April 2008

Toddlers are hard. Tonight we said goodbye to yet another lamp. Granted it was a lamp from Target (and we its intentional that we haven’t purchased expensive furniture) but once again another lamp hit the floor (which is hardwood) and it’s completely over. They are so, so busy. I knew twins would be busy but I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be putting on my work calendar “go buy a lamp” during a break so we would have light in the evening. Aaron although annoyed took it quite well. He said “Hmm- another one? Thank goodness we didn’t’ spent a lot”. 

In addition to the lamp issue we also hit another milestone. Sophie girl can now use her hippy hoppy and hop all on her own. Woohoo You go girlfriend. All 3 of us cheered. Trent was so proud of his sister. He kept saying, “look at Sopha go!” as Aaron and I were saying, ” Come on sister”. She just smiled from ear to ear. Who would’ve thought 3 years ago that a hippy hop would bring such joy?

Today we also learned that a neighbor down the street (although not part of our neighbor group) has a 4 yr old son with leukemia at Packard. Hearing that he was Packard certainly took Aaron and I back. We’ve now been on every floor and forever have burned in our brains the look each parent gives each other when you are walking your sick child around the halls with an IV or in a hospital wagon. The look the parents give each other is something you never forget. It’s a passing of “WOW this sucks and I can’t believe as a parent I’m here ” although you never say a word to each other.

Needless to say- Aaron and I are racking our brains to figure out how to help. Right now we’re thinking about a very nice gift card to andronicos (the nice grocery store across the street from Packard) so they can go eat when they want to. Beyond that- we need to figure out how we can help and let them know how we understand and we’re there.

We continually have our challenges and probably worry about Sophie more than any parent should (especially when she acts tired like she has the past couple of days) but we watch both Trent and Sophie and forget our worries. Trent just loves to play and hollers to go outside while Sophie just wants to dance. We are so blessed.

It’s a been a busy couple of days for the Keene family.  On Friday we packed up the car and took the kids to see Grandma & Grandpa Judy at their new house in Arizona.  Long drive but the kids did really, really well. The house is beautiful and it’s so nice to have Aaron’s folks closer.  On Saturday Aaron’s brother and his family arrived for a mini family reunion.  The cousins just loved playing together.  Grandma Judy had bought some little toys (water guns and such) and the kids just loved chasing each other around.

Last night, several of Aaron’s great uncles and Aunts came over and we had a great barbeque.   A couple of them had met Trent and Sophie when they were much smaller but it was nice for them to see them again and both seemed especially taken with Aaron’s great aunt (I think that’s the right title) Ellen. She’s a special Ed teacher and is simply amazing with kids.

Sophie appears has become a bottomless pit- always hungry.  All she did the whole time we were in Arizona was play and eat.  Every hour she asked to be lifted up to the breakfast bar and requested another course.  Lots of fruit etc – but always hungry.  Last night after she mooched food off of every adult- I was so embarrassed that I make an announcement assuring all of Aaron’s relatives that  “Yes- we do feed her” – she was just had suddenly developed a hallow leg.   All I could think of was what she would do if she were on a cruise.  I could just see her going to each and every buffet and some cruise line losing money due to her food consumption.  Trent too had his share but Sophie was definitely the pig of the weekend.  Trent on the other hand spent most of the weekend chasing and playing with cousin Lily.  They just adored each other and I’ve never seen to happier toddlers.

The drive home was long. The kids did really well until we were about an hour out. Poor Trent just wanted OUT of his car seat and had a complete and total meltdown the last 30 minutes. Poor little guy.  Once we got home we had to chase them around the back yard- trying to burn energy in hopes that there will be some sleeping tonight. 

Our little ones are growing up so fast. Where has the time gone?  On Saturday we had a garage sale to get rid of our “baby” stuff that couldn’t be donated.  Wow- that was hard for me.  I cried when the saucer and jumpy went.  Aaron has continually reminded me that we don’t need them anymore and it’s silly for them to sit up in the attic but still it seemed like they were only in the them for a moment and are now moving on to adulthood.  Ok- yes dramatic but I guess like things say to you in life (like don’t be in a hurry to grow up so fast, enjoy college and your 20s as much as you can etc) – people have always told us that children grow up way to fast and now I’m really realizing it. 

The good news though was the baby stuff sold quickly and the sale was fairly short.  To help us out though, my sister and dad took the babies to the Children’s Discovery Museum.  We were so impressed how not tired Aunt Liz and Grandpa were though when they brought Trent and Sophie home.  Totally amazing since Trent and Sophie were completely wiped out.   I guess chasing toddlers though gives you energy and Aunt Liz and Grandpa George just rose to the occasion.

Aaron and I are thinking it might be a good idea to restart Sophie speech therapy 2x a month or so. She’s continuing to do well but is not so much on sentences are describing what she wants (or doesn’t want) with descriptive terms.  We’re sort of stuck in a circle of “ no, yes” and need to find a way to get her beyond that.  I know it sounds like I’m being a paranoid mommy but I just want to make sure we’re giving her every opportunity to get the help she needs to address her birth issues.

Sometime I wonder if I’m just a nutty parent or if all parents feel as blessed as we do.  Perhaps it’s because Aaron and were so old when they were born, or the challenges with getting them- but they continue to make us laugh everyday.  This evening we were dancing around to disco on the iPod in our bedroom and I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.  I know every parent thinks their child is amazing but just watching Trent do his form of break dancing when we not such so long ago worried about cerebral palsy and Sophie dance around in spite of her brain injury – just makes me so proud. 

Our little ones are such funny little people. They both have such individual personalities. Sophie has such a strong personality, and Trent is all boy. Poor Sophie, though, is suffering from allergy symptoms. Big runny nose and coughing – she’s so unhappy. I think she will always worry us though. We look at her eyelids constantly. We know that when they get pink – bad things may be coming (for whatever reason in the past the build up of her CSF fluid shows up in her eyelids). It all makes you hold your breath for a moment, but then she just perks up and all is fine. All things look good though. She eats like a horse, loves to play, and sleeps like any normal 3 year old, but there still moments of extreme fatigue that freak us out. Trent though is such a caring brother. It’s as almost as if he’s got a sense when Sophie isn’t feeling well and gives her a wide berth while at the same time expressing concern. I guess this allows us to see the future and be prepared for Trent to always be the EXTREME big brother.

We’re getting use to our “sorta still new” bed. We have good nights where they sleep through the entire night and then on other nights when they’ll go down but then appear in our room (together no less) at 2 or 3am. We’re still trying to determine who is the instigator but right now our money is on Sophie. For some reason she thought yesterday was an Apple product launch and somehow thought I hadn’t prepared. Not only was it not a product launch, there was absolutely NO reason she had to get me up at 4am to prepare for NOTHING. She’s just got to learn how to read our big white board calendar to be sure she only gets up early on Apple product launch days.

Trent along with being all boy is all about the ladies. We’ve gotten a new baby sitter on Thursday afternoons (our schedule changed when Aaron got his new job), and Trent is completely in love. Every since he was a baby, he’s loved women–mostly blondes. And even though Emily is a brunette, he asks all week when “Emily is coming”. She is a college student that has a job driving the train at Vasona (where we went last weekend) and love our children- we are so fortunate.

Poor Trent – the weather change is SO hard on his skin. Once again he’s covered in eczema. We continue to put cream on him and yet it spreads. We keep trying to figure out if it’s diet or environment (weather, detergen,t etc), but so far we can’t figure it out. We finally stopped using Dreft (the baby detergent), and now Aaron and I are both wondering if it’s the “mainstream” detergent change. Needless to say, we’re going back to Dreft to try and figure out the cause. He’s so uncomfortable. He itches in his sleep and scratches himself raw. Although the weather is warmer- putting him in shorts even worries us knowing that he will scratch.

That said, however, a nasty case of eczema is minor compared to everything he’s gone though, and we continue to be amazed at our two little miracles.

So the time has come where I just have to say it…although my little ones technically won’t 3 until June, I have to buck up and acknowledge the really are 3. They clearly don’t know they were born VERY early and therefore are embracing the toddler period full force. Trent has so much to say and even (although we’re not always happy about it) knows what he wants and can clearly articulate it. Sophie, on the other hand, continues to be more difficult to understand (and behind developmentally from her brother) but is trying SO HARD to catch up.

This weekend was all about enjoying the wonderful spring/summer weather and being a family. Yesterday we got Aaron a new car (it was long past time after having him drive 200 miles for years per day for his previous job) but we’ve learned negotiating is not a good thing with toddlers, so we left them with my folks. My poor parents. The hot weather clearly caused an issue, and I’ve never quite been treated like this when I’ve arrived at parent house. They opened the door and were like “LOOK IT”S MAMA AND TIME FOR YOU BOTH TO GO”. They clearly love their grandchildren but frequently remind me why people in their 70s do not have 3-year-old twins. My poor folks. I think they probably just crashed after we left.

Last night was about enjoying the gorgeous warm weather and music. For my children – the iPod will always be a part of their world, which is odd. Of course mine is loaded with disco, and we used it to celebrate spring. My poor neighbors- Willow Glen houses are VERY close together, and I’m sure the neighbors could’ve done without our disco concert. However, it takes a lot of disco to burn 3-year-old energy, and we just had to go for it.

Today we took Trent and Sophie to Vasona Park to ride the train and play. Look ago when they were just 2lbs of micro preemie, I had told them about the Vasona train (which I used to ride when I was a kid), so being able to bring my 3-year-old toddler twins was quite special. Trent was beyond OVER the moon and continued to tell Aaron and I all after noon how much fun he had, long after we’d gotten home. Sophie clearly enjoyed it but just seem to take it in stride of another good day.

The last time we were at this particular park was in November for our then neighbor Gaby’s birthday. The party was a blast but the most prominent memory of the event is my neighbor Dan chasing Trent (I went alone with the two of them- dumb!), I was wearing slides so I could look cute (another DUMB thing) and Sophie was newly out of the hospital and needed help with everything. I remember a lady saying to her daughter “be careful of that sick little girl”, and I was so offended. But now, I can own that and understand why another parent would say that. She was completely bald and could barely stand up without being helped. What an incredible difference 7 months makes.

We can’t wait for spring to truly be here.  Who turned winter back on and can they turn it back off?  In spite of the weather, Tia and Jose took the babies to Happy Hollow (a nice, seen-better-days children’s play park in San Jose).  Aaron and I have been members for the last year and the babies just love it!  The park is due for a complete overhaul in July but for now, even though it’s still a bit worn (opened in 1960), it continues to be a special place. Trent is clearly thinking hard about saying farewell to diapers and really being a Big Boy. When I asked him what the highlight of the day was, he said “seeing the goat poop”. He was very, very excited. I tried to turn it into a teaching moment and make it sound like the goat pooped in the toilet and he could do that, too, but he called my bluff and pointed out that the goat just stood there and pooped; there was really no toilet involved. Oh well. There goes my teaching moment and attempt at strategizing with a 3 year old. Sophie, on the other hand, just said she enjoyed every single moment especially because Tia and Jose took her. We’re still working hard on language skills, so right now everything tends to be yes/no – plain sentences that don’t provide a lot of context, but even though she couldn’t communicate it well, her animation when describing the day said it all. 

Yesterday morning she freaked us a little bit because she slept for 4 hours straight and just wanted to be held, but sure enough after a long nap she was more than ready though for Happy Hollow. Aaron and I are continuing to watch her VERY closely but are hopeful that she’s just needing more rest since she’s growing and needs her energy.

Trent continues to grow like a weed as well and now requests his reflux pill. I think he knows it makes him feel better. Poor little man–his eczema is back, and he scratches in his sleep. I think the itching wakes him up. He just scratches and scratches. We’re trying a new cream, and we think it’s the weather that is making it come back, but we’ve just got to find a way to make him more comfortable. It’s hard to hear at 3am- “momma – please make the itching stop”.

The Keene family is SO excited about spring and warmer weather. Although we had added on to our house in 2004 prior to finding out we were having twins (although at 37 using fertility treatment, I should have prepared better) between two VERY active toddlers and lots of stuff- our house now seems too small. We love where we live though, and until we figure out a better plan we will continue to make do. The warmer weather though makes playing outside so much easier, and the babies just LOVE being outside. We have tons of sidewalk chalk and who knew such a simple thing could bring so much joy?

This weekend our new neighbors moved in across the street. A set a boy/girl twins who are 2 1/2. Could we be more excited? The house was built on spec, and we adored it–it is the perfect toddler twin house and way out of our price range if we wanted to continue eating. The good news though is we have new playmates. The new family is very EXCITED to be in a neighborhood with children, and we couldn’t be more excited to have new playmates across the street.

This weekend we had Grandma Carol and Grandpa George over for dinner. Poor Grandma Carol. She had made cookies and said if we promised to return her cookie tin she would continue to fill it up. However, she had made Oatmeal /Raisin cookies. Although Aaron and I thought they were fabulous, Trent and Sophie kind of turned their nose since they were not chocolate. Talk about an all around bummer. My dad was bummed because Carol had given them all to us (big sweet guy) and Sophie and Trent wanted chocolate. So now it’s up to Aaron to eat them all and Grandma Carol has promised to make chocolate chip the next time around. My folks were so funny though with the babies.  The babies WERE SO excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. My dad was funny though, Although he, too, was a “later in life parent”, he reminded me that it’s been almost 40 years since he had toddlers and just had to ask ”was every night like this”? I assured him that while they were always quite BUSY- having Grandma and Grandpa over was an EXTRA special treat – which of course lent itself to extra energy.

I think after more than 3 years though- Aaron and I have finally come to a new place as a couple. This past weekend Sophie was extraordinarily tired and just wanted to sleep all weekend. That, coupled with extra pink eyelids, (which usually mean a build up of CSF fluid) we’ve been extra attentive to what is going on with her. In the past it’s always been me who has said we had an issue but for the first time- Aaron and I agreed that we might have a shunt issue on our horizon- and neither one of us freaked out. The good news is that she seems perfectly fine today so hopefully is just a fluke. The even better news though is that she’s 100 times better today and fully participating in wrestling with her brother.

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