Chase's Turn

The other day I blogged about Summer, so today is Chase's turn!

Chase has been having a really good week. It seems the grumpies of last week are gone and he's making alot of progress! He's been pushing Summer around the house in the stroller. He is unsteady on his feet but he keeps on trucking and you can tell he's so proud of himself! He smiles and cheers the whole time he's pushing her, it's really sweet. Summer is happy for the ride!

He also climbed to the top of the stairs by himself on Sunday!!! His physical therapist, Kristin, was hoping to work on climbing stairs with him and have him doing two to three stairs by the end of this month so I'm really happy about this!

Chase seems to have a special affinity for his older brother Trey who is in the Marines and lives in San Diego. He's here this week visiting and has only seen Chase a few times. Each time Chase sees Trey, he goes straight to him, wants Trey to hold him and he just looks at him very closely, like he's studying him. His body, his facial expressions, everything just completely relaxes, it is really amazing!

Summer on the other hand won't go near him with a 10-foot pole. The last time she saw him a few days ago, she warmed up enough to wave bye-bye and that was progress! LOL

Here are some pictures of Trey and Chase.

8 Reasons why raising twins is NOT easier than....

Earlier this week I came across a post online 8 Reasons why raising twins is easier than raising two closely spaced siblings ....

In response, I have come up with
8 reasons why raising twins is NOT EASIER than raising two closely spaced siblings!

1. Sharing food. They share the same floor that they drop the food on, they share the same delight in making a soupy mess on their high chair trays, they share the same joy of rubbing mushed up bananas in their hair. Twice as much to clean up is not easier. They also don't share the same tastes. If one likes squash, you can count on the other not liking squash. Thus, sharing leftovers or having them share a jar isn't happening too often.

2. 1 bath/1 bedtime. Have you tried washing two babies, getting one out of the tub and wrangled and diapered and dressed while the other either almost drowns in the tub or freezes to death in the meantime? By the time the first one is done you are exhausted and you have one more to go! And while you are doing the next one, the first one is opening all of your dresser drawers and throwing your clothes wildly into the air!

One story time after they've fought over which book it will be tonight, 4 hands to tear the book out of your hands with, one set of hands turning the pages before the other one is done with that page. One story time is not all it's cracked up to be!

Everyone on the same schedule means when one wakes, the other wakes, when one screams, the other screams, when one throws a toy across the room and it hits his sister in the head while she's sleeping, one cries and then the other cries but doesn't even know why he is crying.

3. Sharing toys. If you can find me a set of twins who actually share their toys more than they don't, I'll take back this one, but I don't see that happening! Twins don't share toys, they take toys from each other and run with them wildly to the other side of the room while the other one kicks and screams that they've lost their toy. By the time they stop crying and get a new toy.... the scene starts all over again!

4. Same childproofing. When you have a partner in crime at the ready to help you figure out how to UNchildproof an entire house, you end up with parents who know how to childproof the childproofing and who can no longer open any of their own cabinets, doors, toilets, dishwashers, etc.

5. Same videos/movies. Elmo! Dora! Elmo! Dora! Need I say more.

6. DISCOUNTS. I'm buying two things from you that most people buy one of. The least you can do is give me a discount. At Sam's Club if I put two bags of Tostitos into one clear plastic bag, they charge you for one bag at the check out. I think 20% is a rip off compared to that!!

7. Same phases. Two children in the terrible twos at the same time?! Are you kidding me? The only thing worse I can think of is two three year olds climbing out of the shopping cart at the grocery store, or two 6 year olds trying to prove you can fly off the highest branch of the tree with a sheet tied around your neck, or two 10 year olds learning how to balance a bike on a skateboard going downhill, or two teenagers, Oh Lord --- not TWO TEENAGERS!

8. Same playdates. We are a constant playdate gone wrong. Biting, hair pulling, fighting, taking toys away from each other, all the things you just might not re-schedule a play date with another child for doing, you have a built in playmate who does it to you a couple of times, every day!

I probably should not be disclosing all of this because it makes it sound like having twins is really, really, really hard! Well, it is!!! But it's also, really, really, really, rewarding and really, really, really the greatest thing you could ever imagine as a Mommy!!!

Summertime

Summer's favorite thing to do nowadays (because she is a big girl afterall!!) is to sit and watch a Baby Einstein video on Skye's portable DVD player. Granted, she's in the living room where there is a big screen tv, but one day Skye was watching a movie at the kitchen table and Summer was very interested by it. So Skye set them up a cozy little spot and they watched together. Here she is watching with her backpack on.

The reason Summer had her backpack on was we had just gotten back from a walk.

I always wanted to have a little girl who would frolic around in her cute little sun dresses with cute little pig tails or matching hair bows. Apparantly, it wasn't meant to be. Neither Lexi or Skye would keep a hairbow in. Summer occasionally keeps a clip in. Right now I do her hair every morning in her high chair while she eats. She looks so cute!! Then I let her down and within 2 minutes she's taken everything out. I keep trying in hopes that one day she'll just let them be! As if to add insult to injury, after she takes the bows out, she rubs her hair all over the place so that when she's done she looks like Brett Michaels!

8 reasons why raising twins is easier than ....

I came across this post online and thought it was pretty good!!!

I remember when Lexi and Skye were little (they are 1 year and 2 weeks apart) Frankie and I must have said a hundred or so times that twins would be so much easier than such closely spaced siblings!!! Mostly because of reason #7 below. Frankie had hoped for twins with both Lexi and Skye so twins are something we had talked about alot. I'm so glad God gave me the opportunity to prove that theory wrong!!! These are still worth reading.

8 Reasons Why Raising Twins is Easier Than Raising Two Kids of Different Ages

People often seem amazed at the challenges of raising twins. Even parents with more kids then me mention it. How bizarre to think that people could imagine that raising four kids is more difficult in any way shape or form than raising twins. Ludicrous.

I will even go on record as saying that raising twins has to be easier than raising a mere two kids that are different ages. Don’t believe me. Well, read on.

1. Sharing food. Babies start off eating very small portions. Much smaller than one little baby food jar. Instead of throwing the leftovers away or trying to store them, parents of twins make them share a jar. Once they are big enough to eat more than a jar, it is easy to open 3 jars, feed both kids from each jar, and get a well rounded diet at every meal.
2. 1 bath/1 bedtime. With kids, bath and bedtime seems to take up most of their waking moments. With twins, they can easily share a tub which, let’s face it, helps save the planet by conserving water and saves time. They also can share a bedtime. Our kids sleep in the same room. We waddle in there and start the routine of shoving both feet into one leg hole while putting on pants and getting their arms stuck above their heads while putting on their shirts. Then, and here is the real magic. We have one story time. All the quality time you can imagine with half the ticks on the clock. There is no putting somebody to bed at 7 and then somebody else at 8. Everybody is on the same schedule.
3. Sharing toys. Since they are the same age, you do not have to worry about somebody’s favorite Legos being the choking hazard of Junior. You just need one big pile of age appropriate toys. How much easier could it get?
4. Same childproofing. Remember toilet locks. They made you feel good while your first child was wandering around the bathroom in her diaper. Then Junior came. But, Senior needed to start peeing in the big potty. Do you take off the toilet lock and risk drowing Junior or personally escort Senior to the bathroom every time? Worry no more if you have twins. If one is safe for the toilet lock, the other is, too. After all they are only 16 minutes apart.
5. Same videos/movies. Tired of fighting over whether to watch Baby Einstein or Spongebob Squarepants. I feel bad for you. You should have had twins. They may have their favorites, but twins at least like the same developmental stage of videos. And never again worry about trying to find a movie at the theater that will be appropriate for all of the children.
6. DISCOUNTS. Some stores feel sorry for us parents of multiples. To help ease our “burden,” they offer us DISCOUNTS. That’s right. When we bought our cribs at Burlington Coat Factory we paid 20% less on the second crib. They call it the Twin Discount. Suckers.
7. Same phases. Remember when the terrible twos ended. You finally got Senior to quit freaking out every time you left Toys R Us without a teddy bear. Be careful. Don’t let down your guard. Junior is about to enter that phase. The tantrums for twins are not any worse then singletons. It is very rare that both throw a tantrum at the same time. But, we only have to spend a brief period of time in each phase. Then it is done.
8. Same playdates. Tired of scheduling playtime for Junior on Wednesday afternoon and something for Senior on Wednesday morning. Sick of sucking up to boring parents just so all your kids have somebody to play with. We only need one playdate. One single kid can occupy our kids for the morning. Less gas money. Less dirty neighbor couches. Sweet it is.
I probably should not be disclosing all of this to you parents of singletons, but it is going to come out sooner or later. For real convenience, it does not get much better than twins.

My baby is not a baby anymore

Lexi celebrated her 12th birthday June 24th. I decorated the house special for her and we had a family celebration. She loved her gifts and said "this was the best birthday ever!". I was a little worried about it being so low key this year and how she would react, but as usual, Lexi is always so cheerfull, content and unselfish, she is truly a blessing from God and an amazing 'not so' little girl!!

Finding Frankie

Frankie's been helping out so much more lately. The first time he walked into the kitchen a few weeks ago and said "is there anything I can do to help?" I nearly fell out of my chair!

Sometimes living in the day-to-day I forget how truly far he's come since coming home from the hospital last year. In 6 weeks it will be 2 years since his accident, and lately I'm painfully aware of how much he has changed because we've been watching home movies from 10 - 12 years ago to compare Lexi and Skye to the babies. The biggest change is so much of his exuberance, his high energy is gone now. But I also see his old self emerging in different ways too, especially when he is doing things for the babies, like feeding them. He does these things the same way and with the same gentleness and care as he did for Lexi and Skye.