Thursday, March 31, 2011

tid bit

A lot of people have asked and still do (including strangers which I find kind of rude...I wouldn't ask a total stranger such a personal question but that's just me), if we had twins naturally.
We did! In fact, we conceived on our very first try. In December of 07 we decided that we were both ready, after 2 1/2 years of marriage, to start a family. We prayed about it and made sure that this was God's will and timing for us. We decided March would be the month we began to start trying and like a lot of other people I kno, I heard it could take 6-12 months. I had my cycle down to a T and new when the most optimale day to conceive was. 6 days before I would late, we took the test (truly not getting our hopes up) and we were THRILLED and ECSTATIC to see the 2 lines!
At 6 weeks pregnant I got this little voice in my head one day while showering tht said "what if it's twins." I actually got annoyed that I would even think something like that because, and this sounds bad but I will explain, I never wanted twins. Being a twin (identical so no, me having twins has ZERO to do w/ me being one) growing up we saw how hard it was on multiple levels for my parents. Not only is it twice the work but it's expensive! My sister and I always said growing up that we did not want twins. So I shrugged off that thought but it would randomly pop in my head for the next few weeks. The reason I thought that in the shower that day was bc I felt like I was showing already. I normally had/have a super flat stomach and to me it looked slightly puffy.
At 7 weeks I was at a baby shower for my sister in law and my older sister touched my belly and said "wow you're already showing." I was immediately offended and told my mom what she had just said. She just looked at me for a second and said, "do you ever think you might be having twins?" I said "sometimes." Later she said I had to listen to that voice bc that was my intuition, my gut. I refused to! I didn't want to believe it. I would tell my husband that sometimes I thought that and he would just say "No...no, there's no way." Fast forward a few weeks to my first dr. appointment where no ultrasounds where to be done. We did the normal check up and at the end I told her that I thought maybe I was having twins and I fibbed an told her they ran in my family (even though my sis and I were the only set and like I said, identical is not hereditary) and she said ok well let's just check really quick. We walked into a little ultrasound room and it was her, me and my husband. She did a vaginal ultrasound and right away there was a little bean on the screen. She moved it a tad and what looked to be like 2 flashed up. We all knew what we saw. She moved it again and there, clear as day was TWO BABIES! She started laughing in disbelief. I reach up and grabbed her arm, speechless. My husbands eyes were like saucers.
See, I knew it I thought to myself!!!! So, so nuts.
EVen though I thought I never wanted twins, we are EXTREMELY blessed beyond words. To get pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, on the first try is pretty darn cool. And I wouldn't change it for the world even though it's a hectic life :)

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

2 and a half :)




My sweet peach puffs, yesterday marked that you are exactly 2 and 1/2!! I feel like we just celebrated your birthday but low and behold, it was 6 months ago!! Let me see if I can put into words what you are like these days....




Kaden,

*You are still the BIGGEST Mamma's boy and I really do pray it stays that way. I hope we are always so close. Everyone knows that Mamma's boys make the best husbands :) I once heard a saying that you can tel how a man will treat his wife by the way he treats his mom :)

*You have gotten so much hair. Still not a ton compared to most 2 years olds but for you, it's a lot :) Your little baby whispies are sometimes hard to contain but I love them. Although your Daddy and I have been discussing getting your first trim!

*You've known all your shapes and colors for almost a year (10 mo) so that is really old news to you. Same with body parts. What you are learning now is all of the different bones you have. You know a bunch like you ankles, wrist, ribs, elbows and knuckles. We're also working on spelling since you recognize a lot of the letters in the alphabet :) You are such a sponge, always asking questions and I love it.

*You have become less of a picky eater in the past few months. You went through a phase where all you like was yogurt, mandarin oranges and corn. Just last night you ate 3 slices of bell peppers (red and green). You still love strawberries, yogurt, rice, corn, hummus to name a few.

*You love anything and everything with wheels!! You are like a magnet to things with wheels. You also love ANYTHING from the movie Cars. You have quite the collection of the characters. I think it's so cute that both of you are at an age where you have a favorite Disney movie and you know the characters!



*You talk so much. I think the most words you have said in once sentence was a dozen (and that's daily). You always talk in complete sentences. Most 2 years olds should be speaking in 2 words at a time. You were doing that before 18 mo :)

*You have just recently (like in the past 2 weeks) started to express some terrible two's type moments. You have always been, since day 1, the sweetest, easy going lil guy. Not much ever ruffled your feathers, you just go with the flow. But recently you will flat out refuse to do things when asked, you will yell "NO!" and you are really mad when you say it. You sometimes hit yourself when you are mad and you sometimes hit your sister. You have definitely been testing your boundaries and as frustrating and difficult as those moments can be, it's actually a natural developmental stage and it's healthy. You need boundaries and so by testing them, you learn what they are. And I ave to say, for "terrible two's" this is nothing compared to some stories I have heard. Truth is, 99% of the time you are a perfect angel and for that we are thankful :)

*Some of the cute things you say right now is "Can I try some?" when you want some of whatever I'm eating. Or, "Can I get this?" when you see a toy you want at a store. In Maui you wanted a flashlight and you said "Can I get this and bring it home?" and it was sooo cute! I love, love, love when you and your sister have conversations. You play together and it its the cutest thing ever. Your favorite thing to do is to pretend to be chefs. You make pretend meals all day long. I just love hearing you guys talk back an forth.

*You still sleep with us at night, sill love your paci and boo but the sleeping with us and paci we hope to kick by the end of summer :) Also, now that Maui is over we will soon be starting potty training!! I am suuuper nervous bc it's uncharted waters for us. I feel like I have had a handle on the mommy of twins things for a while now but this is a whole new ball game and I have no idea what to expect. I know you are fully ready but I just can't picture you being potty trained. Makes me a little sad!

I have so many video that I want to put up but they never seem to work. But I can't wait to show you them when you are older so you can see just what you were like :)
I truly can not believe that in 6 months you will be 3. Blows.my.mind. I love every single day that I stay home with you. I have a feeling that these will be the most favorite years of my life. The first few years I stayed home to raise you. Because all too soon you will be in school, you'll grow up and need me less. So I literally live in the moment with you while you are so little. I love you to pieces my little bubba!!!


Miss Kaleiah,

*Honestly, you are more like a 4 year old it's crazy. I was looking up what 3 years olds should be doing developmentally and you did every single thing (by now or months ago) except for maybe 2. So in actuality you are really more like 3. You talk so much that it's really incredible. Although this is nothing new, the things you think to say, the things you come up with are funny and very smart. You speak in the longest, most clear, enunciated sentences. The most you have ever said in one sentence is 18 words. At 2. When 2 words is the standard. Insane. When we're out at the park or wherever, people often ask me how old you are bc of how much you say but they can tell by your size that you can't be 3 :) I love how much you talk, I love the conversations we have, I love how hungry you are for knowledge.

*You are still a bottomless pit who eats and eats and eats and stays a little peanut! I think you got my ultra fast metabolism. You are also like me in regards to food that you get super irritable when you are hungry! You also take your sweet time eating, like me :) You are such an adventurous eater. You will almost always try anything once. You love to try new things and you are not very picky. Some of your fav things to eat are avocados. humus, mac and cheese, broccoli (cooked or raw), strawberries. And you loooove ranch. You love to dip almost anything in ranch but yo ualso love ketchup. Oh and you actually like salad too, you always eat from mine when I'm eating one :) You just love food!


*You sill love your paci and boo but we hope to kick the paci by the end of summer :) Also, now that Maui is over we will soon be starting potty training!! I am suuuper nervous bc it's uncharted waters for us. I feel like I have had a handle on the mommy of twins things for a while now but this is a whole new ball game and I have no idea what to expect. I know you are fully ready but I just can't picture you being potty trained. Makes me a little sad!


*You have always, always had a spunk about you...a little feistiness and ust like Kaden, you have had a few "terrible two" moments. Sometimes you deliberately ignore me, like today when you were taking crackers out of the box and throwing them on the floor that I had JUST vacuumed. I asked you to stop, explained why and you quickly picked up another handful and threw them. The more I told you to stop the more you did it! Sometimes you will throw yourself down and pout (but I think I know where you learned that). Like I said to Kade, this stage is normal and to be expected. You are not a bad child in the slightest, you don't intentionally misbehave. You are learning what is acceptable and what's not. And like I said also, it could be so much worse. While the times you two have your moments make things difficult, it's short lived and not as bad as I know it could be. You are a perfect angel 99% of the time!

*You are really into your tinkerbell kitchen and pretending to cook. We play "restaurant" everyday. You also know about 6 of the Disney Princesses! It's so cute! After you learned them and we went to D-Land, you saw the castle and exclaimed "Cinderella lives there!" :) You say sleeping beauty looks like me bc we both have long hair :) I can't wait til you start playing dress up. I can't wait to get you adorable little princess dress up clothes! You also love to having matching toes. For Maui I painted both of our toes hot pink and you got many compliments on your tiny toes. Currently we both have turquoise :)

*You (and Kaden) sometimes have a hard time sharing. Surprise, surprise. That's a 2 yr old trait for sure. You fight over stuff everyday and I have to play referee! Sometimes you bop Kaden on the head and sometimes you bite. A few weeks ago you bit him so hard that not only did he scream like I had never heard before but you left 8 puffy teeth prints with a huge welt in the middle. It was bad. I put you in time out (for about the 6th time in your life) and then you had to apologize. You and Kaden are finally starting to understand that time out comes as a consequence.



*You've known all your shapes and colors for almost a year (10 mo) so that is really old news to you. Same with body parts. What you are learning now is all of the different bones you have. You know a bunch like you ankles, wrist, ribs, elbows and knuckles. We're also working on spelling since you recognize a lot of the letters in the alphabet :) You are such a sponge, always asking questions and I love it!

*Your hair has been long enough for pigtails for a few months, they are sooo cute! And I was even able to braid one side of your hair a few weeks ago!!



You are truly the happiest little thing and you make me laugh all day. You are so smart and so helpful. I love that you have Kaden and he has you. You are little best friends and it just keeps growing.

It's hard to put into words just what you are like these days. But I take lots of videos so I can show you one day :) And as always, I take hundreds of pictures a month :) You two are the lights of my life and it really just keeps getting better. Although I was just telling Daddy that I feel like things have gotten a little harder in the past month bc this age. Everyone asks us, so is it easier now that they are older? As anyone with twins will tell you, it doesn't get easier it just gets different! :)

I love you both to the moon and back x 735,128,000!!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Maui part 1

Day 1:
3/20/11


We left for LAX at 6:15 am, waking K&K up at 5:30. Our flight was at 8:45 and was a little over 5 hours straight to Honolulu. Kaden and Kaleia were champs...I didn't expect any les bc they ar such good kids. Wasn't worrid in the slightest about flying with two 2 year olds :) Their first flight was to the Caribbean which was long and had more plane changes and they were only 20 mo and did FANTASTIC so we were sure they would do great this time too :) We had a 5+ hour flight and then stopped in Honolulu to catch a 30 min flight to Maui. On the first flight, we had 4 seats, all together and it was so fun. It was really nice with them having their own seats bc we had more room and they slept comfortably too. Then on the flight to Maui, Kaden and I had 2 seats together and Daddy and Kaleiah were right across from us :)






Finding things to be entertained with between flights :)







We had lots of fun things on the plane for them. We had an ipad, iphone, new movies, blow pops, snacks, a puzzle and coloring books! Just like last time we flew, we got compliments on how well behaved and quiet they were :)

Once we got to honolulu we had a slight wait to catch our next plane to Maui and then it was just a 20 min flight! We were surprised to see Nana (Randy's Mom) and Auntie Jan (Randy's Aunt, K&K's great Aunt) waiting for us with leis!






Off to the resort!








After we got our car (which took forever) we went to our resort to check in, we let the babies settle in, gave baths (they asked, hey I feel gross after flying all day too!) and then headed out to the pirate ship slide which we had been telling them about for 2 months!!! Then we grabbed a quick dinner and headed up for bed time. At dinner K&K just kept saying "I want to go home" :(
They are seriously so good. Most 2 year olds I know would be totally melting down, tantrums, screaming and crying from a long day like that and being so exhausted. All they do is say they want to go home, rub their eyes and maybe get a little irritable. But I'll take it! They slept great, too. At first Kaden cried and cried, looking around the room in fear saying he wanted to go home. But we did our normal bed time routine as much as possible which really setled them down and comforted them. I''ve said it before and I'll continue to, our babies crave and thrive on routine. They need to know what's coming next and the routine we keep helps them feels secure and attributes to them being so well behaved and easily adjustable!



We stayed at the Marriott Ocean Club resort which was beautiful!!! Multiple pools, slides (a big one for adults and a little one for babies) and best of all, a little play area for kids which consisted of this amazing pirate ship that had 3 slides. We knew the Marroitt had the ship so we had been telling K&K about it for probably a month. They are obsessed w/ pirates and anything of the sort :) So we spent every morning or afternoon at the pool. It was awesome!





Thursday, March 24, 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

Maui part 1

Day 1:
3/20/11


We left for LAX at 6:15 am, waking K&K up at 5:30. Our flight was at 8:45 and was a little over 5 hours straight to Honolulu. Kaden and Kaleia were champs...I didn't expect any les bc they ar such good kids. Wasn't worrid in the slightest about flying with two 2 year olds :) Their first flight was to the Caribbean which was long and had more plane changes and they were only 20 mo and did FANTASTIC so we were sure they would do great this time too :) We had a 5+ hour flight and then stopped in Honolulu to catch a 30 min flight to Maui. On the first flight, we had 4 seats, all together and it was so fun. It was really nice with them having their own seats bc we had more room and they slept comfortably too. Then on the flight to Maui, Kaden and I had 2 seats together and Daddy and Kaleiah were right across from us :)






Finding things to be entertained with between flights :)







We had lots of fun things on the plane for them. We had an ipad, iphone, new movies, blow pops, snacks, a puzzle and coloring books! Just like last time we flew, we got compliments on how well behaved and quiet they were :)

Once we got to honolulu we had a slight wait to catch our next plane to Maui and then it was just a 20 min flight! We were surprised to see Nana (Randy's Mom) and Auntie Jan (Randy's Aunt, K&K's great Aunt) waiting for us with leis!






Off to the resort!








After we got our car (which took forever) we went to our resort to check in, we let the babies settle in, gave baths (they asked, hey I feel gross after flying all day too!) and then headed out to the pirate ship slide which we had been telling them about for 2 months!!! Then we grabbed a quick dinner and headed up for bed time. At dinner K&K just kept saying "I want to go home" :(
They are seriously so good. Most 2 year olds I know would be totally melting down, tantrums, screaming and crying from a long day like that and being so exhausted. All they do is say they want to go home, rub their eyes and maybe get a little irritable. But I'll take it! They slept great, too. At first Kaden cried and cried, looking around the room in fear saying he wanted to go home. But we did our normal bed time routine as much as possible which really setled them down and comforted them. I''ve said it before and I'll continue to, our babies crave and thrive on routine. They need to know what's coming next and the routine we keep helps them feels secure and attributes to them being so well behaved and easily adjustable!



We stayed at the Marriott Ocean Club resort which was beautiful!!! Multiple pools, slides (a big one for adults and a little one for babies) and best of all, a little play area for kids which consisted of this amazing pirate ship that had 3 slides. We knew the Marroitt had the ship so we had been telling K&K about it for probably a month. They are obsessed w/ pirates and anything of the sort :) So we spent every morning or afternoon at the pool. It was awesome!