PLEASE VOTE for my Kids in the "Cutest Kid Contest" at Virgin Radio....

I just wanted to let everyone know that I entered Brooklyn and her twin brothers into the Virgin Radio "Cutest Kid 2012" contest! The grand prize is a trip to Disneyland!!!!!!! 

PLEASE click on these links...scroll down to the bottom of the page and CLICK "LIKE" to the right of my child's photo's. The contest is based on who's child get's the most "LIKES", so please vote today! 

I have never entered a contest like this before but we would LOVE to take Brooklyn to Disneyland for the very first time!! Thanks for all your support!! MamaCC

RYDER's Link: http://vancouver.virginradio.ca/Showcase/CutestKid2012/View.aspx?ID=320462

CRUZ's Link: http://vancouver.virginradio.ca/Showcase/CutestKid2012/View.aspx?ID=320466

BROOKLYN's Link: http://vancouver.virginradio.ca/Showcase/CutestKid2012/View.aspx?ID=320451

These are the profile photo's I used on their "Cutest Kids Contest" Profile's:)

Brooklyn and her boo-boo's

So Brooklyn has been so cute lately. She has become very attached to her "Purple Doll" which is what she named her "Share Bear" CareBear (I encouraged her to name her "Daisy" or something cute like that but she insists the name is "Purple Doll"! She takes this doll everywhere we go and any time she hurts herself and starets to cry (which isnt very often as she is one tough cookie) she yells, "where is purple doll!". What's even cuter is when I recently got sick and Brooklyn came over to me on the couch and said, "here Mummy, you can have Purple Doll"....melt my heart. Another time Brooklyn saw me crying (when I learned of a dear friend passing) and she came up to me and said, "here's Purple Doll Mummy!" She knows purple doll makes her feel better when she's sad or hurt so she now gives purple doll to me or the baby's when they are crying or upset. She's such a nurturing little girl and I cant even begin to express what a wonderful big sister she is. She doesn't like it when the baby's cry so she runs back and forth to bring them toys if they are crying, she sits in front of the front door so they dont fall over the edge (it's only a 3-4" drop) that they have mastered but she still just worries about them. If they have fallen or bumped their head, Brooklyn makes sure to tell me or she hugs them to make them feel better. She dances for them to make them laugh (they think it's so funny as do I).

Brooklyn cut her finger the other day and it was bleeding a little bit....she yelled "Mummy bleeding! Bleeding Mummy!" so I walked over to have a look and I said, "its just a little bit of blood honey, lick it"....she looked up at me with a confused expression on her face and said, "No, YOU lick it!" ha ha.....so I did! She thought it was kind of funny but now whenever she cuts herself she runs over to me, holds up her finger or hand and says, "bleeding Mummy, lick it! It makes me laugh....I feel like a bit of a vampire but whatever....every Mama bear licks their cubs wounds, lol.

Beautiful pictures of my munchkins:)

My friend Michele was here for a visit last month with her baby girl and took some amazing photo's of the kids! Unfortunately the family portrait didn't work out so well with the 3 year old refusing to cooperate, hubby holding the twins like sacks of potatoes and the twins trying to escape and/or suck on their fists, lol. Better luck next time I suppose.
Here are the beautiful shots she captured of my munchkins:)

http://www.micheledyson.com/

Body by Vi (Visalus)

Okay, first let me say that I am in no way a salesman (nor do I ever desire to be). Im quite happy being a Nurse and a Mom but I do have to share with you this new product I discovered through a friend called Visalus. It's a nutritional supplement that promotes health and weight loss. After having 3 kids in 23 months, I had an extra 25 lbs on me that just wouldn't budge and with infant twins and a 2.5 year old, I have NO "me" time, no time to exercise and Im lucky if I brush my teeth and hair in the same day! lol. I am crazy busy but after ordering my Visalus (it shipped in 3 days!), I dropped 12 lbs in 6 weeks with no exercise (well chasing after 3 kids is exercise but nothing outside of that) and the best part is I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the shakes! They are delicious! I was using Isagenix for a while and although it does work, its REALLY expensive, tastes like crap and was a very drastic lifestyle change (fairly unrealistic in my opinion) with their dreaded cleanse days which I had to severely modify. Visalus on the other hand is an amazing product, is much more affordable and is so delicious! I look forward to my shakes everyday! I seriously can't stress enough how delicious the shakes are! I have around 10 lbs to lose yet so I will keep you posted. I just wanted to put it out there, if your looking for a healthy meal replacement or looking to drop a few stubborn pounds or a lot of stubborn pounds, this is the best! The other great thing about Visalus is how much support you get once you take the 90 day challenge. It's a whole community (which I learned after I bought my Challenge Kit). If you need a place to purchase your Visalus stuff, here is the link where I buy my shake mix http://candicecandice.bodybyvi.com/


If you have any questions about Visalus you can learn more here http://whatisvisalus.org/
and here is a link to a chart that compares all the popular meal replacement products on the market...Visalus has the most to offer! http://visalus.com/docs/product/compare/US/D1215US_ViShape_CompChart.pdf

Unexpected knock at the door....

So this week has been a challenging one! Chris was gone for 14-15 hours a day this week so I have been on my own. Brooklyn was in daycare on Monday and Tuesday until 5pm and came home two days in a row in a foul mood. I noticed she was coming home really dehydrated and was begging for more and more water! I think the combination of dehydration and waking up too early with the early sunrise was catching up with her (she woke up at 5:45am both days and she normally sleeps until 7-7:30am). She was acting like the devil and after just having spent the better part of my weekend in the hospital with a sick baby Ryder, I had two screaming sick baby's and a shreaking 2.5 year old who was having an academy award winning tantrum over putting on her pajamas! Tuesday was a nightmare! It also happened to be 26 degree's so I had ALL the windows and doors open in the house as I was melting away chasing after these kids!
After Brooklyn refused to put on her Pajama's and threw a massive tantrum, I picked her up and put her in timeout. At this point I had enough (she had been naughty for 1.5 hours at this point) and I told her she needed to sit in timeout for not listening at which point she clenched her fists and started screaming at the top of her lungs (which is piercing loud people!).....I warned her once to stop screaming at which time she did it again so I threw her over my shoulder and carried her up to her room kicking and screaming and told her she had to finish her timeout in her room and that I would come talk to her once she had calmed down.....all the while the baby's are downstairs screaming because they want me to pick them up! I had to let them cry it out...I just didnt have enough hands...they were fed, napped and changed and were only crying because they wanted me to pick them up.....correction, Cruz was crying because he wanted to be held and Ryder just follows suit sometimes, lol. I thought for a moment I might lose my mind!!!

I came downstairs and Brooklyn was kicking the snot out of her door upstairs so I ran back upstairs and yelled for her to stop (twice)! When I went back into her room, she was hysterical and starting to cough and gag so I realized she was just DONE (it was only 6:45pm) and needed to go to bed STAT!!! I put on her PJ's, managed to calm her down, read her a short story, kissed her good night, shut her door and went back downstairs where the baby's had been crying for the better part of an hour and a half! Brooklyn fell asleep in seconds!!!
I picked up a screaming babe and two seconds later, the three legged beast starts barking like mad and I realize there is someone standing on my front porch! So with a crying baby on my hip, I open the front door all the while trying to restrain the dog from biting this complete stranger and I say, "can I help you?" and she says, "Do you need a hand!?"....I was totally caught off guard, a little embarassed and of course burst into tears! She says "My name is Irene, I live just over there (pointing)".....I said, "sure, come on in!" ha ha. Drying my tears, I tell her she can pick up the other baby "over there" and within seconds, the twins both stop crying of course because they are both being held which is all they wanted. I realized that this woman had been listening to the chaos, the tantrum, the shreaking, the crying baby's and the Mommy laying down the law and came to offer a hand. It was really very sweet of her....I kind of wish she came 20 minutes earlier to be honest! lol. I was very close to calling on one of my neighbors to help hold the baby's while I dealt with Brooklyn but didnt have time to leave. It was definitely the worst day I have had since having all three kids at home and thankfully most days aren't this insane. Brooklyn is good most of the time and this was an all time low in regards to bad behavior for sure! Oddly enough, I was on my own again the next night and things were much easier (I still think the dehydration is what made her "crazy").

So I have met another set of neighbors and plan to close all the doors and windows the next time things get out of control like that because I know everyone can hear EVERYTHING with how close the houses are built in our neighborhood. I was out for a walk with Brooklyn one day and I could hear the twins screaming a block away while Chris was at home with them. It sucks!!! lol. I kept thinking "why doesn't he pick them up!?" (Daddy isn't bothered by screaming baby's the way Mummy, Oma & Nana are). When I ran home to see what was going on, Chris was warming up bottles and the baby's were screaming on the floor because they were hungry! I just wish the noise and cry's didnt travel so far.

You know it must sound REALLY bad when a complete stranger knocks on the door to "help", lol.

Update

2012 has been a whirlwind thus far. I'm on my own with the kids most of the time because Chris works long hours (12-16 hours shifts 4 days in a row and then sleeps the fifth day because his last shift is a night shift).....I cherish the 3 days he's home but they go by way too quickly! It's been extremely difficult to manage all three of the kids on my own, especially when they all wake up at the SAME TIME! My mornings are crazy busy!! Brooklyn is still in daycare 3 days a week though so that is a huge help and she just loves it! She is thriving at daycare and they even come to my house to pick her up at 9am (because I cant leave the twins now that they are so mobile and they drop her off at 5pm. Lucky for me they are only about 4 houses away! Its been great.
Cruz got 2 front teeth about a month ago and 2 weeks later Ryder got his two front teeth. Cruz said "Mama" just over a week ago (melt my heart! lol). He says it whenever he see's me across the room, it's so cute! (who am I kidding....EVERYTHING they do is cute! ha ha). Ryder is sitting up without leaning on his hands and Cruz is almost there. Cruz started crawling backwards a few days ago and Ryder is starting to do the same. I bought a baby gate on Amazon.com today as my life is about to change drastically with two crawlers! I definitely need to contain them to the living room or I will be dodging baby's while trying to cook dinner and it could get dangerous!

I'm hoping I get to sleep in until 10am on Mother's day this Sunday.....I get about one sleep-in day a month (not enough!). I usually run on 5-7 hours sleep (I have sleep issues) which is unfortunate because the twins sleep for 9-10 hours (but don't nap much during the day, boo!). I find even when I get an 8 hour sleep (once in a blue moon) that I feel equally as tired the next day because its my daily work load that's just so exhausting. My feet just ache first thing in the morning when I wake up (I feel like an old lady, lol) but it goes away once I'm up and at em'.... it's a reminder that I'm literally being run off my feet day-to-day. I should write down everything I do one day so hubs knows what a gong show it is here when Im on my own with all three of them but I don't have time to do that! lol.

I gave the twins their 5th haircut yesterday! These boys grow hair like a chia pet! lol. The boys are starting to fight over toys and have started smacking each other! lol. I have to separate them often but once they start crawling (any day now) they should be able to get away from the other! I mean Cruz is crawling backwards but oh-so-slowly! ha ha. They are also on solids now. I try to make their baby food   because it's healthier (and cheaper) but it's just one more thing I have to do. Sometimes I run out of home made stuff and give them the flavored rice cereals instead. I made jars and jars of minced chicken with apple sauce and peas and they gagged on it (I tried it too though and it tasted awful until I added some apple sauce but even then they would not eat it) so I had to throw out ALL of it! It was such a waste of 7 chicken breasts!! boo!

We have out Au Pair arriving August 4th!!! I'm excited but at the same time Im sad because it means I have to go back to work! Where has the last 10 months gone!? I hope I remember this last year! ha ha. I go back to work September 4th and although it may be respite in some ways, I don't feel ready to leave the baby's! *sniff sniff*

Brooklyn starts pre-school in September as well (she better be potty trained by then)! Potty training is VERY frustrating and I havn't really had the time I need to devote to it). Sometimes she goes to the potty and other times she doesn't! It's totally inconsistent and she recently started telling me she wants to be a baby! I say things like, "your a big girl now and big girls poop in the potty" and she fired back with "I dont want to be a big girl....me baby!". I can see she wants more attention like the boys get.

April Fool's.....

I had a little bit of fun yesterday updating my Facebook Status......it read......"we are officially c-r-a-z-y-! We are expecting again!

You wouldn't believe how many people bought it......but there were just as many people that called my bluff, ha ha. It was hilarious to read all the "OMG's" though! I love April Fool's Day. I get Chris on something every year but this year I didnt do anything to him as we are just so incredibly busy! In fact busy doesn't even really describe how life is at our house. I cant begin to tell you how much work twins and a 2.5 year old are! It's just insanely busy from the time I get up, until the time I go to bed and most days Im by myself since Chris works shift work as is a write off for the better part of 5 days, then he has 3 days off and those 3 days FLY by way too fast!! It's incredibly challenging to manage all three of them by myself but sending Brooklyn to daycare 3 days a week has been wonderful and she really enjoys it there. I'm able to focus on the twins and those days are a lot less hectic for me!

I have a new HATE for Laundry and now that the twins started solids, I have an extra 6+ bibs, 6 bowls, 6 spoons a day, 2-3 clothing changes and in addition, the twins are "pukers!". I honestly cant believe how much laundry we do in this house! I manage to get a load in the wash and then in the dryer but I don't have time to fold it all and put it away so I end up with piles and piles of clean clothes on top of the drier or in the laundry baskets just waiting to be folded. I also have a new HATE for kitchen mess! Just as soon as I clean up the kitchen, it's a disaster within a few hours. We use about 10-12 bottles/day now that the twins stopped nursing.........they quite nursing cold turkey and I found the last few weeks they were getting really distracted by all the noise in here and just couldn't focus on eating so they would latch just to de-latch seconds later because someone was crying or Brooklyn bumped him or she was yelling or singing. I was pretty sad when they weaned.....they obviously were ready to move on and Mummy was not * sniff sniff *.

Brooklyn is proving to be an AMAZING big sister!! She helps the boys when they're crying all the time. If they are in their swings waiting for a bottle and they start screaming....she runs to the living room, grabs 2 toys, runs back to the twins and gives each of them a toy.....melts my heart every single time! It is seriously adorable. She doesnt like it when they cry too hard or for too long so she will say, "Mummy, pick baby up!".

The last few weeks have been really crazy as the boys are teething (Cruz has one tooth already) and seem to be going through a "Mummy" phase where they want nothing but for me to hold them 24-7. I play a lot of "musical baby's" because as soon as I put one baby down and pick up the other one, the other baby starts crying again! Some days are insane here and I wonder how I will get up and do it again and again and again! ha ha. Im exhausted all day, everyday and you definitely get "used" to functioning on less sleep but there comes a point when you just cry. Yes, that's right, I have a good cry once in a while...not very often as I just dont have time to have the nervous break-down that I so deserve.....there are mouth's to feed, poopy diapers to change and a toddler to chase after! 

Framed Hospital Hats

The twins are rolling all over the living room floor. We are about a month or two away from installing baby gates to contain the baby's to the living room. Ryder rolled over about a month ago and Cruz started 2 weeks after him. Now they constantly roll towards each other and bonk heads... A LOT. Im contemplating buying them helmets, ha ha. Its funny how they always roll towards each other versus away from each other. They are finally starting to entertain one another which is pretty cute and they LOVE their big sister. Brooklyn has been amazing with them and she thinks its so funny when she can make them laugh. I cant wait until they can all play together in another 6-12 months. Brooklyn has been awesome and I am really enjoying her age....that being said, I dont know how Im going to get through the age: 18months-2.5 years old with the twins! Man, that was a difficult year in regards to discipline, timeouts and setting boundaries but Brooklyn is finally at an age where she's starting to understand more, can communicate bettter with words and last night was the first time she told me she "wuved" me unprovoked! ha ha. She was eating dinner in her high chair and she said "Mummy?", "Yes dear".... *she giggles a little bit*..."I wuv you!". Melt my heart!! lol. She even put my face in her hands, laughing all the while. It was a wonderful moment! (personally, I think scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese is the key to her heart and that may be why she said it but whatever the reason, she's starting to understand what it means so say I LOVE YOU! She's such a joy!

The boys are about 16 lbs now and 28" long! They are currently starting to wean though *sniff sniff* which I will miss immensely! I plan to start them on solids next month when they turn 6 months "corrected age" (they are 8 months actual age but only 5 months corrected). They sleep well at night but hardly nap during the day unfortunately. I put them in the Jolly Jumper a few days ago and they picked it up instantly.....bouncing away! All my kids have loved the JJ! It's so cute to see them givin' er in that thing!

Cruz has had some mild eczema the last 3-4 months but hasn't needed any sort of intervention (just lotion twice a day) and then over night Ryder broke out with a really bad rash (also eczema) and within a week had open sores on his cheeks that were weeping! Poor guy was trying to itch it like crazy so we put socks on their hands at night so they couldn't scratch at it. I took them to the doctor when Ryder woke up with raw, weeping cheeks and he's now on antibiotics and cortisone cream which is helping a lot. Cruz's rash cleared up on it's own believe it or not. It's amazing how they can just wake up with a rash or wake up with clear skin...it's so random.

The boys are still breast feeding but the last few days have started to refuse the breast so they seem to be weaning on their own!! *sniff sniff*. I will miss the bonding for sure!!!

I managed to finish a PINTEREST DIY project a few days ago. I framed all the kids hospital hats in shadow boxes from Michael's and they look adorable! One of the twins baby hats it so small, it fits on an orange! Their little heads were so teeny tiny!! (see pics below).

We have decided to get an Au Pair come August instead of a nanny for child care when I go back to work in September. A friend of mine has had several Au Pairs over the last few years (she has twins plus two other children) and says they are great helpers so we are looking for an Au Pair to join our family this summer.

Just for the record....I have way more photo's of the twins than I do of Brooklyn, simply because she hates to get her picture taken..... evidenced by the photo of all three of them below and Brooklyn hiding her face! It certainly didnt look good when I was at her new pre-school, pulled out my iphone to show them a picture of her and had to scroll through about 60 photo's of the twins....then I finally found one picture of her BUT it was the picture of her BLACK EYE!!! It looked really bad!! ha ha. Here are my amazing twins......oh ya and here is the kid we dont really like- hence the black eye! lol. It couldn't be further from the truth.....we really do love them equally, I promise! ha ha.

Christmas 2011

It's been busy times at our house. Im sad to say Oma has to go back to work as she has finished her leave of absence from her job. I am forever grateful for her time here.....those 3 days a week were my favorite as I got to spend time with my Mom, Brooklyn bonded with her Oma and the boys got more cuddles than they would have ever gotten just on my own....not to mention, I got more sleep and made more milk with her here:)

The good news is that the boys are sleeping through the night (consistently)....the bad news is that they are already teething!!! (that's early as they are still only 3 1/2 months corrected age). Brooklyn was 6 months old when she cut her first tooth and although the teeth havn't cut through the gums yet, I can see the white edges of each tooth just below the surface. Brooklyn was never really fazed by teething so I never did much other than give her the odd tylenol but the boys seem really off their game. Im not sure if it's just because there's two of them fussing or what but I went ahead and ordered two Amber necklaces online after 3 days of fussy baby's (poor guys are in a lot of pain). Amber has anti-inflammatory properties in it and I have met several Mom's who swear by these. Its simply a baby necklace that they wear during the day, made of authentic amber stones that emit healing properties.

I recently found my first grey hair, ha ha.....kind of symbolic of twins and exhaustion but I count my blessings all the time and I still feel like I won the lottery! ha ha.

Brooklyn enjoyed Christmas very much. She had a little Christmas party at her new daycare (which we love) on the 23rd and it was all fun and games until Santa took off his beard and hat in front of the kids! My thoughts... "WTH!?*!?", lol. You have a room full of 2 -7 year old's (the 12 year old's new it was their Dad dressed as Santa for the daycare kids but the other kids didn't!) and you take of your Santa suit in front of them! I couldn't believe he did that! Let's just say it left me scratching my head and I think it may have confused some of the little one's. Thankfully, I don't think Brooklyn noticed too much because Santa graciously bought her some "my little ponies" and hair accessories that she was into. She was also very spoiled by the "real" Santa, not to mention by all her grandparents. Our house officially looks like Toys 'R' Us puked all over it! I cant believe how many toys and how much baby equipment we have in our living room! In another month's time we are going to have different stations so we can rotate the baby's.....for example, the exersaucer, the jumperoo, the vibrating chairs, the bumbo chairs, the swings, the playpen and the activity mats! We are out of room and spilling over into the basement at this point. It's going to be jam packed with equipment until the baby's are walking at which point we can get rid of a lot of the baby gear like the swings etc.....and then we will just have toys, toys and more toys! I suddenly feel like we have outgrown this house and dream about a bigger house with a huge basement and a huge back yard but that's a long ways away yet!

Christmas was so much more fun with Brooklyn this year...she couldn't believe Santa ate all the cookies and milk by the fireplace (so cute!) and I was blessed to have my mother-in-law cook two great meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.....I just didnt have the energy to do it as we pretty much are run off our feet from dawn until dusk around here. Brooklyn sure loved seeing her Nana, Papa, Oma, Opa and Grandpa and she was very entertaining.

We recently started sleeping the boys in their cribs upstairs and it has been a hard transition with the teething etc. The bedroom routine is taking about 2-3 hours (including feeds) at this point which is way too long in my opinion. Teething sucks!!!! ha ha.

December

Well, the twins are already 5 months old...where does the time go!? Of course they have only been home for 3 1/2 months but we finally have a fairly predictable schedule. The boys recently started sleeping through the night but they still wake once a night from time to time. I am still utterly exhausted despite having my Mom here to help me 3 days a week (such a godsend) while hubby is at work but she put in her last shift a few days ago as she has to go back to work full time in January so I am officially on my own *sniff sniff* and am going to miss her a great deal. I couldn't have gotten through the first 5 months without her and needless to say, I have some anxiety as to how I will get through the next 5 years on my own because all my friends with twins say it get's harder when they get mobile and again when they start biting, hitting and waking each other up etc!

All I know is that my 28 month old is a HANDFUL and if these boys are anything like she is, I'M IN BIG TROUBLE!!!!! That being said, I found my first grey hair yesterday and I directly attribute that to Miss Thang.....aka. "Brooklyn". She has been most challenging these days as she is at that age where she is very much testing boundaries and trying to rule the roost. She is going to daycare 3 days a week and I CHERISH those days because I get to actually s-i-t down and I also get to c-u-d-d-l-e my sweet boys! Yes, I did say "sit"...I get to sit down to eat my lunch instead of standing to eat (all my meals are eaten standing since the boys came home) and I get to hold my precious baby boys when she's at daycare and she indeed LOVES going! I am very happy with how she has transitioned to a new daycare and she is enjoying it immensely! We all need that break and she thrives on the socialization and activities she does there with her caregivers and friends!

I am blown away with the work load of three kids in diapers though....the laundry, bottles and dishes never stop......it's crazy! We have to empty our diaper genie every day but Im hoping to potty train Brooklyn VERY soon! I just havnt had 3 consecutive days in a row to devote specifically to potty training her and I dont think I will be able to do it until the new year. She is definitely ready but I need to have Chris or my Mom here to take care of the baby's while I commit to it (although I am breastfeeding one baby (I alternate baby's) so I will have to stop to feed a baby every 2 1/2-3 hours because the potty training book advises you to follow your child around like a hawk for 3 days to pick up on their potty cues and to catch them in the act ie. having an accident in order to rush them to the potty etc). The boys are still a pound apart.....Ryder is my "Big Boy" and weighed in at 14 lbs today and Cruz is my little guy and he weighs 13 lbs. They are about 1/2" different in length as well. Its easy to tell them apart but if they were the same weight, I imagine it would be much more difficult as they do look very similar but Mama always knows! lol. Ryder has a much bigger head compared to Cruz right now though so I can tell them apart a mile away, ha ha.

The twins have really started to mellow out and I am enjoying them immensely. They are such sweethearts and I am madly in love with them. There's nothing like 4 hazel eyes gazing up at me....and those smiles.....they make me forget how much work they are! lol. I still feel like I won the lottery with these kids and am greatful for my two little babes that were just 3 lbs of fight when they were born. My pediatrician was amazed at how quickly they have caught up and said they are in the 95% isle for height and 75% for weight for "corrected age". "Corrected Age" is the age they "should" be, had they carried to term. The reason they say "corrected age" is because you cant expect a premature baby to meet their milestones based on their actual age but rather based on their "corrected age". Once the boys catch up completely (they say usually between 18 months-2 years old) is when you can STOP saying "corrected age" (I cant wait for that...as it tends to be confusing for some and I have difficulty keeping track of two "ages" with how tired I am all the time.

Its amazing how much attention twins can draw when you're out Christmas shopping (and just for the record, I only went out twice locally and happened to have the twins with me) so I get tons of questions and everyone feels the need to tell me about their cousin's twins or their friend's friend who also has twins and I find the easiest way to avoid the conversation is to avoid eye contact! ha ha. I don't mind sometimes because I know people are just being friendly and are drooling over my gorgeous babes so Im okay with that but normally I have to rush every where I go or else I will run into their feeding times while Im running errands and that's when it get's tricky so I try to push my 6 foot long stroller of baby's with my head down so I can "getter done" so-to-speak and get them home to feed again. I really dont get out much though as you can imagine and I still havn't taken all three kids somewhere on my own.

Ryder's birth mark on his eye lid has almost disappeared completely (yay!) so we are very happy with his progress on his medication and the specialist at Children's is as well. He will probably be on the medication until he turns one to ensure it doesn't grow back. His other hemangioma's are still there but have flattened out and faded in color quite a bit. Ryder has emerged as the BIG FLIRT as he often will stop eating because he's so busy smiling at me or Oma and trying to get our attention. He makes me laugh because he's always smiling and more recently started giggling! Cruz is slightly more serious but he too has started to giggle and I love every minute of it.

Brooklyn is very excited about Santa these days and often will break out into "ho-ho-ho!". She's met Santa twice already and seems to like him! We often take her for walks around our neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights and she really enjoys that. She is still a little bit confused by all our neighbor's lawn "blow-ups" as our neighbor across the street have a blow-up Christmas penguin and a blow-up Santa and reindeer on their roof and for the last 5 days or so she wakes up every morning, looks out the kitchen window, points at the collapsed penguin across the street and with great concern says, "broke!", "Mama broke!?" I had to explain that the blow-ups go "up" and "down" so now every morning she points out the window and says, "down!....Mama down!" and I say "yes, Brooklyn they are down during the day and blow UP at night"....she finally get's it and is no longer worried about the poor penguin, ha ha.

We also made a gingerbread house with Oma this year and although Brooklyn mostly ate the candy instead of sticking it on the gingerbread house, we still managed to decorate a house together. Unfortunately it didn't last a week before her and I demolished it though! Brooklyn was obsessed with that thing because it was sitting within arm's reach on the kitchen counter and she would constantly ask to pick off of it so we had a little bit each day but by day 3 or 4 we were eating the walls and the roof at which time it completely collapsed and eventually went to the gingerbread graveyard (ie. into the trash) but it was mostly crumbs by that time, ha ha.

Brooklyn is also very excited that her Nana is making her, her very own stocking this year. We explained that everyone get's their own stocking but that hers isn't on the mantle just yet because Nana is bringing it with her next week and made one "special" just for her! She is very excited and will often point to the stocking's hanging from the fireplace and say, "Daddy own, Mummy own, M-Y own!".....she cant wait to get her stocking! Nana made Daddy's stocking over 30 years ago...then made Mummy one about 4 years ago (mine is a pink high heel and very chic, ha ha) and now she's made a special one just for Brooklyn.......and hopefully next year she will have time to make two more for the boys too. I can't wait to see it and I will be sure to post pics once she get's her special stocking.

THING 1 and THING 2

I just love these pictures of the boys in their THING 1 and THING 2 outfits. I know I am biased but I think they are the cutest pair I have ever seen! hee hee.

Twins Update

Well, the boys had their 4 month vaccinations today and we weighted them while we were at the health unit too. Ryder is the chunky monkey at 13 lbs and Cruz is a whole pound less (12 lbs). Ryder eats more so he has taken a lead in weight gain. They were the same length just two weeks ago despite their weight difference but today Ryder measured 1/2" longer than Cruz. Im sure Cruz will catch up eventually. They are in the 95% isle for height and 75% isle for weight right now for their "corrected age". No surprise there! ha ha.

They also FINALLY slept through the night! Two days in a row they have slept 8-9 hours consecutively. They are no longer sleeping in the same crib because they were getting too heavy for the play pen downstairs but now that they are sleeping through the night, we may move them upstairs at night to their "real" cribs and I may put the playpens away. I was thinking of putting our beer fridge in their nursery as well for their middle of the night feed (they sleep 8pm-4am or 9pm-5am right now) BUT I dont want to count my chickens before they hatch because as soon as I think we have a "routine", the baby's change it! That's the way it goes!

Its been so great having my Mom here 3 days a week. She has been so helpful and is also my sanity at times! Brooklyn has started asking for "Oma" almost every morning after she wakes up and some days I have to tell her Oma's not here but I love it when I get to tell her Oma is downstairs. She recently started saying, "My Oma" and "My Baby's" in reference to her brother's, which is so adorable. That kid get's cuter by the day! She's talking more and more all the time now!

Ryder has been on his new medication for 2 weeks now and his birth mark has decreased by about 50%! It's amazing to me that he has had such great results with it in such a short period of time. I am very pleased and am grateful he hasn't had any side effects thus far.

I'm getting very excited for Christmas this year and am trying to convince my husband to put up the Christmas tree but he's on the "December 1st" train, ha ha. We may have it up before then and I will certainly post pics of the beautiful 9 foot tree that my Mom bought for my Christmas present last year (I LOVE THAT TREE!). Hopefully Brooklyn wont wreck the ornaments this year! ha ha. Next year I will have two little monkey's yanking ornaments off the tree. They will be a handful for sure once they are walking! I cant wait to have the kids picture taken with Santa this year, although I think we will overwhelm Santa with two little babes and a roudy 28 month old! Santa's arms and lap will be full and one of the twins is bound to cry, if not both of them! ha ha.

As for the day-to-day stuff......our house hold is crazy busy as you could imagine. It always blows me away how messy my kitchen and living room get on an hourly basis. The laundry and dishes (tons of bottles etc) is ridiculous around here! Its impossible to keep up. I may get our clothes washed and dried but folded and put away is a totally different story. I find myself picking out things I need out of a messy pile of clothes dumped on TOP of the dryer because I don't have time to fold laundry and put things away. Anything on TOP of the washer and dryer is clean and anything on the floor is dirty! Makes sense to me.....I just wish I had more hands and more time because I hate picking things out of a disorganized pile but that's the way it's got to be for a while. A bigger house would help solve some of our problems......suddenly this house and it's layout seems too small for my rapidly growing family but moving is not an option right now and we do really enjoy this house....its just that the walls seem to be closing in a little faster than we expected so-to-speak.