I survived 5 days alone with 2 ACTIVE toddlers, and it even rained 2 of the days, which meant no park, stroller rides, etc...So, we found things to keep us busy.

We played with a headband for 30 minutes, at one point....









ahhh.......SUCCESS!!!!!!


And played in the curtains........




And played outside while it rained, under the safe haven of the back porch....literally, for hours and hours on end. We drew with chalk and colored with crayons and rode bikes and ate tons of snacks. Gotta love rainy days. I do!!








One other poop tidbit to leave you with...Brody is continuing to announce that he has pooped. I am thrilled and know this is the beginning to our adventure into potty training....Well, on Friday night, the boys were taking their bath, and I always take 1 of them out to dry him off, apply lotion, diaper, jammies, etc...This time I chose Wade and let Brody play in the bath while Wade and I did the nighttime routine, laying down right next to the bathtub. Brody looks at me, with his huge blue eyes and his captivating smile, and says, "Mommy, I poot!". (Poot=Pooped). The blood drained from my face, as he was the one still in the tub, and I said, "You mean, you have to poop?". He said, "I poot!". I ever so cautiously looked over the edge of the tub, and what do you know. He pooped.

Photos bigger and fun with pics!!

Yay!! I figured out how to make my photos LARGER!!!!!

If you are interested in learning how, go to this site:
www.blueorchidblog.com/2007/10/how-to-have-large-photos-on-your-blog.html

I have also learned how to alter/distort/cartoon etc... my images!! I know, I know, I am behind in the times, but I have not 1, but 2 toddlers that keep me pretty darn busy!!

Here is the original...


And the fun begins..........................










Happy Friday!!

Beautiful

I look at you both and my heart melts. You guys are perfect in each and every way. Your beauty within captivates my soul. From your scrumptious little hiney's, to your chubby little feet...I could just eat you both up. I cannot possibly think of a word that is big enough to describe how I feel about you two... Thank you for being my punkey men.

I love the little details...

Wade: Your absolutely long eyelashes...what I would do to have them; Your shy little moniker that comes out when you see the camera; How you love to stick out your tongue instead of smile, cause that's just who you are; How you tuck in your legs and hands when we hold you tight; All of your bruises and bumps and scratches and bug bites, because you live life to the fullest....

Brody: Your smile and dimples that touch a place in my heart, I can not even explain; Your electric blue eyes that are always smilin'; Your ALWAYS sticky hands because you would give up your brother for one more snack...; Your perceptiveness to people and their feelings at such a young age; How you tilt your head to the side when you meet a stranger and pretend to be shy...

Potty Prayer

I could not be happier....3 words came out of Brody's mouth yesterday that not only made me do a double take, but had me grinning ear to ear, all day long!!! Are you ready.....drumroll.....

He said:

"Mommy. I pooped."

He actually recognized that something is going on down there and actually told me!! He told me not once, not twice, but three times throughout the day. Where did this come from? My 20 month old might be ready to potty train! I am headed to Wally world today to buy 2 potty chairs and I'm going to buy the "Once Upon a Potty Book", that I remember my Mom reading to Dave. I never, in my whole life, thought I would be so excited over poop. And, he called me Mommy........................

Maybe Wade will jump on the band wagon if he sees his bro-bro sitting on the pot? One can only be so hopeful. Say a potty prayer for the twiners. Lord knows we need it!

On another note...we have been plagued with minor sickness and mysterious stuff going on this past week and a half. Wade started off with the body rash, that went as quickly as it came on...followed by a double ear infection and 10 days of antibiotics. Then, both boys had diarrhea...lasted about 1-2 days. Then, the worst of them all...Brody had a pretty severe allergic reaction, in my book anyways, with his whole body covered in welts and hives, that left a Mama VERY scared. After a steroid shot and a hefty dose of Benadryl, he was good to go. We now have to keep an Epi-Pen at school and at home, in case he has another allergic reaction. We have no idea what caused the reaction in the first place and we are very blessed that it did not effect his breathing in any way. We will meet with the Dr. in 2 weeks to discuss the option of allergy testing. The Dr. was thinking it could have been caused maybe by an ant or insect bite? We will never know...Then, to top it all off, all 3 guys of the house had major tummy issues/diarrhea the entire weekend. B and W missed school yesterday, and we kept Brody out again today. Todd leaves tomorrow for Omaha for 5 days. I really hope all of this sickness goes away while I am playing single-Mama! Wow...pretty much an entire post about POOP! :)

My boys love to color. They absolutely love it!! Well, for a little bit anyways...Brody ends up watching me draw after a while and Wade entertains himself by hoarding crayons and dumping them in and out of the bucket.

And when they grow tired of crayons, we bring out the chalk. They broke a lot of the sticks by throwing them, but hey, at least they were not eating them this time. That's always a plus.

Mommy and Daddy's bed is reserved for giggles, wrestling, snugglin' and cuddlin' up and just hanging out as a family...

Oh yeah, wanted to mention that B-man is now calling me Carly. Seriously?? He is 1 1/2!!!!! I only have 2 people in this entire world who call me Mama/Mommy...so every time he calls me Carly, I politely correct him, and let him know that I am Mommy...not Carly. He probably wonders why everybody else calls me Carly...but hey, I don't care. We will get into that later...I AM MOMMY!!!!!

Biting Hurts!

Life isn't always sunny days and popsicles....Yesterday wasn't such a good day for the newly turned 20 month olds. I picked them up from school to learn that they both just had major diarrhea explosions and they both were biting. It seems to be a constant struggle, always telling the boys, "We don't bite our friends..." or "We don't hit our friends..." or "Biting Hurts!" or "Nice touches..." or "Please say you are sorry...". Having 2 toddlers, the same age, there are bound to be disagreements and fighting and pushing and biting and crying and not sharing. You get the point. They do not understand that every item is not "MINE". To a 1 year old, everything is MINE. I capitalize MINE because that's exactly how they say it. All of the time. Don't get me wrong, they are the sweetest, most lovable children I could ever ask for, but they are learning their boundaries, and how to push them. Twins can be the best of buddies, but also intensely aggressive towards each other. Sometimes the wrestling starts as a game, but the majority of the time ends in crying and fighting. We always reward the good behavior, recognize the bad behavior and separate them when the going gets tough. Sometimes it's as easy as removing the object or completely separating them. They are always together and constantly competing for attention, toys or what have you...ahhh...to be a toddler. Life with twins will remain a challenge, dealing with competition for a long time, I suppose. I just hope that our constant discipline and rewarding will pay off in the long run. But, how lucky that we were chosen to be gifted with Brody and Wade. What a miracle to have 2 babies grow inside of me, always have a friend(or enemy) and a lifelong bond that a lot of people do not get to experience.

The boys are staying home today, due to the diarrhea yesterday. They have not had any symptoms since they left school, but we would never want to intentionally pass along a bug to the other kids and teachers!! Daddy is enjoying their company this morning and I will get them all to myself this afternoon!! I love it when I get an extra day with them...sometimes "sick" days are the best days of them all...!!!

Ever feasted your eyes on one of these??

That red thing, attached to Brody's clothing yesterday, is a biting stick/teether. Not a dog toy...I promise!! It is what they attach to the kiddos clothes when they are having a biting day. They encourage them to bite on the stick instead of their friends...and I think it actually works! It sounds so barbaric to say bite on this instead of your friends...but it is what it is. Toddlers bite and BITING HURTS!!! Brody was gnawing on it, right where his last 2 teeth are coming in, so it probably brought relief to those swollen gums.

This is what your child looks like after a diarrhea explosion at school, and obviously not sending extra clothes that match.

Our nephew/cousin Caden has been battling nasty respiratory infections, 2nd bought of pneumonia and a horrible cough for a long time...please say prayers that he starts to feel better soon and that he can overcome these obstacles quickly!! We LOVE you Caden Michael!!

Land of the FREE, Home of the BRAVE

Well...Spring in the FL is very short lived. I think it was here for about a week or so...and summer is trying to move its way in the door. I am stomping my foot, very loudly...telling summer to stay away for good, but in the end, mother nature will prevail. I just know it.

In the meantime, we are staying cool by eating lots of popsicles! I do not know if you can even call it "eating", because half of the popsicle ends up on their bodies, clothes and even in their hair!! For some reason, I do not mind when my boys get good and dirty...means they are living it up and exploring their world! After dinner last week...Todd threw the munchkins in the stroller, with a popsicle, of course, and headed around the block. He is pretending to run in this pic...don't let him fool you. He took a nice long stroll around the neighborhood!

Here are the boys getting sprayed with the garden hose, post walk and post popsicle. We actually had to spray the stroller down because it was covered in a sticky, gooey popsicle mess!

The B-man watching the sun go down and learning how to drink out of a garden hose...More got in his hair than in his mouth!

The wonderful smells of spring..errr...summer...

Some fun pics playing at Campbell's house...He was pushing this stroller, and it was the funniest thing...but as soon as I brought out the camera, he quickly ran away. Probably knowing that one day his brother would use it as blackmail!

Hilarious pic of Brody...rhinestone cowboy baby!!

Finally got it on my big ol' noggin!!

Both of the boys....

And Wade took a turn with the pink hat too!!

The boys motor skills are becoming better and better each day....They are saying please and thank you all of the time, with reminders of course, and use sign language to go along with their words!

Wade...poor poor Wade. He keeps on injuring his head, the exact same spot. See the big ol' bruise on his forehead?? This is the 3rd time it has looked like this, over a span of about 4 months. We have had to watch him very closely in the 24 hours following his head injury, making sure he was not showing any signs of a concussion. Thank you Lord, as it just looks worse than it really is. We are so fortunate!!

I picked Wade up from school early on Thursday and took him to the Dr. for a mysterious body rash, that was all over his trunk, neck and extremities. Dr. Keefe diagnosed it as the ending of a virus that he must of had. We were not aware of a virus, but she said that we might not have even noticed. Symptoms present themselves differently with all viruses and infections and the rash was non-contagious. While we were there, we found out the poor guy has a double ear infection!!! You would have never known it, as he did not show any signs or symptoms...tough little cookie!!! He is finally on the mend and both are at school today!!

On Sunday, we were fortunate enough to be able to attend the Eglin Air Force Base air show, as Distinguished Guests, courtesy of Ret. Col Gates...Gator's Dad!! Thank you so much Mr . Gates...we had a great time!!

Have a great week!!!!