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The Outside World Can Be a Dirty Place

Crawling around outside can lead to dirty knees...and feet...and toes...and of course dirty hands.

Splash! Splash!

We bought a water table for the boys for their birthday and we finally have a nice weekend to enjoy it.  Yesterday we assembled the pieces, filled it with water and dressed Ruslan and Wyatt in their bathing suits.

Wyatt immediately started spashing in the water while Ruslan focused on all of the new toys.  Wyatt would occasionally get bored and crawl away to find Juliana and then come back and splash some more.  Ruslan never left the water table even after Wyatt was done and in the house.   I expect we will have many hours of fun playing with the pirate ship this summer.

Wild Boys

Throwing toys and food, chasing each other, biting each other or me, climbing everything possible – the boys have fully entered toddlerhood. Juliana was never a biter and although she was a busy toddler she wasn’t like this – I don’t know if it’s because they are boys or twins or a combination of the two.

Climbing is the most dangerous activity and their favorite thing to do. As soon as Ruslan is on the floor he quickly crawls to the fireplace, climbs up on the hearth and starts banging on the wood burning stove. Then Wyatt realizes he is missing out on the fun and joins him. Wyatt will sometimes get down on his own if someone yells at him to get down. Ruslan thinks this is a really fun game and giggles when I pick him up. If we ignore him, he will eventually get bored and get down on his own. But it isn’t a safe place to play so we can’t leave him there – it is elevated and he can easily fall and get hurt and he had figured out how to open the stove which leads to pinched fingers and ingesting fireplace ash and all sorts of bad things.

They are starting to understand that they can stack larger toys and use them as steps to get things that are just out of reach. Of course they watch each other and learn by example.

They both bite on occasion – other than me and occasionally each other, they bite non-living objects. Wyatt likes to chew on the seams on the couches. We have foam around the coffee table so that they don’t hit their heads on the corners and Wyatt has started biting pieces off and chewing on them until I pry the pieces out his mouth getting my fingers bit in the process.

Having their diapers changed = being forced to remain in the same place for 10 seconds and that is unacceptable to boys who need to be on the go at all times. This torture is met with screams and wrestling them to hold still until they are clean and the new diaper is attached. Dressing them is a lengthy process trying to contain them and get clothes on, usually they escape at least once, happily crawling away half-dressed and laughing.
This past weekend, Wyatt realized that he can crawl from the fireplace hearth onto one of the couches. He scrambled up and then as I was running across the room to get him, he fell off the couch into the small space between the wall and the couch. No injuries and certainly not a deterrent to avoiding such a fun climbing adventure. If he had not fallen, his next move would have been to climb over the back of the couch into the play area.

Usually when we take them outside to play in the front yard, they happily play in the same area. Yesterday I went outside on my own with Juliana and the boys and they spent the entire time racing in opposite directions. Wyatt took off toward the street while Ruslan headed toward the drop-off from the lawn to the driveway. It was not the relaxing outside playtime I was anticipating.
And climbing the stairs, of course.

Sunny Days Make Me Smile

No matter what else is going on - a warm, sunny day makes everything a little brighter.  Cold, dark and rainy days only motivate me to want to crawl back into bad.  I may not want to work when the sun is shining, but at least I am a little bit happier in the process.  My mood is better and the daily stress of life doesn't bother me quite as much.

The best thing about nice days - we get to have some outside time in the evening after childcare pick-up.

Yesterday we arrived home and set the boys down in the front yard to play.  Out came the various outside balls for them to throw and chase.

Wyatt found a stick and promptly tasted it.

They watched people and cars and turned toward all noises to see what was happening.

Wyatt is just as active outside as he is in the house.  He crawls all over the yard and chases the balls.  He can pick the giant ball up over his head and give it a two handed throw forward.

Ruslan doesn't like to crawl around the yard.  He used the giant ball to stand and then held it for a while.  This series of photos makes me smile.

Three

Whenever I hear someone say, “She has 3 kids”, I look to see who that person is talking about. Even after a year, it seems weird to me that I have 3 children. We should be at the point now where things should be running smoothly, right? It’s been a year, Juliana is 4-1/2, all of the children sleep well on most nights and we are two relatively smart and capable people; we should be able to manage daily life.


I had been dreading April, it started with a long drive with the kids and the first night away from home for the boys. No one slept well that first night and then we drove home during the next night. I slept for 3 hours before the boys woke-up and then I was very sick the entire day. Monday I didn’t feel much better; by mid-afternoon I managed to eat some crackers but nothing else. At some point I started my presentations for my week of meetings and packed a suitcase.

Tuesday morning I was up early and went to the airport to fly to Chicago. I made it to my meeting and survived several days of meetings that started early in the morning and went through late dinners. I came home Friday afternoon and that weekend Scott had National Guard so I had solo parenting responsibilities. Did I forget to mention that my parents were out of town as well during this week and weekend?

That next Tuesday was Ruslan and Wyatt’s 1st birthday. Although we didn’t have a party that day – there were still some presents and pictures and other activities to make their birthday special. I spent every evening that week finalizing the plans for the party. I made quick shopping runs during my lunch time each day.

Thursday was the day we found out about my Grandmother’s accident and we had so little information about what was happening and we feared the worst. Friday I took the day off to clean the whole downstairs of the house for company and shop for the final food items. I rearranged furniture and made assignments for party day – cake pick-up, balloons, etc.

Party day was me running around to make food and decorate and keep the boys happy. Getting everyone ready for the party and then keeping the party moving along. When the house was put back together that night I felt so much relief that it was over. I had survived the several weeks of extraordinary activities.  [I just realized I haven't posted anything about their birthday party and it's been almost a month at this point - and the cake smashing was amazing.]

The next week involved visiting potential assisted living facilities for my Grandmother which affected me more strongly than I expected. I was also getting ready for a launch a project at work that I was managing and that certainly added to the stress.

I don’t understand how it got to be halfway through May. This is supposed to be my favorite month of the year – spring and my birthday and Mother’s day and all sorts of good stuff like strawberries. And I am missing it. I am going through the routine each day from one task to the next. Trying my best to keep up with meals and laundry and work and there is no time for me. It’s at times like this that I usually check my camera and find weeks without any pictures – I know from experience that when I hit a low point I stop taking pictures. At least Project 365 guarantees that I have pictures and I can look at them and remind myself why I try so hard and put so much energy into my children. I know that there will come a day when I don’t have all three of them fighting to sit on my lap and I will have a house filled with teenagers who are busy with their own lives (let’s not think too much about that).

I love my three so much and I know how blessed I am to have them.

Real Life

As I was catching up on photos from the past week, this one stopped me.  There is so much happening in this picture - it captures a lot of what it is like to have 3 young children.  The picture was taken in the evening after picking up the kids.  The boys had finished eating dinner and were having their wild time before bedtime.  Scott sat on the floor to play with them and was soon surrounded by all 3.  The boys don't stay in one place for long - Wyatt was making his getaway, Ruslan had already escaped and was getting into trouble.  I don't know why Juliana has 2 juice boxes in her hands.  A basket of clean laundry in the background...yep, just another normal evening at our house.

Grandma Lois

This is my Grandma Lois (my Dad's mom) with my brother and me.  She is the reason that we packed up the kids and drove a long way for a day to attend my cousin Kim's wedding.  I can't remember the last time I saw my cousin Kim - I would guess it's been 20 years.  We made that long drive because my Grandmother was going to be there.  She has lived on her own in Florida since my Grandfather died in 1998 - driving, cooking for herself, etc. 

We see her once every few years when we are at Disney or when I was traveling on business a lot I would sometimes pass through for an afternoon.  This was the second time Juliana got to meet her and obviously time that she met the boys.  My grandmother had twins so she was especially excited when she found out about the boys.  This is when she got her first look at them (the wedding was outside at a golf course).  She just stared at them for the longest time and then she sat and held each one of them.

There isn't much family on my Dad's side.  There is my Grandmother, his older sister and brother-in-law and their children Scott and Kim, his older brother and sister-in-law, and us.  I have just the 2 cousins on that side of the family and my cousin Scott is engaged to someone named Jennifer - so we have 2 Scott and Jennifer couples in the family now.  Here we are with my Grandmother - not the most photogenic person in the world and it had been a very long day for her at this point - they left shortly after this picture was taken.

Over the past few years she has started to lose a step - no surprise since she will be 88 years old in a few weeks - but she seemed to be able to manage and was in good health, plus she has friends in her community that checked in on her.  Last week she took a bad fall - I don't think we will ever know exactly what happened, best we can tell she had been sick and not eating well and passed out and when she woke she was too weak to get up.  That seems to have happened last Tuesday night.  When her friends called to check on her in the morning, she told them that she had fallen, but not to worry she was all right  (my Grandmother is too stubborn to ask for help).  Thursday morning they decided they should check on her, and my Grandmother was still on the floor.

She spent the next few days in the hospital and was moved to a rehab center this past Monday.  My aunt went to FL over the weekend and she has been staying close to her.  My Grandmother keeps asking when she can go home, but she is weak and isn't working with the program to help improve herself.  At this point she is probably not going home again.

Moving somewhere else in Florida doesn't make sense since there is no family.  The best alternative seems to be for her to come to Pittsburgh.  Scott and I visited an assisted living facility today with my parents.  It is close to our house so we would get to see her and she would get to spend time with her Great-Grandchildren.  It would be such a huge change for her - I had to fight back tears while we were sitting in the office talking about options.  It seems so unfair to be talking about her and potentially making decisions about where she will spend the rest of her life while she is in a rehab center in Florida convinced that she is going home soon.

My Dad is flying there on Sunday; he is the one who will need to have the hard talk with her about the possible options.  It's likely that when he returns home my Grandmother will be with him.

I love the idea of my children knowing their Great-Grandmother and I think it would be good for her as well.

12 Months Old

At 12 months old, the boys have officially entered the wild stage.  They bite, crawl really fast, chew on anything the can get near their mouths, enjoy dropping things just to watch them fall, love to chase the cats, and they have figured out that they can climb using smaller objects to reach higher.  And if it isn't completely out of reach it will be on the floor - kleenex, place mats, coasters, and remotes are all favorites.  Aside from babbling, Ruslan makes a growling sound now and Wyatt has a high-pitched scream.

Their one year check-up was today. Other than the shots that made them sad, it was a good check-up.
Ruslan
Weight - 21 lbs 3 oz (24th%)
Height - 28-1/2" (11th%) - How can any child of ours have such a low percentile for height?
Wyatt
Weight -20 lbs 14 oz (20th%)
Height - 30-1/2" (72nd%)

Ruslan eats whatever we put in front of him - he loves green beans and is willing to try new things.  Wyatt has no interest in veggies.  He spits them out and pushes them away on his tray.   Their favorite foods are pancakes, waffles, blueberries and bananas.

They are such good sleepers - in bed at around 7:00 pm and awake at 6:30 am.  Wyatt generally wakes up crying while Ruslan is content in his crib when he first wakes up.