... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : August 2015

So we have had a busy month – including a trip to Indiana, several doctors’ appointments, building at Lowe’s, park time, some pool time, baking, a Princess birthday party,and crafts around the house. For the most part though, we spent a lot of time inside and at home due to the heat and illness. It has just been too hot! I worked up a sweat walking to the mailbox, so the appeal of packing up two kids, a stroller, and all other belongings into and out of the car was less than appealing.

They are getting so big and so smart! Everyday there are new words – sometimes it is words or associations I did not even know that they knew! We were watching something earlier today and a rocket took off and Landon shouted “Blast off!” It made me laugh. They are talking in complete sentences at times, but also still talking (especially to each other) in long strings of “gibberish” talk. They are now able to call the dogs by name, although for a while both Rocky and Jasper were known as “Wocky.” Some of the things you will hear around here on daily basis: No, Put that down, Turn off the water, Don’t hit the dog…. Oh wait, that is what I say all day long. :/ As for the kids, they talk to me about what they see out the window, what is on the TV, what they are doing with their dolls, counting… a steady stream of talking all day long.

Landon has been the one back and forth to the doctor. It started with a cough at night and then the cough started more frequently during the day and he pulled on his ears a few times. I took him to Minute Clinic just wanting to get his ears checked and the coughing continued and his Oxygen levels were not all that great. She felt it would be best for us to go to an Urgent Care and I fully agreed. At Urgent Care, they listened in and were also concerned – concerned enough to order a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray showed pneumonia and he was started on an antibiotic. We saw his primary care doctor the next day and nebulizer treatments were added as well. A week later we were back at the doctor because I felt there really wasn’t any improvement and he had started a fever again. After consulting with several doctors, another nebulizer treatment that did not improve his Oxygen levels we were sent for another chest x-ray. This one showed little to no difference from the week before. He was declared to have atypical pneumonia and we changed antibiotic. It took a little over another week for him to be back to his old self and then during that time Riley started coughing… the joy of twins. Riley seems to be doing well with her cough, but it is lingering longer than I would like, so I imagine we will end up at the doctor eventually. I should have some kind of frequent appointment card at this point!

At home, we are embarking into the world of time out. The kids are getting more aggressive with each other and stealing toys. Riley does it for the chase and will give the toy right back once asked, but Landon does it because he is a hoarder and will not give it back. They have both discovered the joy of throwing things and it has ended up in many tears. They literally wrestle around on the floor at times. They climb on things. They jump off things. Landon seems to have a vendetta against my dish towels and will rip them down from the stove whenever they are hung back up. Riley likes to play with water and, until I started hiding the stepstools from her, she would climb up and fill whatever she could with water and dump it around the house. Since hiding the stepstools she has now been found to be spitting her water around the house or shaking it out of her cups. I look forward to nap time and the opportunity to sit down!

Landon is still working with 16 teeth, but you can tell the others are coming. His favorite foods: pizza, bananas, anything I am eating, soy milk, applesauce, cheese sticks, fruit snacks, and yogurt. Current favorite toys are a plane built a Lowes, golf clubs, anything he can throw, fire trucks, and balls. He demands to watch “Fireman Sam” about 30 times a day and anything with a fire truck on it is referred back to as Fireman Sam. He runs around the house and up and down the halls laughing at himself. He has become more willing to walk and climb the stairs on his own.

Children's museum in Indiana

Riley is also still working with those 16 teeth and she is not taking the other ones coming in well. That combined with the nightmares has left both mommy and daddy pretty tired some nights. Her current favorite foods: cheese, any condiments that she can eat off her fingers, yogurt, cheese, black beans, and cheese. Current favorite toys are baby dolls, a tea set, computer, doodle pad, and anything that Landon is playing with so she can take it from him and start a game of chase. She still uses a “boppy” and I swear that I am going to begin diligently phasing it out. She doesn’t have that many left anyway as she keeps biting through them or losing them. It is hard though, because that is her comfort when she is upset and with the nightmares and such, a “boppy” can be pretty handy.

Their imaginations are running wild! I hear sound effects now with most every toy – including the “pouring” in the tea set, the “vroom” of the cars and planes, and the “sizzle” in the cooking set. They have started dressing up and wearing different hats. Riley has a new dog toy that has a whole vet set and that dog is the healthiest dog around with all the checkups it gets! I love watching them grow and learn. I am getting ready to start some preschool activities with them so we can start with some structured learning during the day. I don’t have high expectations – just want to have fun and teach them along the way.