... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : Teen Ti-tans, Let's GO!

I just can’t keep up. The hours fly by and turn into days, then weeks, and next thing I know I have missed an entire month of this blog. One would think that writing a blog ONCE A MONTH would not be this challenging. I would like to think that I am not keeping up with the writing because I am “in the moment” and enjoying my summer with the kiddos. Truthfully, I am enjoying the summer, but I have never been one that is good at being in the moment. My anxiety kicks it up a notch in my “down” times and I am too busy planning a menu for next week, running over my to do list in my head, creating a shopping list, or just having random thoughts to truly enjoy it all sometimes. I have noticed a general improvement in my ability to handle my anxious moments and overall I would say I have a handle on it, but being a mom comes with the general feeling of just not ever being good enough. You always feel like you should have/could have done more – more arts, crafts, memories, baking, time. Awhile back I heard the phrase “you are enough” and I am trying to keep that as my motto as I embark on this new adventure of full time night school. I know my time spent with them is going to be much more limited, so I will just need to make it that much more purposeful. Who cares if the house is dirty or the dishes need done – if they want me to stop and have a tea party in the middle of the livingroom floor then I will put down the rag and put my pinkie out. I will continue to be the best mom, wife, student, and employee I can be, but I will also acknowledge my limitations and not do “too much” and focus on the “enough.”

Birthday trip to Chuck E. Cheese

Selfie with Neptune the Turtle

Needless to say, since I wrote last, a lot of things have happened. The biggest thing being that my babies are now 5 years old! I can hardly believe that I have been blessed by their smiles and laughter and love for 5 years now. They chose to celebrate their birthday with some friends painting pictures at a local studio, Create in Us, and they loved it. The theme this year was a challenge as mommy NEEDED their ideas to have at least some link and I was struggling trying to mesh their original ideas of Spiderman and Puppies. We were able to reach a compromise on Unicorns and Dragons and a wonderful friend helped me to make some decorations and an even more wonderful mail carrier adjusted her route to get them here in time for the party. Thank you to all that attended the party and you should received your official thank you cards before their 6^th birthday.

My niece is visiting with us right now and I have a little better understanding of how those Duggars are able to handle life. When you have an older child/older children around you can breath a little easier. She has been a HUGE help with getting them in and out of the car, putting on socks, potty trips, opening pop tarts, getting juice, and even allowing me to sneak in a few naps. I am really going to miss her when she goes back to Illinois. We took the kids back to Indiana/Illinois at the end of July for the Hubby’s family reunion and to spend some time with my family. It was a nice break to again have some extra hands to help with the kids. The Hubby was able to get 100+ miles in on the bike and I got several long walks in with my dad. The kids saw all the great grandmothers in a matter of days as well as more aunts and uncles than they could count. They really tried to understand their “relationship” to everyone, so there was a lot of explaining (ie “yes, Memaw is Mommy’s mommy). We even snuck in a trip to see Saint Ambrose and show them where mommy and daddy met and got married. We attempted to recreate one of the pictures from our wedding – still us, just a few extra pounds, gray hairs, and children later.

Landon recently started Speech Therapy sessions as a result of his 5 year check up. He is still a little guy, having put on only 4 pounds and a couple of inches in the last year. Overall, he is doing well health wise. He does have some difficulty making certain letter sounds and empathizing the wrong letters. He is already showing some progress in a few sessions and we are working with him at home as well. He is excited to go back to school and see friends again. He likes the structure and the routine. At home, he loves to play with his toys and has recently developed an affinity for Legos. He got a few sets for his birthday and he was able to put one of the easier sets together all by himself by following the directions. He still loves his super heroes and his Rescue Bots. He likes to read books together and “reads” books to me as well. His current favorite show is Teen Titans Go – and I am not going to lie, I kind of enjoy the show as well. He remains super observant and has an amazing memory. A woman today asked me how old he was as she had noted how observant he was regarding the door locks in the bathroom. She was impressed with his understanding of the green vs. red signs – ha ha. He may also be watching too many commercials though because taking him shopping is like being in a laundry commercial as he asks me about the softness of Snuggle, tells me about the Unstoppables, and asked if I was going to buy some Tide Pods. His favorite food is no longer peanut butter and jelly. He has informed me that the food is too sticky and those of you that know Landon know that he does not like to have his hands dirty. I would speculate his current favorite is raisin bran cereal. He still prefers chocolate milk over all other drink options.

Riley is Riley. She and Landon have opposite personalities most of the time – except for when it comes to roller coasters. They both love the roller coasters at Carowinds like their Daddy and they leave Mommy behind to hold the bags. Overall, she is more fearless and will run and jump into the pool while he eases down the stairs. She literally dances through life as I find her behind me doing ballet moves somedays. We just signed her up for another round of dance and she is very excited for both dance and for school to start again. She loves to play with her animal toys and got a new “pet turtle” for her birthday. She LOVES to swim and asks me on the daily if we can go swimming so she is definitely a fan of summer and has the tan to prove it. Her current favorite show is also Teen Titans Go, but she still loves to watch Curious George and Puppy Dog Pals. The girl loves to eat and will eat just about anything – hence the fact that she is now 7 pounds heavier than Landon. She is also about 2 inches taller which leads them to debate who is the “big brother/big sister.” I have to remind them that Riley may be taller, but Landon is older – by about 40 minutes. She loves to snuggle on the couch and wants to hold my hand all the time. I kind of hope she does not grow out of this phase.

In the words of Fresh Prince, our life is about to get “flip turned upside down” starting tomorrow as I will be in night school. We have had a lot of adventures this summer visiting uptown and riding the train, a few trips to Carowinds, the Schiele Museum, time at the parks and playgrounds, library story times, and our annual Midwest tour. This blog is going to be picture heavy because I am so far behind, so enjoy!