11 months old!

Ok babies...I know your Mommy has been rushing you to grow up a little bit. I have enjoyed clearning out your clothes and baby gear to make some cash for all of your big kid toys and clothes. I have started Audrey's collection of back to school clothes, fall/winter clothes, and even some stuff for next spring/summer. Poor Mason will have to share with Parker for now. I have been planning your fabulous Monkey Luau and we even have some special guests coming all the way from New Jersey!! Now your Mommy will take the time to remind you of all the fun you have over the past month.

Mason: You are such a sweet Momma's boy. You are very sensitive and cry at small things such a spilled milk. You let your big brother and little sister run you over. All of this is because you are just as sweet as pie. You can climb the stairs in our house. You are still cruising around, but not really showing any more signs of walking. I thought for sure you would be walking first! I think you wave bye-bye but I am not 100% sure. You aren't clapping, but still have a smile that can light up any room. You have 6, yes six, teeth. I think you are working on some more too. You are a pretty good eater, but don't get really excited about it. You seem to love eggs!! You love to babble Mama, dada, and lots of other sounds and noises. All in all, you are a happy man and I hope you stay that way for a long time.

Audrey: Where do I start??? You have turned into a true wild-woman. You recently climb out of your bath seat and were standing up so proud of yourself. You stand unassisted and smile like you have just climbed Mt. Everest. You can take one or two steps. You clap, but not that often. You just started waving and it is about the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. (I will post a video) You love your big brother with all of your heart. You two giggle together and it melts Mommy's heart every.single.time! You love to dance when you hear music. I am thrilled that you have made so much progress over the past month, you had your Mommy worried for a while there. Stay happy and wild Miss Audrey!!

Totally not babies anymore..

I have to say although I am sad that I will never have another sweet newborn of my own, I love love this age. The twins will be ten months old on Friday and I am loving every second. I feel like we are finally out of survival mode and can actually enjoy a few moments of rasing our kids. Both babies are into everything!!! Last week, I had two days with just the twins before Parker got out of school for summer. We snuck into his room to do some cleaning and my two monkeys got up onto his bed for a little fun.

It's summer!!! Attempt at keeping 3 kids busy and a Mommy sane..

I had to come up with some type of routine to keep all 4 of us from have daily meltdowns. We joined the YMCA which is a huge blessing. Two hours of free childcare seven days a week, where do I sign up? On the top list of things to do this summer if for Mommy to work on her fitness. Here is our first attempt at our summer schedule...

6am - Mommy and Daddy wake up to get ready for the day
6:30am - Babies up and ready for their bottles. Now that they can hold their own bottles, I usually prep breakfast or unload the dishwasher.
7am - Change diapers and get kiddies dressed for the day
7:15am - Breakfast for Parker and solids for the babies
7:30am - Clean up and play
7:50 - Load everyone into the car and head over the the YMCA (MWF); On Tuesday and Thursday we will attempt a walk around our neighborhood or head out for a field trip (Babies will nap on the go when we go out for day)
9:15am - Home from gym, unload, and change diapers
9:30am - Babies down for a nap - Play with Parker while I clean or catch up on email. Parker will also have snack time
11:00am - Babies up and want bottles
11:30am - Everybody plays together while Mommy gets lunch ready
12:00pm- Lunch time!!
12:30pm - Parker goes down for a 2-3 hour nap, play with babies for an hour
1:30pm - Babies go down for an 1-1.5 hour nap
3:00pm - Everyone starts to wake up from naps, bottles for babies and snack for Parker.
3:30pm - Play time or an outing if needed
5:00pm - Prep for dinner while kids play or watch TV (yes, my kids watch TV when I need them occupied)
5:30pm - Kids eat dinner
6:00pm - Bath time (usually every other night)
6:30pm - Wind down time - read books, P has a glass of milk and babies have bottles. Daddy usually arrives home about this time when he isn't traveling.
7:00pm - Mason and Audrey in bed
7:30-8:00pm - Parker goes to bed
8:00pm - Mommy Bliss...no kids, no bottles, a little bit of dishes, and a load of laundry. Cleaning the house usually gets fit in during playtime with the kids. We move from room to room while they play and listen to music while I clean.

Favorites on Friday

I am going to try to post some of my favorite baby and toddler items each Friday. So stay tuned each week.

Our focus for this week is Dr. Browns bottles. When Parker was born we had no clue what bottles to use or if we were even going to be using bottles. We realized very quickly that bottles would be a part of daily lives. I settled on Dr. Browns because I heard so many raves about them and P suffered from some pretty severe reflux. If you use Dr. Browns you are familiar with all of the many parts. :::Shudder:::

I never had any kind of system with P, but when the twins arrived we had 24 bottles in rotation. Two babies eating every 2 to 3 hours around the clock equals a Mommy who doesn't want to stand at the sink on the little time I had to myself. I also use to be pretty good about rinsing dishes immediately. I had to come up with something since many of thse bottles were sitting for far too long in the sink. So here is my system....

Once the babies finish, I rinse and break into pieces. Bottles get filled with fresh water, parts all go into my glad plastic container.
"

When I get around to unloading/load the dishwasher, all of the "parts" get sorted into the Munchkin diswasher baskets. Love these and had 4 of them in rotation but now I use 2. Rubber parts and nipple rings go into the basket itself and the nipples go into the top part.

Then I line up all the bottles in the glass area on the top rack and all of the tubes get put on the spokes in the dishwasher.

When I unload I use two really cheap bottle racks from Baby Depot. I think they were $1.00. I put the tubes on the pegs and put a bottle on top. Then I put the rings, rubber piece, and a nipple on top on a paper towel that gets changed daily.

And here are the two cuties who like to help with the dishwasher...

To Uncle Crystal...

I really don't know where to start this blog entry. Let's just start by saying we will miss you lots and we really do hope you love Seattle, but we wouldn't be disappointed if you came back sooner than we all expect.

During the summer of 2000(I think??), I worked at a summer camp for the YMCA trying to get some hands on experience working with kids to prepare myself for my career as a teacher. I met this beautiful and fun loving girl named Crystal who was also working at the camp during her summer off from UF. (Go Gators!) We "hit it off" instantly. Very quickly, we started spending lots of time together not only at work, but also outside of work. When summer was over I was sad to see my new BFF return to Gainesville, while I headed back to USF. The great part was my boyfriend at the time also went to UF, so I spend most of my weekends making the three hour trip from Sarasota to Gainesville. Crystal and I continued to grow our friendship bond. Eventually, my BF and I broke up so I wasn't visiting as often, but Crystal always made it a point to visit with me when she was home visiting her family.

Fast forward to Spring Break 2001 when she met my brother. One day while we were hanging out she saw a picture of a boy she thought was HOT! She inquired who this person was....ugh...my brother???!!! At the time, my brother was in the Navy and stationed out in Seattle, Washington. I promised her I would introduce them next time he was on leave. The big introduction happened that Spring Break 2001, apparently fireworks went off. At first I couldn't be more thrilled that my brother was going to be dating a good friend of mine. How perfect to pick your brother's girlfriend, right??

A few months into their new relationship, I started to feel like a Kindergarten girl who just lost her best friend. It was horrible!! And I was so disappointed. I wanted to take back that day I introduced them, so I could have my friend back. I did get past my resentful feelings, eventually. haha!

Once my brother was done with the Navy and Crystal graduated collge they moved to Clearwater to start new jobs. After a few years and a job change, Crystal bought a house. My brother went to college at USF to pursue a degree in Engineering. We all bugged them about getting married but they kept us all sitting on the edge of our seats for a long time.

Parker was born and they became the best uncle and honorary aunt a little boy could ask for. My brother graduated from USF in May of 2010. Then Mason and Audrey were born, we hoped they would share a birthday with Aunt Crystal but I guess they wanted their own day. My brother continued to search for a job for over 6 months with no real prospects. Finally, they decided that my brother would look in other states. He was offered a job in Seattle, Washington???!!! Things started to move fast. Looking for places to live, getting the house ready to sell, and looking at engagement rings were all part of the plan.

Yes, folks, after all these years my brother was going to propose to Crystal!!! I think we were all thrilled, but in disbelief. Overall, we were just plain happy!!!! He proposed and of course she said YES! Our family and friends got to celebrate with them before they will leave on June 8th at a BBQ at my parents house.

We will miss both of you and can't wait to help you plan the wedding.

Disney - Third Times a Charm

We took Parker to Disney World a few weekends ago. It was a blast for Mommy and Daddy to spend time with our first baby, P-man. He loves his brother and sister, but they sure have rocked his world for better or worse. Both Chris and I do our best to spend one on one time with him but in all reality it doesn't happen much.
We had gone to Disney back in February with my parents and my sister. It was fun to go as one big happy family, but in all honesty I don't think anyone really enjoyed themselves. During our last visit, we bought four day passes that were going to expire by the end of May, so it was essential that we go back.
My sister, who is always there when we need her, offered to watch the twins so we could take Parker. We left on a Sunday morning and headed up to Orlando. We arrived there about 10:30am and decided to see if the hotel would let us check in. Yes!!! We got all checked in, explored the hotel for a while, and then all three of us took a nap. After we woke up, it was time to head over to the Magic Kingdom. Parker seemed to enjoy most of the rides we took him on. He was really afraid of Philhar-Magic. Loved the teacups!!!
Pointing at the parade.

Totally blurry but love the clapping..

He wasn't so sure about the race cars, but he gave us a smile anyway.

I wish I got a better picture of this, but you can see the happiness in his face.

On Monday, Animal Kingdom was next on the list. Parker went on the Safari Jeep ride and a train. He enjoyed the animals. Around 1pm he dozed off in his stroller so we headed back to Sarasota.
I loved the fact that we could do Disney around his schedule. I am thankful that we don't have to pay thousands of dollars and make sure that we see EVERYTHING in just a few days. We can go whenever we want and spend as much time or as little time as we want. But the best part was being with Parker. Chris and I loved giving him all the attention he wanted!!!

Mason and Audrey Spot a Reality TV Celeb

One of my co-workers, Missy, was asked to participate in the 65th anniversary party of Tervis Tumbler. (If you have never used a Tervis..you should try it!) As part of the celebration, they asked many local bakers to participate in a cake decorating contest. The best part was a celebrity judge, Duff from Ace of Cakes. I figured if we had nothing planned on this particular Saturday afternoon we would go partake in the fun. Our nap schedule didn't exactly align with the excitement, so I decided to take the babies while Parker was taking his nap. I loaded them into the car and headed 10 minutes south to the big event. You had to wait in line to meet Duff after the contest was over. I hopped in line with one of my friends and her two daughters.

As we stood there, some Tervis employees were taking a count asking if we would want an autograph. I really didn't have a desire to get his autograph but I thought it would be fun to get a picture. After what seemed like a lifetime, Duff came out and the line started moving. I approached the table where Duff was sitting with a baby on each hip, something I do often, and some cRaZy Tervis Tumbler Lady yelled, "You can't take those babies up there!!! You need to move out of line" He was on a platfrom a foot off the ground. I looked at her like "Lady I have been carrying these two around for the past 9 months I think I am good. And I have just stood in your damn line for an hour you better let me at least get a picture." Another manager stepped in and said, "Wait a minute you can just stand on the ground and take your picture." My friend stepped back to take the picture and the psycho Tervis lady was at it again. This time yelling, "Take the picture NOW or you don't get one." So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the one picture we got with Duff......

Meeting a celebrity is hard work.