Fall Fun at Poppy and Nanny's

What an amazing weekend (10/8-10/12) Natalie and Abby have had at Poppy and Nanny's!  We've had beautiful fall weather and oh, so much fun!

It started Thursday afternoon when we FINALLY hit the road at about 2:30pm.  I was quite tired and between getting gas, food, bathroom breaks and pull-over-so-mommy-can-rest breaks...it was taking a while.  Then, we had one of mommy's Jo-Jo driving adventures.  About halfway through the trip, I stopped off of Hwy 64 for a rest break.  Somehow, when I got back on the interstate - I went the wrong way.  I I didn't realize it until I was back at Hwy 288 - which is where you get ON I-64.  At this point I'm probably 20-30 minutes out of my way and the babies are getting restless.  I decide to stop, get gas (in case I get lost again) and give the girls a break.  We are doing pretty well:  I use the bathroom and the girls are happily walking around the gas station - pleased to be free.  I turn around to get a drink from the cold case and suddenly hear a crash and then screaming and crying.  Spinning around, I'm blasted by some kind of liquid in my face, momentarily blinding me, while I try to locate the source of the crying.  Abby has run to one side of the store and is crying absolutely hysterically.  Natalie is closer and upset, but not as bad as Abby.  A 2 liter bottle of mountain dew is spinning wildly and loudly on the floor, spewing dew EVERYWHERE from a puncture in the bottle.  It was chaos.

I find the girls and pull them away from the torpedo bottle and try to calm them down.  I felt terrible.  I wasn't sure what had happened but I was sure the girls' were responsible.  Moments before they were touching the bottles and saying, "mama's juice".  (Sad, I know).  The store was a mess.  There was mountain dew everywhere - all over the cold case, in the aisles, and there was probably spray a good 8-10 feet from the bottle.  For good measure, there was also dew on me and on Abby - although we weren't soaked through, thankfully.

Abby remained pretty upset until we left the store.  I think the combination of the crashing sound, the feel of the spray, the sound of the squirting (which was really loud) and the bottle spinning around on the floor was just sensory overload for her.  Some chocolate chip cookies picked up at the checkout counter seemed to help.  I did offer to pay for the bottle as I checked out.  The guy was super nice (he had brought us tissues before).  He kept saying it wasn't our fault, and something about a delivery guy.  I was completely confused until I saw a delivery guy unloading pallets from his truck.  I finally pieced together what the clerk had been saying.  The clerk said that the delivery guy bumped the bottle display, which apparently caused the bottle to fall - probably from the top shelf.  It then hit the corner of the metal shelving which punched a hole in it like a knife.  Since it's under pressue, the 2-liter then became a spinning little torpedo.

I don't know how long we were at the store, but my plans for a restful little pit-stop were definately blown.  Fortunately, all the dram made the girls very tired, and after eating their coveted cookies, they dropped off to sleep for the rest of the trip.  Finally, at least an hour later, I was back at the point where I'd first stopped to rest in the first place.

We finally at 10:30 we arrived at Poppy and Nanny's.  What should have been a 6 hour trip - took about 8.  Fortunately, it went much better from that point on:-)


Friday
We were fortunate that Poppy had the day off from working at the community college where he works as an Academia Adviser and teaches classes.   Our first field trip was to the bus garage to see "Poppy's Bus" (yet another one of his jobs).  Quite a while ago, Poppy and Nanny gave the girls a

Fisher Price bus, which we have always referred to as "Poppy's bus".  Now, the girls love buses and whenever they see one on the road, they call out, "Poppy's bus, poppy's bus" and "more bus, more bus".  So, Friday, we were able to see his bus live and in person.  I couldn't help but be aware that in only 3 or so short years, Natalie and Abby could board the bus for their first day of school...:-(


After our bus adventure, we visited Nanny's elementary school to have lunch with her.  Natalie and Abigail tried their hand at some classwork and had their first taste of school lunch food.  They were unimpressed.

After "lunch" we headed out to the stables to see the horses.  One of the members of Poppy's church (job #4, btw), works at the stables.  (It's nice to be connected!)  I was fully expecting the girls, especially Abby, to be pretty hesitant, if not fearful.  But, they did amazingly well. 
We immediately spotted the cutest little ponies - who were very eager to eat straw or grass from the girls hands (whose enthusiasm to feed them cooled once they saw the ponies' teeth.)

Inside the stables, we found the most beautiful horses.  Natalie and Abby were very excited.  They rubbed the horses and even sat in the saddle of one.  They were really so cute.  They kept pointing and shouting, "more horses".  They were also thrilled to discover that the stables were home to several stable kitties.  Kitties are always a welcome and happy diversion.

Outside, we discovered a llama and a few donkeys.  They weren't as friendly though, so we went back to visit the little ponies.  Abby wanted to much to feed them, but wouldn't get closer than about 2 feet.  She would pull up grass and toss it in their direction.  So cute:-)

After a real lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant, where the girls' ate almost nothing, of course, we dropped Poppy off for bus driving and hit Walmart - always a must.   The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent hanging out and playing at Poppy and Nanny's.

Saturday

Saturday was just an amazing, fun day.  We traveled about an hour to Graves Mountain Apple Harvest Festival.  The day was a little overcast, but nice.  There were crafts, pony rides, music cloggers, hay rides, animals, food, pumpkins, and lots and lots of apples!

After their experience at the stables, Natalie and Abby took the the riding ponies like pros.  They absolutely LOVED their first pony ride.

We played in a pumpkin patch...

...and visited the farm area.  The girls saw goats, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, pheasants and peacocks.

Poppy picked apples for them to eat right off the trees. 

We took a hay ride (another first) through the beautiful grounds of Graves Farm.

We finished up the day by watching the cloggers and clapping along.

It was really a wonderful, perfect fall day.  The only downside was that Ben wasn't with us.

Sunday was truly a day of rest.  We popped by church to say hello to everyone there then had a little lunch.  The girls took their first nap since going to Poppy and Nanny's.  We hung out, played and just relaxed.  Monday we had to head home, but not before we stopped by the College to say hi to Poppy's co-workers.  After lunch, we headed home.  Although I had to stop and rest a few times, the trip wasn't as bad as the trip up.  We were home around 8pm.

It's always so much fun visiting Luray.  It's such a beautiful place and there is so much to do.  We've just begun to scratch the surface of fun things to do at Poppy and Nanny's!

Weight Check

I´m working on various posts for the past few weeks...a visit to Poppy´s and the beach.  Adding pictures takes time...so for now, here´s a weight update.

The soil has been fertile in the garden of Natalie and Abby.  They have made great strides in the past few months.  They are most definately drinking more milk-formula.  They still usually get 3-4 bottles a day and are taking 7-9 ounces each time.  I honestly never thought I'd see the day.  They also seem to be eating real food better, at least some of the time.  Typically, they eat well in front of others, at the beach, for instance, thus making me look like a big, fat liar when I complain they don't eat.  They also eat well in the car.  They will usually consume a whole chicken nugget happy meal (6 nuggets and apples) between them.  I do sometimes find pieces of chicken in their seats, but I think they eat most of it - at least 2 whole nuggets each.  Now, should I put the same meal in front of them at the table...they'd eat half that.  So, the solution I've come up with is this: we should move to the beach with all our family and live in our car.  Really, with the third seat down, I could be quite comfortable.  It might be a little cramped for Ben though.

Their "favorite" foods vary.  Favorite is relative to what day it is.  A favorite today might be rejected tomorrow.  Sausage does remain a consistent winner.  Bread, in just about any form, is also highly desired.  They love apples and grapes and will chow down on these.  Corn is also pretty reliable.  They love to eat corn on the cob, especially Natalie.  She's quite thorough.   Chicken nuggets, of course, work pretty well.  McDonalds and newly discovered, Burger King's "chicken fries" go over well.  They will usually eat nuggets at home as well, just not as many.  Soup is very popular.  Actually, they will take a bite of almost anything if you call it "swoup".  Ya-ya's chicken soup with rice aka "baby crack" reigns in first place with other forms of chicken/rice close behind.  I have also had success with broccoli soup, clam chowder, broccoli and cheddar (Natalie actually likes broccoli pretty well), and other creamy soups.  Of course, that presents a little dilemma.  Remember, we think they have a milk intolerance.  And, obviously, all of the above contain milk in some form.  But, they'll eat it.  And other than the continued bumps on their arms (which don't seem to itch or bother them in any way), they don't seem to have any other symptoms or distress.  So, we've been chancing it.

On the subject of milk...I'm beginning to wonder about that.  They were on Pediasure when they were having such a hard time.  I've since learned that Pediasure can wreck havoc on kids with reflux and can be tough in general.  So, now, I'm wondering if it was the Pediasure all along and not the milk.  They seem to tolerate other forms of milk just fine. 

In any case, we should learn more in a few weeks.  Natalie and Abby have an appointment with a pediatric allergist in two weeks.  I'm hopeful we will learn something to help the bumps on their arms.  I'm also hopeful we will NOT discover it's something like a wheat or gultin which is in all kinds of things.

Now, on to the good news.... I weighed the girls today with happy results.

Natalie weighed in at 23# 11.5oz.  A month ago, on Oct 7th, she weighed 22# 6.5oz.  So, this is a great gain of over a pound in a month, One pound, 5 ounces, to be exact.  Abby has also gained weight beautifully.  Today, she reached a new milestone: 24 pounds! and 2 ounces...  On October 7th, she weighed 22# 13.5oz for a gain of one pound, 4.5 ozs.

We are thrilled with their continued gain, but also recognize that most of their calories are still coming from formula.  They are drinking about 30 ounces or more of milk a day which is 900 calories.  If we took that away, they would have half of that in just food.  Remember, they are supposed to get about 1200 calories a day. By the way, I think this is an incredible amount.  I mean, adults survive on 1200 calories a day.  What I want to know is how in the world "normal" toddlers consume this many calories without eating junk all day long.  If I fed them the way I want: fruits, veggies, baked or grilled chicken, fish (NOT chicken nuggets, juice, fried chicken SKIN, cookies, ice cream, etc.), I don't know how any toddler eats that much.  I would love to hear from parents of regular eaters how many calories their kids eat....

I said at 24 pounds, we would start losing the bottles.  It's actually not just the bottles; it's the amount of formula they consume as well.  I would like to see only 16-20 ounces of formula from a straw cup.  I'm going to wait a few more days and let Natalie hit the 24 pound mark, and then start cutting back on bottles and offering milk in their straw cup.  Being at my mema's so much will actually make this easier.  They are out of routine a bit, and I don't do 4 bottles there.  I just can't do it all by myself.  So hopefully, being out of routine will help them not balk against a change in routine.

Okay - that's enough about food and weight...I'll work on those picture posts now:-)

Natalie and Abby's first trip to Holden Beach

Every summer when from the time I was one year old to sometime in high school, my extended family on my mother's side would all gather at Holden Beach, NC for a fun-filled, memory making week at the beach.

It began with our former matriarch, my great grandmother, Pallie, and her children (Mema, Joyce, John, LouRee (deceased) and their families in various representations.  I enjoyed many a summer day, and many a July birthday, at the beach surrounded by family.  For years and years, we even had the same beach house, High Rig, and it was like coming home.  We had our little traditions: a day at the water slide, one night fixing seafood, one night going out for seafood, late night/early morning spades games, and a night spent on the pier.  My dad would take us out on the pier to "fish" all night.  Mostly we ended up eating junk food and falling asleep huddled in our sleeping bags.  But, it was one of our favorite activities.

Well, the water slide is closed for the season, they are too young for the pier, and the water is way too cold to even think about swimming, but here we are, once again, at Holden Beach.  My mema, her brother and sister, my mom and her brother, my sister, and Ben, myself and the girls have gathered once again, abet in colder conditions, for a week at the beach.

We actually gather under bittersweet conditions.  My beloved Mema has had Lymphoma for the past 5 years and after intense chemo, radiation, various other milder forms of chemo, and losing her sight, it has reached the stage where it is no longer responsive to treatment.  She has been given just a few more months to live.  Although most of us weren't terribly surprised, we are deeply saddened and struggle to comprehend a world without Mema.  She is the kindest, gentlest, sweetest, more caring person I've ever known.  She has always endured every hardship with a measure of grace beyond my comprehension. And she has been the best mema anyone could ever, ever, ever had.  My sister and I are so close to her and it's almost incomprehensible to think of her being gone.  But, in true Mema fashion (who responded to the doctor's news with, "well that's the way it's supposed to be, we aren't supposed to live forever,") we are to make the most of the time we have left. 

So, at her request, we have come together once again to honor the memories and glory days of weeks past at Holden Beach.  We have a beautiful house with an elevator that is just steps from the sand.  We can fall asleep to the sound of the ocean.  Although she can't see it, Mema will be able to sit on the deck (wrapped in a million blankets) or even by a window and hear the waves crash on the shore and hear the pitter-patter of little feet running around the house.

The weather is cool, but the girls still enjoyed their first venture onto the beach today.  Once again, we've confirmed my suspicion that it is the sound of the ocean that disturbs them so much.  The ocean is as calm as I have ever seen it - virtually flat with the waves breaking just inches off shore.  But, any slightly larger crashing wave sent them into a tizzy.  It's just so loud for them.  When we retreated up the beach towards the dunes, they stopped, began playing in the sand and having a much better time.  It's possible that by the end of the week, they will accumulate to the sound of the waves, or we just may end up playing high on the beach near the dunes.

I'm actually excited about our week here.  We haven't had a really restful vacation since the girls were born.  Hopefully, we can just chill and relax this week.  Ben unfortunately won't be as relaxed.  He has to go back and forth a bit to work a few days.  But hopefully, when he's here, he can relax too.

One more word on my mema...as I mentioned, she lost her sight completely in the past few years, probably due to either the chemo or radiation.  She has never seen the girls. She has said repeatedly that it is her only real regret and if she could see anything, she could want to see them.  So, if you are a praying folk, please pray that for at least one minute, Mema's eyes would be healed to allow her to see Natalie and Abby.  After the beach, I plan on basically moving to my mom's for the next few months, with a few trips home here and there.  But, we will be around plenty and will give God plenty of opportunity for miracle moments.  If you are not a praying folk, then you can wish that the cancer will hit some weird nerve either here or there that will restore her sight for however brief a moment.

There will be plenty of beach updates, as well as some procrastinated ones that I've been meaning to get too.  I think there's a June post somewhere in the list to be edited...

"Elmo Bird"

In an attempt to help the girls find connections and make associations with their colors, I started pointing out that things that were red were "like Elmo".  (They LOVE Elmo - especially Natalie.)  I'm afraid all I've done is add a new color to the spectrum - the Elmo color.

Today, the girls were looking out their window at the bird feeders.  They started asking for the "Elmo Bird".

Here's a picture.

I refilled the feeders, so hopefully the "Elmo Bird" will make another appearance very soon:-)

 Here's our Elmo bird!

Oh my gosh

It's been soooo long.  I have been a very bad blogger.  There's so much to say and catch everyone up on...And, of course, I don't have time.  It's 2am, feeding time, and then I'm off to bed.

But, I will say this - Natalie and Abby are doing great.  They are eating fairly well, especially drinking their milk and Are closing in on 23 lbs.  They are talking SO much.   Especially Abby.  Natalie doesn't say as much, but I think that is partly just her personality.  They are so, so funny too.  They laugh and play and chase each other. 

There is so much to say, but I did want to check in and let everyone (who's still here:-)) know we are doing well.  I really will update more asap.

:-)

Invasion!

We have been invaded by the worst of all invaders. Horrible aliens from the planet Nonap have descended and taken over my darling daughters.

Natalie and Abigail, who previously slept 2-3 hours every afternoon have now decided that they are too busy to nap. They have refused to sleep several afternoon this week. Wait, it's only Wednesday! Actually, they only fell asleep on Monday - the one day I needed to get them up at 3:45 so we could have a play date with Walker and Bean.

This behavior started a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was just an anomaly. But, it's now becoming a trend. A very untrendy trend. I can hear them in their room talking and laughing and running back and forth in their beds. The only up side is that they are pretty content to play in their beds for about two hours, so at least I get a little break.

If anyone knows how to exorcise the Nonapians, please let me know!

Now I Know My ABC's

Well, not quite, but we can repeat them!

Friday, Ben was reading "Pooh's ABC's" to Natalie and suddenly as he was saying each letter, she started to repeat the letters after him! Ben went through the whole alphabet, then called me and Nanny in so I could witness it too! Now, you too, can see the marvel of the ABC's. Keep in mind, this is round two so she was getting silly by the end. But Ben swears she repeated every letter the first time.





After showing off again for Poppy, Abby decided to join the fun and started repeating the letters too.

Now, I am fully aware that there are scores of two-year-olds who can not only repeat the ABC's but recite them all alone and sing the little "Now I Know" part too. However, considering that 2 months ago, Natalie and Abby barely had 20 words, every bit of repetition and vocal exercise is pretty exciting. It's all apart of their language explosion. And every day seems to bring something new. On Friday, Abby added another new word without any prompting and out of the blue. Aunt Susie sent the cutest Hello Kitty book bags with textured Hello Kitty faces on them. Abby was rubbing it and said, "soft, soft". She's also using great sentence babbles in which she seems to babble partly and fill in parts with words she knows and can say. So, it sounds like, "babble, babble George, babble, babble, down, babble". Natalie is also starting to use more jargon type sentences. Previously, she has been a one or two word phrase kind of gal. But, she is really stepping that up.

This is very exciting news for us. The ABC song is just around the corner!

Happy Adjusted Birthday!

I started this post on August 20th - my original due date - and the girls official "two year" birthday. I thought it would be appropriate to do a little developmental update.

Weight
When I started this August 20, there was good news and bad news. Today - the news is much better. Natalie had completely stalled on her weight gain. She hovered at 21#14-15 oz for for weeks. She just would not gain weight. Finally, this past week she finally jumped the 22 lb mark. Yesterday, she weighed in at 22# 4.5 oz. She's enough over 22 lbs that I'm hopeful she will maintain it and not drop below it again.

Abby has been gaining well the past few weeks and this has really pulled ahead of Natalie. She is now 22#13oz. She also has the cutest little pokey belly:-)

At these weights, the girls are just on the growth charts now - at 3%. Yea 3%!!!! They are about 33-34 inches tall which makes them about 8% on the height charts. To me, they seem pretty good in height. When I see them with other kids, they don't look that short.

And, in related news...
Food
*sigh* On the bright side, the girls are drinking their milk really well. They finish a lot of their bottles now. It's kind-of amazing. I really thought I would never see the day when they would drink 7-8 oz on a regular basis (something many 9 mth olds do easily). They probably get 26-30 ounces a day. That's a bit more than recommended for "normal" kids - 20-24 ounces of lowfat milk. My girls' milk is alost 30 calories an ounce. However, if you do the math, at 26 ounces, that is still only 780 calories a day. They need at least 1000 calories to maintain. Our ped wants them to get 1200. So, they need 400 more calories a day from food.

This is where we run into problems. It doesn't seem to me that they get that much. For instance: today, they ate the following:
Breakfast: a bite or two of sausage; maybe a bite of egg; grapes - food rejected: the rest of the sausage and eggs and buttered toast
Lunch: a bite or two of whole wheat pasta with basil pesto sauce; 1/2-3/4 of a chicken nugget (Abby - I think Natalie threw hers on the floor) - rejected: most of the pasta and the nuggets - Natalie would chew her food, then spit it on the floor - until they dumped all their pasta on the table.
Dinner: two or three small pieces of grilled chicken; another bite of pasta, one or two green beans (Natalie again would chew the beans and spit them out. Abby did the same with her chicken.) Rejected: all of the above. Our only success: 6-8 bites of frozen chocolate milkshake from McDonalds.

So, other than the milkshake, do you think they had 400 calories?

Our other food dilemma is their mealtime behavior. Spitting food out, dropping it on the floor, pouring out their food on the table. With any other child, I would remove the food the second they start playing with it. But, how to you take food away from a kid you are trying to conjole into eating it? If anyone has any ideas, feel free to comment.

Now on to happier subjects...
Verbal
Natalie and Abby have made tremendous progress. I think they have somewhere between 50 and 60 words - with Abby having a few more than Natalie. They are using several two word phrases mostly with "more" - "more...water, soup, etc." and "more please". They also use a lot of possessives. "Abby's ...shoes, Elmo,..." "NaNa's shoes,...", "Mommy's shoes" (clearly shoes are a favorite). Abby has a few more advanced phrases, "This is ....Mommy's shoes, Abby's Elmo, NaNa's Elmo". She also uses some directional words, "in, out, off" Natalie has just started using them as well, though not as often as Abby. They both are very good with "up" and "down", especially as in, "mommy up, up, up, up, up".

They can name a number of body parts: eye, nose, ear, teeth, elbow, knee, arm, head, back, mouth and can point to just about every other part: shoulder, forehead, chin, cheek, bottom, vagina, feet, toes, hand, belly, bellybutton, hair, tongue, leg. Are there any other parts left?!

According to my little chart, they are actually on target now for 24 months. Their speech therapist says that at 24 months they should have 50-250 words. So, the good news is if they were tested now, they wouldn't qualify. They are catching up and doing great!

Comprehension wise, of course, they understand almost everything. They follow directions very well (when they want to). Failure to follow through is definately a lack of desire vs. lack of comprehension.

Cognitive, Fine Motor and Gross Motor
These seem to overlap a lot on my chart, so they will here as well.

They are doing very well with stairs - up and down. We encourage them to hold on with only one hand (helps truck support). They are still generally doing one foot at a time (put one foot down, put other foot down - start over) vs one foot on each step. I'm actually very okay with this. It seems much safer to me!

Both girls, and especially Natalie, are little monkeys. They will climb on anything - and try to turn anything into something to climb. They now both climb up the outside on their cribs, but thankfully, not OUT of the cribs yet. Natalie likes to "hang". She grabs hold of something, then pulls her feet up in a pike position. It's really quite a feat. Try it sometime. She is quite strong (for someone so little) and has pretty good ab muscles.

They both love to jump. Natalie has been jumping and getting both feet off the ground for a while. Abby just started getting off the ground last week. They can walk backwards, run (all the time), and have started jumping off the bed into my arms. They can also walk on a balance beam type object (such as the parking beams, a 4x4, or the 4-6 inch beams that often surround play areas). Sometimes they need help with a more narrow one, but if it's about 6 inches, they can do it themselves. Spinning is also a favorite activity. It's pretty funny to watch. Usually they put one arm up, bent at the elbow. I guess it's for balance. They look like waiters spinning around with imaginary trays.

The only main thing we are working towards in jumping off the bottom step. I guess hopping on one foot is also next.

Fine motor wise - they can build towers of 6 or more blocks (Natalie is better at this - or willing to sit still long enough to do it). They will even use two different kinds of blocks: big block, big block, small block, small block, big block. They turn pages in books, scribble, and have started enjoying stickers, although sometimes they have a hard time getting them off their fingers. They are showing some variation in their scribbling: circular, horizontal and vertical, but I can't tell if it's purposeful or luck from spastic and quick scribbles. We have worked on puzzles and they have several they are good at. They are very good at matching one object to another: in puzzles - finding the spot where the cat goes based on the picture, or in a book, - finding a duck on one side of the page that matches the duck on the other. We also play a "Word Bingo" game. They have large cards with 9 pictures. I hold up a little card, and if they have the picture, they get the card to cover it up. (As they get older, we will play and obviously, whoever fills in their card, wins.) They match the pictures easily, although aren't always willing to leave the card on top of the picture.

I think they have fairly good fine, fine motor skills. One of their favorite activities is to take popcorn kernels (unpopped) and put them in a small-mouthed bottle. They also like putting coins in a piggy bank. There are some areas they need work. They don't use their hands together to solve some tasks. For instance, with stickers, if the sticker gets stuck on a finger on their right hand, they don't use their left hand to take it off. They also don't hold down paper with one hand to color with the other.

Self Help
Natalie and Abigail are very independent. They love to to things for themselves like steps, eating, throwing away their diapers. That is the cutest thing, by the way. They take their diapers and throw them over the gate by the trash can. They love it. They6 come back and ask, "more?".

They have also become very helpful. They love to throw things away and are getting better at putting away their toys, both when asked and even when they aren't asked. They are very helpful when it comes to diaper time. They will fetch diapers, wipes and diaper cream. A few times Abby has tried to help me vacuum the floor with my little sweeper machine. Natalie likes to help Ben open the mail. They both like to help clean up spills with a towel and will "clean" the slide, floor, or whatever, when handed a wipe. They also like to try to wipe their own faces and hands. In the bath, they are very cute. They wash each other's backs and hair.

Natalie and Abby are also doing very well in the clothes department. They are quite adept at taking OFF their clothes, much to our dismay. I often find them after naps or in the morning missing pants or pajamas. Thank goodness for onesies! They work hard at putting on their pants and are sometimes mostly successful. They manage to get shirts around their necks, but arm holes are still baffling. Shoes, however, are another story. A few days ago, Natalie put on both of her shoes all by herself. They were sandals with velcro straps. She undid the straps to get them on and then closed the straps once they were on. She even had them on the right feet, but I think that was more luck than anything else.

Abby also loves her shoes, and they often run around with one shoe on. They both do very well with the "croc" shoes which they can slip on and off easily.

and finally, Social/Emotional
One of the great things about twins is that they entertain each other. Natalie and Abby are very good independent players. They both play with each other, and will engage in their own separate activities. They are very, very busy. Natalie seems to have a longer attention span than Abby for most things and will sit and work on a task for "a while". I'm honestly not sure what "a while" is for a two year old, but it seems like a good amount of time to me. Some of the sites I checked say 15 minutes, and Natalie will definately do that. The only thing I have seen that really hold Abby's attention is a book. She loves books. She has added the verb "read" to her vocab and uses it frequently. With great enthusiasm and demand. Actually sometimes, it's a little whiny. So, we are working very hard on only responding to her asking nicely and in a normal voice. She does get a little whiny and demanding at times. On the other hand, when she looks at you with pleading eyes and says and signs, "pease", it's just adorable and melts your heart.

Natalie and Abby do a lot of their best playing in their beds. They are SO funny. I can often hear them running back in forth in their, laughing and talking. They are fond of throwing all their crib items from one crib to the other. Usually, everything ends up in Natalie's bed, but today I found everything in Abby's bed.

Other favorite toys include their toy food, their babies, and balls. They also like pushing their stroller, or in Abby's case, picking it up and putting it on the ottoman and big chair. Chasing each other, peek-a-boo, and tormenting the cat are also fun. They also have a fisher price farm that they like to play with as well.


SO, if you are still reading, congratulations. I assure you we are not nearly as narcissistic as the length of this post would suggest. I really do know that most people could care less about all these little details. But, I honestly do this for us as much as for anyone else. It's a great way to help me remember all the stuff they do and I don't have to write it down in multiple places. It's also my hope that one day Natalie and Abby will read this and have a record of all the little things they did.

I actually have a few things to say about their personalities and individual favorites, but this is already ridiculously long and it's 1:20am.

Nite-nite:-)

Natalie is just so darn cute!

I love Natalie. She is just so adorable. If I had to pick a word, I think I'd use "sweet". She's sweet in that sweetest of waya. The way she smiles...so sweet. The way she is so concerned about Abby - so sweet. Even the way she plays - so sweet.

It used to be that Abby was always concerned about Natalie - patting the car seat or stroller seat next to her and saying - "NaNa". But, now, Natalie is all about Abby. When she wakes up, her first word is often Abby, or Elmo:-) If Natalie has her Elmo, she is very distressed until Abby gets her Elmo too. If Natalie gets a cookie, "Ibbi, Ibbi". Abby needs one too. She is just so conscious of Abby and seems to want to make sure Abby has her fair share too. Now, that's not to say that if Abby is trying to steal a toy, Natalie won't run in the other direction shouting, "no, no, no." But somehow, even that is so cute.

Today Natalie discovered a bag of teeny tiny Uno cards. I mean, really tiny, about 1.5" x 3/4". She loved them. She poured them out then put them back in. Then she poured them out again. I eventually gave her some cups, and she poured them in those. She played with them for at least 20-30 minutes. It was adorable.

Natalie has the cutest way of working on a task. She gets so involved in the smallest of things: stirring her cup with her little plastic spoon; playing with her farm animals; looking at her books. I love watching her explore her world.

I have to also mention Natalie and her Elmo. Natalie is fanatical about Elmo. Any Elmo. And she can spot him across a crowded store. For a while, Walmart had a huge Mylar Elmo balloon floating above the card section of the store. We were rolling around with our cart, and Natalie starts, "elmo, elmo, elmo". I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, until I saw the balloon high above our heads. Another time we were there, and she started calling again, but this time the balloon was gone. But, she remembered where he was supposed to be.

Natalie also manages to find Elmo on the most unlikely of places like the random diaper box we've packed books into (we don't use this brand, but it had this little tiny elmo on it). Anything with Elmo is pounced upon. Stickers, plates, books, diapers. She loves them all.

Of course, mostly she loves her little stuffed Elmo. When it's time for her bottle, she grabs her blankie and her Elmo. She actually gets quite distressed if she can't find him (and also if Abby doesn't have her Elmo." Elmo often goes on trips in the car with us where he sometimes dances. Natalie: "Da-Da-Da". Elmo also sometimes slides down the slide or rides in the baby stroller.

I wish I could relay exactly how Natalie says "Elmo". It's sort-of a "Eh-mo", or Eh(really short l) mo. Have I said how cute it is?

There's something about Natalie that just makes your heart melt whenever she smiles. It just puts a little smile on your own face and makes you happy to be alive. I love my little Natalie. She makes my heart sing.

Guess what Abby said!

I am so excited and proud of Abby! She completely shocked us today with a whole new phrase. we were playing ring-Around-The Roses. After she dropped to the floor at the end of the second round, she suddenly blurted out, "ashes, all fall down!"

We were shocked! She's never said anything like that before. It was so cute and it was so exciting. It actually gave me goosebumps:-)


The girls have actually made a lot of progress in the verbal department. Abby has started saying more and more words and stringing them together in two word phrases. "More water" , "more please", etc. She is also using the possessive, "Abby's" as in "abby's ball", "Abby's duck-duck". She has also extended that to "This is ball...shoe...duck-duck" and "This is Abby's duck-duck".

Natalie is catching up verbally as well. She doesn't use as many words as Abby, but just in the past few days she has started stringing together words into two-word phrases, "more water", "mommy's shoe", "more soup".

It's amazing how much progress they make every week - or even every day. It seems like every day they add new words. At last count, I would say they have about 60-70 words. It's kind of hard to count though. I started making the list a few days ago, but every day I think of more words they know.

It's fun to hear them say new things every day. They are communicating more and more. Of course, the down side is that they are finding their voices in disagreement as well. "No!" is a favorite phrase. Usually, "no" is related to being asked to share with each other. Abby is particularly fond of the phrase as she has become quite possessive of her favorite toys hence all the "this is Abby's ..." :-)

Fortunately, most of the time they share very well. One of the things they each hoard is their water bottle. So, I have started counting. I count to ten and at ten "it's time to share!" They have both responded very well to this.

Auntie is here this week and Poppy and Nanny are coming Thursday, so we should have more stories to sell soon!

I know what Natalie and Abigail did this summer...

and now, finally, so will you! Summer's not really over yet, but I'm so far behind in posting, I'd figured I would get a head start.

Where to begin..let's go back to May...

May started with the girls' attending their first official birthday party. See link here: http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/bring-out-party-dresses.html

The next weekend was spent with some pre-birthday and Mother's Day celebrations.

Poppy and Nanny stopped by the bring the girls' some birthday gifts. They had a great time opening their presents and checking out their new bubble-blowing lawnmowers. Finally, Daddy has some help!

They also received a huge inflatable pool - which we have since tried out (pictures later). It's about 4' by 10', and the girls love it. They also loved the plastic balls Poppy and Nanny brought. They were meant for the pool, but the girls have loved playing with them indoors and out.

Mother's Day
Sunday morning, Natalie, Abby and I loaded up the car and headed to Asheville to meet my mom for a little Mother's Day girl fun.

It turns out that Biltmore Estates is free to mothers on Mothers Day, so we thought we would check it out. It was late by the time we met my mother, had some lunch and finally made it onto the Estate Grounds. We did get to see inside the house (castle!) and roamed the grounds just a bit. On our way out, we came across a pond with baby geese. They were SO cute. We got out and Natalie and Abby loved trying to get close.

It turned out that it was quite late by the time we were ready to leave, so rather than drive the 3.5 hours home, we opted for the 1.5 hours to go to my mom's for an impromptu visit. It was great to see Mema, who was quite pleasantly surprised!



Birthday Bust
The rest of the week was spent with Abby getting sick and their birthday taking a beating. If you remember, their actual birthday was a bust. Abby was just getting over the throw-ups and as we sat down to a little tea party on their birthday, Natalie was just starting the throw-ups. We did not get to go to the Zoo, eat cake, take decent pictures, or any fun birthday stuff. http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/birthday-bust.html

While Natalie stayed home with us, my sister took Abby (who we thought was better) for the trip we had planned to Franklin to celebrate Mema's 84th birthday (May 18) and Kimberly's birthday (26th). It turned out that Abby still wasn't feeling so well and spent most of the weekend glued to Kimberly. But, she did get to meet Uncle John and Aunt Linda, Mema's brother and his wife.

As always, having Auntie around had great benefit for Natalie and Abby. Once Auntie and Abby returned from Franklin, Auntie convinced me to take the girls for a "real" haircut to fix the mess we made when Ben and I gave them their first way too short haircuts. So, off to Peek-A-Boo for $20 haircuts we went. The girls actually did far better than I imagined.
Natalie did great,
and Abby started off well, but right at the end, she lost it. Fortunately, she was pretty much done at that point.








I have to admit, their hair looked MUCH better. (Sorry girls - no more mommy cuts.)








Operation Birthday Do-Over
We spent the 4th weekend in May on Operation Birthday Do-Over at Ya-Ya and Grandpa's. Ya-Ya had cake and presents and they finally had an official 2nd birthday celebration. They loved their new books, coloring books and pens, puzzles, and baby dolls. Oh, and the picnic table and outside swings were a hit too! (Ya-ya and Grandpa got a little carried away:-)) Probably the biggest hit were the baby dolls (one to go home and one for Yaya's house.) It crawls and says "mamamama" and "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba", giggles, and oh, farts. The girls LOVE Ba-Ba baby. Since receiving them, they now crawl on the floor saying ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. I even caught Abby trying to push KitKat into the floor to make him crawl while she chanted, "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba".

We opened gifts and the girls had fun eating their strawberry ice cream cake with their special twin topper. (Remember, it was the cake topper at our beach shower).


After cake, we explored Yaya and Grandpa's yard and took lots and lots and lots of pictures - their official 2 year pictures. It was really fun, and great way to celebrate Natalie and Abigail's birthday - even if it was a week late. Many thanks to Yaya and Grandpa for hosting us and making the girls' birthday special.












(Abby and Natalie)

We rounded off the month of May with a trip to the Museum of Life and Science. Last year we bought a membership for their birthday, and it was expiring May 31. So, one more trip to get our money's worth:-) This time we started at the end and check out the bears (sleeping), foxes (also sleeping) and the lemurs (not sleeping). We also explored the "Catch the Wind" exhibit (which I had never seen). We had a few minutes in the toddler section before the museum closed. They had a stuffed horse that we sat the girls on for a picture. I learned that under no circumstances any time soon would they be interested in actually sitting on a real horse or pony. Just the little stuffed one kind-of freaked them out.











It turned out that May was a pretty busy month - and sort-of bittersweet. After 5 months of babysitting again for Walker and Bean, we decided it was best if I focused on Natalie and Abby and Walker and Bean had a new babysitter whose kids wouldn't get sick every other week. I was so happy being back with the kids again, so I was sad to leave, but I did think it was for the best. Looking back now, I can say it was definitely the right choice. It seems like the girls have been sick less. Plus, we have had so many doctor's appointments and new therapies, that I'm not sure how we would have fit it all in.

For me, though, it was so amazing to watch the four of the children I've loved most in the world get to know each other. Walker and Bean were so great with them, and at the end, Walker was so sweet helping the girls in and out of their car seats. They both were great at making the girls laugh. Natalie and Abby loved them too. Even now, they say "Wa-ka" and "Be" when they see their pictures. We will stay in touch though, and certainly hope to have many more playdates with Wa-ka and Be.

If May was busy, June was even busier. Stay tuned!


Here are a few more great pics that Ben took of the girls! It's hard to tell who's who but Abby is in the dress with the darker print.

Ring-Around-the-Roses

Here's another video snippet to keep people happy until I get off my butt and update the blog with "real" information:-)

Abby in blue and Natalie in pink, and, as always, ignore the mess.

Yea for the comments!

Yea! People are leaving comments! I was beginning to wonder if anyone was still reading! Thanks everyone:-)

Bragging Rights

I have to admit that I am one hundred percent positively biased, but, I still want to brag a little about my girls. And since this is my blog, then, hey, I will:-)

Background
We have long been impressed by the girls' language comprehension skills. even when they were much younger, they seemed to understand much of what we said to them and would follow simple directions. We have also been impressed with they apply what we know they know to other scenarios. For instance, one time I asked one of them if they had poopies. Without being asked or directed, the other went and got a diaper and brought it to me. Experience had taught her that "poopy" equals a new diaper. So, even though I never said the word diaper, she knew they were associated.

More background
We have two baby gates in our house. One blocks the living room from the kitchen. The trash and recycling cans are located just on the other side of the gate. Since Ben has a habit of playing basketball star with wrapped up wet diapers, the girls have long known that the "trash" is by that gate. We also often get them to carry the diapers to that gate "to the trash". (Mostly this means they throw them over the gate.)

The other gate blocks the entryway (which leads to the other end of the dining room and kitchen) and the front door. The gates keep the girls from running out the front door and out of the kitchen. This gate has never really had any specific designation. In other words, we don't call it, "the gate by the table" or "the gate by the door". We do sometimes have them put their shoes over the gate because the shoe basket is located by the entryway in the dining room.
End Background

So, today, Natalie, Abby and I get back from Ross (a clothing/home store - sort-of like Marshall's) where we purchased 2 bags full of incredible developmental toys for the kids. It's nap time and we are in their room changing diapers and clothes. Abby went first, and then, to keep her busy while I was changing Natalie, I gave her a job. I asked her to take Natalie's shoes and "throw them over the gate". She happily grabbed them and ran off. My feeling was she would toss them over the trash gate since they are very used to that, so I added as she took off, "the gate by the door". I wasn't sure if she would understand that or not. A minute later she came running back looking for more shoes. I gave her her shoes, and she was off. When she came back, I handed her the two wet diapers (rolled up neatly) and gave her more instructions; " take these to the trash." Off she went, and then returned, empty-handed and looking quite pleased with herself.

It was a few minutes later when we were back in the living room and I checked to find: 4 little shoes tossed over the gate by the door and two little diapers by the trash. I was completely impressed. Not only had she followed all my instructions, she had put everything over the right gate.

I guess it doesn't sound that impressive when I write it, but I was just really surprised Abby was able to differentiate between the "trash gate" and "the gate by the door" - especially since we never call it that. I suppose she remembered that we usually have them toss shoes over that gate, and she certainly knows where the shoe basket is, so maybe my description was unnecessary. Either way, I was pretty impressed by my little two year old, who, if you want to be technical, isn't really even two yet. They are really only not-quite 23 months old.

Another unrelated Abby moment...
Last night while playing, she went to the toy shelf and pulled out their patty-cake bear. (It's a bear that sings and moves its arms to patty-cake when you squeeze its foot.) She took it to daddy and we did a few round of patty cake. When she was finished, she took it from daddy and headed straight back to the toy shelf. At this point, Ben looked at me and said, "is she putting that back!?" We watched wide-eyed as she stuffed Patty Bear right back into his little box where she found him. She did this completely on her own without prompting.

All and all, we have been really impressed. With all this direction-following and cleaning, Ben and I are just counting the days until we sit back on the couch drinking a coke and eating bons-bons while we give Natalie and Abby directions on cleaning the house...

For Your Viewing Pleasure

I have SO much to update and blog about, and so many other things to do as well. For now, you can enjoy this little video from May 7. The girls started doing this on their own - running up and down the hall holding hands. It is the sweetest thing.

Enjoy.