... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : June 2017

I can’t believe I am planning their 4^th birthday party! They truly are tiny little people with HUGE personalities. My new function in their life is to keep those little personalities in check and remind them (often) that I am the one in charge. Riley has perfected the “arms crossed stomp away” along with the “demonic screeching voice” when she is upset with me. I can only imagine what the teenage years are yet to bring at this point. Landon is less dramatic, he at least does not stomp away from me yet. He definitely has some attitude though and prefers to have things going his way, but that has more to do with his need of routine/structure than him being obstinate.

I am pretty excited for this summer. I feel like the kids have reached a point they are more manageable for me to take out on my own – at least I feel less overwhelmed. There are a lot of different activities we can do including swimming, crafts, story time, and bouncing. In the past few weeks we have been swimming at Rays Splash Planet, bouncing at Bounce U, discovered nature at Discovery Place Nature, went to a fair, saw their first concert, visited Discovery Place Kids, went on a paddle boat and long bike ride, and visited a few different parks. They are enjoying being able to be outdoors more and so are we – yard work is even easier now that they can entertain themselves longer.

Landon has a few favorite quotes right now, but by favorite is “Aww Shucks.” Today he informed me that “as kids get bigger, their carseats need to get bigger too” and when I prompted for more information I was told “the computer told me.” So there you go, this PSA brought to you by whatever ad he saw prior to his YouTube Paw Patrol video that bought me 5 minutes of time to get dressed alone this morning. Landon loves to talk about how things work and to point things out to me, like the new lights in the parking lot at Aldis. Honestly, I am grateful for those moments because they remind me to slow down sometimes. He still loves to use his imagination and play. At Discovery Place Kids, he and Riley were playing in the ambulance and they would throw the doll out of the ambulance on the ground and then one would pick her up and bring her back inside. They would then get to “work” while the other one pretended to drive – switch positions and repeat. He is content to play alone, but he also loves if you will play with him. He enjoys time with his matchbox cars, Rescue Bots, and Paw Patrol. His current favorite movies are about Blaze the Monster Machine. Nothing has changed much with his eating habits, he still does not eat much. He is currently taking his acid reflux medicine again after a few bad vomit instances (nothing like cleaning vomit out of a car seat with a toothbrush). I am sure she will take him back off it later this week – I think his seasonal allergies just aggravated the esophagus. He is still a little guy – I think he only weighs about 30 pounds and he is an inch or two shorter than his sister. I am sure he will catch up to her at some point!

Riley has a lot of attitude! She often brings out the wonderful “ I told you 100 times…” and I honestly do not know where she heard that one because it is not one of my “go to” phrases. I do enjoy when she says “Excuse me” over and over again just so I will look at her and then she just wants a hug. Both of them have infectious smiles that make the day easier. The day before Mother’s Day, their soccer coach gave them each a flower to give to me after practice. They came running up to me, waving flowers, and saying “Happy Mothers Day” and my heart melted a little. She told me again the next day several times and Pat helped them to make me some picture frames. She loves to do crafts and activities – painting is still her favorite. She has recently discovered the world of Barbies (and unfortunately Barbie shoes) and enjoys playing with her princess Barbies and their Palace Pets. She also has a Barbie movie about horses that she enjoys. She does some of the imaginative play with Landon and usually she is a dog to his fireman. She doesn’t mind though, she has a HUGE fondness for animals. Riley loves dairy still and eats a lot of cheese and yogurt. She is not much of a picky eater and it shows – she probably has about 4 pounds on Landon along with the 2 inches.

Not going to lie, this blog post is pretty late as I missed May all together. The end of May was rough on the family – the Hubby and I made a decision to put our oldest dog, Rocky, to sleep. He has been suffering with cancer for sometime and we decided we didn’t want him to suffer any further. It was obviously a difficult several days for us as we all got used to not having him in the home, I still think I hear him at times! I have also been working more and I started a summer Anatomy class – so a 16 week course condensed into 10 weeks – and I feel like I am extra busy! I try and keep the homework to the evenings so I can spend time with the kids, but most days there are just not enough hours in the day! Later this month we are going on a little vacation and I am excited for a few days of rest. 😊