Twins first Day at Preschool

Well today was the twins first day at preschool for the 11-12 school year. And it will be their last year at this school. Bittersweet. Kinda funny that Emily has the same teachers this year that she started out with since the school did a shake up and moved all the teachers around!

You will notice I said Emily. Not Taylor. They are split. Taylor stayed in the Precious Doves and Emily is now in the Shining Stars. When I read the class lists to them this morning and Taylor realized Emily was not in her class she said, "I don't want to be alone." Then her second reaction was "Is Isabella in my class?" (Isabella is her BFF). I looked and sadly, no she was moved to the Shining Stars as well. Poor Taylor. She was just upset and did not want to stay at school. I did find out that one of her other friends Avarie was still in her class. Plus many more that she has been in school with since the beginning so it's not really like she is alone. But I knew she would have a hard time. Will be interesting to see how she does. They were separated at the beginning of last year too for like 2 months but I doubt she remembers that much. The next few weeks will be hard for her, I know. She is the more low key one. But I know this will be good for her too. :)

Spring Open House @ Preschool

Last night was the spring open house at the Twins preschool. Since the girls are in the dance class that they offer there they were doing a short performance before we go to visit the classrooms. Yeah - well - all the girls EXCEPT mine did the performance. It went something like this:

Ran into the teacher Miss Stacey who introduced herself to me and then said she would take the girls to put on a little costume, get lined up and go to the stage. After they perform, the will go sit with us in the audience. Yeah well, they had different ideas. Emily immediately says "I don't want to". So I said I would sit with her and walk down with her and be with her up until they are on stage. Still "I don't want to". Taylor "I'm not gonna cry for you Momma." She gets dressed in the little tutu and hair piece (picture is on our camera. I need to download). So I sit with them and try to talk Emily into it for 30 mins. Finally I bribe her that she can have cookies if she will get the outfit on and dance. So she agrees.

I get her in the outfit. She has her cookies. Miss Stacey has them sit down in a line. Immediately Emily starts crying "I want you to sit next to me". I said no, I'll sit behind you. She calms down. Then it's time to stand up and hold hands and Emily won't hold anyone's hand but mine and is crying hysterically. Fine. I'm not going to push you. So we walk down the aisle (the girls including Taylor holding hands, me and Emily following). We all sit down in the front and wait for the girls to go on stage. They go up - except for Emily. Taylor does go! Yeah! They get ready to perform. They each are walking across the stage doing some foot pointing. When it gets to Taylor's turn, she starts crying uncontrollably "I want my Mommy". So off the stage she comes. And that was the end of the dance for them. The rest of the girls finished and danced with no crying. Ugh. Oh well. I guess performers they are not. :sigh:

Emily at preschool

Emily

Emily's Foray With the Scissors

I was on my way to work last Thursday when my phone started ringing. I looked down to see who it was and lo and behold the name of Taylor & Emily's teacher pops up. Uh oh! So I answer the phone: "Who's hurt?" Miss Tracey's answer: "No one now. Emily decided to cut her lip with the scissors. We stopped the bleeding and gave her a popsicle. Then put a bandaid on it for a little while. Then neosporin. But it seems to be doing ok now. I'll send you a picture of what it looks like." [What the heck would we do without camera phones?!] I didn't need to go pick her up, they stopped the bleeding (apparantly there was a lot of blood!) but she seemed to be doing fine. I said fine, just call me if it starts bleeding again. I called Surbjit and let him know and that I would forward the pics to him too. I got the two pics:

They didn't look too bad to me. So she stayed at school and we had a LONG talk about the use of scissors and what we are supposed to cut -- PAPER ONLY!!!

Taylor & Emily - Three Year Check Up

Yesterday was the twins three year check up. Both are doing good. Both are 29 lbs (doc thought it was a type at first!). Taylor is 3 feet 1 1/2 inches and Emily is 3 feet 1 inches. Both are basically same size. LOL! Who would have thought since they are so different looking.

All is well. We had the doc check Taylor's ears since she has failed two hearing tests that were performed at the preschool. Basically she has fluid in her ears (probably because of the month long perpetual cold she has been having) so we got antibiotics to help clear her up to see if that would help. We then need to go back when she DOESN"T have a cold (ha ha so maybe in May?!?!) to get it checked again. Hmmm. More to come later.

Also got a letter to send to the school district so I can get Emily evaluated for speech therapy. Her c's sound like d's and have for almost 6 months now. And it's Otay instead of okay. It's cute . . . but probably needs to be addressed. We try to have her say the c sound but she just can't do it.  So I'll let you know how that goes too.

Other than that, they are both doing good. Did not cry at all during the appt although Taylor kept saying she was going to cry and did not want to be first (but Emily was more than happy and willing to be first). They both cried when they got their 2 shots. I don't blame them. I would too! So I say it was a great appt. Of course Emily watched as Taylor got her shots and then would not come to me when it was her turn. Poor thing was crying so much she wasn't even breathing and that was BEFORE the shot. Haha. They are doing great today though.

Well Connor will be next in January sometime. At least that's just one child this time. =)

My Climber

That would be Emily. Sunday morning I go in to get them up (they've already been up, I can hear them!). What do my eyes behold as I walk in the door?? Emily straddling the cribs. She was right in between hers and Taylor's. She looks at me, finishes going into Taylor's crib and the two proceed to start jumping up and down. And Laughing! So turn around, go in their closet, get their clothes out for the day, turn back around, and Emily is back in her crib. My climber. :sigh:

We Had a Visitor Last Night . . .

in our bed and her name was Emily. Surprisingly she went straight to bed when I brought her in. She woke up screaming. Well first, she woke up around 8:30pm crying. I took her out held her for a couple minutes and then put her back to bed. She protested but finally gave up after about 5 mins. Then around 11pm she woke up SCREAMING. So I went and grabbed her, gave her Tylenol and brought her into bed. She cuddled up next to Daddy and fell asleep. And slept all night that way. Nice change for me as Connor usually pushes into me so I hardly have any room and therefore sleep horribly. I barely noticed Emily was in bed. =) She has a cold (surprise surprise) and i believe she is teething. I can feel her top two canine teeth and most likely her bottom two canine are coming in too. Poor thing. Hopefully tonight will be better!

Out

Apparently at daycare the other day, Grant (the son of the lady who runs the daycare) kept telling the kids to get out of his room. His room is right by the kitchen/front door. Well I guess he said it so much that Taylor started saying it. =) So now she says out.

The girls really don't talk a whole lot of words. They talk. Boy do they talk. I just wished they TALKED. They say momma, dadda, uh oh. That's about it. Well now Taylor say out. Taylor also says bye. They both understand EVERYTHING. And that's almost more scary. When I tell them to do something, they do it - unless they choose to ignore me which happens occasionally. ;) Last night they were lying down with me and I could tell they were tired. I asked them if they were ready to go to bed. Taylor starts nodding her head yes slowly. Emily will usually shake her head no but she didn't. So I said, if you are ready for bed go tell Daddy good night. Taylor proceeded to start waving bye bye and Emily got up from my lap and walked over to Surbjit and gave him a hug. So they were ready for bed. Of course, then they get in their cribs and "play" for about 30 mins to an hour. Oh well. At least it's quiet time for me. =)

Video of Emily

Here is my daredevil little girl! This is the same quad we bought Connor for his 2nd birthday - SECOND! He has maybe rode this thing five times and for not more than a minute at a time. This girl jumped on and pushed the button and just kept going! Enjoy:

Brushing Teeth

So now that I get the kids ready by myself in the morning wouldn't you know it's about time for them to start doing more things before we head out of the house?! One of those is brushing teeth. Yes they probably should have been "brushing" since they got their first tooth. Oh well. Anyway, after breakfast and before we head out the door, Connor brushes his teeth with his Thomas the Train toothbrush that sings the Thomas song for 2 mins. So this morning, we head into the bathroom and Emily follows and is reaching for her brush going "Ahh, ahh!" So i hand her toothbrush and she starts brushing her teeth with Connor. By this time Taylor has crawled over (yes she is STILL NOT walking) so I hand her hers too. The three of them brush and as soon as the music turns off, Emily takes the brush out of her mouth and hands it to me. =) She is my smart girl.

And yes, I owe pictures and stories from our camping trip last weekend. And I do have an exciting video to share - - stay tuned!!!

Guess What I Did this morning???

I downloaded pictures from my camera! WOO HOO!!! So without further ado -- here are the pictures from our New Years camping trip:

Stoddard Valley - December 31st - Jan 3rd

Taylor & Emily enjoying brothers Christmas present! (I have to say Emily LOVES this thing. More than Connor. Connor loves to RIDE in it not so much drive it. Emily actually saw how you have to push down on the pedal on the floor and kept trying! But her little legs are just too small. =( )

Bigi pushing Taylor in her pink buggy (Bigi was able to join us again out in the desert).

Emily playing the big truck.

Emily on a quad. Do you think I have something to worry about here?!?!

Emily pushing the car.

Curtis and Surbjit hanging out before going for a ride.

Surbjit & Connor talking on the walkie talkies. Connor LOVED the walkie talkies. He doesn't quite have the hang of pushing the button and talking yet but he'll get there!


Braeden, Emily & Connor playing with the toys.

Emily & Taylor eating their lunch.

Bigi reading to Emily

Sisters having fun playing in brothers carseat while we get packed and ready to go home.

Binkies & Bottles

So I guess I forgot to mention back in January when the twins got their 2nd flu shot, the nurse was chastising me for them having binkies. Well, not quite. I guess since they are were only 14 months at the time it was ok but I better not have binkies the next time I come. I guess the new recommendation is to get rid of them between 12-15 months. I don't know (insert shrug here). So then i said well they are still on the bottle and she gave me an EVIL eye.

So I went home and told Surbjit. The next day no more binkies for the girls or bottles. Well, we tried no bottles, we still give them A bottle at night before bed (although I'm pretty sure we could get rid of this one now. They drink maybe 3 ozs now and are playing with the bottle more than anything). As far as binkies, they get it for nap time and bed time only. That actually makes it so much easier to FIND the binkies. Before we would have to scour through the house to find them but now they are all around their cribs.

So my babies are growing up. And in some respects, that ok with me. =) They are getting a tad bit easier to manage.

In other news, Surbjit was officially told of his start date for his new job!! YEAH! We can all breathe a sigh of relief. He will start 2/17. Wish me luck. He starts so early (6am) that I will now be the morning getting ready and dropping the kids off at work person. I haven't had to do that in the almost 3 1/2 years since we've had the kids. Yikes.

Up way too early

So I woke up at 4am this morning to get up and do my exercise video (yes I'm trying. Not succeeding every day but I'm trying.). As I walk out of my bedroom I look in to Connor's room and lo and behold guess who is up (WIDE awake I might add) sitting up in bed? Well of course it's Connor! So I let him come out in the living room with me and watch me exercise. He tries to do it with me too sometimes. It was so cute to watch him try to do the speed bag. LOL. He was saying, I can't do it fast enough. I told him it was ok. He just needed to practice. =)

When I was done I told him it was time to go lay back down so Mommy could get ready. He wanted to lay down in my bed so I said fine and let him sleep on my side of the bed since Surbjit was still sleeping. Of course, he never fell asleep and woke up when Daddy did. Wide awake. I don't know why. He wasn't having a bad dream, nothing. Just wide awake. So I said good bye to him. He looks at me at says" Mommy you are really pretty." Melted my heart. I told him he made my day. =)

And the girls. UGH! What is with them?!?! If I leave their side for like one second they are FREAKING OUT! I mean, I'm not home, they are fine. I walk in the door and they see me and it's like they can't be with me soon enough or long enough. UGH! I can't get anything done. I'm trying to cook dinner and they are freaking out crying and screaming because I'm not near them, reading to them, playing with them, holding them. This stage better not last much longer. =(

One Year Check Up

So we went for the one year checkup today. Emily has surpassed her sister! Not by much though.

Emily 19 lbs 11 ozs
Taylor 19 lbs 9 ozs

Emily 29.5"
Taylor 29.25"

They are both in the 50%tile for height and about the 15%tile for weight. He said they could eat more. HA! They both eat like cows! But he said they are both fine and he doesn't see anything to be worried about. They both got 3 shots and then had blown drawn for lead levels and hemoglobin check. I think it's funny he brought up the lead level check. Last year when I had Connor's 2 year well baby check up, I pushed to have his lead levels checked. The doctor said I didn't have to but if I'd feel better we'd do it so we did. Now this year he brought it up with the girls and said due to all the stuff coming out of China that they are checking all kids now. I think that's good. I don't think the kids think that. Or the poor ladies who are drawing their blood. Let me tell you, the lady who drew the blood from the girls did awesome. One prick and they were in and took two vials of blood. Poor girls. But they were troopers and if you look at them now, you'd never know they went through all that. I'm glad they are troopers!

So two down, one to go. Connor's appt is tomorrow. I'm hoping to take him to see Santa tomorrow afterward. Maybe it'll lessen the sting of the shot he's going to get!

We have STEPS!!!

Emily took three steps yesterday!! We were in the living room. I was sitting on the chair with the ottoman in front of me and Surbjit was sitting on the couch. Emily was standing next to him in front of the couch. She was facing the ottoman. She looked at the ottoman, kinda crunched down like a football linebacker and took three steps to the ottoman!! WOO HOO!! I bet she's up and walking within the next month. Taylor will still be a little while I'm sure. But she's standing all the time now and I'm sure once she sees her sister running after brother, she'll feel left out and it'll push her to start walking!! =)

My Houdini

It has taken me FOREVER to be able to post pics. I just downloaded the pics from my camera today and I had like 117 on there. Geesh! The reason I did was because we are going camping this weekend and I want a blank slate on the camera before we go. It's our annual Halloween camping trip. There are like 30+ families going and the initial headcount of kids (not including adults) is 80!!!! It's going to be crazy but I'm sure it's going to be FUN.

But back to the title of my post. Weeks ago, Surbjit took a picture of our little houdini (aka Emily) and how she attempts to get out of her chair. Here is that picture:

Then earlier last week, Surbjit was getting Connor ready in the morning and fighting him (as usual) and all of a sudden, Connor says "Emily. You aren't supposed to be in the hallway." Surbjit looks over. Sure enough, there she is crawling down the hallway. He had left her in her chair in the living room! So needless to say, we've outgrown the chairs. In the morning now, they go in the high chairs for their morning bottle, Emily holds hers and Taylor's now gets propped since she still REFUSES to hold it. We are also getting them up later now so I'm basically saying good morning and good bye. Oh well, I knew it would happen eventually. I guess I'll just play with them more at night. =)

Other than that, not much new going on here. I've got some pictures to share from our weekend but I'll save that for another post! I've got cleaning up to do in the kitchen!

Teeth, teeth and more teeth

Well I guess when they teeth, they really teeth. Taylor is getting in not one, not two but THREE teeth. Both bottoms are coming in and the other top. So now she has FOUR teeth. Emily is getting in her third bottom tooth and an upper I believe. I think I felt something. So they have both been crabby and restless lately and this answers that.

What is it??

Do they know we are going on a road trip and are purposefully being a pain in the butt??? Emily AND Taylor BOTH woke up screaming last night. I'll give Emily the teething card but Taylor?? I guess one can only surmise that she is teething too? I don't feel anything but that doesn't mean there isn't a tooth ready to break through that skin. Now I don't know about you, but I sure don't remember it being painful. But then again, I don't remember being under 5 years old either. :sigh: So we (I) were up until 12:30am - 1am. Got up at 4am to get ready for work. Lovely. Can you say tired? I've realized I've been lucky that my children have slept through the night relatively early and painless. Because nights like this drive me crazy!! I need sleep. I don't do well without sleep. I know I'll be able to sleep again sometime in the future but I still get pissy. I sure hope my parents realize they'll be getting little sleep the next few night. ;)

So we are still planning on going on our road trip, for now. They both woke up this morning bleary eyed but raring to go. They were both (I thought) sound asleep so I chose Taylor to wake up. As soon as I put her on the changing table I swear, Emily couldn't get up fast enough. The whole time I'm changing Taylor Emily is just staring at me. Not crying, not nothing. I certainly can't just leave her there, so I put Taylor on the ground (thankfully she isn't mobile yet) and I grab Emily and change her. Dh is up (which is unusual but my alarm woke him up since I slept on the couch last night to be closer to the girls) so he feeds Emily and I feed Taylor. They both gobble up and Emily of course wants to run around and play. And that's how I left them this morning.

So a good dose of Motrin, some teething tablets, and some ear plugs for Surbjit and we'll be ready to hit the road this evening. If you are a praying type, pray that we make it in one piece! ;)

9 Month Pictures!

So we went on Friday for the girls 9 month pictures. It wasn't pretty. Well, they were very pretty, their smiles, just weren't there. =( I didn't get any good shots of the both of them together. I got decent shots of each but we had to work for them. Taylor wasn't as bad as Emily which was a SHOCKER. Usually Emily smiles at the drop of a hat. But she fell asleep right before we went and we had to wake her up when we got there so I don't think she too much cared for that. Oh well. Well, here you go . . enjoy!


Emily




Taylor





Taylor & Emily





And here is just a sample of one of the "bad" ones: