Sunday, August 31, 2008

Black and White

Many questions have come up about these twins and to set the record straight-- no they are not identical and actually are quite different in all areas-- Here are a few.

Anika- loves her mimi (pacifier) and can't sleep without it
Shay- loves her thumb and could care less about the pacifier

Anika- eats only when she wants to-- well sometimes force fed
Shay- could eat anytime any place
Anika-- sleep-- are you kidding! She is our party animal
Shay- needs her sleep-- we never miss her naptime!

Anika- loves the saucer
Shay- loves the walker

Anika- Doesn't like to stop-- because that would mean she'd have to sleep or eat
Shay-- is fairly laid back and happy unless she has missed her nap

Anika- 1/2 taller than Shay
Shay- 2 lbs heavier than Anika

Anika- Sleeps on her stomach
Shay- Sleeps on her back
Anika- picky eater
Shay- eats pretty much anything you give her

Anika-still can squeeze into 6-9 month clothes
Shay- forget anything that is not 12 month or bigger!

These two kiddos have their own language, fight over every toy, wake each other up with their screams (they share a room), love their big sister, love the hairy dog and sneezy cat, and most days jump up to see their dad when he comes home from work.

Here are some recent photos of the "monster twins."

Anika on your left, Shay on the right
Shay on your left, Anika on your right-- they are waiting for some meal.. whatever it was, we are never fast enough. Even so, Shay gets very angry at you when you are feeding Anika. Its rather humorous at times.

Anika playing and probably trying to steal toys from Shay.


Shay getting pissed because Anika stole her toy or its past her bottle time.


And last.... this child drives us to have a drink...... and sometimes we share! HA!! Just kidding mom!


"I'm a Big girl, I'm three!"

Kylie turned three as many of you know on Tuesday of last week. It was a pretty low key happening around here- big surprise for this family-- and not to mention the wonderful snotty cold we all had (minus Chris).

Kylie had pretty much all she could ask for. For a few weeks we had been hearing about how she wanted dinosaurs. Chris told her that dinosaurs were really hard to find in stores. Of course, the first thing she opened that morning were a set of six baby dinosaurs. They all have names and they all get to play unless they are grumpy (atleast that is what I hear--- there seems to be one that is always grumpy and I get to play with him-- geeh, what does that mean?). You'll see in some pictures, the dinosaurs are there-- especially for blowing out the candles! Kylie also got her own tricycle and of course, DORA legos. What more could a girl ask for??

Below are the pictures of the bday. She had a great day and managed to stay cold free until Wednesday. And the poor girl, she got the worst of the sickness.... still fighting it, but almost back to the normal Kylie.

Kylie waiting for her ice cream cake and candles.
Kylie blowing out her candles-- notice in the photo the dinosaurs and her "Sheepy" that is watching her do this monumental blow.


And, we could not do a post if we did not include DORA....

Happy Birthday Kylie! 360 days till the next!

Friday, August 29, 2008

And we are on the mend.. i think!

Sorry, once again...

It was our intention to update this after preschool open house and Kylie's 3rd birthday, but we got the lovely cold here.

Anika seemed to get it first on Monday afternoon. She managed to not let her parents sleep more than 3 hours that night.

Shay seemed to pick up tuesday afternoon. She managed to keep her parents up as well--- and she screams loud enough to wake up the neighborhood, so she managed to keep everyone up!

Kylie kept it away until Wednesday morning. That girl felt awful, but managed to stay pretty happy. Thursday she spent the day on the couch watching, you guessed it, DORA. I did manage to get in some other shows because I just could not handle it ANYMORE!

Friday-- the twins seem to be doing really well. About 90% well. Kylie is about 75% there, still runny nose, but manageable. She has not sat down since she got up this morning. We have a new "sitter" here to help on Fridays and Kylie has not left her side. She is pretty happy today.

As far as the parents-- Amanda got the nasty cold, probably lack of sleep induced, but has managed to get over it. Chris has been lucky enough to dodge the sucker... let's hope!

Pictures-- yeah, we have them, but not the time needed to make them "look pretty." I'll be sure to put that on our list-- that is a mile long-- for the weekend.

So until next time.... have a great weekend and enjoy the last bit of summer!!

Friday, August 22, 2008

The things kids say

Here is an episode of Kylie at the Doctor today---

Doc: "Kylie, can you stand on one foot?"
Kylie: "No, I stand on two foots." (not to mention she gives the doctor a look like, duh!)
And a bit later in the conversation, Kylie mentions she is going to run in the Olympics (and tonight she clarified saying she is going to run the long ones cause that is what I like).

Kylie: "I'm cranky today, I don't think I need to get my shots today."

Then the doctor leaves. we are waiting now for the shots to arrive.
Kylie: "Okay, I went to the doctor today, I am ready to go to school.
Mom: "So you are not cranky anymore?"
Kylie: " No I am cranky still, I don't need my shots today."

Still waiting for the nurse to come back and we get "Mom, let's get out of here."
Mom: "No Kylie, we still have to wait a few minutes."
Kylie: "I am cranky, I do not need to stay.

I am sure there were more "Kylie-isms" but I can't remember that far back on the day.

We'll try to give an update after the preschool open house. I'll let you all know if she is cranky.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Do you ever really win?

Seriously, do parents ever really win when you've got infants at home?

Take for instance last night...
Anika goes down to bed like she normally does and we "think" it will be a chance to get some rest. No, no, no, she's got different plans for her parents. Instead, she thinks 2:30 is a great time to start playing, partying, screaming and then just doing her whining. So for fear of her waking up her sisters, which often happens, Chris runs in there and shoves the pacifier in her mouth. It sates her for a few seconds, just enough for Chris to get back into bed. So then, I get up, go in there and do the same routine. Again, it works until I get back into bed. We give her a few minutes, then one of us, can't remember who, goes in there turns her mobile on and pray to god she sleeps. Nope.... 15 minutes later, one of us goes back in there, turns on the mobile and prays again, this time, please just GO TO SLEEP! Nope again... this continues till we are just pissed and annoyed that this kid is still up. 4:30 we both get up, and she gets her bottle and then shuts up and sleeps--- finally... We both decide we should go back to bed until another one wakes up.... 6:30 rolls around and Anika is yet up again... So, it begs the question, do the parents ever win? Yeah, we made her wait till 4:30 to eat (which she really should not be eating by the amount she puts down a day and the "real food" she eats), but then we are beat by 8 AM....

And for crying outloud, this child is almost 7 months?!!?!? She should be snoozing like her Shay. (Shay is the champion sleeper here-- life would be way too easy if both infants slept like logs!)

And imagine if Chris and I both got full nights sleep-- We'd probably just be tired because we slept more than 5 hours straight!

Coming up..... Kylie has open house for preschool Saturday and the BIG 3 is on Tuesday! I think the town of Lake Zurich might just be sold out of DORA balloons that day.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Rolling, rolling, rolling, rawhide!

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know, update this more.... But, that would mean we have time to spare and time to spend on the internet... spare time is something of the past. I hear at some point, we'll have some free time, but right now, the time flies.


As far as things to report-
6 Month stats--
Anika is now 15 lbs and 5 oz
Shay is now 17lbs and 4 oz

The twins roll all over the place now.... seriously, across the entire carpet and then like to roll onto the hardwood-- and boy that feels and sounds good when their heads hit the floor. Sometime they'll learn, right? Chris brought up the "corral" this weekend to try to confine them. Kylie likes to be locked in there with them, so it might just work to my benefit sometime!

Kylie is a crazy girl-- always busy and always asking a million questions. Kylie knows how to spell her name and can almost spell her last name. She knows her "house name" meaning address and knows how to get home from the beginning of the neighborhood. And the internet, she could teach Nana a few things-- this girl can navigate EVERYWHERE on the net. Like I said, its scary how much this little chica knows.

Today we made it out to the Pig Roast down the street. Kylie's favorite part was the music and the "surprises" you got (the kids played games and got tickets for playing-- then in turn, the ticket were used to get prizes). Kylie came home with two new bracelets (pink and purple of course), piggy bank, and a bouncy ball. All of which have a nice new home and soon to be lost in the mass of toys here.

Here are some pictures from today... Kylie was trying to be a baby again sitting in Anika's carseat and Chris with all this girls... Sorry, no pics of me, I am always the one taking the photos!! I'll work on that one next week.



We'll aim for an update midweek, but don't hold your breath.... its all contigent on these girls and the free time they allow us............. :)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Fix It Kylie and her 6 month old sidekicks

I suppose we should update this thing with more regularity, but like these kids allow us to have much time?? yeah, no...

This weekend brought a rare occurance.. I know, don't faint... We made it out to dinner WITHOUT the kids. Yes, a great babysitter decided she wanted to the daunting task of taking on three kids at bedtime. It was FABULOUS to get out alone. Oh yeah, the occasion-- Chris and I made it to the 5 year mark. Five years married and three kids later-- we've got some gray hairs to show for that... (sidenote-- any of you looking for a great steak place- you'll have to check out Tramontos Steak and Seafood)

Anyhow, "Fix-It Kylie".... Check out her new job.... She is trying to be just like her Dad and fix everything. Very focused mind you. This girl works hard-- look at her face!









And also this past week, the twins turned 6 months. Its hard for us to believe we've been sleepless that many months, but somehow we've made it---- well, with a lot of help! Here are the latest photos of them.

Shay playing in her saucer--


Anika in her carseat

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Puke, Spew, Ralph, Vomit, Barf...

Doesn't the title just so interest you? I bet it did... We, moreso myself (Amanda), get puked on daily. Its not like a one time thing, its like a 10 time thing. Its rather annoying at times-- like today. I changed my shirt 4 times before it was 10 O'Clock. I used to say we did laundry because we ran out of burp cloths, but I think the lack of tshirts that are appropriate to wear outside the house are almost rivaling that. And those of you who know me, you know what tshirts I am talking about. (I think Chris is embarrassed by them sometimes). The best part about this whole puking thing is that it is never one kid, they like to change it up a bit. This morning Anika is winning the battle, 3 pukes to Shay's 1 puke. But don't worry, I am sure Shay will catch up later on this afternoon. Its early....

Not only are the twins good at puking on you, but pretty much everywhere in this house... My favorites are when you are holding them on the couch and they manage to puke on you, then down the couch and on your leg to end up on the carpet. And if the dog is lucky, sometimes he gets caught in the puke monsters wrath. Or how about when they puke on you as you walk -- then you've got a nice trail on the floor. (its really nice when the dog is inside to help with the cleanup-- good old Odin, maybe that is why he is so big!). I also love it when I try to leave the house and I have showered (its rare as Chris would say) and I STILL SMELL like PUKE!! What's with that? Maybe I should bottle it up and sell it for perfume. Maybe then it will cover the cost of a new t-shirt wardrobe?

So the point of the post--- I need new tshirts....

Monday, August 4, 2008

I'm a Runner Mom!

"I'm a Runner Mom. I am a super fast runner. Watch me." Kylie runs laps around the house and not only does it wear her out but if we're lucky, it entertains the twins. But Kylie transformed into a "real runner" today.

We headed today to the "running shoe store" aka Runners High and Tri. (For those of you who like to run and like in the Chicago burbs, this is a store that cannot be missed.) Kylie was so excited to go visit this "Running store" that she had to change her shirt to her pink running shirt. She thought she was the coolest now and although I am biased, she was looking pretty cool. The actual purchase of shoes was uneventful since these folks know their stuff, but Kylie was just entralled with the amount of PINK and YELLOW items in the store. Kylie would have emptied the banking accounts if she actually got everything she touched. In any case, after carrying around the "beautiful Yellow running shoe that has to come home mom" the woman working there helped distract her and lead her to a yellow waterbottle which now completes Kylie's running attire. She is a "True Runner" now she thinks. She even carries it properly.... oh, does this mean she'll be a high maintenance runner?? I think Chris might cringe-- again.

And you guessed it, when she got home, she asked for it to be filled and changed into "running" shorts and asked when Mom was going running..... Ummm... yeah, its raining... Thankfully! It's a day off.... I think...

Friday, August 1, 2008

Uncle "CaCa" and Crew

Last weekend (see how speedy we are to upload and share) the Smileys came to visit for dinner. It was nice to see them all healthy and having a good time. This is the latest video to share of that evening. As you can see, although Casey just had surgery, he seems to be back to his "jackass" self (we say that lovingly) tripping his own kid. Nice, huh? I don't think Julie leaves him alone long.....One of these days when Casey goes back to school, Luke is going to be doing something totally off the wall and we all will know where he learned it--- the big kid himself.


Nothing else to report on our front here... been a pretty routine week here- starts with a headache from not enough sleep and ends with a headache because on of the infants didn't nap enough and screams from 6:30 on... When do they "grow" out of this? And as Kylie says, " If you are grumpy, you GO IN YOUR CRIB!" (humm... do you wonder where she gets this?)

The next post.... Hoffer makes it to the burbs... (and not that Hoffer...)