New Year, New Goals

Hello out there if anyone still checks this. If you have lost faith we understand, it has been almost an entire year! I always had good intentions of blogging. I even thought it would be great to remember the ups and downs and craziness of our life with newborn twins… well, here it is Jan 2014 and they are 17 months old…17 months??? I can't even believe it! I can clearly look back and remember all that was happening in our lives when Adam was 17 months, maybe that was because Tim packed up his little car and took off for Ohio for 6 months… We had so many trips and adventures during that time, and I remember specifically going out to California on a family trip to see my brother and Tim telling me how much Adam had changed and how much he was talking. I say that because that is the one thing I am waiting on for the twins to start doing a lot of. 

At 17 months they run, climb, cling to their mother (peyton) or cling to their father (cori) and they point and have a few signs. They have a couple of words that I have interpreted, and to most it sounds like they say mama, dada, and adaaaaa a lot. Occasionally we will hear a sound come out and think, did she just say that? But so far not too much else that we can remember hearing as words. Let's be honest… things are a lot different when you have two babies and two other kids, in comparison they do get a little shafted in the department of receiving every min of mom's attention…. 

I came across the book I put together for Tim, and let's be honest, for me, of our blog and I really wanted to get back into it. I wondered where I should start, after all, we have 17 months of catching up to do…. I thought I could do a super quick over view, but really I think we will just start where we are right now :-)

Playdoh fun!

Today was a great day to relax. After a super fun, and busy holiday starting from most of December through the New Year, it was needed to sit at home and not do too much. And that is what we did! I did decide, and remind myself this quite often, that when the kids ask to do something like Paydoh, you should just say, yes. A lot of times I want to just say no right away thinking that it will be a huge mess and I don't want to deal with it, blah, blah, blah, but, in reality, it is a great distraction and great entertainment for the kids. The babies even had fun, Peyton only tried to eat it once! Maybe tomorrow we will get real crazy and paint! I also taught the kids monkey in the middle. I feel like I have tried it before, but today it actually worked and they had so much fun, and so did I! 

Adam really enjoyed cutting up his playdoh with the pizza cutter

I think Cori just was excited to be playing with big kid stuff!

Shyler amazes me with her imagination and finally getting creative on her own

Peyton didn't even know what to do with so many new toys!

I have a new philosophy in life, well, newly rediscovered philosophy in life… A lot of times I feel like I should always be around the kids and either cleaning up the house doing normal chores or watching them play or playing with them. I guess I don't want them to feel deprived. But, what I realized is that I do need time to do the things I want to do, and I do not have to spend every second with them. I am a stay at home mom, which I love, but I spend all day everyday with them. The reason why I think I need to remember this is because when I sit around with them all the time I usually want to be doing something else so I just sit around semi- paying attention to them checking my phone. Facebook can really be a time waster! But I have found if I give myself the time to run on the treadmill (oh yeah, I love having that thing) while the kids run around the basement, I am more excited to spent 20 min playing monkey in the middle. It hasn't happened like this everyday, but that is my new years goal! I really want more quality time for myself, and for my kids! Here goes nothing!

Pajama fun! They really enjoy having pajama days!

Yesterday was the first day of this new year. We tried to convince the kids to sleep in, which of course didn't happen, but we enjoyed the annual Rose parade! I really enjoy watching it every year. It brings back memories of childhood, and let's face it, it is way better than the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade! I also was excited to go buy some new running shoes!!! We all got a little Christmas cash from Grandma and Grandpa Miller and Tim and I decided we needed new running shoes (and by need, I mean it was probably even before Tim went to Ohio when we last got new shoes, partially because Tim is too cheap, and partially because I didn't run while pregnant or nursing for that whole first year.) It was fun because the kids were also excited to spend some of their christmas money as well. We had a few returns, and Adam got a glow pet in place of the tent that ripped. So with their amount they had they went around the toy section searching for the toy which caught their eye. Shyler found a cute My Little Pony purse and Adam was content with his glow pet. Shyler also found this little figurine set that would have been $12 and I could just not let her buy it. I know she really really wanted it, but I couldn't let her buy something at Kohl's that was not on sale! So, I finally convinced her that we could go to the Disney store and get even more figurines in a different set for pretty much the same price. Phew! I am not a super cheap person, but over the years I have learned what is a good deal and what is not and for the most part I am good at searching out a deal (without going to any extremes), and it is just so hard to think of buying something that is not a good deal when I know it could be. She was happy when she did get to buy the soft and fluffy purple elephant conveniently placed at the checkout and Adam was excited to pick out a dog that was supposed to be from the book Go Dog Go, which is one of his favorites! 

Watching the Rose Parade

So, here is to the start of hopefully something more regular and at least I can keep up with the life of toddler twins! That might be even more exciting! Oh the stories we will have! See, I almost forgot about the poop I had to clean out the tub just last night and the transfer of Cori to the bathtub in our bathroom with the boys and getting Shyler to run into our shower… Poor little Cori, she was so mortified that there was poop floating around the tub, she barely would get in with the boys, but she hadn't been washed yet… She finally did and enjoyed the rest of her bath with her brothers in the bog tub.  Or there is the story of Peyton who may be teething and how he woke up screaming at 1 am and wouldn't stop unless I was holding him (as mentioned above, he very much prefers his momma) and by hold, I mean cuddling with me and his blanket, teddy bear, and sippy cup while standing up and rocking. I tried to sit and he would squirm and fuss so then I would have to stand back up, finally I put him down and he screamed and then he woke up Cori, so we let him scream and Tim took his turn rocking her. Finally when she got restless in his arms we both said we give up and we let them scream together. Eventually she fell asleep (which luckily, she does pretty well even with Peyton screaming) and at some point he did too. I think the two big kids have learned to zone it out because they didn't even make a peep, but poor Tim can't sleep through the screams. I was so happy when this phase was over before, but it is always so bad when it comes back! Tonight they went right to sleep with not a peep and it has been 2 hours, already its a better night! Wish us luck!