It's My Party

We celebrated the twins 3rd birthday this weekend. It some convincing for the kids that Kelsey's birthday was the same as Drew's and vice versa, AND that they would be at each other's birthday. For real kids, I didn't think it would cause such drama. I was trying to prep them all week for the party, knowing that they are not used to rooms full of people - so every night I would list off the guests. But when great-grandma and grandpa showed up with my mom and step-dad, Kelsey lost it. Big sobs, we had to go get all of her favorite teddy bears and her blanky to make it all better. As soon as the kids showed up, it was all good. This year was more fun because they definitely understood what a birthday party was and as parents, Craig and I didn't have to be "on" the kids the whole time; making sure they were fed, changed, had something to drink. There was certainly more independence as far as the kids just doing their thing.

They were potty training accident-free for a whole week and Craig and I both secretly predicted there would be a mishap at the party. And there was! But thanks to an awesome sister-in-law, it was like it never happened! On the flip side, they woke up 2 days in a row with dry beds - Drew then informed me he gets cake for that:)

So the kids' independence brought upon a crazy gift opening scene. They had opinions about which present they wanted to open and in what order and if they wanted to stop opening and play with that toy! But we got through and haven't lost any pieces yet! It was such a fun day and we're still eating cake:) Score!

Tomorrow is their actual birthday. We will be travelling to Chicago for pictures and the promise of visiting Garrett's Popcorn Shop. I think that will be the bribe to keep them calm and happy for photos with our favorite photographer, Christy!

My ham used to be Drew...now it seems to be Kels. Oh yea, they got bikes for their birthday and yea, they drive them in the house;) And that is Auntie's beer next to Kelsey's cupcake. She's pretty certain beer is for daddies.

Who doesn't love a baby pirate?? Sweetest little man ever!

Crying Wolf

So...the wonderful world of potty training. We've been at it a full week and it's going okay. We used M & M's as a potty reward (a couple of potty training articles I read said to reward DRY pants, but every time I asked Kelsey if her pants were dry, she said no - sigh) and the sly dog Drew is, he began to figure out my system! He would get himself on the potty, stand up and say, "I peed, get nem and nems." But...he wasn't actually peeing; he has an affinity for chocolate, so the fact that there were candies readily available to him was a dream!

They still refuse pull ups at night. Drew woke up 3 mornings DRY, but also woke up in the middle of the night to pee. Kelsey has been dry only one morning. She has proven to be the heavier sleeper; I always thought Drew held that title between them. She is much more efficient about waking up, from nap or in the morning, and going straight to the potty. She also refuses undies, yep lots of commando over here! Drew totally surprised us Friday night and asked to put underwear on; and so I promised him a cake as a reward, thinking Kelsey would get on board since she has a Texas-sized sweet tooth. No go.

The last accident I believe was Wednesday at the sitters. We decided to take them out in public yesterday and today. Of course both said they had to "go" as soon as we got there. Kelsey is a public-restroom-champ, and Drew *thinks* he is going because the automatic toilet flush. Then we get home and he pees like he hasn't for a day!

Drew helping Craig remove the toilet to put tile down.

Mr. Fix it

Chillin' before bed, munching on pickles. Drew just licked his a couple times and
 then Kelsey ended up eating it.

Double Whammy

Potty training and daylight savings, all in one weekend - I did not plan that accordingly. One positive, Craig had yesterday off so he had extra time to figure out how the mornings are going to go now that we will be putting the kids on the potty before he gets out the door. Let's just say he doesn't multi-task as efficiently as say...me:). I had Friday off and not knowing when I would have another 3 day period to stay home with kids, I pulled the trigger, bit the potty-training bullet I had been avoiding. I was reading some mom-blogs, googled potty training 100 times, reminded Kelsey and Drew over and over the week before that when the diapers are gone - that's it; they don't make anymore. We talked A LOT about being "big kids" and then they say, "no, I'm Kelsey/Drew". 

Soooooooooo...Friday morning came and Kelsey cried the first half an hour for diapers. Drew chose to do this: 

No bottoms - no underwear or pants. But he made it to the potty every time. Well he kind of "lived" on the potty all day Friday. Even had me move is potty to the coffee table so he could play.

Day 1: Kelsey had 5 accidents. She only made it to the potty twice. Drew had no accidents and was appearing to understand the when-to-go-on-the-potty feeling. Overall the day was long but I didn't feel defeated. Neither kids wanted to wear underwear...not sure why.

This picture is pretty fuzzy - Kelsey kept moving while I was taking the picture to say "cheese". This was Saturday. Now day 2 Drew is sitting with no pants because he had more accidents than the first day. It seemed that once he put pants on, it didn't bother him as much to pee his pants. Kelsey on the other hand was working the potty like a champ! Peed and pooped all day, maybe one accident. Here's the kicker; they won't wear undies AND refuse to wear pull ups. They are definitely not at a point to wake up in the night to pee. So every morning they are wet. I'm not sure how to remedy this: will it come with time? Did we do too good a job of telling them diapers are gone?

Not happy to be photographed on the potty :(

Our next step is to leave the house. And to find out how well they will do at other people's houses, car trips, public restrooms, overall not being able to use the potty they are comfortable on. Here we go - entering another uncharted life change!

Snow, snow. Get out! Go!

We are NOT liking this extended winter! If it is not sub-zero, then it is snowing :/ It's becoming annoying to even leave the house. WE ARE READY TO PLAY OUTSIDE!! I had very high hopes that March would be amazing and all the snow would melt before the kids' birthday...we'll be lucky if we don't have to shovel the morning of their party.

Helping Dad vacuum

They rarely do much dressing up so I had to catch this!

Went out to brunch for a friend's birthday - They inhaled their "Elvis French Toast" 

...and of course had seconds on birthday cake!!

So...

We did this to Kelsey and Drew's beds - turned them into "toddler" beds. They are such creatures of habit that there was some pouting as Craig took the side of the crib off. The first day with the beds like this, we heard them running back and forth during nap time. After Craig and I each went up there to tell them to go to sleep, I ended up sitting in their room until the fell asleep. They are fine at night, mostly because it is dark and probably more tired than at nap time.

Kelsey keeps SO MUCH stuff in her bed - 3 Minnie Mouses, 5 Care Bears, 3 mice,
a dolphin, 2 pillows, a dream light, 2 blankets, 1 book. And she knows when something
is missing! 

Drew's bed is completely empty because he requires you to bring the contents
of his bed downstairs with him and then brings his Buddy and blanket to the sitter.

Drinking juice with the care bear

He needs a drink too - she says, "sip, sip, sip"

We went up to my brother and sister-in-law's because I needed a couple of easy
things done to the car. The kids came along, of course. This is the closest Kelsey
would get to baby Benson:) But she talks about him all the time. She seems to be warming
up to Derek also - she asked him to build blocks with her and wanted to go outside by him
while he was fixing the car!

Brush, brush, brush

The kids had their FIRST dentist appt Monday. In preparation I bought a dentist book that describes everything so nicely for them, even if they would have a cavity! They brush their teeth with us every day and have their own brushes at the sitters. And as always, I had predicted Kelsey would do better. And as always these kids through me a curve ball! (Just when I think I have their personalities figured out, they switch). We walked in the door and Drew was so excited to play with all of the toys! Then the hygienist opens the door and says she's ready for all of us - time to go get new toothbrushes! Drew jumps up and runs over by her leaving all of the toys, so I cleaned up. Kelsey was scared and started to cry because I wasn't following. Needless to say, Drew went first and did AWESOME! Kelsey had to sit on my lap but did fine. They both picked chocolate mint tooth paste - haha!

Care Bears

Kelsey has never been too fond of Baby Benson...not like she hates him but I think she isn't too sure of the whole baby situation. We've been talking about him since before he was born and when she's around him she freezes up and avoids getting too close to him. So you will see my surprise when I was bringing all of her care bears down to the couch with her and she asked, "where's my Baby Benson?" I told her he was at home with his mom and dad. Then she says, "No. Purple baby teddy." She kind of adopted the sitter's mini "Share Bear" care bear because she has the full sized "Share Bear". Then one night she starts naming her care bears - I had never heard her name her animals before; just called them what they were, mouse, teddy, baby, horse. So she grabs the purple care bear and calls it "Sandra" (Cassandra - my sister-in-law), the pink care bear and calls it "Derek" (my brother) and the mini purple care bear "Baby Benson". It's just about the sweetest thing! I finally caught it on camera and hope you are able to view it. She takes all 3 bears wherever she goes:)