Valentines 2015

Valentines 2015

Friday, July 29, 2011

The sippy cup and self-feeding dilemma

I feel like we are falling behind the 8 ball here. The girls continue to refuse to drink out of sippy cups. I've been trying for at least 2 months to get them to drink juice out of a sippy cup instead of a bottle, but they just don't get the concept. Sure, they will hold the cup and wave it around and shake it, but they won't actually drink from it. We have tried several different sippy cups (with different tops) but to no avail. They will bite the sippy cup to try and get the juice out, but they won't suck it. How do I get them to suck it?

The girls are already 9+ months old, and I was hoping to be able to transition them from the bottle to cups for all of their fluids around the time they turn 1. At this point I'm getting a whole lot of nowhere. How did you get your kiddos to drink out of sippy cups? I see 4-6 month olds drinking out of sippy cups, so I know it can be done. What the heck am I doing wrong?

And that leads nicely into our self feeding dilemma. It being a dilemma of course because I haven't even started to let the girls feed themselves. AT ALL. They don't pick up and eat puffs, tiny peices of banana or sweet potato or any other food. I have been working on making their foods thicker and chunckier so they have to chew, and they have done pretty well with that for the last week or two. But I don't know. Is it time to try and give them puffs? They aren't using their pinchers to pick anything up yet, and maybe that's because I haven't given them the opportunity. But at the same time, the container of puffs says they need to be crawling before you give them puffs, and they aren't crawling, so maybe they aren't ready yet? I just don't know.

When did you start letting your baby(ies) feed themselves? Any tips or tricks on how best to start? Should I give them each a spoon to work with when I am feeding them so they can get used to that, or should I just stick some food on their high chair trays and stick their fingers in it and see if they suck it off? What's best? What worked for you?

And one step further, am I a slacker for not trying to work with the girls on this before now?! I'm kind of feeling slacker-ish. . .=).

As always, I appreciate all insight and suggestions! Thanks ladies (and gents!)

Until next time -
Megan

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Baby proofing? It's about time slackers!

Sure, we moved the doggie water bowls out of the girls play area and took the fireplace poker tools downstairs several weeks ago, but other than that, I will be the first one to say that we've been a bit slow to "baby proof" the house. We bought all of the outlet covers and cupboard hooks and doorknob covers and any other plastic contraption that looked like it could be useful for keeping babies out of where they aren't supposed to be about a month ago. . .but we haven't put a single one of them to use yet.

Originally (when we bought the baby proofing schmorgasborg) I thought that Brianna cruising the furniture and walking around getting into stuff was imminent, with Livvy soon to follow. But that was nearly a month ago, and so far that hasn't really happened. In fact, I am quite pleased with how slow their progression has been! They are now back to trying to crawl, and they really don't have much desire to walk at this exact point.

And you know what?

Not really crawling or walking is a-okay with me! I realize just how easy we have it with two babies that roll all over the place instead of crawl or walk. Just yesterday Miss Sheila and her little man AJ were over, and let me tell you, AJ is a man on a mission! He is 6 weeks older than the girls and he is an expert crawler - man is he fast! I am enjoying every minute of not having to chase two of those down! LOL!

So anyway, our childproofing has been a slow and steady "learn as you go" type of process. And what did we "learn" last night? We learned that with Miss Brianna (who is oh so anxious to pull herself up on anything and everything she can) that if you leave a glass of lemonade on the storage ottomans in the living room, she will decide that it is obviously for her, and she will proceed to try and drink it. With the following outcome. . .


SO, drenched, sticky Brianna, lemonade all over the ottoman and carpet serves as our official warning that no liquids without a secure lid are to be allowed in the living room anymore. Lesson learned. =)

What else have we learned? Well, Brianna was sitting straight up in her pack and play this morning when I woke up. Yes, judge me now if you must. Brianna is still in the bassinet portion of her pack and play, upstairs with Si and I, about 2 feet from my side of the bed. When she woke up this morning at 6, she promptly sat up in her pack and play, which, for those of you unfamiliar with pack and plays is a major problem because if the bassinet portion is only about a foot from the top of the actual pack and play. Meaning that if she wanted to actually stand up, she could easily propel herself over the edge of the pack and play and land sqaurely 3.5 feet down on the floor.

Ouch.

So, on the agenda for tonight? All of the crib mattresses are being lowered and the bassinet is being taken out of the pack and play. Boo. Brianna is not going to be happy with this. Hopefully Livvy won't mind. And, since we will be dropping the mattresses down, I will also be attempting to move Brianna down to the nursery at night with her sister. Sigh. It's been a long time coming. But, the girls are 9.5 months old. It's about time Brianna doesn't sleep next to our bed. Si and I would love to have our bedroom back =).

Oh, and before I forget. The girls just had their 9 month pictures taken yesterday, and while we were at the session our fabulous photographer, Tina Gunn, gave me the disc with the pictures from our 6 month session to post. YAY! Tina does an AWESOME job with the girls (and with our boys too - she can do amazing things with animals!), so if you are in the Omaha area and are looking for a photographer, Tina is totally your woman!
Here are a couple of pictures from our 6 month shoot! LOVE THEM!

The girls together, standing

Livvy, so cute in the chair

Bri, perfectly posed in the chair - so sweet!

And us as a family! We weren't really dressed for a family pic, but I never turn it down if the photographer asks, that's for sure!!

And a special thank you to Miss Whitney, our fabulous nanny extraordinaire, for tagging along to the photo shoot and helping with the girlies. It is absolutely insane how much work it is to get through a photo shoot with 3 outfit, prop, and background changes with two little girlies! Then getting them to actually smile for the camera after all of the crazy chaos - wowza! It's exhausting! Thanks so much for your help Miss Whit!! You are a Godsend!

Okay, I think that is a long enough post for today!
Until next time -
Megan

Monday, July 18, 2011

Hot and busy, but still time for pics!

It has been disgustingly hot here for the last 4-5 days. Please let me clarify what that means where we are. We live in Nebraska. We generally have a couple of days a year that we get over 100 F. No big deal right? I suspect you Texans and Arizonans are thinking we are complaining for nothing, eh? Well we would be, if it was a dry heat. Heck no! It's 100 degrees outside with 85% humidity. Straight up YUCK is what that is. There have been "excessive heat" warnings for the last several days and those are supposed to continue at least until Wednesday. ICK!

So we are trying to stay cool and beat the heat by dressing cool and playing in the pool when we can. And of course mommy grabs the camera any time she can and takes pictures of us. . .I swear they hate the camera! I have to take at least 50 shots to get one decent picture! HA!

The girls, sporting their cute little sundresses!

Livvy showing off those two bottom teeth =)

Miss happy go lucky Bri =)


So that's all I am posting about today. We had a crazy busy weekend and have had very little down time, but I still wanted to bebop on and say hello and do a quick post with some quick pics! Hope you all are staying cool!

Until next time -
Megan

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

9 months old!

The girlies are 9 months old today, and they are BUSY little beavers. Maybe movers and shakers would be a better way to describe them - if they aren't being held they absolutely have to be moving at all times. They continue to have no desire to crawl; if they want to get around they will either roll where they want to go or will want to stand up and want to try to walk to get to what they want. They don't really get the concept of walking forward, but they definitely have the concept of standing up and balancing. I think we need a walker! Wait. . .wouldn't that encourage them to walk all that more quickly?! Maybe I don't want that - LOL.

They need to stay sitting without moving for just a little while longer, don't they?! I put them down like this and I have exactly 5 seconds to snap a picture before they roll away!

Teeth! We are getting more teeth every day! Livvy now has two bottom teeth and we think she is getting two top teeth in right now as well - OUCH. Bri has two bottom teeth (and has for several weeks), and is working on getting one top tooth. It totally cracks me up how one baby starts off ahead then the other baby surpasses her later down the line. This has happened with just about every new skill or development the girls have met so far - crazy babies =).

Right now we are eating three solid food meals a day, and drinking 3-4 bottles a day (5 oz bottles during the day, 8 oz bottle right before bed). They LOVE solid food. This week I left their food more on the chunky side instead of fully pureeing it, and the girls have done GREAT! I'm hoping that sometime soon we will be able to try the puffs again. Last time we tried the girls didn't have the concept of chewing down at all and I didn't want them to choke on them, so I took them away. If at first you don't succeed, try try again, right?

(The girls love laying on their backs like this and playing with their feet. It's about the only time they sit still!)

In other news, I turned 30 on Monday. AHHH! 30. Wow. Si, along with some serious help from Miss Sheila and Miss Lisa, threw me an AWESOME surprise party at Dave and Busters on Saturday with 30 of my closest friends! I didn't even know I had 30 friends! LOL. I'm kidding. You just never know how many people will actually show up for something like that and the turnout was great! I was so surprised! I was actually chastising Si for bringing me to Dave and Busters (as just us) for my birthday. . .I was wearing heels, I felt over dressed. . .=). It was perfect though. I walked in to see Miss Sheila and a pile of other people, a huge table, balloons, an awesome cake my sister in law Bridget made, ah, it was simply perfect! Miss Sheila brought flip flops so once we ate I was able to take off my heels and play in comfort!! Thanks to everyone who came and who had a part in the planning! I had a GREAT time!

I took Monday off and stayed home with the girlies for my birthday. I still had the nanny (Miss Whitney) come, and we had a great day! We went out to lunch, then Miss Jess came over and we brought the girls to the pool for the first time this summer. They had a blast! I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any pictures of us in the pool (bummer), but I definitely think that once every couple of weeks we should go to the pool in the afternoon. The girls had a great time and mommy got a little bit of a tan - SCORE!!!

Okay, that's all I have for now! I'm wondering how soon I should start planning the girls 1st birthday party. I mean, they are 9 months old already, doesn't a bunch of planning go into the first birthday party? I better get cracking! =)

Until next time -
Megan

Monday, July 4, 2011

Leaps and Bounds!

It's absolutely amazing to me how much babies can change in just a short period of time. AMAZING.

Case in point: today.

It's like someone flipped a light switch in the girls developmental process! Last night, the girls were the same as they had been for a week before - no real obvious progress in mobility, vocabulary, etc.. If you put them down eventually they would roll across the floor, but they didn't really have any desire to crawl to get anywhere, and weren't really determined to learn, even with intense coaxing. But today?

Well screw crawling! Today Brianna and Olivia both have learned to stand while holding on to furniture or other items - not Mommy and Daddy. They just stand there (and bounce, or try and take steps). It's crazy. They couldn't do that yesterday, and they had no desire to do that yesterday. Brianna even took a step on her own, not holding on to anything! I know, it's only one step, but they can't even crawl yet!

Miss Bri - looking at me like "what mom?" - like she's been doing this for years or something!

Not the greatest picture of Livvy, but we didn't take that many and this one was the best out of what we got!

Geez, I think they are going to skip crawling all together. And now can you guess what the problem is? Now that they have this new found standing skill they do not want to sit AT ALL! Which means momma doesn't get to sit at all either =). Of course their legs aren't strong enough yet for them to stand more than a couple of minutes at a time so our day today has been filled by; the girls standing up (Bri makes it longer than Liv). Then they fall down. Cue crying. Then cue whining until someone picks them up and holds them or stands them back up. Repeat 2 minutes later. Talk about getting NOTHING accomplished today without a baby in hand! LOL. Occasionally they will decide that it is okay not to be standing, only so that they can roll all over the room and play in the dog's water bowl. OMG! They weren't doing this yesterday!!! How did they learn this overnight?!

Oh, AND, today they learned how to say mom! Bri says "mom" and "mama" (she said mom randomly at Zios on Wednesday), and she knows exactly what she is saying! She looks right at me and says mom! Or yells MAMA!! at me when I leave the room. Again, this just started TODAY. What the heck!? I love it!

And signing - that's right! The girls can now tell me (this started last night) that they are "all done" in sign language when they are done with their food and bottles. SWEET. Communication! They get SO excited when they do it, and honestly, so do I! =). And kisses! I almost forgot - I am getting open mouth slobbery kisses! So sweet!

Let's see. . .other changes. . .they are drinking less breast milk than they were just 2 weeks ago =(, and they are LOVING their solid foods. Everything is still pureed, but we are working on getting them used to lumpy food. It's definitely a work in progress though. I tried mashed mac and cheese with the girls last week and Bri choked on it. A bit scary, but she was fine. Maybe just not ready for stuff with lumps yet. She wants to inhale her food, not chew it. Not really sure how to correct it but I'm sure she will catch on eventually.

I have made a very conscious effort this long weekend to breastfeed the girls. I know that very soon they will have zero desire to eat from me, and I cherish that special time with them. They were ROCKSTARS! Saturday was a bit rough, but yesterday and today were great! Yay for less pumping! I had nearly forgotten how awesome breastfeeding was since I was only doing it on the weekends pretty much when I had time. But it is STELLAR. So way better than the pump. Ah, glad I took the time this weekend to work with the girls on it.

Oh, and Livvy got her first tooth FINALLY! Poor peanut has been teething for months without anything to show for it, but last Sunday (the last weekend in June) her first tooth finally broke through on the bottom. That brings the tally up to Bri - 2, Liv - 1. Bri is working on her first tooth on top now - it hasn't broken through yet, but it's close! And we are pretty sure that Livvy's #2 tooth will be coming in pretty soon, she is chewing like a crazy woman.

Wow, so lots of progress today in the baby department! If it's a while before you hear from me again it's because I will be chasing two little peanuts CONSTANTLY all over the house =). I know you guys feel my pain already!

Hope you are having a wonderful 4th!


Until next time -
Megan

Saturday, July 2, 2011

A whole post about poop?! Really?!

TMI Alert! If you don't want to hear about, think about, or read about poop, stop reading NOW! HA - there was my fair warning!!

I was reading a fellow blogger's post a couple of weeks ago and the topic of poop came up. I thought, geez, I could do an entire post about our poo adventures! I mean seriously now. Pre babies, poop was a topic that was not readily discussed. . .ever. But now, somehow poo has become a daily topic of discussion! How often are they going? How much are they going? What's the consistency (hard/soft/pasty)? Color? Smell? Blowout? No blowout? Clothes change needed? How many wipes did it take to clean her up (two wiper/three wiper/four wiper?!)? Funny how much things change when you have kids!

(But they are super cute and full of smiles, so you don't mind the changes one bit!)


So. . .my reason for bringing up the topic of poo is that I am sure some of you have some useful advice for me. Yup, I am soliciting advice again. Imagine that! BUT, you guys have a wealth of knowledge and experience, so I know that pretty much regardless of the topic (even poo), that you guys probably have some info that can help a momma out! So here goes!

I make all of the girls baby food. We do chicken breast (and now chicken thigh), pears, peaches, bananas, applesauce, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, then yogurt (which I obviously don't make), oatmeal cereal, and prunes (on occasion, which the girls really don't like).

In a normal day they have cereal and pears, chicken and pears, sweet potatoes, peaches, broccoli or california blend, and yogurt. Some days we add in mac and cheese or mashed potatoes, or add a snack of bananas and applesauce mixed, but for the most part, the first sentence is what we eat for solids in a day. We drink breast milk too - 15-20 oz per day, and have one formula bottle at night.

We have a daily issue. Constipation. The pediatrician suggested that we try giving the girls juice - no more than 4 oz a day (we give them 2 oz juice mixed with 2 oz water)- to see if that would help them "go". While it does some of the time, there are plenty of times that it doesn't.

I was trying to figure out what was causing our problems in the first place to see if there was a way that we could correct it before it got to the constipation phase. When the girls had their ER mishap about 2 weeks ago, we had to go to giving them breast milk only for 24 hours. No juice, no formula, no food. Only breastmilk or pedialyte. While they were doing this "diet", they had no problems "going", and it was a normal, happy, poo consistency, color, etc.. We slowly started to add foods back in after the 24 hour period. When we added the chicken in, we got our issues back. We've reduced the amount of chicken that we give them a day to about 1 oz each, and I mix it with pears (as pears are a "p" so they are an anti-constipator), so I wouldn't think that it would cause too many issues. . .but it somehow still does.

Chicken is the only meat the girls are getting right now. I asked the pediatrician if it would make sense to switch out the meat to a red meat like steak, but she said that we would see the same problems regardless. So. . .I'm curious. Am I the only one in babyland with these issues? If not, what do you guys do to help your little ones "go"? Does it work?

If they are haivng these pooing issues now, are they just going to continue to have issues or even get worse as they get older? How strict do I need to be with their diets and avoid certain foods?

The suggestions I have heard so far to assist in the "going" process include adding apricots to their diet, avoiding the apples and bananas (which would be okay, but, I don't want the girls to never have apples or bananas simply because they could constipate them - I think that's silly!), and now leaving the skins on the fruits when I bake and puree them to add fiber. I've also heard that some moms give their babies miralax by sprinkling it on top of their food, which we could do if we got desperate. All good suggestions really. But what is tried and true for my readers? Throw it at me ladies! My ears are open! =)

As always, your advice and guidance is appreciated!!!


Until next time -
Megan