Simply Sullivan

The Worship Song

2011-05-13T13:21:00.003-05:00

So, any one that is friends with me on facebook probably saw my post about "The Worship Song". Let me elaborate.

The girls go to this little Baptist preschool that is about half a mile from our house. Every Wednesday they have music class that is called Sign and Sing. You can probably figure out what they do in there. So, they have come home with all sorts of songs. Some are funny kid songs and others are church songs. Now, when I send my kids to Bible class at church, or children's worship on Sunday, I can figure out every single one of the songs they have been singing. Baptists sing a bunch of different songs than us Church of Christer's, so I am usually at a complete loss for what the song is. So, I kind of have to take them at their word about how the song goes. I knew right away there was a flaw in the "Worship Song". Below is the video of the girls singing the worship song to me. Notice the cult-like-determination in their eyes and hand motions. Following that is a video clip from their spring concert where they actually performed the real song.

*NOTICE* You will see that only Ruthie is in the worship song video. Maddie had some stomach problems that night and excused herself to the potty for the last song. Ruthie was completely lost the whole time before the song started asking where Maddie was and looking around. You will notice the preschool director standing behind her keeping her on the riser since she kept turning and calling for Maddie. But,you will get the gist of the song. Ruthie still shows the cult-like-determination in her hand motions though.

Because what is cuter than Pre-Schoolers singing?

2011-04-26T15:20:00.003-05:00

Yes, Yes, I know. It has been since Halloween. I will not make excuses, except to say, if you havent checked out Well Versed Gift products in your local Lifeway, please do!

So, life with three year old twins is anything but boring. The personalities and imaginations are in full swing. What could be more adorable then watching them in their spring pre-school concert? I have made a short video of them when they were actually doing what they were supposed to do and then a clip of them doing the complete opposite of what they are supposed to do. I posted part of this video on facebook, so you may have already seen some of it.

My next post, which will be coming shortly, not in like months but much sooner, will address the ever popular "Worship Song" video from a few months ago. It will also have the grand reveal of what the ACTUAL song sounds like. I know, the anticipation is killing you all.

Halloween!

2010-11-02T09:24:00.004-05:00

One of the good things about Halloween being on a Sunday is that you get to make the whole weekend about Halloween. So, you at least get a little bit of use out of those costumes. And boy did we get use out of out costumes!

In years past, Mark and I have been all kinds of creative with the girls costumes. They were Thing 1 and Thing 2 when they were 1 year old and they were sticks of Doublemint Gum last year. So, this year we had big plans again. That was until our 3 year olds formed opinions. I dont know where these things came from. So, I decided to just take them to the costume store and let them pick out their own costume. I was a little nervous since, when asked, they wanted to be everything from a pumpkin to Minnie Mouse to Elmo, never agreeing on any of them. I was expecting a pumpkin and a Minnie Mouse. So, imagine my surprise when we ended up with these.

That's right! Two Dora the Explorers! When given the choice of whatever they wanted to be, they wanted to BOTH be Dora. From that point on, whenever they were dressed in costume, you had to refer to them as "Dora Maddie" and "Dora Ruthie". And no matter how messed up the wigs got, they refused to let me take off their "Dora Hair".

Friday started out the festivities with their Halloween party and parade at school.

A Halloween parade at preschool is mass chaos. Probably caused more by the parents trying to get pictures than of the hoards of children marching around in costume. It was virtually impossible to get any good pictures at the "parade". To make it even worse, Ruthie kept messing with the dragon in front of her. She was fascinated with his spiky back and tail.

On Saturday Mark took the girls trick or treating in Fairview and then on Sunday we had a full day again. We let the girls knock on the doors around our cul-de-sac, then we headed to Trunk or Treat at church.

After Trunk or Treat, the girls were able to participate in a neighborhood tradition on Halloween. One of our neighbors, Frank, hooks up a trailer to a 4-wheeler and pulls kids around the neighborhood. If you saw the mountain of a hill we live on, you would easily understand how this tradition began and why it has continued. This is what it looks like from a distance.

This is what it actually looks like with a flash!

The girls LOVED the "Halloween Ride" and went on it two times around the neighborhood before we had to make them go back into the house.

The girls had a great weekend, and Mommy has been able to eat lots of their candy, so everyone is happy!

Pumpkins!

2010-10-27T15:57:00.005-05:00

The girls were so excited about their pumpkins this year. Mark was in charge of the whole pumpkin thing, as he is every year. I have no creative bone in my body. Not to mention I am not so good with a knife. Although the girls were super excited about the pumpkins, they were less excited about helping once they saw how messy the whole process was. Mark was looking forward to them getting all ooey and gooey. Apparently he has never met our children. If so much as a spec of dirt gets on my kids there is instant crying followed by screaming of "Messy! Messy!", which can only be resolved by me scrubbing them down with soap and water. Once I gave them a spoon, then they were a little more into the process.

Unfortunately, they pull out the seeds one at a time with the spoon, and Mark's patience cant handle that.

So, needless to say, Mark cleaned the pumpkins also.

Maddie was very specific that she wanted circle eyes, triangle nose and a happy face. This is what she got.

Ruthie decided she wanted triangle eyes, triangle nose and a sad face, for some reason. I am sure there are years of therapy in the future as to why she wants her pumpkin to be sad.

Getting them to both look at me and smile still proves to be impossible.

Presents

2010-10-13T15:39:00.003-05:00

What does this look like to you?

Any normal person would say wadded up paper. I here to enlighten you. These are actually "presents" made by my children. Apparently wadding up paper into a ball makes it a present because you can open it. I will admit, most of the time there is something encased in the wadded paper; crayons, figurines, plastic food, etc. So, I have had to stop and look twice before just chucking wadded up paper into the trash can since there is usually something in there.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I received approximately 20 "presents" a day. I have come to the point that when they are not looking I just unwad the paper and give it to them to start over with. I own a stationery company for cryin' out loud. I am already personally responsible for an entire forest being killed and stored in my basement for re-sale. I can not handle the additional guilt of letting my children crumple up paper for pure entertainment with no ability to at least re-sell it!

3 Years Ago....Our Miracle Babies

2010-10-11T09:06:00.004-05:00

The doctors informed us that the girls tested negative for all 12 metabolic disorders. Never have I been so disappointed in my children not having a disease. We still had no answers, and the fact that probably whatever they had would be rare and untreatable was not a comforting thought. All of that testing would take place in outpatient office visits since we were just basically sitting around Vanderbilt taking up two rooms.

On Sunday morning, it wasnt even a question, we were going to church. Not that God and I hadnt been talking quite a bit this week, but I just needed some time out of the hospital with Him. On Wednesday, after we received the diagnosis, I snuck into the college praise and worship that night and then went back to the hospital. I didnt want to see any one, I just needed some time to sing and pray. Sunday morning we skipped Bible class and purposely came in about 5 minutes into worship in order to just sit in the back and avoid all the questions. Not that we didnt appreciate every one checking in on us and all of the help, but we just wanted a couple minutes of not having to think about the girls. Not to mention this was my first time back to church since having the babies. I thought my first time back I would be carrying two carriers, stopping in the nursery, showing the girls to everyone etc. Instead, I was sneaking in the back with Mark and my sister.

Of course people noticed us as soon as we walked in. We sat in the last row, pretty much in a daze. Then the song leader led a song that to this day I still can not sing without crying. Talk about God speaking to you. "O For A Faith That Will Not Shrink". I sang these verses through tears streaming down my face.

O for a faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by ev'ry foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe.

That will not murmur or complain
Beneath the chast'ning rod,
But in the hour of grief or pain,
Will lean upon its God.

A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt!

Lord, give us such a faith as this;
And then, whate'er may come,
We'll taste e'en here the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.

Never had a song had such an emotional impact on me as that did then and does now. I have forbid Mark from leading it at church since I turn into a blubbering mess and people give me funny looks.

On Sunday after church we were blessed to have 9 of our 10 elders come to visit us in the hospital. One was in Africa, so he was excused! :) All 9 of them came in to pray with us. They asked us what we needed to pray for and Mark said, "That they will just be healed. That all of this will just be taken away." I was completely taken off guard. Of all the things that I had been praying for, I had not once prayed that God take it away and heal them. I had prayed for help, for strength, for patience, for understanding, for everything else but to actually heal them. I thought I was doing so well depending on God through this whole ordeal. I truly had turned EVERYTHING over to him because I knew I couldnt handle it on my own. But, I just took what the doctors told me and accepted that it was the way things were going to be and prayed that God would help me through it. I had put God in a box of limitations. Limitations that I had placed on him, not that he actually had. He is the "Great Physician" and I had not even asked him to heal my children. Talk about an eye opening moment.

I truly believe what James 5:16 says that "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." We had 9 wonderful, righteous, God-fearing men praying for our girls. So, we brought Ruthie and Maddie into the same room and me, Mark, my sister and our elders stood around and we all placed our hands on the girls. As each one prayed, one by one, I can honestly say that I could feel the presence of God in that room. I can not explain it, all I can say is that I could feel the power and comfort of God in that room with us. If nothing else, I left there feeling uplifted by that brief moment in prayer to God and the eye opening experience of not limiting what I ask God for.

Katie was wanting to stay around to talk to the doctors one more time, but they didnt make their rounds before her flight. So, I headed to the hospital to send her back home. My mom was coming back down since the girls were getting discharged and I would need help again at home. I dropped off Katie and was driving back to the hospital when Mark called me. Ruthie's follow-up MRI came back. All of the irreversible brain damage shown on the previous MRI was completely gone. The words made no sense to me. I was minutes away from the hospital so I just told Mark to hold the doctor there and I would be there as soon as possible. I sprinted from the parking lot up to Ruthie's room where her doctor showed us these new MRI images.

There were no more white spots. It looked like a completely normal 2 week old baby's brain. The radiologist said he had never seen anything like it in his entire career of radiology. He said that he had sometimes seen these results over a period of years, but not a couple of days. The neurologists could not explain it. We didnt need any explanation, we knew. God had answered our prayers. Here are the medical notes from Ruthie's second MRI.

Technique: Multi-planar multi-sequence MR imaging of the brain was
performed both prior to and following 1 cc of Magnevist.

Comparison: 10/9/07

Findings:
There is no abnormal intracranial enhancement. There has been
interval improvement restricted diffusion which involved the
subcortical white matter on the prior study. Minimal residual
restricted diffusion is still identified in the subcortical white
matter of the posterior parietal lobes. There is no mass effect or
midline shift. The ventricles are normal in size and configuration.
There is no intracranial hemorrhage. Sagittal midline structures are
unremarkable.

The paranasal sinuses and mastoid air cells are clear. The orbits
are grossly normal.

Impression:
1. No abnormal intracranial enhancement. Minimal residual
restricted effusion remaining in the subcortical white matter of the
posterior parietal lobes.

Of course they immediately wanted to do a follow up on Maddie's MRI also, and below were the results.

White spots cleared up also. We were given the CD before they were able to record the medical notes on the Maddie's last MRI, so I dont have access to them from home on her last MRI.

I truly believe that God gave us a miracle. There is no medical explanation for what happened to our girls. We never received a diagnosis except for them concluding it must have been something viral . Our girls had gone from a diagnosis of being severely delayed to having MRI's that were completely normal. We were lined up with SEVERAL medical appointments every month for follow up that we went to. The most interesting were the neurology appointments. Of course before they came in the room they would review the MRI's. After their exam they would always have this confused look on their faces as to how children that presented with the original MRI were holding their heads up, rolling over, babbling, etc. They would always comment that these were not the children they expected to see while viewing the original MRI. I would just smile and tell them that God answered alot of prayers. We were eventually discharged from neurology and taken off anti-seizure meds at 6 months. They told us if the girls presented with any abnormal symptoms again to bring them back in, but at this point they didnt see a reason to keep treating normally developing children. We had the girls in weekly physical and occupational therapy for the first year. They tested out after their first birthday since they showed no signs of delay. By one year we had been discharged from all of their specialists except for heart and eyes.

If you have ever read my blog before, of course you know that we have had a happy ending. The girls have continued to develop on target, and maybe even a little ahead on some things. No one would even know anything about their medical history by looking at them. Ruthie's opthamologist said that her seizure activity is a possible reason for her eye muscle issues, but that is currently the only lingering side effect of our entire 10 day stay at Vanderbilt. When the girls start school we may run into some other delays with education. I will take an educational delay any day over the expectations the doctors told us to originally have.

Of course we have skeptics that dont believe that God healed our children after they hear our story. The number one objection is that the MRI machines must have been broken. Maybe. But, if you look at the dates on all 4 MRI images, they are on 4 different days at 4 different times over the course of a week. That means that Vanderbilt Children's hospital was performing MRI's for almost a week on broken machines, which wasnt the reality of it. Other people think that there must not have really been anything wrong with them and they just got better. To my knowledge, they do not keep a child on a respirator for 3 days with nothing wrong with her. And, maybe they just did get better. But there wasnt a single doctor on any of their teams that had seen a brain injury like theirs disappear the way it did. To me it is so obvious that God healed my children. He answered our prayers, the prayers of our family and friends. There is no other way for me to thank him for that expect to give him all the glory and to tell any one that wants to listen of the great things he has done in our lives.

Our girls are obviously too young to understand the whole situation, but as they get older Mark and I plan to have this story drilled into their heads. They are going to know that God took care of them in a time that even Mommy and Daddy couldnt, and that they better live their lives giving glory to one that gave them the healthy life they are living.

This whole story turned into a lot longer of a blog post then I thought, but as I kept going back through emails and medical records, more and more kept coming back to me. I hope that for those that didnt know their story are maybe a little more enlightened as to where we are coming from. I hope it is a little bit of encouragement about God's amazing power and the power of prayer. It is a good reminder for me that God is active in our lives, even when bad things are happening and nothing makes sense. He will make sense of it, in his time.

3 years ago...Waiting

2010-10-07T16:26:00.005-05:00

I didnt take any pictures when the girls were in the hospital. I remember thinking, "Who in the world would want to remember this?" I wish that I had now. Luckily, a much wiser woman, knew I would want pictures later and took a couple and saved them for me. Thank you, Barbara Fox! So we only have a couple, but I look exhausted in them!

Things actually slowed down quite a bit after we received the girls MRI results. It was a lot of waiting while they were running tests. We also had to do a personnel swap in my family. I love my mother. She is probably my best friend. She was a HUGE help with the girls after they were born, taking the night shifts with me. But, my mother does not do well with hospital situations. I called my sister and informed her that she had to come and get mom because she had boarded the "crazy train" and wasnt coming back any time soon. She had stopped eating and was freaking me out more than she was helping me. I thought that a couple days at home in Albany with my niece, Lily, who is her favorite grandchild anyways, would do her some good. Not to mention getting some sleep in her own bed, all night. So, my dad came and picked up my mother and my sister took her place.

Looking back now, I have a different appreciation for Katie coming down. At the time I just thought, "well of course she will come down". Thinking back on it now she left a 3 month old, breast feeding child at home to be down here. She left a VERY attached almost 3 year old at home. And, my wonderful brother-in-law (this is one of the few times you will see me refer to Brian in these terms, so take it all in Brian!) who allowed her to leave her two children with him. Now that some time has passed she does blame the trip for Jamison stopping breast feeding so early, but whatever. Katie and I were basically our own PICU dairy with both of us pumping at least every 3 hours. They actually gave us our own little fridge to store the milk in. Katie flew back home to Albany the following week with a cooler of breast milk. I took home 90 ozs from our entire stay at Vanderbilt. When Katie got home she realized that she had accidentally taken a bag of my frozen milk. She was still slightly convinced/paranoid my milk was poisonous (see next paragraph) so she threw it out. (A gasp is heard around the world from any mom that has pumped at the fact someone threw out 6 ozs of liquid gold!)

Soon after the MRI results we met with a genetics team (another team added). They informed us that they thought it was a genetic disorder that the girls had. There was something that their body was not able to metabolize and as a result there were these "infarctions" in their brain. Well, the only thing the girls had coming into their bodies was breastmilk, so I went through a brief freak out moment were I was convinced my breast milk was poisonous. They assured me it wasnt. Then the reality of what they said kind of sunk in. A genetic disorder. They said it was probably recessive traits that we both just happened to carry. That meant this was something that Mark and I had given to them. That was a hard pill to swallow. Then the completely selfish side of me came out. If this is something that Mark and I passed on to our children, there is no way that we are having more children because I am not going through this again. By a doctor telling us that, they had basically made the decision for us about having more kids. I was so upset about the "decision" being taken away from me. It is one thing when you decide to not have any more kids, it is another when an impossible situation is presented to you, taking that decision away.

So the testing began. Everything they tried came back negative. Finally they came to us with the fact that here were 12 metabolic disorders that were possibilities of diagnosis's for the girls. All 12 were treatable, which was great news. Unfortunately, if they did not have one of those 12 metabolic disorders, they told us that whatever it is would be rare, and probably untreatable. So, I actually began to pray, and ask others to pray, that my children have a metabolic disorder. Now there is a prayer that I never thought I would be praying. But, that was my prayer.

By this time, news had spread throughout several avenues, about the girls. We received emails, cards, facebooks posts from people from all over the country that were praying for our children. One night, one of the night nurses came into my room and asked us if Ruthie and Maddie were the kids that the facebook group "pray for ruthie and maddie" was about. It turned out that it was the number one facebook group in Nashville that day, and it popped up on her screen. When Ruthie was moved up to the regular floor on Thursday, across the hall from her sister, there were no visitor limits like in PICU. I am pretty sure that Vanderbilt wished there was by the time we left. Both the reception area in the main lobby and on our floor had pre-made "Sullivan" visitation passes since every one that came by requested one. We were flooded with visitors from church and our families. We were never without help or company. Every night people brought us meals, or came and sat with the girls so we could go out. One of the Bible classes from church collected money for us to help pay for medical bills. Every shift the nurses would comment on all of our visitors and how much support we had. All of of our visitors were such a great testimony to the support and genuine care that Christians have for one another.

On Friday the girls were doing great. If you had not just told me that there was a pretty significant chance that they could be vegetables for the rest of their lives, you would never know there was anything wrong with them. They seemed like perfectly normal babies, but we knew different. All of the teams had basically decided there was nothing else that they could do for the girls in the hospital, no matter what the results were from the metabolic disorders test. They said we would just have to follow up with several appointments, so they prepared to discharge us. Neurology requested a follow up MRI to be done on Ruthie before discharge. For some reason, unknown to me and my sister, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get an MRI and reading over the weekend at Vanderbilt. Trust me, we nagged every on. My sister actually went down to radiology to see if she could grab some on. So, we were stuck at the hospital all weekend, basically just hanging out and waiting.

A speech therapist (another team) was called into help also. When they removed the feeding tubes from the girls, they had both lost their suck reflex. So we started working with them to try to re-teach them their suck reflex and work on latching again. This eventually was the reason that I had to stop breast feeding the girls and went to bottles. Even though they re-learned how to suck, they could not get back to breast feeding the way they were before. It was taking over an hour for each baby to feed, which doesnt work well when there are two babies and only 3 hours inbetween feeds. So, I pumped for 6 months and gave the girls bottled breast milk. The 90 ozs that I had stored up from the hospital stay was a great help!

The girls were officially discharged from their infectious disease team, so they were allowed to be taken out of their room. The girls were doing so well that the nurses told us that they could stay in each others rooms, without machines during the day, but at night they had to be in their own rooms with monitors, just to make getting vital signs easier on the night staff.

So we waited until Monday to get MRI results and be discharged.

3 years ago.....D-Day

2010-10-06T13:20:00.005-05:00

I woke up Wednesday morning on the chair/bed in Ruthie's PICU room. When I saw Ruthie, I immediately noticed that she had been taken off the ventilator, and was breathing on her own. Apparently the 4 AM try of weening her went well. I was a little mad since I had asked them to wake me up for when they tried to ween her again, but got over it pretty quickly when it finally occurred to me that she was breathing on her own again, so just be grateful. I was able to hold Ruthie for the first time since Sunday. Finally! Things were looking up. We still didnt have any answers, but as long as they were getting better, I didnt care. They were already talking about discharging Maddie in the next day or two. The next step would be to get Ruthie up to a normal room, then we would all be able to go home and back to normal.

It was still early in the morning when one of the doctors came into the room with me to discuss Ruthie's MRI. She attempted to explain to me that her MRI results were not good. She had evidence of several "infarction's". I asked what an "infarction" was and basically she described it to me as a series of attacks on parts of her brain, similar to mini-strokes. It showed evidence of her being deprived of oxygen for extended periods of time. I asked if that had to do with the apnea episodes in the ER and she stated that it would have had to been longer than her episodes in the ER. I am sure she saw the look of pure confusion on my face and asked if I wanted to see the MRI's.

These are what she pulled up.

Actually looking at them still made no sense to me. She "dumbed" it down for me to say that everywhere there are white marks on her MRI is brain damage. Those were words that made sense to me. I knew what brain damage was. What I didnt know what how my seemingly perfect 2 week old had brain damage.

I was a psychology major in college, so we had to do a little bit of anatomy in regards to the brain. I knew that different parts of the brain controlled different things. I asked her what kinds of delays we should be expecting. Was the damage primarily in her motor skills section, her verbal comprehension, her reasoning, etc. The doctor told me it was too widespread to narrow it down to one area that she would be delayed in. I also knew about "re-mapping" which is where after damage occurs to the brain, some how it learns to "re-map" around the damaged area to learn how to do that function. I asked her since all she had "learned" how to do was eat, cry and poop, couldnt she just "re-map" how to learn the other things like crawling, rolling over, talking, math, etc. It seemed like a logical answer to me. She then told me that re-mapping can only occur when there is damage in one area, not in several areas as severe as hers. She just said that we would have to take one developmental milestone at a time and deal with it. She explained to me that I should not expect her to achieve any of the expected milestones, included simple things like holding her head up.

Before we were discharged from the hospital, they gave us CD's of the all of the MRI images. On another tab on the CD I discovered their "findings" and "impressions" that they attached to the results. Any one with a medical background will probably understand more of this than I do, but I get the gist of it.

MRV AND MR OF THE HEAD WITHOUT CONTRAST, 10/09/2007:

HISTORY: Seizures with history of apnea.

TECHNIQUE: Multiplanar, multisequence MR imaging of the brain is
performed without contrast. MRV is performed using TOF technique.

FINDINGS:

There is severely abnormal diffusion sequence with restricted
diffusion involving the majority of the subcortical white matter
including the corpus callus. Findings suggest a diffuse anoxic
injury. The cerebellum is spared. The cortex is spared. No
significant edema at this point. The dural venous sinuses are
patent.

IMPRESSION:
Severely abnormal MRI with diffuse infarct involving the majority of
the cerebral white matter.
END OF IMPRESSION

I was completely numb. I have twins, which is a handful in itself, and now I have a possibly handicap child to an extent that we dont even know. I was devastated and felt a pain to my core that only a mother with a sick child can understand. I let that feeling linger for about 5 minutes. Any one that knows me knows that I am a tad bit stubborn. I remember changing my prayers at that exact moment to asking God to help me with this challenge. Help me to be patient and do everything in my power to raise a handicapped child. It was going to be one milestone at a time, and I was going to do everything in my power and use EVERY resource available to me to make sure that we attacked each milestone head on.

Maybe that sounds a little cold, but to be completely honest, Mark was losing it (and he would not disagree with that statement), so some one had to buck up. I was Mommy. Mommy-mode kicked in, and I was going to take care of my child, no matter what her condition.

They decided to do an MRI on Maddie the next day to compare. After all, they were twins. They had been exposed to the same inter-utero conditions, same at home conditions, etc. Oh! And did I mention that since it looked like Ruthie had been deprived of oxygen, they were legally required to investigate for child abuse? So both girls were taken to get full body xrays to check for any broken bones, bruising, etc. Although I am glad for the precautions that are set in place to protect children, you cant help but be a little offended when they are inspecting your children for signs of child abuse after you have literally been camping out in a tiny room with your sick children, obviously distraught over the whole situation. Obviously no evidence was found that I had smothered them with a pillow, and they moved on to some other possible causes.

Maddie's MRI came back that same day.

Same white spots. Same type of brain damage. Luckily it didnt seem as wide spread on Maddie's MRI as Ruthie's, but it was still brain damage. Here were the notes on Maddie's exam.

MRI brain, 10/11/07.

TECHNIQUE: Axial diffusion-weighted, T1-weighted, T2-weighted,
coronal T2 and FLAIR, and sagittal T1-weighted imaging were
performed.

FINDINGS:
Diffusion imaging reveals significant abnormal signal seen within the
subcortical white matter of the biparietal region and throughout the
splenium of the corpus callosum. Additionally, there is hyperintense
signal through the genu of the corpus callosum extending through the
minor forceps into the subcortical white matter of the frontal lobes.
Asymmetrically increased signal is also seen within the left centrum
semiovale. There is relative sparing of the posterior fossa and
brain stem structures.

Axial T1 imaging shows some vague scattered T1-hyperintense foci
within the bilateral centrum semiovale, left greater than right.
There is no mass effect. The ventricles are normal in configuration.
Coronal T2-weighted imaging shows no asymmetric morphology of the
temporal lobe regions.

IMPRESSION:
Significant abnormality involving the white matter as evident on the
diffusion sequence involving the periatrial white matter, corpus
callosum, deep and subcortical white matter of the bifrontal and
biparietal regions extending into the temporal lobes. There is
sparing of the brain stem and cerebellum. The findings likely
represent inborn error of metabolism, of uncertain pattern. The
pattern does appear very similar to the patient's sibling reported
separately.

Images and interpretation reviewed and verified by Dr. Wushensky.
END OF IMPRESSION

I was all of the sudden faced with the reality of having two handicapped children. That is not something that you can every truly be prepared for. Especially after a routine/boring pregnancy and un-eventful delivery. You just assume that when they tell you that they are perfect when they are born that it stays that way and that you have been through the worst of the uncertains. I had a million uncertains in front of me all of a sudden, and still no medical answers for me to hold on to. Looking back now, I think the lack of medical answers was God's way of forcing me to turn to him for answers to hold on to. He should always be the first one that I turn to, but lets face it, I am human and humans like facts and tangible things to hold on to. A diagnosis, a treatment plans. Any of those things I can hold on to and google. God knew what I needed more than what I thought I needed. He knew the end of the story already, but I was still in the storm.

3 Years Ago...Day 2 & 3

2010-10-04T11:30:00.003-05:00

Day 2 & 3

If there is one thing that I would never wish on a new parent it is to watch your child on a ventilator. Ruthie just laid there with a tube down her throat and let the machine breathe for her. A feeding tube was in her nose to provide nutrition. My entire role as a new mother seemed null and void. What does a new mom do? Feeds her child, holds her child, changes her diaper. I could do none of that. I could just sit there and pump breastmilk. I dont remember, but my sister says that I would call her in the middle of the night and just recite to her what the monitor stats were. There are two colors on a ventilator monitor. One color shows that the patient took the breath themselves, the other color shows that the machine took the breath for them. I would call and just tell Katie, "Machine, machine, machine, machine, machine, Ruthie, machine, machine, machine, machine,machine, Ruthie, Ruthie, machine, machine...." There was nothing else I could do.

Maddie was down the hall, and Mark stayed with her. She also had a feeding tube, but luckily was not on a ventilator. It took them 3 tries to get her feeding tube placed properly. They would insert it, take her to XRAY to see if it was correct, pull it out and repeat the process. Third time was a charm. She started having a really difficult time regulating her body temperature, which was concerning to them. Since she didnt seem to be progressing like Ruthie, they decided to attempt the spinal tap. They did not get enough spinal fluid from Ruthie's original spinal tap, so they had to get her another one.

The girls were both set up with hour long EEG studies to check out any seizure activities. Maddie passed hers with no seizures, but she was also still on anti-seizure medication. Ruthie's EEG showed that she was having multiple seizures, most of which we couldn't see any physical symptoms of, despite also being anti-seizure medication. They scheduled Ruthie to have an MRI.

Being actually admitted into the hospital also brought along all of the "teams" of doctors, all with different specialties. Since Vanderbilt is a teaching hospital, each team can have any where from 5 to 10 doctors in your tiny little room at a time. We were introduced to their Infectious Disease Team (They had to rule out any types of infectious disease that could have caused fevers. They were also put on quarantine to be safe. Funny story about the time my mom came into the room in head to toe scrubs including a face mask), their neurology team (for the seizures), their endocrinology team (they found low thyroid hormone in one of the blood draws in both of the girls), a respiratory team for Ruthie, and a cardiology team for Maddie and her pre-existing congenital heart defect. More teams were added later. As a side note, these "teams" show up whenever their particular rounds are. So, it can be 2 AM and you wake up to 10 people in your room asking you questions. It can be 7 PM when they decide to show up. Not to mention with so many "teams" coming and going, you just kind of lose track of who is who. Each team requests that you repeat the story to them of how you ended up there. I seriously considered just typing it out to hand to them.

Because you have no idea when doctors are coming, if you are not in the room when they come, you miss your chance to talk to them, get updated or ask them questions. Not to mention Mark and I are trying to cover two different rooms, since our children couldnt be together due to the "infectious disease" concerns. We were so blessed to have family and church family that came to help. You could only have 2 people per room, so we were allowed a total of 4 people back there. Ladies from church would come and just sit in the rooms with the girls so we could go and shower, or go home for a few minutes, or go get something to eat. That way if some doctors came by, there was someone there to get an update. Those people that would sit with the girls were such a blessing to us. For an hour or so, we could get away and get out of the hospital and try to have a little bit of normal.

We still had no answers. They would come in as each test ruled out something it WASNT. It seemed like they were taking blood draws from the girls every time they came in the room. I am surprised the girls had any blood left.

On Tuesday they tried to start weening Ruthie off of her ventilator. They tried to put her on a CPAP, but she would only make it for about an hour before she had to be put back on a ventilator. They tried several of these tests throughout the day. By the end of the day she was only going 20 minutes before having to be put back on the machine. When I went to sleep that night they told me they were going to let her rest and do another test at 4 AM to try to ween her off again.

Maddie was moved out of PICU and into a regular room on the 7th floor. That meant Mark and I were swapping between the 5th floor PICU and the 7th floor main room. Whenever doctors would show up, we would call each other for the other to come up or down.

These three days were actually the quiet before the storm.

3 years ago...Day 1

2010-10-03T16:18:00.008-05:00

So, the girls had a birthday on September 25th. Ready for a weird confession? Although I know their birthday is a milestone, October 7th is a more important day for me. It was 3 years ago, on the first Sunday in October, which would be today. I dont know why I have never actually written down the story of the girls being sick. I know 3 years ago I wasnt about to make any assumptions about what the end of the story would be, last year was just pure chaos, and I feel that the two children that I look at each day now make for an even more amazing ending. It is a long story, so I am going to break it into parts. So, here goes.

As far as newborns go, the girls were super easy. A little scary kind of easy. Dont get me wrong, they were newborns, up every couple of hours. But, they were both breast feeding well, sleeping as well as you can ask, etc. My mom was down here helping me out, and my dad came down on a Friday night for the day to visit. I sent my mom to get a real night sleep at the hotel with my dad and told her that Mark and I could handle the night since Mark didnt have to work on Saturday. Of course, the girls picked that night to be miserable! I figured my "normal" newborns had arrived. All day Saturday they were just a little fussy, but we got through the day. We even decided that we would take the girls to church the following morning. I went to feed them for their 9 PM feed on Saturday night and BOTH of the girls refused to latch. It was so strange. I didnt know what to do. They were only 11 days old and my sister (who had already done this with 2 kids) informed me they were too young for a hunger strike, so I was stuck. I pulled out the pre-made formula that we had swiped from our overnight Vanderbilt jaundice visit the week before and tried that. They took it. Although I was not pleased about the not breastfeeding deal, they had been so fussy all day, I gave in. First rule of twins: Survive.

They refused to latch at midnight feed also, so out came the formula. Ruthie just flat out refused to eat at the next feed. Both girls were miserable through the entire night. I actually fell asleep in our spare bedroom with Maddie on top of me and my mom fell asleep on the lazy boy with Ruthie in the nursery. We were up all night. For the 6 am feed, I woke up to my mom calling me into the nursery. Ruthie felt warm. I broke out my brand new rectal thermometer that I had no idea how to use as a new mom. 102.5 fever. Panic. I took Maddie's temperature. 102.5 fever also. More panic. Paged the pediatrician for the first time. He sent us to Vanderbilt saying we should plan on being there for the night since they hold newborns with temperatures to check for meningitis, etc.

Since we had been to Vanderbilt less than a week before that for jaundice, the staff remembered the twins. They moved us back into a holding area and put the girls in incubators and started the fluid collection. Ruthie first. Her blood draws were the worst. She was 5 pounds, and they couldnt find a vein. I felt like a horrible mother, but I had to leave. They made us leave for the spinal tap anyways. After we came back in, Maddie was sleeping in her incubator in the corner, and Ruthie was mad at the world. Mark took her little finger in his hand and tried talking to her. Mark called the nurse over. Ruthie was squeezing his finger as she started convulsing in rhythm. The doctor came in and looked at her eyes. Seizures. They gave her some anti-seizure meds through her IV and they stopped. By this time her fever had gone down, so we knew they were febrile seizures. Why is my 12 day old having seizures? Convulsing again. Another round of anti-seizure meds through the IV.

It was close to 10 AM and Ruthie was miserable about life in general. I mentioned to the nurses that she really hadnt eaten since her 2 AM feed, so I thought I should at least give it a try. I took her out of her incubator and tried to give her a bottle. No luck. Newborns are floppy anyways, but she went a little limp. I look up at her monitor and I call the nurse. " I think her oxygen monitor came off her foot. It says her her 02 is at 40%". Then the words that ring in my ears still. "She's not breathing! Bag her!". My child is grabbed from my arms and the screaming, crying mother is kindly escorted from the room. I collapsed on the floor in the hall, screaming. My mom just held me praying over and over again, "Please dont let her die, please dont let her die, please dont let her die." They get her breathing again and let me back in. What in the world is going on? No one seems to know. They decided to take Ruthie for a CT. I decide to go with them to get the CT and Mark is going to stay with Maddie. We get half way down the hall and she stops breathing again. They resuscitate her and we wait in the hall a few minutes. They try moving her again and her 02 stats drop. We are left with no other choice but to intabate her and let a machine breathe for her. She is moved up to the Pediatric ICU. We arent able to see her for a little bit while they get everything situated up in PICU, so we stay in the ER with Maddie.

They have not even began any fluid draws on Maddie. They take her blood and urine and try to put in an IV line. We know from our jaundice stay a week ago that she has hard veins to find. Not much has changed in a week, and they finally get the line into her tiny little 5 pound body. Maddie's fever has dropped also. We know a spinal tap is coming, so we are just waiting until they kick us out for that. Maddie starts convulsing. We page the nurse. Seizures. They give her some anti-seizure medication and they stop. She begins convulsing again, but on the opposite side as before. More anti-seizure medication. The doctors were concerned that breathing problems would come next, just like her sister, so they hold off on the stress of a spinal tap. Although she technically should not have been in PICU for just a fever and seizures, they were kind enough to admit her to PICU so that we could have both of our children on the same floor at least. I have a feeling they could see the stress and fear in our eyes.

As they are moving the girls up to the PICU we walk out into the waiting room of Vanderbilt Children's. An entire waiting room of our family and church family from Hillsboro Church of Christ are there waiting for us. It was around 11:30 AM, so they had come over as soon as the "Amen" was said on the closing prayer. They hugged us, they stayed and prayed with us. We had no idea what was going on. Our church family would become a huge part of this story.

That was Day 1 of 10 days.

These are the Moments

2010-09-29T13:58:00.002-05:00

Having twins is one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I am not saying that it is easy, but I know for a fact that I get to experience so many different things than my friends that only have one baby at a time. Even those that have two kids, it is still a completely different experience. There is just something about watching these two little girls, that have been together for all but 3 minutes of their ENTIRE lives (Ruthie is 3 minutes older than Maddie). They are just a part of one another in such a neat way.

When they were younger, blogging was so much easier! I could take pictures of the cute things they were doing, the smiling, the milestones etc. Now, the things that I would LOVE to share on here are impossible to document. Primarily because I do not think I am a capable enough writer to get the full picture across of the hilarious things that they say or do. Their interactions with each other and their conversations are funnier than anything you could see on Comedy Central. Just the tone in their voice or the timing of a question or the body motions that go with what they are saying, make it impossible to have the same affect retold in words alone. Unfortunately, as soon as I pull out the video camera they either yell "CHEESE" or stop what they are doing since they see me. So, it is these rare moments that I can actually catch from sneaking around the corner of another room, that I savor. I hate to think that I wont remember some of these times like I dont remember so much of them as babies.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dreams of Parents

2010-09-26T16:58:00.002-05:00

I think any one that is a parent has dreams for what they would like their kids to accomplish. It is only natural. When we found out we were having twins, Mark was convinced we would have a soprano and an alto that could harmonize making sweet, sweet music. Most of you already know that Mark has a marvelous voice and a deep love of music. It seems as if our children have inherited the deep love of music, but not so much the voice. All though you can only see Maddie in the video, you can hear her sister "harmonizing" in the background.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm thinking Mark will have to find another dream for them.

Riding Bikes

2010-09-12T16:52:00.005-05:00

We had given the girls tricycles for Christmas, even though we knew they wouldnt be able to use them for a little while. I probably should have taken them out more on their bikes this summer, but it was hotter than Hades here, so I avoided outside activities like the plague. Not to mention the aforementioned mountain that we happen to live on. It is instant death if I let them try to go by themselves on their bikes down it. So, now that some fall weather is upon us, I decided to break out the bikes on the flat street that is at the bottom of our cul de sac, for safety purposes.

Lo and behold, they were pretty good on them! Ok, correction. Ruthie was pretty good on the bike. I feel that the only accurate way to express this experience is through a video. There are not enough words to express the drama that occurs in this house over the silliest things. This, is a perfect example.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Off to School We Go!

2010-08-19T10:29:00.004-05:00

It is hard to believe the girls are old enough to go to pre-school! Granted, they are the youngest in their class because of their birthday, but they are "technically" old enough. The cut off age here in Nashville is you have to be 3 by September 30th, and with a September 25th birthday, they make the cut! So, we packed our lunches and our backpacks, and headed out the door!

The girls are in the "Zebra" class at school. That means nothing to them, but is cute to me.

There are 14 other kids in their class, mostly girls. We had gone to an open house last week, so the girls had already been in their classroom for a little bit. So, when we walked in, then knew exactly what to do. No tears, no whining, just straight to playing.

When I picked them up, their teachers said they did really well......EXCEPT......for rest time. I knew this was going to be an issue on several levels. First issue is that their rest time is about an hour before the girls are used to laying down. Second thing is that I have never seen my children lay down quietly for 90 minutes. They are used to their beds, in their dark rooms, with their sound machine on when they sleep. There is no comparison to laying on a mat, in a classroom, with 14 other kids. Apparently they separated them and when one would cry the other would yell out that their sister was crying and needed help. Maddie even pulled out her famous line, "I'm having a hard time" to her teacher. Hopefully over time it will get better.

I know they are picking up things at school already because when we got home yesterday, Maddie was doing something and she says, "That is cool!" I had never heard her say that, and I am not one to use retro 80's lingo, so I said, "What did you say?" and she says, "That is cool! That is what my friends at school say." It made me laugh. Let's hope that is the only 4-letter word she comes back from school learning.

As for Momma, I could not have been happier to send them off to school! From posts on my facebook wall I assume that I am supposed to be sad about it or upset that they are old enough for school. Apparently I am missing that part of the Mommy gene, because I was probably more excited for my time from 9-3 than they were! I cant remember the last time I went to bed at night and felt like I accomplished so much in a day! No tears here! Bring on the next day to send them!

Six Flags!

2010-08-09T09:56:00.007-05:00

There is a Six Flags that is only an hour from my parents house. Growing up it was the Great Escape, and going there was a special treat. I went there more when I was a teenager than when I was a kid, because it wasnt really kid friendly. Well, things have changed there! I looked at their website and they showed 30 kids rides! And then there was the topper.....WIGGLES WORLD! Not to mention kids 2 and under are free, and since the girls dont turn 3 until September, this was the last time we could get them in without paying for them. So, off to Lake George we went.

It seriously could not be a more beautiful day to be outside at Lake George! A high of 78 degrees with clear skies. I love upstate NY in August! I was afraid of the girls not napping or just having an off day, so as soon as we got in the gate we bolted to Wiggle World.

As soon as we got in there a show was in progress, so we took them straight over there. The show was a little ghetto, but the girls didnt know the difference. Let's just say, Six Flags didnt splurge on getting a convincing Captain Feathersword. They didnt even attempt to find 4 guys to imitate the actual Wiggles, so this girl was singing all of them for some reason. Dorthy, Wags and Henry were really good though.

Since there were hardly any one at the first show, the characters came down and posed for pictures, which the girls loved!

Then came the rides! They had a great time on the Big Red Cars and Dorthy's Rosy Tea cups. Great themed rides that the girls have talked about every day since!

I never understood the appeal of these little houses that are all around Great Escape as I was growing up. As a parent of toddlers, they are the most amazing thing, ever! I think they may have liked the little houses more than they even liked Wiggle World. They played in the little houses for about 30 minutes before we made them leave.

Mark and I were able to go on a few of the roller coasters since my mom came along with us. She watched the kids so we could go on a few big kid rides. I did fine on all of the roller coasters, but this ride was my downfall.

It looks so innocent, but I had to sit down for a good chunk of time to get my stomach and head back. I am getting old.

Hence, the carousal. More my style.

Great family day! The girls rode rides by themselves for the first time and had a great time. They are getting so big. School starts next week, so I will try to post those pictures too!

Imagination

2010-07-11T16:42:00.005-05:00

Growing almost as fast as my children is their imagination. The stories they are coming up with are absolutely hilarious. Granted, most of them are based on TV episodes, so I wont give them too much credit. For all of you toddler TV aficionados, this will be a great test of your TV knowledge. I will name the scenario and see if you can pick up where they got it from. You can have 3 chances.

The girls have decided that our half bath downstairs is now a "Tall Tower". You can still go potty in there, but you are going potty in the tall tower. Once one goes in, the other one shuts the door and will not open it until they hear the magic word, "Abre"

Answer: Ok, too easy, I mean there is Spanish in it. Obviously Dora the Explorer. The episode that the witch locks the prince in a tall tower and he needs to rescued by Boots and Dora.

We recently had a fight between the girls since Maddie had one of my dish towels, which she claimed was a "magic carpet". Ruthie went to sit on Maddie's magic carpet and Maddie flipped out that (and I quote)"The magic carpet wont go super high in the sky with Ruthie on it!". Crisis averted by getting Ruthie a dish towel, I mean, magic carpet.

Answer: This one is courtesy of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, episode Donald of the Desert where they have a magic carpet.

We recently got a sandbox for the girls in the backyard. They continually ask me to come outside and play with them in the sandbox. When out there, they usually give me a shovel and tell me to dig for the treasure chest. It usually only takes 1 or 2 digs before it is announced that it has been found! When I ask them what is inside they let me know that it is costumes! They then pull out a pirate eye patch, boots and a hat.

Answer: Dora the Explorer Pirates, of course! Thanks to those wonderful Pirate Piggies who steal the treasure chest of costumes and they cant do the play without their pirate costumes.

Scoring

1/3 You probably just guessed Dora the Explorer on that first one, not too impressive

2/3 You watch a significant amount of Nick Jr. and Disney channel, but it hasnt all infiltrated your brain quite yet

3/3 This post makes complete sense to you because you have a child that is doing the exact same thing

Probably the biggest thing they have picked up from Dora is their backpacks. Here is a picture of Maddie showing you her backpack. Obviously there is a back pack there. It is in plain site people. And what does an almost three year old keep in her imaginary backpack? There is ALWAYS a rope in there. This comes in handy when they drop things (not really) that the rope will help them pick up. Usually there is a bandaid in there, for the occasional boo-boo.* A spare change of clothes and a hat is usually in there also. Only when it rains is an umbrella in there.

*Complete side note. I put the girls in babysitting at the YMCA to play volleyball and when I came back they informed me that BOTH of them had found red crayon and colored all over one of the baby doll's heads. When the worker asked them why they informed her that the baby had a boo-boo. Maddie offered a bandaid, conveniently located in her backpack, of course!

Ruthie has become a stuffed animal/baby doll child. She brings a bear or Baby Lulu with her where ever we go. Baby LuLu actually walked down the aisle at my brother in laws wedding. We werent given much choice. Ruthie refused to move without LuLu. Bear and LuLu come in the car also. If there is a place they can not come into, they must be buckled in to Ruthie's carseat for safe keeping. In the course of a day they will usually get sick and need to go to the doctor, get several baths in the sink in the bathroom and get put down for several naps because they are tired.

I have to admit that this has been such a fun stage with them. We have run into a couple problems with their imaginary situations, like the magic carpet, or the fact that one wants to have a beach party and the other wants to have a tea party, but very manageable. With their imaginations have come some awesome play time between the two. They really are into playing with each other and involving the other in their stories they have created. (I had a really cute video to insert here, but the server seems to be acting up, so i will try to do that later.).

Life

2010-05-09T22:50:00.006-05:00

Is any one even reading this any more? I was looking back over some of my first posts where I would blog like 3 to 4 times a week. I have no idea how I did that. Then I remembered that those were the days of 2 naps a day. Those were also the days of where they sat still and didnt need my constant attention as to not burn down my house. Still not a good excuse, huh? Well, how about the fact that Nashville was flooded?

Ok, in all seriousness, do you want to know what is life consuming? Potty training. I can not remember the last thing that was this life consuming since I was pumping breast milk for the girls. Even that was only once every 3 hours. That is nothing compared to potty training twins. The fact that I have a potty in the back of my van explains it all. I walk into a store and immediately B-line it to the bathrooms for the girls. My brain operates in 30 minute intervals now.

WARNING! SEVERAL USES OF THE WORDS "POOP" AND "PEE", OVER AND OVER AGAIN. MY MOTHER SAYS I AM NOT ABLE TO HOLD A CONVERSATION WITHOUT USING IT AT LEAST 5 TIMES IN ANY CONVERSATION I HAVE NOW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I dare to say that I would consider the girls potty trained now. I know that since I have typed these words into cyberspace they are going to go through 10 pairs of panties tomorrow. I will take the risk. I want to share something that was a potty game changing moment in our house. My hope is that it can help some one else through this HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE part of parenthood called potty training.

I tried to get the girls to go poop in the potty. I followed them around and every time I thought they were going I threw them on the potty. Most of the time I would catch them half way done. I offered ice cream, candy, a car when they were 16....ANYTHING if they would just go poop on the potty. It didnt work. I felt so helpless and like I was destined to be cleaning poop out of panties until they were in college. Then, a friend mentioned something that worked for someone she knew. Ladies and gentlemen (I dont think any guys read this, but just in case), let me introduce you to "Poopy Presents".

I went to the dollar store and bought them out of everything in their toy aisle. I wrapped it in wrapping paper with pretty bows and I stacked them high on the kitchen table. When the girls woke up, I showed them the pretty wrapped packages and informed them that every time they went poop in the potty, they would get to open a present. I am not lying nor exaggerating, we have had 2 girls pooping in the potty since that blessed day weeks ago. Not one poop accident. Zip. Zilch. Nadda. They would come running out of the potty screaming "Poopy Present!" and rip off the paper like wild women!

We did run into one problem, and that problem was Maddie and the fact that she is starting to use the manipulative traits that she has inherited from me. That child would push out 1 little poop, insist on opening a present, and then 20 minutes later poop out another little poop to get a another. After the day she went through 5 presents I started limiting it to 1 present a day. Then it was you had to stay dry all day and poop in the potty to open one. We went 12 days without ANY accidents (poop or pee) when there was a Poopy Present involved. Since we have taken them away we have had no poop accidents and a handful of pee accidents. The things were like miracle workers.

Then, I informed the girls that we were all done with Poopy Presents. They would be able to open one more present, the best present of all Poopy Presents, but then they were done. Ruthie got a cape so that she can run around the house yelling that she is "Super Ruthie" and Maddie got a fairy costume so that she can make every one refer to her as "Tinker-Maddie".

If they start going in their pants tomorrow since there are no more Poopy Presents, I am going to be so mad. But I will probably just head back to the Dollar Store, if I am being completely honest. It is cheaper than pull ups and diapers! But, I think we have rounded the corner and there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Day 3

2010-04-10T18:44:00.002-05:00

The taste of sweet success...

Reporting from the Trenches

2010-04-09T19:30:00.006-05:00

Do you know what all of those books on being pregnant with twins dont tell you? They dont tell you that you eventually have to potty train them, nor do they tell you how to potty train them. Now, that is a book I would actually read at this point!

We have been dabbling in potty training since the fall with Maddie. Ruthie started showing interest in March and has been hit or miss with it. I have basically been of the attitude that if they go, great! If they dont, I will change them and we will try again. No biggie. Then came last week, and the life altering decision I made. I signed the girls up for pre-school, beginning in August. School rule is that if you are in the 3 year old class (which they will be), you have to be potty trained. And not like potty trained in pull ups, they mean potty trained in panties. I checked. So, the clock was ticking. What better time to start then this week? (I have since learned there is no such time as a good time, it just sucks all around).

So, the girls woke up on Thursday morning and I informed them there are no more diapers and no more pull ups during the day. They will be wearing training pants and only wear pull ups while napping and sleeping. They were fine with the idea. Then I brought them down stairs to potty training central which basically involves them staying in the kitchen with me all day going to the potty every 15 minutes, then extending it to every 30, then 45, etc. This is what they did all day.....

As you can see below, no toys, no TV, just lots of salty snacks and beverages. You can see how thrilled I am sitting on the floor watching the clock and waiting to catch one them trying to poop.

They are smart little girls and waited until their nap to poop, so I had to try to get them to poop in the potty the next day. They can pee in the potty all day long, but will not poop in there. So frustrating. That was my goal for Day 2.

Back in the trenches on Day 2.

I did allow some toys today, which they were thrilled about.

By the end of the day it looked like a mine field in my kitchen.

I even let them go outside for a couple of hours and play. I brought the potty outside and we kept up our routine out there. And then, EUREKA! Maddie pooped on the potty! It was an exciting moment for me. I had promised them that if they pooped on the potty that I would give them a big bowl of ice cream with sprinkles. They talked about it all day long, and finally Maddie earned her reward.

Ruthie on the other hand had not pooped yet, so she didnt get any. This did not go over well with her.

So, she sat on the potty, watching Maddie eating her ice cream, hoping to poop and get some for herself.

Her bowels were not cooperative and refused to assist her in getting ice cream. She remained bitter for the rest of the afternoon about it.

Tomorrow is Day 3! Back to the trenches we go!

X Marks the Spot

2010-03-26T20:33:00.003-05:00

I absolutely LOVE having my back rubbed. I have ever since I was a little child. Now I love massages. I cant afford them, but it doesnt change how much I love them.

My mom has always rubbed my back, especially at night, growing up. Now, she does it to all 4 of the grandkids. It calms them down in an instant. You will see her usually in church with a grand kid sprawled out in her lap and she is rubbing their back. She does it differently for the grandkids though. She has a little rhyme that she says as she draws pictures on their backs. It goes, "X marks the spot, a circle and a dot. A line and a dash, and a big question smash. Up and down and up and down" and then she tickles their necks. As she says it she is drawing those shapes on their backs. My girls LOVE this game! They ask for it by calling it, "Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot Dot". We have changed it up a little so instead of at the end of the end tickling the neck we "pinch the bottom". So, every night after their bath, they both lay on the floor and I say the rhyme and do the shapes on their backs. A few nights ago, Maddie asked if she could do it on my back. I was shocked to find out that she has the rhyme memorized. The drawing of the shapes not so much, but I will give her a break since she is only two. Well, then Maddie decided she wanted to do it on Ruthie's back and vice versa. The result is below.

Helper Kind and Good

2010-02-13T20:55:00.005-06:00

The girls are at a really cute stage where they like to "help". I put the word "help" in quotations because, let's face it, how much can two 2-year olds with their own agendas actually help. They love to help me unload the dishwasher. This has resulted in at least2 broken plates and several pieces of silverware having to go back in due to being dropped on the ground. Once again, great "help".

Recently their "helping" has extended to one another. They will bring each other things that they *think* the other one would like. If their helpful gift is rejected (usually Maddie rejecting Ruthie's), a melt down normally ensues. Ah, the joys of sharing and helping.

Every time that we come into the house the girls take off their shoes and their coats. I have recently been trying to teach them to do it themeselves. Ruthie has it down pat. She can rip off her shoes and coat before Maddie even has time to unzip. So, instead of me helping Maddie, Ruthie has decided to take over that roll. So much so that Maddie will not let me help her take off her coat and shoes. She informs me that, "No Momma! Ruthie help Maddie." I took pictures of how this helping looks.

This is the position that Maddie assumes for Ruthie to "help" her....

Ruthie trying hard....

That position wasnt working so Maddie rolled over for a better angle...

AHHHH!!! The taste of sweet success!

Now onto the coats....

I couldnt get a picture of it, but after she unzips it Ruthie practically drags Maddie to the ground trying to get it off her arms. Then when all is done she comes running to me and proclaims, "Ruthie help Maddie, Momma!"

My little helper, kind and good.

Snow Day!

2010-02-08T17:05:00.001-06:00

So, I dont know if you heard, but Tennessee got a little bit of snow a week ago. I will admit, most of the complete freak outs about incoming precipitation are useless, but this one was valid. I think we ended up with like 4 to 6 inches, which is huge for down here. Schools were closed on the Friday of the storm, churches and stores were closed over the weekend and schools were STILL closed on Monday and Tuesday. Complete craziness.

I want to preface this post with the fact that there are several things I am embarrassed about in this entry, primarily because I am from NY and know better than this. I will point them out as I post.

I got the girls ready to go out in the snow (Ruthie is going through this "CHEESE" phase which is ruining ALL of our pictures!)

I am completely embarrassed that this was what my children wore outside. Rain boots, since we dont have snow boots, sweat pants since we didnt have snow pants and their jackets. Thanks to a Christmas gift from Mark's parents we had hats and mittens otherwise it would have looked even more ridiculous!

This could quite possibly be the worst.

We didnt have a sled, so we used a Tupperware box from the basement. I was completely embarrassed by this until we saw what some of the kids were using at the end of the street. We were high tech compared to the trashcan lids and cardboard boxes others were using.

Ruthie was the only one that would go in it. Maddie just ran behind it cheering them on.

This was at the end of our street. It was mass chaos! I guess this is one of the only benefits of living in a subdivison that could easily qualify as the highest level of incline on a treadmill. That also meant we couldnt drive into or out of our subdivision for like 3 days though.

Ruthie was completely into the snow experience.

Making snow angels with Daddy...

Then there was Maddie. As with most things in life, Maddie "no like" the whole snow thing. She kept screaming that her boots were "messy, messy" from the snow, as well as her mittens. This was what most of my pictures of her look like.

After she got to watch the big kids sled down the hill she cheered up a little and I was able to get this one.

We stayed out for 30 to 45 minutes, which was significantly longer than I had expected. This was the most snow I had seen in Nashville since I have lived here, and Mark couldn't remember ever seeing this much snow in Nashville before, so who knows when they will see this again at home.

Jesus Loves Me

2010-02-05T10:43:00.003-06:00

It is times like this I really begin to understand what Jesus was saying when he said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matt. 19:14

We were able to keep Ruthie quiet to the very end by letting her play with my phone. Hence at the end when you hear her yelling, "Mommy's phone!".

Book Review

2010-02-03T11:55:00.003-06:00

This book review is brought to you by Ruthie and Maddie (with translation by Momma). They have chosen the classic "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" by Eileen Christlow.

Here is their interpretation of a childhood classic....

Politically Correct Disney

2010-01-01T14:52:00.002-06:00

With the politically correct Disney, the new Snow White is a little visually impaired with an eye patch.
Special thanks to cousin Lily for playing dress up with Ruthie

Vocabulary

2009-12-22T23:39:00.005-06:00

Having two year olds has caused several changes in my vocabulary. I find myself asking grown adults where the "potty" is, I am unable to leave without announcing that I am "going bye-bye" and I have completely forgotten that my real name is Kristen and not just Mommy. There have also been several words that have been removed from my vocabulary, partially due to the fact that the girls might as well be parrots, but also because they just no longer exist in my daily terminology. For example: Privacy. I am sorry. Can you repeat that? Can I get a definition please? Orgin? Maybe Latin translation?

In all honesty, how can you expect privacy when they literally live INSIDE you for 10 months, then as soon as they pop out you stick them on your boob and repeat every 3 hours for x-amount-of time. Now that they are independently mobile, and VERY curious, nothing is sacred. If they can get in the drawer, climb on a chair to get to, stand on their tip toes, etc. then it is theirs. I am running out of places to hide things that they can not see or some how manage access to. Until now....

Check out these bad boys!
I could write a love song to the inventor of these door knob covers. Besides the one we have on the basement door to help keep them from escaping, we have put one on our bedroom door. That is right! A WHOLE room that they can not get into! Ha! I love it!

No, just keep trying Maddie. I'm sure you can get it....

That's right. Put ALL your body weight into it. Surely that will open it!

It does keep them out, but it doesnt keep them from crying and banging on the door. Can you see the frustration in Ruthie's eyes above? I guess I cant expect privacy and quiet...

Happy Holidays, Matey!

2009-12-18T20:07:00.005-06:00

Arrrggg! And Merry Christmas from the Sullivan's!

Look familiar? Let me refresh your memories. http://www.simplysullivan.blogspot.com/2008/10/arrrrrgggg.html

The patch is back! I noticed Ruthie having some difficulty with her glasses, so I took her back in, and lo and behold! She is not using her right eye! Now, if she would look properly through her bifocals, then she would be forced to use both of her eyes. But, if any of you have seen Ruthie in her glasses, she normally looks like this:

Poor little thing looks like a librarian in training. She wears them like a champ, but just not properly. Apparently there is no way to force her to wear them properly either. So, the solution is patching for 2-4 hours a day to try and strengthen her right eye. If that doesnt work, then it is back to surgery!

We have been attempting to get in the holiday spirit around here. I hate Christmas, so this has been very difficult for me.

The girls went and saw Santa Claus at our church Christmas party this past Wednesday. Maddie was miserable because she did not nap that day. Oh! Did I mention we are basically not napping now? Merry Christmas to Momma! I think that is the parental equivalent to a lump of coal in your stocking.

I finally put up our obnoxious, fake tree that I hate. If you cant tell, I put ALL of the ornaments out of reach of little hands. Apparently one of the girls thought the bottom of the tree was missing something...

This was the same bear that was on the potty in the previous post. He mysteriously gets around.

Hope every one has a great holiday season! I will attempt to post more of the holiday festivities, but no promises!

Potty Time!

2009-12-09T10:39:00.003-06:00

I openly admit that I have been obsessed with potty training since the girls were born. The count down began for them to turn 2 so the potty training could begin. My niece, Lily, was trained within 1 week of being 2, so I knew it was possible. At 18 months I began the subliminal potty messages. We watched Elmo's Potty Time, I brought them in with me to go to the bathroom, when I changed their diapers I talked about being wet and poopy and going in the potty, etc. When they were 20 months I got them their own potty's to sit on while Mommy was going potty. Then I started putting them on the potty after their bath, and was fairly successful since they always peed on the carpet after their bath, it seemed like an intelligent idea. Then they turned 2! Potty Boot Camp!

Maddie was completely interested. Ruthie on the other hand didnt care at all. That actually worked better for me so I could focus on one child at a time. I did a day of Potty Boot Camp with Maddie and she wasnt quite there, but it sparked an interest. From that point on she has been asking to go to the potty and going on there the majority of the time when we are home. I think if I did one more day of bootcamp with her she could possibly be trained.

But, now that I am in the throws of potty training, all of a sudden diapers are seeming better and better. Yes, they are expensive little suckers, but SO CONVENIENT. Every time we leave the house I make Maddie go on the potty, but it never fails. 5 minutes into the car ride, "Pee-Pee potty, Momma!" Oh, for the days I could just let you pee in your diaper....

Maddie needs some entertainment while using the potty, so she has begun bringing in her coloring with her.

I walked into the bathroom and saw this the other day. I guess even teddy bears need to potty.

To Make You Smile

2009-10-30T20:21:00.003-05:00

This is why they are my favorite people...EVER.

Please excuse the choice of music. I dont normally let my girls dance to a Britney Spears song about three-somes. Ok, maybe sometimes.

Halloween

2009-10-29T23:46:00.002-05:00

I have officially become one of those bloggers I hate. Sorry! Oh, for the days where I had time to sit down and blog about mundane things. Instead we are in the throws of potty training and new words every day. Starting a new business has cut into my blogging time tremendously. Here is hoping it will at least pay for pre-school next year!

To ease my shame and embarrassment for my poor blogging I will include a photo of the girls from Trunk or Treat at church on Wednesday. This is probably the last year they wont have an opinion on their costumes, so I took advantage of that!

Disney!

2009-10-02T11:02:00.006-05:00

The girls have officially had their first visit to the Disney's Magic Kingdom. We spent a week in Orlando and did Magic Kingdom on Monday and Animal Kingdom on Wednesday. I can honestly say that I could not have asked for a better trip. The girls did GREAT! We stayed in a house with my sister and her family and my mom. So, that is three 2 year olds, 1 princess obsessed 4.5 year old and 5 adults in one house. Although it sounds like a nightmare on paper, it worked out great! This post will just be Magic Kingdom, and hopefully I can get some other posts up.

You can not go to Disney without getting this classic shot. You will notice Ruthie doesnt have her glasses in any of these pictures. We didnt want to risk bringing them with the rides and all of the commotion. We would rather her run into things than pay another $250. Does that make us bad parents?

The first ride we hit was It's a Small World.

This is the first of several pictures we have of Maddie with her finger shoved up her nose.

Both of the girls really liked the ride. I considered the day a success that we made it in there and through one ride without a melt down.

Oh, look! Maddie has her finger up her nose again.

Speaking of it being a small world, look who we ran into!

We had no idea the Benders were in Disney that week also! It was great to see them, and run into them AGAIN when were in Animal Kingdom!

We really wanted to take the girls on the Dumbo ride but the line was ridiculous all day. So, we just put them on the stationary Dumbo next to the ride and pretended like we actually went on it. Why they dont have a fastpass for this ride is beyond me.

And, of course the teacups.

And what would a trip to Disney World be without the lovely princesses? I thought this was where they might freak out, but they seemed perfectly fine.

By the time they got to Belle they were a little leery of these strange women.

And, of course, what would be a visit to Disney without seeing Mickey and Minnie. I dont think they girls had ever even seen Mickey and Minnie until that day.

Little did we know the monster we were creating from this photo shoot. The girls have officially drank the Disney World kool-aid. They are hooked on Mickey and Minnie. My mother bought them stuffed animals of Mickey and Minnie along with some other figurines and they are the new hot item in this house. We are now daily watchers (and DVR'ers) of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The multi-billion dollar Disney industry has secured 2 new fans.

We of course attempted anther cousins shot. This one wasnt too bad. We are making progress each time.

We attempted a 3-D show with the girls. We lasted less than three minutes when Maddie began yelling, "No, no Ducky" to Donald. We made a quick exit after that. Interestingly enough, from that point on, every time she saw Donald she said, "No, no Ducky!"

And, they sleep....

The girls took a great nap in the stroller in the afternoon. They were just pooped! It was a great refresher for them to make it the rest of the day. I think if they hadnt been able to sleep we would not have made it as long as we did.

Besides the ridiculous heat and humidity, we could not have asked for a better visit to Disney.

Happy Early Birthday!

2009-09-19T10:54:00.008-05:00

It is that time again! Birthday time! I cant believe the girls will be 2 on Friday. Time has truly flown by. And, oh, how things have changed here.

I was reading my post from a year ago with the fiasco with the Wiggles birthday cake, and how everything had to be *perfect* for their first birthday. This year I did a store bought cake, went to Party City and grabbed some Elmo stuff, called family and a few friends 4 days before and, TA-DA! I guess Ruthie and Maddie arent the only ones that have changed in the past year.

Since we are going to be in FL for the girls actual birthday, we had some family and friends over to celebrate early. I went with an Elmo theme this year to change it up from the Wiggles. Variety is the spice of life and all. I bought an Elmo cake from Publix, some pizza, some rotel, some fruit and was good to go. When I got home Mark said, "Who's Naddie?" I had no idea what he was talking about until he pointed at the cake.

Crap. To be completely honest, there was a part of me that was fine just leaving it like this because it isnt like Maddie can actual read it. The guilty mother side of me won out though and back to Publix I went.

Ok, much better. Let's party!

My $15 decorations. I am a big spender.....

Hindsight is 20/20 in regards to my decorating. I bought the decorations because that was what I thought I was supposed to do for a 2 year olds birthday party. Little did I know that this would result in the girls spending the rest of the night pointing out every Elmo that they could find to anyone that would listen. Next year I am seriously considering just doing a colors only party. Maddie's personal favorite was the table cloth because she could just walk down the length of the table pointing at several Elmo's.

Neither of my girls were really into their cake at their first birthday, so I was excited about them maybe getting into it this year.

Maddie didnt like the crowd of people singing to her and lost it (I am seeing a pattern with her, and I am not liking it).....

Ruthie was unphased by the entire thing and continued eating.

She even found time to feed Elmo some cake.

Presents went alot smoother this year since the girls could help open their boxes and their bags. They were really cute as they "Ohhhhhh" and "Awwww" at each present.

But in all honesty, why do people keep spending money on actual gifts for these girls? Because when it all comes down to it, all that they want to do is play with the boxes.

We had a secret twin exchange again this year with the ladies on my twin message board I am on. One of the ladies is from Australia and her twins, Mia and Zoe, sent the girls Wiggle's panties! I LOVED IT!

Of course they went straight on their head, so we have a little work to do on proper wearing of big girl panties.

The girls are definitely all set with their UT paraphernalia all the way through basketball season.

It has been a crazy ride this past 2 years, but I wouldnt trade it for anything.

Team Work!

2009-09-16T22:56:00.004-05:00

You would think team work would be an excellent concept to teach 2 year olds. Maybe it is. Just not in this house. Anything that these two seem to agree on, and work together on, ends up in disaster for me. Exhibit A:

The dogs were less than thrilled, since that was their dinner.

Sorry for the shortage of posts. I have gone back to work a few days a week and it has become all consuming! We are heading to Disney next week so I will be able to post while on vacation hopefully.

One Year

2009-09-02T21:06:00.001-05:00

One year ago today....

God is good.

Oh, the Irony!

2009-08-30T20:01:00.008-05:00

So, have I mentioned that my children love the Wiggles? Maybe you might have picked that up in a couple of my posts. Last year, when the girls were not even 1 year old we took them to go and see the Wiggles live. It went really well, even though they fell asleep for the last 15 minutes of it. So, of course, when I heard the Wiggles were coming back to town I had to get tickets. So, I convinced my mother to get them an early present and buy floor seats for the live show. You have seen the video of them dancing at our house, so I was so excited about them being able to dance in the aisles with the other kids at the show.

My dreams were almost ruined when I get an email confirmation from Ticketmaster confirming the show that day with a reminder email that all children over 1 year old must be ticketed. I had only bough 2 floor seats since the girls were going to be sitting in our laps. I frantically called the venue and a nice lady there came up with the ingenious idea for when we get to the show to just buy 2 of the cheapest balcony seats they have ($20 a pop) to get in the door and then keep them on our laps at our floor seats. Crisis averted.

We headed downtown for the show.

Did our pose in front of Anthony's drumset again....

and waited for the show to start. Some brilliant marketing guy had put programs on all of the seats that had games and pictures for the kids. It was the perfect diversion for our children until the show started.

Maddie was pointing at the Wiggles sign that was lighting up that she was obsessed with.

Then the show started! Lights down, music on and out come the characters! We had PHENOMENAL seat.

Look how close we were to our Aussie friends!

What could possibly ruin this family moment for us?

>Madilyn Jane.

The moment the lights went down and the music came on the child completely lost it! I am talking screaming, clinging on to me for dear life yelling, "No, Mamma, No!" in between the tears. The first song they sang was "Rock-A-Bye-Your-Bear" and there was nothing but blood curdling screaming. So, I took her out in the hall to try and calm her down. Minutes later I was followed out by my husband who was sopping wet. Ruthie had peed all over his shirt. So, he took his shirt off and had his undershirt on with Maddie while I changed Ruthie. By the time I made it out of the bathroom with Ruthie, Mark was outside the bathroom drenched again. Maddie had peed on his undershirt...and was still screaming. So, I sent my pee-soaked husband back into the show with Ruthie and stayed out with Maddie.

She did ok out in the hallway for a little bit. She kept trying to peek around the curtain when she would hear the songs. Then I would ask her, "Do you want to see the Wiggles?" and she would burst into tears and scream, "No, Mamma, no!" Then Maddie decided she wanted her "sissy", but she didnt want to go back into the show. It was a dilemma for a 2 year old, so her solution was to have a complete meltdown. I went in and got Mark and we left 30 minutes into the show.

Parenting lessons learned from this adventure.

#1. Never assume your children will like anything based on a previous behavior

#2. Bring a change of clothes for Mark when going out on family adventure

#3. Priceless moments actually do have a pricetag. This one was $135.

The Beach

2009-08-15T10:51:00.005-05:00

When I thought about vacation this year at the lake I was so excited about the girls playing on the beach and in the lake. They love swimming and water. They love buckets. It is the perfect combination. Considering I spent my entire childhood playing at this lake, it felt like life was coming full circle. One of those memories I would cherish forever. Instead, this is what I got.

They hated playing in the lake. In fact, they wouldnt even go near the water without screaming. And the sand! Wow! You would think I was making them walk on shards of glass when they had to put their feet in the sand. It was a disaster. I was determined that we were going to have family time at the beach, if they liked it or not.

We were able to distract Ruthie with some sort of a game that involved collecting rocks on the beach and putting them in a cup. That held her attention and stopped the screaming for about 20 minutes.

Me: "Here Maddie! Play with the rocks with Sissy!"

Maddie: "AHHHHHHHHH......NO! AHHHHHHHHHH....NO!"

Maddie: "Oh, play with rocks? I thought you said socks! I will play with rocks."

Maddie: "Wait! I hate rocks! And socks! AHHHHHHHH.....NO!"

She was finally made content by sitting in the chair with Maddie Mostoller eating Cheetos.

The one thing that was a big hit with both of the girls was the jet skis.

Who knows? Maybe next year will go a little better on the beach! If not I will just bring more Cheetos.

Flexible...Not Unbreakable

2009-08-09T21:13:00.004-05:00

Something doesnt look right here......

Hmmmm....what could it be?

Oh, maybe the fact that my almost 2 year old tore apart her glasses? Great! Who needs to be able to see? Who cares that they were actual glasses and not play glasses from the dollar store?

She actually has done so well with her glasses, but I dont think she is completely to blame for the broken glasses. Her glasses were fine until Friday when I put them on the patio table while she was swimming in the pool. I went in the house to grab something and when I came back I saw Maddie sitting on the table and Ruthie's glasses bent into very strange position. Maddie automatically gave me her "uh-oh, Momma" line. I was able to twist them back into a shape that resembled glasses and ran Ruthie back to Vanderbilt to see if they could fix them before the weekend. Alas, they could not! They ordered some new frames for her, but they were still wearable, just very loose on her. Then, this morning in the car I turned around to see that they were in 2 pieces.

They made it a whole month and a half! New frames wont be in for 5 business days, so Ruthie is glasses-less until then!

Adirondack Animal Land

2009-08-08T17:18:00.003-05:00

We have gone to Sacandaga Lake for our family vacation every year since I was born. So, every year we have passed by Adirondack Animal Land. As their website claims "The largest ZOO in upstate New York and voted the area's #1 Tourist attraction 3 years in a row!" Granted, it is in Fulton County, so there really isnt much else to do there. I think their only competition would be "Meatland" which is off of Rt. 30. I am not making that up. It actually exists. But, Adirondack Animal Land has beat Meatland for at least 3 years in a row!

Halfway through this trip my camera broke so I was unable to take picture of the roadside view of Animal Land. I wish I had a picture to show you so that you could get a better idea of what this place looks like from the road. Needless to say, we have made fun of Animal Land almost every time we have driven past it on our way up to the lake for as long as we have had the ability to make fun of things.

We were all about making fun of Animal Land until my sister took my niece there a few vacations ago and we discovered that it actually is a pretty neat place. Dont get me wrong, it is no San Diego Zoo. In fact, it probably is the most random collection of animals in one place. They didnt have any elephants, or lions or tigers. But, they did have giraffes that you could feed!

They dont have any turtles, but they have a statue of one. And really, to a two year old, there is very little difference.

Moments later I tried to get a picture of them on the turtle. Note to self: large metal turtles in direct sunlight will burn your children if you try to place one on it. Lesson learned.

We went on an "African Safari" that was pulled by a tractor. Not very African in my opinion. Also not very African were the goats, cows and pigs we saw on the tour. I guess if you think of the animals you might find in some remote African village then the tour was very African. Anyways, there were a TON of these guys!

They get REALLY close to you too, as Maddie is noticing below.

It was very soon after this picture that one actually put its' head on my shoulder and I completely freaked out and grabbed my kids and ran to the middle of the trailer we were bring pulled on. A little too close for comfort for me.

I of course made my daily attempt at a cute picture of the girls again. This was before the camels attacked.

One day. One day they will both look at me and smile. I know it!

Animal Land actually had a lot of really cute play areas for the kids that I would love to show you, but my camera broke right after this picture.

Overall the girls had a great time. If we didnt have to be back for naptime I think they would have played there for quite a while. I was pleasantly surprised with my visit there and think the girls will have an even better time next year.

Vacation: Ruthie and Maddie Style

2009-08-03T17:57:00.000-05:00

I have my memories of vacation this year with the girls, but these were some out takes of the girls just being themselves that I couldnt resist posting.

Ruthie was in rare form playing on the bed one day.

The girl cracks me up!

Both the girls got a lot of reading time in with Grrmam, which they loved.

Ruthie even stopped texting for a few minutes to listen to Elmo's Potty Time book.

Leave it to Maddie to find trouble to get in to. If there was quiet, then she was getting into something.

All of the diapers being thrown all over the bed....

Newspaper being shredded....

At least she is cute while doing it.

More vacation pics to come. I just have to sort through them all!

We're Back!

2009-08-02T19:42:00.002-05:00

We have made it back from our week at the lake!

AND the girls had their first successful flight in my dad's plane to go to Twinpalooza in New Hampshire!

So much to post, so stay tuned!!!

Camp Hunt

2009-07-24T21:02:00.005-05:00

Camp Hunt: Where Friendships Begin. It is also where complete exhaustion kicks in. That isnt on their t-shirt for some reason!

We just returned from our 5 days up at Camp Hunt and we leave tomorrow for our family vacation. Nothing says vacation like running around like a mad woman with two toddlers! You may be wondering what it looks like to pack for 5 days at a camp with toddlers. Something like this.

You cant see the 4 suitcases behind all of this junk, but they are there. Along with the two pack n plays. Oh, and this was before I had to put the portable high chairs in there. I think you get the point.

My nephew, Jamison, posing by the old Camp Hunt sign. Camp Hunt is the summer church camp that I have gone to my entire life. Now that I am obviously too old to be a camper, I go back and teach Bible class for a week with my sister. We come with baggage, otherwise known as our combined four children. We were very fortunate this year that the entire kitchen staff was camping out in campers down by Grindley Auditorium, so Diehl Lodge was pretty empty. We were able to let the girls have their own room, Jamison his own room and Lily bunked in with Katie and I in our room. We could not have asked for better sleeping arrangements.

This year was VERY different than last year. When I took the girls up last year ( http://simplysullivan.blogspot.com/2008/08/camping-we-will-go.html ) they were barely crawling. This year they could run around all over the place. We set up Kiddie Central right in front of Diehl Lodge, which is where we sleep.

You can see the trail of disaster that they left in their path every day. Their play area had such a great location because we could see them if we went into the Lodge, if we went to the Mess Hall or if we went to the new Dorthy Page Health Center.

So what did they do all day? Alot of swinging.

And a lot of climbing.

But not nearly as much as they wandered aimlessly around camp grounds.

Ruthie's big thing was to push whatever she could find as far away as she could.

Here she is pushing her stroller with her sister in the Jean Wiebe Memorial Garden. They LOVED playing over there and smelling the flowers. I know Jean would have gotton a kick out of them.

She took Jaime's truck for a walk also.

When I say that she wondered far away, I feel as if you need perspective. For example, Ruthie is actually in the picture below. She is to the left of the tree on the other side of the drive.

Thanks to the power of my zoom lens I could keep an eye on her.

We also hung out quite a bit at the new Dorthy Page Health Care Center.

Oh! And apparently it looks as if Ruthie has wandered her way over to the porch. I wasnt joking about the roaming aimlessly. Both of the girls enjoyed walking over there and hanging out with every one on the porch. Ruthie just made herself at home.

For a little change in activities Katie brought up a slip and slide for the kids to play on. They were more interesting in the pool at the end of the slip and slide than in the slip and slide itself.

Any one that knew me when I went to camp knows that I always seemed to befriend the guys there, and usually dated some one new every year. So, why was I not surprised when I saw this.

Looks like the apple doesnt fall too far from the tree. This was completely unstaged, which makes it even cuter! They walked all the way from the Mess Hall to the Lodge holding hands. So sweet!

The worst part about the whole week was the fact that Maddie had some horrible diarrhea and an even worse diaper rash. She cried constantly from being in pain. We tried everything on that rash and couldnt get her any relief except for when we let her walk around in buff. So, part of our week looked like this.

Nothing says camping like a naked bottom!

Overall we had a great week, despite the diaper rash and pure exhaustion. I am so glad that my girls are beginning their camp memories now! Cant wait to make some more next year!

May I Have This Dance?

2009-07-16T23:06:00.004-05:00

I know, I know. You are probably thinking, "We get it! Your kids like the Wiggles! They can dance like them! Big deal!" But! Have you seen them dance together to the Wiggles! A-ha!

It never gets old to me and I see it almost every day.

We'll be MIA for the next two weeks or so as we go on vacation! A week of camping at Camp Hunt, which I am sure will bring lots of exciting posts, and then a week up at Sacandaga Lake with my family. Let the packing begin!

I Cant Hear You!

2009-07-13T20:45:00.002-05:00

There are things that I work hard at to train my children to do. I dedicate a lot of time to teaching them not to hit each other, to share, to not throw their food, etc. When they were younger I worked with them on rolling over, crawling and walking. Now we are working daily on trying to learn more words. I would say the majority of my day is teaching and training my kids.

I have added a new task to the list of things I feel that they should be able to accomplish. The aforementioned activities and abilities are probably on every mom's list in order to raise a healthy, well mannered child. This new task is purely selfish for me. My children will learn to wear a set of headphones. No if's, and's or but's. I think for the next 2 weeks I may actually be spending more time on this skill instead of an important life skill, like increasing their vocabulary. Maybe I will teach them the word headphones in the process. Kill two birds with one stone there.

Why is this so important, you may be wondering. When we are up in NY I have a trip to NH planned. We are meeting a group of twins and their families there that I am on a message board with. I am so excited! So excited that I am even willing to drive the 5 hours to NH, by myself, with the girls. That is how dedicated I am to these ladies and their twins. Upon discussion of this trip with my father he said, "You know that is only a 40 minute flight in my plane." My father's plane is 4 seater that has a propeller that is pretty loud. When you are flying, you need to wear a headset. Are you seeing the importance of this now? 5 hours in the car driving by myself with two toddlers OR 40 minutes in a plane. If it kills me they will wear this headset! Like I said, a completely selfish reason.

Now, plane headsets are a little larger than your standard headphones, so we have been practicing with the Bose noise cancelling headsets. We have two sets that I plug into the portable DVD player and we all sit down and watch it. It is exactly what they will do when they get in the plane. To be honest with you, I am a little concerned about if Ruthie will tolerate the headset or not. She just looks so unhappy and uncomfortable in it.

OK, not so much. The child loves this thing. She just fluffs herself up some pillows and settles in for a nice DVD experience.

Don't work too hard there, Ruthie. Part of me thinks she is so mesmerized because she can finally see the DVD player screen for the first time since she has her glasses! Whatever works though!

Maddie actually does ok with the headphones also. The problem is she wants to walk around with the headset and it is plugged into the DVD player. You can see how this would be an issue. I think once we get in the confined area of the plane where she cant go anywhere, she will sit still and watch better. Of course we'll do a test run with them before heading up into the friendly skies!

Once they master this skill, not only can we fly in my dad's plane, but I will actually be able to listen to the radio in the van while they watch their DVD with headsets on! I have almost forgotten that there is a radio that plays things other than Elmo and Wiggles! The selfish possibilities are endless!

Bounce!

2009-07-10T12:22:00.005-05:00

In my attempt to keep my children entertained, and more importantly worn out, we visited a place called Bounce U. I had never been there before, but that was the location of choice for our twins playgroup today. It was basically two huge rooms of inflatables for the kids to run, jump and climb on. Basically a toddlers dream! The fact that it was air conditioned, contained AND entertained them was my dream come true!

They covered all of the bases. They climbed OVER....

and THROUGH....
and IN BETWEEN.....

and UP....

and DOWN....

and UNDER.

Did I mention the bouncing? LOTS of bouncing. But, my camera sucks at action shots, so you will just have to imagine the bouncing.

Of course, their favorite thing was this bad boy.

In order to get up to the top of the slide you need to be able to master the "stairs", which are not really stairs, but more of a rock climbing skill.

This picture shows about as far up as the girls could get before they began yelling for me. I some how managed to hoist them up there, but any attempt to explain it in words would be futile. It involved a lot of knee work, some excellent balance and pretty much defying gravity. We made it up there several times. And all so we could do this!

Dont zoom in too closely to that picture. I have a really scary look on my face for some reason.

The girls came home and crashed into bed, which is always the sign of a successful morning to me!

Good Morning!

2009-07-07T21:31:00.002-05:00

I am not a morning person. That is probably an understatement. I am miserable in the morning. But, every morning, I crack a smile when I walk in and see this.

These girls have got some crazy hair in the morning! Ruthie slightly resembles Cousin It from the Adams Family usually. Maddie, on the other hand, has such fine hair that tangles so easily. So, she usually looks like some creature has burrowed a nest in her hair. She gets some amazing height with those knots! It is a complete nightmare to comb out.

Just wanted to pass my morning smiles on to you guys!

Safety First

2009-07-05T21:18:00.005-05:00

Some may call this floatie-over-kill. I call it being safe. It really is all a matter of terminology.

You only need 3 inches of water to drown, and this kiddie pool is at least 6 inches. You never can be too cautious. That is my motto.

Ok, so I dont make them wear a life-jacket and arm floaties in the kiddie pool. But, I do make them wear all that gear in the big pool. Because my daughters do this...

and go from this...

to this....

in the blink of an eye. They truly are fearless when it comes to swimming. A good thing and a bad thing, all at the same time!

Now, if you really want floatie-over-load, check this out!

Now, for the depressing one year ago comparison....

Amazing what a year (and enough floaties for them to swim from Florida to Cuba) can do!

R.I.P. Ball Pit

2009-07-03T10:42:00.004-05:00

We got the girls an inside ball pit for Christmas. They played in it all of the time until recently. To make room for different toys I had planned on putting the ball pit away. Then, all of a sudden, they were interested in the ball pit again, of course. I kept it up primiarily because they were playing in it together now and it was so cute. I would just hear them giggling in there, like in the video I posted last week.

If you watch the video again, you will see that Maddie has figured out that the ball pit is flexible. That is how she was doing peek-a-boo with Ruthie. Well, that was apparently the beginning of the end for the ball pit. The other day I walked into see this progression of events.

The ball pit has officially been retired in this house! It was a great 6 months while it lasted!

Four-Eyes

2009-06-30T10:04:00.001-05:00

After Ruthie's last eye surgery in December ( http://simplysullivan.blogspot.com/2008/12/good-old-vanderbilt.html )we had a follow-up appointment in March. At that point the doctor told us that Ruthie was still having some wandering with her eyes, but it was only about 10 degrees off from normal, which is not enough to have to do surgery again. We scheduled a follow-up for 6 months later. This past month I noticed Ruthie's eyes getting all funky again, so I scheduled another appointment. Turns out her eyes were deviating at about a 14-16 degree angle, but only when she was looking at things up close. Her distance eye alignment was perfect. Because she had no distance vision issues that ruled her out for surgery. They checked her for glasses and found that she needed glasses for looking at things up close. Apparently she cant see very well when trying to focus up close, so her eyes end up crossing. This was actually the third time they had checked her for glasses and the first time they came back with the diagnosis that she needed them. The past two times the outcome has been surgery.

Here comes the horrible parent confession. I prayed that she would need another surgery. That outpatient eye surgery is done in one day, it doesnt hurt her and we have it down to an art after going through it 2 times. A morning of outpatient surgery with anesthesia seems a million times easier to me than attempting to keep glasses on my toddler. AND keep glasses on my toddler when her twin sister gets a look at them. Surgery is sounding like a better option by the minute. Unfortunately, she didnt qualify for the surgery this time. (I just re-read that previous sentence and it sounds horrible, but I seriously cant get my girls to keep hair bows in their hair and I have to get Ruthie to keep glasses on her face?)

My afternoon was pretty much shot after finding out she needed glasses. We headed to the downtown office of Vanderbilt to get her fitted. I pull up to the free valet (I LOVE VANDERBILT) and picked up Ruthie only to see that she had gone pee all over herself and the carseat. She might as well have dumped a 2 liter of a beverage all over her. So, in the middle of downtown Nashville, and Vanderbilt, my child is standing in nothing but her diaper. Classy. I had sent my normal diaper bag with Maddie which meant I had no spare outfit for Ruthie. The only thing I had in my car was a t-shirt that they got from graduating swim class the day before. It was a child's small. I refused to walk into this eye center with a child only in a diaper, so I put the shirt on her, which looked like a dress but the short sleeves were long on her. She looked completely ridiculous. I knew that was the beginning of it about to get worse.

For future reference, a toddler is a horrible model to try multiple glasses framed on. I was quickly able to test the durability of each frame as Ruthie ripped them off her face and flung them across the room. Do you see why surgery was seeming better and better to me? No longer was a "cute" pair of glasses my priority, but instead which pair can survive in the slimy little hands of Ruthie. That brought me to the "EasyTwist" frames. Basically you can twist them, or in our case rip them off your face, and they go back to their original shape. SOLD!

We ordered them before we left for NY since they take 7-10 days to make. Ruthie needed bifocals which added a little more time to our order. I picked them up on Monday and began OPERATION KEEP GLASSES ON RUTHIE'S FACE.

We only worked with her for about 2 hours last night with them, and she did surprisingly well. I was told that once they realize they can see better with the glasses they dont rip them off.

I think the longest we made it last night was about 30 minutes solid. I am sure I will be chasing her around all day putting them back in their place.

They survived her playing with Maddie last night which is a feat in and of itself. The adventure begins!

26 Seconds

2009-06-29T12:06:00.002-05:00

Here is 26 seconds of why I love having twins. (Excuse the horrible camera angle. I was peeking around the corner trying to not let them see me!)

These Boots Are Made For Walking!

2009-06-26T19:44:00.002-05:00

The girls will be heading to Camp Hunt with me in a few weeks. Anyone that has been to Camp Hunt knows that a must-have for packing is rain boots. I have had the same pair of Camp Rain Boots since I was a camper, and I LOVE them. There is nothing worse than wet feet all day at Camp. And, there is nothing cuter than rain boots for little kids!

Ruthie, my shoe diva, insisted on wearing them when we got home.

She was all about showing the versatility of her new boots. You can climb in them...

slide in them...

and even take time to smell the flowers in them!

My parents have a fenced backyard that the kids can roam free in. The three toddlers (Jamison, Ruthie and Maddie) can usually be found outside most of the time. We keep an eye on them through the windows, but there really isnt much trouble they can get into. Then Ruthie came to the door like this...

crying and mysteriously missing a boot.

I figured she lost it climbing up into the playhouse, but when I went over there it was no where to be found. When I looked in the far corner of the yard I saw Jaime attempting to lock Maddie in the tool shed and thought maybe Ruthie lost it in her escape from her cousin and his evil plots. No boot in the shed. Of course she was wearing the green boots that blend in with the green grass. I combed that entire lawn and could not find it. I was completely perplexed.

I enlisted the help of my sister, who has a better eye than me thanks to Jamison and his "creative" spirit, shall we say. It only took a little over a minute before Katie and her eagle eyes spotted the boot.

Can you see it? I will give you a close-up.

I have no idea what the three of them were doing around the fence, but there was the lonely boot. Leave it to a toddler to loose her boot in the most random place.

Together Again!

2009-06-20T14:58:00.003-05:00

I was out in the kitchen when I noticed that all 4 of the cousins were in my parents bedroom. I peeped in around the corner and saw this.

Awesome cousin moment.

Fearless

2009-06-18T20:39:00.004-05:00

Today was the last day of of swim classes for Maddie and Ruthie. We took them at Vanderbilt, and with the help of Mark's mom, we were able to do the parent/child classes. Mark's parents live in their pool all summer, so we thought it would be a good idea to get the girls into some swim classes since they will be living in the pool with them when they are up there. Overall I would say that the class was a success. The girls were never afraid of water, so we didnt have to overcome that obstacle like some of the other kids in their class. The worst thing we had was that the girls HATED swimming on their backs. Oh! And the fact that despite it was an indoor pool the water was freezing!

I dont know how many of you have taken infant swimming classes, but it basically is you in the water with your child singing nursery rhymes and dunking them underwater when they least expect it. Granted, that isnt the way they describe it in their brochure, but that is the readers digest version. I think the best part about it is the consistency of getting them in the water and working with them on floating and getting their faces wet. By the end of the 9 lessons the girls both put their heads under water without crying. Progress!

Although I have previously posted that Ruthie is my little fish, I should be more specific. Ruthie is my little fish in a small pond. The girl likes her baby pool. Not such a huge fan of the big kid pool. Now Maddie on the other hand. That child is fearless!

She is all about the big pool. We put a lifejacket on her today and just let her go nuts in there. The girl was running and jumping into the pool all by herself. Well, I was in the pool catching her. I am not a completely negligent parent.

The best part was watching her on the stairs of the pool. She would get in, get to the second step and then just dive into the water towards me. They taught them in swim lessons to swim back to the side after they jump in, so she would turn back around and go back to the stairs to do it all again. I was shocked how well she did "swimming" on her own! I caught some video of it, but it is foggy for some reason, so it looks like we were swimming in the middle of a foggy day instead of a bright sunny day.

Hard to believe how big they are getting.....

Take 1....and 2....and 3...

2009-06-17T12:06:00.001-05:00

I want so badly to remember all of these moments. Really one of the only ways to do that is to capture them on camera. I was given advice while I was pregnant to remember to take pictures of the girls individually, as well as together. That way, when it is time for their Senior slide show they will actually have individual shots and not just shots of the 2 of them. The individual shots have been a lot easier to get, as opposed to the shots of both of them.

I know that it probably is this way with anyone trying to get a good picture of their two young kids. You feel as if it is the most impossible task. I have resorted to the technique of continually snapping pictures and hoping that there will be a good one in there somewhere. So, when you see a picture like this on my blog....

and think, "oh, what a good picture!" you need to realize that....

there was also this one with someone in the background....

this one where they are looking up at who knows what....

and this one with some one having their hand in their mouth, finger up their nose, etc.

My hard drive is filled with attempts at picture of the two of them.

What is also not helping the situation is that Maddie has decided that she "smiles" with her mouth wide open.

I just want to be able to bring out my camera and say, "Smile" and have the two of them stand next to each other (maybe even touch each other without screaming), smile and let me take a cute picture. In the mean time I will continue to fill my hard drive with pictures like this....

Elmo's Potty Time

2009-06-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

Maddie is taking Elmo's Potty Time to a whole new level! She now enjoys watching it from her own potty in the middle of the living room with her Elmo slippers and Elmo doll.

Here is hoping that we can direct this obsession-like-behavior in a positive direction in her teen years.

Evolution

2009-06-13T14:01:00.001-05:00

I believe that we, humans, were created by God as humans. I dont believe that we evolved from lower life forms as science claims. But, if I did believe in evolution from lower life forms, I think I have found the missing link!

RUTHIE!!

I am telling you, this girl has got to be part fish!

I have yet to find her gills, but I think they will show up in this next growth spurt.

And, no, that is not her swimsuit. It doesnt matter what she is wearing, if the pool has water in it, she just dives right in with whatever she has on! She LOVES swimming!

While Ruthie lounges the day away in the pool, Maddie prefers to just play with water in her buckets.

She pretty much empties out the entire pool by the end of the afternoon, one bucket at a time.

Rub A Little Dirt On It

2009-06-11T12:50:00.004-05:00

My kids tend to be slight drama queens. Especially when it comes to being "hurt". I put "hurt" in quotes because I dont consider it truly hurt if they stop crying when I offer them a snack or turn on Elmo. If Ruthie as much as brushes by Maddie, Maddie acts as if Ruthie has just punched her in the face. Because of this, I have picked up a few tricks.

#1. When witnessing something that looks like it has the potential to be an injury, but no blood, automatically turn away as if you didnt see it. This works 85% of the time in preventing the crying from being "hurt"

#2. When witnessing something that looks like it has the potential to be an injury, but no blood, act like they have just won the Super Bowl by jumping up and down and clapping. They will think it was a fun game that they fell flat on their faces 85% of the time.

#3. When witnessing something that looks like it has the potential to be an injury, but no blood, get them to rub a little dirt on it. Not literally, but get them to buck up. I usually say something like, "She barely touched you, you are fine", etc. This one is not always as effective as the previous 2, but sometimes I am just so frustrated with them for being so much drama they get spoken to like I would an adult that was whining about something.

With all of this in mind, I will continue on to our afternoon yesterday. Both of the girls were a little fussy from not having a great nap. There was drama in every little touch, trying to share, etc. I had them outside on the deck playing in the kiddie pool and the backyard. Maddie tripped over one of the buckets and immediately began the crying drama. I went straight to #3 because I was at the end of my rope with them. This was one of the cases where it didnt work effectively and the crying got worse.

Then I saw it. Blood. Blood all down the front of her shirt. All tricks go out the window once blood is involved. Turns out that little Miss had landed face first on one of these baskets (Exhibit A)

and the plastic edge of the basket cut her all the way across her chin from cheek to cheek. Here are a couple things I learned from this injury.

#1. Wounds on the face are impossible to get to stop bleeding

#2. 20 month olds wont keep bandages on

#3. There is no good way to bandage a wound under your chin that goes cheek to cheek

So this is what we ended up with.

The child went to church looking like she had plastic surgery earlier that day and was taped up for recovery. We had to tape on the band aid so she couldnt pull it off. We went out later and got some liquid band aid and put that on, so she looked like this today.

That liquid bandage stuff is amazing!

So, maybe not my most shining moment as a parent, but I take comfort in knowing I am not the only one out there that it has happened to!

Turning a mountain into a backyard

2009-06-09T10:50:00.002-05:00

This is our house.

To say we live on a hill would insinuate that it is a casual walk up to our front door. That would be a lie. I firmly believe that the contractor that built this house 20 years ago looked for a mountain, excavated a piece out in the middle and built our house. I am honestly shocked we dont have to follow the baking instructions for living in higher elevations sometimes. It is a cardio workout just to get the mail. Dont even get me started on mowing the front lawn.

When we moved into this house, there was a family of 5 living there. They even had a swingset in the backyard (they took it with them when they moved). Mark insisted on only buying a house that had a garage basement, which limited us in our selections. We loved the inside of the house and we were just married. Kids were not even in our discussions. Kids lived here already. It must be a kid friendly house.

I know now that we have a driveway of death if our children ever try to ride their bikes, big wheels or rollerblade down it. It will result in an instant trip to the ER, guaranteed. Didnt think that one completely through either.

Now, onto that backyard with the swingset that was "kid friendly". I have no idea how in the world the family before us anchored that swingset down. Remember how I said we were built into a side of a mountain? Well, the mountain continues upwards to the heavens in our backyard. Exhibit B, ladies and gentlemen.

and Exhibit C.
The dead grass and erosion is due in part to the 2 boxers that have run havoc back there for the past 5 years. Needless to say, no place for a swingset or even a viable place for my toddlers to go in the backyard without tumbling to their certain deaths.

So, what was our solution?

DIG, DIG, DIG!!!

1 Bobcat, 2 workers that didnt speak a lick of English, pallet upon pallet of retaining wall block and a month later.....

WE HAVE A BACKYARD!

Because the grade from one side of our yard to the other was so different they had to terrace the backyard into 2 levels. It worked out well for us since we have the "upper lawn" for the kids and then the "lower lawn" for the dogs to run around. That also means there is no dog poop up where the kids play, which is a huge bonus. Blow is a picture of the "lower lawn" for the dogs. We are still in grass growing mode on that section.

This backyard has changed my life. I am a new woman! The girls and I are out there all the time as long as it isnt raining. I can not even imagine what my summer would have been like without being able to let them go out there and run around.

Now building the playset...that is another post in itself!

My future is so bright...

2009-06-06T09:39:00.008-05:00

I have to wear shades!

Summer has finally arrived here in Middle TN. With summer comes some pool time and summer treats. I bought a little kiddie pool for the back deck, which the girls love. I have found them in there several times with all of their clothes on. This will be a little of picture overload, but this was from the first day we were out in the pool, and they both were looking so cute! I was shocked that they both kept their hats on, but they both loved their hats this year. Big change from last year!

I decided to brave the mess and let them have popsicles since they were already going to need a bath from the layers of sunscreen I had put on them. It looks like they have inherited Mark's skin type and not mine, so they actually tan...even with 70+ SPF.

I am so excited about nice weather and being able to get out of the house them! If for nothing else at least for some interesting blog posts!

Hoffman's Playland....Year 2

2009-06-06T09:38:00.001-05:00

You may recall (I know you probably dont, unless you pay SERIOUS attention to this blog) that we took the girls to Hoffman's Playland last year ( http://simplysullivan.blogspot.com/2008/08/hoffmans-playland.html ). They were way too young, and I knew it, but I didnt care. "How young?", you may be thinking. This was our carousal photo from last year

and our photo from this year
Amazing how the time flies!

The girls actually enjoyed themselves on the rides this year. Thanks to my Aunt Linda coming to visit we had enough people to go with all 4 of the kids on each ride.

Unlike last year, which was probably a little traumatizing for the girls, they held on to the carousal horses themselves and smiled as they went up and down.

We were even able to fit in a train ride around the park with everyone!

For Maddie, none of the rides were as big of a hit as the helicopter ride though. I couldnt get a picture of her on the ride, but this is what it looks like.

We had to ride this bad boy several times to appease her. She would have a complete meltdown every time we tried to take her off of it. Thank goodness my mother bought 2 books of tickets!

SportsCenter

2009-06-03T09:39:00.001-05:00

Back in the day, Mark and I were both actually very athletic. I played volleyball in high school and part of college and Mark was all into soccer. I was even known to visit the gym pretty regularly in college. Granted, all of that has changed now, and the ever-increasing clothes sizes are evidence of that. Mark and I have both pretty much expected the girls to be interested in sports, and hopefully at least be good at one of them. Otherwise we'll be sitting at sporting events where our children are not gifted at all and trying to be supportive parents. Mine did that for me in regards to softball and I have never heard the end of it. Thank goodness I was good at volleyball so they could at least not sit in shame through the millions of matches I had.

My nephew, Jamison, turned 2 while we were on our trip to NY. As fitting for a boy of 2, he got EVERY possible piece of sporting equipment in the plastic form, of course. Some of the dad's busted out the brand new t-ball set and the girls were hooked.

Ruthie even helped by putting the ball back on the stand every time. As you can see, Maddie had to be restrained as to not hit Ruthie in her eagerness to swat at the ball.

Back in the house, Ruthie discovered a trampoline. Her interest was peaked.

Then she figured out how it worked.

The above picture could quite possibly be my absolute favorite picture of her.

I have included the SportsCenter reel of the girls and their sporting adventures with all of Jamison's cool stuff.

If I was really talented at video editing I would have added the SportCenter theme to it. Instead of putting all of that time and effort into it I decided to just clean my kitchen floors. I think it was an appropriate use of my time. It would have been cool though.

Cousin Lovin'

2009-06-02T09:49:00.001-05:00

Ruthie was not in the sharing mood with her cousin, Jamison.

But that didnt stop him....

Corn, Anyone?

2009-05-30T20:09:00.002-05:00

Summer time is cook-out time in our family! And, what is a cookout without corn on the cob?

I had originally cut the corn off the cob for the girls, but was prompted by my grandmother to let them gnaw on the corn on the actual cob. So, I gave it to them and let them go to town. Of course, Ruthie caught right on to the process.

Maddie was another story. Out of pure confusion as to eating this strange food, she promptly sat it on her tray and just dove in, head first, to eat.

She later decided to use her hands, but could not quite master the correct positioning of proper corn-on-the-cob-eating.

At least it helped with relieving some teething issues we are having!

Passing the Time

2009-05-27T21:09:00.006-05:00

The girls are finding ways to pass the time while we are up here in NY. We are pretty much running a daycare at my mom's house since we now have my two 20 month olds, my 2 year old nephew, 4 year old niece and a 6 month old baby that my sister is babysitting. Amongst the chaos, I will admit, sometimes we loose track of one....or two....or all of them.

Ruthie was quiet for a little while. I found this.

At least she is understanding the basic concepts of the process.

Since Katie is watching a baby, we pulled out the baby swing, which apparently Maddie was missing.

She always was my swing baby. She sat in there, swinging, and watched Elmo most of the night. She kindly kicked Ruthie and Jamison whenever they came by her to try to sit in the swing themselves.

They do get along when ice cream is involved though.

Lily showing off her amazing bubble blowing skills to Maddie. She was in awe of her big cousin. Granted, Lily can not tell them apart, so she refers to both of them as "my little cousin". When asked which one it is she finally admitted that she didnt know who was who.

The fun continues for a few more days!

She can call me flower if she wants to

2009-05-24T22:08:00.002-05:00

We went up to my childhood summer camp, Camp Hunt, for Family Weekend. Ruthie found a "flower" and was enthralled with it for about 5 minutes. That is eternity in toddler time, just in case you thought that is not very long.

She brought me the "flower"...
Ran through the fields with the "flower".....

Sat and examined the "flower" closely....
and even smelled the "flower".

I didnt have the heart to tell her it wasnt a flower but instead a weed that was the main cause of my allergies acting up and me having to take massive doses of Clariton that day. Why ruin a good photo opportunity with details like that!

Too Close For Comfort

2009-05-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

I have no idea why Ruthie could possibly have a vision problem. Why would she go cross-eyed? Isnt sitting 6 inches from the TV perfectly normal?

She had never seen a TV down on her level and she was glued to it. She kept touching the screen the whole show. I have no idea how she could see anything that close, but then again, she does walk into objects quite a bit on a normal basis. It is hard to judge when that is your baseline.

Hind Sight is 20/20

2009-05-19T16:34:00.002-05:00

Nothing good can come of this situation. I have a feeling one day I will look back and think, "It all started that day she figured out she could get out the doggie door." In fact, that will probably be the opening line to a future blog that goes on to talk about how Maddie slipped out while I wasnt looking and caught a bus to Mexico.

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy!

2009-05-17T21:46:00.000-05:00

We spent some time this past weekend up at the girls great-grandparents house, which is on a farm. It didnt take long for them to find this new toy.

I think the following pictures officially make my girls GRITS (or Girls Raised In The South for my northern counterparts that are reading this).

Let the child labor begin!

2009-05-15T16:12:00.004-05:00

There are many benefits to having kids. Besides the wonderful tax deductions, one of the things parents look forward to is when they can make their children earn their keep. I mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, did the dishes, etc. It is a rite of passage for any kid. It is when parents can finally relax for a minute after the years of having to do EVERYTHING for their kids. Builds character in them!

Maddie has become obsessed with emptying the dishwasher. I have to watch her because she will try to empty out dirty dishes if I am not paying attention. I, of course, use this to my advantage. She just needs to get tall enough to put them in the cabinet now. Watch what happens at the end of the video when she cant get the last dish out.

I wonder how she feels about pushing a lawn mower?

We're Going to Need More Minutes

2009-05-11T22:54:00.001-05:00

It is amazing to me the things that the girls are starting to pick up. I am the first one to admit that I could quite possibly fall over and die if I didnt have my cell phone. So, it is no wonder that the girls know what a cell phone is. We actually bought them some play cell phones for Christmas that are still a hit. But, nothing is as good as the real thing.

Although Ruthie likes to be talked to on the phone, Maddie likes to talk on the phone. She has full on conversations that are completely not translatable. At dinner last night, Maddie sat through the entire dinner with her play cell phone to her ear, conveniently held by her shoulder, so she could continue to eat her chips and dip. It was the funniest thing.

Mark has been gone for the past few days to Harding to see his brother graduate. Maddie has taken this opportunity to bring me my phone several times and say, "DaDa". We then call him and she says "hi", "DaDa" and "bye". After we got off the phone she continued the conversation with him, despite him not being on the other line.

Thank goodness for the keypad lock function on my phone or we would be in big trouble!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-09T20:45:00.001-05:00

From my sweet little girls...with a little help from their Daddy.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Choreographing

2009-05-06T10:02:00.003-05:00

I dont know if I should be proud or embarrassed that Ruthie can choreograph the entire Wiggles Song, "Rock-A-Bye Your Bear". Maybe they have watched it one too many times. I included the video and then I taped Ruthie watching the song. You cant really hear on the tape, but Ruthie says, "Shh, Shh, Shh" when they are putting the bears to sleep. It is too cute! Also, when she is opening her mouth wide it is because that is what they do when they say "Sing" in the video.

I wish she would pick up on the educational things that I show her like she does the Wiggles!

The Face of Separation Anxiety

2009-05-04T10:28:00.003-05:00

Want to know what the face of separation anxiety looks like?

It looks something like this. This is Ruthie throwing herself up against our glass door because I walked outside to let the dogs out. Now, think how many times a day I have to let the dogs out and that is how many times a day I see this....

I cant help but laugh when she squishes her face up against the glass. I can only imagine what my neighbors think of of me as my child is screaming and I am outside taking pictures of it. I dont think they will be nominating me for any Mother of the Year awards.

With the pained look on her face you would think I was outside dancing in a field of ice cream and not letting her out to join in the fun. I seriously am just standing there holding a leash. This too shall pass.....

Dear Ruth Ellen....

2009-04-30T13:33:00.002-05:00

Dear Ruthie,

I am so thrilled that you have appropriately formed the mother-child bond! It makes my heart sing that you want to be with me. But, I promise you, I will come back for you. When I drop you off in nursery at church, I will come back. When I go to put a load of laundry in the washing machine, I will come back. When I walk out the front door to let the dogs outside, I will come back. This is not a permanent situation. So, the complete and utter melt-downs that occur when I leave your eye sight are really unnecessary. You know what I am talking about. The thrashing of your body against the door, the high pitched screaming followed by the hyperventilating sniffling. I carried you for 37 weeks and 4 days. I puked for a solid 16 of those weeks. I endured hemorrhoids for you. I pumped every 3 hours for 6 months to provide food for you. I paid THOUSANDS of dollars in medical bills to ensure that you stay with me. I have spent countless hours at Vanderbilt for you. If I was going to leave you, I would have left you around the hemorrhoid phase of my pregnancy. I promise I will come back and get you. So, take a deep breath. Eat your snack trap. The time will come soon enough where you will want nothing to do with me.

Love,

Momma

Dear Madilyn Jane...

2009-04-27T19:23:00.002-05:00

Dear Maddie,

I am writing this to help guide you in the journey of your language development. Although I am thrilled that you are learning more and more words, I feel that it is my duty as your mother to correct you of proper word usage. According to Merriam-Websters Dictionary, the proper definition of "uh-oh" is "to indicate dismay or concern". Although not specifically stated, it is socially used for accidents. It is not to be used for many of your premeditated acts that you do several times each day. This includes, but not limited to, pulling your hairbows out, pulling your sister's hairbows out, throwing your plate, throwing your food, or standing on chairs. It is also not to be used as a warning word for an act that is about to occur that you know you should not be doing. This includes, but not limited to, going to the open areas on the jungle-gym and hanging your foot over as if you are going to step off even though we both know you are just testing me, touching buttons on the DVD player, taking CD's out of the entertainment center and throwing them on the floor and shutting the door on your sister in a dark room. As I have reminded you on a daily basis, "It is not an uh-oh if you do it on purpose".

Love,

Momma

Bye-Bye, Pee-Pee

2009-04-23T10:04:00.002-05:00

In my perfect world, the girls would be potty-trained soon after they are 2 years old. My niece, Lily, was potty-trained a week after she turned 2. Granted, she was trained by my sister's mother-in-law who was given the amazing gift of being able to potty train kids in a week. I see this as a very marketable service that she should be selling to parents. I am seriously considering trying to bribe her into coming to Nashville in September. Anyways, I am looking forward to no more diapers.

My kids are showing absolutely no signs of readiness in regards to potty training, but that doesnt stop me from being proactive about it. So, for the past 2 months, we talk alot of potty in this house. I have two little kiddie potty's in the bathroom and when I go into the bathroom the girls follow me in. They actually really like coming in and sitting on their potty's. I, of course, let them flush the big potty which is a big hit. Every time they flush I say, "Bye-Bye Pee-Pee". I dont know why, but I do. A little insight into the crazy things motherhood will make you say that seem completely normal at the time.

One of the other things that I have started doing is having them watch Elmo's Potty Time video every day. So, I sit in there with them and we talk about Elmo using the potty, no more diapers, etc. If you havent seen this video, it is hilarious. I guess Maddie starting pick up the whole sequence of events I am trying to put together for them because this is what she has started doing during the Potty Time Video.

There is a sequence of toilets flushing in the video and she says, "Bye" every time she sees the toilets flushing. So funny. And, yes. Ruthie is just sitting on the doggie bed watching the video. She has decided she likes to sit there to watch TV recently. It is a memory foam doggie bed, so I cant really blame her.

Out With the Old, In With the Elmo

2009-04-19T14:20:00.003-05:00

It has only taken about a year, but the girls have found a new show that they will watch, besides the Wiggles. They have branched out to Elmo now! I have no idea why Elmo, but they will watch it, so I wont fight with that. At least Elmo is kind of educational, as opposed to the Wiggles where a pirate is running around quacking like a duck.

For our trip to Harding I went to Target to pick up a couple new (cheap) toys for the ride and I saw these Elmo stuffed animals in an under $5 bin. I picked one up for each of the girls. Little did I know the monsters I would be creating. They LOVE their Elmo's. They carry them all over the place. And, apparently, it is IMPOSSIBLE to watch Elmo without holding onto their Elmo dolls.

Ruthie has taken to feeding her Elmo. It is very important to keep Elmo with a full belly.

Maddie showing me her Elmo.

I am sure I will develop a numb spot in my brain for all of the Elmo lingo, just as I have for the Wiggles. We still watch the Wiggles, but it nice to have a little change every once in a while.

Word Crazy

2009-04-16T10:13:00.001-05:00

Out of the two girls, Maddie is definitely talking more than Ruthie. She has a couple words that she uses ALL DAY LONG. I think she is just excited that she knows what they mean and how to use them, so she goes around all day saying these four words. I put together a little clip of her saying the words for you to extrapolate. In my opinion, the last one is the hardest to figure out, but I also included a hint in there for you.

A little insider info. I had to ask her to say #1, #2, and #4. For #3 all I had to do was pause her video and that got her attention real quick.

From the Foothills of the Ozarks

2009-04-14T09:04:00.002-05:00

DISCLAIMER

If you did not attend Harding University this post will probably be meaningless to you. If you did attend Harding University then you are about to be inundated with photos of my children in random Harding places. But, if you can make it through until the end, you may just get a little clip of Spring Sing's Megamix that I recorded!

THIS WILL BE A LONG POST. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

This was the first roadtrip that we have taken with the girls. About a year ago I took a 3.5 hour car trip with my mom, sister and her kids with the girls. Alot has changed in a year though, so I knew it would be an adventure. I had timed our departure on Thursday so that when it was their nap time we would load up in the car so that they would fall asleep until (hopefully) close to Memphis. An hour and a half later we stopped in Jackson, TN to let my wide awake babies stretch their legs. An hour later I looked in the backseat to see this.

25 minutes later they were awake. They stayed awake until they went to bed that night. I was very surprised at how well they managed to keep themselves together despite only 25 minutes of sleeping all day.

Friday was our day on campus. These ugly orange chairs could only mean one thing....

Chapel in the Benson Auditorium!

We didnt actually make it to chapel because by the time I found a parking spot, got them in the stroller and made it to Chapel, they were doing closing announcements. Not to mention the difficulty I had in trying to find a changing table on campus. I now know there is one in the Reynolds Center at least, but not in the student center.

Once the Benson cleared out a little I let the girls loose. They ran up on stage and had a great time!

The girls and I making our morning announcements on stage.

My attempt at making Ruthie stand in front of the podium

My attempt at getting Maddie to stand in front of the podium.

After Chapel my normal Harding schedule was the head over to the Reynolds Center, so we brought them over there. Luckily the Chorus rehearsal hall was empty so they could get some energy out there.

They were able to play some piano with Daddy.

They enjoyed climbing the risers
Ruthie!

Me and the ladies hanging in the Reynolds.

It was supposed to be sunny and in the mid-60's on Friday, but it ended up being cloudy, windy and cold. We had to stay inside most of the day. Saturday was a different story though.

Our Saturday started out with brunch with my cousin, Sharon.

We had planned on IHOP, but apparently that is the newest hotspot in Searcy on Saturdays and was too full for us. So we headed to Bobby's, which of course had a line a mile long and conveniently no high chairs. We considered Waffle House until Sharon pointed out that she thought it was not a good idea to expose the girls to hepatitis, even though they have been vaccinated. So, we ended up at the Searcy-go-to, Dixie Cafe. By this time, our brunch had turned into lunch. I also think that Ruthie and Maddie convinced Sharon to never have children....or at least to never take them out in public if you do have them.

After lunch, it was too beautiful of a day to not take the girls outside on campus. So, off to the front lawn we headed. They had been in their stroller for most of the morning, so sunshine and wide open spaces was much needed.

The flowers on campus were in full bloom and the girls were enjoying smelling them. Or, at least, pretending to smell them.

FREEDOM!!!

Ruthie in front of the newly remodeled Heritage Hotel. I absolutely LOVE the look on her face in this picture!
Walking around in front of Patty Cobb and the old Bell Tower

You will notice that most of these pictures are of Ruthie. Maddie was not willing to let me take her picture this afternoon. So, while I was attempting to get some shots of Maddie, I will admit, I lost Ruthie. She was no where to be found in my direct line of view. The front lawn is fenced in, so I knew she could now have gone too far. I walk around some trees and I see this.

Ruthie had befriended some girls laying out on the lawn, and they were just laying there having a good old time. She also found their stash of thin mints.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the reasons I love Harding. Where my children can wander and not be kidnapped when Mommy is completely not paying attention to one of them.

And, of course, it wouldnt be a Harding visit without swing pictures!

I made an attempt at getting some pictures of me with the girls. They werent too interested.

Then the girls headed off with Daddy to take a nap and I hit Spring Sing 2009!

Let me start off with a few things. I knew something was a little "off" when I was talking to a current student that was in Spring Sing and I mentioned how I was excited about Mega-Mix this year. They looked at me and asked me what Mega-Mix was. When I explained it, they said, "Oh, you mean the Finale". That didnt sit right with me, but whatever. I thought maybe they just had not been paying attention to the YEARS OF TRADITION of Mega-Mix at Spring Sing.

So, I get to the show and the program even has the mega-mix listed as "Finale". Whatever, fine, dont call it Mega-Mix, but wow me, please! It was labeled as a song called "Life Together". We finally get to the Finale. Yay! All clubs on stage. Waiting, waiting. Everyone choreographing together, and then I hear it. A verse in the chorus of this song, "Life Together" that says, "United we stand, divided we fall." Now, every good Harding student knows that you end Mega-Mix with a version of "United We Stand, Divided We Fall". Why is this only a line in this new song that is seeming to be this years Mega-Mix. I was very confused. Balloons fall from the ceiling and lights are out. WHAT!!!! THAT IS THE END????!!! Where is each club coming out to do 15 seconds of their show? Where is my "United We Stand, Divided We Fall?" I was on the verge of a massive coronary in the balcony of the Benson. I included a snip-it of this "Life Together Song" since I thought I was taping "Mega-Mix" . You'll hear the line in the song as soon as you play the clip.

So, as to prevent an uprising in the Benson from all former Alumni, the lights came up and this tune calmed me.

You'll notice that all that the clubs did was bow. I was a little disappointed. Mark was a judge for Lipscomb's Singaroma last week, and I tagged along. I was bragging to some of our Lipscomb friends about the huge ending that we do for our Spring Sing show. I am a little disappointed that this video is my example. Still a good show though. My old club, Delta Gamma Rho, came in second place! Yay!

That pretty much sums up our visit to Harding. The girls got to spend time with Uncle John and Uncle Micah, which is a rare occurrence. I have no Easter pictures of the girls since we spent all of Easter in the car. Mark and I went to midnight service at Downtown Church of Christ so we could head out on Sunday morning.

Overall, great trip to see Harding, friends and family!

Puppy Love

2009-04-12T17:15:00.005-05:00

Well, we finally made it back from our trip to Harding for Spring Sing weekend. Unfortunately, my mother of all posts dedicated to every cheesy aspect of Harding memorabilia I subjected my children to will take a little while to put together. So, in the mean time I have included a short video clip for your enjoyment.

We stayed with Reagan and Nate Dennison, who were so kind to let me and two 18 month olds invade their home. They had just brought home a 7-week old puppy that they adopted. She was the size of some of the girls stuffed animals. Ruthie LOVED the puppy. Every night when we would come back to the house she would wrestle with her.

Almost made me want to get another puppy, but I quickly got over that.

Bible Blanket Update

2009-04-08T17:40:00.002-05:00

Seriously?!? I have searched for this thing all over the internet. I tried searching under Bible Blanket, Bible Quilt, Bible Stories on a Blanket and I could never find anything. I put it on my blog and ta-da! All the sudden ebay has them! So, if you like the Bible Blanket, this is where you can get one....and for only $4! http://cgi.ebay.com/Beginner%27s-Bible-Play-Mat-Jonah-David-Lion-Fabric-Panel_W0QQitemZ300306088392QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090407?IMSfp=TL090407156001r2646

Shout out to Abby for finding it!