Mama's Little Helpers

First off...I made Jason buy me an honest to goodness decent set of hair clippers and I used them on both Jason and Aiden (Jackson's hair is still short....heehee). I don't think I did a bad job, if I say so myself. Now Jackson and Aiden look a little more like brothers!

On Saturday we went to my friend, Tara's birthday party. This was J&A's only birthday party they've been to other than their own birthday party and this party didn't start until 7 pm (which happens to be the boys' bedtime). We were really shocked at how well they behaved. Thank goodness 7 1/2 year old Tovi was there to keep the boys entertained.

Here is Tara is opening her gifts. Jackson and Aiden couldn't resist "helping" her open them which made Tovi want to help out, too. Haha.

Which leads me to what great little helpers my guys are.

There's about an hour in the morning after breakfast where I go around the house and pick up/clean up stuff. I'll give the boys little pieces of trash or other things to throw away and ask them, "Will you throw this in the trash for Mama?" and they LOVE to do it. They walk into the kitchen, open the lid, throw the trash in, close the lid and look at me and SMILE. BIG.

At Tara's, they demonstrated this by taking one of her presents, walking into her kitchen and tossing it in the trash. Then as we were leaving, Jackson decides to walk over to a side table where a glass of water was sitting, knocked the glass over, broke the glass and the water (thank GOODNESS it wasn't the BLUE PUNCH we were drinking!!!) spilled all over the floor and Tara's laptop!!!!!!! I was horrified! I made sure to check with her and thankfully the computer wasn't harmed. We left at about 10 pm and we were even invited BACK! Can you believe it?!? Haha. We had a great time.

Check out Jas' hair cut. Not to bad, huh? It's nothing fancy...but it's trimmed and clean looking. YAY ME!

On Friday I took J&A to the San Marcos Library for Toddler Story Time. We had TONS of fun. They had someone there to read and sign two books, we sang and danced to quite a few songs and then the kids had play time where they could play with ALL KINDS of toys. It was really nice. In the middle of Story Time, a little girl with a service dog (full sized poodle, actually) came in and the service dog stayed in the corner. Of course having a dog inside the library brought on all kinds of attention from the kids. Jackson minded guite well as I told him to stay by me and listen to the lady reading the book. Aiden was standing JUST out of arms reach (on purpose, no doubt) pointing at the dog, looking at me and saying, "DOG! DOG! DOG!" I kept telling him, "Yes Aiden. Very good. That's a dog." but that didn't stop him from pointing out the obvious. There were many other kids there that wouldn't listen to their mom's at all and would actually reach out and touch the dog. I'm at least proud of J&A for knowing that it is NOT ok to just go up to any dog and touch them.

Toddler Time was a nice little break for me too. At the end when it was a free for all play time, us parents sat back and watched the kids play nice with one another. I had a very pregnant woman come up to me and ask me if she could pick my brains about having twins. Come to find out, she has a 4 year old and 2 1/2 year old daughters. I told her that my best advice is to keep them on a schedule and she said she's already HUGE on schedules....so I told her that she is FAR better off that I was. At least she knows what it's like having kids...and she even knows what it's like having TWO kids....just not twins. I told her I'm not the kind of mom who thinks that twin moms have it harder than moms who have kids back to back...I think all parenting is extremely difficult and unique. At the end of the class I wished her good luck and really meant it. She was 35 weeks pregnant and due to deliver in 10 days. I can't wait to see her two new additions when she feels up to going out.

We had a date!

Jason and I finally went out and saw the first movie at the theater since before the boys were born. The last movie we saw was Knocked Up so we thought it only fitting to go see The Unborn which centers around an evil twin. HA! Go figure!

Nana came over to our house and watched the boys for us for a few hours while we went out for a 2:30 showing and then to my favorite store in the world, Hobby Lobby where Jason bought me 3 pots for these plants I have in our kitchen (hahaha! Long gone are the days of chocolates and flowers).

I've just got to say...it makes me feel SO PROUD to be told how well behaved my children are. It's not the first time other family members have said the same thing so I think I'm starting to believe it. Nana said that Jackson and Aiden seemed to listen to them when they were told not to do something...or even to do something. Jackson would pout and stick his lip out when he was told he couldn't do things he wanted to do but he didn't have the full-on melt down that sometimes happens around here. You know the kind...where he THROWS himself on the floor, kicking and screaming, and even biting his wrists! LOL! Even though we are still over 4 months away from their 2nd birthday, Jackson's got the 2 year old fit down pat!!

Nana said that she would tell Aiden to take his bowl over to his Grandpa to get more crackers (or whatever) and he rushed off to do it and then very carefully walked back to their playhouse without dropping one cracker. :o) One way I keep them entertained while I do various things around the house is to ask them to help me. When straightening up the living room, I'll hand them things and ask them to throw it in the trash or to take a toy and put it up in a box in the other room. They really are good helpers and they genuinely enjoy doing things for others.

Ok, now watch this video. It wasn't until I sat down to re-watch it until I caught what Aiden was trying to say towards the end of it. He's actually copying me and saying, "Hey Jackson." It's not so clear the first time he says it but just before I switch the camera off he says, "HEY Jaa-Jaa" Awwww!!! He really loves his brother.



Have I mentioned how proud they make me?

We've got some GREAT news!

We had Jackson's 6 month cardiac check up with Dr. J and all is well!

The thickening hasn't worsened.
The regurgitation hasn't worsened.

At this point we are praying that his heart will continue to handle this just the way it is now and he will never, ever need surgery.

IF surgery is needed, as long as the regurgitation doesn't get much worse we would be looking at "the balloon procedure." Everyone corrects me when I say this and they say, "You mean angioplasty?" Well, I don't know. I just know that Dr. J is an amazingly brilliant doctor and he might be dumb-ing it down for me, but that's the only term he's used. The Balloon Procedure.

Sooooooo.......we decided that we will do ONE MORE 6 month check up for Jackson and if all is the same or better, then Jackson will just need to be seen once a year, just like his Daddy!

P.S. They will both be going in for their check up in 6 more months, so until then please keep up all the prayers! It's done wonders for us thus far.

Sharing is Caring!

Aiden reading his sign language book to Jackson.
Jackson and Aiden sitting in their little house sharing Che-Chos out of a bowl.

I just love this house! Both boys love to sit in there and calmly eat their breakfast some mornings and since it has two chairs and the table, I think it's also been teaching them to share more which is a lesson J&A are going to have to learn throughout their entire childhood.

This morning I took the boys to HEB to get some grocery shopping done. This HEB has the cool carts with the two seater car up front. I put both boys in the car and gave them each their own zip lock baggie of Cherrio's and raisins and off we went. I'm not overexerting when I say that at LEAST 10 people stopped me to tell me how adorable and well behaved they were BOTH being. Jackson was being really lovey with Aiden, hugging him and leaning on him and Aiden was being his typical smiley self. He had the biggest and sweetest grin plastered on his face and melted all kinds of hearts. It probably took us a little over an hour and I can honestly say that they kept it together the entire time. I am just BEAMING with pride.

I thank the dear Lord each night for such loving, well mannered, well behaved toddlers.
I never forget how truly blessed I am.

Already?

You will never believe what I found Aiden doing just the other day!

I was busy getting Jackson dressed so we could go somewhere and when I looked over at Aiden, he was standing by the couch with one leg in his pants trying to figure out how to get his other leg in the hole!! He even had the pants on the right way! It just amazes me that at a year and a half, Aiden's already trying to dress himself. I know we are a long way off still and believe me, that's fine with me but I do love watching them try something new for the first time and seeing their eyes light up once they put two and two together.

They both like to walk everywhere now. I can't tell if I like it or not yet. Sometimes they will walk perfectly holding my hand and sometimes they do anything in their power to not be seen holding hands with their Mama. I feel like a Mama duck with her two little ducklings following close behind.

And the talking.....

Oh the talking! It's really starting up now. Sometimes the things they both say are clear as day and sometimes you have to really struggle to figure out what it is they are trying to tell you. Usually when I tell them to, "SHOW Mama" they understand and try to point or tell me again. The funny thing is....they rarely say no. They will shake their heads no, but rarely ever say it. Strange, huh? You'd think with two dogs and two toddlers, "no" would be one of the only words they use. haha.

A Little Misunderstanding....

Jason once told me that he'd like for Jackson to have a haircut similar to his own. He told me that the woman who did his hair would use a 1 guard on the lower part of his hair and a 3 guard on the top. I did just that....a one guard on bottom and a three guard up top. Most of you know Jason doesn't ever cut his hair so short. So where did we go wrong????

It took Jason and I a while to figure out that the guards are totally different for HAIR trimmers and BEARD trimmers. Whoops!!!

Jason likes to blame it on me because of course, I'm the only one to attempt to cut his hair but he admitted he had no idea that there was a difference! So, sorry Jackson. Your Mommy and Daddy messed up your hair, yet AGAIN!!!

It's up to Jason.....he either needs to get me a good set of hair trimmers or I'm going to take them to a professional from here on out. I'm leaving that decision up to him...so we'll see.

On another note, the boys went to visit their pediatrician up in Pflugerville for the last time. We are going to get them a pediatrician that is closer than 50-some miles away. We got them both their flu shot because Jackson's cardiologist highly recommends that he at least get that. The doctor told us that it would protect Jackson more if Aiden was also vaccinated with the flu vaccine. They were a little cranky the rest of the day and the following day, but that's about it. I don't think they ever got a fever, thank goodness.

Jackson and Aiden are the same height, 33 1/2 inches, which is very tall for their age.
Jackson weighs 26 lbs 13 oz and
Aiden weighs 22 lbs 13 oz.

This means Jackson is in the upper 75th% for both his weight and height. Aiden is in the 75th% for his height and in the bottom 10% for his weight. He's a lean string bean!!

They had an autistic screening and they both passed with flying colors. Yippie. This was something that with all the news coverage lately, had Jason and I terrified. There just isn't enough known about Autism yet and I think until they find out the cause of it, every parent is going to be scared and worried. Sure, there are much worse things out there, it's just that around this age is when most kids are diagnosed with Autism.

I really don't think there are ANY signs of them being premature anymore. They have no health issues due to it. We thought that they might be slightly behind in talking (it's said most twins are delayed in speech) but come to find out, they aren't at all! The doctor told us for their age, most children say 10-15 words and only half are really understandable. Aiden seems to say just a few more words than Jackson. I think Aiden is the one that going to go around, spouting off at the mouth and Jackson will have to use his brute force to protect his little String Bean brother. haha

Here is a list of words they know and we understand. It seems like they are learning new words each and every day. I wish I knew Spanish better. I'd love for them to be bilingual.

Yes
No
Mama
Dada
Nana (which is both used for their Nana and bananas so this should count as TWO words, right?)
dink=drink
wus dat? (just Aiden)
here
there
yeah
more (they also sign this)
tank (thank...as in thank you)
nose
toes
che-choes=Cheerios
Kitty (sounds kinda like keeey)
dog
sit
ball
hi
hey
fish
Keeey=Aiden's blankey (sounds very similar to kitty)
neat
straa=strawberry
Ilk=milk (also know sign)
Ook=book
Dis=this
Tink=stinky=poopy diaper (Aiden likes to smile, say tink, and point to his nose)
shoes

That's all I can think of right now. Anyway...we really don't think there is a single developmental delay anymore. I think they are all caught up!! Yay!!

And I've already started thinking about their 2nd birthday party. I believe it's going to be a Pirate Party!! but we'll see. If any of you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them! It's going to be at our house this year so that if it's too hot outside, you can just go in the house and sit in the A/C. We hope to have lots of people over this year. We wanted their first birthday to be special so we invited very few people. This year we hope to have tons of kids and parents, friends and family. YAY! It's going to be so much fun.

On Saturday we went up to Texas State to see a basketball game against Schreiner college. Jason's step brother, Andrew is the coach for the Schreiner basketball team. Andrew and Jen were at J&A's birthday party and Jen was pregnant at the time. She's since had little Dillon and this was the first time we were able to see him! He's such an adorable little baby! Ohhh how I miss that little baby cry!! He's just four months old. Jackson was extremely interested and fascinated by Dillon even though Dillon spent most of his time sleeping (on boy of BOY do I miss THOSE days!! hahahahahaha). He would keep tapping Dillon on the arm as if to tell him, "Hey cousin! Why are you wasting your time SLEEPING? We can teach you a few things!"

We had Aunt Backy and Chelsea come over this past Sunday to visit us and we had so much fun!! The boys were spoiled AGAIN! They got this really cool pop up tent with a little tunnel they can crawl through, a ride on caterpillar, tons of costume hats, and this cool race track with crashing cars. The boys LOVED it. They brought some tamales from Corpus which were delicious and we got to just sit around, catch up and enjoy the boys. It was such an awesome day. The boys played so hard that they actually ended up taking another nap after they left! Can you believe it? It's very rare that J&A take more than one nap so I took that as my cue to take a nap.

I could probably update you guys all night on things that have been happening around here (nothing big, just the little stuff) but I've got lots more to do still. Thanks for checking in on us. I'll try to write more tomorrow.