A Teenager

13 years ago today I was blessed with a sweet little baby boy. He was 8 days late, hated sleeping in his bed, cried about every tooth that he cut and refused most foods until he was 4. Some where along the way he grew up. Now he is a teenager. He has a wonderful personality that shines. He sleeps in his own room, pulls his own teeth and eats nearly everything I cook. :).  

I know that this is long, but I wanted to share the video I made for Alec for his 13th Birthday. You won't regret taking the time to watch it (I hope anyway). I adore this kid and can't believe how much I love him :)

Happy Birthday A-Dog!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

No, not mine. Nor anyone else's in MY house. But these 2 cutie pies...

are in their room, (2 hours after nap time started), yelling (at the top of their lungs) to each other "It's my Birthday!!!" and then I hear "No sissy, it's MY birthday" followed by "NO, it's MY Birthday".  They have yet to sleep. I hate these no-sleep days, but I digress because the main point is - IT IS NOT THEIR BIRTHDAY. Not today, not for 8 more months. This has been an ongoing argument for the last few days.  Why they think it's their birthday....I'm pretty sure I'll never know.

I really needed naptime to be quiet today. I need to recharge my patience and my stamina (because Monkey is potty training, but that is a WHOLE other post). To reset myself to get thru the rest of the day...what I needed was to have quiet. I'm not getting that today I'm guessing.

Later, they won't be cute like this...

Or this...

They will be over tired. Cranky. Weepy. Mean to each other. And probably will be spending some time crying about nothing (or that it isn't their birthday).

Oh, and by the way, Agent P informed me after Preschool on Tuesday that he wanted to have his birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese's. I'd like to know who told him about that place. I do my best to make our kids believe that birthday parties are at HOME. I have about 6 weeks to re-convince him of that. :- )

What is it with my kids and their desire to have their birthday?

Cheers!

2 Years Ago.

2 years ago I laid in a hospital bed, sans pain killers for 17 hours post surgery thinking I had made a HUGE mistake allowing a c-section to be performed on my body to remove twins (like I had any choice). Thinking the nurses must be joking (or insane) when they argued with me to "get out of bed and walk" (again, sans pain killers). And then grateful when my painkillers were finally released to me (note to self, being allergic to codeine is NOT handy).

2 Years ago I missed my favorite holiday with my family and I spent it eating hospital turkey food (a word I use lightly). But thankful for a fabulous cousin who came and stayed the night with me and the twins - brought REAL food! To this day, I'm pretty sure she is STILL looking for a way to buy one of those amazingly comfortable chair/bed/torture contraptions! 

But 2 years ago  - we were blessed with THIS:

Born at 36 weeks 2 days - (left) Mini P was 5lbs 2oz and about 18 inches long (right) Monkey was 5lbs 15oz and about 18 inches long.  Their birth was the most amazing experience and unless you have carried twins (or more) or battled pre-term labor you cannot fathom the relief we felt when they were both born healthy. Never once did they enter the NICU. Never.

1 year and a lot of craziness later:

Mini P

Monkey

The first year was filled with a lot of hazy days, unanswered emails, diapers, spit up and LOTS of LOVE! 

And here we are, 2 years later. We now answer most emails, have fewer diapers and our days are far more clear than they were and still filled with LOTS of LOVE! We look back and think - do we really remember how we got here? :- )

Mini P

Monkey (photo kept uploading sideways...ergh)

My sweet little baldies now have hair :- )! Monkey has even had his cut several times!

At 2 years old Mini P is nearly potty trained. She still wears a diaper at night and nap because she is a solid sleeper and logs about 11 hours of sleep a night. She is such a chatter box and at least now we can understand what she is trying to say and it no longer comes out as gibberish! We hear her say stuff like "where's bubba? OH, there he is!" She absolutely adores all of her brothers and hugs on all of them. She is the princess, but isn't girly. At all. For her birthday I tried to get her some "my little ponies" (ok folks, I don't know what I'm supposed to get a girl...) and she calls them horses and doesn't actually do anything with them.  The girl does love books and LOVES Dora and loves to play outside. She has been known to scream and throw her body in all directions when she is brought inside (brought because she refused to go on her own free will).  She is sweet as pie and hands out hugs and kisses all the time! Mini P knows all her upper case letters by sight and many of her numbers 1 to 9. We don't know why, but she just does :- ).

Monkey is such a sweet boy with not much to say. He can string 2 words together but it usually things like "daddy work", "bubba bus". He will answer your question with a "yup" or "no", but doesn't typically expand on that as his sister does.  He has always been and continues to be a Daddy's boy. I satisfy him to a point, but really, it's all Daddy!  Monkey is very much into transportation. Trucks, airplanes, trains, tractors, trailers, cars...you name it he loves it. He will lay on the floor for long periods of time just moving them back and forth...lining them up, moving them forward and backward. He still has to sleep with his arsenal of transportation items. Usually no fewer than 10 items, plus blankets, his baby, and a couple other random things. Surprisingly, he still fits in his bed!  Last week Agent P and I cleaned under Monkey's crib  (we store bean bags under the crib) and we found 25 - yes you read right 25 cars, trucks, trailers etc behind and under the bed. Apparently I should clean that more frequently. Monkey has the most infectous laugh. It is a belly laugh that just pulls you and makes you laugh with him. It is so easy to get him to laugh, which makes it all the more beautiful!!!

We absolutely LOVE having twins and wouldn't trade one moment of it for anything at all.  They complete our family perfectly and give us the perfect balance. So many people (seriously, SOOOO MANY) say, "you have your hands full". Since I refuse to carry them all - really, I have my HEART full and that's what I tell them. You don't know what you are missing unless you have total and complete chaos at least ONCE a day. Usually around here it's more than that!!!

12 Years Ago Today

My world got rocked by A-Dog. LOL!

The picture quality is awful because 12 years ago there were no easily acquired digital cameras, and if you did have one (Dad) it was ridiculous. Remember having to wait 3-5 minutes seconds for the picture to snap? Ya, that was fun. Good times. Back then you could have your *film* camera put onto a floppy. Not even a CD yet, just a floppy. I nearly had to borrow a floppy drive to convert them a few months ago. Luckily, my computer is composed of random components and it actually had one. Pure luck I tell ya!

But there he is. All *pixeled* up and everything :- ) He was about 1 month old here.

To me, most babies look the same anyway, so what are a few pixels off anyway???

Here he is today. Never mind. I just looked on the camera and those were blurry too. Geez, maybe its user error!  Ok, here he is recently...

OOPS! Did I accidentally insert their silly picture? Oh, my bad!!!  Here we go...

Ok. There. That's better!

Our A-Dog is honestly such a true blessing to us. I can tell you with all certainty that he is the easiest child to discipline in this house. I'm not saying he's perfect - but as a young child he did not like loud noises. Raising my voice 1 slight octave was enough to stop him in his tracks. Obviously by me saying this, the other 3 are NOT like that :- ). Obviously. 

Now that raising my voice is used to simply be heard around here, so that doesn't work. BUT, I have other methods now. Can you say "yard work"? The boy HATES it. I don't know why, but daddy's other kids will spend all day outside with him. Not A-Dog, he would just  rather be outside throwing the ball - any ball - or swimming. ANYTHING other than doing yard work. So, it's an effective threat tool!

He has an obsession for sports, baseball in particular. He loves the game and loves to play it. He has made All-Stars 2 years in a row and is hoping for his 3rd next year. He is loved by all of his coaches because of his awesome attitude and willingness to learn and play.  He also hates criticism of any kind, even if it is simple. That is of course, because he already knows everything :- )

He is a fabulous brother and adores his brothers and sister. They think he is the brightest star in their day. Mini P likes to sit on his stomach (when he's lying on the floor at night) and brush her teeth with her feet in his face. She knows it bugs him, and it makes her (and him) laugh. Monkey likes to body slam him when he's in that same position. (Maybe he should sit up???). Agent P could play hide and seek all day long if A-Dog could tolerate it. There on only so many places you can hide before everyone knows all the spots!!!

We absolutely love spending time with A-Dog! He is so funny and witty - and well, frankly, he gets my humor. Our kids must get humor, sarcasm and understand they will be teased if they plan to survive in this house and with our family! Plus it builds character.  But really, he hasn't quite gotten to that hate my parents part of life yet, so we still enjoy each other!

A-Dog, if you are reading this, which I know you are - we love you. We love you no matter what. We are proud of what you have become and the pride you take in being that person. Always remember that.  Happy Birthday and enjoy the next 365 days until you are a teenager :- )