Petri Dish...or the Annual January Sickness

Well, it is that time of year again...January.  Ever since the boys were born, we have had one week in January where we all got some sort of sickness.  2 years ago, we all got sick and then we compounded it when the boys spent 3 days in the hospital with RSV.  Last year, the boys got RSV again and we spent part of New Year's Day and the next couple of days at the hospital. 

This year the sicknesses started on Saturday the 21st.  The boys, especially Mark, started acting and sounding like he had a cold.  Daddy was in Kingsport spending the weekend with Mimi and Poppy.  When he returned on Sunday, he could tell that it had been a long day for Mommy, Granna, and Grandpa.  They all looked spent.  Both boys had a cold and were more difficult that day. 

That night, when Daddy was getting ready to go to bed, Mark seemed to be breathing too fast.  When we noticed that, we decided to take Mark to the ER, even though we didn't want to.  We got to the ER around 1 AM, expecting a breathing treatment and a signout sheet, got a different response.  Mark was not going to get a breathing treatment, but a chest x-ray as the doctor thought he had pneumonia.  That turned out negative.  He was diagnosed with acute bronchitis.   We were discharged and were home at 4 AM.  He had to stay home from daycare for the next two days.

On Tuesday night, we noticed that Jack was experiencing similar rapid breathing when he went to sleep.  So we took him to our nearest pediatric urgent care facility that was open till 10 PM.  Love that place.  He was also diagnosed with bronchitis.  Got the same medicine as Mark.  Unfortunately, we noticed that Mommy was starting to get a cold as well.

Very early on Thursday morning, Daddy went to Myrtle Beach on his Sunday School's annual golf trip.  He was scheduled to play four rounds in four days.  On Thursday night, Mommy told Daddy that Granna and Grandpa were starting to get sick as well.  Raleigh and especially our house was not a good place to be...if you wanted to stay well.

Friday morning, Heather called Craig and said that he needed to come home after he played golf that day (the boys were in daycare so Friday was OK).  Granna and Grandpa were going downhill and Heather had a doctor's appointment for early afternoon.  Heather was diagnosed with bronchitis.  When Daddy got home, the healthiest adult there was Amy Jung, who offered to help out when she heard of the sicknesses in our family. 

On Saturday morning, Granna and Grandpa went to the urgent care facility and found out that they both have bronchitis.  Heather was getting close to turning the corner but it would be later in the day.  That morning, Daddy took the boys to Upward basketball to watch a couple of games, which they loved.  Then we went out to lunch at Chic Fil-a.  That afternoon after naptime, Mommy joined us and we went back to church to watch one more Upward game.  They were so disappointed when it was over that they wouldn't be able to see any more basketball.

We decided to not go to church today in order that Mommy can continue to get better and that Daddy can do the best he can not to join everyone with bronchitis.  As we now are into Sunday night, Mommy is 1000% better, Daddy still hasn't come down with it, although he does have a cough occasionally, and Granna and Grandpa are doing much better.  As for the boys, they are doing great and had a great time playing around the house today.

Here is to a healthy week!  Our house needs it.

Having Fun at Home

On Sunday, Mark's cold seemed to be getting a bit worse, so we decided to stay home from church. We had a fun-filled day playing at home all day with Granna and Grandpa while awaiting Daddy's arrival on Sunday night. Here are a few pictures of all the fun we had:

Jack and Mark and the city that we built (on Rock and Roll!)

Mark and Granna enjoy a Curious George book!

Grandpa and Jack enjoy a Little Blue Truck book!

Jack shows off our play dough masterpiece!

Alexa's Birthday Party!

A few weeks ago, Jack came home from daycare with an invitation to a birthday party for a little girl, Alexa, in his class at daycare. We new it was going to happen eventually, one boy would be invited to a party and the other wouldn't, which is completely fine. We totally understand and have no problem with this. Just because they are twins, doesn't mean they aren't individuals! They are going to have some mutual friends and some friends of their own and that's the way it should be!

So, on Saturday morning, since Daddy was out of town in Kingsport visiting Mimi and Poppy, Mommy and Jack dropped Mark off at Granna and Grandpa's. Then, Mommy and Jack were off to a birthday party! It was at a bounce house in Cary. It was a huge warehouse-looking building with lots of inflatables all throughout in separate rooms based on age appropriateness. When we first got there, Jack was a little shy. But, he quickly warmed up and was ready to play with all of his friends. I think that almost every child from his class at daycare was there at the party. It was fun to watch them all play together and Mommy enjoyed talking to the other "Mommies" and getting to know some of them!  Here are some pictures from the party:

"Hey Mom! I like it in here...this is FUN!" - Jack

"Whhheeeeee - I can jump so high in here!" - Jack

Jack and Alexa, the birthday girl, playing in the bounce house.

"Wow, now this is a long slide!" - Jack

"Holy cow, the view from up here is amazing!" - Jack

"Ready, here we go!" - Jack

"Wheeeeeeee!" - Jack

 

Theodore and Jack - buddies from daycare!

"Okay, Mom, I'll cheese for you to take a picture, but then can I get back to playing, please!" - Jack

Jack giving Alexa a hug and wishing her a Happy Birthday as we were leaving the party!

Thanks for the invite Alexa, we sure had fun at your party!

Going away Party

The family, Jim and Colleen Cozart along with their son James, that lives across the street from Granna and Grandpa are moving to another house in Raleigh.  The families around the Cozart's decided to throw them a going away party.  The party was going to start around 4:30, but we were already at Alex's party at McDonald's.  So on Saturday night after we left Alex's party we showed up to the Cozart's party fashionably late.  The guest of honor Jim was not present when we got there as he was finishing up showing a house as a realtor.  Their neighbors were all there and everyone had a good time.  The boys played with the other kids and had a great time.  Daddy had to leave early as he had tickets to a hockey game so he missed a good deal of the hilarity that involved.

Grandpa and his neighbor Vic had taken a picture in front of the Cozart's house.  They also wrote a Top 10 list about things they will miss about Jim.  Finally, Grandpa gave Jim a certificate good for 10 back massages from Vic (Vic had no idea about that).  Lots of good laughs were had.  We are all going to miss the Cozarts, but look forward to meeting the family that will move into their house.

Here are a couple of pictures from the evening:

Granna and Grandpa with Jack and Mark.

Stop taking my picture as I drive by.  - Jack

Does anyone want to play ball with me?  - Mark

The four kids (from left to right) Logan, Mark, Jack, and James, eat dinner.

Vic and Grandpa are ready to party with the Cozarts leaving.  It was really a funny picture...especially when it was blown up into a 20x30 picture.

The Three Musketeers - Grandpa, Jim Cozart, Vic Quistorff

Half Birthday is TODAY!!!

Today is Jack and Mark's half birthday.  It is really hard to believe that they are 2 and a half years old.  We are exactly halfway between birth and kindergarten.  Mommy and Daddy can't believe that when this post is done and we go to bed that we will be closer to school than their birth.  It is too hard to comprehend. 

Time sure flies when you are having fun.  And speaking of fun, today we celebrated a little bit for their half birthday!  After we went to church and out for lunch, we came home for a "regular" afternoon.  We started laundry and the boys went down for a nap.  After they woke up, Heather ran out to the grocery store and got them a couple of their favorites...cupcakes. 

If they can't have a cake for their half birthday, then a cupcake is a nice compromise.  The boys enjoyed them...especially Jack. 

All in all, it was a great half-birthday for the boys.  Here are a couple of shots from the day:

Daddy shows Jack and Mark a video of a marching band on Youtube.  Yes, at our house, every day is a marching band day.

Mommy reads a Thomas the Tank Engine book to the boys.

A cupcake for a half-birthday for Jack.

A cupcake for a half-birthday for Mark.

McDonalds Birthday Party

On Saturday, we went to our buddy Alex's 7th birthday party.  It is hard to imagine that he has already turned seven.  For his party, he wanted to have it at a McDonalds playplace in Garner.  It was really cool.  It was the boys first time ever at a McDonalds.  When we got there, the boys wanted to play.  So, play they did.  They had a really good time.  They went down the slide what felt like 25 times.  There was a piano keyboard where the kids could step on one of the keys and here a sound.  It was a smaller version of the giant keyboard in the movie Big, where Tom Hanks played Chopsticks. 

Here are a couple of pictures from the party (our camera battery died so these are IPhone pictures):

Coming down the slide at record speeds.  - Mark

Mark, I said go on 3.  You didn't go.  Now look at me.  - Jack

Jack, you handle the bass notes and I will handle the treble notes.  - Mark

The boys really had a good time going to the birthday party.  They were glad that Alex invited them.  Alex's mommy was very happy to be a part of the boys' first trip to a McDonalds, first Happy Meal, and first playtime on the McDonalds playplace.

Random pictures

Over the past couple of months, we have taken some pictures at just random times.  Here are a few of our favorites:

The boys begin to paint some picture frames as Christmas presents.

This orange color will be good for Poppy.  - Jack

I have multiple colors on my picture frames.  - Mark

We are trying to catch up on the latest Sports Illustrated while we brush our teeth. 

We play for grandparents, friends, and will play for strangers.  - The Saxophone Twins

Being A Mommy to 2 Boys...

Being a Mommy to 2 boys is such a blessing in so many ways. I truly cannot express in words how much I ABSOLUTELY LOVE being Jack and Mark's Mommy. I dreamed for years about what it would be like to have kids one day and now as I journey through parenthood, it is everything that I thought it would be and so much more!

Jack and Mark are boys in every way! They love sports and trucks! Their latest thing is to not only play ball together, but they have started tackling. Most of the time, they will take turns tackling each other and roll around on the floor and just laugh and laugh. But, there is the occasional tackle which ends up with someone whining or crying! So, I have to share this really cute story from the other night. I had been home from work for about 15-20 minutes and was cooking dinner. The boys were playing and tackling, as usual. I had stopped cooking 4 times to either split them up or comfort one of them due to whining and crying resulting from the tackling! After the 4th time, I said, "Okay, boys, no more tackling until after dinner!" Then, I immediately thought, they may not know what the work "tackle" means. So, I asked, "Boys, do you know what 'no tackle' means?" And, Mark looked at me with the sweetest, most serious face and said, "No hurt Momma." I thought that was pretty good - he got the point!

Just thought I would share the following pictures. Recently, as I was changing Jack's diaper, Mark was driving a truck all over my back. I had been playing with the trucks with him and had stopped to change Jack's diaper. So, he decided to drive the truck on my back until I could resume play! Craig and I thought it was so cute. Craig quickly grabbed the camera and captured these pictures....ahhh, the joys of being a mother to twin boys! I love every minute of it!

Mark playing with a truck, Mommy changing Jack's diaper, and Jack playing his saxoflute! Such fun times at our house!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our blog-followers! We can't believe it is 2012!!!! Where does the time go?

We started off 2012 by going to church on Sunday morning and then out to lunch as is our usual Sunday routine. Then, after nap, we went over to our friends Andy and Amy Jung's house for our Annual New Year's Party with the Gang (these are 6 couples that we've been friends with since college, some of our closest friends)! We decided several years ago that it was too hectic to try to fit a Christmas party into our schedules, so we've opted to postpone our get together until New Years Day. It has really worked out well and we rotate around who hosts the party each year.

This year it was at the Jung's new house. We had a great time! Amy had lots of activities for the kids planned. They decorated snowman with foam stickers, iced and decorated cupcakes, played ball in their finished basement and enjoyed Just Dance on the Wii. And, after most people had left, Mark snuggled up with Andy on the couch and enjoyed some time on their iPad. Oh, and the kids also exchanged Christmas presents and enjoyed opening them. We draw names and each child takes a gift for another!

We had a fantastic time with the Gang! It is always so much fun when we all get together. It is a bit more hectic than it used to be. There are now 9 children when we all get together! These friends truly are like family to us!

Here are some pictures from the Annual New Year's Party with the Gang!

Amy helping Jack and Mark with decorating their snowmen. Izzy helps too!

All the children at the table having so much fun decorating their cupcakes!

Mark takes a bite of his finished product.

Mark smiling for the camera!

Mommy helps Jack get started on decorating his cupcake!

Jack tries his finished product!

Mark shows what is left of his cupcake!

Jack enjoying his cupcake.

Our best attempt at a group picture of all 9 kids!

Back row: Izzy (6), Parker (4), Kenley (6), Delaney (2), and Scott (3)

Front row: Jack (2), Mark (2), Keith (7 months), and Alex (6)

Jack opening his present from the Woods!

Mark opening his present from the Willefords!

Jack got a Play-Doh set that he absolutely loves!

Mark got a personalized book about him playing football and an orange Thomas train named Billy!

He has really enjoyed both of them!

After everyone left, while Mommy and Amy were still chatting and Daddy and Jack were playing with Play-Doh, Mark was having fun with Andy on the iPad playing a game where they were drawing with their fingers!