ENJOYING THE FIRST SNOWFALL OF THE YEAR

FINALLY AN UPDATE!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we spent lots of time with family. First we had Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa Schiller's house, next was Uncle Mike's house, our house, and our last thanksgiving dinner was at Baka & Dida's house. Now that the girl's are getting older they love to spend time with their cousins. It's also nice for us to be able to sit back and let them all be kids and play together. They had so much fun playing with their cousins Jack & Noah that when it was time to go we dealt with a bit of a tantrum. I guess running and jumping into a pile of pillows is much more fun with your cousins then having to go home with mom and dad.

Olivia and Avery also had a great time with their cousin Nicholas. It's hard to believe that Nicholas was born just six weeks after the girl's and he towers over them!We also had to say good bye to Grandma and Grandpa Schiller. They will be enjoying the next six months in sunny Florida. Christmas won't be the same this year without them. They have spent the last two years staying at our house and waking up with the girl's Christmas morning. They have enjoyed experiencing the girl's open their presents from Santa just as much as we have. Although we won't see them over the holidays, we will be seeing them in February. The girl's are so excited about going on an airplane and are even more excited about going to Disney World! I'm excited about seeing the looks on their faces when we actually get there. Even though they may never remember going, Brian and I will have the most precious memories of taking them.

We also recently had our three year check up with the Growth & Development team at Mac. This was probably the most interesting appointment we've had since the girl's have been born. Last year the girl's were put through some testing (Bailey's)at the appointment that to me was an absolute waste of time. This year they wanted to do the same type of testing on them only this time I refused! The therapists and docs weren't too happy with me and after a 15 minute fight with all of them they finally backed down. So the appointment consisted of the Developmental Ped asking me a million questions about the girl's. During her questions she kept telling me that none of the questions or testing are used for stats. So during her questioning she asks me if my husband and I attended college, huh?! After answering her question I looked at her and asked what that had to do with my children? her response was that they have found that preemies do much better developmentally with parents who have attended post secondary education than to those who have not. So my next question was I thought this had nothing to do with stats? I guess she wasn't too impressed with my line of questioning because she ended the appointment pretty much soon after that.

Hmmm... and they wonder why I get frustrated with them.

So we are all done with Mac for the time being. The girl's are still being followed by a Urologist there, but as far as G&D goes we are all done!! I guess the next big step will be school in September.

The girl's also had their Halloween dance party at Ballet class this past Saturday. All the kids were dressed up for the day in their costumes. They all looked so cute! Another class with older girls joined their class half way through and they all danced together. The little ones really enjoyed having the older girl's in the class.

Olivia, Abby, and AveryAfter dance class we headed off to Toronto for the rest of the day to go see the girl's favorite group of guys, THE WIGGLES!!

They were so excited to be seeing the Wiggles live that by the end of the show they were completely exhausted.

Posing for a pick with dad before the concert

The Big Red Car!As most people know Avery is a true little girl. She has taking a HUGE liking to lip gloss lately and she's only three! From the time she gets up in the morning to the time she goes to bed she has her lip gloss in hand and puts it on at least every 5 minutes. Even at the Wiggles concert she had to take a break and add some fresh lip gloss.

She's a real princess!! Our two little sweethearts after the show. As tired and exhausted as they were Olivia still managed to give me a silly face. She's such a little ham!!

What we've been up to...

Well for starters, the girls are loving their Ballet class. They are so excited on Saturday mornings to go that they must ask us at least a hundred times if it's time to go. They have also made some new friends in their class who they talk about all the time when we are not at dance class.I just had to post this picture of the girls. One of the other mother's pointed out how cute it was that they stick together all the time. When we are here at home they pretty much fight like any other siblings do. But it's nice to see that they really do need each other. I hope they are like this for the rest of their lives.We spent our first thanksgiving celebration at my parents. It was a great time especially since two of my Aunts, my brother and his wonderful girlfriend Robin were visiting for the weekend. Auntie Robin's attempt at getting us a decent family picture. Thanks Robin!!Of course a visit would not be complete without the girl's cuddling and being silly with their grandpa. The twins absolutely adore him!We are also all ready for Halloween. I took the girl's to pick out their pumpkins. They were so excited to see all the pumpkins that it took an hour and a half just to pick one! They also enjoyed some fun playing in the hay.My two LOVES!

I have lots more to update on but time is limited so I will try to do it soon!!

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN...

Picking apples in the orchard...

Playing in bails of hay...

Adventure's in a corn maze...


And of course being silly!


It's Fall!!

3 Year Check up!

Yesterday the girl's had their 3 year check up with the Pediatrician. I had many questions for him but only seemed to either get no or very vague answers regarding their health. So after this appointment I have decided that they will no longer be seeing the Ped. Instead I will be taking them to my own doctor for future appointments. This guy is amazing! He is young, knows his stuff and was also a graduate from Mac, so he has some experience working with preemies. The nice thing about him as well is that if he doesn't know something he searches for the answers. He doesn't just tell you to wait it out and send you on your way.

The only thing I have to report on from yesterday is Avery now weighs 29 pounds and is 38 inches tall. She is now in the 50th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height in kids her age. Olivia weighed in at 28 pounds and is 37 inches tall. She is now in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height.

Their getting big!

I Remember...

As if it were yesterday. I remember her smell, how tiny she was, the way she felt when I cuddled her. I remember how scared, nervous, and excited we were. It remember it was the first day of school for many kids.

Tuesday September 6th 2005. I finally got to bring my Avery home after 3 months. No doctors, no nurses, no tests, no monitors. Just Avery.

This was Avery & Olivia today. They enjoyed a morning of ballet dancing, giggles, and just being a kid.

Aren't they just so darn cute!!!!

LAST LONG WEEKEND OF THE SUMMER

It's hard to believe that this summer is almost over. It seems as if I've blinked and it's now time to get ready for fall.

Despite all the rain we've had, the girl's have enjoyed themselves and I've enjoyed the fact that they haven't been sick at all this past season. It makes me wonder if I'm in for a crazy sick filled winter.

I have some VERY exciting news. Olivia & Avery are POTTY TRAINED!! It took a long time but we are finally there. During the day they are in their BIG girl underwear and at nap time/bedtime I have been putting a pull up on them. Most mornings and after nap they are still dry.

This past long weekend I took the girl's to see Grandma & Grandpa Schiller. The girl's wanted to go and hit golf balls so off we went. They took a couple of swings with the clubs and realized it might be more fun to go and collect all the golf balls rather than try to hit them.

On our way home from Grandma & Grandpa's I had my first potty training nightmare. About 15 minutes into the car ride Olivia starts to tell me that she has to go potty. I asked her if she could wait and her response was "no" so then I asked her if she wanted me to pull the car over so she could go on the side of the road. I was hoping would say "no" but I was wrong. So I pulled over and out we get. It's now almost dark and the mosquito's are everywhere! after a few seconds she looked at me and said "I don't have to go potty anymore" I'm not too sure if it was the bugs or the transport trucks wiping by us that changed her mind on that one. Amazingly though she was still dry by the time we got home.

Their first attempt at swinging a club.

Collecting golf balls was way more fun!

Grandma & the girl's before we headed in for a quick drink.

Monday we headed out early to take the girl's down by the river to a new park. They had a great time playing and seeing all the ducks in the water.

The best part was teaching them to make a wish and then blow it away. It was so cute to see them running around collecting all the wishes. I'm sure all their wishes were for all sorts of new toys from Santa. Every time they see something now that they want, I tell them that they have to make a list for Santa. It seems to be a good way of getting out of buying every toy they see.

After the park it was back home to enjoy the beautiful afternoon in their pool. I'm hoping this weather sticks around for quite awhile because the thought of being stuck inside with two little girl's who love to be outside is already stressing me out.
I almost forgot, the girl's are starting ballet class this coming Saturday and we are all very excited about it. I have a feeling I will be having a few teary moments for the entire 45 minute class.

Prayer's Needed For Our Little Friend Ashton

Our little friend Ashton is in hospital tonight fighting pneumonia. Please say a prayer for him and his parents.

SOME MUCH NEEDED FUN!

Is exactly what we all needed this past long weekend. Two weeks ago my family was hit with not one, but two deaths in our family in less than 48 hours. So needless to say I needed to have some fun just as much as the girl's did.

We spent our Saturday of the long weekend with Elizabeth, Angi & Ivan at Marineland and had a great time. We didn't go on all the rides but we did manage to get on quite a few. Avery even joined us for all of them. After some she said " I don't like that ride" and the others her response was "that was fun!" both girl's had a great time, they fed lots of different animals. First was the deers...

Then all three girl's made a new friend. A little fuzzy caterpillar crawling around the ground caught their attention. I am not too sure if the little guy survived his new friends or not. Something tells me he may not have. These girl's were not afraid of him at all.

This year both girl's got to enjoy feeding the Beluga Whales. Last year Olivia slept through it. Again they both loved it! Since our trip to Marineland, Olivia has role played it over and over again, and if I don't get it right by her instructions she is very quick to correct me.

On Sunday we had some more fun meeting up with some of my cousins and their kids for a picnic. The girl's had a blast hanging out with their cousins at the splash pad and park. They even experienced fishing for the very first time.

Both girl's caught a fish and were very proud of themselves. Olivia was so proud that she walked around and around showing everyone her fish. Needless to say all the handling of her prize fish didn't have a very good end result. She was really good about it and decided she would give her fish to the seagulls for a snack. Later I over heard her trying to convince her cousin Bryce to give her his fish. It was very cute.

Avery was also proud of her catch but wasn't as excited about holding it as Olivia was. She would hold it until it wiggled a little and then she would fling it away. Hers was quick to expire so again, the seagulls had another easy snack thrown their way.

Olivia and cousin Bryce showing off their catch. All the cousins posing for a picture with their fish. Except Avery!!