If you read the blog by actually clicking to it (ahem, hello family!) rather than through reader or FB you've probably noticed I'm changing it up a bit. With spring around the corner (please God!!) I was feeling the need to revamp it around here. And while I big fat puffy heart adore my BFF Jenn and her awesome design last time, I was feeling the urge to challenge myself to work on the changes myself. As you can see, still pretty vanilla! HA! But I'll get there . . . and in the meantime, if you are clicking into the blog via the actual address please excuse any messiness while I work this out.
Also, I've changed the title of the blog. Sort of. I've actually toyed with changing the address altogether (since I'm obviously no longer a "mommy of twins in waiting" anymore - nor will I EVER be again!!), but a) I haven't yet thought of anything creative to call it and b) it seems like it might be a lot of work for people out there (hello again, family!) to work their way to a new address via updating links, etc. So we'll stay here for now. But I did change up the title . . . I hated the way the "&" symbol looked wonkey from "Bennett & Kendyll" depending on where you viewed it (stupid HTML), so instead we're now The BK Special. Fun, yeah?
In other news, everyone is finally on the mend. That's not to say that I've caught up on any sleep (because of course the douchbag dog still needs attention and Kendyll now thinks she can sleep in my bed all night). But I'm hopeful we'll be back to 100% by the weekend. If nothing else, I'm so freaken tired right now that I'm hoping tonight I pass out so hardcore that I don't even notice a random meaningless whine for mommy -- from human or furry children.
And since I hate to post without pictures, here are a couple from last week before the plague hit our home. Here are a couple of Kendyll dressed up as her new fav princess, Snow White (and in the background you can see Bennett playing with this marble ramp thing we gave him for his birthday. He freaken loves it, however it is a royal pain in the you-know-where to assemble).
Also, you may remember this post a while back in which Kendyll put a few of her "friends' in time out. Yeah, well, our new time out spot is the stairs and apparently every.single."friend" in the playroom was having a bad day last week.
{I had the title of this post - and the content - all thought up in my head and ready to type out on Monday. As you can see, it is now Wednesday. So just go with it. Please. It has been one of those weeks}.
We have had a sickie - scary - not fun - worst colds we've ever had sort of 48 hours. It started on Friday with a cough from B-man. Saturday he had a slight fever (never more than 100 any time I checked it ) and K started coughing too. We took them to a movie because we had been promising it all week {Gnomeo and Juliet, just in case you are wondering}. It was an a.m. movie, there was no one there and they weren't that bad yet. They both took OK naps and then were fine in the afternoon. We were having friends over for dinner, so Tim was in the kitchen prepping and I was setting the dinner table. All of a sudden K comes into the kitchen to say B knocked over this toy (that he LOVES) and when we went in to see what was going on he was laying on the floor, unresponsive, moaning. Pretty scary! I called 911 while Tim was with him (which by the way took a while because we only have cell phones and I had to be connected to 3 different dispatchers before we finally got through to our community. I now have their direct # in my cell phone because we haven't had a home phone line in 7 years!!). By the time they arrived at our house, B was out of it and crying hysterically b/c he was scared. He threw up, which made him more scared. But we decided not to transport him anywhere -- we're pretty sure he had a febrile seizure (even though his temp the last time I checked it was 99 - 100, I understand now that temps can spike at any time and that's what triggers it).
Saturday night he was OK and when B&K woke up on Sunday they were in pretty good moods. Tim decided to go ahead with his weekly work trip to Turkey. K only took a 30 min nap (on top of getting up for the day at 5) so she was a hot mess. Nana & Papa came over for dinner and B&K wouldn't eat a thing. We should have taken them to urgent care then, but I kept thinking we could wait until Monday morning to get into the pedi. Around 8:30 B woke up hysterically crying (like he did after his episode on Sat.) and I couldn't get him to calm down and he throws up green junk ALL over the place. Fun times. A quick call to Nana & Papa for reinforcements landed us at the Urgent Care at Children's hospital just before it closed at 11pm. The nurses were betting they had pneumonia based on their heartrates and blood pressure. They both had temps around 103. But their lungs were clear and they *just* have ear infections. {which is fortunate . . . poor Ava went to the pedi last week with pneumonia in both lungs and "the worst double ear infection" her pedi had ever seen!}.
Unfortunately this week has been L-O-N-G. Shortly after they went BACK to bed Sunday night, we all ended up camping put in B's bed (yep, Bennett, Kendyll and I) because I didn't trust us all sleeping in my bed without rails. I think we maybe got 4 hours sleep total. Monday naps were crap and that night it was another camp over event -- first in B's room and then I resorted to putting up peapod tents in my room so I could try to get some sleep in my own bed (because my back was killing me). Last night they went to bed early and Bennett slept all night without a peep. Kendyll woke up at 4, but I consider that a success (she is about a day behind him with this bug, so she still isn't feeling herself and is still fighting a fever). The dog, however, had me up at 12:30 last night puking all over my bedroom. Yep, it is one of those weeks that I just can't win.
So I'm exhausted and trying to OD on cafeine and vitamins in the hope I don't get sick from being run down. Tim will be home on Friday and he has promised me I can sleep all I want on Saturday. That is what is getting me through at this point. :)
Lastly, even through all of this drama and super fun (not!), it brings to mind that in the grand scheme of things we're pretty lucky. You may remember me writing about my friend Brook and her Sweet Girlies, Sydney & Carynne. Yesterday and today marks two years since they lost their brave fight with SMA. B&K and I wore pink in their memory. (thanks to Ashley for snapping the pic!)
If you'd like to learn more about SMA or donate to find a cure, please click the link below.
http://www.fsma.org/Fundraising/WaysToGive/
Catchy title, no? Sorry, can't think of anything more creative at this point.
You'll notice over there on the left right {I've changed around the blog since I first wrote this post!!} I've updated B&K's stats with their height & weight as of the dr visit last Monday. The nurse we had this time must have been new (and wasn't super personable) and we made her measure B&K twice . . . at first she had less than an inch height difference, but if you've seen them in person recently you'll notice has a GOOD 1.5 - 2 inches on her. So we settled for the 2nd numbers (but I'm still not sold).
The pedi said they look great. They had their hearing tested and got some shot booster and attempted a vision test (which, apparently isn't normally done until the 4 or 5 yr appointment, but our pedi must have thought B&K were rock star genuiues or something). In all we were there almost 2 hours, which was exhausting, but nevertheless we're glad to have it over with.
In other news, I haven't really given any updates on B-man's physical therapy progress in a LONG time. You see, since around January of last year he was "quasi" released from the program. His PT, Miss Jen (as B calls her), noted that once little people become mobile they have less willingess or attention span to do what she needs them to do to improve. The improvement will happen over time on their own. Awesome. So around every 3 months or so last year we went back to visit Miss Jen just to make sure he was progressing somewhat. In the fall, we determined that while he had improved by leaps & bounds from where he started from, he still wasn't as strong as he should be (scoring at the gross motor skill level of a 24 mo old, when really he was 31 mo at that point). So she suggested we try out some custom orthotic shoe inserts. I like to call them plastic gold, because even AFTER insurance we had to pay a crap-ton for these things. But I'm so very please to report that they have worked wonders. I'm not sure if it was muscle development or confidence booster or a little of both, but since he started wearning them in mid-October he has become a climbing - doing the stairs all by his big self - big air jumping dude. Last week I took him for yet another eval and I'm so very excited to share that BENNETT HAS OFFICIALLY GRADUATED FROM PHYSICAL THERAPY!!!!! In just 5 short months he went from being at a 24 mo old level for gross motor skills to totally catching up to his actual age of 36 months. Woo-freaken-hoo!
So that's what is going on in regards to "health" these days. I have some new pictures of the "Disney Princess Obsessed" Kendyll all dressed up like "No White" and a few others I promise to share soon.
We held a BIIIIIIG PARTY for B&K last weekend. Since we skipped the party scene last year {and this year B&K know all about birthdays & parties} we decided to go all out this year. The kiddos invited all of their bestest friends and had a ball jumping it up at a local jumpy house place. It was a win-win for all of us -- the kids spent over an hour climbing and jumping all around (and some of the adults got their work-out for the day). And the best part was the awesome staff did all of the set-up & clean up, so all mama & daddy had to do was bring the cake & favors. Fabulous!
Given the color scheme of the place, we went with a Dr. Seuss theme (plus, B&K are obsessed with Seuss books lately. Bennett can actually recite most of "Green Eggs & Ham", his favorite, and he has a little catchy tune he made up and loves to sing about "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish".
Here are a few pictures from the event. I'm working on a blog post for the craft blog about some of the fun items I made. We want to send a HUGE thank you out to our friends & family who came to celebrate with us on this special day. We're all spoiled!
And now they are THREE!!!
We spent the weekend celebrating with friends and family. LOTS to update everyone on . . . I promise a picture heavy post with all of the fun from their "biiiiiig party" (as Bennett called it) as well as our other gatherings. And B&K go for their 3 yr check-up Monday morning, so updates from that as well. For now, here are the duo at the end of their fun friend party . . . as Bennett told us on the ride home "I'm so tired. I'm ready to go night-night".
{I made their shirts & crowns as well as some other things for their party. I'm also working on a blog post for the craft blog . . .so watch for that soon, too}.
Hey lookie . . . it is the long awaited, blah blah blah, update post! Woo-hoo!!
> Potty training is officially over. We have been diaper free since Jan. 8th. I wish I could say it was all roses and puppy dogs and cotton candy, but well, yeah it wasn't. All I can say is THANK GOD FOR ASHLEY!!! Because if I hadn't had her support I would have totally caved about, oh, 3 days into it (when, ironically enough, several authors swear it "clicks". Yeah, maybe if you do it when you're *supposed to* at 22 - 24 months). My new advice is to do it sooner than later!!!!!!! Seriously. The older these kids get, the smarter (and more stubborn) they are. B&K were "ready" months ago -- we were the ones who were too lazy to deal with it. But honestly, now that we're through the first couple of weeks it really hasn't been that bad. Sure I haven't eaten a hot meal since New Years (b/c I swear as soon as we sit down to eat everyone has to go potty. Even though we make them try to go BEFORE we sit down). And I'm pleased to say they are in big kid undies 95% of the time (we bought pull-ups for overnight, but once we're out of them we're done. They wake up dry and pee for 10 min when they get up so we really don't need them). I'm also proud of our friends who have decided to give this PTing thing a try. ::and you know who you are:: It is sort of cool to be the "role models". Ha!
> I'm not gonna lie - Tim's travel schedule has sucked major balls. He hates it, I hate it, and B&K (and Tabasco) turn into major basket cases with all of the back & forth. The first trip Tim was on this year Kendyll was the drama queen when I left for work (I'm talking almost stop breathing crying fits and screaming "I NO LIKE MOMMY GO TO WORK!!" -- even at night before bedtime. Yeah fun). This trip it seems to be Bennett's turn. I'm not sure what else to say. Just know it is tough and we're hoping something changes soon. Very soon. I used to like to focus on how being a "single" married mom made me stronger, proud I could do so much on my own, knowing I could handle this without any help. Yeah, at this point we would LOVE to just have our family all under one roof. Makes us long for the days when Tim would just be gone for a few over nights or week -- at least he was home on the weekends. So instead we're now trying to focus on how we're going to take a kick ass vacation FOR FREE at some point thanks to the airline & hotel points. Heh!
> Speaking of work crap, it isn't a secret but I also don't think widely known -- I'm looking for a new job. My company was purchased by a humongous company last year and in Oct. my department (as well as the department I support) learned we would all be losing our jobs at various points over this year. The first "wave" of reductions happened last Monday. And thankfully most of the people who were let go had already found other jobs. But it still sucks being left behind. My office is a walking depressing zone and it is only going to get worse as more & more people leave. My "transition date" is the end of September, but I'm hoping to land somewhere before then. And in the meantime things are REALLY slow at work, so that has lent some flexibility to spend more time with B&K as Tim is away. Honestly, I hope we BOTH land something different soon . . . but before all of this junk starts to take a toll {whatever that means}.
> In happier news, B&K are in a very funny "did they really say what I think they just said??" stage. For example, one day last week I was doing something and I said "Oh goodness" to which Bennett replied "Oh Jesus!!". I quickly reminded him we say "Oh Gesh!!" (because all I need is for him to go to his preschool -- AT A CHURCH -- and say "oh Jesus" about something bad).
> I have no idea when these things occurred, but for a long time B&K have been able to say & recognize shapes and colors (which surprised their teachers, since they are just now learning about colors at school and apparently B&K are rock stars in their class. Thanks again, Ashley!). They are also now really starting to recognize their letters -- for example, if you put down a flash card of the letter "X" and the letter "M" and ask which is the M they point to the right one and know an animal or object that starts with that letter.
> B&K are getting really excited for their birthday and "big party", as Bennett refers to it. We've planned a themed party at a local joint and B&K are so very geeked to see their friends. Like, every night they recite who all will be there. Hopefully we all stay healthy and don't have any ice storms and everyone has a fun time! The other night I was asking Kendyll what she wanted for her birthday and she responded "A Football". Hmm, interesting.
Ok, enough words. Check out the post below for some cute new videos of the little people.
