Doing Business

My best friend in college trained service dogs and by trained service dogs I mean raised them and taught them how to "do their business" on demand. I learned this shortly after we had become friends and I learned it in a very awkward manner.

One day when I was at her home I asked if I could use the restroom. Once I was in the restroom I could hear someone outside the bathroom window saying "do your business." At first I thought it was a joke and so I chuckled to myself but then the phrase was repeated over and over and over until I finished doing my business. It turns out that the dog and I happened to be doing to same thing at the same time and thankfully the encouragement was for the dog and not me. How embarrassing would that have been? Anyway...

For the past couple of weeks I have noticed that every day around 11:00 am Makaio wants to get back into his crib. I say this as if he can talk and requests to be taken to his crib but actually it has been a frustrating time of trying to figure out what is the correct translation f0r rolling around screaming and whining. After a couple of days of this morning time ritual I just started putting him in his crib and letting him figure it out.

He generally starts to calm down as we walk down the hallway to his bedroom and then once he is in his crib out come the smiles and laughter. I tried to convince myself that he just needed some alone time but when it came down to it my feelings were a little hurt that he would rather play in the crib than play with Kekoa and me.

I let this go on for a week or so and then I had to call my mother. I explained the situation to my mother and she said that maybe he just feels safe and comfortable in his crib. I graciously accepted this explanation but decided to pull out my detective cap and see if there was anything else that routinely happened in conjunction with these minor fits.

It only took me two days to figure out that when he was finally happy and ready to play nicely again I always had to change a poopy diaper. The third day confirmed my findings and it appears that Makaio views his crib as both a crib and a litter box.

So what do these two stories have in common? Nothing really unless you want to think of me putting him in his crib as permission to "do his business." The funny thing however is that somehow this all made sense when I started writing and now, well, you be the judge.

Dear Skype, I Love You!

This past Sunday, thanks to the Skype folk, the boys were able to see their Great Grandma Bina. She is 96 years old and up until Sunday she had only seen the boys in pictures. My dad and I decided that we would give it a try and see how my grandma liked it. I think she liked seeing the boys scooting around, hitting each other, babbling and just being themselves. Even though the twins don't really know what they are supposed to be looking at or doing when we Skype I think it is always fun for those who get to see them.

I'm sure that my grandma loved seeing the babies but the best part about it for me was seeing her sweet face again. I am so excited to go home this summer and hug her and kiss her sweet face and let her know how much I love her. I hope that the boys will be able to feel what a special woman she is just by being in her presence. Come on June 29th!

Personalities

The boys are almost one year old and it has been so much fun watching them grow. They are a lot alike and yet very different. I am going to post a picture of each of them that illustrates something that I really enjoy about them.

Kekoa is little Mr. Efficient. He seems to observe, plan and then attack. I love watching him as he notices a toy across the room that he really wants and then stops to plan how he can get to it in the least amount of movements. He also does things like hold his bottle with his feet instead of his hands so that he can still play. He is such a happy baby and makes us laugh daily.

Makaio is Mr. Independent. He thinks he should be only do what he wants to do and it is his way or the highway. I generally prop him up in the boppy to eat because most of the time he doesn't want me to touch him while he eats and he wants me to hold the bottle the entire time if I do hold him. He will hold his bottle if it is his idea but if I try to put his hands on the bottle to help him he pulls his hands away from me as hard as he possibly can and will often grunt which indicates that he doesn't want me to tell him what to do. He is very laid back most of the time and just enjoys doing his own thing and chillaxin' when he has time.

We love them both very much and look forward to the many years ahead.

Graduation Celebration

From this point forward would you please refer to our daddy as Dr. Sheffield!

This weekend we were able to take a trip back to Iowa for Sterling's graduation. It was great for Sterling to have one last get together with his classmates before this chapter of their lives comes to a close. It was a time of great happiness and sadness. He couldn't have asked for a better group of colleagues and friends. We are so proud of the entire Audiology Class of 2011.

While we were in Iowa we were so lucky to see so many of our friends, especially those at the NICU. It was amazing to see all of the nurse's that took care of the babies while they were in the hospital and to see how much they still loved the babies. We will never forget them! We left the NICU with a greater appreciation for the skills, talents and dedication for all of the NICU employees.

The weekend was long and exhausting but it was worth it. Sterling has worked so hard over the past four years to complete this doctorate and our family couldn't be more proud. He is a great husband, father and student. In fact he loves being a student so much that our next stop is Nashville Tennessee where he will be working on his PhD. Go Daddy, make us proud!

Meet the Cousins

Makaio and Kekoa were able to meet two more cousins and an aunt and an uncle over Easter weekend. Jaycia, Justen and their family came to visit and we had a great time.

We went to the Mall of America and the boys did great. We were there for the entire day and they didn't get as fussy as I did.

We also took them swimming for the first time. Kekoa loved to kick and Makaio loved to splash. Jaz was a real trooper and even allowed Joseph and Michaelee to have some fun while she held on to a floatie and kicked around the pool.

It is so much fun to have the boys meet their cousins and we can hardly wait for July when they will finally meet them all!

This is a cute picture of Jaz and the boys. Jaz is showing off her true Wisniewski colors by pinching Kekoa's squishy squishy ears