They're Two!

This post is a little late, as Tessa and Annie turned two years old on the 18th.  As for my inability to blog about this until now, I'll plead to a lack of energy and lack of time -- definitely not a reluctance to put into writing that our babies are TWO!!  No, definitely not that...

I'm trying to stop calling them the babies.  This is no easy task, especially since Annie insists every day that she's the baby, and only sometimes acknowledges my growing belly.  She also maintains that she's still one year old.  Obviously, she's in denial like her mother.  I have to say --  the only thing that makes this milestone at all palatable is the fact that we have another baby on the way.  I know I'll be a mess when there are no more babies in the house!

But, back to the babies big girls who just turned two!  As bittersweet as this birthday was more me, I have to admit that they are at a super fun age.  Their age, coupled with their, um, "twin"ness makes for constant entertainment in this house.  They are learning new words and sentences every day, and it's so neat to hear them express themselves.  Of course, now that they're talking so much, they can't get enough of telling us what they want.  ("No touching that."  "First, go park. Then go store." "First nap, then Gogo and juice." "I take two bites. I done." "I want relax on couch and watch Dodo." Come to think of it, we may have two little dictators on our hands -- who really like Dora and Diego, and juice, in no particular order.)  Annie, in particular, likes to call Matt and I by our names just to get a rise out of us, like her recent, "Matt, go get my juice please."  It doesn't help at all that the older girls egg on this "name calling." 

And, their language is very different from Megan and Bridget at the same age.  For two little girls that are not enrolled in daycare or around a bunch of other kids on a daily basis, they have some interesting phrases that I can only attribute to the constant companionship of siblings so close in age:  "C'mon guys. Let's go play with blocks."  This was definitely not in Megan's vocabulary at two.  How our family has changed in two years!! 

Obviously, they have their own little personalities, but it's becoming increasingly evident that Annie looks and acts more like Megan, and Tessa looks and behaves more like Bridget.  A lot of Tessa's mannerisms are spot on for Bridget's, and Annie seems to be mimicking a lot of Megan's recent attitude.  They each have their own little mini-me's, which is cute, except when Annie scowls defiantly with her arms crossed, just like Megan has been doing lately.  In comparison, Tessa is just sooo easygoing and happy most of the time -- definitely more shy around other people, but very good-natured.  Annie knows what she wants, and is going to get it.  Yikes.

Favorite games include, "No Finding Me! (Hide and Seek)" and Ring Around the Rosy.  It's hard to tell in this video, but they're playing the latter here:




Most shocking of all of their differences, though, is a sudden weight discrepancy.  Despite the fact that Tessa was 11 ounces heavier at birth, there has never been more than a pound difference between the two.  In fact, at 18 months, they weighed exactly the same, down to the ounce.  At 24 months, however, Tessa has shot ahead and weighs two pounds more than Annie! 

Tessa:  26 pounds, 4 ounces (50th percentile) and 33.75 in. (50th percentile)
Annie:  24 pounds, 4 ounces (25th percentile) and 33.25 in. (almost 50th percentile)

And, for comparison purposes:

Megan:  27 pounds at 2 years
Bridget:  23 pounds, 13 ounces at 2 years


Here are the girls getting ready for their weigh-in.  I'm not sure I see where the 2 pounds is hiding in Tessa (left).

And, more outtakes from the last few months:

Tessa

and

Annie

And, some more together:

Happy Birthday, big girls!!

Open Up!

I'm beginning to realize there is a long list of duties that fall in a mom's lap, not the least of which is the daily care, feeding and nurturing of her kids.  Unfortunately, the kids come part and parcel with a lot of behind-the-scenes busy work.  Like containing the never-ending stream of artwork that spills out of backpacks after school, or the insurmountable task of organizing family photos.  Or, the "What's For Dinner?" question to answer every day. 

Most importantly for these little humans, though, is being responsible for their health!  In this house, someone (including Five) always needs to have doctors' visits scheduled, and now dental visits are becoming more frequent, too.  Tessa and Annie are (too) quickly approaching two years old, and the older girls hadn't been to the dentist in a year, so it was time for some visits.  I didn't realize we'd be able to get them in so soon, and so...together.  The office was able to schedule all four girls at the same time.  I was a little hesitant about this scenario, considering I'd be bringing them by myself while Matt was coaching baseball.  But, I knew the older girls love the dentist, having been there before.  Every kid gets to pick out a DVD to watch, and the dentist there is amazing.  So, in my head, I was really only worried about the twins' reactions to the experience, especially with my attention divided. 

Here are the munchkins before we left.

I needn't have worried.  As it was, my attention was definitely split.  I felt like I was in a sitcom where the character needs to be in two places at once, except I had to be in four places.  I would sit with each kid for a few minutes, listen to a little lecture about flossing from the hygienist (I know! I know! It's hard enough to brush four kids' teeth, never mind flossing!), see any trouble spots, and then say, "I'll be right back!"  Down the hall, I'd repeat the process, including watching Megan get her first X-rays, which she took in stride.  Tessa and Annie did sooo well, without a cry from either of them!  It helped immensely that Dora was playing  in the background.  I don't think a root canal would have phased them, as long as Dora was there.

How many 3-year-olds do you know that would sit through an entire cleaning with their mom running to other rooms more than half the time?  Bridget was such a big girl!!

And Tessa was an unexpected superstar as well!!  I left her with her hygienist for a good 15 minutes, and she didn't bat an eye!

Megan was a pro for her X-rays!

Sadly, we did have one cavity in the mix.  Megan has a small cavity in the back of one of her front teeth, most likely a result of drinking milk from a bottle for so long (2.5 years).  Oops.  But, we caught it before it became a huge problem, and she's happy to go back and have it filled while she watches another movie.

We walked out of the appointment in pretty good spirits, considering how well everything had gone.  It could have been a disaster, so I was feeling pretty proud of myself...until I found a parking ticket on the van!  I guess I was a little distracted getting these photos out in front of the office, and I ended up feeding the wrong parking meter!  I may be able to handle four kids at the dentist, but parking gets me every time!

One Hat, Four Girls

Our SI team spirit is in full force.

Matt has started his baseball season, and although I've yet to make it to a game with the girls in tow, they have been cheering for the Wildcats from afar.

Today, while Matt was coaching a game, the girls were eating lunch and taking turns with one of his hats.















Go Cats!

- posted from my handy-dandy iPhone, with Blogpress

Happy Birthday, Megan!

Our (biggest) little girl is five!  Time really does fly!  (Well, sometimes, it goes by excuciatinlgy slowly, but I'm feeling more than a little sentimental right now.)   Our little Megan has grown so much in the last year!  She proves to be such an doting big sister daily, and amazes me with her patience and creativity in her relationships with her sisters.  Don't get me wrong --- she definitely has her moments.  She has a stubborn streak that makes an appearance daily, and is ultra-sensitive to conniving acts by one little Bridget who likes to get her goad.  But, at the end of the day, she is such a sweet, thoughtful and easygoing kid, and she brings us joy every day! 

One little bit of joy that she gives me every day is the fact that she still takes a nap, for 2-3 hours!  I will eternally be grateful to Megan for this!  She continues to be my best napper in the bunch, and in doing so, provides the best example to her bunkmate Bridget, who has never questioned her nap either.  I know that once Megan isn't napping, Bridget will rebel, so I'm cherishing these last six months or so of my sacred downtime before Megan starts kindergarten!

While Megan has been counting down the days until her birthday, I've been in denial that this day would be here.  Five seems so...old.  My heart aches at how fleeting these last five years have been.  But, for Megan, this day was huge, and she couldn't wait to open presents, choose her meals, bring cupcakes to school, and just be five!! 

We started early with presents because Matt had a late baseball game tonight.  She loved getting some new clothes, most notably some new skirts, and had some help from an enthusiastic Tessa with the unwrapping of a few Tag Reader books and board games.

Normally, I would never post a picture of myself in my pajamas and glasses, but today is all about Megan, and she was smiling and looking at the camera, a rare combination these days!

Bridget was there, too, but just a sleepy observer. 

Later in the day, Megan treated her class to cupcakes and juice, and enjoyed her five minutes of celebrity.  Tessa and Annie enjoyed sitting next to her, too, and munching on the "cake" they helped make. 

Happy Birthday, sweet Megs!!

Buried Treasure and a "Hi, Five!"

The last two weeks have seen us sidelined with a few different illnesses passing through this house, starting with pink eye.  All of us have also enjoyed a crazy stomach flu that lasts much longer than 24 hours, and a bad cold and cough.  The girls missed over a week of school!  Taking care of sick kids is one of those not-so-fun things about parenting, and being sick while attempting to take care of the kids is even worse!  I'm very lucky that, while I did get really sick for a few days, it happened to coincide with a 3-day weekend and Matt was on hand to care for the girls.  As I lay on the couch, in my miserable, unmedicated state (one of those pesky drawbacks to being pregnant!), I would periodically wake up to some new "daddy activity" being played out. 

The highlight for the girls was treasure hunting as pirates, with a pirate map and everything.  This was right up Megan's alley since her new favorite show is Disney's "Jake and the Neverland Pirates."  They even dressed up for the game.  This kind of stuff is way more ambitious than anything I do, even when I'm feeling 100%!

The one child who didn't need anything these past few weeks, and who is just beginning to make their presence known with persistent little kicks, is Baby Five.  Kids are certainly a LOT easier in utero :) But, Five did receive a little attention yesterday.  At 19 weeks, we were due for the big anatomy scan, and Five couldn't wait to say "Hi!"  A beautiful heartbeat and lots of movement were reassuring to see after all of our sickness.  There were a few days I only managed to drink water, yet Five miraculously survived, no worse for the wear.. The ultrasound tech had no problem finding a little waving hand,

and some kicking legs.

After a brief hello, though, Five blocked a lot of the tech's nudging with his/her arms up next to their face.  We were looking at these elbows quite a bit.

Most importantly, everything points to Five being completely normal (we'll work on the overachiever part post-birth!),  which is a relief for this mom who is convinced that five healthy kids is too much to ask for!  We're truly blessed to have this little one coming our way, very soon! Oh, and we didn't find out the sex of the baby, obviously.  It will be fun surprise to find out at delivery, and an even bigger surprise if it's a boy.  We'll see!