9/1/09 - Peyton's OT and pediatrician both think he needs Physical and Speech therapy.  I hadn't realized that he'd have to restart therapies again after graduating from them.  On the plus side, it's good to start therapy mid-year b/c we won't reach his insurance limit!

The Speech Therapy would be to treat his robotic-sounding talking ... like someone on a breathing machine, he doesn't get enough air to speak a full sentence.  The Physical Therapy would help with his breathing muscles and some strange positioning of his feet, with one of them turning in.

8/29/09 - Yesterday was Peyton and Kailey's due date ... weird to think about since they've been three-year-olds for nearly four months already. 

I designed a Tshirt I plan to have printed for the kids.  I may also sell them to other Texas twin moms.  Here it is: http://www.zazzle.com/god_blessed_texas_tshirt-235538104102712449 It says: "God blessed Texas. He gave it two of me."  Then there's two pictures of Texas flags.

Another Tshirt idea I have is one I've done before for my twin mom friends using VistaPrint's super-cheap Tshirts ($5 to $10 for custom T's).  They only print on unisex shirts, though, which don't flatter me.  I may order one for myself here, that says, "I have TWINS. What's your excuse?"

http://www.zazzle.com/i_have_twins_tshirt-235307307545089883

8/26/09 - Bedtime has gone well for the last week.  Peyton has kept his high bed and Kailey, although not interested in a high bed, is also staying in her bed.  Naptime is good, too, with Rosemary doing her same thing of having them in one room and me separating them into two rooms and leaving the lights on (per their special request).  They sit quietly for a bit, fuss for a bit, then eventually fall asleep.

8/23/09 - Had a playdate with twin friends this morning.  The twins are babies but have a big sis who is P&K's age.  She has a great collection of dress-up clothes, as seen here.

8/22/09 - The kids had their last gymnastics class this morning, then I took them out to lunch at a restaurant afterward.  I had gift certificates for a free kids meal that we'd gotten from the library's summer reading program.  They went down late for their nap and rested quietly for 2 hours, when I woke them again.  I separated them at naptime, putting Kailey in the guest room with a tub of books.  Read, sleep, whatever, so long as they're relaxing, which happens best when they're apart.  They were tired enough to sleep easily.

We went back to the pool today and got to go in!  We spent an hour in the big pool.  I was thrilled to learn that they feel comfortable in their floaties (inflatable rings) in the deep water!  They swam across the pool and back while I stayed on one side (at their insistence -- "we go over there, you stay here!).  Even more impressive, they climbed out the side of the pool and jumped back in, all the while keeping their floaties on.  Peyton likes me to catch him when he jumps in, so he doesn't sink down to low.  Kailey went completely under the water before the floatie popped her back out, and she thought that was great!  They told me a couple times that they couldn't hear me b/c of water in their ears ... not sure if that was an original observation on their part or if they were repeating something they'd heard someone else say.

I was so proud of them today!

8/21/09 - I decided to take the kids to the neighborhood pool for only the second time this summer and, wouldn't you know it, they had just closed the pool due to thunder heard a few minutes earlier.  It thundered (and rained and lightning-ed) from 4pm until ... well, I just heard some more now and it's almost 10pm.  I already had the kids in bathing suits and our good friend, Brookey, geared up to play in the water, so that's what we did.  We played in Daddy's hot tub while I inflated the kiddie pool, then we played with 2 different sprinklers and an inflatable globe.  We heard a little more thunder and saw lightning in the distance while we were outside playing in the water.  The heavy rain and really loud thunder didn't start until we were eating dinner.  We all jumped when a power surge made our electricity flicker and the smoke alarms started blaring.

The kids aren't afraid of storms.  My fear, however, was that the storm would prevent them from taking their nightly bath.  And I do not like to mess with their bedtime ritual (aka, "The Dance").  I stalled and stretched out dinner as long as possible, doling out small pieces of graham cracker and then Wheat Thins, trying to wait out the storm.  Eventually, I moved them to the bathroom and we brushed teeth (which we usually do after bath).  Finally, I had them get in the tub and we had a "pretend bath."  I wiped their faces down with wet washcloths and they played in the tub with their tub toys but just no water.  When they got out, I wrapped them in a towel and told them I had to dry them off and asked if they were cold.  They like to pretend.  From there on out we were back to our regular routine.  They didn't nap well today, but they went to sleep within minutes of lying down at nighttime.  Yay!

8/19/09 - Kailey had an eye exam and it turns out she needs glasses, too!  She is farsighted (+4 with dilation; we'll go back tomorrow undilated and expect she won't need as much correction then).  Peyton is near-sighted with astigmatism and a big difference between his eyes.  Kailey's problems weren't as noticeable and hadn't caused clumsiness, like P's had. The optometrist also commented that Kailey has a scratch on her right cornea, probably from birth or time in the NICU. 

We also got longer temples (arms) installed on Peyton's glasses.  And I ordered a backup pair of glasses for him from zennioptical.com  I also have an order in for an eye patch for him (from framehuggers.com) so we can start patching his right eye for 2 hours/day to make his left eye stronger.

8/16/09 - Peyton went to sleep for his nap and Kailey was trying to wake him up, so I moved her out into the guest room.  She was okay in there alone for about 30 minutes, then came to tell me she was done.  I took her back in there and she is NOT HAPPY.  I'm very glad for Peyton's sake that she's not in the same room as him.  Although she's screaming right next door, I haven't heard a peep from his room.  I really want them to keep napping or at least having quiet time during the day.  She wants to have mommy time.  I'm okay with that occasionally, but I'm not willing to do it today since she'll expect it again in the future.

Only a few weeks until preschool starts.  I'm hoping that'll use up their energy and they'll be easier to handle on the weekends.  Ha.  Probably not.  I need to get some playdates going.

8/14/09 - I learned recently that the way the twins climb onto the toilet is unusual.  They put one foot up and climb into a standing position on top of one side of the seat, then step one foot to the other side, then squat down and lower themselves into a sitting position.  I guess some kids are able to back onto the potty and lift themselves up into a sitting position by bracing with their arms.  The twins also like to jump off the potty after they finish their business.  And they like to stand on the seat and reach over to turn on the light and fan and anything else they can reach.  Come to think of it, these may all be excuses just to stand on the potty.

New picture on the left: the kids going out to ride their scooters.  They love those things.  I made them wear all kinds of pads and helmets at first, but I've relaxed since then.  Peyton still likes to wear his safety gear.  He's a safe kind of guy.  Kailey ... well ... I was glad for the night vision cameras in her bedroom tonight, because she was jumping off the window sill on to her bed.  Not acceptable.  She had earned a high bed (boxspring under her mattress, for going to sleep easily last night), but I took that out and threatened her I'd remove the mattress from her room, too, if she jumped off the windowsill again.  Their room really would be stark if we removed their mattresses! 

8/11/09 - Peyton had an eye exam this week.  We thought his prescription was wrong.  He's had 3 different prescriptions from 3 doctors during the last year.  At his latest appointment, the doctor said, "Oops, I think his second prescription was accurate."  So, we're going back to that one.  He's a good doctor.  He didn't actually say "oops." 

Peyton's his left eye wanders a bit -- mild strabimus and amblyopia.  We're going to try patching his right eye for a couple hours a day.  That'll force his left eye to communicate better with his brain.  If untreated, the brain will stop paying attention to the left eye. 

8/10/09 - The kids have a case of the "why?"s.  They can hold a whole long conversation where they respond to everything I say with "why?"

8/8/09 - A second sextuplet died today.

Peyton and Kailey did well in gymnastics class again this morning.  They napped well.  I put them to bed a little later than usual and they went to sleep immediately!  Yay!  I am rewarding them by letting them sleep in "high beds" (putting boxsprings under their mattresses) if they stayed in bed the night before.  This is a new privilege I'm trying out to encourage them to lie down and go to sleep at bedtime, rather than jumping around and playing after dark.

8/6/09 - A family in Houston delivered sextuplets this week.  The babies were 22 weeks 6 days old, which is 6 days younger than P & K were at birth.  The babies all weighed a little less than Peyton and Kailey, too, ranging from 12 ounces to 18 ounces. (K & P were 19 and 22 ounces.)  One of the sextuplets died this morning.  You can learn more about this family at http://stanseljourney.blogspot.com/.

Peyton and Kailey are not cooperating with bedtime tonight.  They are not staying in their beds.  They're staying in their room, but they're locked in, so no credit for that.

Peyton was evaluated yesterday to see if he qualified for the public schools' Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD).  He did not.  Yay!  He's too good.  He did, however, fail the vision screening even with his glasses on.  We're taking him in for an eye exam on Monday.  We suspected he needed a new prescription, but this confirmed it.  He can't see well enough to handle a classroom setting.

8/2/09 - Peyton likes short, rhyming books and songs he's heard many times before.  He loves to say the words with us.  Grandma recently noticed that Kailey's preference is for stories with plots.

The kids did great at gymnastics class yesterday.  They stayed in with the other kids the whole time and didn't cry or demand my presence at all!  Yay, my kids like school!

7/13/09 - A story to make you cry, from another family that was in the NICU at the same time as ours:

http://millsblessings.blogspot.com/2009/03/reflux-sux.html

A friend of mine's boy / girl twins were born last weekend, three months prematurely.  It's bringing back some memories for me.

7/12/09 - We don't have to duct-tape the kids' pajamas on anymore.  That's a nice change.  They aren't usually poopy in the morning, and when they are, they keep their pj's on.  They're progressing on their potty training, too.  We had a rare accident away from home yesterday.  On carpet, too. :( It was at the kids' gymnastics place, though, and they were understanding.

7/7/09 - Kailey likes to sing her own made-up songs.  Her favorite theme these days is Time Out.  Here's a recent song on the topic:

If you hit somebody

Then you go in Time Out.

If you take somebody's shoes

Then you go in Time Out.

And you don't talk or hit nobody

When you're in Time Out.

7/4/09 - Peyton did something in the bathtub last night that cracked me up: he spit in Kailey's hair.  Now, she didn't mind, so that's the first good thing.  The other good part is that we've been trying to teach the kids to spit, and he succeeded!  We want them to spit so they can use regular toothpaste.  Until they learn to spit, they have to use special toothpaste that's okay to swallow.

I took the kids to a parade this morning.  The heat made it exhausting.  Kailey enjoyed it, but about halfway through, Peyton wanted to come home.  And told me that.  He was a good sport about staying, though.

6/27/09 - At gymnastics class this morning, the instructor asked each kid if they wanted to be a whale, a shark, or a mermaid.  Most kids chose shark, with one whale and two mermaids.  Peyton was the last kid to be asked, and he chose ... elephant.

6/21/09 - Happy Father's Day!  In what's come to be a familiar story this Summer, both kids are sick.  For a change, Kailey is the sicker of the two.  But, bless her, she asked to take a nap early today, and then she went right to sleep!  I love this girl.  We typically eat lunch at 12 and nap at 1, but she requested lunch at 11:40, then at 12 said, "I'm all done. I want to go take a nap."  She had a fever last night and felt pretty hot at lunch time, so I gave her Motrin and tucked her in.  She had seemed to have energy in the morning but then ran out of it suddenly.

Peyton was a good boy, too, finishing his lunch (including picking up the food he dropped on the floor, throwing it away, then climbing back in his chair with the explanation, "I want to eat some more"), then going quietly to bed without waking Kailey.

They were in daycare last week and gymnastics class on Saturday.  Those activities included a mix of fun and separation anxiety and lack of sleep.  I hadn't realized how much less physical activity they would get at daycare than they do with their nanny at home.  There seems to be variability by daycare in the amount of exercise kids get on days when weather keeps them inside.  This is something I'll keep in mind if we put them in daycare in the future.

6/16/09 - Found a touching article about a mother whose baby was in the NICU for a month.  She describes the experience well, which is to say it made me cry to read it.  Peyton and Kailey's 4.5 months in the NICU are evidence that they had a much harder time. 

A couple funny things Kailey has said recently: 

While playing with a pool float toy shaped like an airplane: "Mommy, this airplane doesn't have a drink holder. Does Daddy's airplane have a drink holder?"

and

"I wanna wear my hurting shoes!" But they hurt your feet. "No, they DON"T hurt my feet!" Then, why are they called hurting shoes? "Because they HURT my FEET!"

Nanny Rosemary is on vacation this week, so Peyton and Kailey are going to regular daycare, which they refer to as school.  Kailey is loving it.  Peyton still has some mommy-separation anxiety.  Both are notably more sensitive (crying easily when they don't get what they want) than the other kids.