John and I got out in our back yard yesterday and cleared half of the leaves away. I’ve been working on them for about an hour a day two or three times a week for the past couple of weeks, so all we had to do was gather them up. I like to get outside with AK a few times a week to give her some fresh air, so I’ll work on the rest of the leaves later. We have been enjoying our yard work. I rake the leaves into piles, and she spins around and lands in them. “Look, Mommy! I’m spinning! I’m making a mess!” This may very well be the first time we’ve put this much work into our yard since I got pregnant last January. It’s nice to be back at it.

Here’s what happens after I wear my daughter out with activity. . .

. . . and when she’s unimpressed with her grilled cheese.

And here’s what the boys do while AK and I wear ourselves out. . .

. . .oh, to be four months old again, my every need met by a thumb and a nap.

We went to a visitation recently, and I found myself watching the children and cousins while John and his parents caught up with old friends and spoke with the family. I stuck the boys in here for a couple minutes, until they vigourously asked to be picked up again:

They are not excited about being caged up. I guess I’m not so much either. Their cousin Austin got them to smile, though.

My friend Sarah K. in Minnesota sent me these baseball outfits.

The boys were delighted; they hadn’t realized they were twins. Hehee.

Whatever, Mom. Talk to the foot.

Love, William.

I didn’t believe it until I saw it, but for once the weatherman got it right–2-3 inches of snow overnight!!  After I gleefully threw a couple snowballs into the shower with John this morning, AK and I stepped outside for a few minutes to enjoy the snow.

We ate snow slushies. And bananas (see it?).

We licked our fingers.

We got cold hands.

We made tracks around the yard.

Where are you, Mom?

Hiding behind the rosebushes, of course.

Stephen on the left; William on the right.  You guys are good! I got a few emails on this, too–if you look at them long enough, they really do have a different look.

I’m just so glad I didn’t name them that; aren’t you?

The majority of the day, this is what my boys love to do:

Look at each other.

Can you tell which one is William and which is Stephen, yet? I’ll give you a few days to work it out before I confirm.

Here’s a little math for you. My two year old is growing out of her clothes. Again. At this age, of course, it’s not unusual for children to get through only one season in their size before growing out of it. If it were summer all year ’round, we might get a little more wear out of their clothes. My daughter, however, goes through a growth spurt every couple months, it seems. She was a small baby, but caught up fast. 6 pounds, 9 ounces at birth, she had nearly doubled her weight at 12 pounds by two months. She was in the 90th percentile for height. By 18 months, she was well into 2T sized outfits, and by her second birthday, I had her in 3T. Because it was summer, I could keep her in shorts and you couldn’t see her pants getting too short, but she had to start wearing 4T tops. Anna Kathryn is now two years and nine months old, and is growing out of her 5T tops. Looks like I’m going to have to turn to eBay to recoup some of my shopping losses on her behalf. That is, if she stops finding my Sharpie pens (don’t even ask). If she doesn’t end up taller than both John and I, I’ll be surprised. Poor dear. Megan will understand.

Anna Kathryn’s legs are growing so fast, she sometimes gets them a little tangled up. This morning, I sent her off to “school” with her Daddy. Halfway to the van, she turned back and looked at me on the steps in my bare feet, freezing while I waved goodbye. “Wait!” She ran back to me, tripping all over herself on the way, and nearly skinning her knees (that skirt was not that short last week, I swear it!). “I need a hug!” My baby loves me.  On her way back to the van, AK was still walking like a drunk person. “Pick up your feet, honey,” I urged.

“Huh, Mommy?”

“Pick up your feet when you walk.” I demonstrated with my frozen bare feet, “marching” them on the front step. She smiled gleefully and did the Hitler walk all the way back to the van. I miss that little girl on Thursdays. When I’m not catching up on my sleep, that is.

I wish I had my camera this morning, but John’s got it at his overnight guy’s party. Cute stuff has been happening. First of all, William is “talking”. He puts his little mouth in an “O” and a little coo comes out at every breath until you stop looking at him. He’s going to be my people person. Stephen smiles at me like Goofy, which is utterly enchanting. I can understand why Anna Kathryn wants to squeeze and snuggle them until they flail their arms and spit curls out of their mouths. (Ahem. And sometimes does.) At three months old, they’re really starting to act like babies instead of newborns. I am madly in love with them.

Anna Kathryn’s been on the potty most of the morning, waiting for it to “come out” as she says. When her “Elmo’s Potty Time” DVD was over and I turned off the television, I moved her and her potty over to the front door where she could watch the rain. There she sat, with her Toddler Bible and a blanket over her knees, watching the rain. Photo shoot. Too bad. When she was done on the potty, I left the heavy wooden door open so she could watch the rain through the glass door. AK has this game where she likes to say goodbye and close herself between the two doors (there’s about a foot or so of space there). This time, she went and got her rain boots on and said goodbye to me. (No, I wasn’t born yesterday–I know she was secretly hoping to sneak out the front door for a sec to enjoy the rain, but I’m sitting right here watching her.) Then she peeked back in–”Mom, I need four dollars.” I stared at her for a long moment. “You what?” “I need four dollars.”

I didn’t even know she knew what money is, except that all coins are pennies to her. I asked her why she needed four dollars. “I need some Cheeto’s. True, we have no Cheeto’s in the house. Thoughtful of her to run out for those. In the spirit of the moment, I offered her an empty hand containing four “dollars” which she took gratefully, waved goodbye, then closed herself between the doors. Then I was informed that she needed French fries, as well. This time, she went for her Baby Jaguar coat with the hood, so I knew she was really going to try to sneak out into the rain. With nothing else to do but enjoy the moment, I helped her out with the coat. And since this is happening real time, I really need to go get some pants on so I can get my child in out of the rain and remind her about asking permission first.

— — — — — — —

Aaaaand, I’m back.

I wonder how many times as a child I thought I was pulling the wool over my parents’ eyes when they really knew just what I was up to. Perhaps for them, as it is with me this morning, they chose to be a little “clueless” so as to allow the rules to bend from time to time. I just came in from poking my head outside and instructing AK to stay in our yard. Folks, it is POURING out there. She’s wearing her winter coat down to her knees, a pair of rain boots, and precious little else, her soaked fringe is curling wildly around her face, and I am finding her absolutely adorable. I confess that I mildly instructed her to ask Mommy first next time, and then let her alone.

Okay, she’s done, she’s in–gotta go get a towel clean up the mess. That naughty little angel.

John is gone tonight, having “guy time” with his brother Matt, who is heading overseas with the Army in January. He packed his sleeping bag and egg crate mattress and his Red Rider BB gun. Wait, no, my bad. His paintball gun. (He’s going to kill me for that one, but I couldn’t help myself.) Anna Kathryn kept asking me all evening where Daddy was, and I reminded her that he was at Uncle Matt’s house. “Oh,” she replied every time.

Just before bedtime, AK came to me with the phone and informed me that she needed to call Daddy. I dialed his cell for her and put it on speaker phone, but it went straight to the answering machine, so he’ll get the “Daddy?”‘s when he checks his messages. When the time on the machine was up, I pressed ’2′ to listen to her message before sending it. She heard her voice and insisted on taking the phone. “That’s Anna Kathryn! I need to talk to Anna Kathryn, Mommy!” She went off down the hallway with the phone, her voice trailing off, “Hi, Anna Kathryn. Anna Kathryn? I talking ta you, Anna Kathryn! Anna Kathryn, I calling you…”

My daughter is highly intelligent. A peer among the prodigy’s. Outstanding in her toddler field. But she may not want to put this one in her resume’.

NOTE: I have been updating my blog today with several posts including stories and photos from the month of December. If you’re just checking now, you may want to click through a couple pages to catch everything.

A lot of people ask me what a day is like in the life of the mother of twins and a toddler. Well, here’s how it works. When we’re home, it’s simple; the boys sit happily in their swings or their bed, keeping each other company between feedings. They don’t cry much, but do love being held. They’re very easygoing. AK spends much of her time on the potty chair, learning “A says ‘ah’” from LeapFrog. And I spend much of my time in the living room with them, working my BSecure job online. This morning, we were all on the couch together having a grand ol’ time.

William and AK were on my left. AK was squealing, “She’s smiling at me, Mommy! She’s so cute!!” (Yes, her pronouns are a work in progress.)

Stephen was sharing his boppy with my mouse to the right:

And I, in the middle with my laptop, am queen of my world.

I’m so glad I get to do this. I’ll catch up on my sleep in twenty years or so and realize that sleep was overrated all along.

The twins and Anna Katrynn are growing in leaps and bounds every day, it seems.

AK’s mother (sigh, me) has finally given up on all excuses and gotten serious about potty training. AK sits and sits and sits and watches Elmo’s potty video and sits and reads books and sits and finally goes and gets an M&M and sits and has a phenominal attitude about it all. She does not, however, let me know when she has to go. She loves her diaper. Loves it. Here’s what I am hearing at the moment, as she waits once again,

“Mommy, I have my diaper on?”

“No, Baby, you need to go on the potty first.”

“But it won’t come out, Mommy. It won’t come out.”

I know from experience, however, that it *will* come out. Just as soon as I give in and put that diaper back on. So we wait.

The other morning, we peeled off her diaper and PJ’s and set her on the potty. It was so cold in the house that I draped a blanket over her. I thought it was cute. She said, “Thank you, Mommy!” and sat there until she went. She then pooped in her diaper immediately after getting it back on. (sigh, again)

William and Stephen are developing their personalities. William thinks he can hold his own bottle. Until he loses his grip, that is. Then it’s all, “Help me, Mommy!” Except that it comes out with an infuriated scream.

Here’s a shot of William’s first smile caught on camera:

John’s a great helper with all the kids, but often is right in the middle of something when I ask for help. I occasionally find the twins in the oddest places around the house, where he has dumped them “just for a sec.” Here’s William, just hanging out in a few such “deposits”.

Anna Kathryn loves her baby brothers to bits. The other day, she grabbed one of her new books and stated, “Mommy, I read to baby brothers.” And so she did.

When Daddy puts her to bed, he’s often in the middle of burping a baby. Ever one to multitask (see above comments), he brings the boy with him. This time, AK said, “Daddy, go see Mommy.” She wanted William all to herself.

We had a lovely Christmas morning as a family. John’s parents came over to enjoy gift opening with us and to share breakfast. John was sleepy, but got up anyway to hold the boys while I put the breakfast casserole in the oven. There will be no photos of me, as I did not look too terribly lovely that morning!

We had a fun day, and had Christmas dinner with Johns parents and siblings in the evening. John was way too generous and gave me an iPod video player (like a portable DVD player, but for the video iPod). I was way more practical and gave my dear husband clothing. Well, that and a book of Adrianisms. He was happy about that. Oh, and my dear husband gave me a gift card to Gould’s Spa–I’m in such awe of him over that.