Change of schedule

Because of the earlier wake-up times, the babies are finding it harder to stay awake until their normal nap times. So, instead of laying down at one in the afternoon, they now are going to napping at ten am. Their little bodies seem to adapt to this schedule with out any fuss at all.

William has been taking shorter naps out of the two. He seems to need less sleep in order to re-charge.

He goes down fussy as ever at ten, then rises two hours later bright eyed and bushy tailed. This gives me about a whole hour and a half with just William until Charlotte wakes from her peaceful slumber.

We have been spending that whole hour and a half in his room playing with one another. Puzzles, balloons, dolls, books, or cleaning has entertained him royally until...

it is time for his "Sissy" to rise and shine.

This just leaves the second half of the day even longer. Unfortunately, not long enough for us to go to the pool anymore (before having to be home to meet Jordan's school bus).

Any suggestions on how to waste time?

Color me Early

... and Rainy!

With Jordan being back in school, the days of sleeping in till seven are long gone. Its a 530 rise and shine for everyone in the house.

So how do I keep two toddlers busy at the crack of dawn?

I send them outside with out clothes, paint, paper, and a paintbrush.

It worked well for awhile, until they lost all interest in painting on paper. They took vandalizing the patio chairs, sidings of the house, and even the dog. Thank goodness for the paint being washable and meant for kids.

They were covered in paint from top to bottom. Williams hair at one point was GREEN! The dog had hints of red, yellow and green through out his coat too. My front patio looks like a crayon box exploded. No worries though, it's nothing a hose wont take care of.

So how do you wash off two filthy toddlers that are covered in paint, and whom you forbid entering your home in their condition?

I sent mine out in the rain to play before taking a container of Wet Wipes to their bodies.

How to quickly clean paint off your dog?

- Put your toddler to work with a wet rag!!! haha...

... and watch her work for maybe five min. until she decides otherwise.

Sand

Living in Hawaii, you would think that we ventured to the beach often. Unfortunately, not this family. For the past couple of years we did not even dare think about having an outing to the beach.

Let me introduce you to my daughters dislikes -

anything that is messy - frosting, dirt, SAND!

One or two tiny grains of sand would send her over the edge in a frantic ramble/jig/cry as she would try her hardest to separate herself from each and every grain that made contact with her.

We dared to make a visit to the beach the other day. To our great surprise, we stayed! It looks as if her serious dislike for the sand was just a phase that she grew out of!

We were so proud of her for getting over her fear of sand. We had a wonderful time as a family on the beach with wonderful friends.

Even William found peace in napping on the beach.

It was a wonderful family outing!

Some fun Photos

Daddies, Dinos, and Trains

Daddy finally made it home after a long drawn out three months and counting. His welcome home was a wonderful one, only to be followed by a sad goodbye four days later. In two weeks I will be able to have my husband back home, and my children's father tucking them back in at night.

During our four days together we made the most of what we had. On his first day back, I greeted him at the pier with out children. To be able to have ten min. of complete adult conversation was amazing!

As we pulled into the driveway of our house, all three of the kids saw their father and beamed some of the brightest smiles. Christmas was nothing compared to what showed up for them that morning. Daddy was all they wanted!

During the next two days we enjoyed each other by playing catch with our baseball and gloves, a few games of darts, and some wonderful BBQ and drinks with friends. With such little time I had with him, camera in hand was of no priority.

I did manage to get a couple of photos taken on the last day he was home. We took the kids to the mall to go and see the dinosaur exhibit that they had set up through out the whole bottom level. The kids loved it.

This is the initial view the kids saw as we entered the mall from the second floor.

They were in complete awe the whole ride down. The excitement that Charlotte carried for the Dinosaurs seemed like it was almost too much for her to bear.

As soon as we stepped off that elevator, she made the quickest dash to the nearest dinosaur. I had to quickly grab her and hold her back from crawling through the boundaries. William was a bit more uncertain of these huge moving lizards. Jordan, well he is an eight year old boy.... What do you think? haha

One of their favorite things was the train that went through the mall and around the main exhibit. Can you see Charlotte and Jordan's' hands raised in the back? William was still holding some uncertainty. Charlotte loved it so much that she almost got in a bit of trouble for voicing her opinion to everyone around her when she was told that it was time to get off the train. Of course she thought that we were completely insane to tell her that she needed to get off, and the operators of the train were also at the top of her "let me tell you what I think of that" list as well.

She seemed to calm a bit down once we told her that we were going to go and "pet" a dinosaur.

Charlotte was all about the touching of a Dino's, William on the other hand, well lets just say that his uncertainty grew into a "I think not". He wanted nothing hands on to do with those over sized scary creatures. He purposely kept a nice distance from those huge teeth that looked like they could eat him.

After William refused to go anywhere near daddy while he stood by one of those Dino's, daddy came to him.

I wish you could see in this photo how tightly William is clutching on to his fathers shirt. He was scared out of his little mind. It even got worse when daddy tried to put him in the dino's mouth!

As traumatizing as the experience was for William, the rest of us had a great time. That night William and Charlotte would not stop talking about the train. "Mom, I love trains" Charlotte would say. "I love trains toooooo" William would come back with. So the next morning, Once Chase was out to sea again, we set up the trains.

William was all about the trains.

Maybe next time they will have a train exhibit that we can go to all for my sweet William.

Sluggish

Why do these last few days of my husbands deployment seem so sluggish? Alright you slow, slithering few days - Move on to Monday already. Skip ahead, pass the weekend. The weekends are like the crust of the week anyway. Who truly enjoys crust? Not Monday! You slow down Monday, and my sweet husbands return!

"You Have Mail"

Imagine coming out of the bathroom only to find your three year old daughter "nowhere in sight". you check upstairs, down stairs, and out back. Nothing. Your front door and garage door have child proof door handles around the knobs, so is it possible she was able to manage those just fine?

I run out the garage door, out to the driveway - nothing.

I run out to where the drive way meets the street and look right - nothing

Look left - nothing...... At first.

My heart is pounding harder then ever, my stomach is turned upside down, and all I want to do is cry.

Standing at the intersection where driveway meets street, my neighbor yells to me from the mail boxes.

" Umm... I think you have mail."

My clever daughter has not only found a way to escape the restraint of child proofing and get past the doors, she has also taken a liking to loitering around the mail boxes.

Or should I say, "in the mail boxes"

Bending down, and opening up the door to one of our package boxes, their she was, curled up with her brand new Penelope pea pod doll, leaving the door to this cubby closing her perfectly inside.

Needless to say now, when I hear someone at my door mention that I have mail in some sorts, I immediately start looking for my daughter.

In with the new, and out with the old.

We spent a brief moment the following day watching the garbage man pick up the neighborhood trash. Then, it was on to more pressing things, like preparing for a

GARAGE SALE!!!

We had a multi-family garage sale with five families all trying to say good-bye to parts of their past life. For a lot of us, it was parting with the clothes, blankets, and toys our memories carry of our little ones occupying. It was sad in some ways, nostalgic in many ways, and welcomed in almost all ways.

Good bye you sweet crib booties!

Good bye you adorable swaddling blankets!

Nursing covers, I am sorry, but you are no longer needed.

Teethers, you have out stayed your welcome.

But I will miss you the most, you sweet outfits that I could not stop putting my children in day after day until they grew to big for you.

The garage sale was a success as most of us were able to get rid of almost 70 percent of our "stuff".

We did have a few moments where Jennifer and I would look at one another from across the driveway as we picked up something and hugged it to our chest.

We ended up bringing a few of those things back inside. I am sure any mother could relate to picking up something their little one wore, or used that brought back so many memories that you could almost smell the sent of "new born baby" drifting off of it.

Just as we were saying good bye to the old, I was also saying hello to something new.

My husbands new little sailor arrived in Hawaii this weekend the night before the garage sale. A good friend and myself were responsible for picking her up, and getting her settled in. After checking her in on base, she was brought back to my house to stay the weekend and put her little mind at ease before she had to go back to the barracks, surrounded by no one she knows in an environment that is completely new to her.

Being straight from boot camp and training, only 19, and never away from home she was feeling the nerves and excitement of the journey yet to come.

I enjoyed meeting her, and watching our friendship blossom in the future.

Over the weekend, I took some photos of her super fast for her to send home to her family.

Meet Amanda, my husbands new little sailor, and a rising star in the Navy (as she graduated first in her class in training).

Flowers

Charlotte woke up with a hurting ear, and a slight temp. After a little time resting on a hot water bottle and six books later, she was feeling more herself again. Unfortunately for us, we had a power outage in our neighborhood for a little bit this morning. Using this time, we ventured outside for a tad bit. Jordan, being the protective brother, and kind hearted person that he is, ached for his sisters ails.

He brought her flowers.

She loved them so much. It was so sweet to see my children run to one another for comfort. Jordan is almost a saint. I know every one thinks their child is something special, and I am definitely one of those people.

He climbed a fence in his jammies to pick flowers for his sister.

Potty training on the other hand is going very smoothly. William, though in the nude all day, has had only one accident in the last few days. He thought it would be fun to stand up in the pool today, and relieve himself.

*Sigh*

I would like to call this one "Williams Out House"

Through out the day Charlotte seemed to be in much better spirits until around dinner time. After taking her temp, and finding it to be at 101.3, we had to call it a day. A little motrin, bath, and bed. I am hoping that she can kick this bug sooner rather then later.

(Charlotte feeling not so hot after playtime in the pool today. I love it when she still needs me. I just hate it when she is feeling bad)

Potty Training

Oh, the joys of potty training! Not only am I tasked to potty train one child, I am in the middle of potty training two children. Sooner than later, I will be the proud parent of two boys in "under-roos" and a girl in panties. Being as Jordan is about to be eight next month, we are already done with his special training, but the twins - its a work in progress.

Charlotte is already basically potty trained through out the day. She runs around everywhere - inside and out side in nothing but her special panties. She will stay dry in them all day long and run to the bathroom when she needs to go. She is fine as long as we are home, and in her minimum apparel of just her panties. The challenge comes when she has to put on clothes. For some reason, when she is wearing clothes over her panties, she forgets, and within minutes, she is having accidents. For instance - the target debacle with a child psychologist. For some reason unknown to me - while we were in Target my mother and I were scolded in the middle of the store by a woman claiming to be a child psychologist. I have a strong desire to put people in their place when they are butting their nose into my personal business when they don't belong, and when there is no harm being done.

The event - Charlotte was sitting in the cart, and all the sudden it looked like a cup of drink was tipped over. It was not a drink - it was Charlotte having an accident. I just looked at her (with a bit of disappointment and embarrassment), and said " oh noo Charlotte. You need to tell mommy when you have to use the restroom." Picked her up, took her to the bathroom to change her, and nothing more was said. When we returned back to William and my mother, this woman was standing in front of my mother giving her an ear full. So know I felt I was tasked with two more missions, apologizing to the target people and let them know they needed a clean up in isle 17, and putting this woman in her place.

Anyway, besides that silly incident, potty training has been going pretty smoothly. Charlotte just had to be ready, and now that she is - its just a matter of consistency, patience, and time.

The other half of my duo, William, is taking to the potty like a champ! After watching his sister running back and forth to the potty, and getting praised by every one around her, he figured - he wanted in! For the past three days, I have had William in the nude running here there and every where in only his birthday suit. We have had a couple of accidents where he thought it would be grand to pee behind the garbage, and stand up in the pool and pee in there. All in all, he has become relatively acquainted with his trainer potty. He has even started asking to wear a pair of under-roos! We made a special trip for him, and picked some that were "just for boys". He loves them so much, but sadly I had to take them away from him. He grew such an attachment to them that he was refusing to pull them down (and would put up a big stink when I made him) when it was time for him to use the potty. Yes, he would sit down on the potty, even go to the bathroom, but would still pee in his "under-roos". So for now, it is strictly "the nude" for him.

We keep a trainer potty upstairs, and one down stairs for the babies since they have trouble holding it for more then a min. It has got to the point where when we are down stairs, they fight over who gets to sit on it - even if they truly don't have to go. So we had to make a special trip to the store once again to purchase William his own potty. He loves it so much! The trouble with that is - Charlotte loves it too! So their is still a bit of conflict in the house as to whom gets to use the new potty. The greatest challenge I am having with William is that he is so messy! He refuses to close his legs, and when I try to tell him to push his boy parts down, he pees all over his hands. So its either pee on the hands, or pee all over the floor where his potty sits.

I can't wait until my husband is home. Maybe he will be a better judge of what to do with William. I just don't want to discourage him from using the potty by making him do something that he is completely against. His new found passion for the potty is a great thing, and I want to keep it that way.