Valentines 2015

Valentines 2015

Monday, February 13, 2012

16 months old! (And other updates)

The girls are 16 months old today. 16 months!

Look how grown up they look! Definitely not little babies any more. More like little girls each day!

Here's Miss Olivia....

And Miss Brianna....

Every single day I am amazed at how much they learn and change. They have started to really understand cause and effect (i.e. - if I throw my favorite blanket down the laundry chute, no matter how much I cry, it's not going to magically come back to me), and they are getting better every day at following instructions (pick up your blocks please, go get your shoes and coats so we can go outside to play, etc.). What little sponges they are!

So what else is new with the girls?

Eating
Both girls have been doing relatively well with eating, but I can definitely tell they are eating less than they used to. If we are lucky they will eat really well at one meal a day. The rest of the time they play with and pick at their food and have fun throwing it down to the pugs patiently waiting below for any spare scraps.

For our meals we make one main course (baked chicken, spaghetti, pot roast, etc.) and then we let the girls choose their own sides from what we have available. So, they may get to choose between sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, and they get to choose which fruit they would like (cantelope, grapes, strawberries, or pineapple). They absolutely LOVE getting to choose.

They don't normally eat all that much of what is served to them, but they are still growing like crazy, so I'm not concerned. They refuse ALL veggies now, which is sad, but I have heard from lots of mommas that this happens, so oh well. Hopefully they come back to loving their veggies again in a year or two. We can hope!

The girls favorite foods, hands down, are:
Olivia - Spaghetti, goldfish crackers, yogurt, grapes
Brianna - Spaghetti, goldfish crackers, yogurt, cantelope, ice cream

Talking
Both girls are making leaps and bounds in the talking/vocabulary department. We are still doing several relatively basic signs with them, but for the most part, the girls are able to verbally articulate what they want (which translates into them signing and saying the word at the same time).
Our newest words that we have mastered (both in speak and sign) are "please" and "thank you". Bri is obsessed with (speaking) the words "this", "that", "those", "tickle tickle tickle" and "more", and Livvy is pretty obsessed with "Bailey", "Baby", and "up". So interesting the differences between the girls!

Brianna has been pretty hilarious lately with her speaking. In the bathtub at night she has been giving us full dissertations about heaven only knows what! She stands up with absolute authority and just goes off in (mostly) baby babble about something. This often goes on for several minutes. I really need to try and get it on video. Livvy will randomly jump into the conversation and give her two cents worth (again, usually mostly baby babble), and Bri will acknowledge her point then keep right on going. It is really stinking hilarious! Did you all see the youtube video of the twins chatting it up with each other last year? That's very similar to what goes on in our bathtub at night. Too funny!

Nap time
Nap time has been a little rough the last two weeks or so. It used to be that every day you would have the exact same routine for nap time...eat lunch, change diaper, get laid in cribs. Sleep 3 hours. Wake up. Have a snack.

Yeah, not so much now. The time that they go down for naps differs, and 3 hours is definitely a good day, not so much a standard. I would say on average we are getting somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours. Sometimes less, sometimes more. One girl usually sleeps longer than the other.

On Saturday Brianna fell asleep in the car on the way home from Target (10-15 minutes MAX), and she didn't take a nap at all after that. Sure, we still laid her down in her crib after lunch, but she just played in there. She never did go back to sleep. Oye! Note to self...be careful about letting the girls fall asleep in the car...you can lose a whole nap out of the deal! Eek!

Potty Training
I am making our first real attempt at potty training on Saturday. I feel relatively prepared with two potty chairs (naturally), long sleeved tshirts and leg warmers (so no need for pants), pull on diapers (just in case I decide to go this route vs. letting them run around naked), and lots of tasty treats (for bribery - lol).

They are very interested in the potty chairs, but they have no understanding whatsoever of their intended purpose. At this point they want to stand in them and on them. I actually took them away last week and hid them underneath a desk in the spare bedroom so they weren't tempted to play with them. I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but I didn't want them to get into the habit of thinking that it was okay to play with them instead of use them for potty!

So...wish us luck! We are prepared for a total fail, but it would be cool if that isn't what happened. I have no desire to have three kiddos in diapers at the same time, so we shall see! =)

"Baby C"
I haven't given an update on Baby C, aka Little Man, recently so here goes! I am 23 weeks along this week (I know, I know, you want pictures! Patience! They are coming!), and little man is growing nicely. When I was into the OB on February 2nd, he was weighing in at about 1 lb. Right on track for where he should be. I have to say that I find this just a smidge funny...the girls were always measuring ahead, ALWAYS, and now I have this "average" sized little boy inside! HA! So I am going to have massive little girls, and an average sized little boy...go figure!

I think for the first 20 weeks or so of pregnancy, I didn't feel or appear all that much different than I did with the girls. Sure, with the girls I was sicker, and for longer, but really, up until 20 weeks that was the only difference. Then, after 20 weeks with the girls my tummy really started to blossom and I really looked pregnant. With this little guy, I look pregnant, but I feel like I have been just about the same size for the last couple of weeks. No growing by leaps and bounds here. I think from this point forward, this may be the biggest difference between my twin and singelton pregnancies.

Here is a current picture of me - 23 weeks with Baby C -

And here is me at 23 weeks pregnant with the girls...I think I looked bigger with the girls, right?

Strangely enough, I am having some high blood pressure issues already with this little man (concerning to me since I had Pre-E with the girls and I know what to watch for, and this is happening WAY earlier than it did with my twin pregnancy), but the OB's PA doesn't seem too incredibly concerned at this point. I am anxious to see what the OB thinks. They did some blood work Thursday last week and I had to do the icky 24 hour urine on Friday "to get a baseline" and to make sure that everything looks okay that way at this point...I should find the results from those tests out tomorrow when I see my OB. Little man looks great of course...so it's just me and my defective body that's throwing a fit already! HA!

Okay, so that's all I know peeps. Happy Monday! I hope you are having a great start to your week!

Until next time-
Megan

15 comments:

  1. Your girls are little ladies!!!
    And you look great! Yes, your belly with the twins was much more filled out and "out"...as it should be since there was TWO in there!! :)
    I'm so excited for you to have a little boy.

    Keep us posted on those tests!

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    1. I know! They are growing up! Ahhhh!
      Thanks!!! We are excited to have a boy too =)

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  2. I have to wish you luck with the potty training. My Olivia is 15 months and I can't imagine potty training her at this point. I can TOTALLY understand why you are doing it though. I don't blame you for not wanting to have 3 kids in diapers. Just have A LOT of patience. When I potty trained Sophia it was terrible! I was lucky enough that they really focused on it at school. It was that "monkey see monkey do" kind of thing that worked while she was at school that didn't work at home. We started potty training around 2 years old and she wasn't fully potty trained until she was 3 (sleeping at night in panties). She still has an accident from time to time but that is to be expected. On another note I think you look GREAT! I know you lost so much weight after having the girls. You look really good and are just baby belly...so cute! I hope everything is okay with your results.

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    1. I definitely don't have high hopes for the potty training at this point, but I figure its worth a shot at the very least =). If we fail, we try again in a couple weeks or a month! The payoff with getting two (or even one!) kiddo out of diapers has substantial financial savings! I know our friends with kiddos that go to daycare get potty trained at the daycare at age two...it would be really nice to have that reinforcement and exactly as you mentioned, the "monkey see monkey do"....I'm hoping there will be a little bit of that if one of the girls takes well to potty training and the other doesn't. But, whatever happens is okay =). Thanks for your comment!

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  3. You definitely look smaller this time- smaller but still adorable!

    Your kiddos sound right on track with mine- they also don't eat veggies, give loooong dissertations in baby babble and are dreadful if they fall asleep in the car! Sounds like you are doing a good job Mama!

    I can't wait to hear how the potty-training goes. Their photos are so cute!

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    1. Yay! I'm glad our kiddos are on the same page! LOL! The dissertations just crack me up! Definitely my favorite part of the day! It will be interesting to see how we feel once we can actually understand what they are saying...lol!
      Yeah, I don't have high hopes with the potty training, but I figure it's worth a shot! Any idea when you are going to give it a go? I kind of feel like I'm early, but I have seen other mommas starting this early, so I don't know! I'm just prepared for (and am expecting) failure. I will be pleasantly surprised if that isn't the case! =)

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  4. You are GLOWING!!!!!! I love it!

    And those girls...wow....adorable. I can't believe you are going to potty train already...can you say super mom??? LOL!

    Happy Heart day!

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    1. HA! Super mom?! Nope. That's not me at all! I may be a bit ambitious in fact...maybe a more than a bit even...=). But diapers are expensive for two, and three, well, that will be even more!
      Happy Heart day to you too!

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  5. You're definitely smaller and cute and so are your girls. I love the regular professional pictures you take. They really capture the girls in their different stages of development and personality. We're grapes people too. Right now, grapes are the only things I'm sure will always be well received. (Knock on wood)

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    1. Aww! Thanks =). I am lucky enough with the pictures to have a gal that makes tutu outfits and such that does mini photo shoots every 3 months or so and lets the girls come in and play models for the pictures. Then for $50 I get 6-10 digital copies (no printed pics) that I can use for my own purposes. I LOVE it, because then I get these super cute pics of the girls in frilly foo foo outfits that I can post to my blog! =). I was very lucky to find her!

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  6. I could just eat those babies up!

    You definitely looked bigger with the twins! Cute in both pictures!

    I cannot believe you are potty training them already. And while pregnant. I'm impressed!

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    1. Aww! Thanks!
      And I am attempting potty training! Fully expecting failure though. And only during pregnant because I don't have an option at this point! It's either going to be pregnant or fully sleep deprived and juggling a newborn - lol =). I figure there's no time like the present!

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  7. My two are on a veggie strike, too!

    I will be closely following your potty adventures since we are on the cusp of getting started. The babies are more ready than we are!

    You look great (definitely smaller). Take care of yourself!

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  8. You never know.. You could totally end up with two potty trained girls by the end of the weekend! There's lots of conflicting research from highly respected groups and people. So that tells me that there's no right or wrong time - you just have to gauge each kid.

    Adam and I have been doing pretend potty play for about a month. And have the signs mastered. He doesn't like dirty diapers and runs to the gate to get changed. And he tries to take off his pants. So, I think on that level he's ready. But he's also very cautious and feels things out for a long time before jumping in... so we'll see!!!!

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  9. With babies and a bump like this, I had to give you a "sweet" award...see my latest post for details!

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me!