So..let’s see what I can remember from the last 3 days or so…

On Friday…

I took Megan in for her 2-month appointment.  Took the twins with us.  Thankfully, they did marvelously just playing in the room.  Actually, Alex had my iPod, and we had quite a random soundtrack for our time there.  We had a good report.  Megan did survive her shots, and she chose the “sleep a bit more than normal” route for the rest of the day, which was good for me.  I did keep her on pain meds for the day, though.  They always get the shots right in the part of the thigh that you bump and push when holding her.  Poor little thing was NOT a fan of that!

Then on Friday night, Eric’s parents came out and we took the twins to see the WildLights at the Zoo.  We went out to Chik-fil-A for dinner, and then joined the massive numbers of people who also decided to go see the lights on the warmest day of December (highs of 40, you know!).  The twins did great, Megan slept the entire time, and we had a good time with my in-laws.  Oh, and my MIL brought the kids their Christmas outfits.  Oh.my.gosh!  So cute!

On Saturday…

My parents came up, and Karen and I went shopping with them.  It’s a Christmas tradition of sorts, as we’ve done it every year for ages.  Dad and I go together, and Karen goes with Mom.  I help Dad buy Mom’s gifts, and Mom and Karen get Dad’s, plus a bunch of other things, too.  We were very successful this year, and in record time, too!  I think we got to the mall about 1:00, and we were ready to leave about 4:00.  My parents headed for home shortly after that, and we had a pretty normal evening.

On Sunday…

After church, we had the twins’ 2nd birthday party.  For a while, it looked as if the weather was going to conspire against us.  And Chris and Deb ended up not being able to come because of the snow.  But the grandparents, great-grandparents, and Karen’s clan all made it safely (and safely home, too).  We had Mickey and Minnie cakes.  And the twins had a wonderful time.  They LOVED the gifts.  (I think Christmas is going to be very fun this year!)  And they liked to blow out their candles, too.  And the black icing turned everybody’s mouths black…which was highly entertaining.  It looked like a goth-inspired party for a bit!  Of course, everyone headed home pretty early to survive the weather, so we had a good evening just relaxing and letting the twins play with their new toys.  

Then, for some reason, we did have a sort of rough night last night.  The twins were really not settled, and I was up 3 times with them in the middle of the night.  So between that and the bitter cold outside, I think we’ll just be staying home today and getting back to normal.  

And that, I think, is about all…happy Monday!

Dear Megan,

I do realize that you are now three days over two months old.  But given the adventure that is our life these days, I’d say I’m still close enough to call it!  I hope you don’t mind. 

So…you are now two months old.  You are so sweet.  Such a good baby.  And by that, I mean that you pretty much just go along with the events of the day without much complaining.  Unless you’re hungry or gassy (or your brother or sister has stepped on you), you don’t do much crying.  For that, I am really grateful.

And, much to my delight, you are already sleeping through the night.  At least more often than not.  Every so often, you still want something about 3:30 in the morning.  But mostly, you can go from 9:00 at night until 6:00 in the morning without needing me.  And I love that.  Not that I don’t love to cuddle you in the muted light of the yellow butterfly lamp that Aunt Karen used to have.  Because I do.  I love that I get to snuggle with you, with just you, for as long as either of us are enjoying it.  I didn’t have that luxury much with Alex and Erin.  So I am grateful for the chance to do it with you.

You are a healthy, happy little lady.  You weighed 12 lbs, 5 oz. at your 2 month appointment.  You have a sweet round face that everyone comments about.  You have a lot of Hogue in you; in fact, you Grandma got out a photo album of your Uncle Alan recently so we could see how much you looked like he did when he was your age.  

You are starting to smile and laugh at us.  I love to watch you “talk” to your Daddy.  You look up at him with such adoring eyes…it’s definitely precious.  You even have been known to smile at Alex and Erin like you already recognize them.  It’s very sweet.  

And speaking of faces, you have some fantastic “I’m sad” facial expressions.  You stick out your lower lip and wrinkle up your forehead.  And you’re (currently) dark blue eyes just well up.  Really, if this continues, I’ll have to get you into acting early…if you want to, anyway!

You’re already trying to jabber at us.  In fact, you were having quite the one-sided conversation with Dr. LaMonte at your appointment (you were talking to him while he talked to me!).  Who knows…maybe, one day, you’ll be able to out-talk your sister!

Anyway, my little Megan, you are a sweetheart.  You have already added so much to our little family.  And I can’t wait to see what sort of little lady you grow into in the next few months.  We love you!

Dear Alex and Erin…

Two years ago today, you were born.  I happily waddled into the hospital where you were born at 7:52 and 7:54.  You were tiny and wrinkly and squeaked in your swaddlings.  We called you our ‘squeaking burritos.’  And then we started to learn to be a family.

That first year passed so quickly.  You learned to eat real food and sit up and crawl and jabber at each other.  At the end of your first year, you were learning to walk, too.  We had survived a lot together.  Alex didn’t sleep well.  Erin had reflux.  Mommy had to learn to care for two babies at once.  And Daddy learned to deal with both of you and Mommy!  But we were doing well.  And I was excited at how big you were and how much you’d learned.

And now, here we are at two years.  You are little people with obviously different personalities.  

Alex, you are my little guy.  In the last two weeks, you have really become more boy-like than ever.  You love toys that you can push and pull.  You are my organizer and collector.  If there is a pile of stuff on the floor, you will sort it into piles of similar things or line them up in a neat little row.  You also love to play pretend.  You’ll drink “tea” from Erin’s teacups all day.  You have some words, but mostly you just jabber at us in sounds.  You love to “talk” on the phone with anyone who’ll chat with you, and you tell us stories all the time.  I’m thrilled when I guess correctly what you’re telling me.  Technology is a natural bent for you – you’re better with the iPod than I am, I think.  And you LOVE your Daddy.  When he’s home, you want to be where he is and nowhere else.  You’re still a very light sleeper, which makes for some late night meetings between us.  But you’ve started to call for your Dad at night, which makes Mommy happy at 3 a.m.!  You love your puppy which you sleep with and drag around the house, and when you zone out, you just flip his ears between your fingers to soothe yourself.  It’s very cute.  In fact, you are very cute.  And you light up my life with your belly laughs and sweet nature.  I love you, my Alexander!

And my sweet, sweet Erin…you are such a girl.  You have started to like picking out your own clothes and shoes.  And mostly you match, too!  You love helping Mommy with anything I ask.  You bring me things and put things away for me.  And you love to help with Baby Megan.  So far, your little sister has only made your life better.  You love to play chase and to pile up all the stuffed animals to sit among them.  You love to “co-ye” (color), and you take your jingle bunny everywhere.  You are a talker, and it won’t be long before there’s more real words than toddler jibberish.  That makes Mommy both happy and a little sad, but I love to hear you learn new words, and I’m looking forward to having full conversations with you.  You can light up a room with your sweet smile and long eyelashes.  You love your Papa and Gramma.  Uncle Ryan is one of your favorite people.  And you love going to the farm to see Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Alan, along with Pip and Beagle (the dogs) and the cows.  

And together…you are my twins.  You love each other.  You are the best of friends.  You make me laugh, and you teach me so much everyday.  I can’t believe it’s been two whole years since you were born.  I love being your mommy.  I love that I got you both at once.  And I love that you have gotten so big and learned so much.  You make my life full and busy, but I love the adventure that we are on together.  I can’t wait to see where we go from here.   Happy Birthday!

I’ve been struck recently by the little things:

…snuggling with my littlest one while the rest of the house sleeps

…amazed by how big my twins are all-of-a-sudden

…wondering why I cannot seem to be caught up in the wonder of Christmas anymore

…the wonderful feeling of laughing boisterously with three great ladies last night

…the reminders of the truth that “the days go slow but the years go fast”

You know…just the little things that we often miss in our busy days.  Okay, maybe just me.  I miss them in my busy days.  So I’m glad for the moments when I realize I’m paying attention – even if it’s just for that one moment. 

Anyway, on to the other things I wanted to record so I don’t forget…

 – Every time Erin sees a Santa Claus figure, she calls him Noah.  It’s the long white beard, I think.  And I’m just going with it for now!

 – And we don’t really know why, but Erin’s word for “burp cloth” sounds exactly like her word for “cracker.”  I have no explanation.  You just have to go with context to figure out which one she really means…

 – I did get the tree up this week.  I’ll admit, it’s not my most favorite tree I’ve ever decorated.  I decided to leave off a number of the decorations I love because they are breakable and we are still convincing the twins that the tree is off limits.  But, my tree is up, so that is a major accomplishment.  And I must say, sparkling white Christmas lights are one of my most favorite parts of the season.  *happy sigh*

 – I also put up only 2 of my nativity sets.  I have a small collection of them, but my dear Alex would never be able to keep his little hands off of them.  And I don’t have enough places out of his reach for all of my sets.  So…I have 2 up this year, and I am happy with how those two look.

 – Megan has gone from 9:30 or 10 until 6 for the past two nights.  That makes for a happy momma, let me just tell you!

 – And right now, we have absolutely no plans for the weekend.  I’m sure we’ll have something come up before it’s over.  But for now…we are not rushing around all weekend long.  That is lovely.

 – I took the twins to play at the Firefly Play Cafe yesterday.  If you’re in Columbus (or nearby), it’s a great place to run your kids for some exercise.  They had a blast.  I highly recommend it!

 – And finally, I am going to put up some pictures on my Facebook page very soon.  For those of you not on FB, here is a link. Enjoy!

And that is our world as I know it…happy Friday!

Happy Cyber-Monday to you all!

I did not go out on Black Friday, though I was tempted to.  So I did go out on Saturday, without children, for an hour or two.  I went to FOUR stores because I could run in and out so easily.   It was lovely.

I am getting a lot of Christmas shopping done already.  Not sure why I’m so motivated this year, but hey, I’m just gonna roll with it.  I think I’ve found the perfect gifts for the twins for Christmas, too, so that’s really fun.  I think they’ll enjoy the craziness of presents more this year than last…it should be fun to watch!

We had a good Thanksgiving.  We did spend the night at my parents’ house on Wednesday night.  Unfortunately, Megan got really congested in the middle of the night.  And she was sleeping in our room, so we didn’t get a lot of sleep that night.  (On a side bar, I have no idea why some people just really WANT to sleep their newborn/infant in the room with them…they make SO much noise even when they aren’t congested.  And when they are…the noises are even worse.  It’s just crazy to me… Okay, side bar is over.)  

But it was fun to get the twins up and just hang with my parents on Thanksgiving morning.  My mom and I got stuff ready for the party, and people started arriving at midday.  We had a lot of fun talking with my cousins and watching the kids play.  Really, I think the day was a good success, overall!

Oh, a funny story…on Tuesday night, I finally got to Carters to buy fleece jammies for the kids.  So they wore a pair at my parents’ house on Wednesday night.  When I went in to get them up on Thanksgiving, Erin was standing in her pack n play with her jammies around her ankles.  She’d gotten them unsnapped and unzipped all by herself.  She was very proud of herself.  I, on the other hand, learned that she can’t be left to play in her crib very long while wearing fleece jammies!

We spent Friday and Saturday at home, just us, which was really nice.  We cleaned a lot.  In fact, we now have a section of the basement cleaned and set up for the twins to play in.  We moved down their bigger toys and an old TV that is now connected to the dvd player we never used.  So I now have more play space in the house for them to use this winter.  It’s not a finished “room” by any stretch, but it should work for a play area.

Yesterday, we drove out to the farm for a Thanksgiving gathering there.  We did make it to church out there, which is always nice.  And Erin got a new dress coat from a family out there.  It’s a.dor.a.ble.  And she LOVED it.  I will try to get a picture today.  Seriously, she looked so cute.  Anyway, then the rest of the day was spent hanging out with the extended family and having dinner.  And we headed for home about 4, so we even had a good evening to unwind and goof off. 

So, all in all, it was a very good long weekend.  And now, I’m ready for a more normal routine for a few days!  

Okay, my kids are now making “definitely awake” noises, so I’m off to start the day.  Happy Monday!

So I’m back for a quick update.  Meant to do it yesterday, but obviously that didn’t happen.  But that’s okay…

We had a good, but very busy, weekend.  The twins were in Eric’s cousin’s wedding on Saturday.  So we had to be out to the farm on Friday night for the rehearsal.  The twins weren’t great on Friday night.  Between missing bedtime and being surrounded by unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar place…well, there was some concern about how they’d do on Saturday.  And while they were a little whiny before the wedding on Saturday, when the big moment came…they did fabulously.  And with Erin’s pretty white dress and Alex’s little tux and red bowtie, they were pretty darn cute to boot!

Of course, with all the busy-ness, Eric and I were pretty beat by the end of the weekend.  But it was good to hang out with the family.

I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow.  Seriously…where did this year go?

I’m actually quite excited for the holiday.  I think we’re going down to my parents’ house tomorrow night and staying over to help Mom get things ready. (Don’t worry, everyone…she’ll make the pies!) And of course, the combined Edlund/Campbell Thanksgiving Event is always immensely fun.  Crazy and loud…but always fun!  

I’ve had a cold developing for over a week, but I think it’s finally decided to arrive full force.  Hopefully, I can keep Megan from getting it too badly.  The twins aren’t so bad now when they get sick, but infants are a different story…it’s so hard to listen to them trying to breathe while they nurse.  So I hope she’ll get a pass this time!

I think we’re about a month or two away from Erin’s jabbering actually becoming real words.  It’s bittersweet, for sure.  But having a clear idea of what she wants will be lovely, too…  And seriously, that girl is such a girl.  She loved her pretty white dress for the wedding.  She likes to have little purses, and she shares her momma’s love of shoes.  I’m sensing a hint of fashionista in her…but I’m pretty sure she got that from Karen.

Alex is totally enamored of any toy he can push/pull or stand on.  He runs the popper or other push toys back and forth for a long time.  And you should see his happy face when he’s successfully climbed up some new obstacle.  He’s pretty cute!

And as for Megan…things are just moving along.  She’s starting to respond to us a bit, which is super cool.  And she’s slowed down a bit on the growing, too.  I’m hoping to get some pictures of her soon.  But not surprisingly, I’m not finding a lot of time for candid pictures these days!  And usually, when I do think to grab the camera, she immediately starts to cry. Maybe she’s just not a fan of getting her picture taken!

Anyway…that’s what I’ve got for now.  There’s probably more, but I don’t remember it anymore.  Happy Tuesday!

I am sitting at my computer and all 3 kids are sleeping right now.  So I’m going to catch you all up a bit on our lives these days.

Megan is doing fantastically.  The last couple of nights, she’s gone up to six hours without me.  I’m pretty sure she was only up once last night (I’ll be honest…I only remember one feeding, but I’m not sure… ).  Here’s to hoping she’s going to be an all-night sleeper very soon.  That would be absolutely incredible!

We are finally finding a good way to deal with the fits Alex throws when his dad comes home.  Apparently, we were encouraging them, unintentionally, by paying more attention to him when he melted down.  Now he gets to sit on a chair until he’s done hollering and we go on about our evening.  Not only has the number of fits gone way down, but the length of the ones he has thrown is much shorter, too.  Lovely!

Still not sure I’m finding good inroads into Erin’s strong will…but we’ll keep working!

Erin has a cold this week.  On Saturday evening, I realized that her nose was running (totally out of the blue), and Sunday morning she woke up a bit congested.  It doesn’t seem to be a bad cold, but I’m doing my best to keep her from coughing on Megan!

Yesterday was Parent/Child Dedication at church.  We participated with Megan, so both sets of our parents were there.  Unfortunately, because of Erin’s cold we all had to sit in the Family Worship room, which is not a great option to do with visitors.  But I am glad we had the opportunity of publicly dedicating ourselves to raising a daughter who will love God!

Just before we left for Kelly’s 8th birthday party on Saturday, Eric realized that our water heater was leaking.  Great…  But thankfully, both of our dads were at our house on Sunday morning, and the three of them got/installed a new water heater after we got home from the Baby Dedication service.  And even better, I only had to have one cold shower!

Have I ever told you how much I HATE cold showers?  I do.  I really do.

I’ve found a bunch of free books for the nook/Kindle apps on my iPod touch.  Good books.  New releases.  Good authors.  I’m excited.  I’d be even more excited if I had more time to read the books.  But hey…at least they will wait for me patiently in digital form.  I don’t have to return them to a library or anything…which I totally don’t have time for!

Another cool thing is that I’m getting ready to dive into another writing project.  Hopefully, we can avoid the time crunch of the last one.  But I’m looking forward to the challenge again.  And what’s even more cool is that there may be even more writing projects in the future for me, because of these first ones.  That would be very cool, I think!  But for now, I guess I’d better just focus on the one at hand…

Other Kid Updates (so I don’t forget all the fun stuff my kids are doing these days):

• Alex is getting amazingly ‘talkative.’  Okay, so it’s still mostly sound without clear syllables, but he is totally talking to us.  But he’s always pulling out words that surprise me.  And he loves to ‘talk’ to people on the phone…you should hear him chat with Karen when she calls in the mornings!
• Both of the twins seem to be getting so big these days.  It’s crazy how fast they change at this age!
• Erin is starting to surprise me with what she’s learning to do.  She goes from one stage to another overnight, it seems.  Like going from ‘Mamaw’ to ‘Gamma’ in about a week.  Or from “Eh-in jump” at the end of last week to “I jump” yesterday afternoon.  When did she start using pronouns?!?
• She’s also learned the word “hungry” from my feeding Megan.  I’d say, “Baby Megan is hungry, so Mommy is feeding her.”  Now, if I miss their snack or a meal’s coming up, Erin points to her mouth and says “Eh-in…hun-gy.”  It’s really cute.  And it’s SO helpful that she can tell me exactly what she needs!  I’m liking that part a lot…
• Alex has taken to hiding to do something he’s not allowed to do.  Yesterday, my MIL found him behind the front door sucking on one of Megan’s pacifiers.  Of course, as soon as you catch him, he hands it to you and walks away.  There’s no battle…It’s just a game to see how long he can get away with something.  He’s like, “Ok…you found me!”  I’m not sure if that needs punishment or not, but for now, I’m letting it go.  I may regret that later, but we shall see…
• I’ll be honest, we are starting to watch a bit more TV these days.  I still don’t let them just watch all day.  But in the mornings, Playhouse Disney has become part of the routine.  Erin loves “Mi Mow” (Mickey Mouse) and she was quite confused one day last week when they put on a “Hanny Manny” (her version) marathon instead of the normal schedule!  But I’d rather she like Mickey Mouse than some of the other characters out there, so we’re just going to go with it for now!
• Yesterday, both twins started pushing their little chairs up to the island in the kitchen and standing on them to see/reach for things on the counter.  It’s not the first time they’ve done that, but it was the first time they did it repeatedly and purposely.  Sadly, that is about the last place I had to stash stuff from them.  *sigh*  I guess I’ll have to start teaching them not to grab stuff just because it’s in their reach…that should be fun…or not!

Anyway, I guess that’s where things stand right now.  I realize this post is totally random, but that’s okay.  And besides, Megan is starting to wake up again.  So…I’ll be back in the near future.  Happy Monday!

I have a few minutes, and I want to do a little update post.  But my creative juices are pretty low tonight.  So, sadly, this probably isn’t going to be very exciting.  But it’s an update, anyway.

We had Megan’s 1-month appointment today.  She weighs 10 lbs., 12 oz!  Yikes!  The twins weren’t that big for 3 months!  She’s also grown 2 1/4 inches (to 21.25 in.) in the last 3 weeks, too.  So I guess that last week when I thought that she might be going through a growth spurt…I was right!  But the doctor said that everything looks great, so yay for us!

We had a very busy weekend.  And we slept at the farm for the first time with Megan (which did NOT go well).  And the time change threw us all for a huge loop.  You wouldn’t think that adding an hour of sleep to the schedule would throw things off that much.  But the twins were hit really hard by it, especially when the travel, partying, lack of routine, and bad sleep got added in.  So we had lots of meltdowns and crankiness for the last few days.  It was really not so fun…

On the other hand, Alex got fitted for a little tuxedo which he will wear in Eric’s cousin’s wedding on the 20th.  And it was TOO CUTE!  I can’t wait so show you all pictures of the twins in their wedding finery; they will be totally adorable!  And we did get to spend good time with both our families over the weekend.  So there was lots of good about the weekend, too…

Thankfully, today went much better than the past couple of days.  We had a normal at-home day, for the most part.  And the twins responded really well.  I think that we will make normalcy and routine the focus of the next few days.  Hopefully, that will re-establish our sense of boundaries and ‘how the world should go’ again.  And as toddlers need the sense of security that boundaries and routine bring…I’m expecting them to go back to their normal happy selves.  *fingers crossed*

We are also having to focus a lot more on consistently disciplining them.  I think that Megan’s arrival, while it hasn’t brought a lot of jealousy, has turned their world upside down.  So some of their misbehavior is, I’m sure, just a test to see what else about their world is now different.  But man, is it hard to be consistent when your world has been turned upside down, too! And you’re tired.  It’s something I need to pray more about, I know.  

Today, Alex wanted me to pick him up for the first time in ages.  I did, and then the twins and I snuggled on the couch together and watched Handy Manny.  He just snuggled down with me and grinned up at me.  And Erin tucked herself in on my other side.  It was really good for all of us, I think.  Man, do I love those little cuties!

And, I think that’s about all I’ve got for right now.  Hope you all have a marvelous day!

So far, the schedule has been perfectly timed today, and I’ve been very productive as a result.

I got showered/ready before any children wanted up.

Also finished the Twins Club newsletter and got it uploaded/printed out before the kids were up.

I am totally caught up on thank-you’s, bills, and other such items that needed to go into the mail today.

We made it to WalMart and back with no crises.

I’ve gotten the laundry started and the downstairs carpet vacuumed.  And a few other little chores addressed, too.  Still some more to do before Saturday, but I’m making progress!

The twins are just now making noise like they’re done with their naps, and Megan is still sleeping.

A very kind friend is bringing us dinner tonight, so I don’t have to stop and think about that.

And hopefully, I haven’t just jinxed my productivity by telling you all about my so-far good day!

In other news, we have a pretty busy few days ahead:

Kimberly’s shower on Saturday morning

Eric’s birthday party (with my family) on Saturday evening

A trip to the farm on Sunday-Monday

Megan’s 1-month appointment on Tuesday

Baby shower for some friends (including Karen!) on Thursday evening

Kelly’s birthday party next Saturday (totally can’t believe she’ll be EIGHT)

Baby Dedication for Megan next Sunday

Yikes…somehow we’ll get it all done, I’m sure!  Anyway, hope your day is going well, too.  Happy Friday!

I really need to be heading to bed.  So this will be fast and in bullets…

• Megan is really growing.  She’s getting cuter all the time and is definitely losing that “newborn” look.  She makes really funny faces.  Her sad face has one of the best pouty lower lips I’ve seen on someone not in a theatre class.  
• Erin is getting more and more verbal by the day.  I have to really watch what I say around her now.  Which is not an easy thing for me.  I should’ve started that earlier, I guess! She just recently added the “g” sound to the front of ‘grandma.’  One day it was “mamaw” and the next there was a ‘g’ sound.  Crazy!  Oh, and I’m pretty sure she can count to three.  Sort of.
• Alex is such a boy.  He loves sticks.  Loves them.  He is a collector, and we pretty much have to take a bucket on every walk or we’ll never be able to hold all the stuff he picks up. He loves to climb and run.  And he’s getting better with his words every day.  Sometimes he even throws one in that I didn’t know he knew.  I think he’s holding out on me, to be honest.
• Now if we could just get past the two-year molars, we’d be all set.  
• I’m tired.  And it’s really hard on me that I can’t get much done other than manning the children during the day.  It makes me feel a bit tense to have my house in such disarray all the time.  I guess it’ll get better one day at a time.  But still, it’s hard for me to be okay with it. 
• And I’m not sure I’m really doing such a great job switching between mothering newborn-style and toddler-style.  Again, I’m sure it just takes time.  But I really have no idea what I’m doing.  And I don’t like that either.
• I can’t believe it’s already November.  And the next couple of weeks are really full already.  I’m tired just looking at our calendar.
• Actually, our weekends until Christmas are already almost entirely filled up.  Yikes!  How does that always happen?

Anyway, I think that’s about all I have off the top of my head.  I’m sure there’s more.  But you know…I still need to go to bed.  So…Happy Tuesday!