... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : Holiday Magic....

I am RIDICULOUSLY late with a blog update – like as in there probably should have been two done. The last time I wrote it was November 2 and now it is January. The last two months basically flew by and I just could not find the time to sit down and write. The week before Thanksgiving I started a 4 week accelerated Nurse Aide Program. The class was not difficult as I have been doing Nurse Aide work for 10 years now, but the program was time consuming and caused me to feel “off” my normal routine. The class ended December 16^th – just in time for the holiday “rush.” I feel like I haven’t slowed down since the beginning of November and I am ready to get back into my “normal.” I am extremely grateful to my parents that came and stayed for 1.5 weeks during my class to watch the kids. It lifted some of the burden as we did not have to pay for daycare during that time and I was not able to work during those 4 weeks. It was also great for the kids to spend some time with them and I am sure they loved it as well!

As predicted, Landon and Riley were a lot of fun this holiday season. They did well meeting Santa and were able to tell him what they wanted for Christmas – a shark ship and Clifford. (They got ahold of the ads on Thanksgiving and Landon picked out the Imaginext pirate ship and Riley fell asleep with the page of the ad containing a white puppy on a leash that she named Clifford). In fact, they told everyone that would listen what they wanted for Christmas. While my parents were here, we took the kids to visit Santa at the mall where they were able to “drive” the sleigh to the North Pole for our visit. We also went to see the Christmas lights at the Speedway and the Botanical Garden – I love the Botanical Garden lights and looked forward to visiting again this year. There was a musician at the Garden the night we went and the kids loved turning and dancing with the other children. Riley loves to dance; especially is she is wearing a dress – which is all time now as she demands to wear a “princess dress” each morning along with her sparkly dancing shoes. Every night, she would ask me to lay in bed with her and look at the "beautiful" lights outside of her window. They loved seeing Christmas lights this year and would point them out every time we were in the car.

Landon is doing excellent with the potty training! He is basically done – even often staying dry overnight. We have not been brave enough to go out in public for too long yet with him wearing underwear. We also visited the doctor in November and he was given the all clear for his acid reflux treatment. He is not currently on any medication and we are just monitoring his diet and discouraging foods that may aggravate his reflux. She felt as if tonsils were not enlarged at that point and would not be an issue either – so fingers crossed we have a healthy winter! Landon has a super active imagination and it is “on” all the time. He can often be found playing by himself and setting up his toys in a scene – talking to them and for them. A few days ago he instigated a game of “ambulance” with Riley by turning the chair in our room into an ambulance and taking Riley to the doctor. He would then run down the hall “looking for” a doctor. It was pretty entertaining to watch. He continues to love playing with his Rescue Bots and he accumulated several more of them for Christmas. He loves matchbox cars and he has developed a rather large collection due to us using them as potty training incentives. He is starting to develop an affinity for Superheroes and likes to play games involving “rescue” when he is playing with his toys. His taste in TV shows has not changed that much and he will usually ask to watch Rescue Bots or Curious George, but Mickey is making a comeback and they both enjoy being able to watch the episode and help solve by yelling at the TV. He has not expanded his culinary taste too far and still prefers the PBJ sandwich and has added “cereal with stars” (aka Lucky Charms) to his repertoire. He continues to love his naps and does not take much convincing to lay down for a nap. As he is getting older, you can definitely see his personality shining through and he is for sure my child. He likes things to be in order. He wakes up super cranky unless he wakes up on his own. He does not like when things don’t go as planned or he is off the normal routine. I think it is safe to say he earned all of those traits from me.

Now Riley is a bit more like her father. She never slows down and runs all over the house. She acts before she thinks it through and then often regrets her decision. She is VERY headstrong and that is the main reason she is still not potty trained. She just refuses to go when you ask her, but she will go when she tells you – which is unfortunately after she has already gone. I know that it is going to happen someday, but I don’t think it will be anytime soon! Every day she wakes up and informs us that she is a Princess and will need to wear a Princess dress for the day with her sparkly shoes. She has finally accepted me putting her hair in a ponytail or at least up and out of her face. She can always be found carrying a stuffed dog or cat with her as well – currently Tiny, Princess, Max, and Clifford are the prime animals in rotation and all were found to be in bed with her last night. She is not a picky eater and loves fruit and yogurt, but not a lot of meat – neither one of them eat much meat actually. She loves to play with her animals and dress up. She gets involved in the imaginative play with Landon as well and I love just sitting back and watching them play together. A lot of times I don’t get involved or let them know I am watching just so I can listen. Riley is the one that inspired me to start keeping a notebook of funny things that the kids say when I caught her one day jumping up and down to reach something on the top shelf in her room. She turned to me and said “A little help here? I don’t have my rocket boots.” I seriously laugh out loud several times a day just from things they say.

So, I am just going to end this one with some pictures and promise that I will do better next time...