Updates

Mum Mum: For anybody who has been following the events going on recently in my family regarding my grandmother I wanted to give another update. She is being discharged from rehab on Sunday August 2. That morning Colleen, Roy, Josephine, and Jamison will be picking her up and heading to Florida. Yes, Mum Mum will be moving in with my mom in Florida. She is happy to be getting out of the rehab center and was looking forward to going home, but this was the best option for her at the moment. With that being said, not everybody in the family is in agreement about the decision so it tends to be a sore topic in general. I will keep my opinions to myself because it was her decision and I want for her to be happy, that is what matters.

Tonight Ben, the boys, and I went into Annapolis to visit with Mum Mum. We will not be able to get down there on Saturday because of the boys' birthday party and she is leaving for Florida Sunday morning. I am really sad to say that tonight was the last time I will see my grandmother! At least she got to see the boys and myself...I will continue to send pictures of the boys to her in Florida so she can watch them grow up. My hope is that Mum Mum will be happy and comfortable in Florida... (and she should be since she gets to be room mates with the best cat in the world...aka Cowboy)

Zak: I have no clue what has gotten into him recently. I swear he lost his ears the last few days and I am hoping he will find them soon! He has perfected his tantrums and I have perfected letting him do his thing and just walk away from him (of course staying close by if we are out in public). I learned trying to reason with him just makes it worse so I just have to let him finish and move on (even if we are out in public). His newest behavior has been kicking and hitting people (and the dogs). At the play area the other day he was hitting the other kids (mostly out of play, but sometimes out of anger/frustration). Today he has started to run around after Robin and try to kick her (he hasn't really ever actually made contact with her, but still the idea is not right). He is not doing it to be mean, I really think for some reason this is his new way of playing. We have started to use time-outs with both boys...they have to sit on the steps for 2 minutes. With Zak we do send him to his room alone at times because separating him from the rest of us is usually punishment for him. On a good note, he is talking SO much! I am shocked with how many times he comes up to me during the day and says something I have never heard him say before.

Ryder: He is mimicking Zak's behavior which is not a good thing. It makes it hard with the 2 of them playing off of each other. Ryder also has to sit in time-out for hitting at times. He has not picked up on the kicking....yet. On a good note, he has been getting more and more vocal recently. Not necessarily saying actual words, but he is trying to mimic us and talk.

These boys sure keep me on my toes. I wish there was a toddler boot camp out there that we could send them to! No, really I just need to find a means of discipline that works well for them. I will never believe people again if they tell me it gets easier as they get older because it sure has been getting harder and harder for me.

Ben: He will be leaving for a business trip in Knoxville on Monday. He gets back on Friday, but probably not until the boys are in bed already. I am not sure how the boys and I will survive next week alone without Ben. I will have to work hard in finding places to take them so they can get their energy out in a healthy way. On their birthday we might meet up with Chelley & Maddie (John also, not sure) at the mall to eat and hang out a bit.

April: As for myself, I have not been in the best of moods recently. I have gotten in a "funk" and can't seem to get out of it. There is a lot going on so I am super stressed which makes dealing with 2 cranky, hitting toddlers even more difficult. I have not been sleeping all that well which has led to day after day of migraines and headaches. I am hoping once Ben gets back from his trip I will get a weekend to spend on myself (sleeping in and what not)....

Day at the Pool

Yesterday we went to Columbia for Laura's company party. It was at a pool so of course the boys had a blast. There were lots of other kids there for them to play with also. A quick summary of all of our fun....giant bounce house, watermelon eating contest, 3-legged race, swimming, crabs, cannonball contest, and more. I took a bunch of pictures so enjoy...

Ben doing a cannonball

Ryder went underwater

Dani & Ben racing

Tantrums!

Recently the boys have been horrible when it comes to having tantrums. We can tell that 90% of the tantrums are really out of frustration, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. This morning Ryder had a complete meltdown while working with the therapist. He is usually so happy to do activities with the therapists, but today he wanted nothing to do with it. He was screaming, crying, throwing things, wouldn't do any of the activities, and would even arch his back so we couldn't get him to sit down! I can't believe how strong they both are, they are almost able to over-power me! The terrible two's are definitely starting...

Can you believe they will be 2years old in only 9 days!?!

Yesterday we went to Towson Town Center to let the boys play at the kids play area. They love going there and we love it because the play area is a totally enclosed room. After that we walked around for a bit...without a stroller. Yes, we had our first mall outing with no stroller. They both did very well. I don't think I am brave enough to do that on my own since that would leave me with no extra hands and when they do get tired I couldn't carry both of them.

Tomorrow we are hoping that Ben will be able to get out of work early so we can go to Columbia for Laura's company party. It is at a pool and will have a cook-out (including crabs) along with lots of other fun stuff. I am not going to attempt going on my own when a pool is involved because they are such fish and difficult to handle alone while swimming. After that I am working on getting everything in order for their birthday party on Saturday. Then the boys and I will be on our own next week while Ben is in Knoxville for work. I am not excited about that, but we will survive.

New Design

I put up a new blog design today that an online friend of mine (fellow twin mom) created for me. She is so talented and took time out of her busy life with twins and other things just to create this for the blog. Thank you Jen! You are awesome.

Today the boys were super cranky so we went outside and they suddenly became happy when the water table was brought out. These boys LOVE water! They got themselves drenched with the table and the dog bowl. After a while they both decided to lay on top of the table to get their tummies wet.

They were both practicing blowing bubbles in the water, but I was only able to get a quick video of Ryder doing this....

Randomness

We have not really been doing much new to write about, but it has been a little while since I posted. Ben is back at work and pretty much back into the swing of things. He is glad to be working again, but misses his time at home with the boys and I. The boys and I have been working on getting back into a schedule of our own as well. I think that both of them are getting new teeth (I have not gotten a good look in their mouths though) because they have been horribly cranky, not sleeping well, not eating great, and their diapers have been pretty nasty recently. We have been battling with some major tantrums recently, but I have learned that getting out of the house does help limit the number of tantrums. I am pretty sure this is the beginning of the terrible two's...

I have started to get all of the supplies needed for their birthday party which is only a week away. I can't believe they will be 2 years old in only 11 days!! I need to start going through their clothes and put away the ones that are too small so that we can start looking ahead for cooler weather clothes.

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks that I wanted to share. The boys have really started to explore the big boy equipment when we go to the playground. It makes it more difficult for me to take them alone because they like to climb everything and Zak has no fear of doing anything!

Here is a picture of Robin from the other day that Natalie took. She is getting so big and really is a good puppy...

Batman has definitely come out of his shell with the boys which is nice to see. He lets them pet him, chase him around, and he likes to give them kisses. The other day in the car he was sitting on my lap and out of the blue he jumped into the back seat and got into Zak's lap. It surprised us, but Zak loved it!

Now for a comparison picture (I love looking at comparisons)...

1 Year Picture

2 Year Picture

Visit with Mum Mum

Yesterday after breakfast we (my mom, Piper, Ben, Zak, Ryder, myself, and Natalie) went to visit with Mum Mum. Since it was nice outside we had our visit in the courtyard so that the kids could run around and Mum Mum could get out of her room for a bit. I think everybody enjoyed the visit!

Ryder loving on Mum Mum

Ryder hiding
Ryder smelling a flower

Zak smelling a flower

Piper

Zak & Piper

Zak kissing Mum Mum

Ryder trying to push Mum Mum

Ryder kissing Mum Mum

After our visit with Mum Mum we went and bought a small plastic pool for the kids to play in. We also set up the sprinkler for a few minutes since Piper had never played in one before! They had a blast.

Zak & Piper in the sprinkler

Piper in the sprinkler

Piper in the pool

Zak & Piper splashing each other

Zak & Piper

My little fish!

Having tons of fun

Today the boys and I went to the grocery store and we made it the whole trip without a meltdown! I was very happy with how well they behaved. When we got home they went into the backyard with the dogs to play while I put everything away. Tomorrow the boys and I are going into Annapolis to play with Piper while my mom takes Mum Mum to get some tests done. Then Ben will drive in after work to have dinner since my mom & Piper leave to go back to FL on Wednesday.

Daredevil

This evening Zak became a daredevil. Ben was laying on the floor in the living and all of a sudden (with no warning) Zak jumped off of the futon and landed on top of him! He was so excited about what he did that he continued to do this over and over again. Ben was not enjoying it nearly as much. Even after Ben got off the floor Zak still wanted to just dive off the futon.

Tomorrow we are going into Annapolis first thing in the morning. My mom is going to watch the boys while Ben and I go see the new Harry Potter movie! Then we will probably make a trip to visit with Mum Mum and not sure what else.

2 Year Portraits

This morning I took the boys to Sears to get their 2 year pictures done. We also got a group picture with Zak, Ryder, Piper, and Madelyn. By looking at the pictures you will never guess what happened in the 2 hours we spent there. Zak has progressively gotten worse when it comes to getting pictures done professionally even though at home he loves the camera. As soon as we walked into the room Zak threw himself to the floor screaming and the tears were crazy. I had to pick him up and calm him down so Piper got her pictures done first. Eventually Zak calmed down so we tried to get some pictures of him and Ryder. Ryder was all over the place while Zak went back to crying. Finally I told the photographer just to snap pictures when ever one of them (or both) were near the big number 2. We told the boys to use it as a drum and climb on it trying to get them close to it. Some how the photographer actually got a few great shots of them between the tears and tantrums. Next it was Madelyn's turn and she did wonderful. At the end we tried to get a group shot of the 4 of them wearing the Redskins outfits. Once again Zak wanted nothing to do with it so I just had to hold him down and try to snap a quick picture which was successful.

I really wonder why I put myself and the boys through this every year just to get pictures, but I really hope that they will get better at some point. Ben told me he doesn't know why I even wanted to try again...Enjoy!