs in our house are old and often loose so they are not the easiest to use if you are just a wee one. However in the last few days this has suddenly changed. Lizzie is now great at opening doors! I've been prepared for this and have been storing those plastic covers for doorknobs anticipating issues in the middle of the night.

So far we haven't had that problem but two mornings in a row now she has gotten out of bed (earlier than usual) and wandered in to our bedroom while I was getting the twins dressed. The first morning she heard Emily crying (she was just sitting on the floor, no idea why she was so upset) and brought a book in to read to her. It was very cute. This morning I was getting Alex dressed so when I was done we all went downstairs for breakfast. Again, no problems just something new to get used to.

Then a little later I needed to run upstairs to get Emily a new spare outfit for daycare. I had Emily with me and left Lizzie and Alex downstairs. We have two sets of stairs in our house, one is blocked off with a gate and another blocked by a door. I swear I was only up there for about two minutes when I heard Lizzie at the top of the stairs. She was laying on the floor and looking down the steps telling Alex to come upstairs and play with her. He was happy as a clam as he negotiated his way up the wooden steps all by himself.

I pretty much had a heart attack. If Lizzie starts using the word "crap" it will no big surprise. I quickly scooped up Alex and brought the babies downstairs. Alex was upset that I ruined his good time and Lizzie was upset that she couldn't play with him in her room. I explained to Lizzie that Alex can't go up the stairs unless mommy or daddy is with him but I think we need to go to the next level of babyproofing! I can only imagine what it is going to be like when they start walking!

1st Birthday Cake

2010-04-28T21:25:00.000-04:00

The twins had their first birthday on April 18th. We had a small party for them with friends and family. My efforts for the party went in to the cake so I thought I'd show you all what went in to the cake.

I used the sports ball cake pan from Wilton. Each half was coated with Wilton Cake Release.

I made three different kid of cakes, dark chocolate fudge, red velvet and french vanilla.

Each half baked on a pedestal. Then I sliced off the top part that had risen above the top of the pan.

Mmmm...French Vanilla...this is making me hungry.

Thanks to the cake release all the halves came out of the pan with no issues.

I made the cake a few days in advance and froze them until the day of the party.

I cut off the bottom of each cake then scooped out part of the middle. I filled the red velvet with cream cheese frosting, the french vanilla with chocolate mousse and the chocolate with peanut butter filling.

Before applying the frosting you need to put a crumb coat on the cake. This is a thin layer of frosting that holds the crumbs in. That way the crumbs won't pollute the main frosting.

I used a buttercream frosting to cover the cakes.

Each cake was covered is a series of individually applied dots of frosting.

The cake in progress.

Frosting is done, now it is time to apply the final decorations.

The head was decorated with jelly beans and licorice strings. The antennae were made from floral wire covered in lilac ribbon. The tips of the antennae are jelly beans. The legs are mini Charleston Chews.

Happy 1st Birthday Alex and Emily! May there be many fun cakes to come!

Early Intervention

2010-04-15T08:00:00.002-04:00

Emily and Alex both receive services from Early Intervention. They are evaluated for this service every six months. Their next evaluation will be in June. In the meantime they see a physical therapist every other week and a general EI specialist on the alternating weeks. After each visit we get a report and recommendations on how we can work with them in between appointments. Here is a sample of what we typically get from the physical therapist:

"Emily didn't cry today and approached me on her own with smiles and sounds. Lots of nice babbling and she enjoyed songs and peekaboo. She is crawling nicely and pulls up to standing on her own. She did a little cruising and could stoop down part way to reach a toy on the floor. We worked on bending forward while sitting on my leg to strengthen back muscles and legs. She enjoyed the ball, working on abdominal strength and sitting/trunk balance and strength. She is starting to take more steps with two hands held now as well. She worked on standing balance tilting to the sides and back as we sang.

Continue to encourage lots of crawling, cruising and stooping to help her strengthen her body and legs. Play games in standing tilting to the sides and back to challenge her balance. Begin to help her walk with hands held."

"Alex has a cold and seemed a bit tired and stuffy, but overall tolerated activities well. His stiffening and flexor muscle weakness were the main areas of focus - he did well with supported sit-ups on the ball and tilting in to partially reclined positions. His head will still tip back and lag due to weakness. Alex is starting to W-sit (bottom between his legs) which we tried to correct whenever we saw it. W-sitting decreases trunk and hip strength and makes rotation difficult. He let me help him play in side sit (legs to one side) on both sides which encourages more rotation and flexion of the trunk.

Alex will stoop nicely now through his left leg was noted stronger than the right. When he takes steps with hands held his right leg dragged behind more - he could be assisted to take a better step with the right. Continue to work on abdominal/flexor strength to help balance his stiffenings. Play in side sitting with help - both sides."

Wordless Wednesday: Then

2010-04-14T08:00:00.001-04:00

April 19, 2009

Alex

Emily

It Was Quite a Month!

2010-04-13T12:00:00.000-04:00

My life one year ago, as seen through the eyes of Facebook....

April 1, 2009
10:29am - is annoyed she woke up every hour last night.
7:05pm - can safely say the best time to shop at Ikea is in the evening on a weekday
8:47pm - is waiting for Lizzie and Greg at Logan!

April 2, 2009
7:27pm - is at labor and delivery being monitored for contractions
8:41pm - is happy to report the contractions have stopped thanks to the drugs

April 3, 2009
12:26pm - wants to thank everyone for their concern, I'm home and everything is fine...just need to take it easy until about 35 weeks (am 31 weeks right now).
9:51pm - is trying to accept her limitations.

April 4, 2009
5:34pm - is trying to do nothing so please don't blame me if my child becomes a tv addict

April 5, 2009
5:31pm - had a lovely time chatting with Alyson and watching the girls play outside on this beautiful day

April 6, 2009
11:46am - is stuck on the couch for the next three weeks.
6:01pm - thinks Jack Black in a bright orange skin tight suit and a bright orange furry hat is very funny.

April 7, 2009
9:44am - is wondering if anyone in her home town can recommend a good landscaping company?
3:19pm - is having a hot flash and wishes the twins would nap so she didn't feel like she was being beaten up from the inside.

April 8, 2009
4:16pm - is enjoying some Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.

April 9, 2009
10:23am - is working from Beverly Hospital in between her ultrasound appointment and the non-stress test.
2:27pm - is finally back from her appointments this morning and has thankfully eaten lunch.

April 10, 2009
8:51am - is very much enjoying the lovely spring air.

April 11, 2009
8:55pm - is happy the nursery is starting to come together.

April 12, 2009
9:33pm - thinks that too much sugar and too much stimulation are not a good combination for a toddler.

April 13, 2009
8:41am - thinks that waking every hour and a half due to discomfort + a toddler going through a bad sleep phase does not equal a well rested mommy.
7:26pm - had a rough Monday...it was one of those days at work where everything seems to be going wrong.

April 14, 2009
9:01am - is sunning herself on the front porch to get out of the cleaners way
11:52am - says it's a happy happy day for me when the cleaners clean the house and the landscapers clean the yard.
9:42pm - is having a hard time getting Lizzie to sleep tonight.

April 15, 2009
12:30pm - needs tips from other moms on how to stop a toddler in a big girl bed from wandering in to her parents room in the middle of the night to sleep with them.

April 16, 2009
10:41am - might be scheduling her c-section today.
3:19pm - is scheduling her c-section on May 15th!
5:56pm - thinks that Pixar has saved the sanity of many a parent. Thanks Andrew!!!

April 17, 2009
8:27am - was just told that she might not get May 15th for her c-section because 3 procedures have already been booked...am totally bummed now because a Friday would have been perfect. Now I have to wait to find out what date I might get.
10:13am - is hooked up to the monitors for her biweekly non stress test

April 18, 2009

7:55am - is at L&D because she is leaking fluid.

10:16am - is an ambulance heading to Beth Israel, lights and all.

4:05pm - says the babies are coming today!

7:16pm - Would like to welcome Alex and Emily to the world. They were born at 6:22!

April 19, 2009
7:40pm - All I can say is "ouch"!
11:04pm - wonders why hospital rooms have to be so hot.

April 21, 2009
4:00pm - thinks this is really difficult.

April 22, 2009
10:20am - is excited that Emily and Alex both fed from a bottle this morning!

April 23, 2009
10:35am - wishes they had beds for her babies at Beverly Hospital as they are ready to be moved.
9:48pm - can't believe there are now three sets of twins waiting to be transferred to Beverly!

April 24, 2009
10:02am - is hanging out in the NICU

April 26, 2009
8:57pm - had a really nice weekend with the family in Boston.

April 27, 2009
10:47am - is hanging out at the NICU and hoping her babies get transferred to Beverly soon!
11:29am - wishes that everything little thing didn't make her cry (just found out there is yet another set of twins ahead of hers for Beverly)
5:23pm - is picking up the new minivan!

April 28, 2009
10:25am - loves the twins two main nurses but is starting to foster a hatred towards Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (other set of twins is going to Beverly today but not mine).
3:44pm - thinks she needs to stop hoping as she only ends up crushed.

April 29, 2009
10:20am - is happy her babies have gone three days with no apnea spells but is still waiting for word on the move to Beverly although I'm not expecting much as there seems to be no point.
11:16am - is joyous! My babies are going to Beverly at 2 today!!!!!

April 30, 2009
2:57pm - loves the fact that she is able to do 2 - 3 care sessions with her babies today (I could only do 1 at BIDMC)!!!

Fatherhood

2010-04-08T16:51:00.000-04:00

When I was in Starbucks this morning getting myself a Dark Cherry Mocha (you see...I really fell off that sugar cleanse wagon) I saw a man sitting at a table talking to a friend. This man was highly tattooed and fairly young. On the floor next to him was an infant inside an infant car seat. He was chatting with his friend and actively interacting with the baby, who I can only assume was his child. On simply first impressions alone I would not have expected this and for some reason it warmed me to the heart.

It also got me thinking about fatherhood and my husband in particular. Not long after I met him I got to see him interact with my cousin's children. I knew instantly that he would be a good father and that definitely made him even more attractive to me. Since we have had our children he has proven himself to be the best of fathers. He helps me in every way with them and is truly a partner in raising our children. He can do everything that I do and I never hesitate to leave him with the kids. In fact, he did a really awesome job with them when I was away for a week in California with very little help from my family. I am so happy that my children are being raised by such a good male role model. I hope this helps to make them better people. Thank you Greg for being a wonderful father!

Addictions

2010-04-07T19:36:00.001-04:00

I have four addictions: caffeine, sugar, lip gloss/balm and Diet Coke.

In my last post I mentioned that I was trying to give up refined sugar for awhile. Today I fell off that wagon. My sugar cleanse lasted a whole two days. Clearly this is a problem for me. Not to mention the fact that sugar is everywhere! I discovered it was added to my "natural" peanut butter, it is in my bagels (another recent obsession of mine...Ray's New York Bagels..yum!), it is in my coffee creamer and if it isn't refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup, it is fake sugar. I really need to see if I can live without it for awhile.

I guess caffeine and Diet Coke are sort of related. I used to drink only a small cup of coffee a day but ever since I had kids I drink 2 to 3 large cups of coffee every day. Then I usually have a couple cans or small bottles of Diet Coke. It doesn't help that they give us free soda at work. When I try to drink plain water I find that I just don't drink enough liquids. I do better with water when I add something like Crystal Light but then we are getting back to the sugar/fake sugar problem I have.

I suppose though, in the grand scheme of things, these addictions are pretty minor especially the lip gloss one. I have lip gloss everywhere! On my desk at work, in my bedside table, in my purse, on the kitchen counter and on my dressing table. I am constantly applying it! I love buying different glosses and balms as well. I particularly like Philosophy's gloss range as not only are they nice and shiny, they taste good too!

What are your addictions?

Updates

2010-04-06T08:00:00.032-04:00

I figured I owed you some updates on a couple things I've mentioned in the past...

Weight Loss
In the end I lost about 23 pounds on Jenny Craig before I got sick of their food. So I stopped ordering their food and went on maintenance at about 140 pounds. I put on a few pounds over the holidays then lost about 5 pounds using the Bodybugg. So now I'm fluctuating between 138 and 140 pounds. I would still like to get down to 130 pounds but my trip to CA has screwed up my motivation. I know I will find it again but I'm not sure when.

In the meantime I realized that I've been eating way too much refined sugar these days and it was starting to make me feel ill. So today I started removing refined sugar from my diet and eventually I will remove the artificial sweeteners as well. I'm not putting Agave Nectar and half & half (used to use the flavored stuff) in my coffee and am paying more attention to everything else I eat. For example, when I looked at our "natural" peanut butter I discovered that it had added sugar so I had to go out and buy it without. I wanted to buy strawberry cream cheese as well but that too had added sugar. I am trying to remove hydrogenated corn syrup and things like that from the kid's diet as well.

Daycare
As of June 11th our current child care center will be closing for good. It is very sad as we really love the teachers and the other kids. Not to mention that it is right here in Rockport, about a mile from my house. It is also very close to the train station which allows Greg and I to do a car swap on Thursdays so I can drop off the kids and he can pick them up. When I went to look for a new place I discovered that there are no group day cares (my option of choice...see my old post for my explanations) close to my home that will take all three of my kids in June. The only other extended care place (the next town over) nearby wouldn't take the twins until they were 15 months old (July) and I didn't really want to go there anyway.

So, we've chosen a Next Generation Children's Center that is located half way between where I live and where I work. It is brand new (opened last June), very clean, and very well designed. It has a commercial kitchen and they provide breakfast (before 8:30) and lunch for the kids. I'm very excited about that as now I won't have to pack lunches. They also clean the extra clothing when the kids get dirty as well as provide sheets, blankets and wipes for the infants. The twins will be in the infant room until September and Lizzie will be in the preschool. The twins have a really fun play area outside their main room where they can crawl all over padded blocks. Lizzie has a great room as well as an indoor play area plus a different room where they do theater. The outdoor areas are also very nice. It's more expensive then where they go now but I'm very happy about the social and academic educations they will be receiving. It is also very close to a train station so Greg and I can continue the Thursday switch.

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T09:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we celebrated the start of spring and the coming of the Easter bunny! It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we spent much of it outside. Lizzie hunted for eggs in the house when she woke up in the morning then proceeded to spend the rest of the day consuming mostly sugary substances. We had our Easter meal around 4 pm at my parent's house with my brother, Caleb. Our next big event will be the twins first birthday party on the 18th! Yikes!

Uprooted

2010-03-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

I just found out this morning that my children's daycare center is closing for the summer and possibly for good. I'm totally devastated. Despite the fact that they close for all the minor holidays it really was the best possible childcare situation for my children. The teachers there are fabulous, it is only about a mile away from my home, it is a small center, my kids can all be in the same place, it is right next to the train station so Greg can pick up the kids once a week, all my kids can go there and they were flexible enough to realize when Lizzie needed to switch rooms earlier than normal.

Now I have to figure out what to do. I feel sick to my stomach. No matter what it is going to be traumatic for Emily. She just doesn't like strangers. For example on Sunday we were video chatting with her grandparents in England and she started crying really hard. Finally I realized she was scared of her grandparents on the computer because she doesn't see them very often. That is how sensitive she is! So now I have to decide if we should get a nanny for the summer in the hopes that their center will re-open or if we should just bite the bullet and change to a place in the next town over. No matter what though there will be upheaval which I'm not looking forward to.

Spring Forward, Not Back!!!

2010-03-18T16:57:00.000-04:00

Can someone tell my son that we sprang forward an hour and did not fall back an hour? Shouldn't he be sleeping later and not getting up earlier?

For the past three mornings he's been waking up between 4 and 4:30 AM. I tried to explain to him this morning while he was eating his Cheerios and drinking his water that it is not acceptable to wake up before 6 am. I hope he got it.

Not Superwoman

2010-03-17T13:32:00.001-04:00

I just returned from a walk by the ocean on a gorgeous day. We have had so much rain and stormy weather not to mention a long winter that this kind of weather is very rejuvenating. But it also got me thinking about all the things I do on a daily basis like spending time with the kids, working full time, cooking, minimal cleaning (thankfully we have cleaners that come every other week), exercising and relaxing (that's minimal too).

Then there are all the things I want to do! Like finishing all the projects in the house (I swear every room has one and it is driving me crazy), cleaning all the winter debris from the front and back yard, finishing my cross-stitching project, starting my quilting project, blogging more, making photo books, making online scrapbook pages of the kids, organizing the house, getting rid of the junk, etc.

Finally there are the things that I need to do...such as planning and preparing for the twins first birthday, and for Easter (I'm sure there is more but I just can't think of it right now).

Can someone make it so I require less sleep? Or maybe the days could be 36 hours instead of 24? Anyone? Anyone?

Surprising Myself

2010-03-04T01:01:00.001-05:00

It's nice to know I can still surprise myself. I have had some uncharacteristic behavior on this trip and frankly it has been refreshing.

I am actually setting my alarm for 5:30 am so I can get up and run 3 miles on the treadmill. At home I get up at 6 but only because I have to and I have always hated working out in the morning.

When presented with many yummy food options at lunch I have been going for the grilled fish and veggies. While I like fish and live by the ocean I don't tend to eat a lot of it (although it is now part of our menu every other week).

I have been craving oatmeal for breakfast with brown sugar and cranberries. At my companies headquarters they have a few different cafeteria choices but one of them is really stellar. In the morning they have a wonderful bakery churning out fresh baked goods, they make lattes and omelets but the best part is they have a big crock full of real oatmeal (not the instant stuff) and things you can put in it. It has really hit the spot and kept me going until lunch.

I don't think I'll be able to keep up the working out in the morning thing when I go home as there is far too much to do with the kids to get everyone up and out of the house. I might eat more fish for lunch when I'm in the office if it is a good choice at our little cafeteria. However, when I have time on the weekends and before it gets too warm I am definitely going to make real oatmeal!

Wordless Wednesday: Custom M&Ms

2010-03-03T16:00:00.002-05:00

Away on Business

2010-03-02T22:48:00.000-05:00

I'm away on business this week. It is the first time I have left the twins since they were born. I have a wonderful hands-on husband so I wasn't really worried about leaving him with all three kids on his own however I did know that it would be a lot of work. So I did as much as I could before leaving. Here is what I did:

Washed and folded all the kids laundry and put it away
Changed all sheets
Made a lasagna
Went grocery shopping and bought a roasted chicken
Ordered Chinese food the night before I left so he would have leftovers
Pre-cooked the twins food
Packaged the twins lunch and dinner for each day and froze their meals
Outlined the routine for each day including what he needed to do in the morning to get the kids off to daycare and in the evening to prepare for the next day
Arranged for help on bath night and Saturday morning when he has to take Lizzie to swimming lessons

Thankfully Alex is a very good sleeper so isn't waking up in the middle of the night. Lizzie is also behaving herself and sleeping through the night so that just leaves Emily. On Sunday night he had to pull her in to our bed at 3 am but she fell asleep immediately. On Monday night she slept until 5 am in her own crib and just did the last hour or so with Greg.

I miss my kids but am enjoying a little extra time to myself in the morning and in the evening. I am waking early, running 3 miles and then walking over to the office around 8. I've also discovered the joy of real oatmeal with brown sugar and cranberries. You can buy it at one of our cafeterias so I definitely plan on making this on the weekends when I get home. I went shopping last night at Cost Plus World Market. I love that place! I wish we had them in my region but the closest one is 421 miles south. A little too far to go. Tonight I had a conference call so just got some dinner, did some laundry and will soon be crawling in to bed and watching The Biggest Loser. I will enjoy my free time while I have it but I will also enjoy getting back to my family.

10 Months in 4 Days

2010-02-14T21:30:00.000-05:00

My little babies will be 10 months old in 4 days! I meant to do a 9 month post but as usual time seems to have slipped away and now 10 months is right around the corner.

Eating
Emily and Alex are eating more and more table food these days which is a relief as their baby food is quite expensive. In fact, as of the 12th I've changed their dinner to be all table food with a little pureed fruit at the end. As usual Alex is a little ahead of Emily in the eating arena and seems to enjoy table food more than she does although she isn't too excited by the mushy food either. I think in general she is the pickier eater. Tonight they had sweet potato and turkey burger. Last night they had pasta and peas. Now the big challenge will be coming up with varied and healthy finger food.

Sleeping
It seems that the magic sleeping-through-the-night age for all my children is about 8 1/2 months. That is when both the twins started trending towards sleeping through the night on most nights. Now that has become the norm and Greg and I are getting used to a full nights sleep again. Strangely though I feel more tired than ever. I guess my body has finally realized it has been sleep deprived for the last year and has a lot to make up for. Neither of the babies nap very well at daycare so they are usually very exhausted by the time they come home and pass out around 6 pm. This means that they are also up early in the morning as well. They generally wake up between 5:30 and 6 am. This is fine during the week as we get up at 6 am anyway but really stinks on the weekend however Greg and I take turns sleeping in so at least we get sleep one morning.

Moving
Alex is doing lots of moving these days. He started as the one we were worried about on the physical side of things but he has made a break for it and it now far ahead of Emily. He started crawling around the beginning of February and quickly started pulling up too. Once that boy realized he could move around there is no stopping him. Unfortunately he doesn't quite know what to do once he is standing and gets very upset when he wants to sit down. He is still a little stiff and awkward in his movements but that is definitely improving. He can get out of a sitting position to crawl but doesn't know how to get back to sitting from crawling. Today I was walking him around the house while holding his hands. Perhaps he'll be an early walker like Lizzie was.

Emily is quite happy to sit and play. She is very flexible and you'll often find her doing a split as she leans forward to pick up a toy just out of reach. She looks like she is about to move from sitting to crawling but then decides she just can't be bothered. We are working on getting her to get up on her hands and knees and keep that position. I'm hoping she'll be crawling soon as that is an important milestone and I'd like to see her crawl for a little while before she walks.

Communicating
Alex started babbling before Emily did but now Emily is babbling as well. Alex is definitely the more vocal of the two and likes to say "ba ba ba ba" and "da da da da". Emily can say those but prefers to just say "ah" quite loudly. Lizzie is great at making Emily laugh as well. It's so much fun to hear Emily's giggles. Unfortunately though those giggles tend to turn in the cries as Lizzie gets too enthusiastic about trying to make her laugh. A common way Lizzie gets Emily to laugh is by standing on a chair while Emily is in her high chair. Lizzie sort of screeches at Emily and touches her chest. For some reason Emily finds this hysterical.

Emily is wary of strangers and doesn't generally like to be held by people she is not familiar with. In fact, she is still wary of the Early Intervention ladies who she sees almost every week but only for a short time. Thankfully she is comfortable with Marie, Anne and Lisa who take care of her at RECC. Alex on the other hand is a little social butterfly. He always has a twinkle in his eyes and a smile that lights up the room.

Health
Both babies have been very healthy this winter. Emily and I recently had a cold but otherwise we have been snot free. Alex has four teeth now, two on the bottom and two on the top. There are a few other that will show up pretty soon. When Alex's teeth finally cut through they come fast and furious. Emily has three teeth on the top and two teeth on the bottom. Her teeth cut through sooner but take longer to come in so they are less obvious.

Wordless Wednesday: 9 Month Well Check

2010-01-27T15:40:00.000-05:00

Paper is fun!

Sunday Nights

2010-01-24T20:23:00.000-05:00

I believe that families should eat dinner together more often than not however at this stage in our familial life that is a very difficult thing to do. Here is what our evening weekday schedule looks like:

Monday

I leave the office at 4:30

The twins are fed dinner at daycare at 5ish..

I pick kids up from daycare at 5:30.

I give the twins a bottle and throw something simple together for Lizzie

Lizzie eats dinner while watching something on Nick Jr. while I get the twins in the pajamas and up to bed

I then hang out with Lizzie until Greg gets home at 6:45

We take Lizzie up to bed at 7. She gets a bath every other night.

Sometimes I exercise for 30 minutes then throw dinner together for Greg and myself.

We watch an hour or so of TV while we eat dinner.

At 10 pm we make the kids bottles/lunch, unload and reload the dishwasher.

We are hopefully heading up to bed by 10:30 pm.

Tuesday

I work from home so I pick up the kids at 4:30.

At 5 pm I feed the twins and Lizzie usually eats dinner as well.

After dinner I bring all three kids upstairs for a bath.

The twins go to bed after the bath.

The rest is pretty much the same as Monday night.

Wednesday

I also work from home on Wednesday however my Mom has the kids for the day so I usually pick them up at 5.

I bring them home, feed them dinner, put the twins to bed and again it's pretty much the same as Monday.

I also have a weekly 9 pm conference call.

Thursday

I work in the office on Thursday so it's pretty much the same as Monday except sometimes Greg leaves work earlier and picks up the kids while I run errands on the way home.

Friday

This day is basically the same as Tuesday as I work from home.

So that leaves the weekends for family dinners. Somehow Saturday always seems to get away from me and before I know it the twins need to be fed and I haven't made dinner for Greg, Lizzie and myself. Which leaves Sunday. I usually go grocery shopping on Sundays and I'm now trying to be a bit more organized and get ingredients for a few planned meals.

I'm cooking one of those meals on Sunday evening so Greg, Lizzie and myself can start eating as a family. Once the twins are staying up later and eating table food they will join us as well. The things is though, in our current it's tough to make a decent meal with all the kids awake. Greg is a big help but Lizzie is usually clinging to me at some point and at 5 we need to feed the twins and start getting them ready for bed. I try to make it so we eat at 6 after the babies are asleep but before it is too late for Lizzie. It's really quite exhausting but an important thing to do.

I think I've also decided that Saturday night will start being "pizza night". We might order out or we might make our own but if I can be organized and have a plan then we can add another night of family dining to the week. I also plan on eating with the kids a few nights a week once the twins are eating table food for dinner. Once again though that will required lots of organization and cooking ahead.

Sometimes it is very hard and very exhausting to do the right thing.

Neurologist

2010-01-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

After waiting almost three months Alex had his appointment with a Boston Children's neurologist on Monday. I must admit that the doctor we saw did not exactly inspire confidence. For all I know he may be the best pediatric neurologist ever but that is definitely not the vibe he gave off when he walked in to the exam room. He was very overweight, obese actually, which made me wonder if he couldn't take good care of himself how could he take good care of his patients. He also had a cold so was wearing a mask which ultimately is good but didn't help the overall picture. He walked in not knowing anything about Alex. He asked me if I had the information but he should have had it as it was sent over when the appointment was made so he had to go ask the nurse for it. It just felt so disorganized and impersonal.

We talked about the signs and symptoms of pressure on the brain like vomiting, extra crying, a bulging soft spot and not being able to look up. He also did a quick examination of Alex and measured his head which is in the 98th percentile. We also talked about the fact that the extra fluid can actually be familial. So he measured my head (a little above the 50th percentile) and later I measured Greg's head (98th percentile) so I'm pretty sure that is where it is coming from. As Alex shows none of the signs of pressure we just need to keep an eye for anything unusual which is pretty much what I expected them to say. Definitely good news.

Now when I have trouble getting a sweater over his head I just blame his big noggin on his father!!!

A Year in Photos

2010-01-10T21:24:00.002-05:00

One of my blogger friends, Nora, did a post in which she chose her favorite photos for each month of 2009. She is a wonderful photographer while I'm more of a point-and-click girl so I thought I'd steal her idea but instead I chose a photo from each month that somehow represented that particular month for me.

January

In January I was heavily pregnant and still working on a regular basis in the office. On my way home I got a call from my mother telling me they were taking Lizzie to the ER after she had startled their dog and been bitten. In the end the bite wasn't that bad and didn't require stitches. It wasn't our first trip the ER and I'm sure it won't be our last!

February

I like this photo because it represents the silly side of Lizzie. Here she was prancing around the house with the dog bowl on her head.

March

This photo was taken on March 23, 2009, a little under a month before I unexpectedly gave birth. I think it is a great example of how large I was. At that point I was very uncomfortable and not sleeping much.

April

April was a big month in the Sly household. Alex and Emily arrived on the 18th at 6:22 pm via CSection at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. They were in the NICU there until April 30th when they were finally moved to Beverly Hospital which was much closer to Rockport therefore much easier to get to. This picture was taken the day they were moved. After all the stress of having preemies this was probably the happiest day of the month for me.

May

This photo was taken on the day Alex left the Special Care unit at Beverly Hospital (5/17/09). Emily had already been home for awhile but I wanted a photo of the two of them in their "going home" outfits. The 0 - 3 month outfits were far too big for them and they were so small that they could fit side-by-side in one of those small plastic "cribs" they use at the hospital.

June

Lizzie's birthday is on June 6th. In 2009 she turned 2!! We had a small barbecue with the family to celebrate the day.

July

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to walk in to town (about a mile) and get ice cream. Even with two newborn twins we managed to make this journey a few times.

August

It was such a relief when the babies started smiling. I really like this photo! It looks like Alex and I are sharing a funny joke.

September

The first week in September was my last week of maternity leave and also the week that the daycare is closed so Greg took the week off and we spent it together as a family. One day we took the kids to Stage Fort Park so Lizzie could run around and I could hang out with the twins. I was sad to say goodbye to the summer but happy to be returning back to work.

October

October is one of my favorite months of the year. I love the crisp cool air, the colors of the leaves and the trips to Russell Orchards to pick out pumpkins, see the animals, go apple picking and eat warm apple cider donuts. I went every year as a kid and will take my kids every year.

November

We have been very lucky with Lizzie and illnesses. She has rarely had anything more than the common cold. Emily and Alex on the other hand have not had very many colds yet however we did have a bout of croup. In November Emily gave us a scare when her breathing starting going downhill. Fortunately we already had an appointment with the pediatrician since we thought she might have an ear infection. She was given a dose of steroids and thankfully we never had to experience the horrible bad breathing in the middle of the night.

December

Chrsitmas morning!!! Alex had Christmas jammies on when he woke up but he had wet through them so he got to wear something else. We had a great but hectic Christmas day. I look forward to the years to come when all three kids get excited about Santa Claus.

Wordless Wednesday: Teeth

2010-01-06T14:46:00.000-05:00

Have You Missed Me?

2009-12-16T21:53:00.000-05:00

It seems I forgot about my poor little blog. Daily life has been so all consuming that I have neither had time to write in my own blog or read the many blogs I subscribe to. The holidays have taken what is normally a busy schedule and kicked it up a notch. There have been lots of holiday parties for both the adults and the kids as well as the usual present shopping and baking. In fact, tonight I managed to make up a batch of peppermint fudge after a quick bath and before I made a quick dinner. I had about 15 minutes to eat my dinner then I had to sit on a weekly 9 pm conference call (which is what is happening now). After the conference call I will make up the bottles for tomorrow and pack Lizzie's lunch before heading off to bed and starting the day again at 6 am.

Since I went back to work in September I've had Fridays off to spend with the kids but that is soon coming to an end. I have mixed feelings about it as the kids are starting to get easier and the twins are definitely more enjoyable to be around. I think I'm really going to miss them. It's still difficult watching all three of them on my own but as the twins get older they are really start to develop their little personalities and I like getting to know them. The weekends just fly by in a blur of family activities, running errands and trying to get stuff done around the house.

Sorry, I know I'm rambling but I wanted to touch bases and let you know that I'm still out here and will hopefully be able to post more once the enjoyable chaos is over.

Wordless Wednesday: Decorating Fun

2009-12-02T16:49:00.000-05:00

The First Tooth

2009-12-02T09:28:00.002-05:00

For a long time now we've been expecting Alex's two bottom teeth to appear. You can see the bumps in his gums and can even see the teeth just under the surface. He's been munching on his fingers like crazy and really enjoys gnawing at a Gerber Wagon Wheel or a Gerber Biter Biscuit. However, babies definitely aren't predictable and on the morning of December 1st while Emily was biting my nose I discovered that she had cut a tooth! I guess I won't let her bite my nose (her way of kissing) for much longer!

Seven Months

2009-11-25T11:50:00.002-05:00

The twins turned seven months old on November 18th. I meant to do a six month post for them but alas that month seems to have disappeared in to the ether. So here is where we stand at 7 months...

Eating
Both babies are now eating three meals a day and drinking about 5 to 6 bottles (5 - 6 oz) a day. Alex is the big eater. He wolfs down his food and will probably eat about 3/4 of the food. Emily has taken longer on this front and wasn't really interested in the food until recently. She is finally opening her mouth for the food but still pushes it out a bit with her tongue. I try to feed them a fruit/cereal combination in the morning and have also introduced yogurt recently. For lunch they get a cereal/vegetable combination and the same for dinner. Alex loves to munch on Gerber Wagon Wheels as well. He will grab them and put them to his mouth. He makes little satisfied noises while he is eating them too! I've put some banana and avocado pieces on his highchair tray but he wasn't very good at getting them to his mouth. I don't think it will be long though until we can start transitioning him to table food.

Sleeping
I wish I could report that the twins are sleeping through the night however we still struggle on this front. Most days they don't nap very well so they are in by about 6 most nights and usually they are quite exhausted. Sometimes Emily will sleep straight until 5 am when she wakes up for a bottle then snoozes again for another hour however the last few nights she's been waking up more often. Alex was waking up around 2 or 3 for his bottle but that has changed as well and now he has been having a bottle around 10ish then another at some point in the middle of the night. Neither of them have any teeth yet so it's possible all this new night waking is due to teething but who really knows! Lizzie started reliably sleeping through the night at 8 months so I'm hoping that they will do the same thing. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes.

Moving
I am very pleased to say that Emily is doing a great job with sitting! She has always been the stronger of the two and continues to excel at this part of development. You can now put her down sitting and walk away knowing that if she does tip over she tries to stop it so it's never a very hard fall. She's also been skooching forward when on her belly so perhaps crawling isn't far behind. She's not very interested in rolling though. We know she can physically do it but she never wants to do it. Alex is also making strides in the sitting front. His core strength has really improved and he is able to sit for a couple seconds at a time and you will see him try to balance himself. He rolls a lot when he is in his crib, mainly from front to back but also has the ability to roll from back to front but is not using it yet as a means of moving around the room, thankfully!

Communicating
Both babies make lots of noise but I wouldn't really say either is babble yet. Alex seems to have a wider variety of noises where Emily mainly makes "ah" sounds. We are working on teaching them to say "mama" and "dada" but since they have always been behind in the communication area I'm not holding my breath that it will happen soon.

Health
Alex was diagnosed with benign extra axial fluid accumulation (extra cerebral spinal fluid in between his brain and skull) and will be seeing a Boston Children's neurosurgeon on January 11th. Since they have decided it is benign I don't think any one is particularly worried however we need to follow up on it and make sure it doesn't cause any developmental issues. Emily had the Croup a couple weeks ago. Thankfully it came on in the morning after I'd already made an appointment with the pediatrician so while it was definitely scary listening to her labored breathing, it wasn't as bad as it could have been had it been the typical Croup which generally hits at night. The pediatrician gave her a dose of steroids to help lessen the inflammation which was causing the breathing issues and that helped a lot. She was very listless and clingy for a day then pretty much went back to normal. He gave us a second dose for the next day as well. Both of them have been vaccinated against H1N1 and seasonal flu as well.

You Must Have Your Hands Full

2009-11-18T08:57:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I took all three kids to get their H1N1 vaccinations on my own. The twins were in their car seats which were snapped in to the double stroller and Lizzie walked next to the stroller holding on to a strap. It wasn't a long walk from the car to the pediatrician's office but along the way (and on the way back) I think I heard "you must have your hands full" about 20 times. No shit. Really? Do I? In fact I don't think I noticed until you pointed it out to me! :+)

All in all it went quite well. Since we were just their for the vaccinations clinic we didn't have to wait a long time and the shots/mist didn't take long either but I still found the whole situation quite stressful. I think it was more the anticipation that things would go horribly wrong then what actually happened though. Lizzie has a history of behaving like a complete monster when she goes with me for the twins appointments so I was preparing myself for that. Thankfully it didn't happen though.

So now my whole family, including Greg and myself, have been vaccinated against both H1N1 and seasonal flu. The twins still have to go back for their booster shots but I feel like I can relax a little and won't be so paranoid. Honestly I'm not afraid that the flu will cause any major problems, I'm sure they would be at the hospital before that happened but I really don't want to deal with three miserably sick kids and I don't want to be sick either. Have you ever taken care of kids when you were sick? It's horrible!

On another note, the twins are 7 months old today! I'll be back soon with an update on their progress.

Good News/Bad News

2009-11-05T16:48:00.002-05:00

Alex had his head ultrasound today to check for hydrocephalus. The good news is that he doesn't have it, the bad news is that he has more cerebral spinal fluid in between his skull and brain then he should have. This could cause too much pressure on the brain. We don't really know what this means or what is causing it at this point in time and Dr. Google isn't helping me at all. Every time I try to search for it all I get is hydrocephalus themed results. My pediatrician was out of the office today but I spoke with a nurse and she will be setting up an appointment tomorrow for a consultation with a pediatric neurosurgeon. I asked for one from Boston Children's Hospital. So now we wait. I hate waiting.

Nights

2009-11-02T20:45:00.002-05:00

I think a lot of people wonder what our nights must be like with three kids under three. Most nights are actually a blur and things are changing but I'll outline them the best I can:

6ish PM - The babies go to bed. Sometimes I get Emily to sleep in the swing while I bounce around Alex but sometimes I need to bounce both. Emily usually wakes up once or twice soon after she is put down and requires some soothing. If Alex wakes up he can usually soothe himself back to sleep.

6:45 PM - On a weeknight this is when Greg gets home from work.

7ish PM - Greg puts Lizzie to bed. She gets a bath every other night. This usually takes about an hour because it's the only time of the day during the week Greg gets to spend with her.

10 PM - I make up the bottles, lunches, etc. for the next day and Greg helps me unload and re-load the dishwasher.

11 PM - I'm usually asleep by now and this is when Greg starts getting for bed. Some times Alex wakes up around this time and I feed him a bottle. I take care of Alex in the middle of the night and Greg takes care of Emily.

Some times Lizzie wakes up in the middle of the night crying. One of us goes in to get her back to sleep. This doesn't usually take too long however it stinks when it does because the babies are going much longer now.

3 or 4 AM - Alex has been teething so he's been waking up a bit more often but normally he might go until 3 or 4 AM until he wakes up for a bottle if he hasn't fed already. Some times I feed him in his room and put him back to sleep in the crib. Some times I bring him to bed and fall asleep with him after he eats. Usually he'll sleep like that for a bit but then get restless so I put him in the co-sleeper on his stomach.

4 or 5 AM - Emily wakes up for a bottle. Greg usually feeds her in her room (yes, we moved her in to her own room) then brings her to bed with us. She'll go right back to sleep if I cuddle with her (interestingly she won't do the same with Greg).

6 to 7 AM - This is when the babies usually wake up. They used to start this process around 5 AM but thankfully it seems to be changing. Lizzie is also waking up later if we don't have to wake her up. If we do, we wake her up around 7 am.

Things are definitely getting better around here but I am still waiting for the day when they will go 6 - 6 without waking. We don't even get it all the time with our almost 2.5 year old so I'm not exactly holding my breath.

6 Month Well Check

2009-10-30T20:49:00.003-04:00

The twins had their 6 month well check today. They both got their seasonal flu shots as well as Lizzie (who didn't even cry!). They also got various other vaccinations but no H1N1 yet. My pediatrician's office didn't have any. It's possible that we might be able to get it through the Rockport school system though.
Here are their 6 month stats:

	Alex	Emily
Weight	16.14 (33rd)	16.10 (59th)
Height	26.75 (54th)	24.75 (12th)
Head	18.25 (97th)	16.75 (52nd)

I don't know if anything stands out to you in those stats. Perhaps the size of Alex's head does? We always tease him for his big head but now it seems it may be something to be concerned about. Let's just say that I've always blamed his head size on his genetics but it may actually be due to benign hydrocephalus. It's not the size of his head that is a concern but how fast it is growing. It hasn't slowed down as it should have. So, I am waiting for an appointment for an ultrasound. If it is hydrocephalus then we'll have to see a neurologist.

Are boys born to break their mother's heart? Alex was in the hospital for the longest, he had torticollis, he sees a physical therapist every other week and now he might have hydrocephalus! Ack! However, he has the most lovely smile and he's a little flirt always ready with a smile for anyone that wants to smile at him. He's my most cuddly child and he's really laid back in general. I'm just going to hope this is nothing to worry about and try not to think about it until I know for sure.

Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkins!

2009-10-28T16:16:00.000-04:00

Lizzie the Pumpkin (2007)

Alex the Pumpkin (he did NOT want to smile)

Emily the Pumpkin

Odds and Ends

2009-10-14T10:42:00.001-04:00

I am so busy during the day and so drained at the end that I haven't had the will to write in my blog so I must apologize. So, since I haven't written in awhile I thought I'd catch up with some odds and ends.

The twins have just recovered from a bout with an intestinal virus that seems to be going around. It didn't really effect their mood but it certainly increased the amount of diapers we were going through and we also had to start changing them in the middle of the night. Normally we use overnight diapers and don't change them since they don't usually poop but as you can imagine that wasn't the case for the last week or so.

Their appetites also decreased quite a bit for a few days but now it is back with a vengeance. I can't use my favorite 4 ounce Dr. Browns bottles anymore, I had to go out and buy the larger ones as they are taking at least 5 ounces in a feeding. Lizzie never ate more than 4 ounces at a time. They are also eating a couple solid food meals a day now which consist of oatmeal and either a fruit or a vegetable. I bought some Mum Mums at Whole Foods so they can start learning how to bring food to their mouths and chew on it. Emily really seemed to enjoy it and since she has not been that big on the pureed food, I suspect she will move quickly to more normal food when the time is right.

Alex is seeing a physical therapist every other week now though Early Intervention. Here is a little of what she said yesterday, "His head still drops back at times and he tires quickly of holding his head forward. He allowed me to bring his feet to his nose/mouth though he is still with this." ... "Alex did well on his stomach holding his head up a long time. In this position he pull his arms strongly back instead of leaning on his elbows." So he's definitely getting stronger but still has a ways to go.

Lizzie is really enjoying pre-school. She tells me that she has fun and drop offs are really easy now. We part with a kiss and a goodbye. Her toddler class was mainly boys so I think she likes being around more girls as well as the new things she is learning. Her language continues to astound me. If you listen to her talk I'm sure you would think she is much older than 2 however she is still small so just by looking at her you might think she is younger than 2.

Inspiration

2009-10-06T13:24:00.007-04:00

I don't actually have time to read a real book these days however I do have time to listen to a book on CD when I drive in to the office twice a week. I have a fairly long commute (about 35 miles with some traffic) so I enjoy listening to a good story to keep me from getting stressed. Right now I'm listening to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. I don't normally "read" non-fiction but I'd heard a lot of good things about this book so I thought I'd give it a try and I am soooo glad I did!!!

I think this book is one of those life changing books. This is the first time I've really experienced this phenomenon when reading a book. I can't recommend it enough! I think it should be mandatory reading for everyone, especially our young folk.

From Amazon...

"Novelist Kingsolver recounts a year spent eating home-grown food and, if not that, local. Accomplished gardeners, the Kingsolver clan grow a large garden in southern Appalachia and spend summers "putting food by," as the classic kitchen title goes. They make pickles, chutney and mozzarella; they jar tomatoes, braid garlic and stuff turkey sausage. Nine-year-old Lily runs a heritage poultry business, selling eggs and meat. What they don't raise (lamb, beef, apples) comes from local farms. Come winter, they feast on root crops and canned goods, menus slouching toward asparagus. Along the way, the Kingsolver family, having given up industrial meat years before, abandons its vegetarian ways and discovers the pleasures of conscientious carnivory.This field—local food and sustainable agriculture—is crowded with books in increasingly predictable flavors: the earnest manual, diary of an epicure, the environmental battle cry, the accidental gardener. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is all of these, and much smarter."

This book has me joining a vegetable CSA in the spring (I've done this before and was already planning on doing again but now I'm even more motivated) as well as a fish CSF that is run out of my neighboring town which is a big fishing port. I'm trying to find good sources for "local" (probably meaning in New England) pasture-finished/fed beef as well as true free range chickens and eggs. I've been wanting to have a vegetable garden for ages and now I'm even more motivated plus I'd like to plant lots of heirloom vegetable varieties. I want to do these for many reasons starting with:

Reducing my family's carbon footprint

Eating better tasting vegetables that are actually in season

Reducing the number of chemicals in my children's systems

Supporting local farmers/fishermen

Increasing the quality of the food we eat

I have even gotten out my breadmaker and made a quick loaf of bread after work! I also really want to try my hand at making cheese and will start with Mozzarella. I'm going to order a beginners kit from the New England Cheesemaking Company. You probably think I'm crazy trying to do all this stuff with three kids under three and I expect I am. I'm sure some of it also has to do with the whole fall nesting thing that happens to me every year but I really would like to become a better locavore if not a true one.

At a minimum, if this book doesn't inspire you like it did me, it will at least make you more aware of where your food is coming from.

In a Quandry

2009-09-28T12:26:00.002-04:00

I can't decide whether or not we should keep the twins in the same bedroom or separate them. Our house has four bedrooms so lack of space is not an issue. They are currently sharing the nursery which is connected to the master bedroom via a door and a "window" cut in to the wall. This makes it really convenient to have them in the same room. We don't need a monitor at night to hear them and getting up to help and feed them is easy.

However, I think these are currently the only benefits to having them in the same room. They don't seem to wake each other up in the middle of the night but they do have trouble going to sleep in the same room. We have remedied this by starting Emily out in the pack n' play which we put in our guest room then we move her to her crib in the nursery when we feed her at around 10 pm. We don't have a monitor yet in the guest room which stresses me out a bit. I just have to hope I'll here her when we are downstairs.

If we split them up then I feel like I should decorate the new room for the baby which will require, at a minimum, some curtains and something for the walls. We would also lose our guest room which comes in handy a couple times a year when Greg's family visits. But then I wouldn't have to worry about them waking each other up which really starts to stress me out at times. So I'm in a quandry...should we keep them in the same room or split them up? What other advantages or disadvantages are there for both situations?

Wordless Wednesday: Big Sister

2009-09-23T10:00:00.003-04:00

Lizzie continues to be a great big sister. She loves to hug them and entertain them although they might not always find it so entertaining. In fact, she loves to roar at them which quite often will make them cry. We do experience a little jealously from time to time but that is to be expected and not nearly as bad as it could be.

Secret Roller

2009-09-12T12:48:00.001-04:00

Alex is can roll from front to back and does quite often. However, we've never actually witnessed the act!! We've seen the results many many times though. How is this possible you ask? Well, it's confession time...I let him sleep on his stomach and have been doing so for a long time now.

Yes, I have ignored the "Back to Sleep" campaign and let my son sleep the way he's most comfortable. I'm sure some of you are horrified and want to put me in mommy jail but in this case I have done for my son what I think is best. He never slept well on his back so one night we flipped him over and he slept wonderfully. For a long time we would start him out on his stomach and then flip him over to his back once he was deeply asleep but now that he can raise his head and apparently roll we are comfortable letting him sleep on his back all night long.

In fact, we have recently discovered that Emily also sleeps better on stomach as well. I have seen her roll once but nothing since then. The funny thing is that her trunk strength is much better then Alex's but he seems to have gotten the rolling thing down first. I'm sort of glad he's doing a few things before her as he always seems to be a couple weeks behind her in development. Some day I'd like to see him roll though!

Potty Training

2009-09-12T12:36:00.002-04:00

I am so pleased to announce that my 2 year and 3 month old daughter is daytime potty trained!!! We still have a few accidents here and there but those seem to be diminishing. I bought a small pink Bjorn potty and a potty that goes on a real toilet when she was about 18 months old with the goal of just getting her used to them being around and if she was interested she could use them. She was fascinated with the Bjorn potty in the beginning and even used it a couple times although I'm pretty sure it was just a coincidence that she actually did anything in it. She then lost interest and we didn't push her.

Then when the summer arrived I thought it would be a good time to start for real. I was home on maternity plus she would need a lot less clothing, both of which would hopefully make it easier. Some people put their toddlers though potty training bootcamp and get them trained in a couple intensive days but since I had two newborns to deal with I didn't think that was the best option for me. Instead I went with a very casual training. We started using Pull-Ups and calling them underwear. It made it easier to pull down her pants and put her on the potty. I would ask if her if she needed or wanted to go to the potty and if she answered "No", I didn't push it. I didn't want her to resent using the potty.

I also provided her with incentives. We had a sticker chart but I also bought a bunch of stickers and small toys and kept them in a box beside the toilet. If she told me she needed to pee then used the potty or if she pooped in the potty then she would get a toy. If I put her on the potty then she peed (but didn't tell me she needed to) then she would get a sticker or two. We kept this up for about two months until she learned how to make herself pee when she sat on the potty.

I also let her run around naked outside on the front porch. I think that went a long way with helping her connect the feeling of needing to pee or poop with the actual event as we had a couple accidents (one of each) and you could see things click in her head when the accident happened. Eventually I bought some padded underwear from Babies R' Us and randomly started using them as well.

Finally, with one week left before I went back to work and with my husband home on vacation, we decided to commit to completing the potty training and put her in the padded underwear full time. We figured we would just deal with any messes. She did great! In the beginning we regularly took her to the bathroom to use the potty and then as the week progressed she started letting us know when she needed to go. We sent her to preschool in underwear as well. She had a poop accident on the first day but the second day she came home in the same pair of underwear and pants that she went in! I am so proud of her! She is still learning how to wipe, pull down her pants and pull them back up again but those will come with time.

Wordless Wednesday: Apple Picking

2009-09-09T12:42:00.000-04:00

Torn

2009-09-08T13:24:00.001-04:00

I went back to work yesterday. Part of me felt great. It was so nice to get dressed up, wear a pair of nice shoes, put on makeup and jewelry and walk in to the office without carrying two car seats. The three bags (laptop, purse, lunch) I was carrying seemed quite light in comparison. I spent the day catching up with my team and doing something other than changing diapers, chasing toddlers and feeding babies. It was great!

However, I missed my babies! I have spent almost 5 months with them and now someone else was taking care of them and cuddling them. They did fine at daycare except that they didn't sleep very well so when I picked them up they were a mess. Lizzie was also hyperactive after her first full day back so she certainly wasn't helping matters. I even picked them up early today but they were a lost cause. They just needed sleep. I tried to feed them their oatmeal and bananas with no luck (I think I'll have to do it in the morning) so they pretty much went straight to bed. I didn't get to see much of them today. :+(

Lizzie at 2 Years and 3 Months (almost)

2009-08-27T08:00:00.003-04:00

You never think you could love your child more than you do when they are born and yet somehow you do. Although we are firmly ensconced in the terrible twos, Lizzie never ceases to amaze me. At a little over 2 her language skills are amazing. She speaks in full sentences using nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions and pretty much everything else. Most of the time her sentences are correctly structured as well including the use of both present and past tense. She can count to ten and even knows a couple letters.

Photo Credit: Nick Wasch

We weren't sure what to expect when we brought home Alex and Emily but she has shown nothing other than love to them. We have to keep a close eye on her when she is around them because she is still a 2 year and not completely coordinated but she has never intentionally tried to hurt them. She entertains them whey they are upset and loves to hug and hold them. I can only hope this continues as they get older and start stealing her toys!

Lizzie is a big animal lover. She will watch any movie that has animals in it, some of her favorites being Finding Nemo and Ratatouille. I thank Pixar on a regular basis for making movies that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults over and over and over again. As much as she loves to watch movies, she also loves to read books, particular Eric Carle books. Right now we are reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle and The Very Lonely Firefly. We have also recently read The Very Busy Spider.

Photo Credit: Nick Wasch

She is definitely going through a clingy phase right now and I have spent much of this summer carrying her around. I think this comes with her age but I'm sure my being home on maternity leave, spending more time with her and having the twins around have contributed to it. She can be shy when introduced to a new situation however it only takes about 10 minutes for her to get over it and soon she is joining in on the fun wherever we are.

She definitely lights up the room and our life with her blond hair, blue eyes, red lips, adorable voice and vivacious personality. I can only hope that she continues to be a confident child who clearly enjoys life and shows it with a contagious laugh.

Photo Credit: Nick Wasch

Wordless Wednesday: Swinging

2009-08-26T12:52:00.001-04:00

Photo Credit: Nick Wasch