A mess!

Things seem to be changing around here. I just told my Mama today that I feel like the tides have shifted or something. I used to be the one in control of the little people, but in some small way, I feel that things have kinda flip-flopped in the last few days. Could it be "terrible twos"? I refuse to think that my children could be described as terrible, but I would be willing to say that they are definitely pushing every button they can find right now. There has been fighting over toys, pushing, fit-pitching over a Publix balloon, and Rush even hit Sydney Frances yesterday in the kitchen. I am just not sure I am ready for this. I found myself standing in the Parenting and Family Life section at Books A Million today. When I walked in the door of the book store, they had a big display of _______ for Dummies books. I thought to myself (seriously).."Wonder if there is a Toddlers for Dummies or even better TWIN Toddlers for Dummies..." I didn't find a book that I wanted to guide me through this next phase. Truthfully, I am not the parenting book type. I am feeling like I need a little guidance here, though, so if you know of a good book that you have loved that deals with raising happy, loved, well-behaved toddlers, leave it for me in comments. I would be willing to give it a shot to help me feel better prepared for our next phase.

Just in case these subtle changes weren't enough, I walked into the twins' nursery on Wednesday to get them up after their nap. But, apparently, Rush no longer needs me for that because he was standing next to a table in his room making some adjustments to the CD player. Yes, I said standing outside his crib. Like, when he was supposed to be IN the crib, he was OUT of the crib. You can imagine my surprise. My initial reaction was not "OH MY GOSH.. Rush climbed out of his crib!!" Maybe I was just in denial. I had been in the back of my house, so I my initial thought was... "When did Phil get home and take Rush out of his crib?" You know, because that's what we always do... just let the kids run around in their room completely unattended. We encourage them to change CDs and press buttons and stick their fingers in the fan. I was so unwilling to believe that Rush could exit the crib on his own, that I believed Phil had come home from work in the middle of the afternoon without saying a word to me and taken Rush out of his crib. And then, I guess Phil just mysteriously left again. Of course, that is the only logical explanation. I am still somewhat in denial. This is a whole new ballgame. The crib was the one place that I was confident that no one could do any major damage. It meant I could take a quick shower or fold those last few shirts. Now, I am worried I will hear Rush in the den in the middle of the night bouncing the basketball or riding his four wheeler. I'll keep you posted on the sleeping situation.

Sydney Frances has also recently impressed us with her comedic talents. We went to visit my sister at the end of last week. We got back home on Friday evening, and the kids were eating dinner in their chairs in the kitchen when Phil came in from work. We hadn't seen him in a few days, so we had been talking about seeing Daddy when he got home. Usually when Phil comes in, it is a very exciting time. The kids are so glad to see him and get very excited. This time was different, though. When Phil walked through the door, the kids just froze and didn't say a word. See, Phil had gotten a haircut that is his "summer do". It is much shorter than he usually keeps his hair. (Almost a buzz cut, but not quite that short...) Anyway, much different. So, I think the new haircut really threw them off. Finally, our little Fran pointed at his head and said, "A mess." Of course, we found that quite hilarious. The kids just kept staring at him... which we found even more hilarious. Now, if you ask her about her Daddy's hair, she will tell you it is "a mess".

Our pictures for this post are from our visit with Aunt Ivy, Uncle Tony, and Kate. It was fun... hectic... but fun!! Having three kids there gave us a run for our money! Someone was always eating or sleeping! Ha! So basically, we fed kids and I told mine "NO!", "Stop that!", and "Go to time out" about 100 times. Again, the tides have turned.

We had some fun swimming with our buddy Carson and his Mama, Ashley. She is Ivy's best friend since they were five, and we love Carson and Ashley dearly. Carson would like for you all to know that "I do not like fireworks." He made us laugh.

Ashley took some beautiful pictures of the kids at the pool. I wish I had a way to post those, but if you are my FB friend, they are under photos of me. It makes me want to learn to use my new camera.

Syd was much more interested in "helping" with Kate this time. She is helping Aunt Ivy feed Kate her bottle.


We even got a picture of them holding hands!! Too bad SF was still cooling off after our trip to the park (see below). She's a little underdressed. :-)


There was an cool park near Ivy's house that had a wooden train where the kids has fun playing and peeking through the windows. Rush sat in a "big boy" swing for the first time since there was only one enclosed swing. He did great until the end. He fell out of the swing, but he recovered pretty quickly.





Finally, we will be giving our new Puddle Jumpers a try in the next couple of days. I am hoping this will be the answer to the problem we have had finding something appropriate for them to float in this year. It has been a struggle. They are very excited about the new things and keep saying "Pool" when they walk by them. :-)