ABCs

Enjoy the latest episode in the Life with Twins video series. As always, crank the volume for total enjoyment.

Those of you with accute hearing will pick up on the girls saying "leave a message" when they are done with the alphabet song. Here's the background on that...when Trevor was little, we had him sing his version of the alphabet song as our answering machine message. We also had him say "leave a message" when he was done. So now, of course, that phrase has been ingrained into the alphabet song in our house.

Can they really be ready for preschool!?!

Allie and Kara have had so much fun checking out preschools! They are anxious to go now. We were going to put them in this year but after seeing how much we would spend for two years and two kids at the same time we decided this year we would work at home and next year they will go to Pre-K. It has been hard to find preschools willing to let them in Pre-K as their birthday hits right after the cutoff, but we have found a couple willing to make an exception!

Each morning the girls do their calendar and are doing a great job memorizing the days of the week! We are working on letters too. The girls surprised me by writing their names! I will post pics later. They can recognize most letters now and know most of their sounds. Thanks to their AWESOME big brother who likes to play "Teacher". He loves to teach them everything he knows and they LOVE listening to him and soak it all in! I can't believe my babies are growing up and going to school next year!

All 3 kids have been enjoying swimming lessons. Trevor can now swim the short length of the pool! He has come a long way from his first lesson! The girls took to the water with no problem at all and have WAY to much confidence in the water for a 3 year old :) Trev is excited to start spring soccer and the girls will continue with swim lessons.

We had a rare snow event a couple weeks ago and had about a foot of snow! It was a nice week off staying home all week. Scott was able to work from home and luckily I stock up on food when it is on sale and we did not have to leave our house. We went sledding with our neighbors and the girls had a hard time walking in the snow so Daddy had to carry them to and from the sledding hill. Only down side is we are in school for a week longer. But we sure did enjoy the snow!

Cardiology update

Trev had his cardiology appointment last week and as expected he was awesome through the whole appointment. He is after all, a Rock Star!! He is in the 75% for height. Way to go Trev! He gets to continue to play sports and swim just like any other kid his age.

His heart function looks great. His right ventricle has been growing with his body and currently is not enlarged... Yay!! His body is still excepting the fact that he does not have a pulmonary valve which is wonderful news. His cardiologist expects that in about 2-3 years we will start doing the treadmill tests to see how is heart reacts during exercise. As of now they can not put in a new valve via the cath lab. But who knows what they will be able to do when it comes time for Trevor to get his new valve and conduit. Technology is changing daily and they can do some pretty amazing things! Not many kids with his diagnosis have a patch on their pulmonary artery, so Trev is kinda paving the way for kids born today with pulmonary atresia :)

We moved to a wonderful new neighborhood with awesome neighbors! They watched the girls for us so we could focus all of our energy and time on Trev during his appointment.

Thanks for all the prayers for Trevor! It is amazing how far he has come!

There's a first time for everything...

Have you ever been doing something fun then all of a sudden an accident occurs you hear the crunch and no immediately you broke something? Well, that was Saturday night for me. We were at a Christmas party with the kids. We were in the middle of playing a dice game for Christmas gifts and my sweet little girl came up to me while I was in the middle of playing. I was sitting on the couch while she walked over into my arms. She started bouncing and CRUNCH! Oh the sound! The pain! I knew immediately I had broken my nose. I do not think I will ever forget... But just in case I have it here now as a reminder :)

She knocked me out. I remember feeling light headed and seeing spots as I lay on the couch. I do not even remember who I was sitting by... I heard voices around me. They were still playing I knew that, but I do not remember much else. I was dizzy and my nose and head hurt like nothing ever before. I think everyone felt sorry for me so they did not "steal" my gift. It was a movie card so I am sure had that not happened it would have been stolen :)

I got up and looked in the mirror. My nose had started to swell on one side and started to bruise around my eye. The headaches started right away and for the next couple of days I was taking medicine, but it just did not seem to reach my headache. My nose ached too. Especially when I tried reading at night with my glasses on. Finally I was free enough to go to the Dr. and they confirmed I broke my nose... Now to keep the kids away from my nose for the next few weeks while it heals. Oh yeah, he gave me some Vicodin... To bad I can only take it when Scott is home. Is it 6:00 yet!?!

My first broken bone... At least it was my daughter's head that connected with my nose and not someone else's child, right?

ER Visits: Trevor 4, Allie 2, Kara 0

Allie really does look up to her big brother and everything he does... She is starting to close in on Trev in the ER dept. Luckily Kara is deciding that is something she does not want to do :)

Last Friday I was thinking how nice it was that Trev had no school and we could all stay home and have a pajama day. It was a nice thought. Just not reality. I was starting to make breakfast while all 3 kiddos were sitting on the bar stools in the kitchen. Allie had just told me she was getting down to use the potty. From the corner of my eye I had seen her starting to get down. I turned away from them and started to get the bowls for cereal. I heard a crash and the other two said Allie fell down. I slowly walked over to her and picked her up. I did not think it was going to be very bad and I did not want to upset her anymore than she was.

Although, when I picked her up it didn't feel right. She was not crying and I thought it was because she was so worked up she was preparing for the screaming. But it never came. I felt one breath then nothing. I kept patting her back telling her that it was okay and to breathe. But still nothing. I slowly pulled her away from my chest and I started to freak out. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. She was pale, lips ghostly white and not breathing. She was limp. I immediately got the phone and called 911.

I took her over by the front door and laid her on the steps. Kara was frantically trying to move her and wake her up. Trev did more of the comforting for Allie while I tried to hold Kara back. Finally while talking to the 911 dispatcher Allie started to get a little color back to her lips. She was still staring at nothing while taking slow shallow breaths. By the time the paramedics arrived she seen something that startled her and she climbed into my lap and clung to me.

The paramedics thought she still looked a little off and wanted to get her checked out immediately. Of course this would be the day that Scott took both my car keys and his. Luckily my good friend Sarah, who lives close by came to the rescue and took charge of Kara and Trevor while Allie and I got to ride in the ambulance.

Allie enjoyed her day at the hospital and wants to go back. Just like Trevor is looking forward to going back to the hospital again. Silly kids! Thanks to awesome neighbors who took the other two kiddos that night so we could spend some down time with Allie. It is hard to keep an active 3 year old from running around. Especially with her equally active brother and sister. Thankfully she is showing no signs of trauma since her concussion. Now to keep her in bubble wrap for the next few weeks...few years...

Thank you for everyone who was praying for her.

Happy Halloween!!

The kids had so much fun dressing up for Halloween. I think that was there favorite part! The girls decided to be lady bugs again this year. They somehow still fit into the 24 month costumes! Although they could not wear the tights as they were too small. Trevor wanted to be Captain America, a costume I bought on clearance last year after the holiday. Very convenient and cost effective!

I decided I needed a new costume too. How many times can one go as a pumpkin? So I bought a ladybug costume too :) We had a "practice" run doing trick or treat in downtown Arlington the Saturday before Halloween. The kids had a lot of fun going to all the stores.

When Halloween actually came the kids were so excited. But they were more excited to have everyone come to the door so they could pass out candy! Trev lasted about 30 minutes before heading back home. The kids did great passing out candy in their adorable costumes!

Now if I can only get the kids out of their costumes! They would sleep in them if I let them :)

Tooth Fairy

Trevor is almost 6 1/2 and finally lost his first tooth! Although there was some help from the dentist he can now proudly say he has lost a tooth. We have been watching his two bottom permanent teeth come in for over a month now. The two bottom baby teeth just do not want to budge. They have been a little loose but not enough to get them out.

Trevor was so excited to be going to the dentist. He had said several times he hopes the dentist pulls his tooth out so the tooth fairy will finally come and visit him! Leave it to Trev to find the harder way to do things :) He was so brave sitting in the chair. The dentist asked him if he was ready to have his tooth pulled. Excitedly he said yes! The dentist pulled and twisted it for awhile then finally he just pulled it right out of there! Trev had gauze for the bleeding for about 15 minutes. What a trooper he is. Trev got to bring home a special tooth case with his tooth in it. Hopefully his other teeth will come out on their own without any extra help from the dentist. His two permanent teeth are almost completely in. So once they move forward he will not have a gap for long.

He has been very excited for the tooth fairies arrival. He is hoping she leaves him legos. Good thing we bought legos almost a year and a half ago for this very reason. We just didn't think we would have to wait this long :)