Family | The TaterTwins

Ryan Update

18 May posted by Jayme

Ryan and Aaron left for Philadelphia on Monday morning for a few appointments. He had his MRI scheduled- he gets those every six months. He also had a checkup with the oncologist and with the ophthalmologist.

If you’ll remember, last time Ryan ran into some setbacks and complications. One of the tumors had increased to the point where they didn’t want to do the laser treatments, and instead he had surgery where they sewed a radiation patch on the back of his eye for a few days. Scary stuff! Because of everything last time, this set of appointments was only 2 months from the last ones, instead of the usual three months.

But this time, we received nothing but good news! The MRI was clear, and they didn’t even need to do any laser surgery on his eyes like every other time- the radiation worked! So, he gets another three month reprieve from heading to Philly.

When Aaron and Ryan got home last night, the twins immediately ran to each other and embraced… so sweet! They miss each other so much- Dylan doesn’t know what to do with himself without his playmate!

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Filed Under: 1featured, retinoblastoma, Ryan

Our Sunday Afternoon

6 May posted by Jayme

It’s warm enough for trips to the beach. I’m not a fan of sand or the hot weather, but when you go on a spring afternoon, when it’s breezy and the temperature is just right, it’s kind of nice! We loaded up the kids and a couple kites that the girls got for Easter and went for a walk on the beach this afternoon.

I am pretty sure this is going to be photo heavy.

There were icky jellyfish everywhere.

They found a little crab. I love Ryan’s sandy hand print on Aaron’s shoulder here.

Ryan LOVES everything about the beach- the sand, the water, everything. Just like Lili. Dylan likes the sand, but stays away from the water. Mia used to do that too.

Aaron was on kite de-tangling duty, which lead to kite holding duty while the girls played. He looks so manly with his pink princess kite.

I love the way Lili’s reflection looks in the water behind her.

The anti-water bugs.

And a rare one of me and Aaron, squinting into the sun.

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Filed Under: 1featured, family, pics

Random Wednesday.

2 May posted by Jayme

A group of my online friends decided to start watching what they eat and working out. This way they can motivate each other, and be accountable for actually doing it. I usually zone out when they start talking about carbs and jogging, but somehow I got sucked in this time, and decided to maybe join them.

I downloaded an app to track my food and (lack of) exercise. I figure the first step is figuring out what I do wrong when it comes to my food choices, and going from there. It’s a step, right?

We’ll see how long I last. I’m not feeling especially motivated yet.

The boys have been to their group speech therapy twice now. I really like it- it’s fun to sit back and watch them interact with kids their age. All of the kids that are in the group happen to be boys, and they are all within a month or two of the twins’ age.

I was a little nervous that my kids would be a little too rough for the others- they are always wrestling, doing karate, and just all around rough and tumble. And since they’re the youngest, and they’ve never been around babies, they haven’t learned how to be gentle.

I also wasn’t sure how they’d be in regards to the fact they’ve always played together- but I was pleasantly surprised to see them split up and play with other kids, and do separate things. They were aware of each other but they didn’t need to be playing with the same toys. One would string beads while the other was driving cars. However, I did notice a few times where one would realize the other wasn’t playing next to him and he’d try to get his brother to do what he was interested in.

Another thing I noticed is that Dylan would insist on playing with a green toy when given the option of several colors. Ryan wasn’t as picky. I think it stems from when they were teeny newborns- we always gave Dylan green bottles and Ryan blue ones- to track how much they’d eaten and not mix them up. The brand we used came in those two colors.

Ever since then, when I buy stuff in two colors, I get green and blue and Dylan gets green and Ryan gets blue. I do it for sippy cups, toys (if it’s something I am going to buy two of), their backpacks- pretty much whatever I don’t get in identical versions.

I think that my boys should grow mustaches. What do you think?

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Filed Under: 1featured, random thoughts, twins

Oh! My! Boys!

26 Apr posted by Jayme

Oh my dear blog, today is a DAY!

First Dylan was running around the kitchen, prancing and hopping as he likes to do, when he smashed his head into the corner of the counter. It created like a puncture wound- it’s deep and it bled for awhile. And it’s under his hair, so we couldn’t put a band-aid on it unless we were willing to shave a spot of his head.

Aaron was home for lunch when that happened, and we decided he probably didn’t need a stitch for it since it let up after awhile. He sat and watched TV for awhile holding a napkin to his head. Ryan was sweet to him for half a second and pulled a blanket up over him and patted his head.

I’ll spare you the bloody wound photos and just share the cute one of them acting like they like each other:

Then the girls came home from school, which immediately makes the boys go crazy. They get all wound up and today they went from cuddly, sleepy twins to spastic and energetic punks. They were in the living room, and Ryan decided to jump off of the recliner. He’s half blind and not as agile as Dylan, so needless to say it didn’t go as he planned.

He face planted and teeth went through his teeth and lip. Blood poured out- and I couldn’t see where it was coming from at first. Once I finally got his mouth to slow down so that I could clean it up from the rest of his body where it dripped, I noticed he also has rug burn on his forehead.

Two bloody boys in one day- it’s a record.

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Filed Under: 1featured, injury, twins