With three little girls' birthdays in March, we're lucky they all seem agreeable to combining their celebrations. Tessa and Annie don't have much of a choice, but someting tells me they'll survive sharing their birthday with each other. I know someone who's a twin and she said it's not too terrible ;) As for Megan, she's just pretty agreeable by nature, and was more than happy to share her day!
Even Bridget, the odd girl out, was all smiles :)
This picture sums up Tessa's obsession with everything Dora and Diego. At two, one of her most common expressions is, "Oh, man!" complete with a dejected face and tone of voice. She's pretty picked on, obviously.
Annie was all smiles with "Clar-Clar."
And they both got the party started with some synchronized "upside downs" they'd been rehearsing for weeks.
We sang three different renditions of "Happy Birthday" so they each had their turn. And, of course, Bridget was on stand-by should anyone need some help blowing out their candles. Although we didn't have a kids party this year (and have assured Megan that those start in kindergarten in our family, despite her many detailed plans for her party this year), we had a lot of couisns there to celebrate.
Come July, Bridget will have her own party. But, she'll soon be sharing her month with Five, who will conveniently even out our family calendar!
With nearly five kids, I knew my quiet, organized days were numbered. Soon enough we'd be trekking across town from one activity to another, figuring out which parent would be where for each child, our schedule brimming with everyone's individual activities. Well, it's not exactly Grand Central around here (yet!), but we did just dip our toes in this new world of kid chaos. After a lot of talk about what activity to get the girls started in, we finally signed both Megan and Bridget up for soccer! This is the very first real activity (read: not free!) for either girl, so this was a milestone -- and one that they were very excited for!! Best of all, their teams practice at the exact same time on the same field. How's that for convenient?!
Something tells me we won't have any trouble spotting Megan running up and down the field!
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I wasn't expecting her to be the only girl on her team!!
And no, she's not a diaper-wearing five-year-old. Those are scrunched up shorts under her pants, hastily covered up by some pants from my diaper bag when we realized how chilly it was.
Suddenly, we have new words in our vocabulary like "trapping" and "dribbling." Megan caught on pretty quickly with all of the drills. I think every boy on her team has played before, hence some serious shin guards and cleats! I think she'll hold her own, and so far, is non-plussed with being the only one in pink!
Meanwhile, a few yards away, Bridget got acquainted with the soccer ball, too. Her team is all 3 and 4 year old kids, and there are a few more girls. They also don't play any games, which is the perfect speed for this little daisy-picker. She spent a lot of time waving to Mommy and Daddy, and keeping her hands in her jacket pockets while she kicked the ball back and forth with her little partner.
I'm so excited to expose the girls to a sport, and to see how they like it!
And, Tessa and Annie were taking notes, too. Although, Tessa took full advantage of Daddy's empty arms to get some snuggles.
There are crazier (and more expensive!) times to come when these two get in on the action!
I think I've mentioned (whined about) my inability to tackle much around here day to day besides the bare essentials. The laundry is done, the dishes are done, and, oh yeah, the kids are taken care of. Vaccuming and putting away laundry are major feats. But, I never seem to have time to do little projects around the house. And, tasks like organizing photos (or blogging!) fall to the wayside. My normal break during the girls' naptime is usually 2 hours, but I'm lucky if I can sit down to pay bills/organize my thoughts/read my email after I get done picking up the tornado that has passed through our house in the first part of the day.
So, I am more proud than I should be for a little project I did during naptime a few days ago! Our living room couch (okay, our only couch if you want to be technical about it!) was beginning to show it's age, and
was looking pretty saggy and deflated, especially in some girls' favorite cartoon viewing spots! It's been bugging me for a little while.
Here are some "before" shots:
So, while Megan was at school one day last week, I took the other three girls to our fabric store and snagged two big bags of polyester fill. Besides my decision to go stroller-less in that store with those three monkeys, the first part of my mission was accomplished!
My next mistake was leaving four girls and two bags of "fur" unattended for two minutes while making lunch later that afternoon. "Fur" was everywhere, and that briefly put a dent in my enthusiasm for this project!
But, as you can see, I did stuff the pillows by the time naptime was over (always too soon!). Bridget was the first up, and when she sat in "her" spot, she leaned back, frowned, and declared it "too furry." I consider that a compliment!
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).
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!
