The latest on the whole crew
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If there is one thing we are learning – it is how to share pretty much everything. Amy and I share the responsibility of feeding/bathing/changing/holding someone, Evan shares us with the twins, the twins share toys and space, and Colby seems to just take whatever we have left. Here are some pictures of all this sharing.
Today was E’s first day of pre-school (how time flies!). For the first day – the school wanted to have the parents go with the kids for one hour to give everyone an idea of what to expect. Everything is scheduled – which is great for E as he has been able to do pretty much whatever he wants whenever he wants during the day (pluses and minuses). As soon as you get there each day – the kids have to wash their hands and can then go into the back room and freely play for 15 minutes. There is a sand station, a table for Play-Doh, a few easels for painting, and a little house/kitchen area.
E playing
We live a few blocks from his school so we walked there and back on a beautiful fall day. Evan looks forward to going back – and so do I…since I forgot his backpack on the first day. Hey – at least I remembered it…after initially forgetting it. 😉
I knew it was coming – but I was not ready for it when it actually did. On Friday Evan started asking “why?” about everything anyone said to him. At first I decided I would humor him and go as many levels deep as needed – but after everything I said spurred another “why?” – I quickly got exhausted.
A perfect example happened when we were in my car on our way to O’Hare to drop off Grandma Z. Evan is really big into letters and words now and when he sees a word – he always wants you to tell him what it is. He saw the “Warning” on my passenger sun visor (about air bags) and he started off by having Grandma Z read the word “Warning” to him. He quickly wanted to know what the other words were so Grandma Z read him the whole warning and soon got asked “why?” about the statement. I decided to humor him and we went about five levels of why deep until we got into why doctors worked at hospitals. (Warning – serious injury can occur… > Why > because even though the air bag is made to help people – it can also hurt kids, etc > Why > if a child sits in the front seat and the airbag deploys during an accident – they will need to go to the hospital > Why > that is where all the doctors are to help people who get hurt > Why > the doctors work together at one place with all the equipment so they can effective treat people…
All in all – this got really old (instead of cute) by yesterday morning. There are two outcomes I can hope for this this…
This past week, Grandad came to visit and take care of the twins for my first week of school. We so appreciate his help and willingness to take care of the twins and Evan. He took some good shots while he was here, so I wanted to post the update.
Luckily Evan and I have been able to get out of the house a few times to go to the local neighborhood pool. We generally went to a small pool that was gated in and only was about a foot deep with fountains and a spray area. This year I felt Evan was ready for the bigger pool, but at this pool I have to go into the water….the ninety degree weather has helped with this.
The big pool has a zero depth area and then goes to your usual 6-8 feet deep. There is a small frog slide, a medium water slide and then a huge water slide that you would see at a normal water park. There is also a waterfall area where it is about 3-3 1/2 feet deep and I stand in the water and Evan jumps off the edge. Background done….
First let me say that Evan’s swimming has improved immensely. He puts his goggles on and can actually swim under water for about a foot or so…no fear. This particular day, Evan got up under the waterfall and was ready to jump in. Just then I see his eyes wander to the huge water slide, he looks back at me, and then back at the slide. Next thing I know he is running to the huge slide and climbing the three flights of stairs. So I have to jump out of the pool and also run across the deck….hoping to not see any of my students since they often frequent this pool as well. He has gotten a good lead on me and as I am running I ask another life guard, “someone will stop him at the top, right?” they say yes, but I am still concerned he is going to get up to the top and jump right into this huge water slide. So I am now running up the three flights of stairs, teenagers are parting for me to run by and I finally get up to the top and Evan is talking to the lifeguard, he of course is saying Evan cannot go on because he is not tall enough. Poor guy.
We tell him over and over that he is a big boy and then we have to tell him he is not big enough….crazy. This was a day I wished I had a child with just a little shyness :).
Here is a quick shot taken by the babysitter of the twins hanging out with Evan…or more likely Evan hanging out with the twins. On a similar note, Just when I thought Evan was tired of the babies (when they cry) – he told Amy last night he wanted one more brother or sister. Unfortunately for him – that is not in the plans 😉
Ever since Evan was born – our friend Sallie has had a special relationship with him. She met Evan within the first few days of his life, did weekly video chats with him when he was 1/2 and has spent a good deal of time with him in the last 3+ years. A few weeks ago, Sallie came over, spent the night and had a good time with all the kids. Evan helped make pancakes for Sallie and then off we went to the Legoland – one of E’s favorite things to do.
We had a blast and are excited to see Sallie again soon!
The last few weeks we have been enjoying more sleep (the twins generally get up at 3/4am and then again around 7/8am) as well as a lot of smiles. Cora definitely smiles more than Will, but it seems like Evan can always make either one of them smile by making funny faces or by tickling their toes. Here are a few pictures of the smilers.
A lot of people had opinions and comments about how to handle the first few months of handling mid-night wake-ups. Fortunately we had a lot of help from family and friends (thanks!) the first two months. We tried shifts, nights on/off/pick a twin/wake them together, and all seemed to work ok – but it was still hard due to the frequency of the feedings. (Generally every 2.5 hours for the first 2 months).
In the last few weeks Amy and I have decided to rotate each night with picking Will or Cora which has been working out great. With Will – you can usually expect him to wake up earlier at night, and sometimes have a hard time going to sleep after the 7ish AM feeding – but you know he is a good eater and will make the feedings really quick.
Cora on the other hand will generally sleep longer, but she can sometimes be more of a challenge to feed. There are some definite benefits with both. Now that it is easy to tell who is crying – I think this way of waking up works great and I am glad we finally found something that works out for both of us.
Anyway – that is how we decide who is getting up during the night 😉
A few weekends ago, Sallie came over to visit us. We all had a good time and the twins enjoyed meeting Sallie for the first time!