Helpers For Hire!!

There is apparently an abundance of little helpers in our household these days. No matter what I am doing at anytime, there are at least 2 little guys wanting to lend a hand. So I figured that since they're really not earning their keep around here, I'd hire them out. They're really talented in lots of areas.

Whether it's vacuuming............ (I know Jen it's no animal, but it'll do for now.)

washing the car.............

taking care of any dogs..............

teaching art classes..............

(My mom informed me today that they LOVED playing with the washable markers...thank god they were washable. It apparently occupied them for the longest time today at two different times. Amazing!!)

teaching kids how to drive and/or operate machinery correctly...............

(Let me tell you that Steve's mom...a.k.a. Granny brought these cars over Sunday and it's been ... interesting .... since then. They grasp the concept of pushing the button to GO, but don't quite grasp the concept of letting the button GO when you're about to hit the house or squash your leg against something or when you're about to actually squash your brother's and/or sister's foot and toes. They have a temporary hiding place in the garage right now until a little more maturity time passes.)

keeping watch of any strange cars parked on the street................

(They are both VERY observant of any new vehicles on the street and can contribute to the neighborhood watch program in your local neighborhood.)

YOU NAME IT. They can do it. They do, however, come as a team and they can NOT be broken up.

There IS one helper around here though that is NOT for hire and her name is BRITTNEY. She has really been earning her keep around here this summer. She has been helping my mom (a.k.a. NaNa) by cleaning up her room and the kitchen, doing laundry, cleaning up the boys playroom every night and helping during bath time by taking care of one of the boys...usually Jace because Cade is such a momma's boy.

(Hey, I deserve to be selfish with her...it's taken me 8 1/2 years of HARD work to get to where we are....I'm keeping her.)

Sickies Are All Around Us!!!!

Well, the Kearley house has been suffering from some serious sinus problems this week. It all started with Cade catching pink eye from their twice a week mother's day out school. It got passed onto yours truly a few days later and then to Jace a few days later.

I finally broke down and decided that a doctor's visit was in order yesterday when five days of over the counter meds weren't doing anything for any of us!! Well, come to find out that Cade's tubes are out and guess what? Yes, he has an ear infection!! Whew-ho...what fun! Me and Jace both have a sinus infection. So, amoxicilin for EVERYONE it is. Jace's tubes are still in place.

These pictures don't show how miserable the kiddos have been. They're so resiliant...I wish I could bounce back so quickly. I'm finally feeling human again after 2 days of antibiotics.

We've just been trying to beat the heat here in Texas. It's been raining a lot too, so outside has felt like stepping into a sauna lately. We have to involve water play just in order to survive playing outside. My daughter never really liked to play outside as a toddler but the boys are a different story. They could LIVE outside if I'd let them. I'm just thankful we no longer have a dog or I would spend all of my time cleaning up piles before 4 little hands found them.

Hopefully we'll all be back to normal for any future postings.

Nice belly Cade. How come big bellies and chunky thighs are only cute on babies? It's not fair!

How Time Flies!

I've been reminiscing over some old pictures of the boys (and Britt). I thought I'd share a few of them. It's hard to remember just how far we've come.

We were very lucky to get to leave the hospital with both boys. Cade was the "older" twin by a whole whooping minute (due to my c-section). He weighed in at 5 lbs 15 1/2 oz. Jace was the little porker at 6 lbs 6 oz. (I guess you could say Brittney was the biggest porker, of course she was a singleton, at 8 lbs 3 1/2 oz.) With the twins, I gained about 60 pounds and was able to make it 35 1/2 weeks. (With Brittney I gained a mere 27 pounds and went OVER my due date....quite a difference all the way around).

We will always remember the nurses comment about the boys. They stopped my husband in the hallway and asked if he was the father of the twins with the "perfect lips". To this day, Jace still has those perfect little lips (he gets them from daddy) and people either comment on them or his pearly little white teeth.

This is still one of my favorite pictures of the boys. It was taken when they were 10 days old at my mom's house. Her wonderful friend, Judy - who is like a third grandmother to my kids, is an amateur photographer and LOVES to snap pictures for us whenever she's around. We put the little sleeping wonders in a roasting pan and took our own "Anne Gedes" pictures. They never made a peep. As you can tell in these pictures, Cade had a head FULL of hair and Jace was a little baldy. We even had people ask us if we did that on purpose to tell them apart. We just laugh b/c they looked so different to us even from day one.

They lived in these bouncey seats for quite some time. We even did feedings in these when they first started eating cereal and fruits. They were mesmerized by the fish attachment and the vibration. (I kind of miss the days then they could be so "secluded".)

Oh, how our lives have changed (for the better, right?!?). I don't think I'd want to go back to the sleepless nights, constant feedings, fussing for no apparent reason (i.e. colick), and the general "unknown". This is me doing a dual burp session. Those were the good ol' days!!!!!!!!!! Now you should hear the boys rip a burp out! Very manly!

Fast forward to the present time. They've gotten so big and so independent in feeding themselves.

This is one of my favorite comparisons.

It's during the time we
were trying to get pregnant and just thought it would never happen so we opted for the next best thing...a new Boxer puppy. As you can tell, it fit the maternal need that both me and Brittney needed. Brittney is rocking the puppy on the left and a few years later, rocking Cade on the right. Quite a different picture.

Al Bundy is in my house!

I'm kind of concerned lately. I know that boys will be boys and men are proud of their "equipment", but my son Jace takes it to a different level. I have always noticed that even as a very young baby Jace's hand always drifted south during diaper changes. At first it was cute, then we'd laugh, now it's getting embarrassing. Cade is a little...how should I say this....more endowed than Jace and STILL he doesn't have the urge to touch things like his brother. The other day at our Little Gym class I noticed that Jace was the only one with his hands down his pants. There are LOTS of other little boys in the class and HE'S THE ONLY ONE DOING THIS. What exactly does this mean?

Here's a little peek into the Al Bundy that lives in my house.


Here's a direct quote from the BabyCenter Bulletin for 20 month olds:

"Toddlers have a natural curiosity about everything, including their own bodies. Have you noticed your child playing with her genitals yet? If you have, you can rest easy. It's nothing to worry about — unless it's happening nonstop. To cut down on embarassing fact-finding missions in public, keep your cool and explain to your child that some things are done only at home in private. If that doesn't distract her from her explorations, offer her a toy or something else to keep her hands occupied."

Do these people honestly have kids? Have you ever tried to reason with a 20 month or 21 month old? It just doesn't happen like that.

I'm sure it will pass .... hopefully soon!


Having fun in the bathtub. They've lost the privilege of using cups during the bath b/c I usually end up soaking wet and so does the floor.



Washing bubba's back......finally being sweet to each other. Watch out! There may be a bite coming up!

Feeling O-L-D!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I had a birthday a few weeks ago. It's official now that I'm 35.... I feel OLD!! What made matters worse was the fact that we realized (after our San Antonio trip) that my GMC Envoy just wasn't big enough for everyONE and everyTHING that we needed. So, we made the dreaded used car purchase of a mini-van....yes, I'm officially a mini-van momma. We fought and fought the decision approximately 2 1/2 years ago when I found out the twins were on the way. I wish we would have just bit the bullet back then, but we needed to find out for ourselves I guess. You have to understand though, when I got pregnant I was driving my all time favorite car thus far...a zippy little Audi A6. It was a 4 door and our 3 person family could fit in it with no problems, but we knew our new 5 person family would be a bit much. So, we've come a long way since then. Let me just say ... that little mini-van is pretty cool. The boys LOVE the fact that they can walk through the "aisles" and they can pretend to drive. Brittney even likes it b/c she doesn't have to climb over the middle row and we had a DVD installed that is bigger than the one in the Envoy. The whole family is sold on our new purchase. The timing just kind of stinks because it just happened to be near my 35th birthday. I can't wait until Steve turns 35 in September so I can make him feel just as OLD.

I've decided there are a few other things that also make me feel old recently. Here are a few of them.

1. The fact that my 8 year old laughs at me when I attempt to do cartwheels and round-offs with her.
2. The fact that doing said cartwheels and round-offs make me feel like I've pulled several muscles.
3. The fact that we have TWIN 21-MONTH old little boys! I mean these guys recharge their batteries every night for 11 or so hours PLUS 2 or so hours during the day. I wish I had a 1/3 of third energy. These guys age me on a daily basis.
4. The fact that when said twin boys go to bed around 8 p.m....I feel like I need to be following right behind them. When Brittney was gone to cheer camp, she called me one night at 11:15. I was already in a deep sleep and she was just getting back to her room. They had lights out at 11:30 p.m. 11:30 P.M.?????? See what I mean? I can't even stay up as late as my 8 year old.
   
   

I'm really kidding about feeling old. I feel young at heart and that's all that matters, right? Yes, my kids definitely age me but I wouldn't trade them for anything. I mean, c'mon....look at those little faces.

A LOT of Quality Family Time

Well, we have been some busy little bees around here. The QUEEN busy bee, AKA Brittney, has REALLY had a great summer. I wish I was 8 (almost 9) and still had a summer vacation to just do nothing but be a kid. She has been to a week long YMCA Camp (and did absolutely GREAT and was ready to stay another week....maybe next year), we just got back from Sea World in San Antonio EVERYone went...whew!), and she's about to leave for cheerleader camp this coming week. But before, during and after all of that she has managed to squeeze in a few friends to spend the night, gone swimming enough times to attain a tan that's absolutely beautiful, and had more phone calls and emails than me and my husband put together. That girl is one social child. When we got home and had 5 messages on the machine...4 of them were for her. It's hard for me to remember that when she was a baby she was SUCH a momma's girl and was SO attached to me....now she's just so grown up and so independent. But wait.....I have TWO more little guys to take her place. Yes, that's right. Jace and Cade are quite the little clingy guys lately. But that's why when you decide to go on vacation, you ask the grandparents to come along AND you invite a friend to come along with your oldest b/c you know she'll get bored of dealing with the babies all day.


You'll have to forgive me because I didn't take a lot a pictures at our destination for the day....Sea World....because we were quite busy just manuevering around all the people (first of all) and also trying to keep the toddlers in the stroller and happy (that's a task in itself no matter where we are these days). Anyway, let me just sum up the day for you....hot, crowded and really really HOT. I think next year would have been a little better for Jace and Cade but oh well. I will say that a 30 minute Shamu show is just a little too long for their attention span. Although Cade's face was PRICELESS and I would still give more money for the expression he had when he first saw Shamu jump out of the water. He was in disbelief that that "fish" was jumping up...I mean jaw down, mouth open and in a dead stare for quite some time. Jace on the other hand was more fascinated with the softserve ice cream we bought him (just to shut him up). He kept feeding himself, feeding me and really liked to watch it drip off of the spoon b/c it was melting in the sweltering heat. Brittney and Cassie (her friend) were entertained but were upset that they didn't get wet even though they were in the "splash zone". Oh fun times.

I think the boys would have had more fun to just hang out at the pool at our AWESOME hotel ... La Cantera. Their pool is top notch. I mean it has something for every age. Only thing is, Jace and Cade are getting more and more comfortable in the pool. It's a good thing but it makes keeping up with them even harder. There's no way I can go in the two different directions that they like to go in by myself. Me, my mom and mother-in-law were on alternating "watch" duty for the boys and also making sure the girls stayed safe. PLUS the fact that the boys both still have their ear tubes in...we're like crazy hovering people trying to make sure that they don't go under water too much and also, you know, make sure they don't DROWN!!! Cade's favorite thing about swimming is the snacks though. He's the easy one to watch while at the pool. He swims a little and then has a snack for a long time...then maybe he'll get in the water again. Jace was really fascinated with the stairs...I guess because we don't have any at our house. He loved to go up and down and would throw miniature tantrums when we tried to hold his hand. He wanted to be a "big" boy and do it all by himself.

All in all the trip was lots of fun. It was exhausting for everyone...especially the adults. As you can tell from this picture of Jacey Poo though, he finally gave up and fell asleep while my dad pushed him in the stroller. I agree!!!!!!!!!