Halloween 2011

Halloween costuming went much better this year than last. Z decided he wanted to be a policeman...and he was...for every event. Fine by me. Emily was a black cat or a lady bug, depending on the event.

Here are a few photos from a few of our "appearances":

Preschool Trunk-or-treat:
Are you ready???

On the prowl for candy:

The policeman giving kisses:

M-E-O-W:

With two of their preschool friends:

The loot:


Halloween night:
The policeman and the ladybug:





Preschool parade:

First day of school

It is so hard to believe that the cubs have started PK-4. They attend 3 days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. My heart skips a beat when I realize my sweet, little cubbies will be in Kindergarten next fall.

"First day of school" hug:

"First day of school hug" spiraling out of control:

Let's try again:

Suspicion and guilt???:

Hello.....Is anyone out there?

It's a little before 3am and I am having trouble sleeping, so what better time to update the blog. I often wonder if anyone reads this anymore. I just spent the better part of an hour looking through my old posts, and I must say that I'm glad I have done this blog, I just wish I would have kept up with it a little better. To anyone out there who still visits the blog, my sincerest apologies!

So, I'm sure you are asking: What is going on with the cubs???

Where to start??? The cubs are potty trained and have been for some time. Even at night. I can't remember the last time we bought diapers or pull-ups, but this is now a diaper/pull-up free zone. Emily pretty much potty-trained herself over the summer and I was just a casual (and delighted) observer. Zach took a little more effort, but I think the peer pressure from preschool really kicked him into high gear. We started out the first week in September in pull-ups and by the end of September we were in our "big boys". AWESOMENESS!

The cubs are also in big girl/boy beds. I don't quite remember when that happened either. I do remember that it took 3 tries for Emily to accept the toddler bed, and that was a miserable experience in itself. Now she is in a twin bed (she calls it her "princess bed"). I held Zach's transition off as much as possible, and to my surprise, he did great! We converted first to a toddler bed, and then a twin bed for him as well, and I must say with great relief, that we had no trouble at all with it. Such a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

Our first visit to the Dentist was in February. Emily did fabulous. She let them take x-rays, clean her teeth, and do the exam with little fussing. Zach was a bit more trying. He started screaming when they tried to take xrays so they took us to a room for the Dentist to do an "infant exam" (inward groan). I tried my best to calm him down. Then the Dentist walked in. As she was starting the exam, I asked Zach one last time if he wanted to get his picture (xray) taken and he slowly nodded "yes". I am sure this big change of heart had everything to do with the fact that the Dentist was a very attractive blonde. FLIRT. So xrays, cleaning, and exam...DONE! Both cubs are cavity free. Emily is still missing her 2 year old molars on her right side, and Zach is missing both on top. They are there but haven't broken through yet, so apparently we have more teething in our future. Yippee (UGH)!

The cubs are still taking swim lessons. Last session was quite a test for us, especially for Zach. He would resist going and would cry often, even though he would do what they told him to once he was in the water. He would just cry as he was doing it. This session has been a complete turn around. He is excited to go, puts his swimsuit on without a fight, and is really making great progress. By looking at him this time you would never know the headaches we went through last session. I'm sure the fact that he thinks his instructor, Alex, is cute certainly helps. And yes, he told me "Alex is cute". Of course I just rolled my eyes at him. FLIRT!!! Emily is doing great in her lessons too. She always wants to be the first one to do anything. Last week her group got to go down the "big slide" and that's all I have heard about. They are doing great with their kicks and their "big arms", the only problem is getting them to do both at the same time. They hold their breath, blow bubbles, jump in and turn around to back to the side of the pool, and they do it while looking amusingly adorable in their little goggles!

Both cubs are still in speech therapy, both through the school district and TWU. We are making progress there too. Zach is working on his action verbs. He has a book with pictures of actions, and we go through it by me asking him "What is this girl/boy doing?" and he will tell me "the boy is fishing" or "the girl is running". Last week in the car, he took the book from me, held it up for his sister, and said, "Emily, what is this boy doing?". I was so proud of him. Emily is working on her articulation and she still has some trouble getting her words in the correct order. She sings a lot, which is adorable, but it always takes me a while to figure out the song, because she makes up her own words, and sometimes the tune is a little off. Pretty sure she won't be trying out for American Idol. Gotta love her.

Preschool is wonderful! The cubs run to class and barely look at me as I'm leaving. I practically have to beg for a goodbye kiss. Sometimes they surprise me with "Goodbye, Mommy" but most of the time I can tell they are ready to jump into the first activity and I am just in the way. SIGH. They really are growing up too fast. I love their independence but I love my hugs and kisses more.

Zach eating has been amazing. It definitely isn't because he is trying new things, because he really isn't, but when I look back at where we were two years ago, I am so relieved at the progress he has made. We still have our few select foods, but at least he is eating. He has added "quesadilla" to his food rotation (as well as his vocabulary - so cute to hear him say it). Just this week he asked me for a cookie. He ate two mini-oreo cookies (what mom can say they are excited that their kid ate a cookie?!?!) but of course the next day he had no interest in them. BUT, he asked for a cookie! AND he tried it! I will never complain about that! He loves pasta in almost any form as long as there is no red sauce of any sort on it. There must also be no ketchup within a mile radius of his plate. He still loves Bueno burritos and recently he ate a whole mini pizza by himself. He likes Chuck-E-Cheese pizza too! Can you believe it?? We are still supplementing his diet with Pediasure. I look forward to the day that he will no longer need it, it is quite expensive when he gobbles down 2-3 bottles a day. Emily is still dealing with her addiction to nuggets and fries. She still loves strawberries, bananas, and mandarin oranges, but refuses all veggies. Occasionally I can get her to eat a taco with meat only. Who knew this little monkey would turn into a picky eater. When she was a baby she liked everything except watermelon. Now she is on picky diet too - and of course it can't be anything that Zach likes. That would be too easy. I know there are those out there who feel that I shouldn't cater to them, but when you have a baby with eating issues, you will do whatever it takes for them to eat. Believe me, I have tried the "he'll eat anything if he's hungry" approach, and he will literally refuse to eat. All day. And it won't phase him a bit but it will make the rest of us miserable. I stand by the advice of my pedicatrician..."if you find something he likes, then feed it to him". Even if it is the same thing day after day, because right now, the important thing is maintaining his weight. He still gets his nutritional needs met by vitamins and Pediasure. I have no doubt that when he becomes a teenager I will need a second income to feed him, but for now this is just how things are going to be.

Zach still LOVES golf. Whether he is playing it or watching it on TV, he LOVES it. Which makes his Daddy very proud. He says "Titleist, number one golf ball" every night before bed. I should record it and then see if Titleist will endorse his future golfing career. I am sure that he and Steve will be glued to the TV this Sunday for the final round of the Masters.

My last day of work was March 31st. It was just getting too hard to work and maintain the cubs' "social schedule". Between school, therapies, swim lessons, family time, and my other household duties, I was having difficulty trying to manage work too. I was staying up late at night to work, or passing up on family activities to work, and Steve finally told me I needed to choose one or the other, and of course he was right. I am really thankful that I was able to work for so long, and I am grateful for my boss allowing me to have such a flexible schedule, but now I am thankful that I have one less thing on my plate. I will miss the income, but spending time with the cubs is more important right now.

Steve is still incredibly busy with work and we really enjoy the time when he is home. He is trying to golf once a week, but sometimes other activities keep him from doing so. Eventually we will get a schedule worked out. He has been really great letting me do all my "girl stuff" in the evenings. I still enjoy our neighborhood Bunco group and getting together with the girls for dinner and conversation. I served a year on the Board for my Mothers of Multiples group, but have decided this year to pass that torch on to someone else. Our neighborhood has started a Women's Association, so I've enjoyed meeting new friends and neighbors through that as well.

It's just a crazy, busy time of year for us at Cub Central. I can't believe that my precious cubbies are about to celebrate their fourth birthday. We love and appreciate all of you who have taken this journey with us. Thank you for remaining patient with me as I sadly neglect my blog. We have some exciting things planned this year. The cubs' first airplane trip is scheduled...not sure what to expect there, but we'll make the best of it. I'm sure I'll blog about it six months after it happens! Just pretend that we are in our own special time zone with a six month time delay!

Hugs and kisses from all of us!!

Social calendar

The cubs' social calendar has exploded this fall. The cubs started swimming lessons at the end of August. The first week went great and then the crying began. Emily would cry and then Zach would cry. It eventually got so bad that Zach was crying just to cry. No real reason for it. He would do everything the teacher told him to do. He wouldn't fight her or pull away, he would just do it while crying. Annoying. In hopes of stopping the tears we decided to split the cubs up. This was a pretty drastic measure, since it now meant that we had to go two nights per week instead of just one. So now Emily is flourishing in her Tuesday night classes and Zach just recently started making headway in his Thursday night classes. No tears at his latest class...WOO HOO!!

Preschool started on September 7th. The cubs are going to a new school this year and I think it is going great. They really like going and I love seeing how much they are learning. They are making such great progress. One day we heard Zach counting on his own...in SPANISH! Even more impressive to me, Steve knew it was spanish. Wow! They are learning colors (except in Emily's world everything is pink) and they are learning to write their names. They are singing songs all the time...of course, I have no idea what they are but it is still cute to hear.

Preschool and swimming lessons now dominate our Tuesdays and Thursdays. So does that mean that Mondays and Wednesdays are open?? HA - hardly. The cubs have speech therapy at the elementary school bright and early at 8:00am. UGH. I pick them up at 9:30, which gives us a little playtime before we head up to speech therapy at TWU. By the time 2pm rolls around, we have had our fill of speech therapy. It is definitely helping though. Sometimes what I hear the cubs say now really surprises me, especially since this time last year, Zach could barely talk at all. I sneeze, and Zach says "bless you". I ask Zach if he can bring me his cup, he says "of course". OF COURSE?!?! I LOVE IT!!!! Progress is being made.

That leaves Friday. The only "free" day. We fill those up with playdates with friends, little shopping trips, or excursions to the gym. Our gym has a rocking kid's play area and the cubs love it. They ask to go all the time, and cry if we pass by and don't stop. I love that it tires them out and gets them nap-ready! :)

I'm not sure when our schedule will lighten up. I'm ready for a little down time, but with two busy cubs in the house I probably won't get that for many years to come.

I don't even know what I've missed!

Wow, it's bad when you are so far behind in blogging that you don't even know what you've forgotten to blog about. I'm sure Steve will read this and present me with a long list of things I forgot. His memory is better than mine.

I think I'll start with the present and try to work my way backwards. We had a very enjoyable Fourth of July weekend. Our friends, Kristi and JJ, came to visit. We enjoyed a nice lunch with them. They had tickets to the Rangers game on Sunday evening, so we went to Heather and Greg's house across the street to watch the fireworks. They have 3 year old twin boys so it was fun watching the kiddos play together. Zach loved the fireworks. Emily was a little afraid of them. We were really close and they were pretty loud. She had her head buried in her hands or in Daddy's shoulder most of the time. Cubs were super exhausted on Monday. Emily even asked to go "night-night" early. WHAT????

Don't drink the water here. That's what I'm going to tell everyone who visits. In addition to Heather and Greg's twins, another set of 3 year olds is moving in 4 houses down from us, and another set is due just around the corner from us. That's four sets of twins practically within arms length of each other. It is going to be fun watching the cubs grow up with so many kiddos in our age group around.

I found a summer preschool for the cubs. You have no idea how momentous this announcement is. I thought I could handle the summer, but it was quickly evident that I was way in over my head. They were cranky, I was cranky. Cub Central was CRANKY. So now they go on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I think they are really enjoying it. I know I am. Even if I do nothing at all but sit at home and absorb the silence. It only lasts six weeks but I think it is our saving grace. I don't think we could have made it through the summer without it. Mom can only paint so many times in one day. That is Emily's current favorite activity. Paint, paint, paint. She loves it. She can sit at the table and paint for 30 minutes. I am not complaining about this! I think this is AWESOME! My complaint is that her twin counterpart can only paint for 30 seconds. So for over 29 minutes I have to listen to whining and moaning and complaining. I would love for him to do his own activity but he is a little attached to Mommy right now and for obvious reasons I can't leave Emily alone with the paint. I already have a newly decorated chair cover. So there is this constant need to be going in two directions at once. I can't seem to please them both, so summer Preschool to the rescue.

Grandma and Grandpa Bear were here two weekends ago (even though it feels like two months ago). They volunteered to cubsit while Steve and I took a mini-vacation. It was the first time Steve and I had been away from the cubs together. We stayed two nights at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas. We stayed in a villa right off the 18th green. Steve was acting like a little boy on Christmas morning. He got to play two rounds of golf while I made good use of the spa. I even took a few naps and enjoyed reading a book poolside. It was amazing. I only called to check up on the cubs a few times. I thought I did pretty well.

We purchased a cedar play set for the cubs, complete with swings, a slide, a rock wall, and a fort. Grandpa Bear came a day early to help us install it. We are now waiting on a few replacement parts (some were damaged in shipping). I can't wait to get it completed. The swings are up and the cubs love them, but I know the slide will be the biggest hit.

I celebrated my birthday with four of the best girls ever. I had a blast at Brio's! Five girls, four bottles of wine, and the best $2.99 appetizers EVER! Their appetizer special was from 3-7pm and 9-11pm, and yes, we were there to cover both of them. We then topped the night off at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy!

I guess it's time to let Steve tell me everything I left out. I'll make myself a list and cover it in the next post. Next month. That seems to be the posting pattern now. I laughed when I noticed that I posted 118 entries in 2008 and 170 entries in 2009. No chance for that this year....only 39 entries so far and it's already July. Urgh.

Where have we been?

Hmmm, good question. Every day seems to be a repeat of the last. Naps are becoming fewer and farther between....EEEKKK! NAPS are very important to our well-being. Theirs and mine. I wonder if bribery would work....these are desperate times!

The cubs are doing well. We had a pretty bad case of the germies here at Cub Central. It seems that I was harder hit than the rest of the crew. We're going on two weeks of the dreaded cough...it has to end sometime, right? We have had our fair share of runny noses, coughing, and sleepless nights. Even Dad was a little under the weather.

Speech therapy at TWU starts again tomorrow. I am looking forward to it! The cubs really seemed to benefit from the sessions last semester. I can't believe the progress Zach has made with his numbers and ABCs. I will write them down and he will say the number or letter. I even mix them up and he still gets them. He still has a little trouble with M, N and W, but it becomes clearer each day....and he LOVES to do it. Emily is using two-word phrases and is repeating almost everything. Please sounds like 'fleas' which makes me laugh every time because it's so cute.

We have stalled in the eating department. Emily is on a strike. She hasn't really wanted anything. I place a plate in front of her and she turns her head, sticks her nose in the air, and adamantly says "no". GRRR! Things she used to love she refuses and when I offer new things she refuses that too. Whatever this phase is, I hope it passes quickly. Zach is now eating chicken nuggets, fish sticks and Ritz crackers. While this is huge (HUGE) progress, it makes me laugh that we have gone from one extreme to the other. Before he would just nibble microscopic bites and now he shoves the whole thing in his mouth, which makes mom very nervous. I would much appreciate a happy medium.

We now have a busy Spring ahead. With speech and preschool we now have something to do every weekday, so I'm hoping the days pass with less drama and as they get busier I hope their napping frequency increases back up. FINGERS crossed.

Another week with a sick cub. Quarantine needed.

We had more drama on Grandpa Bear's birthday. We spent the evening with the pool designer because our original pool design did not fit in our backyard. BOO to the regulations that require our fence to be pushed in 10 feet from our property line. Who does that?? Anyway, that's another soapbox issue.

We ended up putting Emily to bed a little early because she was fussy and tired. I figured it was because she skipped her nap earlier that day. Other than that she seemed perfectly fine. Two hours later she was whimpering like a puppy so Steve went to check on her and she was burning up with a fever of 106! We did all the right things: started meds, stripped her down, lukewarm bath, cold compress and we could only get her temp down to 103. Then her temp started going back up and she was very lethargic, so we called the oncall Doctor. Before he returned our call, she started throwing up (which is VERY rare for Em). The Doctor starts yapping about brain damage with fevers over 105 and I thought I was going to lose it. He told us to take her to Cooks, where (two hours later) they diagnosed her w/ a (yet another) viral infection. Negative for flu. Unfortunately there is nothing we can give her to treat this other than alternating Tylenol and Motrin to keep her comfortable and give her plenty of fluids. We should be old pros at this. One Doctor's office visit, two urgent care visits, and one ER visit in the last month and every time we come home with the same diagnosis. Will we ever get over this mess???

Anyway, knock on wood, both cubs seem to be doing fine now. There was no preschool on Monday since it was Columbus Day, and I was anxious to get back to our routine. Speech therapy on Tuesday went great. Zach does the chicken dance now which Steve and I find hilarious. He is so cute!! Donuts with Dad day at Preschool was yesterday but unfortunately Dad couldn't go, so I was Dad proxy. Unfortunately the cubs left their good behavior at home....I guess it's their job to embarrass me in front of all the other parents. Zach dumped over a cup of water and neither of the cubs were interested in sitting during story time. I wish I could have superglued their little bottoms to the floor. I guess that's the behavior I can expect from two two-year-olds. Maybe I should start looking into etiquette school too. Good thing they are cute!!

Weekly update

We are getting back into our routine...finally. Zach has done great going to preschool...I even got a goodbye kiss when I dropped him off in his classroom on Wednesday. Therapy is going just as well, he now takes the hand of his Clinician and off they go, leaving me behind to follow. What a difference!!

When I picked the cubs up from preschool on Monday, the director told me that they were having a picture make-up day. Woo hoo. I was thrilled that Emily would be getting another chance to replace the stick figure I was going to have to put in her scrapbook. I dressed her up on Tuesday, went to school, and was thrilled that the photographer was able to get a cute picture of her. Unfortunately the cubs wouldn't sit together well and I gave up as soon as the fussing started, so no sibling pictures, but at least I will have an individual picture for each of them. SUCCESS.

I am still working with Emily on the potty training. She is doing pretty well. Tonight she finally indicated "poo" to me BEFORE she actually did it. Usually she cues me after she's already gone, so this was huge. Hopefully she will keep up the forward progress. It is difficult though, since we are gone every morning during the week. I think I am going to start working with Zach. I'm not expecting anything yet, but maybe the little man will surprise me.

Zach has been doing very well with his eating with the exception of the week he was sick. This is also huge progress. He has been trying some new foods...fish, broccoli, scrambled eggs, and hashbrown potatoes. He even ate some cheese toasty and tried a few bites of roast beef. AWESOME!!! He still LOVES Taco Bueno refried beans. Today I gave him some burrito at lunch and I took him out of his booster seat when I thought he was finished. Silly me! I was amazed when he looked at me and crawled right back in his booster seat. I offered him the remaining small bites of the burrito and he ate it!! WOW!! He absolutely despises ketchup. I put a small drop on a hashbrown potato and he immediately spit it out and started screaming. SCREAMING!!!! Emily, on the other hand, can't eat things without it. She would not touch her fish until I put ketchup on it (which was a little gross to me...baked fish with ketchup, but if she'll eat it then I won't complain, and I'll keep offering it to her). She won't eat her fish sticks, french fries, scrambled eggs, or chicken nuggets without ketchup. It is so funny watching her with nuggets. She takes one bite out of each one...as if she is checking to see if they are all alike...and then she will go back and start over. Silly cub.

Steve and I have met with a pool contractor. What should be easy has started becoming difficult thanks to all the HOA/City regulations, but we are not giving up. I have financing lined up, now all we have to do is get the pool we want to fit in our yard. We'll know more next week. Until then....

Back to our routine. (All caught up...FINALLY!)

Because of the germ monsters that invaded Cub Central last week, we are now trying to reestablish our routine. The cubs were only able to attend Preschool on Monday and all other events were cancelled for the week, so we were basically having to start over and reintroduce the cubs to school and therapy.

Monday and Tuesday went as expected. Emily did well, but Zach fussed terribly at both Preschool and therapy. At school he attached himself to my leg and screamed. I felt so badly because all of the other children were quietly drawing and Zach was creating mass hysteria. I finally just gave him a kiss, handed him to the teacher (while apologizing profusely) and left. It is what the school recommends. The longer I stay, the longer he'll continue to cry. I knew he'd calm down, but it didn't make leaving any easier. Tuesday was more of the same. We went in with the Clinician and I had to leave him there while screaming. Heart wrenching. After a few minutes he calmed down there too. It's just hard leaving him when he's screaming after me.

Wednesday was BEAUTIFUL! Emily and Zach both went into their preschool classroom happily. They didn't even say goodbye to me, and I left (a little sad) before they could notice. I was so relieved that there wasn't any screaming. Wednesday also happened to be picture day. It was also the first time Steve received a phone call from school. I certainly would have freaked out if they called me, so I'm glad they called him. Thankfully it wasn't an emergency, however, it turns out our little camera hog refused (REFUSED!!!!) to have her picture taken. Turns out our normally shy little man was quite the opposite. His teacher told us how cute he was posing for the camera. I am a little sad that Emily's first preschool photo is non-existent. I guess in their scrapbook next to Zach's first school photo, I'll have to draw in a stick-figure of Emily or perhaps put one of those little gray silhouettes where her picture should be. Little fussbucket.

Therapy went just as well on Thursday. No fussing. Zach took his Clinician's hand and they walked right in the room together. A break-through. I was so proud of him and so relieved that he didn't attach himself to my leg again. Emily is quite the opposite, she never had an issue about going with her Clinician. From the first day Emily walked up to her and took her hand. I think teaching her about "Stranger Danger" may be a bit difficult. She trusts everyone.

Now with Friday and the weekend in between, I am hoping that next week we can continue the non-screaming trend!!

Preschool starts

On Wednesday, September 9th, the cubs started preschool. I was really been looking forward to this day. Emily walked right in and Zach followed. Steve sat with them for a minute and then as we were leaving the crying started. First from Zach and then from Emily. It was awful. We kissed them both and walked out. It was so hard to turn my back on them and walk out as they screamed after me.
Trying out the backpacks the night before.:

Emily walking into their classroom.

Zach, a little more apprehensive than Emily.

All calmed down, right before they saw us leaving, and then the sky started falling.


I think it would have gone a little better had we not been the first ones to the classroom. Then they may have been so distracted by everyone else and they might not have noticed us leaving. There are 7 children in their class, one set of triplets, two singletons, and our set of twins. May God bless their teacher.

Of course, just to make it memorable, Zach also received his first accident report. On the first day of school. What a surprise. He fell and scratched his face because he didn't want to quit what he was doing in order to do something else. The teacher said there was a small bump but he was fine by the time I saw him. He obviously has trouble with transitions. Something else to work on. I'm just thankful that he didn't recreate his attempt to fly.

After we dropped off the cubs, Grandma Shirley and I headed to the spa. WHAT an awesome way to spend my first day of "Mother's Day Out". We even did a little shopping after having lunch at Brio's. Too bad I can't enjoy this kind of treatment for every preschool day.

A look back....

...at September 2nd. Wednesday. Meet the teacher day at preschool. A day Mom was definitely looking forward to.

Steve and I both took the cubs to meet their teacher and fellow classmates. I totally expected Zach to walk right in and start running around, like he does everywhere we go, while Emily fussed and cried. True to cub form, they did the complete opposite. Emily walked right in like she owned the place, while Zach permanently attached himself to my leg and screamed. UGH. Not good. Steve did a great job calming him down and finally we were able to go to the orientation meeting with the Administrator in the Chapel. When we returned to the classroom the cubs were playing. Yippee! We then took the cubs out to the playground to check things out. Zach loves loves loves the slide! All went well until it was time to go. Zach decided he would sit on the platform where the monkey bars meets the slide and test his ability to fly. Right before I could get to him. He pushed off and belly flopped onto the hard ground below and screamed. I was terrified. I picked him up, brushed him off, looked him over, and held him. I tried to take him to the car where even more screaming ensued. The worst 15 minutes ever. Thankfully he was ok but it sure did scare me. Here are some pictures of the big day.

Daddy and Emily, the big walk into school:

Zach holding my hand, already looking a little apprehensive:

After our meeting with the Administrator. The cubs are playing, this is a good sign that preschool may work out ok:

Emily tackling the ladder:

Climbing little monkeys:

Emily on the slide. Wow, that was fun!:

Zach on the slide (before his flying attempt). Check out that smile!!: