It’s been busy! So I apologize in advance for the abbreviated descriptions of our adventures.
A couple weekends ago we had a playdate with the Arnolds! My friend April invited us to come hang out with her, her sis-in-law, and her nieces, at Clark’s Elioak Farm. We tried our hardest to make all our kids besties… I think they are all too young to appreciate our efforts though. Haha. They did have a ton of fun though. Afterwords the girls kept talking about Sophie and Maddie. So I think we may have a future playdate in store. April took a ton of good photos (check out my facebook). Here is the one photo I took:
Fun with the Arnolds! Frances, Maddie, Gracie, April, Sophie and Colleen
We decided to take the whole family out to the farm. It'd been a long while since Moses had been, so we thought he might enjoy it, and he did.
Moses giggled at the sheep and tried to rip the goat's hair out.
Francie, Gracie, MiMo and daddy
My in-laws stopped by last weekend! We were able to see baby Zekiah again (3 months old now). He’s definitely getting bigger and his personality is starting to show – smiling, giggling, cooing. AND I saw him roll over!
Aunt Eveck and baby Zekiah
This past weekend Aunt Amy came to visit! We hadn't seen her since maybe Moses was 3-months old or so? So we were definitely excited to see her again. I’m missing her already! Wish they still lived close by. We didn't get to do a whole lot outside the house on Saturday, I spent the morning doing Frances’ hair. But we trekked out to Wegman's and the mall with the kiddos. I got the girls some new earrings – too cute! Sunday she helped me convert the girls’ cribs to toddler beds (even Moses loved this change!). And afterword we went to the petting farm to show Aunt Amy around.
Amy, Frances and Grace feeding the sheep
We went late in the day, we usually go first thing in the morning. Grace went to hang out with her usual goat friend and I think the goat had a tough day and jabbed her in the leg with its horn. She was scared, but I calmed her down and she went right on petting the other goats. Moses had fun with a chicken – fitting since he’s always saying “bek bek bek.”
Mo and his chicken friend
The girls also liked playing with Aunt Amy’s hair!
Fixing Aunt Amy's hair
Aunt Amy and Mo
And it was fortuitous that Uncle Rawknee came to visit while Aunt Amy was here. They hadn't seen each other since being godparents at the girls' baptism! MiMo was all about Uncle Rawnee and couldn't stop crawling up onto his lap.
The girls had their 3-year checkup today (see previous post). The kids are changing a lot. Moses even more so. He’s been standing a lot on his own.
Pass me the ball, daddy!
And yesterday he stood up a bit more than a foot away from their wooden activity cube and he toddled 3 steps to get to it!!! I screamed and Amy thought somebody got hurt. Haha. Later he was by the couch holding a toy and toddled 2 steps towards me! I wasn't able to see the girls take their first steps, so it was fun to see Moses’! Hopefully, within the next month, he’ll be a full walker. And his teeth are SLOWLY coming in… he just got his 7th and 8th teeth this past week. He hasn't enjoyed them coming through, but he’s still better at teething than his sisters were – it’s just that they got their teeth (and a lot of them) much faster.
And we have a new "pet," that I've named Charlotte, because I think she's a barn spider - like in Charlotte's web (so cliche, I know). I'm just happy that, so far, she's an outdoor pet...
Charlotte and her guest/dinner
This week my brother and his family will be visiting. So even more adventures to post!
Grace on left and Frances on right, waiting for the doctor
The girls had their 3-year checkup today. No shots! They had
fun, and brought their Doc McStuffins dolls along for support.
Here are their stats:
Frances is 38.3 inches tall (73%) and 31 lbs. 4 oz. (53%)
Grace is 38.3 inches tall (73%) and 30 lbs. 4 oz. (43%)
The doc was a bit concerned about their weight gain. She
said at this age kids gain an average of 5 pounds a year – but the girls only
gained 3 pounds. She said their weights would be okay on average but compared
to how they gained before, it’s a big difference. I told her I was a fat baby
and then thinned out. And we all know Richard is skin and bones. So she said it
could be genetic. We’ll just have to keep an eye on it and make sure we try our
hardest to get them a more balanced diet. They are still tall for their age, so
maybe they’ll take after daddy?
She recommended Pre-K since the girls are in-home and not
interacting with other kids as much – and separate classes, so they learn to
function independently. She said it will probably help their language
development as well. Not sure how we’ll swing that one since we don’t qualify
for the public pre-K (stupid Maryland). So cross fingers money starts growing
on trees so we can get into private pre-K. Or we’ll just have to wing it and
hope all goes well for Kindergarten.
Moses officially turned ONE on August 1st. The girls eagerly helped me make him some allergy-free cupcakes and frosting. And they were more than willing to help him blow out his candle. I got him a balloon from the store, but it was defective, only lasted about an hour. Ah well. Fortunately he has short term memory and forgot all about it.
I called the allergist’s office to see what we can try now that he’s a year old. We were told we could try meats, black beans, white beans, red beans, and oats (last). Well, we started with black beans and he broke out with a rash in the diaper area. So we’ll give the beans a bit more time. So far he seems to be doing okay with chicken. We’ll try beef and fish next, and then oats. He’s to stay on his EleCare infant formula until his December check up with the allergist.
My parents both came down on July 19. We had the joint birthday party for all 3 kiddos that Saturday (see previous post) and then my dad headed back up to NB, while my mom stayed for the week to help watch the kids with our neighbor, Jas. Oh the girls had fun to arts and crafts all week with grandma and Jas. And MiMo had fun too! My dad came back down last Sunday and, at my mom’s urging, installed a nice new tile backsplash for our kitchen. We went with large cream subway-style tiles (neutral and easier for re-sale down the road). They took the girls to the farm. And the girls road the Cow Train for the first time! My folks left the morning of Moses’ birthday so they could give him his birthday greeting in person before they left! Oh we had so much fun with grandma and grandpa, wish they could have stayed longer.
Oh and last week, in the chaos of having my folks here, and my dad doing some tiling in the kitchen, along with the introduction of a new, more powerful microwave, Moses suffered an unfortunate accident. He got burned with some hot food, because he’s a strong kid and able to knock things out of your hands fairly easy. As a result he got a blister on his cheek and 3 blister on his fingers on his left hand. I took him to the doctor’s office since one was close to his knuckle. Fortunately, while “huge and nasty” [the nurse’s words], it was just shy of his knuckle! So he “lucked” out. We put the Neosporin on right away so no infection so far. His blisters popped last week, but skin broke open over the weekend, and he didn’t like that too much. Richard gained more blood stains on his shirts. Poor little dude. But he moves around like nothing ever happened, which is a good sign, the doc says.
I took him for his 1-year well checkup today.
Here are his stats:
Height: 30.8 inches (82nd percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs. 8 oz. (95th percentile)
Head circumference: 48.5 cm (97th percentile)
Comparatively, at a year old, his sisters were about 2 lbs lighter, 0.8 inches shorter, and their heads were about 2 cm smaller.
He cried the whole time. So I knew the shots would be a disaster. He got 3 shots MMR, Chicken Pox, and something else. And he got his finger pricked for anemia test – which came back fine. Poor little dude hated everything. Even getting his head measured.
She said his burns are looking okay. Just keep the Neosporin 3x/day. And she said to put sunscreen or a band aid on them when we go outside or they will burn more (and scar).
He’s doing well. Has a bit of a breakout on his chest. Probably allergy to something new or residual from the beans? Who knows. He’s doing well. He still only has 6 teeth. He says, “Mama”, “dada”, “baba”, “baby” and various animal noises. He can stand up and get down in the middle of the floor with no help, but only on occasion – he’s not making a real habit of it yet. He LOVES playing peek-a-boo with his sisters around furniture. My gosh, they are all so cute when they enjoy playing games with each other. He loves playing with his toy vehicles and pushing them around, he also makes a “mrrrroomm, mrrrooommm” sound too. He loves throwing balls too. He thinks it’s hilarious.
His next appointment is in November.
And the latest Wacha Sayin’?
Frances, upon observing Moses naked, and pulling on his “boy parts”: “Oh no! MiMo gonna pull off his tail!”
We had a joint birthday party for Frances, Grace and Moses
on Saturday. The weather held out for the most part, but we all still huddled
up indoors to avoid the heat. I had already made some allergy free cupcakes for
the girls on their actual birthday, so my kids were set. I swung by Wegmans to
get cupcakes for everyone else. Then we ordered pizza from our fav local pizza
place, Philly's Best. All in all it was fairly easy and the kids enjoyed it (maybe not Moses
so much - too many people, but the girls had fun).
Thank you to everyone that was able to make it all the way
out to our place. I realized I didn't get a single picture from the party! Doh!
So if anyone has any, please send them along. Thanks.
Just a little over a week before Moses officially turns 1
year old. Crazy!
It's official, the girls are 3 years old. I can't believe it. I can still remember the day they were born, like it was yesterday. And what a crazy day it was. For some reason the hospital thought it was a good idea to give two people with zero parenting experience TWO babies to take home and, of course, keep alive. And here we are, surviving, three years later! And what a crazy life these little monsters have given us. We love them so much. Today I looked at them and teared up, because they are growing so fast. And MiMo won't be a baby forever either. Even though there are daily challenges dealing with the kiddos, we still try and soak up the good parts as much as possible.
We got new bedding for their birthday: Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse and Doc McStuffins. Nana got them some new dresses (see in pic below). And we also got two Radio Flyer Big Flyers (like big wheels) but we haven't assembled them yet (lazy mom and dad). I know the girls will like them, when they get them... eventually.
Ohhh we’ve had a fun-filled week. On Wednesday we went to Centennial Park for the Sunset Serenade – a free concert every Wednesday evening through the summer. The Grandsons Jr. were playing this past week – they are a kids band that plays a nice mix of Americana music. The girls loved it. They were dancing around.
Grace and Frances = Junior Park Rangers!
We decided to pack up at about 7:50 p.m. We trekked back to the car. It was hot and humid, and the kids were hot and tired (and MiMo was hungry). We always start the car before loading the kids in, just to get the AC going. I turn the key and nothing – just the typical clicking that accompanies a dead battery. Crap! Well, while it was terribly inconvenient for the kids, we were fortunate that it happened on concert night. There were several park rangers around. Richard ventured off to get some help. He came back with jumper cables that the rangers loaned him (state policy won’t let them jump us). And due to so many people being around for the concert, we had no problem finding someone to give us a jump. So a ½ hour later we were on the road. We didn’t want to turn the car off, so Richard dropped the girls and I off at the house and continued to the auto parts store with Moses. He arrived there 15 minutes before they were set to close. They had a long line of customers and told Richard it was too late to change the battery. He pleaded with them, and I guess his charming personality prevailed (or maybe MiMo gets some credit here)… and they obliged him. Richard arrived home, parked the car, got Moses out and the torrential rain downpour started. Poor dude. All in all though, we did luck out. Thank God it didn't happen on our way back from NY!!!!! We felt that we had dodged a bullet there.
Saturday afternoon, my cousin Joe, his wife Carrie, and their kids, Ben and Juliet, met myself and the girls at the local petting farm. It was hotter than all heck! And the humidity was insane. The girls, of course, enjoyed traversing the farm, yet again! Ben enjoyed all the animals too. I think the animals had had enough of heat and kids for the day (we were there closer to closing time). As a result, Grace got full on head-butted in the stomach by the cow – she had a big ol' cow slimy nose print on her shirt and skirt. And the donkey was hee-hawing up a storm which scared poor Juliet. Ben, Grace and Frances each went for a ride on Spice, the pony. Then Joe and I took the big kids on a nice hayride where we looked for the faces in the trees. Carrie stayed behind to give Juliet some much needed nourishment. The time went by really quick. We didn't have time to see the story book houses or go through the pine tree maze. But we can save that for another visit by the cousins!
Ben and Gracie (photo courtesy of Carrie)
After the farm we went back to our house for some pizza, drinks and air conditioning!!! Richard had stayed home with Moses while we were at the farm so Mo could catch some zzzzs. Ben enjoyed checking out the deer that were grazing behind our house. Moses woke up as we were finishing our dinner. We then headed out in the heat and humidity to a little park and pond near us to get some photos. Carrie had graciously offered to take some photos of the kids, and us, since we've never ever attempted such a feat. The kids were a bit less than cooperative, but Carrie put up with us all very well! However, I think the mosquitoes enjoyed our adventure the most!
Another milestone for Moses on Saturday… I had been reading a picture book with him in the morning. It had a picture of a baby. I said, “baby.” And Moses repeated it! Frances and Grace heard it too and we all looked at MiMo. Richard didn't really believe me and I couldn't get Moses to do it again. But then when Mo saw Juliet he said, “Baby.” Ha! The first time he said it, he said it really low and creepy. Poor Juliet. But then he commenced saying it in a bit more normal and several times at that. At least this time everyone heard it! He’s been saying it ever since. His little voice is sooo cute.
As far as the girls. I’m still finding I have to say the weirdest things, “Don’t lick your brother’s eyeball!” And “Your brother is not a horse [or chair or carpet or…]” These girls are killing me, and their little brother. Haha. Also, I find they are picking up on Richard and my snarkiness towards them. We’ll often say, “Okay! Okay! Ree-ow (like a cat)” when they just keep picking and picking at us. Welps, now the girls do it to us! I try not to laugh. But man, it’s funny.
And Francie is full on potty trained! We started a week ago Saturday. She had 3 pee pee accidents the first day. A poopy accident on Sunday and a poopy accident on Monday. BUT she had no more accidents the rest of the week! I think she transitioned faster because she had been “practicing” more on the toilet thanks to Grace using the potty all the time. So yay for us!!!
Looking forward to the girls turning, get this - THREE years old - on Thursday!
What a busy week. We came back from New Berlin on Monday
(see previous post for our trip details). That was the same day Moses turned 11
months old! Wow, I can’t believe he’ll be a year old next month. Even crazier,
that his sisters will be 3 years old 10 days from now. Crazy!
On July 4th, we both had the day off from work
for the Independence Day holiday. It was also the day of Ajanja’s birthday
party – he turned 1 year old on the 3rd. Really, time is flying by. Last year
Tiana was a new mom and I was large and in charge with Moses still cooking away
in my belly. I still can’t believe it… it feels like it was yesterday.
In the morning the girls helped me to make some allergy-free
cupcakes and frosting. I figured I should bring something for them in case they
got sad that they couldn’t partake in the cake eating. We made the trek down to
DC after Moses woke up from his nap.
We arrived a bit sooner than most guests. That worked out
fine for us because the kids were able to settle in a bit before being thrust
into a throng of people. There were lots of kids for them to play with. And
they had a lot of fun in Uncle Freddy’s kiddie pool. Moses LOVED the water.
Ajanja wasn’t enjoying it at first, but eventually warmed up. Oh we had fun
seeing some faces that we hadn’t seen since last year around this time. And
some more familiar faces. And everyone in between. We even met another couple
with twins about a year younger than the girls.
I didn’t get a lot of pictures because I was too busy with
the kiddos but I snapped a few.
Ajanja, Grace, Francie, Moses enjoying the pool
We met another set of twins (a year younger than our girls - fraternal boy/girl twins)
The birthday boy and his cake!
Moses enjoyed the other kids, not so much the adults.
On Friday I worked late. The nanny called to tell me Frances
woke up from her nap, complained that her belly hurt and began puking. Oh man. When
I got home they were eating dinner. Francie looked rather paled. Richard told me he had tried
to give her hotdog but she refused. I told him it was better to stick with
something blander anyway, and I gave her applesauce and jello instead. She kept it
down. I began my mommy detective search for the culprit in her misery. I didn’t
know if it was a viral thing, an allergy thing, or what? Well I remembered the
nanny told me they had hotdog for lunch. So I asked Richard where the package
was, pulled it out of the trash, and saw one of the main ingredients: soy
protein. Doh. Richard had bought them thinking they were "turkey" hotdog, nothing else. He felt horrible. Soy really is in everything. Just reaffirmed that we have to read every package. Anyway, that’s
why I buy a lot of organic, because they use less chemicals, antibiotics and
fillers. It may be more expensive, but the alternative is illness. So yea, she
still hasn’t outgrown that soy allergy yet! Poor Francie and poor daddy. She
felt better later, and by Saturday, was back to normal.
Saturday, inspired by Uncle Freddy’s kiddie pool, Richard
decided we’d upgrade from our plastic Dora pool to something a bit bigger. The
kids all enjoyed this new addition!
The girls enjoying their new pool, with daddy.
Moses is a water baby, for sure!
We invited Senora Esther, her granddaughter Claudia, Aunt
Signe and Ms. Sharon over for BBQ on Saturday afternoon. The girls had fun
running around with Claudia. Moses tried to fend off all the extra love from the
3 girls… he failed.
Playing with Claudia.
Saturday also marked Francie’s first full day sans diaper. I
had told her all week that she was going to wear big girl underpants all day
starting on the weekend. She, like Grace, had been going since February, sans
diaper at night. With only a rare accident (unfortunately one of those was the
night before we left grandma’s – sorry grandma!). She refused to go without
diaper during the day. She was going super long stretches without peeing in her
diaper though. So I knew she was ready. We just have to get her over the mental
hurdle. She had 3 pee pee accidents on Saturday. No pee pee accidents
yesterday, but 1 poopy accident. I know she’ll get it, Grace did. It took Grace
a week with accidents off and on and then an extra week for mommy to feel 100%
confident. And now I don’t even have to remind Grace, she just goes when she
needs to. It’s so liberating. So once Francie gets it (hopefully soon), we’ll
be better off – and financially, we’ll save a lot on diapers! Wish us luck!
And we discovered this morning that Moses has two new teeth on the top. So 6 teeth total so far. Much less than his sisters had at this age. Slow and steady wins the race though, right?
Frances, Isaak, Savannah, Grace and Moses (l to r)
Well in looking at our vacation days for the rest of the year we realized we had a few days to use. Given my co-workers’ vacation schedules I was looking at a limited time frame with which to use those days, so we made a last minute plan for a quick vacay up in New Berlin.
I was stressing about the travelling, especially with 3 kids under 3 years old. And after discovering on our last trip north that the twins suffer from motion sickness – our stuck-in-car distractions were limited (even with the aid of Dramamine). We planned on leaving at 4 a.m. on Thursday so that the kids would sleep a good 3 hours of the trip. BUT we both thought the other had set our alarm and alas, we hadn’t, so we didn’t leave until 6:30 a.m. when the kids were wide awake. Fortunately though, the kids actually traveled really well. We made 3 stops so the girls could use the potty and so all the kids could eat. The girls started whining the last 20 minutes of our trip. It took us 7 ½ hours to get to grandma and grandpa’s house. So only 20 minutes of whining was quite a victory.
Oh we had so much fun in New Berlin.
We played in the sprinkler, a lot...
Grace in pink and Francie in zebra print
Moses trying to drink the water
We helped grandma plant some flowers...
Francie in pink and Gracie in white water the plants
We ran on Ms. Pardee’s old yard...
Frances in blue and Grace in pink - so much space to run!
We played with bubbles and chalk. We played with my old Barbies. And we played on the porch with Uncle Tommy’s old Matchbox cars.
In fact, we spent A LOT of time outside.
Outside at grandma & grandpa's house
It rained the whole time we were there, so it amazing that we did spend so much time outside. We went by NAPA twice to look at the swollen Unadilla River. There was a lot of flooding in the area with the constant rain. Grandma and I kept a death grip on the girls as they wanted to get as close to the edge of the water as possible. It was raging!
We spent a lot of time with Uncle Tommy, Aunt Amber, and Isaak and Savannah. We even met their dog, Rollie, he was very sweet with the girls. And I was able to see Tom and Amber’s new kitchen. Wow, what a difference! They even found a letter in the wall that was written by one of my grade school acquaintances when he lived there. Makes me think about the little time capsules Tom, Alex and I used to put together and bury in the yard. Maybe someone will find them one day (if only we had Mr. Hine’s metal detector on hand!).
Isaak, Aunt Amber, Moses, Uncle Tommy and Savannah
Grandpa got the fire pit going one day and the girls had their first s’mores (sans chocolate thanks to the soy allergy).
Gracie at all of hers, "I like!"
Francie didn't like hers, but had fun making it.
We also made a trek up to the town park to play. Unlike our local parks, crawling with a sea of kids, we had the whole place to ourselves. The climbed on everything and jumped off the swings. Grandma Chris (Aloi) even stopped by to say hello.
Gracie, Grandma and Francie (l to r)
Moses enjoyed his time in New Berlin as well. He liked the wagon grandma filled with water. And he liked the sprinkler too – he spent a lot of time trying to drink the water. Savannah loved “baby” a lot. She even played pat-a-cake with MiMo.
Savannah plays pat-a-cake with MiMo
Grandma and MiMo
Aunt Karol, Eddie and Shannon came by on Sunday. All the girls were interested in Aunt Shannon’s pregnant belly. And wondering when the baby was gonna come out (October, btw!). Grandpa did a nice BBQ for everyone. The bigger kids played in the rain. It was fun to see the kids interacting more. Soon Moses will be more and more in the mix too.
Aunt Karol, Gracie and Uncle Tommy
The only issue we had with Moses (besides stranger-danger) was that his schedule changed. All of a sudden he was waking up at 5:30 a.m. every day. Since we’ve been home he’s back to his 7 a.m. schedule (whew!). We think the pack-n-play was too hard for him. Ah well.
Mo and his daddy
Our ride back wasn’t too bad either. We left at 6:30 a.m. – again. Frances was whining/crying from the get go. She didn’t want to go home. We stopped after one hour driving. With her crying, the car ride felt like FOREVER, but we actually made it home in 6 ½ hours - quicker than the drive up.
The girls miss grandma and grandpa, their cousins, and having a nice big yard to play in. We hope to head back up to NB in November for my friend Becky’s wedding. Moses will most likely be well into walking by then. Crazy how time flies and these kiddos change!
Father's Day weekend we went to visit Uncle Paul, Aunt Eveck and Babu at their apartment. Richard hadn't met his little nephew, Zekiah, yet and of course the kids hadn't met him either, so it was a long overdue trip. Richard had flashbacks to when the girls were little. And of course the girls thought Zekiah was just the cutest little thing. Moses on the other hand just wanted to claw at his eyes. Not maliciously, he just doesn't know any better. He likes playing with the open-close'm eyes on the girls' baby dolls and since Zekiah looked a lot like a baby doll, Moses was just trying to play with him.
Ogwang and Zekiah
Both girls went potty at Babu's house. Frances likes going on the potty when Grace gets attention for it. So hopefully she'll do it more and more! Needless to say, the visit ended and the girls didn't really want to go home and keep asking when we'll go back to Babu's house.
Three generations! Babu, daddy, Uncle Paul Grace, Frances, Moses and Zekiah
We didn't do much else the rest of the weekend. Oh and Richard and I were able to sleep in till 8 a.m. on Sunday! Wow! Hahaha. Seriously Moses always wakes up at 7 a.m. on the dot, but because he went to bed a little late the night before he woke up a little bit later.
The week went by fairly status quo. The girls had a dentist appointment on Friday and did great! No cavities and apparently we're doing a better job at keeping their teeth clean since they didn't have to scrape this time around. They like the suction tube that you spit in. And the treasure chest they get a toy from. And of course, Dr. Judd and all the other people in the office! They told me this weekend they have to go to the dentist again. Funny girls.
This weekend we made our weekly trek to the farm. The girls now insist on a pony ride every time - they're hooked! And doing much better. The first time, over Memorial Day, they enjoyed it, but were so serious because they were concentrating so hard. Now they are more relaxed: smiling, looking around, and waving. Here are some short videos, Grace is the first one and Frances is the second one.
Uncle Paul, Aunt Eveck, baby Zekiah, Uncle Raw-knee and Aunt Angie came to visit on Saturday. Moses was much better at not trying to claw out his cousin's eyes this time. He sat on his haunches and looked at him for awhile. It was cute. And you wouldn't believe how Zekiah has fluffed out his cheeks in just one week! He'll be chunking up in no time! Richard BBQ'd and we all ate really good! Aunt Eveck graciously offered to do the girls' hair (which will save me some time/headache when we're up north). Oh we had fun.
Daddy and baby, how sweet!
Proud Uncle Raw-knee and Zekiah!
Sunday was rainy. In the morning I took the girls to run some errands. We made a swing by Once Upon A Child (a second hand store for kids stuff). Grace walks in and says, "ooooo mommy, mucho stinky!" It had that used goods store smell (like clothes you pull out of the attic). I just laughed and was glad no one heard her! I had been there before looking for a more gender neutral stroller for Moses but didn't find one I liked. So we made the trek again, and I scored a nice Jeep stroller (no, not the recalled one!). The girls had fun playing with the toys while I browsed around – gosh, I guess I'm one of "those" parents that just lets their kids run around while I do something else. Really, they weren't destroying anything and it was a small store, so I knew I wasn't going to lose them – but I still kept them within eye and ear shot.
Later in the day we made a quick trip to Bass Pro Shops. Grace had to use the restroom but she and Francie are deathly afraid of the "loud flush!" I had to drag them into the bathroom. It probably looked insane. But Grace went and we survived. As I was washing their hands a lady came up and asked if they were twins. This same lady saw me trying to drag them into the bathroom. I said they were. She told me her daughter is having twins in September and asked if having twins was hard… I'm guessing what she witnessed earlier gave her pause. Hahaha. I told her it definitely is harder but there are some pluses too. Oh I wish her daughter luck! Haha. The girls spent the rest of our visit at the store hanging out by the big fish tank. And screaming in fear with the other kids every time the huge one-eyed catfish floated by. Frances kept saying he was gonna eat her beads (hair beads) and when she'd turn in fear she'd say "On no! He's gonna eat my butt too!" She knew it was a lose-lose situation here. Haha.
We dropped Moses and daddy back home so MiMo could take his nap. And the girls and I went to Toys R Us to get some window shades for the van. The girls had fun playing and looking at all the toys. So far (cross fingers) that don't give me much trouble at the stores regarding toys. I just tell them we have to leave the toys with their friends/family so they don't get sad and they just comply. I don't know how long that trick will last though?
So the girls will be 3 in less than a month. Friends had told me that if I thought the "terrible 2s" were bad, just wait for 3. I'm believing it. The closer we get to 3 the crazier the tantrums are getting. It's quite insane. I'm sure we overreact and exacerbate some of them. BUT this is one of the issues with twins (maybe just identical, not sure). One will have a tantrum in the morning, then the other will have one in the afternoon. And vice versa the next day. So it really feels like you are not getting a break – like it's just one LONG tantrum. So our tempers our shorter as a result (hey, we're not perfect). This is part of the reason why Moses' first year seems so much easier than the girls' first year – besides the fact that yes, he's only ONE baby. But the typical things that are stressful about babies: colic, teething, etc. have been easier with him. When he has a good day, it's a good day. With the girls it was like tag team screaming. On the plus side, the girls have a constant playmate which is a good distraction when I'm playing with Moses or trying to get some chores done. And if I'm helping someone in the bathroom I can tell the other one to keep Moses occupied and they always help out. However, having young twins is trying… so when I encounter the naïve stranger who says, "Oh! I wish I had twins." I just smile, nod and secretly wonder when they're going to get a psych eval. Hehehe. It's when I meet other parents of twins that I get, "Oh you have twins too…" and a sympathetic smile and a gentle comforting hand on my shoulder. And the ones with older twins always say, "It gets easier, I promise!" – without prompting, I might add.
So the latest Wacha Saying?:
I've been trying to teach the girls their full names as well as Richard's and mine.
Mommy: "What's your name?"
Grace: "Grace… umm"
Mommy: "Apio…"
Grace: "Apio WACHA!"
Mommy: "Okay, what's mommy's name?"
Grace: "Ummmm… Mommy Wacha!"
I gotta give her props for using logic there.
My friend April stopped by for a quick hello.
Frances and Grace run out to the kitchen with their fists up.
Frances & Grace to April: "You want a knuckle sandwich?"
We all get a good chuckle (daddy was the guilty coach).
Frances: "Mommy, what's in a knuckle sandwich?"
April and mommy: "Knuckles!"
Knuckle sandwich!
Obsessed with poop as of late – we see a lot of it at the farm.
Frances: "Mommy, look, the horsey pooped little balls out his butt."
And so began an intensely serious 5 minute lesson from twins on how everything poops.
"Donkey poops from butt, pig poops from butt, MiMo poops from butt, mommy poops from butt, daddy poops from butt, cow poops from butt, Nana poops from butt, Grace poops from butt, Francie poops from butt…" and so on and so forth.
And this is a common word now between both girls: "Mawww-dee" – I'm spelling it phonetically. It's really a combination of "Mommy" and "Daddy." And it's said A LOT. I think it's especially funny because Maudie (nickname for Maude) was my maternal grandmother's name, so I think of her every time they say it.
It’s been a busy week! Last Friday we all trekked to Uncle Freddy and Great’s house to see my cousin, Frankie, before he left to head back home. It was also our first time meeting our baby cousin, Juliet. The girls loved meeting baby Juliet. And I enjoyed snuggling with her myself (taking in that newborn smell!). Moses was a little jealous when Richard held her OR maybe he was just upset he couldn’t climb up and poke her in the eyes like he does to his sisters’ baby dolls. Haha. Moses has definite stranger danger, but I must say, not anywhere near as bad as the girls used to. He was content playing on the floor with his sisters, and cousins Ben and Ajanja. And my how Ajanja has changed since April. He looks like so much older now… and everyone thought Moses had changed a lot too. This year is just going by way too fast!
Aunt Carrie and baby Juliet (2 months old)
Moses, Grace, Frances, Ajanja, and Ben
Frances, Grace, Uncle Frankie, Aunt Carrie and Ben, enjoying pizza!
On Sunday, I took the girls to the farm. And later, the whole fam went to the park. A nice full day of fun and exercise outside.
Moses, daddy, Francie and Gracie enjoying the park
My big boys!
Grace is doing so great with her potty training. She has had NO accidents so far this week. So it looks like we’re good to go. And on the plus side: Frances, who had been our initial potty tamer and reverted back to diapers, is back on the potty again. She went twice yesterday and again this morning. I haven’t pressured her. Just letting her take her time. Trying not to make her feel bad that Grace has mastered it – therefore, I’m not trying to “over”-shower Grace with praise, and being extra supportive to Francie. I just hope she’ll be mastering it soon like Grace has. Oh to save on diapers!!!
Moses is doing great. Cruising like a champ. He says “qak qak” for duck; he roars like a lion (even doing a clawing motion); he says “ribi” for frog; he says “oo oo” for monkey; and still does his elephant impression. He calls for “mama” all the time – I feel so special! He loves playing peek-a-boo in the girls’ Dora tunnel. And he loves wheels, all wheels – the kid can’t get enough of them. He just melts my heart, he’s so sweet.
Last Saturday, Moses turned 10 months old. Wow, time flies. On Friday night, since we were still dealing with stifling heat in the house, we decided to trek out to the mall – to enjoy a little AC. We got Moses his first shoes as an early b-day present. Size 6! What a fat foot!
Saturday was sooo freakin’ hot. So while we were suffering in the heat, we noticed the half bath toilet was leaking. We figured it was the wax ring (given all the heat, especially on the main floor, it seemed the most likely culprit). Being broke we decided to tackle the problem ourselves – which is much harder when you have 3 kiddos under foot and yucky toilet water everywhere. And it’s 90+ degrees in a teeny tiny little bathroom that one person can barely turn around in. We moved the floor fan to just outside the bathroom to help cool us down. Of course the girls wanted to watch. We noticed it was getting hotter… probably took me 30 minutes to realize the girls had turned the fan off! I asked why they did that and they said “Too loud, mommy.” Darn kids! Anywho we got it all “fixed” and I did all my disinfecting of the floor and surrounding surfaces.
Later in afternoon/evening we swung over to our friends’ house – they graciously offered to host us in their AC. We had a nice visit. The girls had a lot of fun. In fact all week they’ve been asking to go back to Colton’s house.
When we got back from our play date, I decided to check on the toilet and low and behold… more water. Darn rookie plumbers that we are! We took the water out of the toilet to prevent further leaking and tasked ourselves with fixing it after all the kids went to bed. The second time around went much smoother and quicker. And so far no leaks. But we didn’t get to bed until 1 a.m.-ish in the morning. Ah wells.
Sunday wasn’t as hot. Only in the 80s. I took the girls to the store to get a sprinkler. They had a lot of fun playing in it, and watching worms try to swim to safety in the little river we created on the sidewalk.
As far as the AC is concerned. Monday came with no word. So Richard called in the morning. They told him the part would come in on Tuesday (hmm, Thursday, they said Friday, then Saturday, then Monday). Then they called back later and said they would fix it on Wednesday? I was pissed at this point. I left a nastygram on their Facebook page. It wasn’t long after that, that they scheduled the fix back to Tuesday afternoon. Just in time for the temperatures to drop anyway. Doh. So a new tech came on Tuesday and fixed it within 2 hours. We only had to pay $131 total (the part the other guy broke was valued at $1200). So the new tech said we “lucked out” in that we basically had a brand new indoor unit for “free.” Hmmm, not without a fight, headaches, and my kids sweltering in heat for several days…
Just glad it’s finally fixed for when summer really kicks in to overdrive.
In the meantime. Moses finally has his top two teeth! He’s cruising on the furniture and pulling up on everything. He’s walking stronger now, but still has jelly-legs every once and a while. He gets frustrated when he wants something and can’t have it. He likes playing with both of his sisters. He laughs and smiles at them more than anybody else! He wants to be where they are all the time.
We haven’t really been pushing potty training. The girls decided on their own several months ago to go sans diaper during the night. We rarely have accidents. But during the day was different – always diapers. Occasionally they’d just randomly pick a day to go pee-pee on toilet. But nothing steady. Well Saturday, Grace decided she wanted underpants and hasn't worn diapers since. That doesn't mean we haven’t had accidents! Poopy and pee-pee. But she’s getting better. Wednesday evening we were at the park and she went in a public restroom – big girl! She only had one accident yesterday, so here’s crossing fingers she masters it soon. I’m hoping Frances will follow suit quickly once she sees Grace doing it all the time.
Well, we had a busy and fun weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Parry came to visit for the long weekend. We spent a lot of time at the petting farm. Much to the delight of the girls. They even had their first pony rides! And even though the pictures show some serious faces, they really did love being on the ponies. The weather was actually rather chilly. Fortunate, since our AC is on the fritz. Moses fared well with his grandparents. Much better than the girls used to at his age.
Grandma and Mo - looking like a such a "big" boy
Whenever grandma and grandpa come, it always seems time goes by too quickly. The girls were sad to see them go on Monday morning. To lift the girls' spirits I took them to the store to get a couple kid-sized rakes and trowels. We bought some begonias and the girls helped me plant a couple hanging baskets. Oh they loved it - especially the dirt ;-)
Frances and Grace "Green Thumbs" Wacha
Our continuing issue right now is waiting for the AC to get fixed. Our stroke of luck with the cool weather ran out. It wouldn't be so horrible if the kids weren't stuck in the house sans AC all day, but they are. We brought the fan down from the attic and it helps a bit. And we have the ceiling fans on high in the bedrooms. We're really annoyed at BGEHome. We've had a service contract with them since 2007 - we pay monthly. This is the first time an issue has come up with our unit, usually we just have our run-of-the-mill inspection and all is good. They said $131 for a replacement part and that it was an "easy" fix. Well, the rookie tech they sent over last Friday, spent 5 hours on it only to realize he couldn't do what he needed to do and had further damaged our unit (set off fire alarms in the process!). He said, the new part he had to replace would be "on the company" since it was his fault... and hopefully they'd have it fixed by Tuesday or Wednesday. Well, Wednesday came with no word, so Richard called. They said they had ordered the wrong part and had to stop by to get the serial number again - a 2 minute job. It was 90 degrees on Wednesday. We notified the nanny, kept calling back for status updates, and no one came. Finally, late in the evening, the tech calls and says he'll have to come first thing in the morning on Thursday - yes, for a 2 minute job, while my kids are continuing to suffer. So he comes Thursday morning, gets the number, and places the order. Later in the morning Richard gets a call from BGEHome saying the part will be in on Friday and it will be $1,000!!! Richard asked why they were quoting him the cost since the tech said THEY would cover it. The customer rep gave him the run around so he asked for a manager to contact him. So the manager calls, hemming and hawing about how our unit is "old" and hard to find parts for, and copper is expensive. Well, Richard says, "Not my problem, your tech broke it." I pointed out to Richard that BGEHome installed the unit brand new in 2005, so it's not even 10 years old yet. What a racket. Plus, they broke that extra part! So long story, a bit shorter, they agreed to only charge us our original quote of $131. But not before trying to convince Richard to shell out $6000 for a new unit. I have to force myself to find time to register a formal complaint to the company, the state agency that oversees them, and the Better Business Bureau. In the meantime, they had said they would fix it on Friday and now they say Saturday, but more likely, Monday. What? Sounds like they are trying to "teach us a lesson"?? About what? How douchey they are? Believe me, lesson learned, at least on my end. Anywho, can you tell I'm annoyed?
Anyway the kids are sweating it out yet again, as well as the nanny. And with temps in the 90s through the weekend... yay! Extra cranky kiddos. Trying to convince Richard to clean up the basement so the kids can play down there where it's much cooler. We shall see.
I took Francie to the dermatologist today (Grace tagged along). She has had a bump on the middle of her eyelid for about 5 weeks now. Apparently it's molluscum contagiosum. Kind of like a wart but not as big. It's a virus. She had one before on her foot. The doctor said kids with eczema are more susceptible to these skin viruses since their skin immunity is lower. So she gave us some retinoid cream to put on twice a day to help "wake up" Francie's immune system to fight the virus. Ah well. Hopefully it will go away with-in the month. It is contagious though so I have to keep an eye out for other bumps on her or her siblings. But no worries. It will pass.
On the way back from the doctor this morning. Wearing dresses that grandma bought them. (Frances on left, Grace on right)
On the Moses front, his top two front teeth are finally coming in! He's pulling up like a champ and starting to cruise. He seems more agile in general than his sisters were. I have heard him say "ribbit" for frog a few times (no one believes me!). But that's about all that's new on the speech front. He understands "No" and can shake his head no. He loves clapping. And he really loves chasing after and playing with his sisters.
