My Beautiful Birthday

Continuing on in the spirit of catching up.

The morning of my 36th birthday I woke up late (thank you Eddie)
Ate breakfast I didn't cook (thank you Eddie)
got ready for church, went to church, and came home from church.
ate lunch I didn't have to cook (thank you to the Chavez family, our Home Teachers)
enjoyed a beautiful afternoon and laid down to rest a minute and think about dinner when the doorbell rang and my two good friends arrived with their families and food
I enjoyed a lovely dinner that I didn't have to cook (THANK YOU EDDIE)

I got a lovely present, exactly what I wanted, but it made my friends laugh, it was a canning accesories kit, lid lifter, jar tongs, the whole kit and caboodle.

Then I got the children into bed and went to bed myself.

All in all, I had a lovely day!

Much to be grateful for.

Thanksgiving happened.

I think I should probably disclose to those of you reading this that "happened" is code for the following;

A lot of memorable things took place but I didn't have/find/scrape out time to sit and write about it, so even though it is well past the event, I will now write down what I can remember so that I don't lose even more of what happened to the sands of time.



So Thanksgiving happened and was a milestone, a year from the time we moved into our new home.

We have officially survived the move.

I have survived moving a month before delivering baby/babies twice now.

I survived having twins via c-section

I survived being a NICU parent

I survived leaving the hospital without my babies, and bringing home 2 newborns

I survived my mother and mother-in law each in turn returning to their regular lives

I survived Eddie returning to work after his paternity leave.

Liana starting kindergarten and Ella starting 2nd grade (2 different pick up times)

Teaching my rotation of Nina's preschool co-op.

breastfeeding twins for 11 months (they weaned themselves)

Twin teethers (they each have 4 teeth)

twin crawlers

and any day now twin walkers (Amalia is already training for a 5K and AJ took 4 steps on his birthday!)

I don't mean to imply it was bad when I use the word "survive" it just hits me more and more what we have lived through this past year. It's a lot, but it is all good stuff.

I feel incredibly grateful to be in a home large enough for my large family to live in and not have to step on eachother's toes all day and night. I am grateful for a husband who works so hard to provide for all of us without me having to w0rk outside of the home. Grateful for extended family who come to visit and help out every chance they get. Grateful for smart children who did the best in school in spite of all the upheaval in their lives. Grateful for good friends who have really helped me get through this past year with a smile on my face...or at least on my heart, sometimes I have been too tired for it to make it to my face.

So Thank You Heavenly Father, for all these gifts which I am still recieving.

The magic of Nina

There is a magic to three-year-olds,

-

Something not found in other ages.

A 3-year-old is a changeling child who gets all the perks.

Old enough to climb the monkey bars, small enough to fall asleep on some one's shoulder.

Smart enough to import the bathroom stool to the kitchen so as to reach goodies on the counter,

innocent enough to get off light - or lets face it get off completely with the right smile and that glint in her eye.

Nina has a little more magic then most some days.

She is a brilliant singer, with a vibrato that she uses to great effect when she desires. In addition to a vast repertoire of toddler and primary favorites, she composes her own songs, and will even compose on demand;

"Nina will you sing me a song about ladybugs?"

"Ladybugs don't hurt you, they just will tickle you, and ladybugs are pretty...."

She has a great smile and when she wants to be funny she turns it all the way to one side and squints at you through half closed eyes.

She is all girl - with frequent applications of "chopsticks and lip glasses" (chapstick and lip gloss of course!) She looks "Ferfect, like a princess" - I didn't miss type, anyone who is anyone knows "Ferfect" is the correct way to pronounce "perfect."

Nina is a shoe fanatic. With a special fondness for high heels -of course! The ultimate in shoes of course are Tap Shoes, which in spite of being too small for Liana are still 2 sizes too big, this does not stop her from wearing them every chance she gets and they are not only a fashion statement, she will dance command as well - requiring an introduction and a round of applause every 30 seconds or so as payment.

She lays claim to any and all belongings she deems desirable, most often she firmly believes said items were given to her for Christmas by her grandma (even if said item is oh, say, her big sister's library book.)

The exception to her being girly is he hair, she does not want it done up in bows, she wants it "long" which is translated as " a swirling octopus of tendrils reaching out in to the cosmos, drawing life force from the atmosphere." her world is not happy if her hair is tamed into a clip or ponytail.

There are days when I forget to see the magic in Nina,

Days when the twins are all over me or getting themselves into dangers,

days when the big girls have homework and laundry is piled knee deep,

Days when I can't think what to make for dinner, what I needed at the store, where the important paper is, what time we need to be somewhere, etc., etc., etc.

There are too many of those days lately.

Days when Nina shows her temper, she throws tantrums and yells or cries when things are not going her way, and when I take her to time out, she will kick and scream and thrash,

But then, after sitting for a moment she will call to me;

"I sorry mommy, I said I sorry... Hold me?"

And then the magic happens, she suddenly becomes very small, so little and tiny, and she looks at me with her big eyes and I am compelled to pick up my little "Ninabirdy" and hold her close.

She folds herself into your lap when you hold her, she compacts herself into a little egg of comfort and warmth,

And the magic of Nina takes over once again.

Nina in November

November came and brought with it the winds. We had previously decided to have a birthday party for Nina at the park.
We had games planned, "Put the tiara on the princess," "Pass the Present", etc.
We had decorations planned, streamers, balloons, banners, etc.
We had cupcakes with candles and even remembered to bring matches.
Unfortunately Mother Nature was using her leaf blower.

Balloons blew away as we handed them to the girls to put out.
Decorations ripped and scattered.
The poster sized "Put the tiara on the princess." princess Blew off in spite of being taped on all 4 sides.
We had cupcakes but even with a blanket wrapped around the table as a wind block, candles were futile.
Eddie was at work, but thankfully, we also had good friends who helped keep the small children from blowing away, consoled the medium sized children when the decorations blew away, and even helped the big children practice their tree climbing skills safely.

Ella said it was the worst party ever,
Nina had a wonderful party at the park.

Halloween happened.

Ok so it happened a while ago, but we didn't actually take many pictures that night so last Saturday I made everyone dress up again for the photo op. Before we get to the adorable-ness let me share our fabulous pumpkins.

Liana and Nina's are direct translations from their drawings, Ella's was her idea with a few adjustments for size and amount of detail, I am not on the right level of skill to carve individual broom straws or cat whiskers.

Now to the main event, here are the girls

and some friends on Halloween night,

and the individual pics,

Nina decided to be a ballerina, fabulous not only because she was cute and we got to call her "ballernina" but also because we already owned everything she wanted to wear.

Liana was Red-Riding Hood she wore a cute dress-up dress we already owned and I am pleased with how the cape I sewed turned out, as I had no pattern.

Ella wanted to be Wendy from Peter Pan and I am VERY happy with how it turned out as I had no pattern and only a blurry picture in a story book to go off of.

AJ and Amalia may have wanted to be many things but as they have yet to talk they got to be Captain Hook

and Tinkerbell.

Credit for both costumes goes to my dear friend Margie who has rescued me many times and in many ways.

So in recap, kids were cute, costumes were worn, and mass quantities of candy were acquired (most of which is now in my cupboard waiting to be stuffed into the Thanksgiving Turkey Pinata a tradition 4 years in the running now.)

BONUS FEATURE!

Ever wonder where all those pirated movies come from?

Real twins

The babies had their 9 month check-up yesterday, (Yes they will be 10 months in 3 days, but it still counts if it's in the 9th month right?)
A.J. and Amalia are both 27 inches long now.
They are both crawling and thinking about standing.
Of course Amalia had to get a leg up on her brother, she now weighs 1 pound more than her brother.
But A.J. got to be first in a major milestone, he cut his first tooth on Monday and his second on Tuesday.

Family on the go

Our family has really been on the go latelyWe loaded up our limoand went to the LA County FairWhere we went hog wild for the day.The babies have turned being on the go into a competitive sport.
The first point goes to AJ, for reaching the top of their recreation blocks. Amalia quickly responds by using the blocks to stand up.

AJ learned from his sister and for a while, we thought there would be peace.

Until Amalia decided to put her knowledge and ability towards loftier goals.

Unfazed by her strides, AJ decided to take a break and fortify himself with Green Beans. (and grew a mustache to add to his macho intimidation factor.)

Feeling strong in his machismo, AJ set out to new frontiers and discovered...

THE STAIRS!

Oh yes, the stairs, the pinnacle of pre-toddler adventure. There is no topping that... right?

Wrong.

Oh so wrong,

for sheer determination, in the face of the impossible, (and in pursuit of her daddy's laptop)

Amalia wins the gold!

Happy Birthday Siblings

Happy Birthday to my September Siblings! Mandy, Mark, and especially Peter, even though it's past, I love you too!

Big Girls are everywhere!

My house is full of big girls, two weeks ago this big girl showed up at my house.

That's right, it's Kindergarten Liana on her 1st day of school! Not only did she not cry on the first day, but she made friends with the little girl who was crying and tried to comfort her. She had a fabulous first week and now here we are at the end of her second week and she is still going strong. She can already read and is getting better at writing every day.

Nina has started preschool and is more than a little proud of herself.

She should be proud, her friend who is 6 months older than her is potty trained so she decided she wants to "wear panties all the time too" and has pretty much potty trained herself. (I've been trying to do the job for 6 months now, I am convinced now more than ever that the key to success is that the child is ready.)

Ella started second grade with a fabulous Jack'o Lantern smile, she had 5 teeth extracted. She is reading at a third grade level and doing much of her home work without my assistance, which I really appreciate.

Amalia has decided to crawl and to pull herself up to standing on anything she can reach, thankfully she is still really short so this limits the number of places she can do this trick. I live in fear of when she will discover the stairs.

And how is A.J. faring with all these big girls around? He is decidedly comfortable with his repertoire of sitting and rolling, why actually crawl or stand? If something is any good one of those big girls will bring it to him. Even if they don't bring it, he has other ways of getting where he wants to go.

This last photo is just a bonus.

Magic in the air?

Liana asks me today "Is magic real?"
And I am at a loss to answer her, I know where it is coming from, a few weeks ago we went to a magic show at the library where small animals of various degrees of cuteness appeared from various surprising places and objects. At the end of the show the magician told the kids that they too could perform magic tricks and they could learn them by reading books. This prompted a discussion between the older girls about whether it was really magic if you could learn to do it.

What is my answer, do I believe that there are things in this world that are not slight of hand?

Do I think that one can pull a rabbit out of one's hat if one hasn't previously stuffed said creature into said chapeau? NO.
Do I think that those scantily clad assistants are really cut into pieces and later rejoined without harm? NO.
But do I think that sometimes the very thing I need shows up at the very time I need it? Yes.

Do I believe that there are fairies in the woods? No, But I like to pretend it and to see my own little pixies flying about, imagining they can fly.
Do I believe in hexes and spells and superstitions? No but I believe that people are vulnerable to them when they believe in them.

Do I believe in magic?
I believe in the magic of laundry warm from a dryer, it will always make me happy and for a second it will make me younger as I imagine a laundry basket big enough for me to crawl into and bury myself in the sensation of warm and clean.

I believe in the magic of books, especially fiction, they have the ability to transport us to foreign places and expose the human condition, giving us opportunities to truly understand others and have compassion for them.

I believe in the magic of Theatre for many of the same reasons as books, but adding in the sense of community that is built in the production, both in the preparation and the performance, for both the actors and the audience, and the production crew.

I suppose I believe in magic because I believe in the power of imagination and in the beauty of this world and this experience.

As a Latter-Day Saint I know that my beliefs and my testimony that God lives seem to some as theoretical as the tooth fairy. But to me knowing that God exists and cares about me and my family is the best kind of magic, and it is real.

So how did I answer Liana?
I said that God created us with bodies and brains and the fact that they work seems magical to me. Even more magical, I get to be the mother to these incredible children. There is magic in twins who are so alike and so different at the same time, magic in big girls who like to do the Hokey Pokey over and over again, and definately magic in sleeping children and a quiet house.

On feeding children.

I have previously written about the many ways of trying to feed children. At this juncture I have a few thoughts to add


The twins have been an interesting micro-study on just how different babies can be. Since their first feedings in the NICU they have been very different.

In the hospital Amalia was aggressive, she would get hold of her bottle, drain it dry, and very often bring it all back up in just as aggressive a manner. A.J. took longer to be strong enough to eat, he ate slower and spent more time on the feeding tube, but he always kept down everything he took in.


Once they came home it was a similar story, Amalia wanted to eat everything, so we kept feeding her and she kept spitting it out. Once we took her to the breastfeeding clinic where they weighed her before and after eating we realized she was eating twice as much as she needed, we tapered her down on ounces and she kept it in. A.J. kept on the "slow and steady wins the race" approach and it has worked for him.


Now here we are at 8 months and for the past 2 months we have been trying to feed them rice cereal etc. baby food. Amalia wants it all, any flavor, any time, she will eat it hot or cold.
A.J. does not want it ever, as soon as a spoon approaches his mouth it shuts, and to the delight of his older sisters he will sometimes also shake his head "NO" causing baby food to be spread across his face, often in a thin mustache . He likes teething biscuits and baby snacks that he can pick up and gum, but try to squeeze a little strained peas in there and the fun is done. He resists airplanes coming in for a landing or choo choo trains coming to the tunnel. I have to get him to smile with his mouth open and try to sneak it in.
There is only one way he has willingly ingested baby food, and I am not willing to prepare this method every night. You see one night we were eating corn on the cob, and as A.J. was watching me eat very intently, I gave him my empty cob, which he attacked with great energy. I snuck some mashed squash on the cob and he slurped it up. I was able to get him to eat a whole (baby-sized) bowl of food, something that hadn't ever happened before. I imagined myself cooking corn on the cob every night and having to make extra trips to the grocery just to make sure I always had a cob, then I remembered, babies grow up.

SO when we are having corn on the cob, A.J. can too, and in the mean time I will be happy that he is such a happy boy that it doesn't take much to make him smile so that I can sneak the food in.

The month of July - a work in progress

I thought for all of our amusement I would run through the month of July as it went down for the Au family. I won't wait till the end of the month cuz by that time I will probably be sick and forget to post.



1- Visit with Grandparents - lots of fun!


2- Grandma and Grandpa take us to Scandia, our local mini amusement park.

3 - Drive to Long Beach to celebrate a fabulous birthday with one of my favorite cousin's daughter, also to drop my Mom off so she could fly out of that airport the next day.

4 - Go to Church in the morning, watch fabulous fireworks from our neighborhood, with our actual neighbors!

5- Say good bye to my Dad as Eddie drives him into LAX

6-

7 - Pioneer school, we made barbie outfits out of brown paper bag (to resemble buckskin clothes)

8
9
10- Attend our buddy Owen's baptism, beautiful day with his beautiful family.
11
12 - Centex Homes Reps and an A/C technician come to see if they can figure out the loud buzzing sound that occurs in the wall of the babies' room when we turn on the AC. They cut a large hole on the wall, push the AC pipes around and determine that they cannot figure out the loud buzzing sound, but will send someone to fix the wall on Friday

13 - Pediatrician for the twins, Eddie has other commitents, I get to take all 5 kids. Both babies have made it onto the growth chart, Amalia has a slight fever so she can't get her vaccinations, AJ has a little rash on his face that "might be" heat rash.

14 - Ella and Nina's check ups, Eddie is working, I get to take all 5 kids along, again. Both girls are doing fine, though Ella may never pass the 50 lb mark, Amalia still has a fever and has now developed the signs of an ear infection, starts antibiotics. Downstairs A/C unit is blowing suspiciously warm air.

15 -Temperature outside hits 103, AJ's rash now includes his arms and thighs, downstairs air conditioner is blowing hot air, same A/C tech from Monday comes out, determines we are low on coolant. We either have a leak or they never filled it full when the house was built in November. Can' t find the leak, but assures me it isn't related to the exploration on the 12th.

16 - Dry-wall repair guy comes out to fix the wall, when he opens the dry wall a distinct hissing sound is heard, opens a bigger section to reveal a nail from the baseboard has pierced the coolant line, which is smaller than my pinky but just happened to be the in the exact place that someone decided to shoot a finishing nail, two cm above the protective flashing. the nail is extracted, and the results may be seen in the following video clip.

Many hours later the coolant line is fixed, the drywall is repaired and primed.

Many loads of laundry later and the loads of clean laundry I had in baskets on the bed are once again clean.

17 - Dry wall repair guy returns to paint the wall and wipe everything from wall to wall to ceiling down in order to remove the plaster dust etc.

18- Eddie, Ella, and Liana are all ill, Nina the babies and I go to church without them. I am teaching a lesson and AJ chooses that time to realize that the nice lady who was holding him, was not me, he screamed in the hallway during the last 5 minutes.

19 - My fabulous husband took the 2 oldest girls to the dentist. Good news? We have dental insurance. Bad news? Ella's teeth are all growing in behind the baby teeth instead of under them, she has to go back in two weeks to have 5 extractions. Her 2nd grade pictures are gonna be cute!

20 - Liana's physical, all 5 kids go together back to the pediatrician, then hurry to the Library for story time.

21 - Pioneer school, but I can't remember what we did, it was all so long ago.

22 - Everyone is feeling well, the weather wasn't too hot, so we went to the park. We had to leave early to get drop of Ella, Nina, and AJ with Eddie who was home sick, so I could return to the Pediatrician for Amalia's vaccinations and have Liana's TB test checked. The visit went fine and I called Eddie to see if he needed anything on the way home, only to find that Nina had come up with a fever, later confirmed to be 102 F.

23 - Nina's fever seemed to be improving, so I put her down for a nap and as the babies were happy I snuck off to Costco, half way through my shopping list Eddie calls to report that all 5 children are crying. I hurry home to relieve my poor ailing husband.

Later that day as I was settling the babies down for the night, Nina reawakens and has another high fever, so with a prayer that the others would stay down, Nina and I head off to urgent care, returning home at 1:30 in the morning with a prescription for antibiotics.

24 - Happy Pioneer Day! As referenced previously, we have been having pioneer school this summer to keep the big girls actively engaged in learning. The activity at our local church building was to be one of 2 culminating events, they had booths of crafts and activities for people of all ages, we had fevers and sore throats for children of most ages. Nina didn't feel like eating anything and had to be coaxed into drinking anything, Ella woke up coughing, Liana went to bed with a fever. Eddie returned to work in spite of his lingering illness.

25- Liana's fever worsens, Eddie takes her to urgent care, infected tonsils = antibiotics.

For those of you keeping count that's 4 members of the family on antibiotics at the same time.

26- Ella and Amalia wake up at 4:00 AM with fevers, Amalia is done with her antibiotics, ear check at the Dr's reveals no sign of infection, ergo, this is something new. Ella however has signs of infection, antibiotic count rises to 5.

On the upside Eddie bought us a laptop, there is a direct corrolation between that purchase and the posting of this blog, now I can write and supervise the sick ward at the same time.

27 -Back to the peditrician Amalia's ear is infected and she is on a new antibiotic. AJ wakes up from his afternoon nap with a fever.

28 - Everyone wakes up without fever, a cause for celebration. Pediatrician calls, as suspected Strep is at least one of the causes of our woe.

6 months into twins

It has been over 6 months since the twins were born, even 6 months since we brought them home, and I am almost feeling normal, or at least the new normal. I thought I would share some things I have noticed,

My house isn't as clean as I would like it to be.
I am not as organised as I would like to be.
I don't sleep as much as I would like.
My kids and I yell at each other more than I would like.
I miss my husband more now that he is working nights.
I miss my parents because they were just here for a visit and now they are gone.
I miss my siblings because they all live so far away.
I am taking all of my children to the doctors for physicals next week and the older ones to the dentist the following week, co-pays and waiting room time will take years off my life.
I enjoy cooking but detest figuring out what to cook each night.
I would like to have menus all planned out, but I have been thinking that for years now....

I could go on, but I have already noticed that every complaint I have is a result of a huge blessing in my life, I have this great house full of beautiful things, a healthy family and extended family, a husband who works hard and provides for all our needs. I even have a freezer and refrigerator, close access to a grocery store, and children who eat vegetables, sometimes even happily.
I'm going to go be appreciative for a while
- although I would be even more appreciative if someone would tell me what to make for dinner tonight.

Preschool Graduation Class of 2010, class of 2

This year in our Preschool Co-Op we had only two students, which turned out to be just fine as we then also only had 2 teachers and both of us had twins this year in addition to our 3 other children!

We still managed to have a lot of fun and enough learning, even if we didn't get to take as many photos. Here are a few highlights,

Friendship day, where preschool alumni and prospective students came together to celebrate being friends

U is for Unicorn, and Usually we forget to take cute pictures but that day I remembered! This is the crowd of proud family and friends waiting for the graduation exercises to begin This is the class of 2010 recieving their diplomas

And sporting the accolades of their adoring fans!

Hooray for Kindergarten next year!

Done and Done and Done!

Yes I know I haven't posted for a while and have neglected to catalog the older children and their activities. I am here to make amends

Nina has realized that the babies are here to stay and she is no longer automatically the center of attention! As such, and as she is 2 1/2 years old she has a new strategy in life, if the attention doesn't come to you, go get the attention! She likes to do tricks like somersaults and the splits, she likes to pretend that she is a baby, which entails not using any words, but sticking out her tongue and grunting and pointing at things she wants! She also loves to sing and has a tremendous vibrato that she like to insert at odd times.

Liana is ready to graduate PreSchool next week, she has started to read, putting letters together in her mind and piping up periodically with questions like "does F.A.N. spell fan?" She is registered for Kindergarten and excited to get there and really start learning!

Ella just finished her last day of First Grade! I can't believe how fast the school year went! Speaking of reading, Ella has turned into a voracious reader and is currently reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in the "Little House on the Prairie" series.
Last Saturday was the annual dance recital where Ella and Liana both did wonderfully. Nina sat on the edge of her seat the whole time eating animal crackers, watching each number intently, and repeating her mantra, "I go my dance class when I be 4!" Amalia slept through the entire show! A.J. was his usual affable self, requiring only a bottle and a diaper change to keep him happy. In all it was a lovely recital and the shine light of accomplishment shining in Ella and Liana affirmed that it was time and money well spent. Eddie topped the evening off by buying the dancers some soft tacos for a post recital snack.
I'm gonna go ahead and post now, but before I go I had better add that A.J. and Amalia have both mastered the art of rolling over from back to tummy!
Of course they usually top it off by spitting up and smashing their faces in it, gotta work on rolling back to their backs!

A.J. Chimes in

It has been called to my attention that according to photographic evidence, my dear sister Amalia seems to have more emotional diversity than I.
Let's examine the evidence...
..... ......I am not sure that this is trueIn fact I take umbrage at that suggestion, or at least I would, if I knew what umbrage was.I am really quite surprised that so many people have arrived at that conclusionI was only acting under the advice of my manager who suggested that as there were two of us, and Amalia seemed rather vocal, perhaps I should take a more "laid back" approach to life.
I'm actually very social and attune to things, I have to be with that little cannibal around, always trying to take a bite out of me.Is it my fault that she can't take a jokeI have decided that life is amusingIf I just relax, and take a little time away...To chill with the guys....
I can come back refreshed, And then I can help Amalia be happy too!Oh, and by the way,
Happy Birthday Uncle Matt