Our Goo said "moo".

Much to my dismay last week I was told the twins are developmentally behind. They are 2 years old, but socially, developmentally, and language wise they are actually 16 to 17 Months old. There teacher told me due to my extended bed rest during my pregnancy with Ellie, that it worsened some of these delays and they had forgotten some of what we had taught them. Hearing this really upset me.

So determined to get the twins back on track I began working with them. We do daily flash cards in the morning, and I use some of there toys to reinforce and incorporate what they learn every day into there playtime.

Well much to my excitement, this morning while I was eating breakfast and blogging Mathias who was sitting across from me at our dinning room table suddenly blurted out Moo..... Intially thinking it was Elijah I looked over to see not Mathias playing with the little people cows, but Mathias. He was lining the cows up at the table. He Moved the cow back and forth and again blurted out Moo. I watched him for a few minutes and along with his Moo came a Na as he moved the little people horse back and forth like he had done with the cow. I was so excited I snapped photos of him playing. Ha our Goo said "moo". One step closer to being back on track.

Lights, Camera, Bathtime!!!!!

Ellie's 1st bath was a very long awaited event. Because of a belly button that bleed forever after her umbilical cord coming and having 3 other kids we didn't get to bathe her as early as we had wanted. Lets just say getting to this event could of easily been a whole theatrical event. Note the lights, camera, action title to the blog. But our reward for waiting was that Ellie did wonderfully during her bath. I think she had to practice for her big moment. But it went over with out much crying. The initial dunk in the water startled her and she cried for a brief moment. But after that she seemed to enjoy it and be a natural born water baby. It was a delightful experience for Ellie and us. I even think I heard Josh sniffling in the back ground as I was bathing her, not sure though as he was hiding behind the camera.

Drying off went almost as well with very little crying and lots of being awake. Other then a few shivers it went well also.

The end result was like a lot like the prior sponge baths, A wonderful smelling beautiful baby girl, whose hair later fluffed up like a poodles cut or a very distasteful hair do. Note the fluffy hair looks marvelous on her. The other perk to this long production is that our main actor
" slept like a baby".

"Flower"

So one day on a walk with Mathias's developmental teacher we made the cutest discovery ever. Mathias likes flowers and said the word flower pretty efficiently. At the time I just though it was a one time thing, but much to my surprise on the boys few adventures in the back yard I discovered it was more then a one time thing. From my kitchen window, which at the time was open I heard a little voice say "flower" and again "flower". There I saw Mathias desperately trying to get to the flower that was buried behind one of our patio chairs out back. He got up quiet frustrated and looking a bit sad. I couldn't stand the sight of this so went and moved the chair. Mathias proceeded to go back to where the flower was and sat there for the longest time, picking the flowers and carefully placing them behind him. Now every time I see a yellow dandelion I think about my sweet Mathias. Kinda funny how small things like that make you think of your kids.

First real Mommy daughter day out to church. March 20th 2010

Ellie's beautiful Winnie the Pooh outfit.

A close up of her hair clip, which didn't stay in at church.

Proud Mom holding her beautiful daughter.

That's right dad we look good * lol *

So I decided to go out for the first time with just Ellie and I, I was a bit excited and nervous too. I don't know why I guess just how things were going to go. Dreaded the horrible cluster feeding, obnoxious screaming infant, or worse an explosive diaper. ( That day I had also forgotten to put a change of cloths in the diaper bag/ purse) We didn't attend service because we left late, little miss decided she wanted to eat just as we left,which she normally eats at six o'clock. A bit of a mistake on my part for putting her on that type of schedule, oh well it works everyday but church day. Anyways I dressed her in the cutest little pink Winnie the pooh dress with little pants underneath. I dressed in one of the only skirts I could wear and off we went. Amazingly enough it went well. We went to church visited out in the auditorium during service and then off to care group. Care group also went very well she slept through most of care group and ate towards the end. And ironically enough our care group discussion for a while is stressers and stress stoppers.Something I actually need to work on. Anyways it was a nice enough experience that we went again this Saturday, even though I was very tired and really thought about not going.

My Achievment / playtime.

Playtime in the bean box. We like to toss the beans out all over the place, then mom gets to sweep them back in.

Playing with bubbles. The twins love them and they keep Elijah occupied for hours.

Playing with legos, it's so much more fun outside then inside.

So a couple of weeks ago I decided to be brave after getting discouraged about my inability to manage all the kids out in about by myself on walks in our cul - da - sac. I decided I wanted them to be able to play outside like other kids and enjoy themselves. So empowered by friends and my husband I got creative and created a play area in our unfenced yard. I was intially nervous about the possibility of the boys running out of the back yard to explore further then I wanted them too, but after some reinforcement and 1 difficult day. We had success and the boys have since played out in there new play area several times since. I was proud of myself and proud of them and they had a blast back there. They have a basket ball hoop, some beans in a sand box ( mainly to avoid a huge mess of sand in my carpeted dinning room where the boys come in from out back), a huge dump truck, a see saw which they have yet to use, some balls and lego's. Oh and bubbles when Elijah blows them. Most of all they have fun and it's manageable for me. Though I have to have Elijah home to keep on eye on them when they play or I have to sit in the dinning room. But for the most part it is a small price to pay for there enjoyment and imagination.