I want to remember.....

When we were recently driving in the car and Sabrina told us she was going to "play mama".  She then instructed Sammy to do a slew of things, including telling him to get in time out.

What's with this girl and wanting to put things/people in time out?

When I was out of the house running errands and Jason told me that Sabrina was following Sammy around, trying to feed him.....playing "mama".  Blowing on the fork and everything, telling him it is too hot.

Simply precious.

I want to remember these things........

Has it been?

That long?  I see the last time I blogged (published blog, that is) was in January.  And now looking back, I remember why.

I feel like I pretty much skipped over January and February and landed somewhere in the middle of March.  Sometime after my grandmother had a heart attack and open heart surgery.  Sometime after I was so scared of losing another person in my life.  Sometime after my babies--yes--BABIES turned two years old when I wasn't looking and had to recognize it when planning their birthday party.  And sometime between January and March that one of my children became potty trained.

So here I am, at the beginning of June with a thankfully healthy grandmother who is as frisky as ever and two two year olds that are as frisky as ever too.  Oh, and caught the chicken pox too.  Yeah, throw that in there.

Of course other stuff happened in life because we all know that even if I stop blogging, my blogging material doesn't go away.  And I couldn't even write down everything in an interesting enough way that anyone would ever want to read it.

So here are some milestones:

Sammy finally found all of his vocabulary sometime before he turned two.  He is a repeating machine and his voice is simply enchanting.

Little Miss (aka Sabrina) is sassier than ever.  She continuously puts Sammy into time-outs (and other toys and objects) as well if she feel she has been wronged.  She will also put herself into time-out.....but carry out the deed knowing she will go into time-out. 

Sammy knows how to climb out of his crib.  But only did it once.

Sabrina is pretty much fully potty trained--we are working on naps and night time.

Oh! And Sabrina is finally starting to get her teeth in.  Yeah, I know she is two.  But seriously, the girl (until recently) had like four teeth.  Certainly didn't stop her from eating though.

Usually when I blog it is because something strikes me to do so.  Today I was struck.  I wanted to write about it and remember it.  I've been a tad stressed out lately and this sort of thing helps ground me and remind me what life is truly about.

Both the twins usually love to be sang to.  It could be any song really, but they have their favorites.  For awhile, the theme song to "Jay-Jay the Jet Plane" was their favorite although I really don't know why.  But there have been others too, like "Row Row Row Your Boat" that sometimes they want to hear over and over again.

When Sammy is in a certain state of mind, only that one song will do that he wants to hear.  But he asks in the sweetest, sweetest way.  His main song lately is the Thomas the Train theme song.  Do not get me started on his Thomas obsession, for I did not foster it, but it is there nonetheless.  So if I start singing Jay-Jay, he says, "No Jay-Jay, how about Thomas?"  And it begins a little game we play.

I will literally start singing every song and every time I do he quietly says, "No Twinkle, how about Thomas?"  And not only does he do it in the sweetest way, but he tilts his head to one side as if only knowing how cute he can possibly be.  He knows we are playing a game and he likes it.  But his face also lights up when I beginning singing his song of choice.

So today while playing the game I wanted to remember that there was a time my singing (and I don't sing well) put a smile on my son's face.  He smiles and stares intently at me as I finish and helps me words along the way.  I want to remember that.

I want to remember that when Sabrina wants to give me Eskimo kisses she will hold my face tight and rub noses.  And almost always, she will tell me she loves me after a kiss.  I want to remember that.

I'd rather forget all the stress and drama.  I know it comes with life, but sometimes, it's just overrated.

  

A perfect day

I would like to think that we have darn near perfect days here.....days when I really think that life can't get any better.  Days that I can't imagine do anything else than playing with my toddlers all day long.  And days that I never want them to grow up.

But I say "darn near perfect" because sometimes daddy isn't here with us during the week.  Our perfect days are for the weekend, and this past one was no exception.

At the end of last week we had some severe cold weather here in Michigan, and so, we (meaning the twins and I) did not venture out of the house.  We didn't really need to and if it's anything under zero degrees out I'm not in a real big hurry to go anywhere outside.

But Saturday was a tad, just a tad bit better.  So we ventured out as a family......to the mall!  Yes, the mall.  I had to exchange some shoes for Sammy, we had errands to run, etc.  But there was a play area at the mall which Sam and Sabrina enjoyed for a good 45 minutes.

After they had seriously burned off some energy they were treated to a special cookie and enjoyed the rest of the walk around the mall in their stroller.  On our way home we decided that sushi sounded good (for us, not them), but they were also treated to a fully cooked Chinese meal.  We ate take-out dinner together as a family and the twins sampled our chopsticks.

 

Afterwards, we just enjoyed the rest of the day.....playing and reading.....randomly watching some kids television together.....and just being together, as a family.

Sounds pretty perfect to me.

And it was. 

What a difference a year can make....

2006:

2007:

2008:

 

Sigh.

They've taken over......

It has been sooooo long since I last blogged!  I have several things to catch up on, but too much for one entry. Every day either Sam and Sabrina do something that is blog worthy or camera worthy, but the camera usually wins.  After they are in bed, I'm usually too tired to blog.

But I have a spare moment and the motivation to write, so here it is!

The title "they've taken over" stands for the twins taking over the house....finally....and all of it.  You see, I'm a bit of a paranoid person and I prefer to have them within my eye distance almost all the time.  I'm a worrier and a bit of a control freak at times.  So I do what those people do best--set up gates and baby proof carefully, making sure that each little thing is safe....control what I can (for lack of a better word!)  When the twins were little babies, we stayed in the family room most of the day--unless we ventured outside or to the park.  Eventually, they took over the entire family room and kitchen--we thought they needed more space.  Then they got an extra room upstairs next to their nursery as added space.

A couple of weeks ago we sold our dining room set because we didn't love it anymore and we wanted more "safe" room for them to roam.  And now, the formal living room is opened up and basically the only things off limits in the entire house are the stairs (unless assisted) and the bathrooms (unless for potty).

So yes, they've officially taken over.

And I like it. 

I like that everything is "safe", except for trips and falls.  I like that I can throw a load of clothes in the washer and know that they are okay.  I like that I've grown as a mommy to let them have some independence in their own home.  And goodness knows, they have earned it.

Gone are the days of putting an infant in one spot and knowing that they pretty much won't move.  Instead, the days of little feet running, laughter, and twin talk is here.   The days of REAL words and conversations is here to stay as well.  And I know it will only get better.

I'll make a better effort to get some of our wonderful moments written more often. 

Because they are so very worth it............

Moving on up

 

To boosters, that is.

The day has come for this family that the high chairs are out of the kitchen!  To be quite honest, they have been driving me crazy for a long time.  Last winter I even stripped the cloth covers off of them because they got messy too quick. 

Life + me without high chairs = grand!

They served their purpose, but I think it was time.  And the twins would agree.  As soon as they seen the new boosters came out, all they wanted to do was explore them and sit in them--just like big kids.

Big kids?  Where have my babies gone?

I know this is only the beginning.  First it was the infant car seats, then the bouncy seats, exersaucers, and swings.  The bottles hurt the most.  Even though I jumped for joy at the thought of moving the high chairs out of the kitchen, I imagine I will be a wreck when the day comes for toddler beds.

They really do grow up way too fast. 

Really.

 

 

 

  

 

A family kiss

Yesterday, as Jason and I were putting the twins to bed, we followed our nightly routine as normal.  This:

We read several books.

We sing songs.

We clean up.

We put the twins to bed.

As we are getting them in their cribs we always exchange kisses.  Sabrina kisses dada.  Sabrina kisses Sammy.  Sabrina kisses me.

Sammy does the same thing.  He usually starts with me, then almost knocks heads with Sabrina while trying to give her a kiss.  Then he teases dada with his kisses.

Last night, I declared, "four-way kiss!"  We all leaned in to give smooches and the twins burst out with laughter.  They thought it was the funniest thing.  We repeated several times until they were content with the four- way kiss.

It was, without a doubt, the perfect family moment.

A family kiss.