Yay for my miracles

The girls had their 20 month developmental evaluation a few weeks ago. They did so good. The only thing they were a little behind on was putting 2 or more words together, but they are still right on track. I was actually amazed at some of the things they could do when she asked, like mimicking a line that was drawn with a crayon and stacking several blocks on top of each other.

Yesterday, we walked for babies and the March of Dimes. We had about 10 walkers with our team and we raised $1,000. It was a lot of fun and feels so good to be part of something so great.

Moving!

We put our house up for sale after many, many months of debating whether to or not. And within 2 days, it is now under agreement! Yikes! We currently reside in a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath home. We have made it a beautiful home, but are feeling the squeeze as the girls get older. We're looking to step up into a 4 bdrm 2.5 bath. I'm not looking to step up my mortgage by too much though! I'm all about not spending every last time on a mortgage. We spend that extra mortgage money on daycare every month!! We have a few school districts in mind to stay within, but really want to stay close to the area we are in now, as it's close to everything. I'm curious to see what the girls think and how they do with a move. It'll be so much fun for them to explore a new home, but I worry about their sleeping habits.

Anyway, we have 60 days to vacate! This will become a little more real after the home inspection this week.

This is what being a twin momma is

as taken from a fellow blogger: http://www.hdydi.com/2010/04/i-always-wanted-twins/

“Oh, are they twins? I always wanted to have twins.”

How many times have you heard that one? It ranks right up there, for me, at the top of the list of incredibly annoying things that complete strangers feel compelled to say to me. As with most of the inane comments, I generally give a half smile and continue herding my cats children through whatever errand I’m trying in vain to accomplish.

But what I really want to say is… Oh really? You always wanted to:

• have a high-risk pregnancy, in which you live in fear of going into labor too early, get five times as huge as a normal human being, and stop being able to tie your own shoes at about 24 weeks?
• leave the hospital without your babies, because they’re still in the NICU?
• attempt to breastfeed two premature babies whose mouths are so small they can’t possibly get a decent latch?
• try with all your might to keep these two infants on roughly the same schedule, in the hopes of maintaining a small shred of your sanity?
• have your vision of what it’s like to be a first-time mom completely turned on its head, because you don’t have a single spare moment to actually enjoy your babies?
• live your life by your babies’ synchronized nap schedule in the name of survival?
• push a double stroller that drives like a school bus?
• have a simple cold take three weeks to go through your house, as it gets passed from baby to baby to mom to dad?
• get pulled in the direction of two new crawlers, and then two new walkers?
• worry about gross motor delays, fine motor delays, plagiocephaly, torticollitis, and speech delays?
• get stopped by EVERY SINGLE FREAKING PERSON IN THE GROCERY STORE when all you want to do is get a gallon of milk and get back to the car before they both start crying, again?

Oh, no? No, you weren’t saying that because you wanted to experience the most intensely difficult 4 6 12 18 months ever known to man?

No, I think what you really wanted was to have a nice matched set that you could dress the same for formal pictures, and imagine them to have some sort of secret language or ESP or something.

Oh, and maybe you always wanted to:

• have two babies who became two toddlers who could entertain themselves much better than most of their age-mates.
• hear the shrieks and giggles and babbling that becomes shrieks and giggling and conversations from their shared bedroom (even if it means they aren’t asleep when they should be).
• watch them make up games and invite each other to play at a surprisingly young age.
• have your own little built-in social/parenting experiment, watching them grow in ways that are the same and different. And having the second one there to let you know that not all of the hard stuff is your fault.
• have that “instant family” with two kids, without having to actually go through labor twice.
• be a somewhat more laid-back parent by necessity.
• find an awesome sisterhood of moms simply by virtue of having parented two kids of the same age at the same time.
• feel kind of like a rock star whenever someone says to you, “I don’t know how you do it.”

- I AM a rock star ;) and I love ALL of it!

Some Easter Pics

Words

Here's a what girls are saying now regularly. They repeat EVERYTHING.

They both say basically the same words. Emma talks a little more than Mady.

More, Book, Water, Milk, Thank You, Emma, Mady, Baby, Kitty, Dog, Moon, Owl, Fish, Bear, Polar Bear, Turtle, Cup, Cookie, Up (Emma), Alligator (Emma), Down, Bird, Mama, Dada, Uncle, Please, Block, Clock, Banana.

and how could I forget the word "No!"

Pneumonia and other happenings

So Mady, did indeed have pneumonia for the 2nd time in 3 months. She went back for a re-check on Friday and still had some crackling in her lungs. The doctor and I decided to get some blood work just to make sure there's nothing behind all these times Mady has been sick. We counted 11 doses of antibiotic in 19 months. Emma had about 1/2 that. They are daycare kids 2 days a week, but still... I'm taking Mady this week for her blood work.

I posted March's pictures on Shutterfly:
http://emmaandmadelyn.shutterfly.com/

Some very, very sad news hit us Friday. An old friend from high school lost her 2.5 year old boy to cancer. He had been battling it since September. I'll be attending the viewing this evening to support her and her family. It's a horrible story. As his mom puts it, he is now pain-free, cancer-free and running free. Hug your kids tight and be thankful for them every single day!

I've been a little busy lately trying to ramp up Lil' LJ even more. We had a really great first quarter, so it put me in gear. I'm looking to start carrying toddler sizes as well as some adorable dresses/rompers for girls. We also have a super cute new Peanut Butter/Jelly twin pack.

Will post some Easter pics soon. (I think maybe I said that a week ago?!)