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:

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. =)

Potty trained????

Well the week before we went camping the teachers at preschool decided it was time to potty traing Taylor. Really? Before we go camping? Ugh. It was rough. The first day she didn't go in the potty at all. Having several accidents! The second day, more of the same. The third day, I think she went pee pee once. Then it was time to go camping. I tried. I really tried but after the first day I couldn't deal with it anymore. Not after she pooped and didn't tell me and then when I went to have her go potty, poop falls out on the bathroom floor. =( Ugh. So she was in pull ups the rest of the weekend. Fastforward and it's the second week. She's back to school. The first day, one accident. The second day one accident. Third day one accident and then the fourth day NO accidents and no accidents at home either! Can I say she is fully potty trained? No. Are we almost there. YES!! I can see light at the end of the tunnel!!!

Boggles My Mind

I was just thinking about Taylor and walking (or her lack thereof for so long). Can you believe that she hasn't even been walking for a year yet? She did not start walking until she was 19 months old. But then she didn't stop! You would have never known it took her so long to walk. I remember going to the doctor for her 18 month checkup and saying my concerns. Of course that week, she started to pull herself up and walk furniture more than she had. And of course, a week later, she was fulling walking! But that didn't occur until June of last year! Now she is running, jumping and climbing everything! Go figure!!!

This was a camping trip and Emily was walking and Taylor was crawling everywhere! She had so many holes in the knees from doing that!!

Same here. Even though Taylor is standing, she wasn't walking at this time. What a difference a year makes!!!

Taylor's Sleeping Habits

I don't think I've ever gone into detail on Taylor's sleeping habits - or lack thereof. Connor was an awesome sleeper. Or we could bring him into our bed on occasion when it warranted it. I feel guilty when I think about bringing one of the girls in the bed because I'm leaving the other one out so instead I make them deal with it and go back to bed. The other thing I was lucky with Connor about, was even after we switched him from a crib to a toddler bed, he would never get out of bed. Even in the morning when he would wake up, he'd ask for permission. Emily is the same way for the most part. Taylor - well - she has her own mind. She will get out of bed and get a toy, get a book, or run down the hallway in the pitch black of night and stand in our doorway. Well, now she will come into our room but she just stands there. Doesn't make a sound. Sometimes she will say Mommy. Sometimes she just waits for me to get out of bed and walk her back to bed. She has never wanted to sleep with us. We have had her come into bed after she has done this for the third time in about 30 minutes. But she has never asked to sleep with us. I guess that is a blessing. But basically the only thing she has wanted was for us to put her blanket back on her. Her blanket. She can dress herself but she can't put her own blanket back on her?!? Ugh. I'm trying to wean her of this but poor Emily was woken up last night by her crying and then SHE wanted her blanket put back on her. Now I KNOW Emily can put her blanket back on herself. So needless to say, they are NOT sleeping through the night and I really need a good nights sleep one of these days.

I do have to say though it is funny when I rethink about it the next morning because you just hear her little feet pounding down the hallway. I mean POUNDING. She is sprinting down the hallway. It's amazing actually. She must have some pretty darn good night vision!

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. =)

Teeth

So we were home after our camping trip yesterday afternoon and I was playing with the kids. Taylor was on my lap and I was making her laugh. I glanced inside her teeth and thought I saw white on the back gum area of her bottom right. I'm like hmm. . . am I seeing things? So I stick my finger in there (very dangerous these days!) and sure enough. She has a molar that poked through! So I tell Surbjit and he's like are there anymore? So I stick my finger back in there. Not on the bottom on the otherside but BOTH tops (one on each side) I can feel! Yikes!!! Never even realized (except for the excessive drool that is so UNLIKE Taylor lately).

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!

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.

Taylor

Taylor is getting closer to crawling!!! Yesterday both Surbjit and I noticed that she can now go from laying on her tummy to sitting up on her own. We both (Surbjit in the morning, me in the evening) left her in a room. When we left, she was on her tummy. When we walked back in, she was sitting up. We were both like Woh! And she is also getting up on all fours now where before she couldn't. She's even rocking back and forth so I bet she starts moving soon!! YEAH!!!

In other news, Bigi told us a cute story that happened last weekend. She took Connor with her to go to the doctors. When they were waiting for her to get called back, Connor looked at her and said, "Bigi, you are beautiful." Now how sweet is that!!

Taylor Wants to be Different

So apparantly, it looks like she is getting a tooth in too. But guess where?? It's on the upper side. Hmm. I know they don't always have to be the same but come one. Who get's their first tooth on the top?? Not many.

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:

Sea World

OK, I know a narrative of our camping trip is long awaited. I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day! But I finally was able to upload Sea World pics last night. I was having issues uploaded so all I got uploaded was Sea World so you'll have to be satisfied with that until I can get Legoland and the campground up. =)

So we went to SeaWorld on Wednesday. It was pretty nice day. Not too hot but the sun was shining!! We got there right when they opened at 9am. Shoot! It was a ghost town! It was almost like we were the only ones in the park. We headed towards the right side of the park and figured we'd look at a few things and then go back for the 11am Shamu show. So we stopped at the Arctic Experience. We of course could not ride their little "airplane ride" since the kids were too small but we were able to walk directly to the exhibit.











After walking in there and seeing the polar bears and walrus', we walked over to my favorite place - the penguins! Connor liked them too as we had a hard time getting him away from there!



After finally getting Connor away from the penguins, it was time to feed the girls. It was a little bit of a challenge but we learned from our Legoland trip on Monday! We gave Connor a snack and let him eat as I fed one girl and Surbjit fed the other. I'm sure we were a site to see. Although it still was not packed at this time. After getting everyone fed (and diapers changed), we decided to head over to the Shamu show. Boy was it a good thing we did!!!! It seemed that everyone in the park was going to the show. We chose a seat fairly high (we did NOT want to get wet!) and waited for the show to start. I was shocked that Connor waited patiently for it. After Legoland's show we had to wait five minutes for (and he was NOT patient then), I didn't think he'd wait patiently this time either. But we could see Shamu and the whales in the outside tank plus there was water so I guess it was all good!



After Shamu we went to eat lunch. It wasn't too bad. Surbjit wrangled the kids and started feeding Taylor & Emily their solids while I went to get us three lunch. $40 later (I so don't want to know how much it'll be when the girls get older :sigh:) I had our lunch and we ate it.

After lunch we basically just walked around Sea World.



We got to see Dolphins:



Flamingo's:



And we got to see the Tide Pool's and check out the cool starfish:



Then we headed over to Sea World's new toddler area called Bay of Play:



It was pretty cool! They have three rides, plus a HUGE network of nets, ropes, and tons of stuff to climb up (which Connor wouldn't go up the net so no go). Plus a little toddler area to run around in for the under 37" crowd. And they had a beach area with sand to play in:



Then Connor and I made it onto the rides. It was a little sketchy on if we'd make it on or not. Connor is not the most patient of kids (but what 2 1/2 year old is?). But we did! The first ride we went on was the "teacups". They aren't tea cups but that's what everyone remembers this ride as. I personally don't like to make it spin. I get dizzy so I figured we'd be good to go. Unfortunately, because of the momentum of the ride it will automatically spin anyway. So I kept trying my hardest to make it spin only a little but that wheel is hard to make stop!! I tried to use two hands but Connor wanted my arm around him so I had to do it one handed. I thought he wasn't having fun but I kept asking him on the ride if he was having fun and he said yes. Although he kept burrowing deeper and deeper into the side of me. =) When the ride was over, he asked to ride it again so I guess he had fun!







After the "teacups", we rode the flying fishes. It was pretty cool as we got to jump ahead of like 10 people in line because there was ONE car ("fish") left and they were all parties of 3 or more. Connor wanted it up the whole time so we flew the entire ride. We would be going around and all of a sudden I'd hear him say "WEEEEE". He did this like three times. =D It was so cute!!!





After this ride, the girls were getting cranky so it was another round of bottles and diaper changes. By the time, Connor was getting a little cranky too so we decided to cut our losses and head back to the campground. On the way out, we asked Connor, "are you tired?" Of course he said "no" but as soon as we left the parking lot:



He was out like a light!!!

All the kids did awesome. Do I recommend taking three kids under three? Probably not. LOL! But it was fun and Connor is starting to like the rides more so that's fun. I get to relive my youth! How can that not be fun for me! =)

Stay tuned for Legoland!!!!!

And to get back to the regularly scheduled programming . ..

Since I still don't have pictures to share but I do have news I thought I'd post about it. I did download all 322 pictures from our camping trip. =) So I'll be e-mailing them when I get a chance to upload them to kodakgallery. So bear with me. But in news . . .

Emily has started crawling!! It's just a nudge here and there but I bet within two weeks, we'll be having to figure out how to contain her!!! And she is clapping! It is so darn CUTE!!! I can't stand it. Just thinking about her clapping I smile. And both her and Taylor are waving. Still not on cue but they can wave bye-bye. Now to just get them to do it when I say bye-bye.

Taylor is still my little laid back lazy girl. Oh well. Maybe once she sees her sister crawling and getting places (although Taylor has no problem getting around. She rolls everywhere!) she'll start too. Only time will tell.

Emily LOVES to feed herself the puffs. Taylor looks at them with disdain. It's like you actually expect me to feed myself? And yesterday after we fed them "dinner" we always give them a bottle, Emily was actually holding her own. Of course, when I went to get the camera she stopped holding it and expected me to hold it.

I can't believe they are 8 months already. It came and went while we were camping. They still amaze me with every new thing they learn. Although they aren't near where Connor was at, at this age, they are doing just fine. Connor was just ahead of himself. =) And it's nice that I've actually been able to sit down and not worry too much about them getting into things. With Connor, I never got to sit down after he turned 5 months! It's been a hard 8 months but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Would I wish twins on anyone?? HELL NO but do I feel blessed that I have them? YES!!

Mona's Birthday party

Ok, can you tell I have some time on my hands tonight?? Plus I needed to get the pictures off the camera so I have a full 2MB's for our camping trip this coming week. ;-)

So anyway, I swear it was like the hottest day of the year for Mona's birthday party. It was a very nice shaded park though so it wasn't too bad. Connor was way excited to sing Happy Birthday to his cousin. He just LOVES birthday parties (which means I really have to do something special for him this year). They did a Hawaiian Luau theme (i am so jealous because all I have is November birthdays. Oh well). And had some games for the kids to play and a little playground for toddlers right there too. So Connor definitely was not bored!!

The Birthday Girl!

Taylor & Emily having fun at the birthday party.

Daddy & Emily (he always takes such good pictures with the kids!)

Taylor partied so hard she fell asleep. ;-)~p

Connor was having fun with the "hot coconut" (they played the Hot Potato game with a coconut)

Uncle Harjinder "No Connor you can't touch the cake" (Connor wanted to touch the cake so BAD. That and play with all the toys!)