Chalk Art

The other day, Mairead was very busy with her sidewalk chalk, and she was drawing something with a great deal of concentration and purpose. I asked her, "What did you make?", and she responded, "A rake."

Well, I'd say that looks like a rake! It was a pretty random thing for her to draw, but I thought it was a pretty good rake!



Sorry for such a quick post-- we have been spending most of our time outdoors this week because of the insanely hot temperatures. I'll post more soon, but I was so proud of her drawing that I had to share!

Sickness, steps, and smiley faces

It has been a while since I last posted because we have had so much going on. The best news is that Nana is now home. She was discharged from the hospital last Sunday and is resting comfortably at home. She is one tough lady, that is for sure! Her homecoming meant that there were lots of preparations to be made... I'll get to that in a bit.

Another reason we have been busy is because all of the kids were a bit under the weather this week. They had nasty colds with coughs, and no one was getting any sleep. Mairead handled things pretty well but the babies were miserable. They were so tired but they were so congested that they couldn't sleep. They just wanted to be held all the time. It turns out that Jack has an ear infection (his third), so he may have had the worst of it. They are on the mend now, but still not quite themselves. I am anxious for them to get better so that we can all get some sleep. And, so we don't have to be stuck inside anymore. I love cartoons as much as the next person, but we are ALL sick of watching tv and feeling lousy! I also could do without the runny noses, thousands of tissues, changing sheets from people being sick, and no sleep. You know, the not so fun parts of being a parent!

The boys never sit still, but they were just so sick that snuggling on their little chair together was about all they could do. They were pretty much attached to their blue blankets this week.


The other night, my mom brought home lobster for dinner. Mairead loved seeing him. Dave always points them out when they go to the grocery store, so she knew just what it was and how to say, 'lobster.' She kept petting it and saying, "oh, so cute!" Please forgive the Oreo cookie crumbs on her face.

She has impressed us a few times this week so I have to share. I gave her a marker and some paper the other day, and she drew a face! She has never done this before... most of her coloring is just scribbles, but lately she has had more of a purpose. It's hard to see in the picture because she wouldn't move her hand, but there were definitely eyes, a nose, and a mouth. I was so proud of her- this is another new skill! I asked her what she was doing and she said, "eyes." Then, she started to scribble a bit over the eyes and said, "glasses." Pretty smart, huh?

The other cute story is from this morning. She was looking out the window to see if she could find the cardinal that lives in our yard. She was saying, "red bird, are you? Red bird?" I couldn't see him so I told her that he was hiding. So, she covered her eyes, counted to 10, and then said, "ready or not, here I come!" I was blown away- I didn't know she knew how to play hide n' seek!

We are thrilled with all of the progress she is making. We do, however have a lot of important dates coming up. Tomorrow, for example, I am taking her to a local elementary school to be evaluated by a team of teachers to determine whether or not she qualifies for an IEP. There is a lot riding on this since we really want her to go to public pre-school in the fall and get the services she needs. Early Intervention ends on her third birthday, but she still desperately needs services. In Lowell, pre-school starts at age 4 unless the student has an IEP; in that case, she can go at age 3. She has done so well with the therapies she now has that we know we can't wait for her to be 4 before she goes to school... that would be a whole year without some of the services and social settings that she needs. There are some private options, but the local public preschool is really what she needs.

So, please send us some good thoughts and prayers for tomorrow so that the team will see that she is a smart little girl who needs their help. I don't want her to show them all of her 'talents' because I want her to qualify, so hopefully she will clam up a bit during the evaluation!

June 1 is the day we see the neurologist at the stroke clinic, and that day is fast approaching, too. I thought it would never some-- I first called to set up this appointment on February 3! Now that it is almost here, I am certainly anxious about what the neurologist might have to say about what is going on in her little brain. We have so many questions- hopefully he can begin to answer some for us.

The boys (other than being sick) are doing great. Jack is trying to talk all the time! And, he has been taking 2-3 real steps at a time! His new thing is to ask, "where's the bird?" when looking out the window. He is also trying to say, "Help, please," and a few other phrases. Ben mostly likes to concentrate on the physical side of things. He thinks he can do whatever Mairead can do, so he is constantly toddling along after her, trying to climb things, dance, and keep up with her.

When you ask the boys if it is windy, they both blow and make a whooshing sound. They also like to demand 'crackers' constantly.

Anyway, back to Nana. When we learned that she was coming home, there was a lot of activity around here to get her house ready and comfortable for her. The biggest project was the set of stairs that lead down to her house. We had been waiting for warmer weather to replace them, but suddenly they needed to come down quickly with a new set in their place.

Jimmy and Lee came up for the day to help. In a role reversal, Brian was the foreman of the job while my dad and uncles were his crew. It's funny because when he was just a toddler, he was following them around while they completed projects, carrying his little hammer and screwdriver. Now, he is the expert carpenter! They did a great job and got it done in one day!

Mairead and Ben wanted to check out the action, but had to be kept away from tools, etc. So, Jimmy entertained them for a while.

Thanks for checking in with us and thanks for all of your good wishes and prayers for Nana. Things are starting to settle down a bit now... we've had just about all the excitement we need for a while!

Good Things Come in Threes

When we knew we were expecting twins, lots of people told us that we would have 'double trouble,' or 'double the fun.' We received so many gifts in cute little pairs, and had two of just about everything. Now that the twins are toddlers and not babies anymore, we find that we have just about everything in threes! Three kids under the age of three can be chaos, but it really is so much fun, too. It is so cute to see our little trio trotting around together, and although they leave a trail of toys (and sometimes destruction) in their wake, little things in sets of threes adorable. I know that they will grow up so quickly and these little things will be gone before I know it, so I try to appreciate that every time I step on a car, a truck, a crayon, a...

I like this picture of their three coats and Red Sox hats, all ready to go out for our walk.


This is a lot more than three diapers... I think 18-20, which is what we go through on a given day. 18 diapers+ countless wipes + a lot of wrestling = a lot of time just changing babies!


I also thought I should try to write out just what it is we do every day. Really, Wednesdays and Fridays are the only days we have all to ourselves. Someone has some kind of therapy on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and the weekends are full of adventures with family and friends. Therapy days are hard because we have to make sure everyone is fed, clean, and awake when the therapist gets here, and the house has to be clean and vacuumed, too. Tuesdays and Thurdays are the days with the most going on, so on those days I feel like I run around in circles. It's worth it, though, since all of the kids are doing so well in their therapies.

Anyway, our day starts at about 7:30. Dave leaves for work by 6, so I actually get to 'sleep in' a bit. If everyone would just sleep all night every night, maybe 7:30 wouldn't seem to come so quickly! The kids wake up and I usually get the boys first. They make me smile every morning when I walk into their room because they are usually jumping up and down and babbling to each other from their cribs. When I walk in, they both start giving kisses and laughing; I just love it.

I change them and bring them downstairs for breakfast. Usually, Dave gets out their cereal bars and often fills their sippy cups before he leaves for work.

Ideally, we would go for a walk after breakfast on M/W/F, but the weather doesn't always cooperate! So, we just play around the house, get everyone dressed, or watch whatever show Mairead is infatuated with this week.

The boys still take two naps (for which I am very grateful), so they go back to bed around 9:30, at which point I am able to take a shower while Mairead plays on her own for 10 minutes. Don't worry- I do have a video monitor in the family room so I can keep an eye on her.

Sometimes, while the boys are sleeping, Mairead and I have time to do something together. We might draw or color, do a little arts and crafts project, play computer, or use play-doh (which she calls, 'squish').

Usually, she can do something independently to give me a chance to pick up a bit, vacuum, throw in some laundry, or work on my online class for a few minutes.

Today, we had a new activity- our first skype session! Jen, Mike, and Bean called us and Mairead was speechless. She did manage to say, "Hi Mike" and Hi Jen," and then asked for the dog and made dog sounds. She kept pressing buttons on the keyboard- I think she thought she was making it happen.

After morning naps and activities, it is time for lunch, and this happens at 11 or 11:15. I think I spend more time in food related activity than anything else. I prep a meal, serve and supervise a meal, and then clean up a meal. With three meals a day, plus snack time, that is a lot of time dedicated to eating. We have three growing kids and they require a lot of fuel!

These are the sweaters made by my dad's friend, Kathy. They look so cute in them!

I try to get them to the playground on Wednesdays or Fridays (weather permitting). They love it and it gets us all some exercise before afternoon naps.

If it's not nice out, we stay in and play around the house.

Or dance to Desiree in the kitchen.

Or color.

We have worked it out so that for about an hour to an hour and a half on most days, all three are asleep at the same time., which is about 1-2:30 ish. I use this time to work, clean, do laundry, pay bills, etc. Dave gets home by about 3:30, which is a huge help to me in the afternoons. He usually takes them for a long walk around 4:15 so I can get dinner ready for them by 5 without them underfoot.

Often, while I am supervising dinner, Dave gets the tub ready for baths. Usually, finding empty laundry baskets to use for the boys is the challenging part. Ideally, we have three adults on hand for this process. The boys go in together, but it's tough for one person to watch them since they both want to stand up. So, Dave and I bathe them together. The third adult (usually my mom) distracts Mairead so that she does not 'help' with the baths. We dress the boys and get them ready for bed, and then Mairead goes in alone (we change the water-don't worry!).

The boys are in bed at 7 and then Mairead goes at about 8. It's nice to have the hour with just her. This usually involves Dave and I pretending to be asleep, and then Mairead pretends to be a bee who buzzes around us until we wake up. I have NO idea where she came up with this game, but she thinks it is hysterical.

Once in bed, the boys play with their crib soothers that play music and light up, and of course, snuggle with their blue blankets. Ben must have a pacifier and Jack has no interest in one.

Mairead usually reads books or sings to herself and the 27 friends she has in her crib with her. She also has these singing monkeys that perform Day-O, and she plays with them for a bit before settling down with her special bears.

By the time Mairead goes down, Dave and I are exhausted. We try to get a few things done or ready for the next day, maybe watch the Sox for a bit, and then head to bed ourselves.

Some days are more challenging than others. Therapy sessions have been going well for all of the kids, but we do have to change our schedules around a lot to accomodate them, and we do miss some playdates, etc, because of them. On Thursdays, Jen is a huge help because she comes to watch the boys while I bring Mairead to school. Some days are just tough because someone is cranky or getting a tooth, or because someone is overtired or just doesn't want to nap. Some days, I think it would be a lot easier to go back to teaching!

But on ALL of the days, I realize how lucky we are... and how lucky I am to be able to stay home with them and experience all of the important moments. Our family has been so incredibly helpful to us- I really don't know how we would manage without them. When we decided to move to Lowell so that I could stay home, we didn't realize how important that decision would be. Mairead needs so much attention and has so many appointments that dealing with her unique needs is a part time job in itself. The therapy sessions, the paperwork, the phone calls to doctors and to the insurance company... all of it adds up and I don't know how I would have been able to keep working. The twins need a lot of attention, too, of course. They only have therapy once a week, but they need attention together and separately. We want to be sure that we raise them as individuals who happen to have been born at the same time, but also as a duo that comes with a strong twin bond.

Thanks for reading all of this... I hope I haven't bored you! I don't have time to keep baby books so I am hoping to store all of our adventures and memories here while sharing our life with all of you!

A Busy Week

First, the not so great news... I have not been blogging this week or even taking pictures because things have been incredibly hectic around here. On Wednesday around noon, my grandmother (Nana) called me and said, "Maghan, I think you'd better call 911." You can imagine the pit in my stomach as I dialed while gating the kids in the playroom and then heading down to her house. Before I go any further, let me tell you that she is hanging in there and actually doing pretty well, all things considered. Anyway, as I waited for the ambulance, I did have time to call Jen (she beat the ambulance to the house!) and my mom, who was at work in the ER.



It turns out that Nana was having a heart attack (her second). She had one on Christmas Eve in 2003, but has been behaving herself (more or less) since then. Once at the hospital, she was immediately taken into surgery to remove a large clot and to place three stents in her damaged artery. They did have some bleeding during the surgery but it was resolved. She is still having some internal bleeding for which they cannot find a source or reason, so that is still a concern right now.



On Friday night, things took a turn for the worse. She went into cardiac arrest twice and her heart had to be shocked back into rhythm. It was bad... to the point where we were all at the hospital until 2am to say our goodbyes. It was heartbreaking for all of us.



Then, on Saturday, she started to improve. Jen says that she is immortal. Seriously, though, she is one tough lady. She is comfortable now but was in much more pain this time than she was last time. She is alert, talking, complaining, etc, so she seems good. No idea what to expect. She had a very large clot and now with a weak heart and three stents, she could have another heart attack at any time. Or, she could be totally fine. Her vital signs and bloodwork look good right now, and she is off of the oxygen and out of ICU. Things have been pretty hectic around here as our house has served as home base for everyone. Visiting family have been eating, sleeping, showering, and just hanging out here since Wednesday, so there has been a lot going on. We were able to have dinner together on Mother's Day, but we didn't really celebrate the day since things were too tense at the time. We are kind of famous for celebrating our holidays whenever we feel like it, so I guess Mother's Day will just happen when we are ready!

The kids are doing very well. They do sense that something is going on, and they were a little thrown off with the parade of visitors and the sleepovers, but they took it all in stride. The hardest part with them was when we were in the backyard on Thursday and things with Nana were not good. Mairead took my hand and said, "C'mon. Go see My Nana?" and we had to go into Nana's house to see that she wasn't home. Mairead must have realized that something was up because she went over to where Nana keeps Mairead's crayons and promptly gathered them up and took them with her. She's no dummy, this kid.

We thank all of you who have been thinking of us and praying for Nana. As of now, it looks like she will get to come home in a few days (barring any incidents or setbacks).

Until then, thanks for thinking of us!

Visitors!

On Saturday, Grandma, Aunt Ry, and Rachael made the drive out to see us for the afternoon. It was great to see everyone again! We lucked out and had a totally gorgeous day to enjoy, so we made the most of it and headed outside after a great lunch (thanks, Grandma and Aunt Ry!).

Ry spent some time with Jack in his favorite spot- the sandbox.

Mairead led Grandma around to show her all of the fun things to do in the yard.

Grandma brought the kids some really cute spring clothes, including spring jackets for the boys, which they very much needed. I am waiting for the right time to put away all of their winter clothes and just organize their summer stuff. Unfortunately, the weather is still pretty unpredictable right now. I may just decide that the cold weather is over and put their things away. I am ready for warm weather!

Speaking of warm weather, it has been VERY warm here the past few days. Mairead lucked out and was treated to an ice cream cone from My Nana yesterday. She did manage to get most of it in her mouth, it just doesn't look that way.

The kids are having a lot of fun in the warm weather. We have made a couple more trips to the playground, though it is getting a little tougher for me to go alone since Ben has discovered that he can climb the steps to the slide. I spend the whole time running between giving Mairead a push on the swing, preventing Ben from trying to walk down the slide, and taking other people's juice boxes away from Jack. Oh, and whenever a family leaves, Ben starts to toddle after them thinking maybe they are going someplace fun. I get my exercise, that's for sure!

We have pretty much resumed our walks, though the unpredictable weather sometimes puts a damper on things. I can never chance being caught in a rainstorm when we are a mile from home with just a stroller to get us back!

The twins are doing so much lately. They play in the yard, sit in their kiddie pool, and play cars and trucks consantly. They are so cute- the other day, I fed them a popsicle. They each stood with a hand on my knees and took turns having a lick.

Mairead is doing really well, too. Her latest and greatest accomplishment is that she can tell you the name of her street! She is very proud of herself. If you ask, "what is the name of Mairead's street?", she very carefully says, "Hair. Mount. Street!" So cute!

Her evaluation date with the Lowell schools is on May 24th. They will conduct some tests with her and an 'interview' of sorts with me to determine what (if any) services she requires. We are crossing our fingers that they can see in a short time how bright our little girl is, but how much she needs services. Early Intervention ends at age 3, so pre-school is the logical next step for her. In Lowell, kids can go to pre-school at age 4, not 3. Only kids on IEPs can go at age 3, so that is what we are trying to put in place for Mairead. Say a prayer or send us good thoughts so that she qualifies for services. The next step would be to try to get her a place in the closest elementary schools, but we'll worry about that later.

Thanks for checking in!

Dinner and Dancing

Mealtime has become very entertaining lately. We usually play music for the kids while they eat, and my mom played some Neil Diamond for them. They LOVED it! Mairead has a particular fondness for the song, 'Desiree.' Probably not the most appropriate song in terms of content, but she loves it and asks for it constantly. We have to listen to in play on repeat throughout every meal.

She even remembers to make a sentence when asking for Desiree, so we can sort of count this as speech therapy, right?

All three kids get into it and dance in their own unique ways. It is really cute and makes meal time fun.

We had a great visit from Grandma, Aunt Ryane, and Rachael this weekend- I will upload those pictures today and post soon!

Haircuts and other happenings

I took Mairead to get a haircut on Saturday morning and I was so anxious that she would hate it and freak out, but she was SO good! Seriously- she was perfect. T he stylist commented on it and wished all of her kids were this good. It was just a regular hair salon (I go there) so it wasn't really set up for kids, but she was awesome. I was beyond thrilled. Then, we went out to the parking lot and she found our car and said, "I see it! Right there!" She ran to it, looked back at me and said, "I happy.' I actually started to cry right there in the parking lot because she has never been able to verbalize that before and it was HUGE for her to do that spontaneously. I am just so proud of all that she is accomplishing lately. I know she is still nowhere near the speech, etc, of a typically developing 2.9 yo, but still, she is constantly impressing me. LOVE it. My heart just swells with pride for this kid every.single.day. Remind me of that next time she has a meltdown over nothing, will ya?


Mairead is super into play-doh right now and has these cookie cutter things in all different shapes. We started with a mom, a daddy, a Mairead, a Jack, and a Ben. I would have to make all of them and she would arrange them so they were all holding hands (are you kidding me with the cuteness?). I was trying to teach her the concept of family, so we added Nana and Grampy. SHE asked to add Jen, Mike, Christin, Brian, and Lily. Now, we have to make the whole family every time. For some reason, Lily's mom and dad (Katie and Steve) don't make the cut, but close enough... She will hold up the doh and say, "Make a Nana?"

At the dinner table last night, I asked her to tell me who is in her family and she named me, Dave, and the twins. I asked, 'who else?' and got Nana, Grampy, Jen, Mike, Brian, Christin, and Lily. I am SO psyched-- not only can she recall and verbalize all these names, it is very clear that these people are important to her... I pretty much tear up whenever she does it because I am so proud, and because I know that little brain and heart are working overtime and coming up with such amazing and sweet things. Love this kid!

Oh- I think Katie and Steve confuse Mairead. To Mairead, I guess Steve does sort of look like Steve from Blues Clues. Once, I asked her, "who's that?" and she said, "mailbox." Granted, that was a while ago, but I think she is still confused about the whole 'two Steves' thing, so she kind of skips over them!

The boys are doing well, too. No ER trips so far this week(knock wood), though Ben came close last night after falling and getting a bump and scratch on his head. These two are consantly in action. The physical therapist for the boys (also Mairead) recommended that we try hippotherapy for both Mairead and Jack. If you haven't heard of it, this is physical therapy that takes place while the child is riding a horse. The idea is that the motion of the horse forces the child to use his core muscles and leg muscles to support himself. I am very interested in it. There is a waiting list, though, so we'll see if Mairead makes it in time for her 3rd birthday (at which point she cannot participate in Early Intervention anymore). I think that both kids would enjoy it. Maybe Grandma can give them a few tips.

The boys are really turning into little boys instead of babies (a little sad for me that they are growing up so quickly!). Yesterday, I was changing Jack and I dropped the dirty diaper (just wet and already folded up for disposal) onto the floor. Ben toddled over, picked it up, walked over to the diaper genie, and put it in. I was FLOORED that he has already made that connection! I wish I had it on video- it was so funny to see him.I do think, however, that he is way too interested in diaper genies. He is always trying to open them. Why would you want to see what's in there?? Maybe I can train him to take out the trash soon!

As you know, Jack LOVES cars and trucks. Yesterday, he was playing with one and Ben came over and tried to make off with it. This is pretty common and Ben gets away with it since he can run away, and Jack doesn't usually fight back. This time, though, Jack put his hands on either side of Ben's waist and pretty much pulled him to the floor. Ben was shocked and started to cry while Jack zoomed away with his car. So far today, Ben has not tried to steal anything, so maybe it was a good thing that Jack asserted himself!

This past weekend, Lily stayed overnight with us so her parents could have a night out. Mairead is VERY interested in Lily and likes her very much. She was even giving her kisses and saying, "Oh, so cute!". At one point, Lily was in her crib going to sleep and Mairead gave her Special Bear and said, "here you go. Share." Now, Special Bear is NOT given away easily... even the boys have never been allowed to share him. Lily must be pretty special!

Jack and Ben were not big fans of sharing their seats and food with Lily. While my mom was giving her cereal, the boys were clamoring for attention and protesting that this baby was in their seat.

Lily didn't seem to mind.

The boys have been allowed to use markers a few times lately since they are getting better at not eating them. They got the hang of things pretty quickly and really seemed to like coloring.

In other news, Dave bought a new car this past weekend. He was in a minor accident a few weeks ago, but the damage turned out to be enough for the insurance company to total it out. We weren't thrilled about spending the money right now, but neither of us has ever had a brand new car before, so it is pretty exciting in that sense. We bought a Corolla- the exact same color as the Corolla I used to have-- and we are looking forward to saving money on gas. Plus, since Toyota has had some 'unfortunate incidents' recently, they were dying to give us a good deal. Let's hope this car lasts us a long time!

Hope all of you are well- thanks for checking in!