Tricycles

The boys have had these tricycles for over a year, but couldn't get the hang of them until this last week. Adam learned a few days ago, and Matthew picked it up just yesterday. They ride around the tiled kitchen/entry way saying "fuunn!" We decided to let them pedal themselves to our neighborhood park this afternoon :)

 They were very dedicated.

The only problem was the hill just before the park. Matthew went full speed down, and Adam stopped every few feet to slow down. It made me a little nervous! It was also really hard to get back up, especially since Matthew didn't want ANY help. (Since he's all grown up now :P)

Adam in yellow. Matthew in blue.

When they are having so much fun learning new skills, it makes me feel better about having another baby in a couple of months. It makes me think maybe we will be okay. Nothing scares me more than multiple babies at one time... but this time, it will just be one baby, and two "big boys" :)

Matthew had so much fun it was hard to get him inside. He threw a fit, but was disciplined for it. Everyone was in a good mood and worn out for bed time!

Developing Toddlers

31 Months old (~2 1/2!)

Words/Sayings:

Adam:

• He is our little "Mario." For example, we ask, "What color is that?" and he says, "That's-a-blue!"
• He has perfected asking me for things. He looks right in my eyes, widens his eyes really wide and uses his best "cute high-pitched toddler that you can't say no to voice" and asks, "Show?" or "I-Pad?". Of course since I'm a mean Mom I actually say no quite a bit :)
• I worked a 12 hour day today, so Alan was the one that got the boys up & changed. This morning Adam said, "Daddy's here! (Points to his diaper) Yucky, right there. Change me please." That is probably the longest thought he has made into sentences. Language development is so cool :)
• Adam especially is obsessed with babies! He asks for the "baby" every time we get near one of the computers in the study. He likes to watch babycenter.com videos of babies in the womb.
• When Adam wants a turn he says, "Matthew's turn!" I thought they had figured out who they were a year ago!

Matthew:

• Matthew seems to get restless in the car, so I have been telling him we're "almost there." Now as soon as we take off (and often after that) he says, "Mommy!!"   "Yes?"   "Almost there!" (As a statement, not a question.) He said this as soon as he got in his wagon to walk to our neighborhood park yesterday. Priceless!
• Matthew has a habit we are trying to break, where if we tell him something he doesn't like or doesn't want to be true (Daddy is at work, No, you can't do ________ or You have to be patient) he will yell "Noo!! Please let that just be a stage!
• He is the best "pet parent" in the house. When Hobbes gets on the counter he says (commands), "Hobbes! Get down". When they are out of food he says, "Kitty cats, more food?" Then when I fill up their bowls he hunts Hobbes down and says, "Hobbes, come get it!"
• He also tells Adam what to do. For example, he'll say, "No, go pee-pee!" if Adam gets distracted after we've told both of them to go to the potty.
• He exclaimed, "baby potty!" when he only pee'd a small amount.
• When we sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" at night, Matthew sings, "Binkle, binkle. Binkle, binkle!"
• When Adam runs after him, he will jump into my arms and say, "Mommy! Scared!" and cling to me while laughing. Then he wants to attack Adam together and then retreat, while saying, "Scared!"
• When he has to pee he gives a little *gasp* and says, "Potty!" or "Pee-pee!"

Both

Adam in green. Matthew in blue.

• "Almost got it!"
• "I did it!" (Love that one)
• "Mommy, help me?"
• "Hopter!?" (For helicopter)
• "Mommy/Daddy's here!"
• "Momma _____, baby ______!" when there is a big and small size of the same object.
• "May I have/be accused? Please!" (May I be excused)
• "May I (have) _________, please?" When we ask them to ask nicely
• "Charge it?"
• "Batteries?"
• "Catch it!" "Throw" "Catch it!"
• "Mommy/Daddy, hold you?"
• "Vacuum nanner" (Vacuum cleaner)
• "Me me" (Excuse me)
•  Both boys used to say, "Mommy (or Daddy), watch this!" And then proceed to do some kind of ninja stunt. Then the other would say the same thing, and attempt the same stunt. Over and over. It was precious. Now, instead of calling us by name they say, "Unt!! Watch this!" Like a grunt, with the "Unt!" getting louder each time. (I actually had a dream/nightmare about this where Adam did it for 20 minutes straight.) I liked it much better when I was hearing my name!

Numbers/Colors

• The boys can count to 10, and sort of understand 10-20, but we haven't worked much on that.
• They recognize all their letters, and all of their sounds.
• Matthew knows blue, red, green, purple, white, black, pink and yellow. (For some reason Adam is confused about colors. I know he's not color blind, because when he sees green or red he says, "mine!" while Matthew claims blue objects. Adam always guesses, and sounds so sure of his guess when we ask him what color something is. "It's-a-red!" I am sure he'll get it though.)

Drawing/Coloring

• Adam especially loves to color! He is so focused, and really tries to write letters. He also loves to paint in the bathtub. He is very deliberate about all of this strokes.

Random Cute Stuff:

• Matthew was so sweet to me when I came home from work today. We were rough-housing a little, and he ended up hitting me in the face. I said, "Ow!" and pointed to my cheek. He looked very concerned, then kissed my cheek. Then said, "there!" and kissed my shoulder. Then my other shoulder, and all over my face, and even my badge holder. I melted!
• Before bedtime tonight the boys and I spent a while in our "cave" (under their sheet). Adam was drinking milk from his sippy cup leaning back against me, and Matthew was sitting on my left leg talking to me about how he could see the light through the sheet, and how it was scary when we "opened" the cave. It was so sweet <3 p=""> 

27/28 Weeks

At my almost 28 week midwife appointment, I only had a 25cm fundal measurement, or 25 weeks. I had also only gained 1 pound in the last 3 weeks (according to their scales at least). My midwife was a little concerned since I also have hypothyroidism, which can cause slow growth/IUGR in a fetus. All of my thyroid levels have been good though. I also went over a day's worth of my food intake (which happened to be the day before when I was working.. I usually eat less those days), and she told me I need to eat more. So I was a little concerned after I left the appointment, thinking I was starving poor Olivia. Adam and Matthew do steal a lot of my food!

The midwife office set me up with an appointment with a perinatologist to do a growth ultrasound. The next week at 28 weeks, 5 days we headed out for our ultrasound.The boys have never come with me to an appointment, but I thought it would be neat for them to see an ultrasound of the baby inside momma's tummy. Matthew ended up waking up on and off until 1:30am the night before complaining of his ear hurting, so we decided not to bring him & his germs. But Alan and Adam ended up coming with me. Adam sat on Alan's lap during the ultrasound, and was interested in the ultrasound. It probably would have been too much to bring both little hoodlums though :P

According to the ultrasound, Olivia is measuring perfectly! She was 2 lbs 10 ozs, which was the 43rd percentile. We got a good shot of her girl parts, and I am now convinced she is a girl! I had my doubts before because I really couldn't see. All of her organs are working great, yay! They also took my thyroid level again. I am supposed to go back for a monthly growth ultrasound (which I don't think I really need, but it is nice to see her)

Olivia's face. She looks a lot different than the boys already!

She has been kicking and moving a lot inside me, but she seems to move less when the boys are around. So Adam & Matthew haven't gotten to feel her move :( It is probably a protective instinct, the cats also either freeze or run away from the boys :P

Getting Ready for Olivia (Including learning to sew!)

26 Weeks

 





Preparing the Nursery: Within a week of learning we were having a baby girl, we had our nursery fully painted. I was so impatient to get some girly colors in our house! (We had a nice 3 day weekend after our ultrasound, so that helped.) We used dark purple on two walls, and light pink on two walls, and I love the way it turned out. Alan did a great job (I was not allowed in.)

Alan hard at work

This is how we make our names official. Buy/paint the letters and hang them up. No going back now!

Diaper changing area (Homemade hair band/bow holder hung on wall -- another Pinterest idea)

The closet with a second hanging rod and some organization.

Learning to Sew: Something about the girl pregnang hormones made me really, really want to sew some things for my baby girl. It was probably also partly that she didn't have much of anything as far as clothes/blankets/burp cloths/etc in girly colors. I kept some of the neutral colors from the boys' stuff, but that wasn't doing it for me. So I bought a  Brother XL2600I sewing machine (supposed to be really easy to use, exactly what I was looking for) for my birthday! Plus fabric of course.

The day my sewing machine arrived I made a pillowcase dress, two burp cloths and a fitted crib sheet:

Next I made this cute little pink "peasant dress".

And this halter top dress.

Also I've made several receiving blankets, more burp cloths, and two bibs. I am becoming slightly addicted to it, it is a lot of fun! Of course after the baby comes, I don't see having much time for this after Olivia is born, so I am learning what I can now. Yay for the internet for free patterns/tutorials :) Sewing has become my time to focus on Olivia. Most of my other time time is of course spent focusing on the boys requiring my attention on the outside :)

Transitions and Challenges at 2 1/2 years

I am amazed at our toddlers' ability to vividly bring out all of my emotions. Irritation, love, exasperation, happiness, frustration, affection... all within a few minutes of each other! A few transitions/challenges we've been working on:

Our little family. (Adam in white, Matthew in blue)

Naptime: Take it or leave it? Adam & Matthew usually nap about 2 hours. Occasionally as little as 1 1/2 hrs, and rarely as long as 3 hours. However they have been going to sleep close to 9pm, which we feel is a little late. They wake up around 7am, which is about right, and we are so blessed that they almost never wake up at night! When they skip their nap though, they are ready to go to sleep about 2 hours sooner, at 7pm instead of 9pm. Of course Alan especially loves this, because he doesn't get the benefit of the naptime during the day, but he definitely gets the benefit of more quiet time at night! Also the boys almost seem happier when they skip their nap; they wake up very, very grumpy after almost every nap. So even though they seem a little young to stop nap times, we are a little on the fence about what to do. I suppose it is nice to have options, because they seem able to go back and forth. Sometimes Mommy just needs that quiet time during the day though, so I suspect I will continue with nap times for a while :)


Potty Training: The boys have been peeing and pooping in the potty for close to 6 months now, but for most of that time, they mainly wore diapers, and I was just introducing them to the potty. A few months ago I moved on to not "naked training," where I let the boys "get used to" their bodily functions around the house. (No pants/diapers around the house.) They learned quickly, and were just about fully "naked trained" in a few days. Of course this was exciting to me, but we would still put them in diapers every time we left the house, and anytime I tried underwear, they had accidents, so that was frustrating. A few weeks ago though, around 2 1/2 years, I decided to just go for it. I gave up trying to find 5 days where I didn't go anywhere, because I go crazy not going anywhere. So we just decided to go diaper-free everywhere, including trips out of the hous. (With underwear & pants of course... no naked booties in public. Although this mommy thinks they are adorable!) To my surprise they did great! We made sure to give them lots of trips to the public restrooms... and wow.. taking two 2 year olds into a public restroom stall is really not the most fun thing ever. Lots of "don't touch that!" and "Don't open the door!" and "Don't touch that either!" Usually while my hands are full with the other toddler. They are still not perfect in public though, especially when they are having a lot of fun, like at the zoo. Adam definitely is doing better than Matthew, but he has always shown more readiness. They are doing so well overall though, that we are continuing with our journey. We still do diapers for nap time and bedtime though. I tried going diaper free at nap time, and they almost always had accidents, no matter how long it had been since I gave them anything to drink, or how soon before falling asleep they had gone potty. They just pee while sleeping, so we will tackle that later.

"Terrible Two's": I have been so hesitant to say or even think this term. However I finally said it out loud during a trip to the zoo last week. Everything seemed like a power struggle, "Stay right beside me" "Stay with mommy" "Don't touch that." "Sit down." "Follow mommy." "Get in your wagon." "Be nice to your brother." "Go potty." "Give Matthew a turn." "Give Adam a turn." It can get exhausting, and I am feeling the reality of twins (going through the same stages at the same time) again. I feel this is the hardest stage since infancy. I have developed my "Mommy voice" better, the one where the boys know I mean business. (Not that they always care I mean business, but at least they know :P)

Of course, my heart just melts when they give me these expressions:

Matthew in blue, Adam in yellow.

Love all 3 of my handsome men :)

Entertaining the Little Ones: We have been spending more time indoors during my pregnancy, just because I have been more tired. My second trimester was pretty awesome as far as energy, but I can feel myself becoming more tired again (I am almost 27 weeks), and some days I just don't have the energy to pack up the boys and go somewhere. Which really is the best way to keep these little guys entertained. (The other way is to turn on the TV, but I want to keep that in moderation). So I turned to Pinterest to help me! 2 good projects I found were playdough and finger-paints:

The boys really enjoy playing with the homemade playdough. It brings a different sense of happiness when your kids are playing happily with something you made yourself :)

Finger painting was probably their favorite of the two. But a little more high-maintenance for mommy since I have to make it every time and clean it up. But it's worth it to watch them create :) Lately they have been asking for it after they are done with bath time, so I need to remember to do this activity first, then give the bath :) Here's a link to the "recipe" for the paint.

 

They can also (at times) spend almost an hour just playing in the bathtub, which is awesome. They also love taking baths with mommy & daddy.

 

They are challenging my parenting more than ever, but they are also showing me more love than ever as well. I just soak up the toddler laughs, hugs, kisses and cuddles. They are my absolute favorite <3 p="">

Marriage

Alan and I are 3 months away from 5 years of marriage! It's hard to believe, but considering our twins are 2 1/2 and we have another on the way.... we definitely have the kids to back up the years :P



Our first two years were truly bliss. I am so glad we didn't get pregnant right away, because that time with just us was a wonderful foundation to have, especially when the challenges of raising twin newborns together arose.



Our wedding day was so so happy.

In Jamaica: Married about 5 months

On a beach in Italy: Married about 1 1/2 years. I almost don't like looking at our Italy pictures because I was so skinny!! Alan calls this version of me "Italy Krystal" mainly because it bothers me :P

 

Having two babies at one time was pretty hard on me and our relationship for a while. I feel we are stronger than ever now, of course I am also much nicer when I get sleep :P Here are the main things I learned that I feel have strengthened our relationship:

 

1. Men aren't robots, they have feelings too.

      -This one may sound silly, but after our boys were born I thought everything was about me because I was taking care of them full time. I didn't think about how my stress was affecting Alan, or how my expecting Alan to never have a break was not good for him or me. Sometimes we as women have to just be nice to our men, and it makes all the difference. Instead of nagging, which I was doing, and I always thought I would never nag!

 

2. Do NOT blame your husband for your stress or your kids' behavior.

    -I don't know how common this is, but I was wanting my husband to make everything easy after our boys were born, and if it wasn't easy, it was somehow his fault. This was so unhealthy for our relationship. As the kids get older, and we work on disciplining together, I think it's important we don't blame each other for how the kids behave, and instead work together to improve their behavior. But they are two year olds.... :P This is also why couple time is so important <3 em="">

 

3. Let go of bitter feelings. Don't be afraid to forgive and move on.

   - This one is so important. God definitely kept us together during our hard times when our boys were small. Alan was truly going way above and beyond what a "normal" singleton dad would ever be asked to do, and getting no credit for me. I was constantly asking for more, and actually harboring bitter feelings towards him that he didn't deserve, but that weren't going away. One day I listened to a sermon about forgiveness, and something just clicked. I had to forgive, let go of my bitterness, and love my husband like I always had before. Wow, such a huge turning point, it felt so good! And Alan responded immediately.

 

 

I have been thinking a lot about this lately, because Alan has been so awesome. He is great with the boys (especially now that they are so interactive!) He watches them almost every Sunday while I work. He is so loving towards me, no matter how I look or how the house looks when he gets home. He will take extra trips to the grocery store if I ask. When we both wake up at night he always reaches for me to hold me. I could not have asked for a better man, and am so glad I learned a few things, so I could be a better wife.

 



 



They can be pretty cute...

I have to write down some of the adorable things my boys have been doing lately:

Tonight as I was reading a bedtime book to them (The Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton), there was a page where a hippo was sitting at the beach snacking on grapes. Adam pretended to grab a grape, then "fed" it to me and said, "here you go!" Then Matthew did the same. I had about 4 or 5
"grapes" overall. :)

~~~

Both boys have to point out all hellicopters and airplanes that they see while we are driving. Especially Matthew. Sometimes they throw in trucks, and BIG trucks as well. When it's just me it goes like this... "MOMMY!"
"Yes?"
"Hopter!"
"Yes, that's a hellicopter"
"Hopter, yes, hopter"

When it is both me and Alan they say...
"GUYS!"
"Yes, Matthew?"
"BIG TRUCK!"
"Yes, that's a big truck"
"Yes, big truck, yes"

And so on until we reach our destination. They are equally excited about each airplane/hellicopter/truck/moon sighting that they see.

~~~

Adam loves to lay down, pull covers over himself and pretend he's asleep (he even snores. Matthew does this too). He also loves to lay under covers and cuddle with his Mommy... one of my personal favorite things :) I have been unconsciously sighing contentedly when he does this. Now when he cuddles with me he makes this high pitched noise, which is an imitation of the sigh that I do. I just melt!

~~~

The boys are very particular about items that are assigned to them. This is mostly color coded sippy cups/clothes/silverware/anything color coded, their high chairs and their car seats. They really don't have their own toys, that is easier to deal with by just having them take turns. (They always say, "turn??" and then (if all goes well), their brother says, "there you go!") However when it is something assigned to them, they are extremely particular.

I put Adam down in his high chair, but I had placed a blue fork there. (Matthew's color.) While Adam was still in their air over the high chair he was saying, "No, Matthew's! Matthew's!" The moment I sat him down, he grabbed the fork and put it on Matthew's tray, "Yes, Matthew's." I then gave him the green fork that was on Matthew's tray, and he was very content.

I accidentally put Matthew in Adam's car seat one night. (I never do this, but it was dark and I was talking to people.) I thought he was just not wanting to go in his car seat, he was being very uncooperative. But he kept saying, "No, mine! Mine!" And pointing at his car seat. Whoops... I immediately switched him and he was very happy.

If I give them the wrong color sippy cups, they will switch with each other.

At night after we turn off their lights, I can't tell which twin is which. Sometimes I ask them what their name is, because they are very unhappy if one of them ends up on the wrong side of the bed. Matthew is on the left, Adam on the right. It can not be any other way! If one of them tries to upset his brother, he will get on his brother's side... and that is where it is hard not being able to see which is which. (They wear striped pajamas every night... Little Keeper Sleepers that you can't get off without an adult.. They are different colors, but the colors are hard to see in the dark.)

When they both pee pee in their potties (deserving of one M&M each), I will often give both M&M's to one twin. He will diligently find and give his brother the second M&M, but always in his brother's designated color. Also when I try to reward one twin extra (for poo poo-ing in the potty), he always shares his big reward with his brother. Adam does this especially, running and saying, "Matthew! Treat! Here you go!"

(P.S. They have the most adorable high-pitched toddler voices, and I think I am going to cry when they go through puberty and get deep voices)

~~~

I am amazed at how similar their word and language development is. They almost literally know exactly the same number of words and phrases. They started using two word phrases at about the same time. Matthew has been a little ahead, but Adam quickly learns and catches up.

~~~

My brother asked Matthew if he was a baby and he replied (emphatically), "No!" and ran over to me, pointed to my belly and said, "Baby, yes, baby."

~~~

Adam was taking a nap at my brother & sister-in-law's house and woke up because he heard his baby cousin crying. He immediately came out of his room, found the baby and said, "Alright, baby?" and gave him a hug :) The baby immediately stopped crying.

Later as he was playing with his baby cousin (who has recently learned to crawl) he said, "Come, baby, come" while curling his fingers inward to indicate for the baby to come. It was very sweet.

~~~

They know the alphabet by sight, and also know the letter sounds thanks to starfall.com. They can also count to 10.

They are completely confused on color names though (which is strange to me, since they are so particular about colors.) Their default answer is, "Red!" when I ask them about an objects' color. Then they go with, "Pink!" I have no idea why they go with pink next, we hardly have had anything pink around until just 2 weeks ago when we found out we were having a girl.

Also, they can count to 10 just fine, but when I ask them to count how many object there are, they have interesting answers. If there are 3 objects, they were say "1, 2, 3... " (I am thinking, they are so smart! "4, 5, 6, 7!" (Wait, what??) They will count the objects, then start over and count them again, then sometimes they will count the first one again, so their final answer is more than double the actual amount. If there are two objects, they will sometimes say, "2, 3... two apples!" If there are lots and lots of something, they will often say "2, 2, 2, 2, 2..." as if it's too much to count individually, but there is definitely more than one. They both do these things, which may seem strange, but it is so normal to me. It will probably seem strange to me when Olivia gets here, and has different needs/develops at a different pace than everyone else.

~~~

And today, Alan was sitting in his recliner watching the Super Bown (which also happens to be the recliner Adam uses when I let them watch TV.) He said, "Mine!" Then took Alan by the hand, got him out of the chair, then hopped in himself and sat there very content, drinking his milk. This is a big deal, because that has been Alan's chair for years. :P (I am definitely not allowed to sit there.)

Happy Superbowl Sunday everyone!!