Sidney's Dance Class

Here are a couple of clips from her "Dancing Princesses" class. This is the first dance class she has taken. She's following in Mommy's footsteps...........

Doing her leaps

a spin/turn

Playing in the backyard

Here are a couple of videos of the kids playing in the back yard last week, when it was cooler out and some of Cameron walking.

Please excuse my appearance in this next one.................... we had just gotten back from the pool a little while before this (it's still a little cold) and I just threw on some sweats......

Three Man Band

I've had to get creative lately, as it's getting too hot to play outside for the kids and Mommy needs to get the dishes done...


I love it when they plant their hands and just move their legs, like they are crawling in place. It's so cute! (Cameron has the darker blue and the green on.)

Playing

Here's a couple cute, short videos of the kids playing...........although they are in the front room, where they are not supposed to play, but Sidney helps the boys climb up on the couch and they mess with the blinds................it's great fun, don't ya know?

In this one CARTER is trying to stand up, not Cameron (as I said on the video.)

VIDEO

This is the first video I took when we finally got a video camera. I kind of just played around with the camera and the computer..............who has time to read the manual?
Sidney is a real ham for the camera and always wants to see the picture right away. The boys are oblivious and are just playing.

Playing with Papa

I finally got some time to put these on-line. We'll see how many I can get up before the kids need attention.

Updates:

Carter has strep throat. First they thought it was a sinus infection.....then I thought he was having a reaction to yet another antibiotic..........then they said no, it's something else, Roseola, caused by a virus, to stop the antibiotic, then they call me on the way home and say it's Strep to continue the antibiotic..........then they call the next day and say they aren't sure if it was a reaction to the antibiotic or not, they are going to call in a different one. He has been VERY cranky and wants to be held ALL the time. He seems to be getting a little better though.

Cameron has had "gunky" eyes for about a week off and on, but they don't think that it's pink eye..............then last night he got TWO bloody noses. Cameron has really been practicing his walking though. He tries all the time on his own and can go quite far sometimes. He has also figured out how to climb the stool in the downstairs bathroom and can turn the water on to "wash his hands" - (aka = play with the water.) Mommy had better REALLY be aware of where is now. We don't want another water incident.

According to her teacher, Sidney has greatly improved in her swimming skills and will be continuing her lessons over the summer. She is FINALLY potty training, but doesn't like you to make a big deal of it. She is anxious to go to school in the fall and asks about it all time. She is, however, very in to getting a prize when she goes on the potty...........we are already running out of prizes though, so we have to go to just giving her one if she has a day without any accidents.

Roman has something wrong with his eye. It started last night and has been bothering him ever since. He says it feels like something is scraping his eye. I couldn't see anything, but he has a hard time keeping it opened. It’s all red and swollen, but, like a typical male, he refuses to go to the Dr. I told him that eye sight is a pretty important thing and not to be taken lightly, but he doesn't listen to me................ what do I know, I'm only a nurse..............He had a hard time sleeping last night, as did Cameron and Sidney woke up in the middle of the night too, so needless to say we are all pretty sleep deprived today.

I am doing ok……….we usually get out of the house in the morning for one of Sidney’s classes, but with the weather getting warmer, it’s harder for the kids to play outside and I am getting cabin fever. I love having all the windows open and feeling a cool breeze………. I won’t be finding any of those for quite a while I think.

Papa playing with the girls on Mother's Day

Papa playing with the boys on Mother's day

A ROUGH Morning

When I started this blog, I wasn't going to use it to vent, just to update people on the kids, but I guess later I can look back and think this is funny..................
Today started off ok. Sidney woke up fairly early, (she's been doing that for about a month), at around 6-6:15am, but it was ok as I went to bed early last night at 9:30pm because I was just exhausted. It was nice and cool this morning as we are getting a storm in, so I opened a few windows. Who would have thought that I would want it to rain?! I am a sun worshiper, but with already setting records for high temperatures and hitting 110 the other day, we pray for anything remotely cool down here.
Anyway, I got Sidney some juice and hadn't even finished going through the coupons from this past weekends paper and the boys were awake. Sidney always likes to climb in the crib with the boys and I had picked up Cameron, but he seemed like he wanted to play and Carter was fussing, so I put Cameron in Carter's crib with Sidney and picked up Carter and took him downstairs. Then I came back up to get Cameron and pick out clothes for all the kids. The boys usually have a bottle still first thing in the morning and Sidney is on a juice kick and anti-milk. Still going ok..........................so, I get all three kids changed and diapers changed and I feel like, alright, we're making decent time here. I had set up a spot for the boys in infant care at the gym and really wanted to work out before Sidney's swim lesson as I haven't in a LONG time and am definitely feeling it! I was shooting for leaving around 8:30am.................. well, the kids had other things in mind...........Sidney wanted to make muffins, which I said ok, since we had talked about doing it the other day. Well, even with her apron on Sidney still managed to get the dough on her shirt and her pants............I then went upstairs to get the boys (they like playing in Sidney's room with the train table and had crawled upstairs to play).........I could smell something almost as soon as I started up the stairs..............Cameron had poop on his back?????? After a closer look, it was on his capri pants too................Carter was crying and wanted me to pick him up, but I didn't want Cameron to get the poop all over Sidney's room. I tried to scan the floor and the train table....I didn't see anything anywhere. So, Carter is hanging on my pant leg and crying the whole time I am changing Cameron's whole outfit. I then take the boys downstairs and Carter is poopy too....................man................at least it's not all over his clothes. They both had like diarrhea, lucky me.............I then proceeded to feed the boys.............they are not liking their high chairs much these days, so as soon as they are done they cry to get out. After that I thought they could play while I go change and brush my teeth and throw my hair up into a ponytail. I heard something that sounded like a bowl clanging on the floor................ I could have sworn that I put the cat food and water on the island, so I didn't worry about it too much. ..........Well, when I came downstairs Sidney was saying that the babies were wet..............I was like, what? Cameron's pants were totally soaking wet and Carter's were wet on the bottom too..............so, the third pair of pants for Cameron and the second for Carter and we haven't even gone anywhere yet..................so I change them and survey the damage in the kitchen...............water, or what I thought was water everywhere and wet cat food all over. LOVELY!!!!!! I grab the beach towel from the bathroom downstairs to try and soak some of it up and I keep noticing that it smells really weird................. not like just water and wet cat food....................I opened the pantry door as the liquid had gone that way too only to find a broken bottle of wine on the floor! We have a small wine rack on the bottom, in the back of the pantry and I thought I shut the door as they have grabbed the bottles off the rack in the past, but I usually catch them. Well, I guess I shut the door, but it didn't latch, so they were able to get in there. Luckily, the bottom just kind of broke off, so there wasn't glass everywhere and the boys didn't get cut. I NEEDED to go, so I just threw the bottle away and picked up the couple of pieces of glass. Then, we are trying to potty train Sidney for a while now and she is not cooperating...................but I got her to put panties on this morning when I changed her and kept asking if she had to go. No, no, no........well, of course, when I am desperately trying to get out the door, she pees her pants.................bottoms # 2 for Sidney (are you keeping all of this straight?) Then Sidney whined half way to the gym, saying that she didn't want to play (at the gym)................now the boys schedule is off as Sidney's swim lessons are when they are usually napping and they had fallen asleep in child care while I was working out and I had to wake them up to go to Sidney's swim lesson. They were not happy about that. They were very restless and wanted out of the stroller!
Back at home.................I fed the kids and Cameron was throwing a fit, so I changed him and laid him down............then I went to get Carter......................poop all the way up his back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, for heavens sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, shirt #2 and pants #3 for Carter and both boys are crying, they don't want to go down....................... I gave them each a bottle and put Sidney in a quiet time.........................I have so much to do, but right now I just want a nap!! Now Sidney's video is over.....................no rest for the weary............................ AND I think I am out of my swiffer wet jet stuff, so I have to use the old, wring mop and my right wrist is bothering me again........
Thanks for letting me vent.

Walking

Here's a recent picture of the family. It was taken just the other day. (Carter is on the left)

It's happening.......................Carter and Cameron are starting to walk on their own. Carter has almost surpassed Cameron and tonight was walking in-between Roman and I (of course as I was trying to get out the door to Maddie's preschool graduation - I was late......... big surprise.) He took quite a few steps on his own, back and forth and had the biggest grin on his face. It was so cute! He wanted to keep going and going. Cameron wasn't too interested tonight, but does take a couple of steps here and there on his own. Of course Sidney had to get right in there too and go back and forth between us too. To make her feel special we pulled out a new ballet outfit (from her cousin) in her favorite color, purple, so she could dance (aka: spin in circles) with Daddy.

Water, Water Everywhere!

About a week and a half ago, on our Anniversary, Sidney was playing with the water and got a little carried away..........That's an understatement!!!

Ok, here's the scenario..............Roman was taking a nap while the boys were napping as he was up late the night before and it was his day to get up early with the kids...........Sidney had just taken a shower with me and she ran off with just her towel on................I went to get dressed and just as I was going to find her I hear, "Mommy, can you help me?"

Sidney was sitting on the counter, playing in the sink with her dolls in the kids bathroom and there was water everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE! There was like an inch of standing water in the bathroom and the carpet out in the hall was sopping wet...... The sink wasn't even full of water, I wasn't sure if a pipe broke or what. I went to get some towels to sop it up and heard water dripping downstairs...................... I thought maybe she had left the sink on in the bathroom downstairs, as she likes to play in that sink quite often too.......................Nope, it was water dripping from the ceiling, into the playroom below. We had our own internal waterfall in our house. I ran back upstairs and yelled, "Roman, I need you to get up NOW!!"

Exhibit A: The scene of the crime

Exhibit B: It's a good thing we called our homeowners insurance as the water had gone out the bathroom and down the hall both ways and even into the boys room. They tore the pad out in the hall way both directions and had 3 of these dehumidifiers and at least 6 blowers going for 2-3 days. The blowers really freaked the boys out and if I left the room they were in, they would come crawling, crying after me.........Luckily, the bathroom is partially over the garage also, so they cut a hole in the garage ceiling to dry out the floor up above since the bathroom floor is tile.

Exhibit C: We had a built-in sauna room in the playroom for about three days...........

Ok, I think that should just about catch us up. I do have some video of Papa wrestling with the girls from Mother's Day, but I still have to download the software and figure out how to post it here. Maybe this next weekend, providing we don't have anymore "excitement".

Playing

Here are some fairly recent pictures of the kids playing, mostly around the house.

They tried to ride this together, but that didn't go over so well unless Mommy was pushing them the whole time (Carter is in the front)

The whole family................ Sidney has decided recently that she does not like having her picture taken anymore (that's Cameron with the red shirt on and Carter in the stripes)

Everything stops for Baby Einstein (and that's how I keep my sanity!), notice Sidney laying on Carter.......... he's much more tolerant of her than Cameron is......Roman is helping Sidney climb this structure (I think it's supposed to be a dinosaur's rib bone) at a big new park in Chandler

All three kids love going up and down this hall, whether it's in a car, chasing a ball, or being chased

The infamous sand table that leaks sand EVERYWHERE!
(that's Carter with the red shovel)

Carter says, "Hi Mommy, we're having fun!"

Cameron says, "Uh-oh, don't let her see the sand in here ", (for some reason the kids like taking the sand in the little play house.)

"Sorry Mommy, no adults allowed"

Sidney helping Daddy

Sidney likes to help Mommy and Daddy in the yard. She especially likes to pick flowers........they don't even have to be our flowers............sorry neighbors: )

Uncle James Visit

Jenn and her kids

Me and the kids

Uncle James and Aunt Melissa came down to Arizona and enjoyed spending some time with the kids. Jamie (as most of the family knows him by) even went into the COLD pool with the kids. They loved it! Melissa helped out too and watched Jenn's girls some while they were here.

Grandpa Jo & Uncle Zach

Julie's Dad, Rob (aka: Grandpa Jo -short for Johansen), was a great help with the kids too. He and Zach came down for the boys baptism and we went up to visit him last July, for the whole month! He didn't mind getting kicked out of his bedroom and would let me go out for some fresh air and alone time after I'd had a hard day with the kids. "Just go" he would say......... he definitely helped me keep my sanity with taking care of three kids under three alone for a long time! So go, I would. I would go down and watch the sunset and freeze my pittuty off.! In WA it doesn't stay warm out after the sun goes down in the summer like it does here in AZ.

Whenever we would take the kids somewhere up in Bellingham we would invite Zach to come along with us, as he was out of school for the summer. Don't tell his friends.......... I think sometimes he actually had a good time hanging out with his nieces and nephews. This was taken a Hovander Park in Ferndale. Sidney just LOVED it there!!!!!!

Grandpa is two fisting it......................check out the t-shirt and the hat.

Kicking back with Cameron

Grandpa and Auntie (Jenn)

We plan on coming up again this July to escape the Arizona heat and enjoy the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Grandma and Papa

The kids get to see Julie's Mom, Cynthia, and Step-Dad, Greg (aka:Papa) usually at least once a week for family dinners on Sunday. They are always up for playing with the kids and Papa usually has his camera too, for Kodak moments that Mommy doesn't always get.

Papa is helping Sidney spread "reindeer food" out on the lawn for when Santa comes. (It's just oatmeal and cookie decoration/sprinkles.) yum, yum

The kids LOVE to have their bellies zerberted

Grandma comforts Cameron at Sidney's birthday party. He was kind of scared of the air track

Grandma has gone with us to the zoo a few times. This day we had all five kids (my sister, Jenn's, kids too.) We actually lost Sidney for a while that day when she ran off away from the tree house area. That was the scariest 10 minutes of Julie and Cynthia's life!!!!!!!! We found her over by the carousel, a woman had already found her and took her to a zoo employee who had already sent out the lost child call. Luckily Sidney was able to tell them my name and what Mommy looked like "she has brown hair, like me". When I knelt down to scoop Sidney up in my arms the zoo worker said, "Well, hi Julie." We are now working on her last name too! She has it down, but thinks it's funny to say.

Papa loves to hold the boys (when they are not crying that is.)

No sweat for Grandma, she doesn't mind crying babies

Papa is reading books to Sidney, he's really getting into to it too!

Grandma really helped a lot too after the boys were born. She was a motivator when she was here and helped me get so much done on those days. She helped take care of me and Sidney too while I was home on bedrest during my pregnancy with the boys and worked on the "honey do list" that Roman could never seem to get around to doing. She didn't care when I called her at 11:30pm to tell her the boys were on their way, she was the first one I saw in recovery........

The kids know that whenever Grandma and Papa are around there are always good times to be had.

Babcia

Roman's Mom, Czeslawa, came to visit again this winter in February and March to escape the cold of Chicago and to see the Grandkids. Babcia is Polish for Grandma. Even my sister's kids call her Babcia.

Playing in the back yard

Czeslawa loved to take the kids outside and play, which gave me some time to do a little cleaning...... just a little, it never stays clean for long

This at the brand new park, just across the canal from our house.

The kids invade Babcia's room (aka: the play room). Sidney would come down and wake her up every morning. It's a good thing that Babcia goes to bed early...............Mommy should try to do that some day..................

Boy, did Babcia spoil the boys.............they didn't even cry for a second with her around and meal time was always fun. The boys still clap their hands and I'm guessing they want Mommy to sing "Koshi, Koshi wabshi" (I probably spelled that completely wrong, and those are the only words Mommy and Daddy know.)

The gangs all here, well, Kendall must have been sleeping...............

We really loved having Babcia here and thank her for all of her help and support. She would often watch the boys so that I could take Sidney to her classes and then we could have some Mommy-daughter bonding time. Sidney got to go to a lot more MOMS Club events too while Bobcia was here because they are usually during Carter and Cameron's nap time.

Czeslawa came out last winter too, in January and February and arrived just a day before the boys were born. Boy, did she help out then. If it wasn't for her I probably wouldn't have gotten any sleep!!!

GOOD MORNING

Another 5:45am wake up call.....all 3 kids are awake! WHY????How do they even function this early in the morning? At least it's light out........ I thrive on the light. Once the sun goes down, forget it, I'm pretty useless. I don't think I'll be getting much done on the sight today, Mommy is going to need a nap when the boys go down (before my nieces arrive.)

The Kids

The kids are all very active and love to play outside and get into water every chance they get. They also all love to play with the computer, which makes it very difficult to try and use when they are around...........The Disney Channel and toys that make noise are a good distraction. They even have a little toy that kind of looks like a computer if the other things fail.

Sidney

Sidney is a VERY active, inquisitive, mischievous three year old. I always get worried when things are too quiet what she is getting into. I lovingly refer to her as my "walking tornado". She can be all girl, with her dress up and jewelry, but loves to get into the dirt too and HATES to have her hair brushed or to have anything in her hair. Right now she is into anything Disney princess and loves Barbie, Winnie the Pooh and The Little Einsteins. Her favorite website to play on since she has recently learned how to use the mouse on the laptops is the Teletubbies website and can even navigate and play some games on her own. Sidney loves to hug and really gets excited and tackles Mommy or plays a little too rough with her brothers. One day soon though, she had better watch out when Carter and Cameron get bigger than her. She doesn't want to miss a second of anything and is an earlier riser............ as evidenced by her two 5:45am wake up calls this week and she has been getting up around 6:30am every other day for the past three weeks! Sidney takes after her Mom in that she loves to dance, and what she calls "dancing" sometimes requires Mommy or Daddy to pick her up and spin her in circles again, and again, and again, and again................. She also loves to be chased and tickled, as she is laughing and protecting her stomach, but telling you to "zerbert" her belly.

Sidney LOVES to wear Mommies clothes and her shoes............ Roman always says her shoe fetish is starting early...

"Not now Mommy, I'm busy e-mailing my friends".......(not really, she's probably watching a video on playhouse disney)


Sidney loves to draw, paint and play with stickers........................ although she often chooses alternative canvases.......case in point.........

A new place for stickers.................................body parts



She was in this phase for a while, where she would put stickers all up her arms



Notice the paint on his cheek

Of course, if she paints one baby, she has to paint the other one too...

"And while I'm at it, I might as well paint myself too"...... along with a little chocolate on the face



You can bet this was Sidney's idea, "Let's paint ourselves...Here Kendall, let me paint your hair.."


I think this was the first time she decided painting people was pretty darn fun. I was upstairs switching the laundry over and I came down and saw this. At first I was like, "Sidney, NO!".......... then a second later I thought I had better get the camera, this was totally a Kodak moment.


I watch my nieces, Madeline and Kendall, three days a week and Sidney just loves to play with them......... well, she fights mostly, but that must be fun too!

Sidney decided it would be fun one day to use the Halloween make up......."here Mommy, let me paint you too." Unfortunately, we discovered that this face paint doesn't wash off so easily, (especially the pink).

A new use for wrapping paper................wrapping up herself



Sidney loves to help Mommy bake too. Her favorite is making "chocolate muffins" (aka - brownies), although she likes to eat a lot of the "dough" before it even gets in the oven.



Making Christmas cookies.........I just think she looks so cute in this picture!!!!

Sidney also loves to read and look at books. Now, after we read her a story she will take the book and read it back to us - her version, that is

The Boys

The boys are growing fast. Everyone is surprised at what "big boys they are". They are normal boys, no slow in growth just because they are twins (or because they were 5 1/2 weeks early)!

And boys they are.......they love anything with wheels and to push things and chase them, or throw a ball and chase it. They love climbing on things too. They especially love trying to climb up Mommy........ usually at the same time!

We can both fit in here, can't we? What one does or has, the other one must do or have....... sound familiar to any of you parents out there?

Carter and Cameron are 16 months now and want to walk SOOOOOOO bad! Cameron has taken a couple of steps here and there. Carter likes to stand up in the middle of the room and gets so proud of himself. One day he was in the tub and stood up and clapped for himself and I swear he said "Good job".

The boys have now discovered sand........too bad none of the kids can seem to actually keep it in the sand table though.

Playing with Daddy

Probably the easiest/fastest way to tell the boys apart is that Carter sucks on his two middle fingers and Cameron sucks on a pacifier. Carter is also a little heavier than Cameron, so his face is a little more round. The way a lot of people tell them apart is by their "stork bites" or the faint pink marks on their foreheads. Carter's is a straight line that I always tell the people is like a "t" for CarTer and Cameron's is in-between his eyebrows and almost looks like an "m" for CaMeron.

Carter

Carter is my lover baby. He's a Mama's boy. He loves to be held and will just hang out on my lap. He is the more cautious one of the two. He likes to sit back and watch and see what's going on before he goes for it. He is also the only one of my three kids that is a sleeper. (At least there's one I tell myself.) He is the more laid back baby. He likes to wrestle with Sidney sometimes(when she's not being too rough. GENTLE!!!!!!!!!! is a word often used in our house), it's pretty cute. Although, they have both learned how to "turn it on" when Sidney may be getting just a little too close or is taking their toys. They know how to make sounds so Mommy comes running. I actually get de ja vu with Sidney and Carter. His first word was the same as Sidney's..... "Uh-oh" as he is throwing something off of his high chair. He LOVES to play with drum sticks. We have a couple of sets and he will drum on anything. It's amazing...... he uses one hand, then the other and he likes the noise it makes.

He gets so excited when he can stand up on his own.

His first lollipop, (after his first haircut), of course he had one much earlier than his older sister, but hey, Mommy will do almost anything to get them to stop crying............ she just can't stand it.



Cameron

Cameron is the more adventurous one. His first words were "go, go, go". He was the first one to tackle the stairs (in like 10 seconds flat. One day we wondered where he went and he was upstairs, in our room, by the tub.) He has taken a couple of steps here and there. I think he's starting to get a little more confident with that. He will use anything as a walker. He likes to take one of the stools in the kitchen and push it around to get where he wants to go. That's pretty scary, I'm sure one day soon he'll start climbing up on the stool too to get at what he wants on the counter (like big sister Sidney). He is learning body parts now too and LOVES to grab Mommy's nose. OUCH!!!! I think he has been hanging out with uncle Jason too much lately too............... he crawls around making this growling noise. It's so cute!

I am soooooooo cool