Izzy's Minti Blog

swimsuit beauties

Izzy — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:44:00 -0700

Had we made it out to the water park today, this is what the girls would have looked like. The hat is from LandsEnd, but I only got the pink because apparently, they ran out of the white. So for the past week, I went from store after store to find another similar sun hat, but couldn't find one. Finally, I phoned LandsEnd and just ordered whatever color they had. I ended up with a red one, shipped super fast for free! Gotta love the costumer service there!

I took the picture and Thing2 ended up squinting because of the flash. And after that, she just kept on doing her squinty face. Notice her 4 huge upper teeth and the 2 on the bottom.

Gotta love Thing2's many silly faces.

Thing1 displays her lovely swimsuit. She's been playing with her tongue for the past several days like that. She has the same amount of teeth Thing1 has, but you wouldn't know it since she's always hanging out her tongue!

Thing2 discoveres the sexy back hole! Hers have one too.

Thing2 now gets fascinated by her sister's hat. Did she want to wear the red one instead?

July 4th: a bust

Izzy — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:28:00 -0700

Since Thing1 was feverish last night, we decided that it would be better to let her rest and stay home. So Daddy stayed home with the girls, and I took Big Bro to the water park. Big Bro had an absolute blast. He actually tired a grown up enclosed slide. We weren't allowed to go together, so I went first so that I could get him right when he came out. It was dark, it was fast, and water just sprayed all over my face. Good thing I had the little man wear his goggles. As he emerged from the slide, he was almost turned over to his belly and had a slightly scared look on his face. I asked him how it was, and he said he got scared and the water went in his mouth. I reassured him that he was so brave for trying a grown up slide, but he didn't have to do it again. After that, we just enjoyed getting wet, getting splashed, and splashing people.

I was able to get him out of there with the promise of seeing the fireworks tonight, but that ended up being a bust. Right at 5pm, a severe thunderstorm rolled in. By 6pm, it was clearing out, so we left the house by 7pm to watch the county firework show. By the time we emerged from our neighborhood, there were branches dangling off of trees, in the middle of the road, and some crews reparing power lines. Surely it wasn't that bad? So off we went to our destination, only to find out that the fireworks was cancelled because of the damage the storm caused.

Of course the little man wasn't too happy about it, so we ended up doing a detour to the ice cream shop before heading back home. I am hoping the county will reschedule the fireworks tomorrow.

poor thing, it's her turn

Izzy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:07:00 -0700

Thing1 lays on the floor amidst the rowdiness.

It's only fair I document her lashes, too. :-)

Now that Thing2 is better, she tries to play with Thing1.

the latest virus in our household

Izzy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:49:00 -0700

On Sunday afternoon, without any warning, Big Bro vomited and instantly ran a fever. All through the first half of Monday, he just laid on the couch battling the fever. By early evening, the fever was gone and he was up and about. By Tuesday, he went back to school and he was back to his normal self.

On Tuesday morning (2:30am), Thing2 was fussy. I checked on her and she was burning up. Yesterday, she just laid around on the floor and would doze off whenever she could. By early evening, her fever was gone and she was starting to get up and play. Last night, I thought Thing1 may come down with this virus as well, so I slept on the floor in their room. This morning everyone was fine so we went to my physical therapy. And we actually made it back to the mall for lunch and a short romp in the play area. While driving home, I'm thinking, hey, maybe for once one of the twins may get spared and not get sick. But when I got them out of the car, Thing1 was considerably hotter. Too much for wishful thinking.

If the trend continues, Thing1's fever should keep up until late tomorrow and then it's finally over with. That would mean we may have to scrap our plan of taking everyone to the water park early tomorrow morning. Either that or we may have to break into teams and someone stays with the girls and one takes Big Bro.

Darn viruses! But I guess I should be thankful that this virus seems to only last 24 hours. And hopefully it spares me and Daddy or this long weekend would not be fun.

Ta-da!

Izzy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:17:00 -0700

Thing2 (I will be calling Jojo, born 1 minute later than Katie, Thing2 and Katie will be Thing1 from now on) was constantly fussing last night and won't go back to sleep. I finally got up at 2:30am to check on her and she was burning up. I took her to our room so that I could monitor her. Now she's just laying around with fever all day long. So far, Thing1 is still OK.

Anyway, today I decided to read back on my old blog entries to see what I was doing at about the same time last year and the year before that.

July 1, 2007 - Thing2 was fussing shortly after a middle of the night feed. When I checked on her, she had milk coming out of her nose. It was pretty scary. I called the pediatrician and that's when we suspected they may have reflux.

July 2, 2006 - Matty (then 1 year & 4 months old) woke up before me and started lining up dirty diapers beside me on the bed (thank goodness that diapers were balled up). When I rolled over to see what he was doing he said, "Ta-da!" complete with arm gestures.

a 3-year old's attention span may be short, but their memory isn't

Izzy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:31:00 -0700

Matty had an invitation to a party in his cubby when I picked him up. Unfortunately, we won't make it because we will be out of town, at Nana's and Papaw's. So I explained to him that we will not make it.

Me: Matty, we can't go to Izzy's party. Alright?
Matty: I want to go!
Me: Matty, we can't because we won't be here.
Matty: Mommy, we can go. My sisters can stay home with Daddy and you and me can go!
Me: We can't because we will be at Nana's and Papaw's. They will take you fishing, remember?
Matty: And Nana will get me a big big firetruck!
Me: I don't know about that, buddy.
Matty: Yeah, it will be for Christmas. Nana & Papaw will get a big big fire truck, I can get it for Christmas from Santa.

Matty was on the phone one weekend with Nana & Papaw. He started talking about fire trucks and how he wanted one. I don't know if his Nana understood it at the time, but I think she said "Yes." So the next time they visited, Matty remembered and asked for it. Whoopsy.

It's a great lesson we're all learning: a 3-year old's memory is apparently very loooooong. I've been caught several times about something I promised (to keep the peace & quiet!), and so have Daddy. I wonder how long this will go on?

Oh and another thing (I don't want Nana to feel bad about this one so I'll add one that involves Grandma, too), because he and his Grandma had a phone conversation about dried Mango, he has been telling me that Grandma is going to send him some. At Wal-Mart this weekend, I asked what kind of dried fruit he wanted as part of his school lunch (I gave him a choice of cranberries, raisins, and as I was giving him a choice I happen to see dried Mango), and he said Grandma will give him dried Mango!!

playing hookie

Izzy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:36:00 -0700

T-ball went relatively well on Saturday. This little boy refused to play fielder for some reason, but once it was his turn to bat and run the bases he was fine. Last week he didn't want to bat, this time he didn't want to be a fielder. Go figure. But come Sunday afternoon after his nap, he threw up and ran a fever and then he was down for the count. He stayed home yesterday, but by night time, he was fully recovered. Here's a picture of him just laying down and just watching TV. (I'm fascinated by his long eye-lashes, can't you tell?)

Here are the twins perfecting their own unique way of using their sippy cup. They use it with the spout on the top (upside down) and notice the exaggerated head tilt. It's amazing how early babies learn to do things if you let them. I am letting them do things on their own much earlier than I did with Big Brother.

Their hair is getting long. Their bangs are now touching their eyes so I've had to use hairclips, which I just love! They don't mind the clips at all, but they try to take the other's though!
Jojo (left), Katie (right)

I can only hope that if I take a picture, it would last longer.

Izzy — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:40:00 -0700

Matty's obsession with fire trucks, fire stations, and Firemen started with Fireman Sam several months before Halloween of 2007. Though Fireman Sam was a wholesome, educational TV program for young kids, I thought I would go insane watching the same sets of episodes over and over and over again. The Halloween only cemented the obsession because we bought him a fireman costume. And then there is the occassional fire drill at school, and visits from the local firefighters. Oh, and there just happens to be a couple of fire stations on the way to school that he just has to see everyday, twice a day (on the way to school with Daddy, and on the way home with me). We thought it'd get old, but a year later, with firetruck toys big and small, his obsession is still going strong.

Sometimes when we eat out, we see firemen eating where we go. Oh boy, Matty just gets googly-eyed for those firemen. And there was acually once when the Fire Chief asked him if he wanted to get in the fire truck after he ate his lunch.

We saw a fire truck at Wal-Mart today, so I decided that from now on, I will take his picture with the fire truck. This may be fueling his obsession, but that's alright. I think it's a whole lot better than being obsessed with policemen (who have guns). Though a Policeman did tell him once that it's "Policemen first, Fireman second." Matty would disagree, of course.

I've never been so embarassed...

Izzy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:14:00 -0700

I thought our "family picnic" as Matty calls it, was going to be cancelled this afternoon because of the storm, but it was on. It didn't even rain. On Fridays, Daddy tries to pick Matty up from school and we all meet somewhere for dinner. Tonight it was Chick-Fil-A so that Matty could use his Certificate of Bravery. He gobbled up his chicken and was off to play in the playarea, while Daddy, and I and the twins ate leisurely. As another reward for being so good at the dentist yesterday, we went to Wal-Mart. Matty could pick one toy.

While walking around, he all of a sudden pointed and exclaimed, "Mommy, a big, fat, giant woman!". I swear I wanted to melt into nothing right then and there. He was pointing at an obese woman! So I grabbed his hand and kept right on walking, really fast, avoiding all eye contact. I bet I turned bright red.

How do you teach a 3-year old it isn't polite to say that? Afterall, he is just being observant and stating the obvious. Oh, I just know more of this is going to happen from now on, so I need a comeback to save face in public. Help!

I have physical therapy for my knees 2x a week

Izzy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:09:57 -0700

I have physical therapy for my knees 2x a week for the next 6 weeks in order to avoid surgery! So I packed up the twins with a lot of snacks and off we go. Today we went at 8:15am. Silly me for making it too early to avoid the intense heat we're having. But it was just way too early. I've made my appointments for next week an hour later.

I'm still here, but I'm just having to deal with whacky schedules. I am usually super fast when it comes to responding to inquiries and concerns, but I will have to ask for your pardon right now. It may take me up to 2 days before I can respond. But hey, 2 days is actually a prompt reply in business, unless it's highly urgent of course.

Izzy

PS- My Minti inbox is under attack by spammers. So, in the off chance that the spammers read my blog, please have mercy on me! Your spam isn't reaching Minti members, it's just me! And really, sending me the same thing or variation of the same thing wouldn't make me click on it!

Matty received a Certificate of Bravery!

Izzy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:45:00 -0700

Bright and early this morning, Matty had his first ever dentist visit. I've been building him up to it to make sure it goes without a hitch, and it sure did! He let the hygienist show him the tools and then off to polishing. When the hygienist was done, she told Matty to wait for Dr. Castro. Matty sat quietly for a minute and then started calling for Dr. Castro out loud! It hilarious.

Dr. Castro said Matty has no cavities, but would need braces in the future since his teeth are alread crowding and he already has an over bite. I guess we should start saving now. But then again, how can we when this little boy always wants to go to the store!

So for being very brave, Matty recieved a certificate of bravery with a Chik-Fil-A coupon. He then went to school and excitedly showed his teacher his chewed up certificate. He started chewing on it in the car!

While I took Matty to the dentist, Daddy went to the DMV to get a vision test for his driver's license. He took the twins with him. I must admit I was a little worried about this, but the twins came back in one piece so I guess I was worried for nothing. I sure do hope there isn't a confession from him a few months from now about what really happened though.

confessions of a 3-year old

Izzy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:18:00 -0700

We were eating dinner last night when Matty approached me.

Matty: Mommy, I have to tell you sumfin'. Mommy, I went to quiet mat two times.
Me: You got in trouble twice?
Matty: Yes. I pushed Evan again.
Me: What do you mean again? Did you push him and then you got in throuble?
Matty: Yes.
Me: And did you do it the 2nd time?
Matty: Yes, I did.
Me: *speechless and shaking my head*
Matty: Mommy, it's Ok! It'll be Ok.
Me: You're right. It'll be Ok. Are you going to do it again?
Matty: No, I won't.

I can only hope that it wasn't as bad as it sounded because his teacher didn't talk to me when I picked him up.

UPDATE: I spoke to the teacher when I picked him up the next day to get a little clarification on the story. The teacher said he did push someone but he only did it once. I swear, this boy has a knack for making himself look worse than he is!

is there a hungry hippo in here?

Izzy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:00:00 -0700

It was pizza night last night at casa de los patos. Can you believe I found a pizza place who has drive-thru? Woo hoo! I cut the crust edge on a couple of pizzas and gave them Katie and Jojo. Matty was telling me about his day at school and how he went to the quiet mat twice. As you can imagine, I was engrossed. I turned to see how Katie and Jojo were doing and Jojo was already done with her pizza, while Katie hasn't even finished a forth of it. So I cut another crust and gave it to Jojo. After a few minutes, it was gone again. I searched the floor, and searched her high-chair, but no... it was trully gone. I got one more to give her. She finished the 3rd one just as Katie was finished her first. Holy moly, she was hungry!

isn't genetics fascinating?

Izzy — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:39:00 -0700

Mommy & Jojo

Katie & Daddy

Daddy & Matty

Daddy & Katie

Mommy & Jojo

fun with Daddy

Izzy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:51:00 -0700

The kids had fun with Daddy last night after he came home from work. Katie is in the back, bouncing around. Jojo is a bit sleepy here and isn't as bouncy. Matty was a little jealous, but he had fun too.

23 lbs of pure goodness born in N.C.

Izzy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:25:00 -0700

Oh baby! Newborn twins tips the scale at 23 lbs

On Tuesday, a woman in Winston-Salem, N.C. gave birth to twins: a 10.14 lb and a 12.3 lb twins. As big as they babies are, they are not the record holders in the U.S., but still. This woman also has a 2 1/2 year old son who was born at 10 lbs.

My son was born 9 lbs 14 oz, and my twins were born 4 lbs 8 oz and 5 lbs 6 oz at 33 1/2 weeks. I can only imagine how big they would have gotten had they come to term. Yikes!

Mama, you have one excellent oven in there. I can't even imagine the pain. Congrats!

Off to T-Ball

Izzy — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:36:00 -0700

Yesterday was the 2nd T-ball session. This time, the girls and I were able to cheer for Big Bro! Though Matty had fun, it wasn't as fun as last time. He had a cold and didn't sleep well the night before. So Mr. Tantrum reared it's ugly head in the middle of the game. He didn't hit the ball as hard, then he didn't want to bat and wanted to just catch the ball (even if it was his team that was batting), and then he wanted to bat after the game was done! But he still had fun though. His Daddy said he was an excellent fielder! None of them has gotten the rules about getting the ball though. They tackle whoever gets the ball and they all pile on top of each other. If you saw them, you would swear you were watching football.

Oh, and he proudly wore his neon green glove! He wouldn't even let go of it when it was his time to bat. Come to think of it, I think that may be the reason why he didn't want to bat.

Don't you just love the matching red shorts?! All the mamas had the same idea and bought red shorts to match the hat. I just love it!

The girls were excellent cheerleaders! They clapped their hands, and in between clapping, they waved at everyone who waved at them.

It's WWE again!

Izzy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:56:00 -0700

We were all inside the play yard (yes, it's that big!), with me and Daddy laying on the floor, the girls trying to climb all over us, and big brother walking around the perimeter. Jojo just couldn't get enough of me. I stand up to get something, I go on all fours, I sit, I lie down, and the whole time she's still somehow attached to me. It didn't matter that I accidentally knock her over with my big ass.

Katie climbs up on us too, but at least when the person she's holding on to moves, she lets go. But then, there's big brother who didn't seem to want to be touchy-feely tonight. At one point Katie steadies herself on him to get ready to stand up, but immediately, Matty sits up to get out of the way. As he sits up, he put his hands on Katie and Katie goes down on the floor. And Katie stays down. She's a smart one. It was like watching a sumo taking down a little munchkin. Katie didn't cry though, so no harm no foul.

Then Matty lies down on the floor to watch TV. Jojo sees him and decides to go to him. She ends up between his legs. I guess some Martial Arts genes got passed down to him because he trapped Jojo with his legs and down goes Jojo, still trapped. Jojo sits back up, and she tries another position. Again, no harm no foul.

When the girls learn to work with each other, like those two Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, I say beware Kuya!

everyone in their place

Izzy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:08:00 -0700

Matty has been sleeping in his castle bed for a week without any problem. In fact, he hasn't really been waking up in the middle of the night, like his usual. It's very nice to have a master bedroom without kids. Yay!

But a couple of nights ago, Matty had a rough night. I think he is coming down with something and woke up at about 11pm and wouldn't stop crying. I asked if he wanted to sleep on the floor in our room and he agreed. I reminded him that this is only because he's sick. Who knows if that sunk in. Last night he's still coughing so we allowed him to sleep in our room again. Tonight, I will have to insist he go back to his room. Fingers cross, he won't protest. It's just like illness to ruin everything!

The girls are doing very well in their room. They take change so well. However, what they are not taking will is cow's milk. I started giving them cow's milk a couple of weeks ago, once a day. The first time, Katie's skin around her mouth turned red and developed little welts. She and Jojo both had a cold then so I thought it may just be their colds. The second day, the same thing happened to both of them. I skipped a few days and gave them cow's milk again, and hives appeared once again. It can't be a coincidence now, can it?

On Monday, I gave them yogurt and that too caused hives. The hives are immediate. So now, I've decided to stop the cow's milk. They are still breastfeeding 3x a day and eat solids really well. Either next week or the next, I will take them to the pediatrician. Thankfully, the girls are proving to be good eaters so if this is a milk allergy, they should do well eating other things.

Look at me!

Izzy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:50:00 -0700

This was taken December 2007, when the girls were 6 months old. I would have shared it a while ago, but it was over youtube's limit at the time.

I put them together on the boppy and Jojo just got busy grabbing away. The antics of these girls started in the womb with Jojo kicking Katie a lot, and she's still bossing Katie around on this video. But nowadays, it's Katie who ties to boss Jojo around. It should be a fun toddlerhood with these two.