Sunday, February 28, 2010

here's what's new

Twice this week in the evening Alyna has started to pull at the back of her pants. I asked her if she's going potty, and she pointed toward the bathroom door. So, feeling that her diaper was still dry at that point, I took her in the bathroom, pulled down her pants and diaper, and set her on her potty chair. She has actually peed in the potty then and there. I feel proud of her because it was her own initiative to tell me she wanted to go. Maybe we can actually have her out of diapers before the new baby comes... but I'm not pushing it just yet. If she tells me she wants to go, then we'll go.

Their favorite TV show now is a new show called "Chuggington" on Playhouse Disney (we watch on the internet). It's a cartoon with talking trains similar to the Thomas series. Personally I like this show better because it is livelier and faster paced. Both the twins absolutely love it. It also teaches good lessons about teamwork, reliability, and helping others.

She's saying new words all the time. This week it is: star, duck, over, juice, eggs, and choo choo

Ryan continues to babble, but is starting to experiment with putting different sounds together in his babbling.

2 weeks ago Ryan had a runny nose, and I told someone at church, "he's either getting a cold or a tooth, but we won't know which until it happens." Well, he got 2 teeth this last week, and I think there's another pushing through. Fortunately he has still been sleeping all night, he is just fussy during the day. Now Alyna's runny nose has turned into a full blown cold with low grade fever. I'm hopeful that it means she'll get more teeth soon too. She only has the 4 front ones still, and Ryan is now up to 6.

Barry is off until Tuesday, so we've actually got some house-hold projects back on the todo list that has been on hold since Christmas. It's amazing how time passes so quickly when you're too tired to do more than the minimum required.

Barry bought himself a Nook (new e-book reader from Barnes & Noble) that should arrive on Monday. He's very excited about it. His Sony reader was one of the first e-readers to come out a few years ago, and is in need of updating. In return, I'm getting to buy an ice cream maker and some new shoes. I can't wait to make fresh frozen desserts this summer.

That's all for now. We are so blessed by God for our family and friends...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Mommy kisses

Whenever my siblings and I got hurt as a kid, my mom would kiss where it hurt. If we hurt our finger she'd say, "either the pain will be gone in the morning or the finger will." We'd laugh... which helps with the pain too I'm sure.

Yesterday, Alyna smashed her thumb in a drawer so I picked her up and kissed her thumb. Later that day she got a paper cut on her hand from the phone book, and I kissed her hand again. Both times it seemed to help her.

This morning she was playing with some toys and started crying (I didn't see what happened exactly). As I approached her she looked at her hand, crying, and held her hand out for me to kiss.

I guess Mommy kisses really do have healing power.

Monday, February 15, 2010

new sounds and games

Alyna's vocabulary grew considerably in the last month. She says more distinguishable words than Ryan who prefers to babble nonstop.

Here are some of Alyna's newest words:
Up
Off - she says this when a show or book is over/done as well
Mo = more, she says this any time she wants something
choos = shoes
chess = either chair or stairs depending on context
chay = train
chee = tree
te = teddy bear
do = dog... but usually she just imitates the barking sound
ner = no

Ryan babbles a couple different phrases throughout the day: yabadebedebe, and "o boyo boy o boy o boy" (...and no he's never seen the Flinstones...)

Alyna is forever playing sister/mommy's helper these days. Her newest skills involve finding things on the floor and bringing them to us or to Ryan. When it's time to put shoes or coats on, she will pick up Ryan's things and take them to him. He usually doesn't accept them right away because he knows he needs our help to put them on. This frustrates Alyna.

The other day they followed me into the bathroom (as usual) and when it was time to leave, Alyna went out the door with me. I turned, motioned with my hand, and said "Come on Ryan." Alyna walked toward him making the same "come" motion with her hand. He reached out and grabbed it, so she just started leading him out of the room. She led him by the hand all the way into the living room. I giggled, but realized that if we're not careful she could become pretty bossy. So I have tried since then to be the one to coerce him into things and not let her drag him around.

Alyna's other new game is pat-a-cake. On one of our kid's songs DVDs, the girls clap each other's hands back and forth as they sing the song. So now, Alyna will hold up both her hands (like a high-10) and I clap them and then clap my hands, repeating. She loves it. I can't wait until one day she claps her hands in the middle part as well.

They both love to do back flips out of our arms. It's fun to do, but very tiring on the parents. No more so than having two of them climb all over you though.

Some days they play so well together, and other days (like this morning) there is screaming every 2 minutes because someone is in the other's way. Life is so frustrating when you're a toddler and your only real means of expression is grunting and screaming.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

The rest of the story...

I haven't had a chance this week to finish writing about the rest of our vacation.

Barry enjoyed skiing... he fell down a lot, and his muscles were really sore for a couple days. He skied on his own on Thursday, and it was a challenge. His instructor said he did really well on Wednesday learning to turn. His main challenge was that he is used to the way roller blades work which is very different from skis. He kept leaning too hard on his edges and going so fast that he didn't have good control. It's something to work on next year...

Friday was our day to sleep, relax, and do nothing. Although I was never able to sleep past 7 am, it was good to sleep all night uninterrupted for several nights in a row. We relaxed all morning, ate pizza for lunch, and then I napped for 2 hours in the afternoon. Then we decided to not stay the night in the hotel, but return to our babies. Barry had just come off his shift when we started the trip, so he hadn't had much time with them in 2 weeks.

At Nana and Papa's house, the most entertaining thing was the stairs that led to the loft area. They loved playing on the stairs, though they each fell a couple times. Peekaboo through the railings was a great game. Our little climbers expended lots of energy on those stairs.

We also found some of Barry's pinewood derby cars in the garage from his cub scout days. Ryan and Alyna both loved them. Alyna loved hugging the huge fluffy teddy bear, and reading all the different books.

We relaxed at his parents house until Tuesday. It snowed on Sunday and Monday, so we got out as little as possible. We started the drive home on Tuesday at nap time, and only stopped twice. Once was at a McDonald's for an early dinner before hitting 3 hours of nothing in northern New Mexico. That was good because it gave the kids a chance to run around a little. We got home at about 11:20.

I had felt good the whole trip until Alyna woke me from an hour of sleep when we were 10 minutes from home. I got some motion sickness and had to really fight to make it that 10 minutes home. Sleep helped, but I've felt pretty rotten the past few mornings. I do what I can do, and nothing more... so the place is a wreck... but oh well.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Our Retreat Begins

Barry and I made it up to the Winter Park resort in about an hour and a half yesterday afternoon. The only hiccup in the drive was a place about 5 miles away on the 2-lane mountain road where a fire engine was cleaning up the mess from a car that skidded off into the snow built up on the side of the road. We only waited about 5 minutes though.

Our hotel is at the edge of the resort village so it is about 1/3 mile from the actual slopes. It has a cabriolet that takes you right to the heart of the village in less than 3 minutes (or you can ride the shuttle that runs about every 15). The cabriolet is like a ski lift but has large baskets (like hot air ballons) that you stand up in during the ride. You get a great sky view of the mountains and resort village.

Our studio hotel room has a couch, arm chair, fireplace, queen size murphy bed, tv, table and 4 chairs, and a small kitchenette. I'll be able to eat sandwiches and soups in the room while Barry is out skiing.

Last night we took the cabriolet over and got fitted for his rental equipment. Since we rented slope-side they store the skis and poles for him. This morning we handed them the ticket and got the skis very quickly... after a quick breakfast at the Starbucks.

We walked over to the slopes (about a football field away) and found the place for his lessons to start. It looked like there is only one other person with him and his instructor, so he should learn a lot today. He'll be on his own tomorrow... I sure wish I could be out there with him. We just decided it wasn't worth the risk at this point. Maybe next year...

If I find a USB cord in Barry's bag I'll post a picture later... he hates that I took pictures...but what else am I going to do?

I brought 4 novels with me. We slept great last night... and yes, I even brought my huge pregnancy body pillow with me. I look forward to relaxing, and not changing any diapers for the next 3 days.

Monday, February 1, 2010

the long drive

We made really good time on our drive to Denver. We left at 9 pm and arrived at 6 am. We only stopped once for gas and a potty break. The twins actually stayed dry until about 5 in the morning, so they just had to wait until we got here.

Alyna slept the entire trip.

Ryan... well... he didn't. He woke up about midnight and didn't go back to sleep until after 3. So I didn't get much sleep either.

Thankfully Nana and aunt Robyn are around to help with the twins today. Visiting family definitely has it's up sides. Barry and I head out for our trip on Tuesday night... we are soooooooo ready.