We go all out.

So I haven't "officially" blogged since May 19th. Hmmm. It's funny that I don't think we've done very much, yet I feel like we've been so busy that my head is spinning. Perhaps it's because the cubs are getting older, are more active and taking shorter (if any) naps. I feel like I've been going non-stop from sunrise to sunset and yet I don't have much to blog about. We've been spending a lot more time outside and taking walks almost daily around the neighborhood. The cubs really like their stroller now, and when I bring it out they climb in all by themselves.

We've had some of our friends over now too. I always felt like the old house was too out of the way and the apartment was way too small to have our friends over. Now that we actually have some room to move, I thought it would be a good idea to invite over some of Emily and Zach's friends that have so graciously invited us over to play in the past. So we've been busy with playdates too, three in the last eleven days. I thought I better start out small so I have only invited one set of twins over at a time, but I might just get wild and invite over more than one set. Won't that be a huge circus of fun??

I've been pretty busy during the evenings too. My LCMOM meeting was May 19. My dinner with the THC girls was on May 21 at The Covey Restaurant and Brewery. Yummy. Next week is just as busy. GNO on Monday and my "scrapbooking" meeting on Tuesday. Steve's been really great about letting me get out and enjoy some adult/girl time while he stays home and puts the cubs to bed. Sometimes he'll even give them their baths. Way to go Stevie! It just seems funny that I have more of a social life now than I did before the cubs were here. Steve and I even have to use a calendar to plan out all of the week's events. HA!

The cubs both had a speech therapy visit last week as well. I obviously didn't expect much on the first visit and I wasn't disappointed. We didn't get much. In just a few weeks we'll be starting the feeding/speech clinics at TWU. I am still so excited and hopeful about it.

We had a surprise visit from our friend Brad on Saturday (the 23rd). He currently lives in Minot, ND, so we were really shocked when we received a call from him that he was here in town. Luckily Steve was off so we both were able to enjoy a short visit with him.

We purchased booster seats for the dining room chairs this week. So far Emily has done pretty well. Unfortunately they seem a little short so Emily's elbow is up to her chin as she tries to shovel in her food. Soon we'll move Zach into his and see how he does.

Today Zach treated me with what I would classify as one of his top three temper tantrums of all time. In public. In the witness of some friends, no doubt. NICE. We were at the park and he was in the swing which he just loves loves loves. When it was time to go, he threw a colossal fit. COLOSSAL!! Embarrassing. At least it was big enough to be note-worthy. Why not go all out?! If you're going to pitch a hissy fit in public, you should definitely make it a good one. Good job Zach. Maybe Mommy can convince Daddy to go swing-set shopping this weekend.

I'll try to post some fun pictures over the weekend. Stay tuned!

Stopping a roller coaster with your face is not recommended.

Last Thursday I bravely took the cubs back to Paradise Pond. I find this task simply exhausting but well worth it to get the cubs out of the house so they can burn off some of their endless energy. It is impossible to keep my eye on them every second since they absolutely refuse to hang out together in public. So while I was tending to Emily, my friend (who also has twins) was bringing a bawling Zach to me. The flood of guilt overwhelmed me because I knew my little man had gotten hurt and I wasn't there. Apparently he had been playing by the little roller coaster. It is similar to the picture below.

It's large enough for toddlers to ride on and has a little ramp. According to my friend, a little girl was playing on it and Zach decided to lie down on the track. Of course there was no way for the little girl to stop and she ended up running into Zach's head. Poor Zach had a nice little red spot on his face for several hours. We're very thankful that Zach wasn't seriously hurt and hopeful that he has learned a very important lesson. Don't try to stop a roller coaster with your face...the roller coaster will always win. Now there's a phrase I never imagined I would ever say.

We think Emily picked up a little bug at Paradise Pond. During lunch she was so tired she could hardly hold her head up. I just figured that she was exhausted from all the playing, that was the whole point of going. When she woke up from her nap she was burning up. I took her temperature and it was 103.1 so I called the Doctor and her nurse gave me some instructions to try to relieve her fever. She asked me if Em had any other symptoms and she did not. At least not until I hung up the phone. Then she threw up all over me and her Husky. This is alarming. I am very accustomed to throw up...Zach has made me an expert on this...but when it's Emily, that is different. Other than the normal baby formula spit up, Emily has never thrown up. So I called the nurse back and got a different set of instructions. We alternated between Infant Tylenol and Infant Motrin every three hours and then tried to get her to drink and keep down 2 teaspoons of Pedialyte every twenty minutes. This was going to be a long night. Luckily we managed to get her fever down and by the next morning she seemed perfectly fine, so I guess she just had a 6 hour stomach bug. Which she gave to her Daddy. Just great. Thank goodness Daddy can take care of himself.

On Monday I received a phone call from Baylor to schedule Zach's feeding evaluation for this Thursday. After explaining Zach's behavior to the therapist I am optimistic that they may be able to help us. At least she said that there was something else going on other than reflux, wich I had tried unsuccessfully to convince the other therapist of. Hopefully our new Doctors and new therapists will be able to help.

I went to my LCMOMs meeting on Tuesday. We elected the new board so I am looking forward to passing on my position to one of the newer moms. I didn't run for a position this year. With Steve working so much it is impossible to make any commitments. Especially since he works most weekends and we never know his weekend schedule until the Thursday before. It makes it so difficult to plan anything.

Emily has been very fussy yesterday and today. She has refused to take her naps even though she is obviously tired. I finally just let her cry herself to sleep since nothing I did was calming her down. She would take a short nap and wake up in the same mood. Then she would cry and fuss some more. It makes the afternoon drag on forever and I literally count the seconds until Daddy gets home, and then she's fine. Daddy thinks she's an angel. He sees her at her best, I see her during the time she has her halo off.

Potty training has also been put on hold. She did awesome the first two days. She was successful three times and I was so very proud of her. On the third day she started crying each time I took her in to the bathroom. I don't know why this was suddenly different but I decided to put off potty training for now. Maybe we'll try again after we get back from Grandma and Grandpa Bear's this weekend.

Tonight was my monthly dinner with the girls from THC. Patti was able to join us for the first time and she always makes me laugh. Mom loves the adult conversation and the absence of temper tantrums.

The mother-load of all temper tantrums

One of my friends was in town on Sunday and I agreed to meet her at the mall. Steve was working, so I strategically planned to meet her after lunch. My plan was to put the cubs in their stroller and they would take their nap while we did some window shopping. Of course, Heather's Law (similar to Murphy's Law) intervened. Nothing went as planned. I arrived at the mall a little early, strapped the cubs in, and off I went. I managed to find a few shirts (I hope they fit because I sure didn't get a chance to try them on) and was still shopping when IT happened. The mother-load of all temper tantrums. I was THAT mother with THAT screaming child. Emily did not want to be in her stoller. She did not want to be carried. She wanted to walk, but she didn't want to hold my hand. Can you picture me trying to keep track of a very mobile Emily while trying to push Zach in a double stoller in between clothing racks that are shoved way too close together? This was not happening. I picked Emily up, put her in her stoller, and tried to get her strapped in as she was squirming and screaming at the top of her lungs. All the while as people stopped to look and shake their heads with sympathy and whisper to each other that thank goodness they weren't me. I have been that person. I have often shaken my head (especially in grocery stores) and wondered why the parent wouldn't do something to get their kid quiet. Now I was THAT mother with THAT child. The madness. So I grab my purchase, go to the cashier (thank goodness there was not a wait) and proceeded to check out. Then the guy asks "Would you like to apply for our credit card?". My jaw dropped as I asked him "Are you kidding me?". I should have asked for his longest application so I could fill it out right there at his counter while my daughter was having an out of body experience.

Moving day....UGH!!

Cub Central relocated on Saturday. Yippee for apartment living...I was reminded the first night why I hate it. At least it is only temporary. At least it is only temporary. (Yes, I repeat that in my head all day long!) At least it is only temporary. You get the idea.

Matt and Beth Ann were a huge help! Matt helped Steve move some of the furniture while Beth Ann stayed with me to help corral the cubs. Emily still had the lingering effects from her illness/teething and was downright horrible. Unless there was a man in the house. It didn't really matter who...Matt or Daddy...as long as a man was holding her. Beth Ann and I tried as hard as we could to comfort her, but it was just one LONG temper tantrum. I'm just glad I didn't have to endure it by myself. Thanks to Beth Ann for spending the afternoon with us and to Matt for helping us with the move!! We owe you another one!!

An exhausting week and it's not even over yet....

We were very fortunate that Hurricane Ike took a northern turn earlier than expected, so we only received a little wind and rain here at Cub Central. It has devastated many of our coastal areas, including Galveston and Houston. It's almost unbelievable when I see the news stories on TV.

On Monday I took the cubs to Gymboree. I thought I would give it another chance since they are walking now. I think it will be another long while before we go again. The cubs have a five second attention span and they were both taking off in different directions. This is definitely an activity that takes an extra set of hands. I was exhausted by the time it was over. Emily even embarrassed me with her first public temper-tantrum as I tried to get her to go to the next station with the rest of the group. It will be a long while before we try that again.

On Tuesday I had a million errands to run. What would normally be a quick in-and-out trip becomes quite an ordeal when you take the cubs. In and out of car seats and strollers made for another exhausting day. Tuesday evening was my monthly LCMOM meeting. A speech pathologist was the guest speaker. Twins are notorious for being delayed when it comes to speech, most likely because they don't get the one-on-one 100% attention that a singleton gets. It was very interesting but right now I'm more interested in getting them to LISTEN to me. They can talk to me later.

On Wednesday I had one of my monthly girls' night out. We went to a quaint little Italian restaurant (Piola's) that I had never been to before. I love going to new places and this is the only time I get to do that since Steve prefers going to places he is familiar with.

Wednesday night (or should I say Thursday morning) was not very pleasant here at Cub Central. Emily woke up screaming at 1:30 AM. We tried everything to calm her. We fed her, gave her some milk, changed her diaper, gave her Tylenol. She was fine as long as someone held her, but the minute you put her down, she would start screaming again. UGH.

Zach is still having his usual issues. He's still pretty cute though. Somehow he managed to sleep through Emily's episode last night. He was the only one. I'm really jealous!

Couch climbing is still a favorite activity although it is not allowed. They are stubborn little monkeys. They just keep trying. They have now moved on to the love seat and the recliner. Again, very exhausting.

The house issue is still a big topic here. Now we are considering building a home. We have selected a floor plan, and as usual, the only lot Steve and I both agreed on was TAKEN! I tell you the Housing Gods are against us. Now that the financial sector is in the pits with AIG, WAMU, and Lehman Brothers all having trouble, we are too afraid to do anything. What a hopeless feeling.

It is now Thursday evening and we are desperately trying to get Emily to go to sleep. So far we are starting off with a repeat of last night, so this isn't looking good. It must be a full moon!

Mr. Potato Head

Just wanted to do a quick update before I forget about all the noteworthy happenings here at Cub Central.

On both Saturday and Sunday, Z-man surprised us by drinking 12 oz. of Pediasure for his bedtime bottle. Usually he only takes in 9 oz, so this was really an accomplishment for our little man. I joked with Steve that he is our little caviar man, since he has such expensive taste. Why can't he drink his milk like that? It's way less expensive than the Pediasure. Oh well...if he'll drink it, we'll buy it for him.

On Sunday, Emily experienced some more new foods. For breakfast our little mini-princess dined on scrambled eggs and toast. We offered it to Zach too, but of course, he just played with it. For dinner Emily enjoyed a fabulous cuisine of grilled cheese. She loved it. The girl loves cheese! What can I say? She gets it from her mommy.

Emily is such a funny little girl. She is stubborn, determined, and DRAMATIC. Her temper tantrums make me laugh. She stops, flings her head back, throws herself on the floor, and cries. No tears, just noise. Eventually she will realize that they don't get her what she wants, but that doesn't stop her from trying. Such a little drama queen. I'm just glad she hasn't thrown one out in public.

Sunday evening our friend Donna (from Abilene) stopped by for a brief visit. It is the first time she has seen the cubs and we were really happy that she was able to stop by. Zach was a little shy, but Emily practically attacked her. No stranger anxiety here. Such friendly little cubs!

Last night the cubs had some baked potato. Zach did so well. He opened his mouth wide, took in several bites without fussing one bit. Then he coughed (like he was clearing his throat) and threw it all up. Steve and I just can't figure it out. He tries to eat, and he swallows his food, it just never seems to make it all the way down. One little cough and it all comes back up. We are thinking of going ahead with the swallow study, even though I don't think swallowing is the problem. It's just so frustrating.

I think I overlooked mentioning that we can finally retire the swing. Previously we would have to put Zach in the swing before bed so he could calm down, and then we would move him to his crib once he fell asleep. No more swing!! Zach is now going straight to bed (since August 11). We can now move the swing to storage and open up some much needed space.

The housing issue is difficult. We are quickly outgrowing our home. It was great when it was just the two of us, but now that we've doubled the size of our family, our living quarters are a little cramped. We have been house shopping for a while now, and we've narrowed down the location of where we want to "plant our roots", but finding a house that fits our needs has been challenging. UGH! Do we buy an existing home, or do we build? Do we try and sell this one first, or buy one and pray we can sell this one? So many questions and no real answers. We went on Sunday to check out another house and left disappointed. There was a contract on it already anyway, so I'm really relieved that we didn't like it. Who wants to get into a bidding war? The housing prices here, at least in our desired area, seem to be going up. I don't see any evidence of a housing depression here. Maybe we should move to Detroit. Yeah, right! Now we're considering building, but since they are all mass builders, I'm concerned about the quality. All the new developments have homeowners associations, which I am not too fond of. I don't want to have to ask anyone's permission to plant a tree. I'm sure it will all work out, but I just wish I could close my eyes and wiggle my nose, and all our housing issues would be solved.

This morning Zach fed himself a banana puff, and he ate it without thowing up. This is pretty major stuff. He tried to eat a second one, but could never get it to his mouth. We need to work on his pincher grasp and his hand-to-mouth coordination. He only has this problem with foods...he has no problems putting things he shouldn't into his mouth. Such a mystery!

Grandpa and Grandma Bear are coming this weekend, so we have something to look forward to. Hopefully Steve won't be working and we can all enjoy some precious cub time.

Mom's recent favorite pics -- All about Emily

How can one possibly say no to this face????


This is what will happen if you do:


Little Emily Bear attacking a defenseless banana:


Emily Bear with her own personal fluffy footrest:

Making progress

Our little man is making progress. I am so excited to announce that Zach has FINALLY decided last Friday that he is ready to drink from his sippy cup. While he's not doing it consistently, and he still uses it as an occasional chew toy, he has been making an effort to drink from it, and around here that is HUGE! To make things even better, he had several small bites of my baked potato on Sunday evening. Also, very HUGE! AND...for those keeping up, he has now gone 39 days without an eruption. MAJOR HUGE! He's had several small spit-ups, but they are so much smaller on the magnitude scale compared to his Mt. Vesuvius eruptions, that they aren't even really worth mentioning. It's so great to finally post some good eating news for our little man.

I always feel guilty because I don't have much to report on our little Emily Bear. She is doing great as always. She has tried a variety of the Yo Baby yogurts. She seems to like all of them so far except for the vanilla. She sampled some of Grandpa Bear's swiss cheese on Friday and she also inhaled part of her daddy's baked potato on Sunday. The girl loves food, what can I say?! She is having some pretty annoying temper-tantrums and I am hoping that she will soon learn that they aren't very productive. She is so dramatic, and they stop just as quickly as they start. It would be comical if it weren't so annoying. Poor thing.

Grandpa Bear (and Baxter Dog) came on Friday to pick up Grandma Bear. She stayed with us for two weeks and was a huge help, especially when Steve was gone. I sure did miss her today when I had to tackle all of the diaper changes on my own. I had gotten spoiled because she did almost every one while she was here. I miss her!

Steve (and his luggage) came home on Saturday after his week long business trip. We are so glad he is home. I took the cubs to greet him at the airport, and I think it made his day when his little girl "ran" to him and then he received one of Zach's precious hugs.

The cubs are starting to give "kisses". Big, wet, open-mouthed "kisses". Zach even gave one to Emily tonight at bedtime. So sweet!! I love our cubs!!

What a week Wednesday...be prepared, it's a long one!

Wow! What a week this has been! Daddy is out of town all week on business, and even though my mom (Grandma Bear) has been here to help, it has still been a little tough. It's been a mixed bag so far...the cubs are waking up before the roosters (UGH), skipping naps, and suffering from teething pain, general crankiness, and sheer exhaustion. I don't know if it's a full moon, or daddy being gone, or perhaps they have been possessed, but my cubs sure aren't acting like themselves. Yesterday was the worst, so thank goodness today was better. I don't think I could have handled another day like yesterday.

Steve left on Sunday (July 13) for a trip to D.C. I think our downward spiral started then. We took him to the airport and after having to switch terminals once we got there, it got even worse. I spent Monday tracking down his lost baggage. The airline refers to it as "delayed baggage"....let's call it what it is....it's LOST. I must pat myself on the back, after a few phone calls and the help of a clerk at Reagan Airport (calls to the airline were a colossal waste of time), I found the lost bag. I see some real shortcomings with the way airlines handle their luggage tracking (or lack thereof). UPS handles packages worldwide and is able to offer real-time tracking. The airline couldn't even tell me if the baggage ever made it on the plane...."we don't really know where it is"....and even though I managed to track it down on Monday, the airline's website at this very minute still says "Your bag has not yet been located. Please check back later for an updated status." Hmmm...let's talk about consumer confidence. I'll get off my soapbox now.

I do want to mention that Steve and I had a "date night" before he left for DC. My mom watched the cubs on Friday (July 11) evening while Steve and I had dinner at PF Changs. We then went to play Putt-Putt (he won) and air-hockey (he won) followed by ice cream at Baskin Robbins. YUM! It was really nice to spend some alone time together. We should really do it more often.

Zach had two appointments on Monday (July 14). One with his Gastroenterologist and one with an occupational therapist. Those didn't go much better. Zach is having an issue with thickened and lumpy/chunky textures. I read where this may be caused by oral trauma, and our poor little boy has had his fair share. He was tube fed for the first days of his life, then we subjected him to an upper GI, EGD and pH probe test trying to find out why he was throwing up entire bottles. So we have another challenge to overcome. While the OT was here we tried vanilla pudding and soft apple bits (jarred in juice), and he forced himself to throw it all up. It's such a mystery to me, because he actually swallows the food, and then forces himself to throw it up. He even did this on Tuesday when we tried lemon yogurt and even some ice cream. I am so desperate to get him to eat that I offered my child ice cream, and he threw it up. What kid doesn't like ice cream??? I read that other children with oral aversion issues have even worse symptoms than Zach, so I count my blessings that this is not the worst it could be. On a brighter note, I think he has finally made the transition from formula to whole milk. He started milk-only bottles on Sunday and those have been going pretty well. I am still adding powdered formula to increase the calories, but that's it. Two bottles of milk and one bottle of Pediasure a day. We're making progress. Please cross your fingers and say your prayers that he continues to gain weight. I let him try to feed himself with a spoon today, and to my surprise he did pretty well with it. He tried with both hands, but he seemed to do a better job with his left hand. His daddy thinks he'll be ambidextrous. His walking is improving, and it's so funny to watch him follow his big sister around the house. He is Emily's shadow.

It's been such a bizarre week that even little Emily Bear has been fussy. She's even had a few temper-tantrums. I finally realized that there is nothing I can do for her when she's mid-temper-tantrum, so I just walk away. She then stares after me with this shocked look on her face. The girl can turn the tears on and off like a water faucet. Such a drama queen. Let's not even mention the drooling. It has returned. I have to follow the poor girl around with a mop. I guess a tooth-check is in order...some more must be coming in. She likes Spaghettios, she just inhales them, and she's so adorable because she tries to chew on them with her front teeth. She is still walking backwards, which is really cute, except the girl doesn't ever look where she's going, so this has resulted in a few bumps and bruises. She understands when I tell her to sit on the floor and she's pretty good with the cat. I can hardly believe how fast she's growing, she looks like a little person walking around the house. She's so unbelievably curious, not sure which parent she gets that from (hehe), and she is pretty stubborn, especially when it comes to sharing.

Wednesday is finally coming to an end. The cubs are soundly sleeping, storing up all their energy for an early wake-up call in the morning. I miss the days when they would sleep in until 8:30. I imagine I won't have late mornings very often...certainly not often enough. I must take advantage of this quiet time and get some sleep myself.

We miss Daddy and can't wait for him to come home on Saturday.

Is it Friday the 13th?

Emily bear treated me to her first full-blown temper-tantrum this morning. Bright and early. Good Morning Mom! I am not kidding....on her back, red-faced, legs kicking, mouth open with her "you're killing me" scream. I fully expected her head to start spinning. And Zach, bless his little heart, thought it was a friendly game of "who can scream the loudest". So in between Emily's gasping for air, as she prepared for her next round, Zach would interject one of his high-C eardrum bursting screams. What a great morning this is turning out to be. The neighbors are probably calling CPS. I need to call an exorcist.