Thank you Firefighters!

This morning we had plans to meet some friends for a tour of one of the Arvada fire houses. Everything seemed to be going wrong while we were getting ready. I could not find what I needed, Tristan kept getting hurt and wanting to be held, and everyone seemed to be crying or on the verge of crying (me). I almost bagged it and went back to bed when both kids in my car were screaming as I pulled out of my parking space. Boy am I glad we didn't bail because Tristan had a GREAT time!

The firemen were so friendly and Tristan took right to them. When the other kids were too shy to get into the fireman's boots, I will give you one guess who was more than happy to jump right in. They let the kids crawl over the big ladder truck and the ambulance. The ladies that drive the ambulance were pleased that Tristan loved their rig, too. They said the kids are usually too interested in the fire truck to pay much attention to the ambulance. He was all over that thing playing with the machines, pretending the iv hook-up was a fishing pole, and even found some money that they had forgotten about in the back, haha.

It's days like today that I'm glad he is a curious little boy asking questions and exploring everything. I think the firefighters that he was dragging around had fun, too. He had hugs and high fives for them all as we left. A big thank you to the Arvada Fire Fighters!!

Day With a Toddler

You watch funny sitcoms or movies about life with a toddler and you think "well, it's not that bad," but sometimes it is and all you can do is laugh. Tristan's day today pretty much started and ended with showers. In the morning he found my pump shampoo and rubbed it all through his hair... shower. He would only eat my breakfast and not his own, stole every paci he could get his hands on, and walk right behind me as I picked up toys and pulled them back out. After a less than stellar nap he made a few calls on my phone, colored on the kitchen floor, and I found him "brushing" his hair with my bic razor. I tried to give him a treat of fruit snacks which are his favorite and I even put the dog on the porch so he would not eat them and send Tristan into a melt down. Well, Tristan decided he would eat the fruit snacks right in front of the window to the porch and taunt the dog. If that was not enough, he then left three lined up on the window and left to go play. I only noticed it when I heard the dog scratching at the window and making a snotty mess for me to wipe up. To round the day out, in the evening he fell into a VERY stinky pond and came home in nothing but his diaper... shower. Before bed, Neil let him run outside to burn off that last energy. A toddler running barefoot up and down the sidewalk in Christmas pjs was quite a sight, but not as big of a sight as the amount of rocks he could carry in and drop on my kitchen floor. After the kiddo was in bed and Neil and I found a wet wipe clogging up the tub drain, cheerios covering many of the bristles of my hair brush, and little plastic Lion King toys in my bed, we could not help but laugh. At different parts of the day we would be laughing so hard with Tristan and in the next breath want to research toddler boarding schools. Yes the "twos" come and go sometimes within the same day, but we find at the end of most days we have laughed more than we have scolded and had more good times than time outs. These days with little ones are sometimes long, sometimes hard, and always very full! I know I am going to look back and miss these times someday, so I try to remind myself of that during these difficult days and try to laugh now about the things I would have only been able to look back and laugh at. Tristan is one funny little kid!!

Day Out With Thomas 2010

Today Grandma and Grandpa Trexler took the boys to see Thomas the tank engine and man was it a hit! The twins were so excited they could not stay awake so Tristan had to do all the exploring. The day was set up with lots of fun things to do at the Colorado Railroad Museum with the highlight of the day taking a ride on a real Thomas train. Well, for most kids the highlight was the train ride, petting zoo, train table tent, fire engine, or even food, but not my kiddo. While he loved most of those things, Tristan could not get enough of the very large fenced in model trains. To be honest, I have never seen so many little boys in one spot just staring and quiet. At one point I noticed the absence of screaming and crying and found it a bit strange. They were all lined around the fence as if it was the most magical thing they had ever witnessed. At one point I tried to take Tristan to see the fire engine and the petting zoo, but as soon as he was more than ten yards from those trains he was animate that we go back. It's cool, I didn't want to pet the sheep anyway.

He was so taken by all the trains there and we all loved the train ride. My favorite part was watching Tristan right in his element. I love that the museum is only 20 minutes away and most everything that Tristan loved is there all the time! What a great place for little boys to play and have picnics. We will be going back there for sure!

If Your Happy and You Know It

I have heard from a lot of people that they see more pictures of Finn than Ian and they were wondering why. Well, under one theory Ian is the third child and as the third child I know there are just less pics of us out there. That's not the real reason though. Whenever the camera comes out, Ian turns into a bit a a party pooper. I thought at first that he was just a little stinker who just wanted to ruin good pictures, but it turns out that when he is laying down he has trouble breathing... my bad. Now a days he has trouble breathing in any position, but he should grow out of that. We let him sit in a steamy bathroom about three times a day and have bottles of saline with in an arms reach from anywhere in the apartment. Keeping him close by so we can hear his breathing at all times is the norm.

Tonight I brought down the bouncer and put Ian in there. We got a smile!!! now he can play AND breath!!!

The only thing missing from an east coast parade

What a perfect day! The weather was cool but sunny and there was a parade on the schedule.. a

real parade! Out here in Colorado a good parade is something that I have not seen too much of. Usually they are kind of odd and really short. Well, this one had it all (except for a fife and drum band). BUT... I had never been to a parade back east with a Mariachi band!!! They were so much fun. The costumes and music were good, but I could not get enough of their dancing horses. They would make their horses dance to the mariachi music!

Tristan had a great time and quickly made friends with the people sitting next to us. He spent the majority of the parade on that guys lap. His wife told us that all their grandkids lived far away, so this was really nice for him. The twins did amazing! They slept most of the time and when they were awake they were as happy as can be. We left the parade a little early and made our way over to the town picnic and had some fun in the bouncy castle before the crowds came. We headed home for lunch and I even got a two and a half hour nap in. Best Labor Day in years!!

Book From Neannie

My mom sent a book for Tristan that made me cry all the way through. He was so happy to hear her voice and must have played it fifteen times in the first hour he had it. I so wish she was closer so they could play together more! (I gave no prompting for these videos, I just let him read it)

This is how we do it

We get the question a lot of times, "What do you do when both babies are fussy and you are alone?" Well, here are some examples. Even when Neil is home, there are some times like when Tristan needs his bedtime routine that we are left alone with both babies. We try to still give Tristan some good one on one time each day, so each of us is getting better at handling two babies... as long as they don't get too much bigger. The first picture is a little blurry because I really was here by myself and trying to take the picture. We sit like that a lot. These pictures make it look like all we do is sleep all day, haha!!

Just Like We Thought

While I was pregnant with these two, we often wondered if the space available to them in there would affect how they were comfortable on the outside. Now we know! Finn is comfortable sprawled out and hates to be swaddled which looks a lot like the ultrasound pictures we saw each week. True to form, Ian likes to be curled up in a ball or swaddled tight. I'm just glad he doesn't want to be folded in half with his feet in front of his face like he spent so many months. It's kind of cool to watch how those early environments did affect them.

Oh, there we are

Tonight was a night right out of a sitcom. Our friend, Eddie, was coming over to borrow some camping equipment and bringing a pizza for dinner. Sounds quiet and nice, right? Well, he had not been here five minutes when Tristan walked shyly up to me and grabbed my leg. I thought this was so strange and asked him what was wrong. He looked up at me, started puking, and didn't stop until I had him in the bathtub. The next ten five minutes are kind of a blur. I heard the babies start to scream because it was time for them to eat, but I was too busy slipping around on a puke covered bathroom floor making bubbles in the bath and trying to stay as calm as possible so that Tristan would not feel bad. Neil was preparing a bucket of mop water for me and throwing in the first load of laundry. Cooper was getting all the big chunks off the floor and for a moment I thought about keeping him. I forgot how handy a dog can be during these times. After it was over Neil and I looked at each other fondly and said, "see, we're still in there!" Taking care of a toddler and newborn twins can chip away at the communication in a marriage. We are both so tired at the beginning, middle, and end of each day that we tend to snip at each other more and say things in a way we never have. We try not to take it personally because we know it is a short time that we will be in this really hard situation, but in the back of your mind you hope that on the other side you have not picked up habits that cannot be reversed. It was really good to get a glimpse of our old self working well as a team to make a messy situation clean again.

We honestly thought that when we were done Eddie would have just left, but he fought his gag reflex and calmed a baby. He was impressed with our teamwork and the fact we didn't start yelling at each other like most of his other friends with kids would have. At the end of the day, we are still that couple that moved across the country, made our way through Neil's schooling, parented a happy little boy together, and brought two healthy babies into the world because of our teamwork and communication. We are still in there and hope to be back to our nice and respectful selves as soon as possible.

Instructions for Approaching a Mom of New Twins

****Before you start feeling bad for me or start looking up names of "happy drugs" for me to take, just know that I wrote this so I could laugh. Today in church the sermon was all about being able to laugh through difficult times. Taking this to heart, I wrote these down. Also, I wanted to remember these truths for when I am far removed from them and I will be the one who forgets what to say and what not to say to a new mom. Don't worry...I'm happy...I'm okay...I'm fine"****

Things that a new mom of twins will lie about:

"I'm doing great" (anything above "I'm fine" is a lie)

"It's not that bad" (It is that bad, but they are cute and totally worth it!)

Things you should never say to a mom of new twins:

"Oh, I always wanted twins" (we might be tempted to hand them over)

"How are you doing?" (without a box of tissues in hand as you wait for the answer)

"What a blessing" (we know it is, we just don't want to hear it yet)

"You've got your hands full!" (Really? REALLY?! You think I didn't notice that?)

"Are you getting any sleep?" (The answer will always be no, remind us that we are not sleeping, and bring tears. Just don't bring up the sleep thing)

"Just call me" (It's not going to happen and then we feel guilty about not calling)

And if you are out and about and don't know the person with twins, just sneak a peak as they walk by and smile. We don't want to be rude and ignore people, but if we stopped to tell everyone everything about the babies we would not get anything done. I'm thinking about making a flyer to pass out to people so I can keep walking. I know seeing two babies is cool, but it's just two babies not two unicorn babies which I have to admit I would have to stop and talk to that person, too. Two babies means I have more things to get and less time to get them, so please just let me keep walking.

Things you should say to a mom of new twins:

"Hang in there" (Encouraging and realistic)

"It's nice to see that you can still smile" (A nice reminder that we might actually be smiling)

"Can I hold a baby?" (ALWAYS! I actually let total strangers hold these babies, left them with all the nurses and receptionist when I went into the doctors, and even let Tristan's 13 year old sunday school teacher hold them)

"Here's some chocolate" (Thank you)