Jaide Claps & Siena Rolls

I just love our little twins.  They are starting play and be so fun.  Don't you just want to squish them!?!

Jaide tries to take off her helmet.  She always pulls her velcro off.

Siena is really into rolling around and scooting (mostly backwards).  A few times she's rocked on her knees.  In this picture she was sitting next to Jaide.  A few min later she had maneuvered herself away.  Can you spot Siena?

I came in the room and Jake was playing with the babies:

Jaide has learned to clap too.  She is so proud of herself!  (I'm sorry it's a vertical video Nate).

I know you've probably already seen the video of Siena clapping, but in case you missed it:

Skin Update

Many of you have asked how my skin is doing.  It's been 3 days since I went to the dermatologist.  My skin feels soooooo much better!  I can't even begin to tell you how well I've slept the past few nights. 

I really hope these miraculous results are from using all the free and clear soaps/lotions and not just the steroids.  The topical steroid is super strong stuff.  A little lip gloss sized tube is like $60.  And the shot is way more potent then the prednisone pills.  I really hate the way it makes me feel.  The side effects are awful.  I can't believe this is my third round this year and it's not even April.  This shot has really effected me emotionally.  The past 72 hours I have been SO ANGRY!  I normally don't have a hot temper, but it is taking all of my will power not to cry/yell/scream every five minutes.  My blood is just boiling!  We ran into a lady from my twin prego class at Meier the other day and I just wanted to punch her husband.  I guess I should explain... all their kids look like little boys, even the twins.  But they are in fact girls.  Well her husband came over to look at our twins and very mattery-of-factly said "Are these boys or girls?  I can't tell."  I don't know why it bothered me so much (well, I do, the prednisone).  But also if he had taken like 5 milliseconds to actually look at the girls he could have figured out from the pink helmets, hot pink carseat covers, and bows on their heads that they are little ladies.  Then he went on to tell me how his wife gained a ton of weight when she was prego with her twins, especially in her legs.  Grrr!  *punch*  I hate the way this feels.  But I love that my skin is finally clearing up!

I can't wait for my patch sticker tests and skin biopsy results.  I've been living in fear of all soaps and lotions for the past few days.

Machines

Jake out snowblowing - a common site this winter.

One day Jake brought to bring home an F150 - Raptor edition!  That night he took some beat up dirt roads when he went to Scouts.  He cruised of the pot holes at like 40 mph!  I think he wants one now... too bad the gas mileage is not great for commuting.  I love that Scarlett is the same size at the tire!

It wasn't a crotch!

Do you remember how Scarlett loudly exclaimed in church "Look! A crotch!"  Well today she was drawing on her magnadoodle again and said "I drew a crotch!"  I looked at her sketch.  It was basically a big rectangle.  I asked her again to tell me what she drew.  This time it sounded more like "grotch" - then it dawned on me - she is saying "garage!"  This whole time she was drawing garages - not crotches!!!!!!!  hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other day I found this on my walls and my floor...

We made her sit in time out while we thought of a good consequence for her bad choice.  We told her that she had to help daddy clean up the crayon.  She didn't fight us on the time out or the cleaning - I think she knew she was doing something bad while coloring.  I remember feeling that way as a kid, like I knew it was wrong but I just-couldn't-control-myself.  

We have to call our chicken "fish" in order for her to eat it - backwards?

One day while in the car her DVD was on the main menu.  I reached down to push play right when she pointed at the screen and said "play!"  Then she yelled "I did it!!!"  haha!  So sweet, I didn't have the heart to tell her it was me.  I want her to believe in magic for as long as possible.

For her birthday Scarlett got a Strider bike.  We found one that looks like a little KTM dirt bike - Jake was sold!  She has played on it a few times in the house but we're all really excited to go outside and ride... if only the weather would cooperate.

Scarlett had a rough day in nursery a few weeks ago.  She even kicked the teacher (sorry Bro Furness) - right in front of me (in her defense she has a really rough night).  At the end of nursery her friend Katelyn said the prayer "Thank that we could play in nursery....... And Scarlett was crying......." apparently her tears really made an impression on her!


Scarlett saw the sign on the family bathroom at church.  She pointed to the man "that's daddy" the woman "that's mommy" and the handicap person in the wheelchair "that's Scarlett"!  I asked her on another sign who they were and she again picked the person as herself.  I guess she thinks those chairs look really cool!

One day I heard her crying at 5:30am - "Mommy!  Mommy!  It's hurting me!"  I went in her room and found a bunch of bows tangled in her hair.  This isn't the first time she's got dressed up in the wee hours of the morning. 

One day she looked outside and saw a little patch of green "There's the grass!!!!! There's the grass!!!!!"  Oh Michigan... you heartless biotch!

Whenever I pretend to eat her "I'm not food. I'm a grwill (girl)"

When she wants to do a learning activities "let's do skuewl (school)!"

Scarlett: "Mom what's inside this sucker?" 
Me: "Nothing?" (it was just a dum dum)
Scarlett: "Ya, I think that the other end of this stick is inside"  I love how her little brain works!!!

Scarlett has regressed from potty training and now just wants to wear diapers.  We've tried a few bribes, throwing out her diapers, etc.  But ultimately it's her choice and just not worth the battle.  Hope she snaps out of it soon though!  And she still hates wearing clothes.  Well, that's not true.  She will wear them when we go out of the house or whenever I get her dressed, but she hates to eat with them on "I don't want to get my clothes messy".  I can't get her to wear bibs, aprons, or even to put her clothes on after the meal.  Little stinker.

When the girls go down for their second nap she will tell me "let's snuggle."  Then we cuddle up on the couch with a blanket.

Today a very tired Scarlett has a full meltdown when she asked me to write the names of the babies.  Full meltdown.  After we got her to "take a deep breath and count to 4: 1-2-3-4."  I asked her what was going on, apparently I forgot the "top line that crosses in the middle" on the "J" in Jaide.  Oh my.  My mom always told me that terrible twos is a misnomer, it should be terrible threes! 

She loves to line up her toys - OCD?

Also, Scarlett is really into picking out her own clothes.  Most days I can get her to let me pick her pants, but sometimes we leave the house looking like this...

The Skinny on my Skin

My hives/rash/skin has been getting progressively worse over the past few weeks.  I'm taking Hydroxyzine full dose every 4 hours (snooze!) and my skin just hurts like a crazy bad sunburn.  It's literally taking over my life.

Last week I thought: what would I do if this were an engineering problem?  I would write out my knowns, unknows, equations, free body diagrams, figure out the safety factor, and approximate the solution.  While not all of those things apply, I decided to take the same approach and write down everything.  I was seriously tempted to break out the engineering paper but decided to type it instead.  I outlined my medications, symptoms, treatment history, possible causes, test results and steps for moving forward.  I had a LOT of internet research that I compiled as well as copies of all my prescriptions and lab results.  I tried to make it as concise and direct as possible. It ended up being 3 pages (plus the lab results).  I love technical writing cause it's very to-the-point.

While I was reviewing the last 6 months of skin symptoms (rash review) I realized that the Allergist has reached a dead end.  Either I use a chemotherapy drug or spend all my money on shots that might not even help.  I would pay for the Xolair shots if there was a guarantee that it would help, but if all these histamine medications aren't helping then why would another histamine medication help?  I'm just not convinced.  I found out this week that I qualify for the shots for free for one year through a foundation!  Wonderful!  But like I said, I'm not even sure they would help.  So I haven't moved forward with the foundation - I thought I would wait til I saw my family doctor.

I decided that I needed a fresh set of eyes on my rash and treatment plan.  So this past Tues I went to my family doctor who I LOVE.  She's just awesome.  She came in the room and asked me to catch her up on what was going on, I pulled out my report, she was super impressed!  We went through it together.  A few times she would ask a question and I would flip to the answer in a different section.  She was stumped.  I've tried everything that she would use.  She said that I need to see a dermatologist to have them biopsy the skin.  Then, moving forward, if they can't figure it out we will go to the University of Michigan where they take crazy medical cases.  She also gave me an anti-anxiety medication for bedtime if I'm feeling extra stressed over this.  Plus I'm starting metformin again for my PCOS.  I told her about all the homeopathic things I am trying right now (thank you to all my wonderful friends and family who have sent me stuff in the mail and lots of ideas to try - I've been doing them all!)  She also mentioned NAET, even though her medical science mind doesn't make sense of it, it really seems to work for lots of people.  I have heard of this before from Carolyn, I think I need to really investigate this for the future.

I saw the dermatologist today.  When I made the appt the receptionist told me they don't usually do a skin biopsy on the first visit.  I was thinking about that today and thought that once they see me they will probably do one today - so last minute I dropped Scarlett off at the Sawayas (didn't think she should see all those needles in her mommy).  Good thing I did cause I was right!  And the last time I got my blood drawn she put her face really close to the needle in my arm and said "oh, poor mommy."

The twins were asleep for most of the appointment and when they woke up they were adorable.  They drew lots of attention... I'm grateful people where staring at them and not looking at my hideous face.  This is how I woke up today - the worst it's been on my face.  With swollen eyelids.  I woke up at 4 am to take more meds for the itching.  I sent Jake and email right then (he always checks his email in the morning) and asked him to give me a blessing.  He woke me up before he left for work to fulfill my request - even if I was all drugged up and loopy.  Thank you sweetie!

The PA came in and looked me over.  She said she thinks she knows what it is, but wanted the doctor to look it over.  They both looked me over and asked me lots of questions.  Apparently not an open and shut case.  I have eczema and hives on my arms and body, but the red/purple/hot/awful rash they think is Atopic Dermatitis.  Basically an allergic reaction.  He said it looks like it is my shampoo and the rash is where the soap rinses down my body in the shower.  What the what?!?!?!??!  YOU MEAN I'M DOING THIS TO MYSELF?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If I was a crier, I would have burst into tears at that moment.  Unfortunately I am a robot, so you will have to imagine how frustrated I am by all the exclamation marks!!!

I told them I haven't changed products, I use the same stuff I've always used.  Regardless, my body has undergone a hormone shift after pregnancy which could have triggered a new allergy.  We originally thought this could be the case months ago, but ruled it out cause I haven't tried anything new.  In fact, Jake even bleached our shower head trying to solve the problem.

Why haven't the histamines helped?  Basically cause I'm exposing myself to the allergen everyday.  I'm a serial showerer.  I would rather leave the house looking like a wet dog then skip my shower and put makeup on.  I have to shower.  Every day.  That includes washing my hair.  So even if the meds were helping, I was re-infecting myself before my body had a chance to recover.  Just a downward spiral that also explains why it's getting progressively worse.

So what's the plan?

Skin Biopsy: They did a skin biopsy on the back of my neck (where the rash is always the worst) to verify the diagnosis or determine a new diagnosis.  The nurse numbed me up first then the PA did some stuff.  I couldn't see what was going on but she told me after that I'll need to come back in 2 weeks so she can remove the stitch.  Scarlett saw my neck later that night and said "Mommy! You have a hole!"

Steroids: They gave me a prednisone shot in my bum to help get on top of this reaction as well as topical steroids (which were way more expensive then I was expecting, but worth it if they help).

New soaps: The biggest thing will be avoiding all my regular soaps/lotions/creams.  I use a lot of products on my skin.  I am a delicate ecosystem and I have a very specific regime every morning and every night.  Instead of using my regular stuff they gave me a bunch of samples of Vanicream products.  They are super duper hypo-allergenic.  I asked if I could even wash the babies in the tub or if my hubby needed to do that.  He said I could wear gloves.  I laughed and said that Jake will probably have to take that over (which he does normally anyways).  The doctor chuckled and said he was just trying to get my husband out from doing that chore.  haha!

Patch Test: In 2 weeks I go back to the office to check everything and make sure I'm healing.  Then I have to go off of all my antihistamines.  Then the next week, when I'm off everything, they will bring me in for a Patch Test.  They will put a bunch of stickers all over my back.  Each sticker contains a different ingredient that is found in soaps/lotions/cleaners that are known to cause allergies.  They will check the stickers on Wednesday and Friday.  For 5 days I can't get my back wet.  This will be a problem (remember: serial showerer).  I'm already freaking out about it.  Luckily Dr. King already gave me the anti-anxiety pills cause I'm positive I will need them that week!  Part of me wonders if I'm allergic to Lanolin.  The rash used to be on my chest really bad (back when I was nursing) and I could only use Lanolin on my nipples.  And right now I have been using Aquaphor on the rash every night - which I hardly used before.  Luckily with the Patch Test I won't have to wonder.  Once they find out the cause they will be able to print a list of soaps and lotions that are safe for me to use.

I told the Dr. that my little brother was getting married on April 30.  He said "don't worry, we'll get you looking beautiful for the wedding."  So............ I'm not looking beautiful now?  heehee ;-)

I really hope this is the end of my itchy nightmare.  Thank you all who have been praying for me and supporting me through this.  Even though I'm causing this allergic reaction, it has been difficult for the doctors to diagnose and to cure.  So I don't feel like a complete idiot (just a little).  But it is so wonderful to know we have family and friends who are there for us through our trials - even the self-inflicted ones!  Is there a 12 step program for serial showerers?

Bath

We finally graduated out of the plastic baby bath tubs.  But the twirls seemed too small to just sit in our big tub, I found this idea on Pinterest...

They love it!!!  All 3 of them sit and play together, splashing and giggling.  So fun

When the twins are out and the water is gone, Scarlett likes to practice her bath skating.  Maybe this sport will be added to Couch Olympics! ;-)

Twins Weights & Scarlett's 3 yr Physical

All 3 of my girls had back to back to back appointments last Friday.  Luckily my dad was in town so I had an extra set of hands.  It was a mad house with babies everywhere!  I had to change the twins to a dry diaper before they could be weighed.  I was changing Siena while she tried to roll off the table.  So I had to roll up her wet diaper with one hand while holding her with the other.  The nurse was so impressed with my one handed changing skills.  I told her I get lots of practice!

Scarlett - 3 yr

• Height: 3 ft 1.75 in (66%)
• Weight: 33 lbs (71%)
• Blood Pressure: 80/48

She has a little patch of Molluscum Contagiosum under her armpit with a little eczema.  It just looks like little tiny zits or warts.  They don't seem to bother her which is good cause it can take months or even years to heal.

She did a vision check where she looked into a machine and answered some basic questions (are the lines pointing to the rabbit, the boy, the bird or the girl?).  Her vision is 20/30 which is what it should be at this age.

This is how she woke me up one morning - so pretty! (no, we don't wear bows to bed)

Siena - 10 mo

• Height: 2 ft 2 in (0%) -- 6 weeks ago: 2 ft 1.25 in (0%)
• Weight: 17 lb 10 oz (26%) -- 6 weeks ago: 14 lb 15 oz (5%)
• Head: 43.81 cm (31%) -- 6 weeks ago: 42.5 cm (15%)

Jaide - 10 mo

• Height: 2 ft 2.5 in (1%) -- 6 weeks ago: 2 ft 1.25 in (0%)
• Weight: 17 lb 11.5 oz (28%) --  6 weeks ago: 14 lbs 11 oz (3%)
• Head: 43.81 cm (31%) -- 6 weeks ago: 42.5 cm (15%)

The twins have gained a bunch of weight in the past 6 weeks!!!  YAY!!!  And for the first time EVER Jaide is heavier than Siena!  Probably cause Jaide finishes whatever Siena doesn't eat in her bottle. Their height hasn't changed much but they could just be short.  Not sure where they would get that from....

They both have 4 teeth on the top and 2 teeth on the bottom.  As we were taking these pictures tonight I noticed that Siena has another tooth poking through on the bottom.  Glad I'm not breastfeeding!!!

Siena learned to clap today.  She also invented a game where she put her binky in Jake's month then laughs - over and over.  We noticed that once they started gaining weight they also started rapidly changing, learning new tricks each day.

Grumple Visits

My dad was working in Canada this past week.  We got to see him Sunday when he flew in for a few hours.  Then he came to our house Thursday and Friday.  It was so fun to hang out!  We had a blast!

Jalapeno Poppers! (stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, baked til delicious!)

Scarlett had to show Grumple her tricks.  She was so surprised when Grumple got in and jumped with her - I'm sad I didn't get that on film (I was taking a nap during that, so I'm not really that sorry).

We got the babies to growl for Grumple during dinner.  Of course once I started filming they stopped growling.  Typical.

Scarlett was feeding her baby too!

We went to Sam's Club, the pediatrician, and I got lots of naps!  It was another fun visit from my daddy!

Growling Grills (aka Girls)

Last week in a moment of desperation I called my friend Denise to come watch the girls.  All of her kids are grown up and she's soooo sweet to help me when I need an extra set of hands.  The twins were asleep so she and Scarlett played in the basement (trampoline city) while I went grocery shopping.  By myself.  Ahhh.  Things I hope I never take for granted: doing a quick trip to the store - alone.

The babies have learned to growl (Grumple will be so proud!!!)

In the morning Scarlett usually tells me "Let's go get the babies.  You get Sienena and I'll get Jaidey Lady."  Then when she sees them she says "Goochy goochy gooo!"  Both babies are rolling all over the floor these days.  If they get too far away from me Scarlett will roll them back.  haha!

When there is music playing the girls love to dance.  I'm always amazed at how dancing is basically an instinct that we're born with.  Why don't we dance all the time?  I know my mom did and I hope to be that example for my girls so they keep their love for dancing.

The twins are getting their canine teeth.

Scarlett is so good at playing with her sisters.  They just love her so much!!!

We go though 32 scoops of formula powder EACH DAY!  They drink 8 oz bottles ~4 times a day. 8*4*2=64 oz of prepared formula.  $$$!  I'm grateful I was able to breastfeed as long as I did.  And that they don't need special, expensive formula.

Did you know that I have magical powers?  Well I do.  Any boo boo or owie that Scarlett gets during the day (and there are many) can be easily taken care of by one of my kisses.  Yep, one kiss and she immediately stops crying.  But such great power comes with great responsibility.  Especially when she hurts her bum.....

The girls love their daddy...

I love being a mom.  It's so much harder than I imagined.  And I love it so much more than I imagined.

I.D.10.T. ERROR

Have you ever heard of the "EYE-DEE-TEN-TEE ERROR"?

aka "I. D. 10. T."

aka "ID10T"

aka "IDIOT"

aka "idiot"...

I had a friend who worked IT support.  Whenever people made silly mistakes (like unplugged their computer and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't turn on) they would call it the "ID10T error".  Hopefully not to the poor, frustrated person's face.

Well this weekend I was subject to the ID10T error.  Let me explain...

My mom told me last week how she loves their names on the helmets.  Not only does it help everyone tell them apart - but it also helps the girls figure out their own identity.  They now have a pretty good idea of what their name is cause we haven't mixed them up (very often) in the past few months.  Thanks mom!  That is a silver lining on this sweaty head adventure.

Well after I got their helmets adjusted last week, their stickers kept falling off.  I blame the heating and reshaping process for decreasing the integrity of the adhesive vinyl.  Anyways, the letters kept falling off but I was too busy/lazy/indifferent to make new letters.  Since we don't really leave the house, I didn't feel a sense of urgency.  That's how we ended up at a spontaneous pie night celebration at Ashley's house with baby "a de" and baby "Sie".  I felt that I needed to explain their poor letters to everyone that night.  "I promise, that's not their real name."  One guy even asked Jake "so how do you pronounce 'Sie'?"  Jake was like "oh it's 'S-eye'...we really like Duck Dynasty."  haha!  So the next day I made it a priority to fix their names.  I read online that many people have used mod podge to get the stickers to stay and be more durable.  I got out my craft supplies and started layering the goop.  I even used my blow dryer to help it set faster.

We bathed the girls and got them ready for bed right that night.  Jake picked up a helmet to put on our tired baby.  He turned to me and said "Jen, I have some bad news."  Then he pointed to the back of the helmets.  There is a tiny sticker that the helmet place put on so we could tell them apart.  There on the back of the beautifully decorated "Siena" helmet was the tiny printed word "Jaide".  Doh.  I switched the names by accident.  ID10T!!!!!!

I tried to convince Jake that we could just switch their helmets.  They are identical after all.  But he wasn't convinced and I didn't really think it was a good idea... I just couldn't believe all my hard work was for naught!  Jake thought it was hilarious - especially cause I am a very detail-oriented individual, so I don't usually do this sort of thing.  We decided to just put them to bed with the wrong name and deal with it later.

The next morning Scarlett came in our room where Jake was feeding the twins.  The first thing she said was "hey, Sienena has Jaidey Lady's jewel!"  oh my goodness!  This whole time I thought she just looked at their helmets to tell them apart.  I was wrong.  She really knows her little sisters!!!

We rushed off to church and got swept up in our crazy routine.  The result?  It is now Tuesday and the girls are STILL rocking the wrong name.  You may have noticed that they are mixed up in the St. Patrick's Day post (Snort - good catch!!!)

Yesterday I stopped by a sign shop and they gave me a TON of vinyl scraps for free!  It's the stuff they use for outdoor car decals.  I'm hoping that it will be more durable and we can skip the whole mod podge mess.  We'll see.  Their stickers are cutting right now on the table next to me.  I will probably get them on sometime this week... I'm not really looking forward to scraping off the current stickers.  But I need to do it soon.  It's getting really confusing.  I have to sit there and think for like 2 min each time I bath/change/feed them just to make sure I have the baby I think I have.

I'm sure this won't be the only time they try to fool us by dressing up as their twin sister.  But in the future it will be their choice, not their mommy's ID10T error.  :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Hopefully you remembered to wear green today... otherwise Scarlett will find you and give you a "little pinches!"

I have a friend who had twins a year before us.  I found these onesies in a box of clothes she gave me.  They are size 6 mo.  I think the twins are finally starting to chunk out and need the right size of clothing!  :-)

I woke up with new hives.  Apparently I don't have the luck of the Irish...

We played with the Sawayas at the church.  Scarlett ran and ran and ran.  She was so tired at bedtime!  I can't wait for warm weather!!!

I brought stick-on earrings for these girls - they had to see what they looked like in the mirror!  Their expressions match their personalities!

Clock Project

I actually finished one of my many projects this week!  Jake bought me a cool, modern clock for Christmas and I knew I wanted to do something unique with it.  I am so proud of myself for completing it while on "tranquilizers".  And it turned out exactly like I imagined!  YAY!

I cut 80 circles in vinyl with my cricut.  Then Scarlett helped me put them on the wall.  This was the best method.  Yes, there was a protractor involved.  I think that being an engineer helps me with most of my crafts!  :-)