How Time Flies!

I can't believe that I haven't posted a single thing for over a month.  This blog was going to be my version of a scrapbook and yet, I can't seem to get motivated to write.  I read all these other blogs that have such great writers behind their posts and I can't seem to feel like there is anything big enough to write down as well as just not finding the time to actually write!

I don't have anything profound to share, but summer is here and we are on a different mode.  Tom is home for the summer, which has been awesome.  It is so nice to parent with another person and not be the only adult in a house of a 3 year old and 2 1/2 year old twins.  It is also so nice to be able to take the kids places and feel comfortable letting them be a little more independent than if I were doing it alone.

So far, we have started a garden, gone swimming in a pool (large in ground pool), gone on a picnic in the park at the lake, saw fireworks, gone to the beach, gone to the Franklin Park Zoo, gone walking and then to the park, and probably more.  We have started potty training all 3 kids, which has had it's ups and downs, but I don't think that I would change anything I am doing.  All 3 kids are totally interested in using the potty and overall have been doing great, but there are still lots of accidents and they don't always tell us that they have to go.

Michael has been in summer school and has been doing great!  I am really amazed at how he has been progressing.  We still have a ways to go and Tom and I both have our concerns that there is something more going on with him than just a speech delay.  Though I have to say, I have a gut feeling that he is just taking in so much information that he is just taking time to process it and all of a sudden he is going to just come out and have a conversation with us.

Eva Rose is still not really talking either, but is doing better.  She is going to be eval'ed for speech through Earl Intervention, but I'm not sure that she is going to qualify.  She is behind, but I am not sure that she is behind enough. 

Thomas was just eval'ed for EI and did not qualify for speech.  I am absolutely amazed at his speech over the last couple of months.  His vocabulary has just exploded.  He is doing way more than just naming objects.  He is actually using action words and descriptive words.  He is definitely the most advanced with his communication skills.

All 3 kids continue to amaze me with their gross and fine motor skills.  They are running and climbing and actually even starting to jump.  They are able to string beads and scribble on paper.  Eva Rose and Michael tend to scribble on the whole sheet and Eva Rose is able to hold a crayon appropriately.  Thomas on the other hand tends to use a small area of the paper when he has crayons.  They are starting to do more pretend play and play with each other and even sometimes interact with other children.  They have so much fun at the park and all the climbing structures!  We have taken down their baby swings and put up the big kids swings.  Michael will now say "Mommy/Daddy push me!". 

Michael is my water boy.  I can't wait to take him in the water again and do more swimming type activities with him.  He was having fun in both the pool and the ocean.  He even has fun in the new sprinkler pool we bought.  All 3 kids are totally into container play.  It absolutely blows my mind how much they love to put things in a cup, pail, watering can, and then pour it out only to go and do it all over again.

As sad as it is to see them getting bigger, I am so happy to watch them grow and change and develop each and every day!  I am glad that I am finally writing a post and writing down all the newest changes that have been happening.  I do wish more people commented on my blog, but I keep telling myself that this is for me and I don't need to have people comment to enjoy blogging.  This is my way of keeping track of things and it is just a plus to have people comment.  I wish I had more time to be an active blogger.  I have one fellow twin mom who always seems to comment on the things I write and I am so grateful for her comments and any other comments that I get.  I am going to try to find time to make sure that I am commenting appropriately on other blogger's posts so that I can hopefully network with others!

Amy

Meal Planning And An Organized Life

Some of my twin mom friends are really great at being organized, or at least they are better at being organized than I am.  It's probbaly always going to be a struggle for me and always going to be a work in progress, but I get motivated by these moms to keep working at it.

I am in the process of working on my menu for March.  I have never done even a weekly menu plan before, but am now truly motivated after spending the day with my mom after her lymph node biopsy only to come home and not have anything ready for dinner for me to take to work or for my family to have.  Thankfully my husband is able to cook a couple of hot dogs and broccoli for the kids.  If I had a meal plan in place, I could have been better prepared.  With my mom now mostly likely having chemo and radiation, I'm sure that we will be spending more time with her to help out since I am home during the day and everyone else works.  Since I go to work at night, it will be even more important for me to have a plan in place for meals.

Right now I am trying to get a bunch of recipes together to put on my monthly plan.  I plan to have breakfast lunch and dinner mapped out, but can be a lot more flexible with these meals.  I will have a few crockpot recipes as well as some easy/quick recipes that I can easily make before I leave for work, or that my husband can make after I leave.  After I get my meals planned, I will make a shopping list and make sure that I follow it and go shopping after I have satisfied my hunger.  This weekend, I went shopping just before supper, and what a mistake that was.  I bought a whole bunch of foods that I shouldn't be eating and now it will either go to waste or I will need to eat things that I don't want/need to eat.

I am hoping that I can plan meals that are healthy and that the kids will like.  After I get my meals organized, I am going to move on to more areas that I need to get organized, like cleaning the house, laundry, etc.  That way I won't feel like I am doing it all at once and I won't get so overwhelmed that I just put it off over and over and over.  Hopefully this will mean that I have more time to do fun things with the kids like salad spinner spin art, rubber stamping using the new stamps that I got for the bargin price of $.97  and $1.97, coloring, painting, and many other fun play things.

Amy