Hello!  I hope summer was good to you. Ours was busy but I’m really not sure what we did.  School didn’t end until the middle of June for us, so the first part of summer was spent with end of school activities like water day and their singing program.  I always know the songs they are going to sing well in advance because they will run around the house singing them at the top of their lungs but they tend to get stage fright on performance day and freeze on stage. They rode horses for the first time and were irritated that they couldn’t be 100% in charge.  They did not like that someone would hold the reins.  They really don’t fear much.  We also went to the amusement park frequently and they are now y’all enough to ride 2 roller coasters.  They say they like it when they’re stomach goes “weeee” .  Mainly we hung out and goofed around.  We had shaving cream fights in the back yard and did lots of art projects.

 

Taya in pink, Emi in green

 

Since they are still just 4, there aren’t a lot of camps for them to be in over the summer but I was able to enroll them in a dance camp and they loved it. They really love to watch music videos on YouTube and their favorites involve dancing, but not hip hop, they like contemporary and ballet. Their favorites are Sia’s Chandelier, and a ballet dancer doing a routine to Hooser’s Take Me To Church.  They watch and then repeat what they see in the living room. They don’t know it yet but today is their first day of dance classes here in town. I’m excited to surprise them with it. The only part that is a bummer about it is that they have to take the class together and I’m really trying to avoid that, but there aren’t a lot of options in their age range.

 

Emi                                     Taya

 

They also took swim lessons at the local pool.  Swimming is bar none their favorite summer activity. They would do it every day if they could. They are actually getting pretty good and can jump off the diving board and swim to the side by themselves. We spent so much time outside and in the pool this summer that their hair got really blonde at the ends. Almost like an ombré effect.

The other major milestone that occurred this summer was finally becoming fully potty trained!  They’ve been peeing on the potty for a year but have had difficulty going poop on it. Part of that is because the still take prescription medication daily to avoid constipation and pooping is difficult for them. The other part of the problem was plain old stubbornness.   It wouldn’t have been horrible but they loved to play with it. I can tell you this now because some of the stories are funny now that enough time had passed. They have in the past, pinstriped the dog with it, painted on the walls,  and shoved dirty underwear down the floor vents so that the whole house reeked as the air circulated. Their final act of naughtiness happened at the beginning of summer. We had just gotten back from dance camp and I was making them lunch so they went upstairs to the toy room to play. I went up to get them 15 minutes later and I knew someone had had an accident but neither of their pants was dirty. When I asked where it was they replied in unison that “it’s up there”. Where up there you ask? The ceiling. They had dug it out of Taya’s underwear and flung it up to the ceiling. I had to get a broom to knock the turds down and then a ladder to wipe the skid marks. Yes, I had skid marks on my ceiling. And that was the last straw for me. We spent the next week locked in the house with no underwear and 20 barbies lined up on the mantle. Every time they went in the potty they got a doll. It was a rough week but it got the job done. It can be bittersweet to watch your children grow up but I am thrilled to be closing that chapter. I don’t miss it at all. 🤣.

Emi                                        Taya

 

They started back to school last week in their final year of pre-K. I’m excited to see what the year will bring. They can both write their first name, know all the abc’s and most of the sounds a letter makes. The area that they need to grow in is more social. They still are primarily interested in each other and tend to ignore everyone else, myself included 😁. This year their school allowed me to have one of them stay in aftercare 1 day a week. Each Thursday one stays at school and is forced to socialize without her sister while the other one hangs out with me and we do something fun. Because we don’t have family in the area I’ve not spent a ton of one on one time with the girls and I miss it. I also want them to know who they are without their sister. Last Thursday was our first one and Taya stayed and played at school while Emi and I had our “date”. She chose pizza for lunch and then she got her first pedicure from a salon, followed by the ice cream shop. It was a big success. Taya will get to pick our activity this Thursday, but based on the way she’s been eyeing Emi’s sparkly toes I think she’ll be wanting a pedicure too. I really am excited about getting to know them as individuals and have high hopes for how it helps them develop.

I hope all is well with you. I appreciate the comments and am glad people are checking in. Someday the girls will have access to this and it will be a diary of sorts.

 

I’ll post again in January. Take care.

Hi- just a quick update this time as I’m out of town for a sick family member and January to May is kind of the dead zone for interesting experiences. It mainly is the everyday routine of school and home with gymnastics on Mondays and Wednesdays.

It is finally starting to get warm so we’ve been playing outside. The girls love to ride their scooters around the neighborhood. One of our neighbors has a house built up a small hill so the driveway is steep and the girls love to go flying down it (it’s at the end of a dead end street and I’m always out with them watching for cars). They are thrill seekers.  We went to  the amusement park a few weeks ago and they cried because they couldn’t do the adult coasters.  They settled for the teacups and swings which they wanted to do on repeat.  And that made me want to cry because I get super nauseous on those.

 

Easter was fun. This year they understood that if you wait to open the eggs until they’ve all been collected, you’ll get more candy. They are both very into LOL Surprise dolls and Barbies and the Easter Bunny hooked them up.

 

Their favorite things to do at home are painting,  puzzles and play with their dolls. They have discovered a love of Twinkies, chocolate fondue and bubble baths. They are both starting to develop a sense of humor and like to play pranks and crack jokes. Sometimes they are funnier than I like to admit. We’be also started planting our flower beds and they both really like worms. They will collect them and then play with them like you would with a Barbie. It’s gross but it makes them happy and I thought I read somewhere that worms don’t feel pain so my conscience is clear.

 

 

We’re looking forward to a fun summer. I hope you are too. Take care.

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a good holiday.  October through December is such a busy time and I love it but I’m also always a little relieved in January when things slow down a bit and life gets back to normal.

School has been going really well for the girls. They have grown so much as individuals and I think much of it is because they are separated.  They’re making friends and their speech has dramatically improved. They are both still shy with their teachers but talk to their classmates, and at home they are never quiet. The “twin talk” has subsided and while the still use it with each other, they use regular words with everyone else.  They do still have their shorthand though.  Lately they’ve taken to calling Tim “D” instead of daddy.  I have no idea why they decided daddy was just too much effort to say.  😂  Their favorite days at school are Fridays because that’s when they have show and tell. They also like Wednesdays because they get to pick out a new book at the library.  They can count to 20 and know all the letters. They like to ask me what words start with and I’ll make the sound and they are getting good at recognizing things that way. For instance they’ll ask what pizza starts with and I’ll say “what letter goes puh?” and they’ll answer with P.

 

Pizza, by the way, is one of their favorite foods but they really only like to eat the topping. They prefer to leave the crust but I’ve started to get them to eat it because they can go through a large f they only eat the cheese. They really just don’t care for bread of any kind, which I find so strange because bread is awesome. They also aren’t big fans of potatoes. They would rather have rice or pasta as a side.  Rice and beans is by far their favorite meal. They love any bean but a green bean. Emi is also quite a carnivore but Taya could go meatless except for the occasional nugget but she usually gives most of hers to Emi.

Taya is very good about sharing. Emi can be quite stubborn and if Taya has a toy that Emi wants (mainly because Taya has it) Emi will throw some epic fits to try to get me to give it to her. I never do, but Taya usually gives it to her and then looks at Tim and I and declares, “I’m a good girl!”  It’s actually quite sweet. They will also go hug each other if one of them is upset about something, unless they are the ones that have done the upsetting. They will fight about the smallest little things. Right now, their biggest fight comes over who gets to sit behind me in the car.  It drives me insane and i know it’s all some power struggle with them and has nothing to do with me. It’s not like looking at the back of my head is some prize to be fought over, but they have been having this battle every time we get in the car for about 2 months now.  It doesn’t matter if Tim is in the car or not.  Apparently they find looking at the back of his head to be not nearly as pleasant because whoever ends up behind him is never happy.  I’ll be glad when this phase has run its course.

For Halloween this year, they wanted to be squirrels. I have no idea why.  I thought it was hilarious and way more interesting than a princess so we went for it. Tim made their costumes and they were fantastic. When we went out trick or treating they were squirrels, I was a nut and Tim went as pest control. I thought it was a pretty appropriate theme for our life.😃  They were completely in to trick or treating this year but it was slow going because they really didn’t want to put the candy in a bag.  They would go to a house and then insist on eating that candy before going to the next house.  At the beginning when not a lot of kids were out, many houses would let them choose what they got, so as the night went on if somebody handed them something they didn’t want they would say no and then point to what they wanted. I was mortified but they got away with it because they’re cute. Emi liked the packaging on the Snickers but didn’t want to eat them so she would either take 2 things or steal Taya’s M&Ms.

In November,  I started them in a new gymnastics program. This one is not a parks and rec thing but at a real gymnastics complex. It’s not mommy and me. They go by themselves and they aren’t in class together because I signed them up for different days.  I want them to have confidence in themselves as individuals, not always as a twin team. It’s also nice for us to have some one on one time with them. Tas has wrestling practice so the girl who’s not doing gymnastics gets to hang with Tim and they’ll play a game or something and I get to actually have a conversation with just one of them when we go to practice and sometimes we’ll go get a treat just the 2 of us. They both seem to really love it.  It’s still very age appropriate but they are actually learning some gymnastic skills vs just goofing around on gymnastic equipment.

December was a crazy blur.  The girls are 100% all in on Christmas and Santa.  They loved that we had the house all decorated and put lights up outside. We have a huge inflatable Mickey in a Santa costume that we put on the dock, and every morning they would run to the window and say hi to him. The first week in December we went to the mountains of North Carolina and stayed in this really cool log cabin. The reason we went is because they have a railroad that does Polar Express rides.  It was a lot of fun. Everyone wears their Christmas pjs and the train drives to the “North Pole.” On the train they tell a story and have actors that sing and dance.  You get served hot cocoa and cookies and then when you get to the North Pole it’s all lit up outside and Santa comes on board and gives each child a bell.  On the way back you sing Christmas carols. It was really great seeing a train car of kids that still believe in all the magic of Christmas.  The cabin we stayed in had a hot tub and they thought that was fantastic!  Emi said she wanted one at home. Me too,  but I don’t see it happening.  We also took them to a mini performance of the Nutcracker. One of our friends has an older daughter in dance and they put on a shortened version for preschoolers. It was only 25 minutes and was in a smaller area so it was perfect for their age. I had never seen it before and I really liked it , but the girls, Taya in particular, were enthralled.  Taya kept getting up and tried to copy the dance moves they were doing.  Emi would join her sometimes but Taya was studying them. I thought they would like it because they like having dance parties and watching videos with dancing in them.  Their favorite right now is Imagine Dragons “Thunder”. They like the weird contortionists in the video. They also really like to watch this male ballet dancer that did a video for Hoozier’s “Take me to Church” Third on the list is Gangnam Style, so they’ve got some eclectic taste in music. They’ve gotten real vocal about when they’d like me to turn the radio station and it made the trip to Iowa for Christmas frustrating at times. I can only listen to Post Malone, Adrianne Grande and Panic at the Disco so many times.  Emi’s favorite song is “Lucid Dreams” by Juice World. She doesn’t want anyone to talk when it’s on and needs it turned up loud please.

 

We spent Christmas with my sisters and their families in Iowa.  My kids are the youngest in the family by many years so everybody spoils them. This year was the year of Barbie. That’s what they both wanted for Christmas. All things Barbie. Emi also wanted a purple present. She didn’t care what came in it, just that she had a purple present.  And she wanted a duck. I have no idea where that random request came from but she said it everytime she was asked. Finding a stuffed duck was the hardest item on my list this year.  I couldn’t find one anywhere. I didn’t think it would be too hard but they must not be that popular.  She probably asked for it just to mess with me 😂  I finally found it and it is one of her favorite things- so I guess she knew what she was asking for.   They did get a ton of Barbie stuff, scooters, dress up clothes and then I did something either great or stupid depending on your perspective.  We gave them each a makeup bag with real makeup.  They love to do makeovers and everyone has been on the receiving end of one. Tim is their favorite to put makeup on because he’s bald so they can also decorate his head. We usually end up laughing til we cry on makeover days and then we hide the makeup for a while.  Emi likes a very painted lip and will use half a tube of lipstick, while Taya likes blush more.  Neither believe that less is more.  We also got them a karaoke machine. Not sure what I was thinking. They really don’t need to be amplified. This morning I was awakened at 6 am to a very loud rendition of “Let it Go” from Frozen. I’m definitely rethinking this one and the batteries may go missing if I get many more wake up calls like that.

 

On their birthday we went to an indoor water park in Dubuque.  It was perfect.  It wasn’t crowded and the girls were able to do all the rides.  The whole family went so when they wore someone out they could move on to the next. Their cousins are 16 so they did a lot of water slides with them, but even they wanted a break sometimes. The girls didn’t stop.  Thankfully there was a hot tub so we could get them to take breaks in there every now and then. They got some Frozen dolls and some more Barbie stuff as presents. I try really hard to not have their birthday be overshadowed by Christmas so we try to have it be more about doing something special. I also buy their birthday presents before I buy their Christmas presents, so they’re not an afterthought.  It doesn’t really matter now but I know it will in the future.  I’ve never met anyone who was born in December that didn’t feel like they got shortchanged on their birthday because they shared it with Christmas.  Plus they share it with each other.  I know some people actually do a party or celebration on their 1/2 birthday for December babies.  Maybe when they’re older I’ll give them that option.

I’m glad that you and your family enjoy these blogs.  Thank you for your kind words, I love being their mother and will forever be grateful that you chose me.

I hope you hade a great summer!  We’ve had a lot of fun this summer. The girls are a bit smarter about their surroundings so we were able to play outside more.   We started the summer off with another camping trip and this time they dove into it 100%.  The campground had 3 big air pillows to bounce on and a play ground right behind our cabins.  The girls loved those air pillows and spent hours on them.  They are quite a bit of fun but after two days of bouncing with them, I felt it.  We also got them trikes and they loved them.  They didn’t quite master the art of pedaling they found scooting to be a faster way of getting around.  They also really discovered the joys of marshmallows, roasted and plain.  We usually go camping off season but there were a couple of families a few cabins down from us.  They were very friendly and the girls would ride their bikes in front of their cabins.  Taya at this time loved bellies.  She would point at hers, or mine and say “belly” well she walked straight up to a stranger and poked him in the belly.  Then she just walked away.  The look on the guys face was priceless.  It was kinda like she was telling him he needed to do some crunches.  Thankfully, he thought it was as funny as I did.

Taya                                                      Emi

One of my sisters and her daughter came to visit and we went to a safari park.  We drove our car through it and they had buffalo, deer, llamas, kangaroos, emus, zebras and other animals walking around.  We bought buckets of feed and the animals would come to the window and eat out of them.  The girls practically jumped out of their skin they were so excited.  They flung pellets everywhere, I’m still finding them in my car.  The coolest part was the had a giraffe area that allowed you to feed them the pellets by hand.  I thought the girls would be scared but they loved it!  The giraffes would stick out these crazy long tongues and lick the pellets out of your hand.  The girls would giggle and then stick their tongues back out at the giraffes.  We also took them to the water park and have been to Busch Gardens a few times.  They are definitely water girls. They had a favorite slide that they probably went down 50 times, it had 3 lanes and was a free for all because it was a toddler one.  God help the kid that splashed water in Emi’s face. She would scream right in their face like a maniac.  At the amusement park they are big fans of the spinning rides, like teacups that I don’t even like to watch. They are super tall for their age and last week Tim and I took them on their first roller coaster. (It was one for little kids, like 4  or 5yr olds)  They thought it was a train and called it a choo-choo.  They loved it!  After we got off and as we walked through the park they would point at coasters with huge drops and upside down loops and demand to ride that choo choo.  They had a hard time understanding that they weren’t quite ready for those.

Last year we were doing some renovations on the house and weren’t able to go out on the boat much.  This year we’ve gone at least once a week.  I’d say this is their favorite activity.  If they wake up and see Tim home, the first word out of their mouth is “beach”, followed by “swimsuit on”,  “boat, go fast!”   The beach is about a  15 minute boat ride from our house. They can’t wait for us to get out of the no wake zone and speed up.  Taya has even tried to move the throttle faster herself.  She likes to sit and drive with Tim and is always wanting him to go faster.  They like to throw rocks and shells in the water.  Both of them can throw almost as far as Tas and have decent aim.

Throwing rocks in the backyard

Emi                                                           Taya

Because we’ve been out in the sun so much, their hair has gotten really blond on the ends and it looks like they have a golden halo around their heads.  There are some days when that is the only angelic thing about them as they have definitely embraced being 2.  They’ve been going through a phase where they don’t want to wear clothes or diapers but are not interested in using a potty yet.  It is not my favorite phase.  Taya has been known to dig in her diaper and paint with it like poo-casso.  The other day I put them down for their nap and heard evil laughter and poked my head in.  Emi had pulled her freshly pooped in diaper out from her romper by going through the leg hole. They were tossing it back and forth from crib to crib like a volleyball.  I could have died.  I’m good with blood and guts but poop is not my thing.  They have also figured out that they can reach the sink by pushing up a kitchen chair and I came out of the shower last week to them having sprayed the kitchen floor with an inch of water and running through the puddles.  Needless to say, diapers are now reinforced with packaging tape (they could peel off duct tape) and all the chairs are turned upside down on the table when not in use.  I’ve also started showering during nap time.  Their naughtiest achievement came in July.  We celebrate the official day of their adoption and call it “Family Day”.  We were wrapping up the day at an ice cream store.  Emi decided that we hadn’t celebrated with enough fanfare so she pulled the fire alarm as we were leaving.  Lights and sirens we blaring.  Thankfully it scared the crap out of her so I don’t think she’ll be doing that again.  We also found a new ice cream store to go to.

Emi and Taya before the alarms went off

We wrapped up the summer with the girls starting preschool!  They go 5 days from 9:15 – 12:15.  They are in separate classes because their  speech therapist and I agreed that they would learn more if they aren’t distracted by one another.  They’ve only been in it for a week and I’ve already noticed a big improvement in their vocabulary.  I was a little nervous about how they were going to do with being separated but it doesn’t seem to bother them.  I also want them to develop as their own person and not always be the twins.  They need to be comfortable with themselves, not always as a duo and I hope by doing it earlier it will give them confidence as  individuals.  Taya likes the singing they do in class and Emi enjoys art more, so they are already starting to embrace their own interests.  I’m really excited to see how much they grow this year.

Emi in pink and Taya in green on the first day of school

 

Take care of yourself.  I’ll update again in January.

 

 

Hello again! We’ve had a few busy months here. The girls are still doing therapy and were recently reevaluated. They have improved remarkably in the past year. At this time they are only delayed in speech, which is actually pretty common in twins. We still see a developmental therapist that works on getting them to say new words and we are adding a speech therapist to work on forming words properly. I’m sure they’ll be talking my ear off in no time. The thing that has really started them talking more is music. They love it and are slightly obsessed with Bruno Mars. They could listen to his album all day if I let them. They particularly like Uptown Funk and 24K Magic. They like the horns in Uptown Funk and started imitating that sound and then started singing along to the songs. When they want to listen to music they make the horn sound “Na,Na,Na”. Then they usually start chanting “Bruno!” At night we put videos on the tv and have a dance party. They also really like Pharrell’s Happy. It’s funny because the tv will be on during the day but they don’t stop to watch it , unless it’s the commercial break between shows on the Disney Channel. The only other time they sit and watch is when music videos are on. They like the ones that have dancing in them. They study the video and have finally started dancing along but they want to copy the moves they see. Taya likes to try breakdancing spins and Emi is more into twirling. I’m thinking we’ll have dance classes in our future. They certainly aren’t gonna get any sweet moves from Tim and I. I’ve at least got rhythm, but I’m fairly uncoordinated. Tim has fun and good intentions but nothing else.

The weather here is getting warm so we’ve been outside much more, which has been fun. The girls do not like to hang out in the house all day. They start saying “go,go,go” when they feel cooped up. They do not like lazy days at all. I’m hoping they grow into it.😀 I wish someone would tell me I didn’t have to change out of my pajamas all day because I was just going to lounge around, eat food and nap all day. Not all the time, but every now and then it’s awesome to have a day like that. 2 year olds have no idea how good they’ve got it! Lol. Anyway, we took them to the nearby amusement park, Busch Gardens, a couple of weeks ago and they loved it! Their absolute favorite ride was the teacups. I hate the teacups. I’m not a spinner, I’m a front car of the roller coaster kid of girl. Teacups make me nauseous when I watch them and the ones at this park are fast! I was doing everything in my power not to hurl and to keep them from getting tossed around and hurt (no seat belts) meanwhile they’re laughing like maniacs. That deep belly laugh that is pure joy. We have season passes so I’m gonna be nauseous all summer long.

Easter was fun this year. They were into the picking up eggs and putting them in their baskets but once Tas showed them candy was inside the eggs, they took it to a whole new level. I don’t know if they enjoy the taste of aluminum foil or just couldn’t wait to take it off, either way they ate a lot of it. We went to 2 Easter egg hunts and one party. I still have candy in the cupboard.

Their personalities are emerging a bit more. Taya is outgoing, friendly and loves attention from strangers. She’s always waving at people and putting on the charm. I go workout at the local Y and she’s got quite a few of the regulars that go there and one of the daycare workers wrapped around her little finger. She’s also the one that likes to be naughty. She will look at me, smile, say “naughty” and then do whatever naughty thing she was thinking of (like throwing toys) and then take off running and laughing. She’s fearless and independent.

Emi is shy but it’s more than that, it’s like she really just doesn’t care if she impresses a stranger or not. They need to impress her. She’s also very affectionate and loves hugs and kisses but only with those she deems worthy. People get excited when Emi acknowledges them because they know she’s a hard sell. It’s funny. She’s also a fan of naughty but not as brazen as Taya. She’s sly. They are also each other’s biggest fan and worst influence. At any given point one can be playing contentedly and the other one will come over and be like “hey, let’s tear this joint up right now!” and off they’ll go. They often communicate with just a look and then take off in the same direction. Probably why they don’t feel so compelled to speak. They don’t need to.

I’ll write again in September. As always, you’re in my thoughts and I hope you’re happy and well