My Little Soccer Players

The kids have started soccer at the YMCA. They are having so much fun with it. Sofia is such a little go-getter and Ryan is a great dribbler. We had our first game this past weekend, although I had to miss it since I have a pesky cold. They did great and Sofia managed to score a goal (although possibly into the opposing team's net). Lots of fun was had by both of them and they are already looking forward to their next game!

Here are a few pictures:

From 2008 September-Soccer

From 2008 September-Soccer

Is it over yet?

Hurricane season that is. It looks like Hurricane Ike is coming our direction. I'm less than thrilled. I'm hoping it has a change of mind and decides TX is not the place to visit, or that it will unexpectedly weaken. Either way, I guess it's better to be prepared. SO tomorrow I will head out in search of batteries and flashlights. I also have to dig up our candles...

I hope everyone in it's potential path stays safe!

2 kids and a cave

Yesterday we ventured to InnerSpace cave, which isn't too far from here. The kids were all on board as we were meeting Olivia & family there. We got them explorer hats and boarded the cable car to be lowered down to the cave entrance. This all went fairly well until Sofia noticed that we were in a cave. For some reason she is less than fond of caves or dark unknown places. Somehow Derek managed to get her out of the cable car. He convinced to look for Tinkerbell (a.k.a. BATS). Let me just say that I don't like bats, I don't care how small and "cute" they are, I'm just not a fan. So it's safe to say that I was more freaked out by the little creatures zooming above our heads than the kids were. We made it through the whole thing with little incident, although there was a close call with a bat who aimed right at me, but I managed to dodge. I think the kids had a pretty good time.

Where did the time go?

Apparently I no longer have babies or toddlers. They are preschoolers. They are kids. Yesterday we had our first day of school. They were so excited. We got all our stuff ready and headed out the door. We walked in found their classroom assignment and slowly made our way down to the classroom. They jumped right in. I managed to take a few pictures before kissing them goodbye and walking out the door. Now, I always said I wouldn't be one of THOSE Moms who get all teary eyed on the first day of school. I was doing just fine, but as I opened the door to the building and stepped out into the sunshine I couldn't help but to get teary as I walked to the car by myself. It seemed like such a milestone. It was the first time I had ever left them with someone other than family. I drove home with a mix of excitement for all they would experience and sadness. Maybe I was a little sad that they didn't even care that I left them. They waved me off with a "Bye, Mom" and moved on, leaving me behind. I am really proud of them and am really proud of the little people that they are becoming.

2 beach houses & Fay

A vacation with toddlers always proves to be unpredictable. We took our first "family" vacation to Ft.Myers Beach. It all started well....until we heard about Fay. Apparently I seem to attract tropical storms as Fay headed right for us. So we had a few days of rain, but nothing too seriously. Then the house we were staying in would lose power at random times in a few rooms. They came out and discovered a broken breaker, so they "fixed it". We left for a drive to the beach and came back to find the house without power again. So that night we moved to another beach house down the street. This one had a pool which the kid absolutely loved. On our last night there, Ryan fell out of bed and cracked his two front teeth at the base. So now we have to watch them and we will go back to the dentist in a month to see if they need to be pulled out or if they can stay. Our flight home was also an adventure. We were on the runway getting ready for take-off and one of the engines didn't start. So it was back to the gate for us, of course this meant we lost our connecting flight in Houston. We finally left Houston at 11PM and by the time we got home it was almost 1 am. I have to say the kids did amazingly well considering the situation. So that's all our vacation drama. We did manage to have some fun in the midst of all that. I got to hang out with my friend Becky and the kids really loved the beach!Here are some pictures:

Our Fort Myers Vacation

Some vacation...

So we've been looking forward to our beach vacation for a while now. The day we land in sunny Ft. Myers, we hear of a tropical wave...no big deal, right? WRONG. That wave is now Tropical Storm (soon to be hurricane) Fay. And she is headed right at us. So as I sit here 100 ft from the ocean, I ponder my luck. Apparently I must be some kind of hurricane magnet. So we hope it will be a mild one and that we won't have to evacuate. Clearly this is not turning into the vacation we had in mind. At least we got a few days of sun and hopefully after Fay moves on we can resume our vacation.

Traveling with twins...

It's not all it's cracked up to be. We went to San Antonion for the weekend. Our thought was that we'd go back to Sea World and a good time would be had by all. So we set off on Friday afternoon. It turned out to be a whine-fest. Did I mention that 3 is the most terrible age. It was one thing after another. God forbid they should both want to do/see the same thing at the same time. So we spent Saturday at the water park inside Sea World. Afterwards we went back to the hotel for naps...2 hours later, naps ARE NOT happening. Give up and decided to wear them out some more at the hotel pool. That night I put them to bed. They had to share a king size bed, and they haven't shared a bed since they were 4 months old. Well Ryan is a restless sleeper. I think he encroached on Sofia's space and she ended up rolling off the bed and landed with a THUD. I race in there and she is pretty upset, but seems otherwise ok. I put her back to bed and at 1am...THUD. She fell out AGAIN. From 1- 3:30am consisted of 4 potty breaks, multiple lost bear/pillow comments, and complaints that Ryan was on top of her (which he was). The lesson learned here, is that they need separate beds and we will never be doing the share the bed approach again.

So we are very glad to be home. The only negative effect I have seen is that they didn't nap today. I hope a weekend of no-naps doesn't turn into no more naps EVER. I SOOO can't handle that!

Warm weather should equal no sickness

Isn't it a rule that people don't catch colds in warm weather? No? Well it should be! Sofia is sick, which as all of us Mommies know, it's a matter of time before everyone gets it. It all starts innocently enough..a sneeze here and there, then comes the runny nose. Then my favorite part...the cranky kid! And of course should I be fortunate enough to catch it too, I will have to suck it up and take care of them. I think Moms should get sick days. Can't we just tell them that Mommy doesn't feel well and that they need to care for themselves?? No? I guess that wouldn't really work on 3 yr olds. We should all remember our Mommy vows:

I promise to take care of you in sickness and in health. Through sleep deprivation and snotty noses. Through tantrums and whinyness. From this day forward I promise to love you despite all the naughtiness for as long as we both shall live, provided you don't drive me into the looney bin first.

Hmmm...perhaps there should have been a disclosure agreement instead:
By giving birth you acknowledge that you are aware of all the diaper changes, crying, feeding, laundry, cleaning, whining, tantrums, fighting, sickness (sometimes involving projectile bodily fluids), sleeplessness and general insanity inducing nuttiness of parenthood.

Well I guess it's a good thing they are cute!

Moon Sand.............save yourself!

So it was Mother's Day and my wonderful husband took the kids out for breakfast. They came back with flowers and Moon Sand (for the kids, not me). Now, if you are lucky enough to not own any of this stuff, please resist temptation. Do not buy it. First it's not nearly as cool as the commercials and pictures make it out to be. And second (and most important) it makes a huge mess. It super fine and sticks to anything and everything. It ingrains itself in your clothing and your skin. What a mess to clean up. Now if my dear husband had called me to ask if he should get it, I would have happily imparted the wisdom that I learned from my TS friends....DO NOT BRING THAT CRAP INTO MY HOUSE! It is now an outside toy, but it still gets tracked in and my kitchen now has an invisible layer of super fine sand. YUCK! The kids do love it, so that is it's only plus, but once this batch gets destroyed we will not be getting it ever again. So please save yourself and your money!

Everyone needs time away

So I just got back from my first ever girls' weekend. It was AWESOME! I got to hang out with good friends and had so much fun. I was apprehensive about leaving the kids since I had never done it before. But it was fine! They had a wonderful time with Daddy and I got a much deserved break!

Of course there's always a couple of funny things that happen when Mom is away. So I'll have to share this funny story:

Yesterday I was needing to get some laundry done (since Derek used up all 13 pairs of Sofia's underwear in 2 days ). So I load the machine and open the soap dispenser. There was powdered detergent in there so I got curious. I called him and our call went like this (warning--if you are drinking something you may want to put it down!)

Me: Did you do laundry this weekend?
Him: Yeah, Ryan leaked through his diaper. I had to wash the sheets & mattress pad.
Me: You're not suppose to put the Oxiclean in the detergent area, that's only for liquid
Him: I don't know...I just used those tablets
Me: What tablets?
Him: The ones in the laundry room
Me: DID YOU USE DISHWASHING TABLETS IN MY LAUNDRY MACHINE?
Him: I didn't know
Me: Did it not occur to you that you put the same thing in the washer that you had been using in the dishwasher
Him: I thought it was actually ingenious that they made a product that worked on both
Me: NEVER EVER TOUCH MY MACHINE AGAIN!!!

The lesson learned: You CAN be too smart to do laundry! Gotta love him for trying... LOL

Too much excitement...

So I am going away for a much needed girls' weekend. I am so excited I can barely contain myself! BUT, I have never been away from the kids in the 3+ years that they have been around. I'm a little nervous. I'm sure THEY will be fine, it's ME I'm worried about. It's causing me a little anxiety, but I am pushing through it. I know that I will be a better Mommy and person when I get back and they deserve that. So...Arizona...here I come!

The sands of time..

I was watching and listening to the kids play yesterday and it hit me....they are growing up. They seem like such little people. They have the funniest conversations with each other and with us! I walked into the bathroom yesterday and the following conversation took place

Me: Hi Sofia, ready to go?
Sofia: Not yet Mommy. Daddy and I are talking about games
Me: Oh
Sofia: You will have to wait a little while ( with finger wagging at me!)
Me: Oh, ok...

So it dawned on me, that sooner rather than later, I will have kids and not toddlers or babies. I think that realization has made me miss the baby stage even more. It seems like the past 3 yrs have gone by in such a flurry of diapers, schedules, bottles, and milestones. It's amazing to see these little people develop their personality and I feel so lucky that they have let me be part of that.

I've always loved the Smurfs....

Sometimes I wake up and decide to throw caution to the wind and let the kids play with something that will most likely create a huge mess. Today's adventure: Curious George stamps from the Target $1 spot. The great thing is I got 10-15 minutes of quiet time, the price was I ended up with blue kids. It's a small price to pay. Of course Ryan wasn't nearly the mess that Sofia was and he is still upset that I was unable to get all the blue off his hands. Overall it was a success!

So what is it about Target that has me incapable of leaving the store for less than $50 and usually not less than $100. It really is amazing. I think they have and evil genius marketing plan!

Monday, Monday, Monday...

Mondays are not my favorite day. Not only because it signifies the end of the weekend, but because as a rule they usually wear me out. I don't think the kids like Mondays either...they miss having Daddy around.

So this weekend was a success. On Saturday I took a much needed break and went to the outlet mall on my OWN. I know...shocking! To be able to browse the stores and stroll around without someone whining was amazing. I stopped by Starbucks and got myself a Frappucino and some cake. It was nice to wallow in my aloneness. I think I need to do it more often. I need to remember what it was like to just be me, and not just Mom. I think so many of us lose ourselves in our kids. It felt great to take a break from the Mom role, and it also made it feel great to come back home and step right back into it.

Sunday we split the kids up and I took Sofia to the mall for some 1-on-1 time. I think it's something that we are going to do on a regular basis. They really need some time to be individuals and not just twins. They are completely different in the absence of each other and I think it's fantastic for them to not have to share us, even if it's just once in a while.

Ahhhh to forget....

The human mind has an amazing capability to forget. Don't misunderstand, we're also great at remembering. There are so many things that I have conveniently forgotten. Everyone knows that when you have a baby that sleep will be at a shortage, this is even more so with 2 babies. Eventually their sleeping time lengthens as does yours. If you're lucky some day they start sleeping through the night. I think when the sleeping through the night happens, it is also when the forgetting happens. Our bodies forget what it's like to be up every 2 hours and to survive on stolen moments of sleep. We get comfortable with the idea that we get a full nights sleep and we can't even remember what it was like to walk around like a zombie for months. Let's face it if we didn't forget that feeling nobody would have any more kids after that first one(s). So it's quite a shock to the system when 3 yrs later you have a rough night of little sleep. Such was the case last night. Derek got home late from a business trip and woke me up. I start to drift off to sleep and I hear crying, I drag myself out of bed and up the stairs...Ryan is thirsty. So I give him water and go back to bed. A couple hours later I hear Sofia screaming for her frog. Now someone will have to explain to me how in the middle of the night while she is sleeping she can tell that her frog fell off the bed. So I drag myself up the stairs..AGAIN...and get the frog. Back to bed for me. A couple hours later I hear a horrible screeching whining about needing to go to the bathroom. So I drag myself up the stairs AGAIN! I take Sofia to the bathroom (ah the joys of potty training). I convince her to go back to bed even though it's starting to get light out and I go back to bed. So this morning I'm feeling a little like a zombie and I am having a glimmer of remembrance of those early days. At this particular moment I'm feeling really happy that I won't have to go through that sleeplessness again. Of course if you ask me on a day of particular mischievousness by the twins, I will gladly tell you that I would take those early days over the toddler days anytime. Ahhhh to forget.....

Persistence is the key!

I'm not one to give up easily! So I figured it out. I basically clicked and unclicked until I got it to work. Not an exact science, but at least it was successful!

Of course I now feel totally unproductive as this quest for a new layout theme consumed most of my morning. Now it's time for my favorite time of the day...nap time. 2 hours of what should mostly be quiet.

I'm convinced that I am raising monkeys! They climb and jump off of everything. They hop on each other (and on me, given the opportunity!). It's amazing the amount of energy that they have on any given day. I try to think back to my childhood, but I swear I don't recall every having that unlimited source of energy. Maybe my Mommy years have erased all that....

You'd think it would be easier....

So being that I am new at all this blogging stuff, I thought I would look into trying to customize my template. I googled XML Blogger templates and found plenty of them, but apparently you need a degree in programming to actually get it to work. Why, oh why is it so hard to do? You know not all of us who have blogs are uber-geeks! Or how about some easy to follow instructions that actually make sense? Oh well...I guess I will just have to settle into using a generic template for now.

Hmmmm...blogging...

I've never been one to really write much, but it seems that everyone has a Blog these days. Not sure why we suddenly have this initiative as a society to write down our every thought, but I figured I should join in. What could be more fun than chronicling our adventures raising twin toddlers??

I'm not sure if I even have anything interesting to write about, but I'll give it a shot.