The Countdown Begins

Six days until I no longer have 2 babies in the house. I cannot believe it. It's a little bittersweet. When people ask me what it's like to have twins they often are taken back by my reply of "It's terrible...and wonderful". I LOVE my boys. L.O.V.E them...but to be quite frank the sleepless nights are still very familiar in our house. I never realized how wonderful of a baby Elijah was. I never realized how blessed we were that despite the few cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (okay, and the holes in his heart), Elijah was relatively healthy. The twins are CONSTANTLY getting some kind of medicine, whether it's ibuprofen/tylenol for fevers and teething, albuterol for wheezing (thankfully not too recently), amoxicillin/augmentin/etc for strep throat or ear infections (mark yet ANOTHER for Jonah last week), or benadryl (the new flavor of the month) for the recent MANY outbreaks of hives/swelling from being allergic to something (such as cinnamon...really..come on...cinnamon?) I figured out that since the beginning of the year we have been to the doctor 17 times, urgent care 4 times, ER once and hospital once (for Elijah..his only occurance remarkably). I cannot believe this. I don't remember this much illness at my house. I'd like to be done and over it all. And to think that cold/flu season hasn't started yet. YIKES!

I have been quite behind on the blogging end of life (I know, you can't imagine why) so I'll update you on us all.

Elijah: We found out that as of now he does NOT need open heart surgery. PRAISE THE LORD! We will be following up yearly and as long as his heart does not further enlarge (except for the average "growing" it needs to do to keep up with the rest of his body) he does not need any intervention. YEAH!!! He is quite the character and makes me laugh daily...which is much needed and highly appreciated by his doting Mamma. On Friday he got out his tools and started hammering "nails" into his bedroom door. This is the conversation that quickly transpired.

Elijah: HONEY!!! HONEYYYY!!
Me (finally realizing he's talking to ME): What do you need Elijah?
Elijah: Um. I need a favor. Could you get me my hammer. The little one. It's right there on the floor.
Me: Oh, okay. Here you go. (Walk away)
Elijah: HONEY!!!  HONEYYYYYY!!!!
Me: What do you need.
Elijah: Um. Could you do me a favor? Could you get me my saw? The black one.
Me: Here you go. What are you doing anyway?
Elijah: I'm locking up the monsters in my room.
Me: There's no monsters in your room.
Elijah: Well not anymore, I locked them up.
Me: Oh good, you let me know if you need me anymore. (Walk away)
A few minutes later
Elijah: Um, Mamma..I'm not calling you Honey anymore because I don't need your help anymore, I'm done fixin'. You're my Mamma again. Okay?
Isn't that funny? He repeats things that Jake says a lot so it's understandable he would pick up the "Honey" thing I guess.

Jonah: His newer "trick" is creeping on furniture. He doesn't let go yet and still mostly crawls but he's working on movin' up in life. He waves hello and says hi. He plays peak-a-boo. He says "all done" in sign language (and I SWEAR he says it verbally as well). He loves to wrestle with his brothers and eats like a horse. Sometimes I think he eats more than Elijah! He has finally mastered the sippy cup and straw although he is unlike his older brother and would still rather have a bottle of milk than a cup. He has had a few episodes of hives and facial swelling to things (like Cinnamon Toast Crunch) which has now made me nervous of giving him new foods. Oddly, he also had a really bad reaction to tanning lotion (not put on him, but on someone holding him) causing every area touched to break out lobster red and hot-to-the-touch like a bad sunburn. Very wierd.

Noah: On his way to walking. He lets go of the furniture often and stands for seconds at a time and is trying to master walking and holding just one of our hands. He is either laughing or screaming. He definitely has a sense of humor. He is a morning baby and wakes up wide-eyed and bushy-tailed even though his Mamma tells him to just go back to bed. He has thinned out a bit and (I think) is actually taller than Jonah. Be warned of his fingers...they are deadly weapons! He reaches that index finger right up to your face and before you know it your nose is bleeding all over everything! He also drinks from a cup/straw but WILL NOT drink milk from anything BUT a bottle. He just immediately spits it out at you. Not only that but it STILL has to be warm. No cold milk for this prima donna!

Jake and I..we are sleep deprived and tired right now. We've had a lot of things break and we are constantly on an opposing schedules so it's hard to have family time, couple time, or "me" time. While this is just a shortlived we know (we hope), it has felt like an eternity and I think we are just tired. Just when the boys start to sleep through the night it seems like someone gets sick or they have a growth spurt or it's Elijah that gets up...something...it's always something. While I will miss my little "babies" I will be glad for a little recovery time from their first year of life!