Morning Change Up

This morning started strangely. Ryan and Alyna started making noises and talking to each other around 6:30. I went back to sleep, and awoke at 6:50 as they came out into the hallway. Instead of coming to get me though, they headed out to the living room to play. I got up and got dressed to come out to check on them and start the morning.

Usually they plop in front of the refrigerator first thing, and beg for their breakfast, and then want to watch a video.

This morning I found Ryan by the back door, and he really wanted to go out and play in the water left in the little pool. I tried to tell him it was too cold, and we had to eat breakfast first. He whined and cried because he really wanted to go play outside.

They ate their yogurt for breakfast, and were still clammoring to go outside. Since they both needed new diapers anyway and still had their pajamas on, I just put swim diapers on them (without clothes), and we headed outside. I figured the water would be cold and we would come right back inside. It was only a little after 7 am, and the sun wasn't even fully up in the sky to warm things up. Ryan actually splashed in the water quite a bit, and Alyna waded in it some. They played at the water table, and dumped water from buckets into various places. Oddly enough, Alyna got cold first and came to snuggle in my lap wrapped up in a towel. We were probably out there for 30 minutes before they were ready to come inside.

They've been playing happily with various toys for the last hour now. Alyna had fun putting on Barry's work boots and trying to walk in them, and now she's diapering her baby doll. Ryan built a neat tower with the Megablocks, and is now playing with a car. I've been so impressed with his building skills the past couple days. I expected to have to build things for him to knock down, but he actually likes to stack the blocks, and gets mad when Alyna knocks them over.

It's fun to watch them learn and grow...

...Dressed for church. Alyna in her pretty pink dress, and Ryan in his new Cars shirt.

Feeling Blessed

As I said on Facebook recently, I made the trip to WalMart on Saturday morning with the kids... 8 months pregnant pushing a double stroller and pulling a full cart. I got lots of comments on having cute kids, a question about where I got the stroller from anther twins' mom, lots of sympathetic looks, and even a "bless your heart."

I ended up in the same checkout line with the twins mom I had talked to earlier in the store. She had several other helpers with her, so we got to chat a few minutes. She asked how far along I made it before delivering the twins and was surprised when I said we had made it all the way to 9 months and they were perfectly healthy. Her story was quite different.

She was pregnant with triplets, and started going into labor at only 20 weeks. They held her off until 25 weeks at which point the babies are just barely viable outside the womb. She lost the little girl, but the two boys survived... staying in the hospital for more than 4 months. The two boys are now 17 months old, though I had guessed they were just 11 - 12 months old. She said one of them is still on breathing treatments at night, and they both are really far behind developmentally. They aren't really even crawling yet, and one had obvious eye problems.

Also last week, two of my friends from college, Tim and Amanda Allen, had their infant son (I think about 4 months old) undergo the second heart surgery of his young life. He is doing well today and they should be able to take him home by Thursday. Praise God for that!

I am constantly reminded of my blessings when I hear other's stories. I am already 36 weeks pregnant with Kellyn which gives her a great chance of being born at this point without any health issues. I have 2 healthy twins toddlers who are developmentally on track.

No matter the stresses in my life right now... I feel very blessed. God has been good to my growing family, and I pray for his blessings to continue.

Baby Countdown

... 4 weeks and counting ...

Because we are at a rural hospital, I've opted to have another scheduled c-section. Of course, if she decides to come before 39 1/2 weeks, then we'll do it then, but other wise, the date is Wednesday, August 18.

The nursery looks a lot bigger with only one crib in it. I still have to rearrange the furniture in there a little. The twins really like their big room with big beds.

We bought our first packages of newborn diapers at WalMart this weekend, and another box of wipes for her room. It's amazing that with all the baby things we already have, we still seem to have bought a lot of things for this baby: a second MP3 player dock for playing lullabies in the rooms, another white noise machine, new lap pads, a new changing table pad, etc. We also bought a car seat cover in pink to replace the cover on Ryan's old car seat.

I'm already having contractions, and sometimes they get close together when I'm tired or doing too much walking. This happens especially in the evenings, so we just can't plan to be anywhere after nap time these days. I'm really having trouble sleeping at night. Everyone says that's just your body preparing to take care of the baby, but that stinks. I'd rather be well rested when the baby comes.

As uncomfortable as I am right now, I really hope Kellyn waits the 4 weeks.

The Skinny

For those of you who ain't down wi'd it, the "skinny" be a dope, phat word for brief information about something.

Skinny is also a word we often use to describe Ryan. He still wears 6-12 month shorts unless they are the more expensive adjustable waist shorts on the smallest adjusted size. Every time we think Alyna is catching him in height he has his own growth spurt and stretches taller, but his waist and hips never seem to get wider.

This week at the doctor's office he was measured as 33 inches tall and only 21.2 pounds. I asked the doctor on our way out if he was concerned that an almost 2 year old only weighed 21 pounds. He said that as long as he eats normally, is healthy, and is active, then they don't do anything to fatten a kid up.

It's the same thing we've been telling ourselves and everyone else for the last year. He's normally very active, and eats as much as Alyna who only weighs about 26 pounds herself. This week is the first week in his life he's had to go to the doctor for an illness.

We've been very blessed that both Ryan and Alyna have had nothing more than normal cold/flu symptoms before. I think he this time it became more serious because he was also growing and cutting more teeth at the same time, so his immune system was just overloaded. He is back to his normal bright eyed, smiley self now, though he still gets tired faster than normal. (A week of not eating normally will make anyone a little weaker.)

Where Is?

Many times a day Alyna will turn with her hands in the air, palms up, and say, "Where is?" What is she asking for... her baby doll. She's always leaving it in different places so we often have to have a baby hunt.

I haven't named the baby doll yet, because I think that should be something she gets to do when she's older. Grandma said that no matter what Alyna names her, she'll always be thought of as "Where Is."

Yesterday, "Where Is" was missing all day. I picked up toys in each room, did lots of laundry, looked under beds and in boxes, but I couldn't find her. It was really sad.

Last night we were playing in baby Kellyn's room, for a change of scenery, and I remembered they had been playing with her chest of drawers the previous day. I opened each drawer, and there was "Where Is" in the empty middle drawer.

I closed it and asked Alyna, "Where is your baby?" Then I pointed to the drawer. She giggled and went to look. Oh the happy face was precious when she saw her baby in there. She put other things in that drawer while we were playing, but not "Where Is." She took her to bed with her last night too.

TWO:
Alyna's other new skill this week is knowing when there is 2 of something. I'm not kidding. It's not something we've been trying to get her to do, she just does it. I've always counted with them since they were little, and if I give them a snack for each hand I say, "You have 2..."

A week ago I gave her two stickers and while she started to play with them, she looked up and said, "Two." Barry's and my jaws both dropped, and I told her she was right that she had two stickers.

She has continued to do this all week when there are two of something. Crazy smart girl...

Big Beds Update

Ryan and Alyna continue to sleep just as well, or better, in their big twin beds than they did in their cribs. There have been some interesting/funny times already though.


We played the "Look, I'm out of bed" game yesterday. At nap time, I was awoken after less than an hour by two happy smiling children. They both walked right into my room, happy and ready to play. (Usually they sleep for at least an hour and a half.)

I put them to bed about 15 minutes early, and it took me more than 5 minutes to get Alyna to stop coming to the door and trying to escape the room. We usually leave it cracked, but to stop her, I had to shut the door. She cried and then stayed in bed after that. Ryan can actually open the door, but Alyna hasn't quite mastered it yet.



Yesterday early in nap time, and then again this morning at 4 am, I had to go in because Alyna was crying out "Mama" and coming to the door. The problem... Ryan had crawled into bed with her. The poor guy has had a fever since Saturday night, and we found out today it is strep throat. He just wanted someone to cuddle with I'm sure, but Alyna would have none of that. That is her bed, and she doesn't even want Mommy to lie down in it with her. Ryan has always been the cuddly one. Alyna likes hugs, but then the hug is over and she's done. She's definitely her mother's daughter.

Because of Ryan's illness, we've had a couple rough nights being up a lot with him. It's actually nice to be able to lie down next to him in his bed to comfort him.

Vacation: Days 6-7

THURSDAY:
In the morning, our entire crew rented a party boat to go out on the beautiful water of Table Rock Lake. Barry, Aunt Krista, Uncle Matt, Sean, and Joshua all took turns tubing. It was lots of fun.








Ryan got fussy after about an hour because he wanted to play in the water, so his Daddy decided he should try out the tube. By the time the tube got out away from the boat, Ryan was crying too much to even try it, so they came back in. It just wasn't what he had in mind.





Alyna fell asleep in Grandma's lap (just as she had the day before on the Safari tram).


Since Ryan and Alyna didn't get to play in the water the way they wanted... we went to a swimming pool until lunch time. It was such a great pool for the kids, with a sloping entrance, that we went back after nap time again.







FRIDAY:
This was by far the longest day of the trip... going home.

We said goodbye and left the resort, taking Grandma with us, at about 9:30 central time. We drove all the way home; arriving at about 1:20 am.

We did stop in Oklahoma City at my friend Charissa's house again for about an hour to let the kids play. It was great to catch up with her in person instead of just online.

Vacation Day 5

WEDNESDAY:
Everyone piled in the two minivans and drove up near Springfield to visit the Wild Animal Safari Park. There were definite pros and cons to the visit, but overall everyone though it was worth going. Of course, outings like these are always more fun when you have kids along.

While waiting for the guided tram tour, we saw some animals in the gift shop and in cages up front. Ryan kept wanting to go back in to see the monkey.



The loose billy goat followed us right out of the cages area and through the gift shop... the attendant just shrugged and said that was ok. He was sort of a pet around there I guess.

All 4 of the grandkids were amazed at the sight of the different animals, and my nephews had fun feeding them from the open air tram. Where there would normally be windows were just bars, so the taller animals would actually stick their heads in to be fed.






We then ate a deliciously large meal together at Lambert's Cafe... home of the throwed roll. They actually come around asking who wants a roll, and when you raise your hand, they throw one to you. Ryan thought this was a great idea and kept raising his hand. Hilarious...

Wednesday night we had a family devotional and my aunts joined us for that again. Our family loves to sing, so it's something we enjoy doing together whenever we can.

This was the day Ryan decided he really like blueberries. Between afternoon snack and bedtime snack his Aunt Krista and Grandma probably fed him a whole container. His diapers that night and in the morning were evidence that he'd had too many.

Some of the family stayed up to play games that night (and most nights), but sadly I was always too tired by the end of each day. (hmmmm ... I wonder why...)

Vacation Days 2 - 4

Branson... well, we were actually staying at a resort on Table Rock Lake, about 12 miles south of Branson, MO, but it's close enough to just call it our Branson vacation.

The resort was a huge area, and our family had 3, 2 bedroom condos for all of us. My parents shared one with my sister and her husband. Barry and I had another with the twins, and my brother and his family shared the third. It was great because they were all next door to each other and we went back and forth a lot, but then we all had our own spaces too.

SUNDAY: night we all arrived in the evening, checked in, shared dinner and the Lord's supper together, and retired to our rooms. Everyone had traveled far that day and was tired.

MONDAY:


Barry, the twins and I had breakfast at a resort restaurant with my sister Krista and her husband Adam. It was good to spend that time with them, and they are always helpful with the kids. We then headed to the playground where we met up with other family members and played until lunch.

We had grilled hamburgers for lunch, and we all ate together. Some of our extended family joined us for lunch as they had decided to vacation in Branson at the same time so we could spend some time together. It was so good to see my mom's 2 sisters, 1 of their husbands, and 1 of my cousins. None of them had met the twins before.

Ryan became really attached to his cousins... if he ever got fussy, all we had to say was that we'd go find Sean and Joshua, and he was anxious to go.


After lunch we took Ryan and Alyna and their cousins to the pool by our building to swim for about 40 minutes. They loved it, but we knew it was time to go take a nap when they started putting their heads down on their Aunts and Uncle's shoulders.

The kids took a long nap, and we actually had to wake them up so we could leave to go to the Dixie Stampede dinner show. It's written and produced by Dolly Parton, and includes lots of country cooking, loud music, and a horse show. We had lots of fun. The kids did really well until the last 20 minutes when Alyna started to cover her ears from the noise.

TUESDAY:

We had thought about taking an outing on Tuesday morning, but there was so much to do at the resort that we didn't need to go anywhere. We went down to a small pond area behind the arcade to feed the fish. Both the arcade and fish were a big hit that morning.



Our kids favorites are the driving games, of course.


That afternoon, Grandma babysat all the grandkids while the rest of the adults went to a show. We chose the "SIX" show which is put on by 6 brothers, and the every sound in the show is made vocally, acapella, and done live. They performed everything from the Beach Boys to U2 to Motown hits. It fit our family's love for music perfectly, and I was very impressed with the quality of the show. I was also glad the kids weren't there because it got very loud at parts.

The sibling couples then all went to a local steakhouse for a good meal, and then to a 50's diner style restaurant for dessert. We were all stuffed.

Vacation Day 1: Friend's Twins' Birthday

We left on a Saturday morning, with Grandma and Grandpa's help, at about 7 am (Mountain Time). We drove all day to Oklahoma City, stopping whenever it was needed. For lunch we had a picnic at a rest area so the kids could run around for a while. I love Texas rest areas because they are so nice.

We checked into our hotel at around 4:30 pm (Central Time), changed the kids into water clothes, and headed over to my friend Charissa's house. She was my best friend and roommate from college. We haven't seen each other since I was pregnant with my twins, and that weekend was the 1st birthday of her twin boys. It's a great bond we share by both having twins so close together.





We ate food, watched them open the twins' gifts, and joyfully talked as all the kids played in the water toys.

They're big kids now

Side Note: We had a blast during our week long vacation in Branson, MO with my family. I'll post pictures about that later. But first...

I realized last night that I officially don't have babies anymore (for 6 more weeks anyway).

We rearranged the guest room over the weekend. The twin beds that were together are now on separate walls, and we removed the box springs. We moved Ryan and Alyna's clothes into a dresser in the new room. All afternoon yesterday we played in that room as we moved things around, and we were sure to keep calling each bed "Ryan's bed" or "Alyna's bed."




When bedtime came, Ryan was fussy and anxious. He knew something was just not right because we kept saying "your room", but it was a new room. When we finished reading books in their beds, Alyna laid back in her bed with a big smile on her face. She was so proud of herself for getting to sleep in a big bed.

Ryan was crying. It wasn't an "I don't want to sleep," cry. It was a "What's going on, this is scary," cry. So I sat by his bed for about 5 minutes, stroking his head and telling him how proud I was that he was sleeping in a big bed. It didn't take him long to calm down, and I left the room.

Within 5 minutes it was completely quiet, and both were asleep. Alyna won the award for falling off the bed first... about 30 minutes later. We heard little cries until about 10 pm, but they'd be asleep whenever we went to check on them. They slept solidly all night (to my surprise). Ryan woke up at 6:45, and was already off the bed when I got in there, but I'm not sure how long he had been off the bed. We left the room and let Alyna sleep another 15 minutes.

They both smiled a lot this morning when I told them how proud I was that they slept all night in their big beds in their new room. But they are both fussy today. It's a combination of being home from vacation and changing rooms all at once. We wanted to do this move while Grandma is still here to help me this week.

Hopefully nap time today will go as smoothly as bedtime did.

(And Ryan has peed in the potty 2 times this morning.)

Wrestling match on Ryan's bed...