The Tempers are Raging!

Owen's demeanor is much more prone to temper tantrums. It is not uncommon for him to throw himself down, back arched several times a day. He usually is over it in a matter of minutes. I do know that one day in the near future, we will be in a public place and he will be on the floor screaming. Because of this, I will have to leave behind the great outfit that I was about to buy and depart for home. Worse, it could happen in a restaurant just as our food has arrived. Nevertheless, it is the inevitable!

Last night was Kyle's turn. I thought it would be a great idea to take both of the boys up to my bathroom and bathe them so I didn't have to do one at a time. (this upsets them to be the one left behind)Janie joined us and decided to get in the tub. Kyle did not want to stay seated so after washing him, I pulled him out to get dressed. Well, it didn't go over too well. He spent the next 15-20 minutes screaming bloody murder! I couldn't resist getting a few pics. My favorite is the one of him banging his head. Somehow he thinks that will resolve everything when he is mad!

No Bronchs Here!

We got great news last Friday. I took Kyle back to the Polmonologist for an eval before his 6am Bronch this Thurs. The Dr. listened, asked a million questions and concluded that we do not need to go through with the Bronch, at least not now! He is pretty sure that we are battling asthma and that there is not a blockage somewhere else. We will continue on the inhaled steroids for another month and then stop cold turkey to see what happens. He is still on Albuterol when needed.

Owen however continues to sound wheezie occassionally. When we go for their 15mth check up next week, I will ask their Dr. about Owen going to see the Polmonologist. He is also on Pulmocort (the steroid) and another med for the wheezing, as needed.

Anyway, I am much relieved that my baby does not need to be "put under" this week!

Quality Time

I started my Friday night as I usually do, tired and anxious for the kids to go to bed so that I can do the same. After reading to Janie and spending some time snuggling, she began the guilt trip! This happens every few weeks or so but this was the first time in over a month, I would say. She asked when the boys were going to go to a place like Grammie's for a while so that we could just hang out, watch a movie together, eat Hamburger Helper (her fav), make popcorn, do our nails and sleep together. Basically, she was referring to her life before-brothers. Yikes! This was followed by "why can't you just be a stay-at-home-mom?" A common questions that I have become fairly numb to.

So I spent much of my evening trying to figure out how to make this all work. How do you raise twin boys that demand so much right now while maintaining a relationship and the needs of a mature, intelligent but sometimes needy 6-year old girl? And truth be told, our schedule does revolve around the boys. It isn't always easy, in fact it sometimes hurts. You question whether you are doing things right, whether you are giving enough, whether you are selfish at times. As I always say, you just want to make thing great for your kids.

The great part is that we had a fantastic rest of the weekend. We spent some good time on Sat. night playing ball and bike riding after the babies had gone to bed. When I asked Janie what she wanted to do, she said "really??? - we can just do something?" Am I that neglectful? On Sunday, the day was pretty much about her. When the boys took there morning nap, Mike Janie and I hung out outside as she showed us all of her bike tricks. ( I do feel like I have missed a bit. I didn't know that she could skid out or pop wheelies)Then we went grocery shopping, Mike took her bowling, I went on a bike ride with her and then Daddy and she went for ice cream. We topped the day of with a little toe nail painting all while watching Little House on the prairie. She told me yesterday "it was fun hanging out with you today". Oh, and I forgot - Our conversation on the bike ride was all about the cars that she is going to have. Apparently, her first car is going to be a red convertible. Her second, a silver Saturn and her third a silver Jeep. She might get a black convertible for her second car but she is not sure yet. Who is paying for all of this?

No Eyeglasses for Us!

Our trip yesterday to the eye doctor resulted in a positive outcome! After chasing the kids down the hallway numerous times and trying to keep them from entering exam rooms, we met with the very nice doctor. She did a brief exam then dialated their eyes for further examination. The outcome is that they are both very far-sided and apparently this is good and normal for now. She did say that most likely they will both need glasses down the road (maybe school age). Since they are so far-sided now, they will probably become very near-sided in the future. For sure we should be home free for the next 2-3 years. I figure that if glasses are in our future, it is a lot easier to negotiate that with a 4 year old than a 1 year old.

Father's Day

Wow, two posts in one day. I am trying to catch up.

We had a great, simple Father's Day! Mike slept in (I did too until 7:30a yippee), I made breakfast, Janie and I grocery shopped, I made dinner and we went to bed. It wasn't really relaxing but it wasn't stressful.

Here is my favorite man with his kiddies. I am lucky to have such an awesome father to my children!

Summer is here!

It has been a while and that is mostly due to this crazy job of mine that has consumed all of my energy and most of my time for the past two weeks. I keep thinking that it will slow down tomorrow...

Let me begin with the updates!

Janie completed Kindergarten last Wednesday. She is now officially a first grader and mom is just trying absorb it all. I tear up every time I think of the future and my little girl growing up. I imagine sitting at college orientation with her remembering back to the first time I put her on the bus. I also worry. I worry about her making good choices in friends, making good decisions about whether to try things (good and bad), and ultimately I just worry about her always being happy. From what I can tell so far, she is a well adjusted kid, gets along with others and knows right from wrong. Maybe it is just my fear of knowing how to parent correctly. As we all know, there is not a book on this stuff so it is all just a guessing game. We do what is best and what we know, and hope that we learn from our mistakes. I try to tell Janie and will always tell my kids that mommy and daddy are not perfect and I don't expect them to be either. I only expect us all to give it our best in this lifetime! Okay, enough preaching!

So Janie is home for the summer and the phones are ringing! Not boys fortunately at six years old. Friends, friends and more friends. I love it but I am just not used to her being invited somewhere all the time. I sometimes feel guilt because I am at work and not having these kids over to our house as often. We don't have any other big plans for her over the summer. She is doing gymnastics two nights a week at 2hrs a crack and that is enough to exhaust anyone. We will vaca to Higgins for a week in July. Once our babysitter has her baby, it is back to Janie's preschool for the twins and her. Hopefully that will go well.

The boys are well but just trouble. Kyle is participating in frequent time outs for hitting. For some reason I don't think Owen gets the whole time out thing but I could just be softy because he hits also! They are so fun to watch and hang out with but if you leave them for just a moment, the house is destroyed. They are breaking saftey locks all ready! Yesterday Kyle climbed onto the toy box (where Owen can not get up, took both sippy cups and put them behind his back. Oh my, it begins!

I am hopefully through my crazy period at work so I can get back to doing summer stuff and enjoying my family for the summer.

A few things

I am going to be incredibly busy at work for the next 2weeks so I am sure my posts will be minimal. I just wanted to get a few things out here before they are out of my mind.

On Sunday Janie had her first gymnastics "fun meet". This is a little meet for her "Hot Shots" class that is supposed to prepare them for competition. Meaning, they think these girls have team potential. Anyway, it was fantastic! She did a great job, got some ribbons and most importantly seemed to love it! The kicker - the $45 leotard that we had to buy for one day! Amazing! Let it begin. Here is a pic of her before the meet. My friend Theresa took the rest of the remaining awesome pics but I can get them posted here.


On another note, Owen had his first haircut on Monday. He did a great job! I had been procrastinating taking him in to get rid of his Donald Trumpp look but instead, Daddy did it. Kyle, is still sporting the no-hair-on-top, curly-tail-in-the-back- look and I love it!

Boys will be boys

I have heard before that boys are different from girls. But, I only had a girl so I didn't really know and quite frankly, I didn't really care! Well, now I do. It is so different. I remember when Janie and I used to sit and play outside on a blanket with her toys for hours. Not an option with the boys! One goes for the street and the other for the rocks. Now, part of the problem is that there are two babies, not one to keep up on. Nevertheless, it is different. They are always in some type of trouble. Kyle usually the leader with Owen following right behind. I have included some pictures of them doing things that could progress into problem. (see the pantry picture where they actually ended up with large sweet tarts in their mouths somehow!)


I have heard that boys are easier during the teenage years???