Over a few states and through the woods...

To Grandmother's house we go. . .

We are all packed and ready to head to Kentucky to visit Great-Grandma! We packed pretty light - well, compared to a year ago when we may just have hitched the house to the car. Now we only have:

2 Booster Seats

cooler

Tote of food

Laundry basket full of toys

2 play strollers

1 double stroller

1 kids suitcase

1 adult suitcase

1 backpack for going in restaurants

1 bag of dvds, books, change of clothes, etc 

1 bag of bedding for the pack and plays

2 pack and plays

We even left space in the back of the van for diaper and clothing changes. So then we don't have to use the yucky ones in the restaurants and rest stops. There is a quilt down (for cushion when they lay down), wipes, diapers and books set out in the diaper changing spot in the van so we can be done real quick. 

In the morning we will put Nicholas and Celia into the car with their jammies on. Hopefully they will fall asleep soon into the drive. It is a 9 hour drive and then a bit longer for stops. We turned their car seats around for the trip and we have the car dvd player all set. I stopped at the library this week and checked out 3 kids dvds. They always like the same signing time and baby einstein signing dvd, but these other 3 look nice too. 

So, we are off to bed since our alarm is going off at 4:15 am. Grandma and Grandpa will be checking in every day on the kitties. :) 

We'll try to check in during our trip, but otherwise we'll see you Monday. Wish us safety and luck! :)

p.s. Nicholas (and Celia is pretty close) said 'bye' today quite a few times. :) 

Shoes on the brain

I like Nicholas and Celia to have nice comfy flexible shoes, but its getting a little tougher to find shoes I like that fit their feet. Celia has narrow feet and Nicholas has average/narrow feet too. Nicholas wears a 22 european size and Celia a 21. These are the shoes we have tried or looked into:
Pediped - Very cute, but wayyy to wide. Better for medium to wide width feet
See Kai Run- Nice looking but still a little too wide.
Stride Rite - nice shoes, but only 2 options for each due to their shoe size and narrow width.
Robeez - nice comfy shoes and could work (Robeez Tredz since they have velcro to tighten), but were more expensive since they don't have a twin's discount.
Preschoolians - 3 foot width inserts: narrow, medium, wide, a 40% off discount for twins, and lots to choose from. Not my TOP choice in styles, but we have had 2 other shoes from there and N&C have liked them a lot.
I have been thinking and searching for shoes so much that I was dreaming about shoes so much that I couldn't sleep well. Now thats too much thinking about shoes!!!
Then once you pick a shoe company, you have to choose - slip on, velcro or laces. I'm not ready to have them fall on their faces when their shoe laces untie, so that went out the window. I decided to go simple and get slip-on shoes with elastic ankles and thicker soles (these are rubber soles, not leather like original Robeez).
Anyway, we went with these from Preschoolians. Love that 40% discount! They also have great customer service.



They ship September 1st, so we won't have them for our trip to Kentucky, but they'll be here soon. Now, if I put 1/120 amount of thought into my own style, I wouldn't look like a schlumpadinka every day.

Busy Weekend

Happily, we have escaped Chicken Pox! It wouldn't be SO bad if we didn't have so many plans. But, Aunt Sandy and Aunt Kathleen (adopted Aunt) came over from Michigan on Fri - Sun. Aunt Sandy was so excited to see Nicholas and Celia. I was so glad to see that they weren't shy (especially Nicholas) like they can be. They played with them and held their hands.

Today was Grandpa Maus' 50th Birthday party! It was a surprise. Many of his good friends came and we had a nice time. Jason and I were constantly on watch making sure we could see where Nicholas and Celia were. Nicholas tends to just sit and play in an area and Celia is buzzing around everywhere.

On Thursday Jason stopped at a garage sale (and you know how lucky he is at garage sales) and found a solid wood table for them. It is perfect for them and will fit them until they are into maybe 8 or 9 years old (I can sit and put my legs under it). I rearranged their play room and they have been in there 100% more than usual. They love sitting at the table and doing puzzles, laying out pretend food, feeding babies, driving cars. Its great. I wasn't sure that a table was necessary, but I am surprised with how much they love it. And the great part was Jason only paid $45 for it (original owners paid $200 and it still looks like new).
This is their rearranged play room. I need to rearrange art work (dry old stick wreath thing on the wall) and yes, thats a potty in the playroom. :)


Also we signed Nicholas and Celia up at the YMCA for a parent/child swim class. It starts in October and it will be on Monday evenings for a 1/2 hour class. It should be fun. We signed them up as members too so we can take advantage of the toddler classes. It will be good for them to play with other toddlers and have some experiences with the gymnastics gym, music, etc. It will be really nice when the weather starts to get crummy so they don't go stir crazy being in the house all the time too.

Chicken Pox or just a cold?

Wow this week has flown by and I feel bad I haven't posted since Sunday!
To update, you:

Sunday we took the kids to see some friends we met in our twins birthing class at a Tall Ship Festival in Port Washington, WI. Here is a picture of a tall ship - the very old ships (I know very little). There were 6 tall ships that sailed to Port Washington (about 18 miles from our house on Lake Michigan).



Sunday afternoon Nicholas woke up before Celia and he was cuddling on Daddy (who was trying to nap too). :)


Monday, Nicholas and Celia were putting buckets on their heads and walking around outside. I was cracking up. :) You must look past the garage. Its not like that normally. Since we had our rummage sale and cleared out the basement to start remodeling, most of our things are in there. A lot has to be taken to Goodwill, but its a mess. So avert your eyes.



Well, yesterday Celia started out with a bit of a runny nose. Then in the evening after their bath, I noticed some pimply bumps (maybe 5) on Nicholas' hip. We were on our way to see Uncle Matthew at Grandma and Grandpa's house anyway (Matthew returned from Turkey on Monday finally). So Grandma looked at Nicholas' bumps and feels it looks a lot like chicken pox. And often kids get cold symptoms before the pox go in full effect.
But its the next night and the bumps haven't spread and really haven't changed. If anything, they might look better. He now has a runny nose too. They've been to church nursery on sunday, and they play at the park sometimes, so its tough to say where its from.
But, we are SO hoping if its chicken pox that it quick does its thing so we can still leave on our trip to Kentucky on Thursday. But, it would be super awesome if its not chicken pox and its just some odd bumps and a cold.
Tonight was the worst night they have had in a long long time. I think they were over hungry, over tired and just plain not feeling well. Its impossible to know if they have bad headaches, sore throats (though that doesn't seem likely based on their actions) or what. So Nicholas refused his dinner. Celia ate it. Then he had a temper tantrum when I took him from the table (he was throwing his food). Usually I would leave him in a safe place or try toddlerease, but since I don't know why or if he is feeling bad, I tried really hard to console him. Eventually he calmed down and he ate some soup, toast, blueberries and drank a cup of water. I just didn't want to send him to bed without eating.
They had a bath and still didn't see a difference in bumps. Once they were done with the bath and it was time for bed, then Celia had her tantrum. She didn't want to go to bed. I tried to have her sign something or show me what she wanted, but she didn't make any sense to me. I tried rocking her, but she just wanted down. Its so unusual to not know why they are crying, so it was frustrating for us and made us feel bad. Nicholas was pretty exhausted so he was falling asleep, but eventually I had to just lay Celia down and walk away. She fell asleep on her own then. Sometimes its like they just need to be left alone to calm down. Hopefully they sleep well and maybe Nicholas' bumps will look better tomorrow and we can possibly just concentrate on maybe having colds. What a night.

Sprinkler and Napkins

Friday afternoon Nicholas and Celia played in a sprinkler that Grandma Maus found for them from Menards. It hooks onto the hose and as the circle fills with water it sprays out of little holes. Celia was shivering, but she loves it. Nicholas wasn't fond of the cool water and stayed to the side.






Now that Nicholas and Celia are doing so well in their Booster Seats, one day I was feeling silly and gave them a napkin. Well, they liked it and have been wanting a napkin with their meals. lol
Sometimes they wipe their hands and faces when I remind them. Other times they wipe their food off. And sometimes Nicholas wipes his tongue. Its funny. Here is a short video of them with their napkins. p.s. the video is being silly, so it wasn't showing sometimes. If you can't see the video, you can click here.


This morning as I changed Nicholas' diaper he looked at me and said "poo poo" and then signed 'all gone'. He didn't have poo in his diaper and he was telling me.
Then after church they were playing outside and he bent down by his play ambulance and pointed to 3 balls on top of the ambulance (lights). He looked at me and said "Ball". It is so neat how he is using his speech now and sometimes signing with it to make a sentence or phrase!

Praying for sleepy heads and ceramic pigs (you try to make a title sometime)

Last night I went in to check on Nicholas and Celia sleeping like I usually do. They were so sweet laying there sleeping that I decided to take a picture of them. That meant using flash and my camera is not quiet. I figured I never get sleeping pictures anymore, so I was going to run the risk of waking them for the pictures. Happily though, they did not wake. Nicholas stirred, but Celia didn't even twitch. It has been in the 60's at night, so with the ceiling fan on low, they need long sleeves and pants to be warm.





This ceramic piggy bank was mine as a little toddler like Nicholas and Celia are. I had it in the rummage sale, but it didn't sell. It was a good thing because they have fun putting money in the piggy. We watch them carefully and only let them do this if an adult is right there watching them to make sure they don't put money in their mouth. They really only have tried to put a quarter in their mouth a couple times, but they pulled it right out when we said "Ewww Yucky". Here they are with the big piggy. :)



And the last few meals I've been trying to make it a point to pray with them. Jason and I usually pray, but I've been meaning to try to have them copy us by putting their hands together and closing their eyes. I've also been trying to get them to say "Amen" (hasn't happened yet). Usually when we are praying (like when we all eat together at Grandma and Grandpa Maus' house) Celia will keep saying "HI" over and over because she doesn't like to see us all with our eyes closed. Last time this happened she even pulled me over to her, grabbed my eyelashes and yanked one eye open - ouch.
Anyway, tonight she did put her hands together, closed her eyes and started saying baby babble like she was praying. I grabbed the camera to have her do it again. She tried, but it wasn't like before the camera (of course).

Boosters, Bilibos and Nesting Dolls

Due to my boredom with highchairs (and knowing we will need them anyway) I ordered Cooshie Booster seats for Nicholas and Celia. They came yesterday and so far they are working pretty well. Grandma Maus is going to make some belts that we can put around the chair and their waist for added encouragement to stay seated. Celia seems to think it would be nice to stand on the boosters, so I having to watch her very closely. I have the highchairs on stand-by in case we need to pull those back out. It would just be so nice to be able to get used to these boosters because they can come off in a second when people want to sit down, they travel nicely, and they are easy to clean.
Pics from their first snack on the new boosters. :)









Also Nicholas and Celia have outgrown many of their toys and their boredom shines through. Which then equals temper issues. This has been a tough week with tempers and arguments between the two of them. Mainly fighting over toys. Also they are both still teething - Celia getting all 4 Canine teeth and Nicholas getting a couple lower and some molars. Makes for a long day sometimes. Luckily their kisses and fun times make up for it.
One of the toys we bought was these Bilibo toys. They are silly turtle-shaped plastic shells that have no direct purpose. They encourage imagination. So far they both really enjoy them a lot. They can be hats, something to sit in, spin, carry toys in, make a tunnel for toys, stand on, pull, etc. Pretty cool actually. Now we have a blue and red Bilibo.


I also bought a set of Russian Nesting Dolls. Neat how an old toy still is a lot of fun for kids now. They both really like the nesting dolls as well.

Its time you pick up your own mess, my sweethearts.

This morning Nicholas and Celia were carrying their snack traps around and they quietly dropped many chex mix pieces all over the floor. So, I got out the vacuum and taught Nicholas (Celia wasn't so interested, but probably next time) how to use the hose part to suck up the snacks on the floor. He thought it was pretty cool.


Then there were smudgy fingerprints on the front door so I had Celia help me wash them off.
Also, at meal times I've been showing them how to take a paper towel and wipe up their milk spills (which they do on purpose by writing with the milk from their straws). They like to help so far. :)


And some pics from the afternoon playing outside:

Flashback to 6 months old

I haven't done any flashback pictures in a while. :) So here are a few. Celia standing with me before a bath - she must've been 6 months old (the picture say 6/30/07 at 6:36pm). I had read that babies gradually need their ligaments and joints to loosen up for movement so that is why babies can't move real well until they are older. I can see that in the picture compared to now. I can tell even with some baby signs that ask for wrist movement that now that they are older they can do. Anyway, thought it was interesting.


Here are the two of them laying on my bed at about 6 months old also. In their cloth diapers. They almost look guilty of something? Maybe they were about to arm wrestle?

And at 6 months (about 2 days before 6 months) Nicholas sat for the first time unassisted. Celia sat at 6.5 months. His back looks like he has a board on it, but he doesn't. His concentration is pretty fierce here. :)
We have been having our garage sale this weekend. Friday we made over $200, but today, Saturday is much much slower. I have WAY too many baby clothes still here. They need to sell! I even kept a tub of favorite clothes, so these will have to go to the consignment shop if they don't sell. It was kind of sad setting the clothes out, but now I just want them to go.
You sure meet some interesting characters at garage sales. One older lady yesterday wanted to buy our small tent for $5 (priced at $10) but I said I wasn't able to sell it for $5. She was smoking and even put her cigarette out on our driveway. Hello? Manners?
Then an old lady today was looking at my teaching borders (like fancy paper borders you put around bulletin boards). I priced them for $.50 (cheap for almost new borders) and she said:
"I'll give ya .25 cents for it. My granddaughter is a teacher"
I said, "Well, its almost new and they are $3.00 new."
She says "Heres .25 cents. You won't sell it anyways"
me: "Well there were a lot and they did sell, so I think it would"
And she throws a quarter down on the table. Annoying! I was pretty upset with her. But I put it in a bag. I wish I hadn't though.
But we've met some nice people too. So I suppose it evens out.
Didn't mean to crab for a bit. lol

Joanna Polling Designs - Business Cards!

My wonderful friend, Joanna, created these business cards for me. I think she did a FABULOUS job! This will allow me to give them to people so I can begin to work on portfolio building and getting more practice with my photography. Thanks SO much Joanna! If you ever need graphic design work done (or other things), PLEASE use her skills. She is great! You can see her design blog here: Joanna Polling Designs.

A monkey named Nicholas

Nicholas has grown his climbing legs. Yesterday I was in the bathroom putting on my make-up and I knew he was in our bedroom (right next to the bathroom). Suddenly I hear giggling so I look in our master bedroom and Nicholas is up on our bed. We have a pretty high bed! He was wearing shoes, so I think he got his little foot onto the frame and got over the box-spring and mattress. So now I have to make sure he isn't in our room with his shoes on. I don't think he can do it without shoes because it would hurt to step on the frame edge.
So then Celia wanted up on the bed too. So, I had to grab my camera. :)

Nicholas looking proud of himself after climbing up on mom & dad's bed:
Celia looking over the headboard where Nemo the kitty sleeps. Nicholas looking at the lamp that burnt his finger. He definitely remembers that it is the lamp lightbulb that hurt him. He will look at the lamp and then look at his finger (which is all healed by the way).

Today Celia napped from 12:15 to 4pm. WOW! So Nicholas and I went outside for a while. Here he is climbing some more. Is it just me or is this kinda good for an 18 month old? I don't know, I just didn't expect him to be able to do this at this age! He looks like a 3 year old to me.



And a cute picture of Nicholas and Celia reading in the livingroom :)



This evening after dinner I called Grandma and Grandpa to see if we could visit with them before bedtime. Grandma said she would take a walk with us so we threw on our shoes (Nicholas, Celia and I - Jason had to run an errand) and we walked down the sidewalk to Grandma's house. We were kind of fast so I even crossed the street with them all by myself. They each held a hand and we walked across. It was neat. :) Then we took a LONG walk with Grandma to the park. N&C walked all the way there, played at the park, and then dragged themselves home. I ended up carrying Celia a bit, but Nicholas' legs were about to give out on him. When we got home they downed a cup of water, got their jammies on, washed their faces, brushed their teeth and were in bed and sound asleep by 7:15. And we haven't heard a peep since. They were pretty exhausted!


Oh yeah. p.s. I went out tonight and had some 'me time'. Jason told me to go out and spend a little money on myself. Yippee! So I went out and got my brows waxed and as the stylist is waxing my eyebrows we were chatting about how I have twins. She said, "Are they siamese?"

I've been asked MANY times if our twins are identical (which makes me think people really need to read Websters Dictionary and brush up on what IDENTICAL means) but, I've never been asked if they are SIAMESE. Hello people? Our twins looks very different aside from having some differences in body parts!). So I am making it my mission to help people to understand so another mom of twins doesn't get the "are they identical question".
So I told the lady that they were not siamese. And they aren't identical. Most boy/girl twins are not identical because they have different body parts".
I think I'm going to start bringing some flashcards. 2 will have the exact same red ball, 1 card will have a blue ball. I will ask them to choose the cards that are 'identical'. We will have a little lesson right where ever we are. Sheesh people.

Visit to the Beach

Celia watching sand fall through her fingers. . .







Friday we took a trip up to Grandma and Grandpa Velicer's house. We allowed Nicholas and Celia to stay up as long as they could and that meant we could play outside later than usual. We took them on a paddle boat ride, then decided at 7pm to go swimming in the lake, so we changed into our swim suits and went out. They had a great time. The water was quite warm and refreshing. once we got out we put them in the PJs and went and sat on the beach with the whole family watching the camp fire. It was really fun. The pictures above were taken right before our paddle boat ride so the light was wonderful (often evening light is the best).
We had a nice time visiting with everyone. Nicholas and Celia really enjoyed the attention from their cousins. Heather, Kaylee, Andrew and Matthew were so wonderful with them. They have very nice cousins!

Just a couple pictures from the beach (boy, I am not a landscape photographer!):
And a storm approaching Friday afternoon