Icy Days

Of course today is in the 60's, but earlier this week we had some really cold weather and even some ice on the ground. Well one of the twins' favorite things to do is climb into the windowsills behind our big couch. They love looking out the window and playing with the blinds. On Wednesday ice drops had formed all over the screens and we even had a few icicles. The kids immediately noticed them and started calling out "bubbles" (we sometimes have a hard time distinguishing water drops and bubbles). Abby then climbed behind the couch and into the windowsill to stare out the window. At one point Jake was in the middle window looking out too, but I never could get a picture of the two of them. Jake would usually move before I took the picture. He later moved into the same windowsill as Abby, but she didn't like that. She pushed the couch out and he came tumbling out (right as I took the one picture of them both!).


Later that night the kids watched a movie (baby Einstein of course) and bundled up on their little couch with their blankets. Too cute!

A Little Boost

Okay, so my SIL's move to scratch the highchairs has pushed me in that same direction. I had gotten these boosters before Christmas but just hadn't put them on the chairs yet. Our goal was to get rid of the high chairs before they were two but I just wasn't sure I was ready to make that move yet. I didn't know if it would be a huge battle to keep them sitting in their chairs and not climbing all over the table (which they love to do!). Plus I sometimes used the chairs as time-outs when making meals for the kids b/c they loved to get into things during that time (strapping them into the chair was the only way I got food on the table some nights!). However I finally took the plunge.
I would love to get a kids table like so many do, but we simply do not have the room. I also didn't want to mess with actual booster seats that strap to the chair b/c that's essentially what we had with our high chairs and I was tired of cleaning them. So, I found these great new things called Kaboost. They fit to the bottom of the chair and simply raise it up so the kids are sitting at the right height for them. There's two heights and right now we're on the tallest setting. The Kaboost actually makes the chair more stable and it has big rubber feet so the kids can't pull the chairs out from the table on their own. Although they like to try.
They do really good in the chairs, especially Jake. He'll climb in the chair and turn around for you to put his bib on. Then he turns back to his food and starts eating. He would stay seated for the entire meal if Abby didn't show him he could do otherwise I think. She loves to stand or kneel while she eats (and so he copies her). That's fine, but occasionally she'll climb on the table and go get things off others plates. Totally not acceptable. She's had one fall after she did this b/c she didn't align her feet back on the chair when sliding off the table, but she was just fine and within 5 minutes she was climbing the table again. It's funny though she'll get onto Jake for climbing on the table and tell him no, but she usually does it first. And so far, no one has gotten up during meal time to run and play. I usually have to kick them out of the chair when they're done!

Our favorite afternoon activity - coloring! I usually let them color when they get up from their afternoon nap. Although we still like to eat colors, they're getting better. Jake's my more avid colorer, but he's quick and intense. He focuses on the paper and colors and does the job fast. Then he's off to doing something else. Abby however, colors very little, but will try to collect all the colors on the table (yes, including Jake's) and make one or two little marks on her paper just so she can say she's still coloring and sit at the table. They're also doing really good on learning to draw circles and lines although their circles are still crazy looking ovals.

Dinner time is now much more fun without the high chairs. They love sitting in the big person chairs with mommy at mealtime.

Mind Your P's & Q's

Language has really taken off with the twins the past several months. Abby has a ton of words and even a few 5 word sentences. The other morning I walked in to get them out of bed and before I made it over to her crib she said "Mommy, I want Daddy!". She always asks for Daddy in the morning, it's a special treat when he's home to help get the day started.
Jake is also really kicking things up a notch with language although he doesn't really put two words together yet. We're still working on that, but he'll try to say new stuff all the time and picks up a lot of words from his sis.
John and I have also had to start watching what we say. The other week Jake pulled all his books off his bookshelf and Abby immediately said "Oh gosh!". I quickly looked at her and she said it again. This is now her new favorite phrase. She repeats it over and over until the "uh-oh" is fixed. I'm really not sure where she picked that up though, John and I don't say that when something happens, but she picked it up from somewhere!

Happy 60th Anniversary!

January 19th is my husband's grandparents anniversary and this year they celebrated their 60th! Ten years ago we celebrated their 50th and had a big celebration, but this time around they wanted just immediate family. So my fabulous SIL graciously volunteered her house for the immediate family (which isn't so small!). She ordered a beautiful cake and had a ton of decorations at the house. I was in charge of the sugar free cake and asked to decorate that as well, but I couldn't find a bakery to make a sugar free cake so I had to make one from scratch. It turned out okay, but I can't decorate a cake to save my life so it's the small, quaint little cake off to the left of the fancy cake :-)

Everyone had a blast chatting and the kids had fun playing with everyone and the decorations. We also tried to capture some photos of Granny & Pappaw with all the great grandchildren, but that turned out to be quite a feet. Not only were the kids squirmy, but my camera was acting up and so a lot of my pics came out blurry. Well I shouldn't say all the kids were squirmy. Mine and my SIL's were, but Nikki & Krissa's were well behaved little people. They even stayed in place after all the pictures were taken until someone finally came by and noticed them sitting in the same spot. Lisa told them they could go play and so they hopped off the couch and ran to play! Oh I could only wish for kids that behaved that well!!!

I did manage to get a few pics of (most of) the kids with Pappaw. And yes, we did have spotters behind the kids on the couch (you can see Lisa in one of the pics with Abby).

Meal time! The kids loved this table. Although Alex & Austin sat in the middle and so all the other younger ones kept stealing food off their plates. Although they never complained or got mad at the others, you could tell they weren't happy about what was going on!

Abby had to check out the chairs and blinds. She also tried to open the back door, but luckily she's not smart enough to know the chair blocks the door!

Jake & Ethan loved the balloons!

Awe - a Thornell family pic!

When Winter Days are Sunny

Last week we were lucky enough to have some really nice weather so, we all played out in the backyard while we could. Friday was great too, but Abby had to stay inside and could only do "rainy day" activities. Here's a few pics from Wednesday. I didn't get my camera out Thursday, but we had just as much fun that day too. Don't forget you can click on the pics to enlarge them if you want.

The kids love their new roller coaster from Grammie. They've only been able to play on it a few times since we got for Christmas, but they love it! They always fought other kids for this thing at My Gym so now they have one of their own to play with. And it's more than just a roller...it's a ramp, a slide and it comes with an extra push toy! Jake loves to push things around the yard too. Now if he could only push a lawn mower we'd be in business!

(I love this shot of Jake, he was trying to push the car up on the patio, but it tipped over as he was pushing. He just fell over and started crying. We're so dramatic now.)

And more fun with our tricycle. We still can't reach the pedals yet, but they love pushing it and trying to ride on it by walking their feet.


Our backyard is beginning to look a little over-run with toys, but they love everything and bounce from thing to thing. Jake still holds the bat backwards when playing t-ball, but Abby's got it down.


Ahhh! They only get to play with their balls outside. We just don't have the space for a ball pit inside and it's actually worked out nicely in the crab outside. They're so cute, they love to stand on the claws and leap into the balls. Jake was really enjoying himself this day, even doing the backstroke in the balls.

They can't rest for a moment, even when getting a quick drink they have to be busy.

On the fast track to recovery

Thank you for all the extra prayers for Abby this week. She had her surgery Friday morning and everything went well. There was a little more to do than the doctor anticipated, but still nothing too big. Not much blood, no stitches and you really can't even tell anything was done. They checked us in and we all went back to the exam room. We just brought her in her comfy PJs so she didn't have to change into a gown or anything. After her vitals were checked (an ordeal in and of itself - I'm not sure why she was so freaked out by the oxygen monitor, but she was), we waited for the anesthesiologist. She came back right before the surgery and gave her some "goofy juice" through the nose. It was quick, but didn't knock her out, just made her more cooperative really. They then took her (and her babies - Mister Bear & Penguin) back to the OR. Once there, they actually put her to sleep with a gas mask and ran an IV (I was glad I didn't have to see them put her to sleep or put the IV in!). The whole thing took a few minutes then the doctor came and told us all was well.
I heard a little girl start crying in recovery and knew it was Abby. The doctor opened our door and there she was, sitting up in bed, chewing on Mister Bear's ear, crying. We went out to greet her and she wanted to immediately be held. We wheeled her back to her recovery station and the nurse said we could hold her in the rocker back there. She was really upset about the oxygen monitor on her tow again and had major tears. I'm sure she was confused and disoriented a bit which lead to the tears. The nurse brought her a popsicle (a first for Abby) and she gobbled it up. When it was all gone, we had a major melt down. The nurse felt so bad and quickly got her another popsicle. Nothing would calm that girl down, but as soon as she had her second popsicle in hand she was fine. Again, when that one was gone, the tears came running down her face again. I didn't want her to have any more, so we just worked through the crying.
We were quickly discharged and on our way. They showed us the exit (which was different than the entrance so we wouldn't scare the new patients arriving) and we were quickly on the road.
We got home just in time for lunch and she gobbled everything up (including Jake's leftovers). John ran to the pharmacy to get her pain meds and when he got back we gave her some and put them both down for their nap. I wasn't sure if she'd take one, but they both went down without a fuss really and slept till 4:30!
She stayed on pain meds all day Friday, but today she's been just fine. Not even a dose of motrin for that girl. You'd never know she had anything done yesterday. Looks like we're back to normal (although they took a long nap again today which I was happy about since they've been battling a cold).

Sickness in the Thornell Household

Well, we have our first official cold of the season. We've done really well and haven't had one at all yet, but both are sick with one (and of course Abby's surgery is Friday; although right now they're still going to proceed since she doesn't have a fever, cross your fingers she doesn't get one!). Cold/Flu/RSV season is technically October thru March and so we've been very lucky not to catch anything. But late last week Jake started having a little cough. Then by Saturday night (of course at my SIL's house while we were celebrating my hubby's grandparents 60th anniversary), Jake came down with a fever. Hopefully he didn't give it to anyone. He had the fever all day Sunday too, but on Monday he was back to his old self. We stayed inside and didn't do much Monday to make sure we recovered fully before getting back out but then on Tuesday, both were coughing with runny noses. Nap times have been tough, but luckily we haven't had too much trouble at night. I've been using Vick's on their feet and have a humidifier running in their room so I think that really helps the nights. Hopefully we'll all recover quickly, but I have a feeling the cough will linger. They always do!

An Extra Prayer for Abby

This Friday, Abby is having a little, very minor, surgery. I won't go into the details of the surgery on my blog, but she should be out for no more than 10 minutes and the toughest part of recovery should just be from the anesthetics. Please say an extra prayer for her and the doctors this week. Even though it's minor, it's still scary to put your little ones under. Thanks!

Don't forget the keys

Well, today was a first for me, but not the first for mom's everywhere (at least that's what I was told). This afternoon the kids wanted to play outside after their nap. It's been chilly the past few days and today wasn't too bad since there wasn't any wind. So, I decided to go in the backyard and clean everything up before letting the kids out. I was about halfway done cleaning up the backyard when I heard the door. Yesterday Jake had figured out how to open the back door (even with the baby guard on it) and work the deadbolt. I quickly ran to the back door and it was locked! How could I have forgotten he figured this out yesterday! The blinds were open so I was trying to direct the kids back to the door and ask them to "turn, turn turn" the lock. Abby isn't as good as opening the door, but she wouldn't let Jake try. She kept laughing at me outside, saying "hi" then she'd try to turn the knob, but wouldn't touch the deadbolt. I tried to get her over to the kitchen window to give Jake a try, but that was a no go. So, I returned to cleaning up the backyard thinking, they locked it trying to get out, maybe they'll unlock it in their own time. I finished everything up then tried to get them to open the door again. Again, no luck.
I finally figured it was time to find a phone and call someone to come help. I trekked over to my neighbors hoping it wasn't her day to carpool the kids home from school. I knocked on the door and waited patiently. Yeah! She was there! I told her what had happened and she laughed. She said I wasn't the first mom to be locked out of the house by her kids and got the phone. I called John and told him what happened. He said he'd pack up and be home as soon as he could.
I returned to our backyard to keep an eye on the kids and continue to try and get them to open the door. Finally I decided to try and open the dog door from the outside. You aren't supposed to be able to do that, but God was watching and it easily slide up. Abby jetted out the dog door upset that I hadn't let her out sooner. I reached up through the dog door and unlocked the deadbolt. Finally! I was in the house. Jake ran out to play as well. I called John and told him I made it back in the house safely, but he was already in route.
I let the kids play outside for a bit and when John got home, we headed back inside for dinner. I've always said we needed to get an extra set of keys to put in the garage, but now it looks like we'll need something for the back door too!

Lazy Days

Saturday was one of those lazy days where we all stayed in our PJs all day (or at least wanted to). The kids and John did manage to stay comfy all day (but he did do some work - he put up the last of our xmas stuff in the attic). I got dressed for a bit to get a massage first thing in the morning, but then it was back into sweats as soon as I got home. Thursday and Friday had been fantastic so when the cold weather blew in Saturday morning, we all just wanted to bundle up on the couch. And that's what we did!

Tearing Down the House

Yesterday evening we had our first major "incident". I was making dinner and the kids were running around crazy. I think they know I can't focus on them 100% during this time and so they always get into stuff during this time period. Anyway, one of their favorite past times is to pull out the drawers in the kitchen (the ones that aren't baby proofed) and hang on the them. Bet you didn't know that drawers were insta-swings did you. Well, they are. And when they do this I pop their hands as they hang on the drawer and say "no". Jake usually cries and then pulls out a new drawer. Abby just looks at you and then slams the drawer closed. When they both get going you feel like you're playing Whack-a-Mole at Dave & Busters. It can get crazy!
Well, between trying to cook on the stove and making sure dinner didn't get burned, I was turning around and popping their hands on the drawer to try and get them to stop hanging on the drawers. When I turned around again to tend to the stove, I heard someone fall to the ground. I looked and there was Abby and the front of our drawer. She was fine - stunned, but fine. Rather than yell at her, I told her she broke the cabinet and was going to have to tell daddy what she did. I also re-enforced that hanging on the cabinets was wrong. She'd point to the cabinet and say "broken" or "I broke" and then look at me. We talked about the drawer for a bit and then sat down to eat. She at all her dinner without fussing (Jake decided to play) and for the rest of the evening she was on her best behavior.
I contemplated calling John to warn him, but finally figured it would be best to just let him come home and discover the drawer. I was actually hoping the kids would be in bed before he got home as I didn't want John to punish the kids again/"over" what I had done. He came home and Abby ran and hugged him. He then walked into the kitchen and I told him what happened. Abby had a very solemn face on. He said he could tell she knew she did something wrong and didn't fuss at her once about the drawer.
I'm not sure how we're going to fix the drawer, but needless to say, time-outs have increased around our house. I had been using a little chair with a buckle to keep them in place for time outs, but Jake has mastered climbing out of those, even buckled in. And I just don't have the energy to teach them to stay in one place right now. So, I caved and am using their crib for time-outs. I hate to do that as I don't want them to associated their crib with punishment, but hopefully they'll be able to tell the difference. It works really well for Abby, but Jake was in time out 4 times last night between supper and bedtime. Not sure what I'm going to do for him.

Jake Graduated!

Yesterday, Jake "graduated" from the ECI program. He's been in it for 6 months for a communication and adaptive behavior delay. We re-evaluated him yesterday and he's right on track with where he should be now (actually he was still a month behind in adaptive behavior but that was just for potty training readiness and I really don't care to even think about potty training yet). He's coming up with new words everyday and communicating better and better. He also understands a lot more than he did when we started out. We still have a ways to go to catch up with Abby, but we're making great strides. They gave us a list of things to tackle so he stays on track and we immediately started working on them yesterday.

Our next few goals:
* colors (I started this before the holidays, but took a break with all the craziness. I guess it's time to get back to it. Right now all we know is blue!)
* shapes (we know hearts, circles and stars, now we're working on the rest. I got a great puzzle yesterday evening that Jake's already mastered, now we just need to learn the names of the shapes and transfer those from the puzzle to other objects)
* counting and understanding the concept of 1 (we understand the concept of zero, but not 1 yet, no fear - I got blocks today from a friend and we'll start on this ASAP)
* putting 2 words together (Abby and I are modeling this for him like crazy)

I'm guessing it will take us a couple of months to get these down, but after we conquer these, we'll tackle the alphabet and letters and drinking from regular cups (I'm really waiting for warmer weather with this one so we can practice outside vs. in my house!)

Looking a little pink

I was going to wait until the furniture was in the new nursery, but I just couldn't wait. We pick it up tomorrow, but I figured we probably wouldn't actually move it in the room until this weekend. And I'm so proud of how the nursery turned out!!! John spent most of his holiday working on this room and I just love how it turned out. We did have several "mishaps" during the room renovation and I was even told I'd never get more than one color on a wall again, but by the end of it, all was well again (he even said he'd do the room all over again). Thanks honey!!!!
Also, some have already asked me about gifts/showers for the new little arrival, but we're not doing anything this time around. I just feel weird having a shower since we had girl/boy twins the first time around. However, there are a few things we'll need and if you feel so inclined to get anything, I've made a small Baby Wishlist that you can peruse. It's on the left side bar in the blog under Baby Wishlist. Just click the link and it will take you to the list.



The finished product!

Happy Birthday Addy!

On Tuesday, my niece Addy turns 3. This weekend we had a little celebration at Build-A-Bear in Grapevine. It was an easy drive for us so we took the kids down and thought they'd have some fun. Abby loves stuffed animals so this was right up her alley (although John feared she might replace her new beloved penguin she got from ICE).

We arrived first, but it wasn't long before everyone else arrived. It was a bit crazy since we went on a Saturday, but the kids were all eager to pick out their stuffed animals. Addy went for Hello Kitty and we tried to let Abby pick hers out. I kept showing her bears, monkeys, even cats, but she wasn't interested in anything. Finally she spotted a turkey and wanted that. Of all things! Oh well, I let her have it and she was instantly attached. John questioned my judgement, but this is definitely not a battle worth having. If the girl wants a stuffed turkey, she can have one. John showed Jake a few things, but he really didn't act interested in anything (he's not a big stuffed animal kid). I finally picked out a turtle for him and we were on our way to give our animals a heart and stuff them.

The kids were very intrigued by the stuffing machine. A little scared even. After Abby had her turkey stuffed, she wouldn't touch it. She wasn't sure what they did to her turkey, but she knew he wasn't the same. Jake was unsure about the whole process, but latched on to his turtle after it was done. He's been carrying it around ever since!

(Here they are getting their hearts ready to put in the animals)

(Jake kept a close eye on the stuffing machine the whole time)

(all done, but not sure what to think now)

Once everything was stuffed it was time to pick out clothes. Abby really got into that, but we only ended up getting her turkey a pair of shoes and a heart that says "I love you". Jake's not into the whole clothing thing so we didn't get any clothes for his turtle.

Noah didn't get a toy at Build A Bear but wanted a train instead. So we set out after Build A Bear for the trains. There was a kiosk not to far with cars and trains and he quickly picked out what he wanted. This was more Jake's thing too and he wanted a car, but he had to settle for watching his cousin Noah play with a train.