To Be Continued...

Sorry for the break in the blogging. Sickness has taken over the house. It started with Maddie, then spread to me and has continued on its path of destruction to Ruthie now. Needless to say, there is nothing cute or exciting to blog about in the realm of snotty noses, coughs and ridiculously cranky kids....and a cranky Mom. To be continued on a day when I can once again breathe through my nose and not have to wash crusted snot off of my children's faces.

Just Laying Around

Ruthie is such a random child. Recently, her new thing is to stop in the middle of whatever she is doing, and lay down on the floor. No particular reason for it. She does it in the most random places, like the airport on our way to and from NY. Both trips she just stopped in the middle of the terminal and laid on the floor. So strange, and gross.

I like the last picture because it is difficult to pick her out since her pajamas blend in with the carpet. I guess it is just exhausting being 17 months old. There are several times in my day I just want to lay down on the floor! Sweet, sweet Ruthie.

Hydration, Hydration, Hydration

Seriously. How is Fisher Price in business? Maddie's new obsession? Water bottles. She would love to play those over any of her store bought toys. I dump out some of the water and then they make noise, which is even more fun. What could be more fun than this?


Putting them in a bowl! Will the fun ever end?


Oh, wait! Three water bottles! That is even better. Thanks to Ruthie for helping her sister.

The Ever Entertaining, Lily!

Any of you that follow my sister, Katie's, blog know that my niece is an interesting little girl. Besides being completely and utterly obsessed with the Disney Princess's, she loves to entertain her cousins. And who wouldnt be entertained by her? She has an energy level that could outlast the Energizer Bunny.

I took this video of Lily when she came with me to wake the girls up from their nap. I love their giggling!

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She Makes a Good Point...

The past couple of days Ruthie has been talking up a storm.....to herself. I hear her all over the house, by herself, talking and talking and talking.

I have no idea what Ruthie is so insistent about in this video, but she is very concerned about something. I have tons of video of her saying the exact same phrases, and the only thing I can pick up from the whole thing is she is very determined to get her point across.

Math

A four year old + a 20 month old + two 16 month olds =

A Mess!

Single White Female Who Loves Dogs

My family has always been a dog family. I grew up with three, 90 lbs golden retrievers who lived in the house. We have two boxers who live in the house. So, needless to say, the girls like dogs. If you couldnt tell by the fact that every dog that Maddie sees she yells, "Dog-ga!".

She has started doing this really cute things where she "loves" on the boxers. She walks up to the dogs and hugs them and puts her head on them. It is so cute. So, when we got to NY, she began to "love" on the golden retrievers. Now, our boxers are fairly large animals, but nothing compared to the goldens. So, I think Maddie is confused about if they are dogs or ride-on toys.



Luckily, Casey let her sit on him since she has fed him from her tray all week. Kelsey, on the other hand, I think was a victim of a wrestling move she was trying out.

I'm shocked her let her sit on his neck like that, but he did. I wonder what she is going to try to do when we get home with our dogs?

Speaking of Silly Monkey's....

So, tomorrow I will go on the adventure of a lifetime; flying alone with twin toddlers. Southwest had a deal I couldnt pass up, so off to NY we go. I have traveled enough with the two of them to know how it needs to go, and also how they get in airports. They really are good travelers, but they are also toddlers. They like to explore, and unfortunately airports are not toddler-exploring-friendly. I was hoping to be able to keep them in their stroller most of the time we are not on the plane, but I knew that was not going to be very realistic. So, I resorted to something that I swore I would never do. In my own defense, I swore I would never do this when I thought I would be producing the standard one child and not twins.

I bought these.
Yes, that is a monkey-back-pack-harness. A what? OK, fine, it is a baby leash. Back off.

I picked up two of them at Target, and figured I would bring them with me tomorrow in case the girls need to get out and walk around. If there is one thing I have learned about traveling with children it is that you never try something "new" out in public before you have tried it at home. So, I figured I would take the monkey's out and let them wear them. I figured that the screeching would ensue soon after and my wonderful plan would be shot, and I would be returning the monkey's to Target.

Ruthie was my first innocent victim. I put the monkey on her and Maddie became obsessed with following her around trying to get the monkey. So, I got the other monkey and put it on Maddie. I then waited. Surely the screams would be coming. Any minute.....any minute.....but there was no screaming. In fact, they went on with their night like nothing was different. Success! So, I went to take off the monkey's. Screaming. Complete and utter melt down by my two children. They were literally throwing their bodies against the island trying to reach the monkey's to put them back on. So, I put them back on.....and the screaming stopped. The girls wore the monkey's around the house for almost an hour before I was able to pry them off of their backs.

Before any one asks, the reason the girls dont have their shirts on is because they had lasagna for dinner and they were a complete mess. I thought that the monkey idea would flop and they would head straight up for their bath. I was wrong.

We'll see how much they like them when I attach the leash part of it to the monkey's!

Sleeping Like A Baby

If there is one thing that these ladies have inherited from their mother, it is their love of their beds! These girls love to sleep! I am so lucky that I have two really good sleepers. Currently they go to bed at 7:30-8:00 PM and wake up at around 9:30 AM. They are usually up for about 2 hours before they have to go back down for another 2 hour nap. Then they are normally up for about 3-4 hours before they need a quick 45 minute nap in the afternoon. About two and half hours later, they are in bed for the night. I'm not going to lie.....it is wonderful. Some one asked me how I have time to blog. Once I explained how the girls slept, it all came together for her!



Not only do they like to sleep, but they love their beds. They never cry when I put them in there. They are usually trying to climb into the crib as soon as we get them in their room. Once they get in their cribs, I dont hear boo from them.



Even though I love them sleeping, one of my favorite things to do in my day is go and get them after they have woken up. There is the rare occasion that one has woken up and the other is asleep. Those are my precious moments that I walk in and see this....

I could stand there and watch them sleep forever!

Then, there are the other times I walk into the room, and they are both awake. I usually get greeted by this.

Silly, little monkey's jumping on the bed.

Sharing

Ahhhhhh......sharing. Even better is teaching toddlers to share. One of the challenges that I face (as a parent of twins that other first time parents dont have to deal with) is this constant interaction between the two. So, despite the fact we buy 2 of everything and we divide everything equally, it just isnt enough.

Teaching these two to share has some wonderful moments, like when they actually do it. They hand an object to the other one, look at me and then start clapping. They know it is good to share, but they choose when they want to do it.

Ruthie is no saint with the sharing, but Maddie is the worst. No questions about it. Besides the screaming that is usually accompanied by the attempts at sharing (see previous pterodactyl post), she is just mean. Like, bully on the playground kind of mean.

So many times during the day I see sweet, sweet Ruthie trying to interact with Maddie. Little Miss Maddie wants nothing to do with it, unless it fits her agenda. I have no idea where she got that from. It must be Mark's side of the DNA, because that sounds nothing like me (end of sarcastic tone).

For your viewing pleasure, I have captured little Miss Madilyn Jane in her normal action. I didnt have my camera rolling, so let me set up the scene for you. It was snack time. I got out the graduate fruit snacks, and divided them evenly. Ruthie ate a couple of hers, and then proceeded to put the rest of hers all on Maddie's tray for Maddie to enjoy. Here is Maddie's cruel attempt at sharing back.

I'm very concerned that no one is going to like her in high school.

Perspective Confirmed

Seriously. If you dont see the plotting in those faces to destroy me, I dont know what other proof I can offer.

Perspectives

It is all a matter of perspective.

You probably see two cute little girls making funny noises in the tub.

I see the beginning of communication to plan a plot to overthrow me.

Splish Splash in the Bath

Bath time with the girls has been really fun lately. They are really starting to interact more and more with each other, which I love. They are also becoming more and more creatures of habit. Their recent baths have followed the exact same pattern.

First, I put them in the tub, and Ruthie takes a few laps, froggie style, of course.



Then, they go to their corners and begin their own activities.

Maddie painstakingly lines up the duckies on the side of the tub, while Mark sings an obnoxious song about ducks quacking.

Ruthie proceeds to take all of the letters and number in the tub and stick them on the wall of the shower. (What would a bath post be without a cute bottom shot? I mean, really?)

Soon, the wall of the shower is not a good enough canvas for her to express her creativeness. So she moves on to using Maddie as a canvas.

Surprisingly, Maddie allows Ruthie to use her as a creative outlet. Ruthie sticks letters and numbers all over Maddie's front and then Maddie will even let her put them on her back, until she gets distracted.

Ever since she learned to say the word "dog", everything about the dogs is a distraction. Above, she heard the dogs barking and insisted on getting out of the tub, I am assuming to go find the dogs. In the process, ending what could have been a breathtaking work of art that Ruthie had begun on her back. The world will never get to see it, all because the dogs barked.

Swinging on a Sunday

It was another abnormally warm day for February, so off to the park we went. I thought the girls would enjoy climbing on the playground equipment, since the last time we were there they could only crawl. Both of them ran right over to the swings though.

And swing, Ruthie did!



She just giggled with excitement every time she was pushed higher.

Until....

it was time to leave. That didnt go so well.