Deuces Wild & An Ace in the Hole!

16 months old! (And other updates)

2012-02-13T21:48:00.000-06:00

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

"Clean Painting"

2012-02-06T08:00:00.001-06:00

Clean painting was a Pintrest idea, discovered by our wonderful Nanny Extraordinaire,in which the girls were 100% able to do at their current age and developmental state.

I have tried to work with the girls on coloring. Really I have. But they are much more interested in trying to eat the crayons than color with them. What am I doing wrong?! We were looking for other crafty or creative ideas that we could do that would be non-hazardous to the girls (or not change their poop colors - lol), should they choose to eat it.

Welcome to "Clean Painting"
Easiest. Concept. Ever.

What you need:
One clean paint brush per child
Colored construction paper
One small container of water per child

We stuck the girls in their highchairs, taped a piece of construction paper to the highchair tray, put a little bit of water in each of the drink holders on the highchair trays, and handed each girl a paintbrush.

When the construction paper gets wet, it changes a different shade of the same color (darker). The girls thought this was very cool.

AND...
If they try to eat the paintbrush, well, it's a clean paintbrush with water on it. Won't hurt a fly!

Clean up? 5 seconds. SCORE!

The only negative to this activity?
If you are into saving the crafty creations that your children make, you are out of luck here. When the paper dries it looks like a normal piece of construction paper that maybe got a little wet...probably not refrigerator material. But the kids enjoy it, and to me, that's all that matters right now!

We have lots of other ideas from Pintrest and Julia from Pontifications of a Twin Mom to try too! We will post as we go! Hopefully the girls love some of these ideas!

Until next time -
Megan

The snow, the snow!

2012-02-04T15:11:00.000-06:00

We are currently experiencing our second real snow fall of the season. The girls have been mesmerized watching out the living room window as the snow has fallen and blanketed the cars, the grass, and the trees.

Naturally, we decided to bundle everyone up (pugs included!) to go outside to play in the snow. It's wet, heavy snow, perfect for snowmen and snowball fights.

We lasted all of about 10 minutes...

Livvy loved it...

Bri was obsessed with trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth...

The pugs decided that they were freezing and would much rather be inside...lol

Glad we are getting good use out of our snowsuits...finally! =)

Until next time -
Megan

PE 101 Kids Gym

2012-01-27T22:19:00.000-06:00

We went back to PE 101 on Wednesday morning and we had a great time once again!
This time mommy remembered to bring her camera, so I can actually share the awesomeness with you!

Livvy in the foam pit - loving it of course =)

Bri in the foam pit - SO happy!

Livvy (and Bri too) loving their time on the trampoline!

Bri climbing into the rodeo clown mat barrel =)

Livvy actually climbing through the rodeo clown mat barrel =)

And our last picture before leaving PE 101 - one last jump into the foam pit with mommy! Can you tell we are pooped?!?!
And yes, I actually got in and out of the foam pit multiple times while we were there. It's a really cool feeling - so soft! And it's deep...4 ft at least. That's A LOT of foam!

(BTW, no, that isn't pregnant me in red on the other side of the pit - I am in purple, mostly hidden by Brianna's head. However, if you look closely, you can see my arm...lol)

Seriously we think this is the coolest place ever! The girls love it there. We are going back next Wednesday evening for a private play group. Lots of our MoM friends are going to be there to play so it should be a great time! =)

Do you guys have super cool play places like this close to you??? Do your kids love it?

What about bounce houses? Do you think the girls are too young to go to the bounce places, or do you think they'd have a great time? What other activities do you suggest?

Until next time -
Megan

It's Follow Me Friday!

2012-01-27T10:50:00.000-06:00

It's "Follow Me Friday" on Multiples and More, and for some reason I felt compelled to enter my blog address into the happy linky, so I may have some first time visitors today!
If you are one of them, WELCOME!!! Feel free to look around!

My name is Megan, and my husband and I have 15 month old fraternal twin girls, Olivia and Brianna (pictured in the header above). It took us a lot of work to get them here, and they are the absolute lights of our lives. I was still nursing my girls when they turned one (in October) and we found out that we were (SURPRISE) going to be expecting another little peanut! I have to say I was relieved at our first ultrasound when we saw that there was only one little peanut in there this time. Twins x 2 would have been more than a bit chaotic! I'm already a bit panicked about 3 under 2!!

So, we are currently expecting baby #3, a little boy, probably the first week of June. If I can tell anything based on his movements in-utero, he is going to be a pistol! God help us! BUT, Si is absolutely thrilled to have a little man to wrestle with, play football with, and pass all of his "worthless car knowledge" on to, and me, well, I'm excited to get newborn cuddles and that "new baby" smell again =). Hopefully his sisters are equally as excited!

So, that's me in a nutshell! I normally try to post 1-2x a week, and I normally can't get around to posting any more than that. I'm a working momma, and my home time is spent with my girls, so my blog time is either while the girls are napping or at night after they have gone to bed. I share the same struggles as most mommas - the balance between work and home, treating each child equally (and not showing a preferance towards one over another), and learning to live each day with my girls to the fullest. Sound familiar?

Again, welcome! And if you are a new follower, let me know so I can follow you back!

Until next time -
Megan

I don't want to do it...do I?

2012-01-23T21:57:00.000-06:00

I'm jumping back into an old debate I have with myself....working outside of the home vs. being a stay at home mom.

I have been asked multiple times recently, now that we are expecting baby #3, if I am planning on staying home to raise our kiddos. My initial response has been "3 children under the age of 2 - ARE YOU NUTS?!". I ususally elaborate a bit and explain that I really don't have the burning desire to stay home with three small children. That I feel like it would be more stressful to me than enjoyable. Plus, we have an awesome nanny who the girls love, and who I think Baby C will love just as much. And I have a good job (for now), which I like, and I feel good about.

But I think maybe I am having a hard time articulating how I really feel...and really, I have to question, do I even have a good basis with which to make this decision?

That, I just don't know.

I will start at the beginning. I thought it would be hard to go back to work after having the girls. And it was. But it wasn't incredibly hard for me. In fact, I enjoyed not being cooped up in the house all day long and being able to be in the presence of other adults with whom I could talk to about things other than poopy diapers, reflux, and how much milk I'd pumped or the girls drank that day. It was refreshing. I felt like I was needed. And not that I didn't feel like I was needed at home, I did! But I felt like I was needed SO much that I was slowly suffocating. Nursing and pumping and burping and changing diapers seemed like a constant activity with absolutely no down time. When I was at home I had to make the concious decision of whether or not I would like to take a 30 minute nap because after being up most of the night both girls happened to fall asleep at the same time, or whether I would like to shower for the first time in several days.

Once I was at work, I had time to eat lunch! To pump! To respond to emails (work of course, but responding to ANY emails at that point was a major success)! To talk to other adults! And I loved it. Thrived on it.

I work 4 - 10 hour days and have every Wednesday off with my girls. I love my Wednesday's off with my girls, but I have to admit, they can be a little chaotic. Most of my time is spent trying to do dishes, throw in a load or fold a load (or 10) of laundry, picking up tupperware off the kitchen floor for the 17th time, making breakfast and lunch, putting toys back into the toy chests, going to the grocery store, reading reading and more reading, pick me up, put me down, vacuum the floors, scrub the toilet...the list goes on and on (as you all can relate to I'm sure =)). I spend a very decent amount of time on Wednesday's managing my girls and a pretty small amount of time enjoying them. By 5 PM I am absolutely exhausted. I can't imagine doing that day in and day out! And then considering the whole thing again while adding in a third child?! Eek! With what time?!

I have spoken with my mom about this several times and she has explained every time that when you are a SAHM that you have all week to get done the things that I am trying to fit into one day. That when you stay home with your kids it isn't stressful every day because you aren't constantly rushing around trying to get things done. Things slow down. You slow down.
One example my mom used was: you don't have to find time to nurse your baby and find time to pump because your baby is there with you. When he is hungry, nurse him. There is no reason for you to pump afterwards. And the girls can be right there with you - building with blocks, reading books, etc. - while you nurse. They won't be alienated during the process.
"When you stay home with your children you will have more of an opportunity to enjoy what you have in front of you."
It sounds lovely, doesn't it?

And I want to believe her, I do.

But I just can't see it. It sounds like a fairy tale land to me. My perspective must be skewed. (Maybe from having twins?) I am a working momma who is always busy and rushes all day to get everything done, and I really can't relate to what it may be like to be a SAHM.

Here's an example of my inability to relate. Feel free to clue me in, because I feel like I am quite clueless...

The girls and I attended a MoM's playgroup last week (during the day) at PE 101. They loved it. I loved it. There were a ton of other MoM's there with their kids, and I am quite sure that every one of them were SAHM's. I decided after our play group that I was going to set up some play groups at PE 101 - one in the evenings so the working mommies and/or daddies could come too, and one in the daytime primarily for the SAHM's. I thought that the SAHM's would probably jump on the opportunity to do both a day time and an evening play group (weeks apart, and at a time when the daddies could come along too)...but generally speaking, they didn't.

I was perplexed.

I didn't understand at all. I have the girls 100% to myself once a week (and of course I'm home on the weekends too), and sure, we will go to playgroups if they fall on the day I am off or if they are somewhere I REALLY want to go, but otherwise, we are all for evening and weekend playgroups where BOTH of us can go. Equal parenting.
Some SAHM's shared that sentiment, but others did not. Nope, several responded they would only do play groups during the day, not in the evenings.

But why? Is that time the SAHM's "time off" (if there was such a thing)? Their "break" from their kids now that daddy is home? A chance to have some time alone? I really have no clue.

From my perspective, I am thinking - shouldn't the daddies get to be involved in the fun stuff too? Shouldn't they get to play and have fun with their kiddos outside the home? Do only the mommas get to do the fun stuff with their kids?

I think perhaps I am a bit niave to how the world works in the life of a SAHM. I mean, I know we all have a different family dynamic, and we all parent differently, because we all do. But are things SO different to a SAHM that I can't even really understand where they are coming from or what their life is like on a day to day basis?

And then one step further...if I can't relate to a SAHM, how can I be sure that I don't want to be one??? Do I want to be one?

So tell me...what is your life like as a SAHM? What is your life like as a working momma? Do you share my sentiments? Or are your thoughts totally different? Can you share them with me? Thanks!!!

Until next time -
Megan

15 month update, and week's worth of updates (and pictures)!

2012-01-19T22:34:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week...we've been busy!
Here's what we have been up to:
This past weekend Gramz came down and spent the weekend with us. We played A LOT, ate a lot, and slept a lot. It was pretty awesome!

On Monday we had our 15 month check up at our pediatrician's office. We got two shots this time, will get one at 18 months, and then we will be done for quite a while - whew! Si didn't come with to the visit, and he is NEVER getting out of going again! It sucks to have to be the one to hold down both screaming girls while they are getting shots! What crap! He is never not going again- PERIOD!
Other than the shots, the appointment went well. The girls are growing like little weeds! Here are their stats:
Miss Olivia - AKA Baby A
Height - 32 inches - 92nd percentile
Weight - 26 lbs 13 oz - 93rd percentile

Miss Brianna - AKA Baby B
Height - 32.5 inches - 95th percentile
Weight - 27 lbs 2 oz - 95th percentile

Both girls seem to be on target developmentally; however, due to my apparent negligence, they did not meet two of their developmental milestones. 1 - they can not color scribbles (they only want to eat the crayons...they have NO interest in coloring), and 2 - they can not build blocks on top of each other. (This is probably mostly my fault as I didn't even break out the blocks until after Christmas, and they weren't really interested in building with them - they only wanted to tear my creations down!)

Anyhow, we have since reversed both (negative) findings...the girls can color in scribbles if you ~~force them to~~ encourage them to do so ~~and sit practically on top of them so they can't move or focus on anything else~~, and Livvy has a new found desire to stack two legos on top of each other. Looky there. We have now met all our milestones!
And just as a sidenote; why don't they give you the list of developmental milestones they want you to hit by your next pediatrician visit before you leave your current visit?? You know, so you KNOW what to work on with your children... or am I just an awful momma who should be scouring some source on the internet for these milestones so I can make sure that my girls actually reach them? Did you all know the milestones your kiddos were supposed to meet by each timepoint? Am I really a slacker momma?! (It's okay if the answer is yes, I just need to know that!)

Anywho...moving on....what else happened in the last week or so?
The girls finally got their new car seats...we decided on the Britax Boulevard 70 CS in Cowmooflague =). Good thing, because we had officially outgrown our old ones as of Monday - 32" and 35 lbs was the max on our snugride 35's!

The Christmas tree came down, and in its place went our little reading cocoon chairs (which we LOVE!). We are obsesesd with reading! I love that they love it so much!!!

We had a playdate with our local MoM's group at PE 101 on Tuesday. That was AWESOME! I don't know if that is a local chain or a national chain, but I have to tell you, this place rocked! It had a large foam pit (think big ball pit, except large foam blocks instead), a big trampoline built into the floor, big balls, hula hoops, a big open dance floor, a zip line, mats to tumble on, all kinds of stuff!! I wish I could post pictures, but I only took them on my phone and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get pics from my phone onto my blog. You will just have to imagine the awesomeness =). The girls haven't played that hard EVER. Their favorite thing by far was the foam pit, although Bri loved having so much space to run wild. They kept jumping into the foam pit and getting back out and jumping back in again, and just giggling! It was a perfect playdate! We will definitely be going back!

So that's what we have been up to over the last week. Have you guys been this busy too?! Sheesh!

Until next time -
Megan

I Am

2012-01-11T16:21:00.000-06:00

I read this on 3 Little Men and a Mommy and thought it sounded like a great idea, so I joined in too! I think it's very interesting to read other people's responses to the fill in the blanks. If you do this too, let me know! I'd love to read about you!

I AM...a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a friend...but where's the instruction manual??? It's a lot harder than I thought it would be to be good at even one of these things!
I WANT… to do enjoy every single thing I have been blessed with, and not worry about what I don't have.
I HAVE...a job, a roof over my head, transportation, a wonderful family, great friends, food on the table and in the cupboards, closets full of clothes, and hearts full of love. See, very blessed!
I KEEP...my family and friends close to my heart, always.
I WISH I COULD...sleep in on weekends....lol....only 18 more years to go!
I HATE...rudeness, insincerity, and being lied to.
I FEAR...being alone.
I HEAR...people talking negatively behind other people's backs. Why???? Why do we feel the need to do this?
I DON'T THINK… that people always get what they deserve. Some people get slighted. Life is a crapshoot sometimes. And that sucks.
I REGRET...losing contact with good friends...
I LOVE...98% of my life...I try to ignore the 2% that stinks.
I AM NOT...perfect, in any sense of the word. I have many things that I need to work on to make myself a better person.
I DANCE...with my husband, my girlies, and my pugs... like no one is watching...those ballroom lessons paid off - LOL=)
I SING...any time I can. I love music. So does Si. So do my girls. I think music is so important! Keep the music alive!
I NEVER...have used ANY illegal drugs. Ever. Not once. Not that I didn't consider it, but um, I'm a puker when I get drunk, and that really sucks...I figured that if that was my reaction to alcohol, my reaction to something illegal would be MUCH worse!
I RARELY...get road rage. Si can yell at other drivers like it's no one's business, but not me! I always think worse case scenario...what if that other driver has a gun or something?! NOT worth it!
I CRY WHEN...someone close to me tells me they are disappointed in me, or in something I have done. It's not often, but it happens.
I AM NOT ALWAYS...happy. We all have bad days. I really am a happy person about 97% of the time though. I love that about myself. I think it drives others batty =)
I HATE THAT…I carry grudges....if you did something to really hurt me, I may never forgive you. I think that's sad.
I'M CONFUSED ABOUT...why people abuse and neglect their pets. We see this SO often in pug rescue, and I can never understand it. Why hurt the ones that give you literal unconditional love???
I NEED...coffee first thing in the morning. Right now it's 1/3 caff, with cream and sugar, please =)
I SHOULD...spend more time enjoying my girls instead of managing them....I've mentioned this before, and it's seriously a work in progress. I have to make a conscious effort every day to enjoy them more. They are wonderful! Why can't I just enjoy their company???

So that's me!! Tell me about YOU!

Until next time -
Megan

Sorry, no pics this time! This was an unplanned post and I don't have any new pics to share today!

Girlies vs. Lemon Meringue Pie

2012-01-09T21:55:00.000-06:00

Aunt Denise picked up a Lemon Meringue pie from Village Inn on Friday. The girls seemed interested in this fluffy yellow creation, so we gave them a bite or two. They made the awful sour food face and wanted nothing to do with it (which we didn't catch on camera of course, but was definitely hilarious).

Fast forward to today....we were finishing up the remainder of the Lemon Meringue pie after dinner and the girls again wanted some. Fine I thought, but you aren't going to like it!

On the contrary!

They LOVED it! Crazy!

I stuck them back in their highchairs and put some pie on their high chair trays....

This is the final outcome....LOL! The girls really enjoyed the pie, and consequently we learned that lemon meringue pie would also work as a stellar hair gel, just in case you were curious and in the market...HA!

Brianna:

Olivia:

Pie = 0, Girlies = 2. Lemon Meringue pie is no match for our girls!

Hope you are having a great day!

PS - Thanks for all of your input on the sippy cups! We intend to transition to the hard spout Platex ones THAT DON'T LEAK in the next week or two =). Then hopefully, within a couple months, to regular cups. You're suggestions were awesome!! Thanks ladies!!!

Until next time -
Megan

Eradication of the bottles...

2012-01-08T15:24:00.000-06:00

We made the decision on Thursday; Friday would be the last day the girls would be getting bottles, and they would make the "cold turkey" transition to nothing but sippy cups starting Saturday morning.

AND????

It's gone fairly well.

Olivia was furious Saturday morning when Daddy handed her a sippy cup of milk instead of a bottle. I'm quite sure she chucked it multiple times in fact. She refused to drink it. And we let her pout. By about 11 AM she had come around and was fine with the sippy cups. She was upset that we gave her a sippy cup for her last nighttime bottle as well, and again, chucked the sippy cup. BUT... she had no problems going down for the night. Success!

Brianna was pretty much fine from the get go, but our issue with her and sippy cups has been that she spits whatever liquid they may contain out onto the carpet...so puddles of milk and juice everywhere. Ugh. Overall though, she really didn't spit that much out yesterday. YAY. Progress!

Actually the biggest hurdle we ran into was that the stupid cups (while SUPPOSEDLY leak free) leak like crazy. This was not a good time to figure this out! We've been using sippy cups for months for juice in the mornings and occasionally milk througout the day, and I'd never really noticed any leaking problems. But now, now that we are guns a blazing, full speed ahead with sippy cups, AND we have spent a small fortune trying different kinds and purchasing enough for a decent supply, we find that they are pieces of crap and leak. UGH. We are using the Nuby sippy cups with the flexible spouts (not straws). DISLIKE.

I'm trying to decide what exactly we should switch to...we tried a bunch of different kinds to start with (most with less flexible "spouts") and this was the only kind they would take. We haven't tried the Born Free sippy cups that you can buy at Whole Foods...well, because they are $12.99 A PIECE. Um, we would need like 10...do that math...I don't really want to spend that on sippy cups! I suppose I could get a couple and see if the girls would even take them and do my own little review....I know one of my other twin momma friends "Miss O" uses them and loves them....hmmm...(and as a side note, they are only $9.97 on Amazon, so I would save a little bit of money ordering that way...)

So, for the time being, we have kicked the bottle habit! We have been bottle free for nearly 40 hours. YAY! Go girlies go! The next challenge on our list is an introduction to potty training (yes, you heard me right and I have a whole blog post about it) but we have to fully conquer our sippy cup escapades first!!

So...what sippy cup has worked for you and your kiddos? Any expert advice for me guys?

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday! We are enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures here and are spending lots of time outside =). Here's a picture of the girls with Aunt Denise by the pond (not that you can see the pond)...they are loving it!

Until next time -
Megan

Some time to ourselves =)

2012-01-02T21:59:00.000-06:00

For the first time since the girlies were born, Si and I BOTH got to sleep in this morning! It was AMAZING!
To clarify, we made it all the way to 8:25 AM - definitely not "sleeping in" according to our previous standards - but post baby that is awesome!
Si and I were both off today, but our nanny extraordinaire volunteered to work anyway, so we JUMPED on the opportunity to have some time to ourselves and go out and about without the girlies!!

After we leisurely made our way downstairs and were greeted by two beautiful little smiling faces,

we took showers and got ready to head off to the movies. Again, our first movie together at a theater since before the girls were born. We saw Mission Impossible- Ghost Protocol. It was a great movie! An excellent choice for our first movie together in nearly 18 months!

We then decided to run to the mall and hit up Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual sale (what can I say, I'm a sucker for VS stuff), and we dropped by Target since we were right there too. I was so proud of myself for finding my bargain buy of the day....a new Chicco Playyard for Baby C...normally $189.99, on clearance for $56.84!!!! (Seriously, check out the specs on this thing - it has a play yard with toys attached, it vibrates, it plays music - holy buckets! These baby/kid items are getting so advanced!)

I figured that Baby C would need to start out in a pack n play, and I intended to buy him a new one (since Bri has killed the Winnie the Pooh one), but I didn't expect to get this particular one, and I didn't expect the purchase to happen quite this early! Oh well. The new pack and play was my one big purchase that I intended for Baby C...that and maybe a new carseat since the girl's car seats are a set and match the stroller that we intend to sell at the multiples sale in April. I figured the pack and play would be a relatively pricey purchase. I feel so proud of my thriftiness! YAY! =)

Otherwise we had a very low key New Year's. We caught the tail end of the fireworks Saturday night in the Downtown Omaha Old Market, then drove through Mickey D's for some ice cream (Dairy Queen was closed already - slackers). New Years Day we went to church, then lots of playing together on the floor and just plain old having fun=). It was a great start to 2012!

It's been over 4 weeks since I've posted a shot of my growing baby bump, and I am proud to say that my bump is coming along! I think I look pregnant now! YAY! And I really started feeling baby C move earlier in the week...it's such an amazing feeling...I remember missing the kicks so much after the girls were born...now I remember why!
Anyhow, here's a current belly shot, just shy of 17 weeks =)

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2012!! Happy New Year blogger peeps!

Until next time -
Megan

14 & 1/2 months!

2011-12-28T15:00:00.002-06:00

I just realized that I am majorly slacking. I don't think I've done a girl status update in several months. Eek! These girls are little sponges and are learning SO much every single day that I need to write it down!

The biggest accomplishments for both girls over the last 6 weeks or so are:
Eating entirely on their own - i.e. - they won't let anyone feed them with a spoon or fork- they want to do it all on their own.

Walking around with shoes on - this is a big accomplishment as they were SO rebellious with the shoes...screamed every time I put them on for the last several months! Of course any child of mine MUST love shoes, so I'm pleased that we have moved past that =)

Following simple instructions - if mommy says to go get in our highchairs to eat, we walk right over there and get in them; if mommy says to bring her the bottle, we bring the bottle to her, etc..

Learning general cause and effect - if mommy asks if we want to go outside we will go and get our shoes and coats and bring them to mommy so she can put them on us...I'm so impressed! We are also learning that if mommy or daddy says no 3 times and we don't listen that we get 1 minute of time out in our cribs. Definitely not our favorite place to be!

They understand exactly what we are saying to them - I'd say they pick up at least 80% of what is said, if not more. Crazy! A couple weeks ago I think they were maybe at 40%?

Rapidly expanding vocabulary - Livvy now says - thank you, Bailey, baby, ut oh, mommy, daddy, yes, yep, papa, Bri, hi, hey, tummy, I love you; and will sign: "more", "milk", and "all done" on a regular basis. Bri now says - thank you, yup, yes, ut oh, up, mommy, daddy, hi, please (she is a bit more selective on her speech apparently!) and will sign: "all done" on a regular basis and "more" occasionally

Learning how to brush our teeth - Every night in the bathtub the girls get their toothbrushes and mommy sings the "Brush your Teeth" song by Raffi while the girls brush their little teeth. They think it's so fun, and they love the song =). Speaking of teeth, I know that Livvy has 3 of her 1 year molars most of the way in, and Bri has 2 partially in. Yikes...these molars must really hurt coming in!

Now, specifics, per girl:
Olivia

Your smile can light up a room peanut! So bright and vibrant. Everyone notices you first because you are almost always beaming when we are out and about. One of your new things is you love to mimick us! You are so adorable when you shake your head "no" at us with "that look"! I have got to capture it on camera because it is so precious. Your new favorite thing to do is take cups and bowls and spoons (or toothbrushes) and use them to stir whatever is in your cup/bowl. Ever since you helped mommy and Aunt Denise stir when we were making Rice Krispie bars a couple of weeks ago you have wanted to do it over and over again! You are going to love to help mommy and Aunt Denise in the kitchen, I just know it.
You love the bath. You could play in there for hours I think! Every single night we have to tear you away from your bath tub time because you are turning into a prune. And every night you fight it and want to go back in =)
You are always trying to figure out how things work. For Christmas Miss Whit got you a lock puzzle - you are so intrigued by it! You also love to read. Not only do you love for us to read to you, but you also like to sit on the floor and read to yourself outloud. Precious!!
Favorite Foods - Graham crackers, spaghetti, bread and butter, pancakes, bagels, cheese

Brianna

You are absolutely precious! You love to play hard-to-get...shy and reserved while people are paying attention to you, but as soon as they stop, boom! You want to smile or play or talk to them. Momma loves this as usually she gets extra snuggles while you are playing your hard-to-get game =).
You love music! You are perfectly content to play music on one of your toys or on "Scout" your puppy pal, and you will just swing back and forth and smile from ear to ear. Your favorite activities include playing outside (you cry every time when we have to come back in), and playing with the household electronics. You are a TV remote magnet, you LOVE laptops, and you are absolutely obsessed with cell phones and the home phone. If it's electronic, you want to play with it!
You also enjoy reading, but you prefer quick books that don't have a lot of words. One of the cutest things you do right now is, you think that everyone else has body parts (currently a nose), but you don't think that you do! You walk around pointing to mommy's nose, daddy's nose, Livvy's nose, Aunt Denise's nose, but you won't point to yours! Same with ears, eyes, and mouths!
You also like to play in the bathtub, but your favorite part of the bath is playing in the water from the shower head..you just giggle when you get wet =). You also like to squirt and be squirted with the rubber duckies...daddy has taught you well!
Favorite foods - Bread in any form, spaghetti, fruit (pears, bananas, strawberries, clementines), cheese, graham crackers

One obstacle that we still haven't overcome is a full transition to sippy cups from bottles. Not because they aren't ready, they totally are! I tried to go to full sippy cups last week and they did really well...at first anyway. Livvy did perfectly throughout, but Bri started taking a drink from her sippy cup then spitting it out (on the floor, highchair, herself). I would tell her no and take the cup away from her, but then she would take Livvy's cup instead and do the same thing. Then I had to take Livvy's cup away too (totally not fair to her!). I tried again later in the day and Bri was fine at first, but after 20 seconds did the same thing all over again with the spitting of the milk on the floor (carpet...ick). So repeat of above...take away Bri's cup, then Livvy's, then the cups all together. Any ideas on how to fix this problem? They are totally ready for sippy cups instead of bottles, I just can't have Bri spitting out her milk all over the house. She doesn't do anything like that with bottles! Help please mommies!! Thanks!

Until next time -
Megan

What a wonderful holiday!

2011-12-27T21:37:00.000-06:00

We had a nice low key holiday this year and it was really quite refreshing! Normally we are running back and forth between Kearney and Omaha, trying to fit time in with both families for Christmas festivities, and really just stressing ourselves out.

This year was different. It was even, dare I say, slow? Christmas Eve we spent at home with the girls...having meatballs and fried potatoes, and watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (a Hollibaugh family tradition!). Christmas morning Si was up before the girls (and the sun!) and just couldn't wait for the girls to get up so they could open all of their gifts. Silly daddy! True though, Christmas is so much more magical now that we have kids. It's like we can be kids again too!

Once the girls got up they opened up their gifts and stockings and we had brunch. The girls have started feeding themselves ENTIRELY (holy buckets right?!), so they had fun chowing down on eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and cinnamon rolls. Once we were done eating the girls got a chance to check out their new ball pit - they LOVE it!

After a bit of playing we decided to go down to the Gene Leahy Mall in downtown Omaha for some fresh air and go down the big slides!

It has been unseasonably warm here in Omaha, so we thought we would take full advantage of the sunshine and warm temperatures (warm being 45 degrees that is=)). What fun we had! Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Denise, Livvy, Bri, and Bailey and Jameson pug all went to the park. Livvy LOVED the slides. LOVED. She just giggled and squealed when she went down. Bri was a bit more tentative. She was fine the first time we went down, but after that she fussed every time. Ah well, she will grow into it. =)

Christmas evening we went to Aunt Bridget and Uncle Jon's house for my side's Christmas. We had a wonderful supper and then some very tasty "Better than Sex" cake for my mom's birthday. The whole experience ended up being WAY too overstimulating for the girls! By the time we had eaten and actually got around to opening gifts they didn't want to open anything OR play with the toys. They got a ton of stuff (thank you all!) and have had fun over the last 24 hours taking everything out of the big box we brought them home in and discovering them all over again. Better late than never, right?

Si's parents made the trek down to Omaha to visit on Sunday night, right before bed, and the girls were so excited to see them! Monday morning we had a low key brunch, then Monday evening we had a good old fashioned turkey dinner (like Thanksgiving all over again!). Aunt Denise had a frozen turkey from Thanksgiving that she hadn't used yet, so she decided Monday was the day. We had a wonderful meal with wonderful people and it was the perfect end to a lovely holiday weekend! Thanks Gramz and Grandpa for making the trek down to see us! Merry (belated) Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well! For those of you that have blogs, it appears as though you definitely did =).

Until next time,
Megan

The "leaving others behind" guilt

2011-12-20T22:51:00.000-06:00

I know we all have some feelings of guilt....being a parent is filled with guilt, right?

I swear that is one of the first things my mom told me after I gave birth to the girls. Her logic/wisdom went something like this: "From this point forward you are going to feel guilty about nearly everything you do or do not do for your children. You will question your decisions constantly. But the best thing you can do is make the decisions to the best of your ability at the time, and not look back or question it later." She was right. I have felt guilty about a lot of things! Some seemingly important, and some not so important.
- Some days I feel guilty that I have to work outside of the home to support my family instead of being able to stay home with my girls and raise them myself...
- Other days I feel guilty that I would actually prefer to work outside of the home to staying home with my crazy toddlers...=)
- Sometimes I feel guilty that as hard as I try, both girls don't get exact equal treatment...
- Often I feel guilty that on my day off with the girls I spend way more time managing them then I do enjoying them...

Sound familiar?

Then there is other, non-toddler related guilt...
- I feel guilty that sometimes I neglect my marriage in favor of spending more time with my children...
- I feel guilty that I have lost touch with several of my friends, especially non-mommy friends...and I don't have the time or energy at this point to work on re-establishing contact...
- I feel guilty that every once in a while I want to think about myself, a massage, shopping, and a pedicure, instead of spending time with my family....

But there is an infertility related guilt that has been eating away at me since I found out I was pregnant with baby #3...the "leaving others behind" guilt.
Let me explain.
Some of you had a long road with IF and fertility treatments on your path to parenthood and you will understand exactly where I am coming from with this. Others of you though didn't have to really try to start your family...getting pregnant and maintaining pregnancy wasn't difficult.
Way back in 2008 after we had tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant "the old fashioned way" for a couple years, we sought out the help of my OB. He decided to try clomid as a first line treatment for infertility. The day I started clomid I sought out support from the online IF (infertility) community. It was AMAZING to find this sort of support. Loads of people in the exact same boat and all with the same goal; to have a baby. I made a lot of close friends on these infertility boards. We went through everything together. We were there for each other through all of the failures, and through the joys as well (although admittedly there were way more failures than successes, and we went through years of treatments together - clomid, IUI's, IVF's). These girls have a piece of my heart forever...literally. I swear they could feel my pain and I could feel theirs...and I still can.

When IVF#2 worked for us and we were finally able to maintain a pregnancy (instead of miscarrying AGAIN) I felt relieved, yet incredibly guilty. What about my IF ladies???? I knew how much it hurt for someone to announce a pregnancy...I remember how much it hurt to hear people talk about (and especially complain about) being pregnant....I remember crying every time I got invited to a baby shower and trying desperately to come up with some excuse why I couldn't go. I never wanted to hurt people the way that I had been (unintentionally) hurt.

I have two people close to my heart that started trying to concieve very close to the same time we started trying to concieve, and who are still trying. They have both had multiple miscarriages and no live births.
When we got pregnant with the girls, I felt we "deserved" it. We had been through years of heartache and tears....maxed out credit cards, more tests on my lady bits than anyone should ever have to endure, hundreds of shots, piles of blood draws, multiple surgeries, probably 50 ultrasounds....it was my turn to have a successful pregnancy and a take home baby.

But this time?
No.

We thought we were probably done having kiddos.
Really.
We were perfectly happy with our girls.
We had no intention of using our frozen embryos...I mean, we had considered MAYBE in 5 years trying a FET...but really, we were happy just the way we were. We spent so much time thinking that we may not be able to have any kids. We would have been thrilled to have just one. But two? And absolute blessing from God! How perfect!

But this? Baby #3? We weren't even trying....
Our girls are still little....
Why us?
Why now?
Why not Catherine? Why not Mo? Why not one of my friends that had decided to go the adoption route and has been patiently waiting for YEARS to get their baby? They have been waiting SO long. It is their turn. It broke my heart to post that I was pregnant. Literally. That's why it took me a while into my pregnancy to post. I didn't want to offend anyone. I didn't want to be THAT girl....
Yet that seems to be exactly what I am....
And I feel SO guilty...
Mommas with a "natural" pregnancy after infertility, or any pregnancy after infertility, is this normal? Anyone have any insight???

I know I don't like it one bit. I want to enjoy being pregnant. I want to show it proudly. Instead, I spend more time trying to hide it than anything, almost like I am ashamed. But I shouldn't be ashamed. I have nothing to be ashamed of. What am I doing wrong that is making me feel this way? Why can't I move on and live my own life?

Sigh....
So this is my guilt...sorry for the long and heavy post....I needed to say it though and get it out...it has been eating away at me for months.

On a happier note, the girlies are cute as ever! 14 months is SUCH a fun age!! I love it! And they are loving this Christmas chaos...the tree, the presents, the sparkling lights...their eyes just light up. It's precious! I just want to bottle them up and store them for later! I love their innocence =)

A picture of Daddy and Livvy

A picture of Brianna

I love them so much!!

Anyway, I hope you all are well and are ready for a fabulous Christmas! I know we are!

Until next time-
Megan

It's official!

2011-12-15T22:15:00.000-06:00

We are expecting a baby BOY in June!

My OB is 100% certain (and at 14 weeks!). We saw the full "package" today via ultrasound (see below). And HE looks great! He is measuring exactly where he should be. My OB is absolutely amazed and says that this little guy is absolutely a miracle. He was quite sure at 6 weeks that the pregnancy was doomed and I would miscarry. But not this little guy....he wouldn't give up. Such a little fighter!

If you look at the ultrasound picture, what you are actually looking at is his little legs, spread open kind of in a U...then, in between the legs is said "package"...you can't miss it!

We also got our NT scan results back:
Blood work - well within normal range for all tests
NT measurement was 2.1 (1.8-2.2 is normal for 13 weeks) - so normal

No indication that further testing is necessary. YAY!

Here's a picture from the NT scan of the little man:

My OB has decided to keep me on prometrium at night for another 3 weeks, then he is going to switch me over to 17-P shots (I did this with the girls, it's to prevent pre-term labor) until 28 weeks (or longer if indicated because of cervical changes). I tried to stop my progesterone at 13 weeks, and within two days I was a crampy mess. The OB immediately put me back on the prometrium. I suspect I may have a progesterone issue throughout pregnancy, not just in the beginning. I had similar issues with the girls and had to go on 17-P shots at 17 weeks. We assumed we had to do the extra medication because they were multiples, but now we are thinking probably it's more of a problem with my body than with the girls being a multiple gestation. Learn something new every day!

Otherwise all is well here! Trying to get the rest of the Christmas shopping done. Eek! Christmas is only 10 days away! The girls are done, or I always think that until I find one more thing that could go in their stocking! But I haven't even really started shopping at all for anyone else on my list. I feel like such a slacker...=)

Okay, that's all I have for now! We have received many blessings this holiday season! Hope that you and yours have too!

Until next time -
Megan

Holiday baking

2011-12-11T21:37:00.000-06:00

Other than decorating the Christmas tree and putting up Christmas lights there's nothing that gets me into the spirit of the holidays more than holiday baking! Last year I admit I skimped a little; understandable as the girlies were only 2 months old, but this year? Oh no, I'm back! Today I made the candy coated pretzels and the peanut butter kisses cookies. It felt so great to bake!
YUM!

I'm exhausted now of course as I used the girls nap time to do my baking, then since I made a massive mess baking (and then making lasagna for dinner), I felt that I had to clean...you know, wipe down the counters, do the dishes, vacuum and swiffer the floors. Whew! I'm pooped! But I feel like I accomplished something. I can't believe it's only two weeks until Christmas...still so much to do!

I did sit down (for like 30 seconds) right after the girls got up from their nap this afternoon. I snapped a couple of pictures of them just being their super cute selves. They are so happy after their naps!

And one with Daddy (they are SUCH Daddy's girls!)

Oh, and the GAP shirts they are wearing...yeah...those were supposed to be for Christmas. I am SUCH a sucker! How do you keep this stuff actually for Christmas?! I had them upstairs in our room and when Si was getting the girls dressed this morning he asked what I wanted them to wear...so I spout off that I want them in their new GAP jackets and pink pants...really?! Why Megan, why??? Good thing the girls are too young to have any concept of Christmas or Christmas gifts or how many they should get! I keep giving their gifts to them well before Christmas day! HA!

So, how far are you in your Christmas planning/shopping/baking? All caught up? Way behind? I'm always envious of those people that can shop throughout the year then never have to set foot in a mall during the Christmas season. Are you one of those awesome people? Or are you envious of them and way behind like I am too?!

Until next time,
Megan

The first snow of the season!

2011-12-03T21:52:00.000-06:00

We got our snowsuits just in time! It snowed 4 inches of wet and heavy snow today - our first real snow of the season! The girls watched the snow fall most of the late morning from the doorway, perplexed and amazed at what they were witnessing. Once they got up from their nap they went right back to the door and it was obvious that they wanted to go check out this fluffy white stuff that mom and dad kept calling "snow".

We packed the girls into their new snowsuits, complete with booties and mittens, and out front we went! We placed each girl into the 4" of fresh snow in the yard and they just stood there, frozen in place. After a few minutes they started moving around some, but they were still very tentative. Bri had a hard time taking steps and keeping her balance, so she spent a good chunk of her time on all fours in the snow. Very funny. Livvy, after watching her sister struggle, decided that sitting was the best option, so she promptly plopped down in a pile of snow close to the sidewalk.

Miss Olivia when first placed in the snow =)

Miss Brianna after getting her bearings a bit and figuring out that she really could walk in her snowsuit =)

Both girls sitting in the snow...much easier than trying to navigate around in it!

They made it outside for about 15 minutes before they wanted to come back in. It was still snowing like crazy, and the wind was blowing, and frankly the girls weren't fans of wet cold snowflakes smacking them in the face. Regardless, I really think they had a good time! I intend to take them out again tomorrow =)

We have our MoM's group Christmas Party tomorrow, complete with Santa, so as long as I remember to bring my camera I will have more pictures to share. Otherwise, not a ton going on here, and that is TOTALLY okay.

As many of you have asked, I did have Si snap a quick picture of my expanding belly tonight for your viewing pleasure. I don't really think I look pregnant at this point (12 weeks 3 days). I think I'm currently in that "did you eat too many bacon cheeseburgers?" phase. Bleh! Patiently waiting for the cute little pregnant belly to come forward...I suspect it will probably be 5-6 weeks yet though. I have my NT scan next Friday, and an OB appointment the following Wednesday (the 14th?). I will be 14 weeks at my OB appointment and as long as this little peanut participates, he thinks he will be able to determine gender. Woo hoo!

Okay, really, that's all for now. Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Until next time!
Megan

The convertible car seat debacle

2011-11-30T10:52:00.000-06:00

When we were pregnant with the girls, we decided that instead of getting the "standard" Graco 22 Snugride car seats (or other equivalent models) that we would pay the extra $60 per car seat to get the Graco Snugride 35's (which got way better side impact safety ratings than the 22's) and we could use them for a longer period of time (until the girls were 35 lbs or 32" tall).

We have about gotten our use out of these lovely car seats. The girls aren't even close to the weight limits for their current car seats, but at their 1 year check up the girls were up to 30", so it's just a matter of time before we will have to make the transition to new seats. As such, we are now in the market for our next step in car seats. The convertible car seat.
(Right?? That is the next step, isn't it? I'm only confused because some of these convertible car seats say they could have been used from birth on! Really?! We could have used a convertible the whole time? How?! These things are massive! Any insight group?)

I've been trying to do some online research and find out what convertible car seat is the best, but what I keep running into is a statement that "the best car seat for you is the one that fits your car, your budget, and you will use correctly every time." Um, okay. But that doesn't answer my question!!! What is the top rated car seat? And do consumers love it?

We are looking at getting these car seats...Britax Marathon 70 in Cowmooflauge (or we could do the pink, but I think the cowmooflauge is precious!!)...it looks like they got very high ratings (top rated on Amazon), but they are also quite expensive. Si doesn't think we should spend this much on convertible car seats. I think you can't put a number on saftey. It's not like they are $1000 a piece or something...but they are about $275 (normally - but Aha! - currently on sale for $220 on Amazon Prime! Eat it Si!). Not that that still isn't expensive because it is, but, if that's the best car seat, and they are going to be in it for a while, well, it's worth the money to me. Right?

I know I'm not the first of my bloggy friends to make the switch to convertible car seats, so help me out here guys! Should I save my money and get a cheaper car seats? They have what I suspect to be the low end of the Britax car seats at Target for $150...should we just get those? Or a different brand all together? There are a couple others that look good to me...then again, I guess I don't really understand what I am looking for!

Diono RadianDXT Price: $309 (Si will never go for this one - lol - but it's PURPLE! HA!) It raves that this could be the ONLY car seat you could ever need...birth up to 100 lbs! That's just nuts.

Graco Nautilus Price: $149. See, but again, this is so confusing to me - this seat can only be used forward facing?! I thought the new guidelines were to keep kiddos rear facing as long as possible, or until they are 2 years old or meet the height or weight guidance provided for rear facing on the particular car seat. So...this isn't an option for us at this point? Confusing!

Safety First Complete Air 65LX - Price $227. Not a huge fan of the color, but I like how it is nice and tall...it "looks" safe...HA....can you judge a seat based on appearance? LOL!

So, what do/did you use? Do you like it, and why or why not? Was it uber expensive?

Thanks as always ladies! You guys rock! I've got to keep these two peanuts safe!

Miss Bri, sporting her Christmas dress and actually SMILING for the photograher (the one picture from the entire shoot she was smiling in - lol!). She is very particular with her smiles...reserved for the ones she loves =)

And Miss Livvy, hamming it up for the camera, as usual! I love her beautiful little smile! It lights up a room!

Until next time -
Megan

Snowsuits? What's really necessary?

2011-11-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

I scooped up second-hand cute little reversible winter coats at our fall MoM's sale for $10 each. A stellar deal! Or so I thought at the time. Maybe now I'm over thinking it.

It's been getting progressively colder here in Omaha, but we have yet to get any measurable snow. The girls have been going stir crazy inside so any time it's been 45 degrees or warmer outside I leave them in their nice toasty fleece PJ's, add on another hooded fleece jacket, and take them outside to play in the grass for 10-15 minutes. I've found it's really a necessity. They are SO much happier when they come back inside and they nap more soundly and for longer. Totally worth it for 10-15 minutes of chilly outdoor time.

Over the last couple of weeks I started thinking about exactly what my plan would be once it would snow. Would the girls still get to go out and play? What all would we need to make sure they would be warm enough, even for only 10-15 minutes?

This is what I came up with:
1. Winter Coat
2. Snow Pants
3. Stocking Hat
4. Mittens/Gloves
5. Boots

So far I had the winter coats, and one pair of mittens that I had bought at clearance time last year. That meant I still had A TON left on my list to pick up for the girls before they would be "snow ready". One ongoing problem that we have encountered with the girlies is that they have a major problem with shoes. And they don't discriminate. It can be any type of shoes. Tennis shoes, dress shoes, sandals, it doesn't matter. They get placed on their feet and the girls scream and scream and scream and make it their mission to get said shoes off. They refuse to stand up or walk in their shoes and will sit in the middle of the floor and just scream for an hour until they get them off (I kid you not - I have left them on assuming it would pass and they would get over it...nope). I have no idea if this is normal, but it doesn't seem normal to me. Anyway...

I started thinking about my list of necessities to be snow ready, and it occurred to me that it may actually be more expensive to buy each of these items individually than it would be to buy them as a set. I found snow pants at Target for $15 each, and I found boots at Target for $12.99 each. Hats would run around $10 each, and mittens/gloves probably about $5 each more. That's $42 more, per girl, shopping at Target! And that's with me already having the coats! Kids really are expensive!

I looked around at Baby Gap, Carters, and online at JCP and came to the conclusion that I would buy each girl a one-piece snowsuit from Baby Gap during their Black Friday Sale (40% off + and additional 20% off when ordering online - sweet!). They were relatively pricey to start with but the discounts definitely helped a ton! Plus, they came with an attached hat/hood, mittens that snap into the snowsuit, AND little bootie covers that also snap into the snowsuit (so the girls won't absolutely have to wear boots with it!). I think I covered all of my bases with these suits and hopefully won't have to purchase any additional items.

Now my question for the group is, was the snowsuit purchase really necessary? I mean, could we have gotten by with what we had already? Could I have put them in multiple layers of pants and socks and such to let them play outside for 10 minutes? Was this a good purchase or a bad one?

I had the girls outside today while Si was trying to perfect our Christmas lights in the daylight and I put them in their winter coats. They were absolutely HILARIOUS! It was like they had lost all of their balancing skills! And once they teetered over, they couldn't get back up! HA! Here's a picture of the girls trying to maneuver around the front yard....
Livvy

Bri

And, Gramz and Grandpa were down this weekend (YAY) so we snapped a quick picture of Gramz with both girls. They love her SOOOOO much and it's so precious! Their eyes just light up every time they see her or hear her voice...such a special special bond =).

Hope you all had a wonderful extended weekend/Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends! Did you stay as busy as I did?!

Until next time
Megan

Music for toddlers?

2011-11-22T22:01:00.000-06:00

We have a couple of lullaby and praise CD's, but the girls really like more of the upbeat/pop type of music. When I was little I listened to Raffi, so I tracked Raffi down on Itunes and I still remember the words to most of the songs I used to listen to! Can you believe that?

We've tried the toddler tunes on the music channels on TV, but they aren't big fans of that. They love their Disney Princess Christmas music book, and Bri dances to the music that some of her toys play, but otherwise I don't have any idea what they may like. I don't really want to invest in a bunch of CD's that they may or may not like, know what I mean?

So I guess my question is, what music did your toddlers listen to and love? How many CD's did you have to go through before you figured that out? LOL.

And a baby #3 status update. I'm good. I haven't had nearly the morning sickness with this baby as I did with the girls. Definite bonus! I also haven't really moved into maternity clothes yet. Maternity jeans, yes, but otherwise, I can still wear my normal work clothes and tops. By 8 weeks with the girls I was 100% in maternity clothes. This time it's looking like I might make it to 12 weeks or beyond! And here's to hoping that I can actually stay in one size of maternity clothes with this pregnancy (instead of the whole range S-L that I did with the girls)! I'm definitely pumped to buy and wear the cutesy maternity clothes this round =).

I finally told my boss today that we are pregnant. He was excited for us. He still doesn't have anything firm for me to do after June, but at least now he understands my urgency in trying to find something. He also knows that I intend to work after the new baby comes (as long as Si doesn't do catastrophe adjusting), so he knows if he finds me something that I will be there to do the job. It makes me feel better knowing that he knows now...like he can look out for me now more...its not just me flailing trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do once my contract is up. I feel like it takes a little bit of the weight off my shoulders.

Otherwise, not a lot going on here. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our place, so cleaning is on my agenda for tomorrow. I just figured it would be easier to bring people here than have to cart the girls to someone else's house that isn't child proof and have to follow them around for hours on end making sure they don't get into stuff. We'll see!

So are you guys all ready for Thanksgiving? Are you hosting?

Until next time -
Megan

I'm going to have to rename my blog!

2011-11-16T20:39:00.000-06:00

SURPRISE!

(We were surprised too!)

We are currently about 10 weeks pregnant (with ONE little peanut). Sorry I didn't fill you all in earlier, but honestly I figured we would miscarry (jaded I know, but such is the life of an infertile I think). The baby was measuring behind for several weeks, I was bleeding, etc...the bleeding has since stopped and the baby has caught up (a whole week!), so we are finally (kind of) breathing a sigh of relief.

Anyway, all seems to be going well at this point, so I figured it was relatively safe to clue you all in!

So...any ideas on new blog names? =).

Have a great night ladies!
Megan

The bubbles, the bubbles!

2011-11-14T21:51:00.000-06:00

I'm ecstatic...the girls finally like bubbles! They have spent the last 6 months of their little lives being terrified of them, but tonight my friends, we crossed a major bridge in our relationship with these strange floating iridescent phenomena.

Ryan and Kim got us the coolest purple octopus singing bubble blowing bath toy in the world for our first birthday. Like super cool. So cool that mommy kind of wants to play with it too...I love bubbles!

For the last month I have been trying to reintroduce the girls to bubbles at night in the tub. Every time they scream bloody murder and try to vacate the bathtub just as quickly as they possibly can.

Until tonight...

We got our bubble blowing bath on tonight, and we LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT! Can you see the joy on Bri's face, and the amazement on Livvy's face?! Awesome!

So, were your kiddos ever afraid of bubbles? Is it some normal phase that little ones go through? Or are my girlies just bubble scaredy cats? LOL =)

Until next time,
Megan

In memory of Meghan...

2011-11-12T21:50:00.000-06:00

I don't know how many of my followers are also followers of Meghan's blog "Wishing & Hoping & Thinking & Praying & Planning & Dreaming", but I suspect at least a couple of you are. Meghan had her triplets on 10-15-2010, two days after I had the girls. I loved reading her blog and exchanging comments and ideas since our kiddos were all so adorable (hehe) and so close together in age. I hadn't heard from Meghan in a while, and when checking my stats I noted that I was still getting hits on my blog from her blogroll, so I thought I'd bebop over and check on her.

What I found was beyond disheartening.

Meghan passed away on October 26, 2011 after a 5 year bout with cancer. I'd known that she had had several surgeries since having the babies, but I thought she was doing better, I thought she had been on the mend for a while now. I figured she was busy with the kiddos and that was the reason for the lack of posting. There was nothing posted on her blog after her last post when the triplets were 9 months old, so I was reading through the comments on her last post, fully intending to leave her a comment about hoping all was well and couldn't wait to see the one year pics and update when something about the comments just didn't seem right. I found a link to her Caring Bridge site and went backwards and read through what had happened.

On September 29th after a trip to the ER the doctors found that Meghan had three tumors in her brain. They set her up for surgery the next day. She did okay with the surgery, was in ICU for a couple of days, then on a normal hospital floor for a little while, then in rehab for a bit. She was still in pain and still had a ways to go in terms of her recovery after her brain surgery, but she was home in time for the triplets first birthday party. I'm sure she was thrilled to be home for such a monumental occasion!

Sadly, shortly there after, on October 26, 2011 Meghan had an unexpected brain hemmorrage and passed away.

I am so so sad for this family. I did not know Meghan personally, but over the last year I have gotten to know her and her babies through our blogs and am so saddened by her passing. Her babies will grow up without a mommy. Her husband will raise their children without his wife. Meghan was 33 years old. So disheartening.

The funeral was November 2nd in Broomfield, CO. A memorial has been set up for the triplets education if anyone would like to donate. The information can be found here (this is a link to Meghan's Caring Bridge site - you can also read her Caring Bridge journal updates here).

Things like this always make you remember just how short and uncertain life really is.

Live fully...love deeply...laugh often. You never know when your last day will be. Cherish every second. Sorry for such a heavy post, but I thought it was important that everyone who knew Meghan know about her passing...

Megan

Leaves are the coolest!

2011-11-12T13:13:00.001-06:00

It's been pretty chilly here in Omaha over the last two weeks so the girls haven't been able to go outside and play hardly at all. To say they are going stir crazy in the house all day long is a definite understatement. I'm not looking forward to the winter at all!

Tuesday a TON of the leaves fell from our big maple tree out front making a perfect leafy wonderland for the girls. Once it warmed up on Thursday I made a little pile for the girlies to play in. This was their first exposure to leaves.

It's official, they think the are pretty amazing!

The only picture I took of them where they are both looking at the camera and smiling...lol...one of 45 pictures...of course it was the very first picture I took!

Livvy getting ready to tackle Bri....note the massive smirk on her face....it was all downhill from there. Two toddlers wresting in the fall leaves! HA!

Do your kiddos love the leaves as much as mine do? Have you had decent weather this fall to actually be able to enjoy the leaves?

Have a great weekend ladies!
Megan

Just lovin the crazy chaos

2011-11-08T21:53:00.001-06:00

I'm way behind in blog updates. I know this. But I've been really busy with these two crazy beautiful mobile (walking!) ladies! They have turned into little people; these are not babies anymore ladies and gentlemen!!

Bri has been walking for almost a month now, but Livvy just started really walking last Tuesday. She is so proud of herself. It's so cute! She's still a bit wobbly (more of toddling sometimes than walking) but now that we have two walking (Bri nearly running) toddlers, I have found that there is even less time in the day to get things done. Even factoring in daylight savings time...and that's sad, after all we did GAIN an hour!

So, updates since I last posted:

1) I am done breastfeeding and pumping. It's been 4 days. It's been hard, yet kind of nice at the same time. I miss the closeness of breastfeeding, and knowing that they were getting the best possible nutrition from me, and now they aren't. On the bright side, not having to cart my pump to work with me every day has been stellar, I'm not going to lie. And I'm saving a ton of time by not pumping multiple times a day. Still not sure where this time has gone then, and how I've still had zero time to blog...hmmm...

2) The girls had their 1 year well check on October 21st. Yeah, like over 2 weeks ago. I know I'm a slacker. But, here are their stats... definitely some healthy girls!

Miss Olivia - AKA Baby A
Weight - 24 lbs 0 oz (86th percentile)
Height - 29.75 inches (62nd percentile)
Clothes - mostly 12 months, some 18 month, but most of the 18 month are too long in the legs or arms
Diapers - size 4

Miss Brianna - AKA Baby B
Weight - 25 lbs 4 oz (93rd percentile)
Height - 30.0 inches (62nd percentile)
Clothes - about 50/50 between 12 month and 18 month
Diapers - size 4

3) Livvy has kicked the paci habit, except at bedtime and naptime. She always had that thing in her mouth, so we took it away. She did fine! And she is talking SO much more! We took it away about 10 days ago, and has since learned how to say "baby" (we met Baby Jackson - the girls new cousin last weekend) and "ba-la" (Bailey, one of our pugs). She is talking SO much more without her paci! More than her sister now, and that, my friends, is a feat in itself! So glad we took it away when we did =)

4) Halloween was an epic fail in terms of costumes for the girls. We got them the cutest little costumes (Livvy was a pink elephant and Bri was a lamb), but they REFUSED to leave the headpeices on, and Bri figured out how to get her outfit off about 5 mintues after we put it on. We had grand plans to parade the girls around the neighborhood in their cute little costumes, but since we couldn't keep the costumes on them, that idea went totally out the window. We are going to try and have their pictures taken in their Halloween costumes when we get their pictures taken this weekend. Wish us luck...I'm not holding my breath!

5) The sippy cup transition has begun! The girls get their 50/50 juice/water only in sippy cups now, not in bottles, and they have responded pretty well to it. They are ticked when you try to put milk in a sippy cup though, so that is going to be a work in progress for a while I think. But hey, any progress is good.

6) Bathtime! Bathtime has morphed into both girls at the same time in the tub. Too bad they have no intention of sitting in the bathtub, and think it is crazy fun to play with the faucet and shower head more than their bath toys. Sweet.

7) Feeding time - The girls now do a lot of their own feeding. Bri loves it! She really isn't a fan of getting fed much anymore. Stick everything down on her tray and let her go to town! Livvy on the other hand is fine with getting some food on her plate, but she really prefers to be fed. Funny the differences between the girls!
Here's a pic of the girls after we let them go to town and feed themselves spaghetti. They LOVED it! They did go almost directly into the bath after this though (lol)...

I think that's all I have for updates right now. I promise I have been reading all of your blogs, sometimes commenting, sometimes not (I can't comment at work), but I am at the very least reading all about your trials and tribulations =).Keep up the good work ladies!

Happy Tuesday!
Megan

Can you learn to love your body again?

2011-10-22T15:43:00.000-05:00

While I was pregnant with the girls I kept going back and forth in my mind about how I felt about a C-section vs. vaginal birth. I really wanted to have a vaginal birth. Really really. I thought it would be an easier recovery and easier to lose the baby weight (which was 74 LBS!!!) after the babies were born. When the time came though, I wasn't really given the option....pre-eclampsia was in full swing and while they could "try" inducing me, there were absolutely no guarantees that it would work and I could very likely end up with a C-section anyway. So...I opted for the C-section. Good thing I did. When the OB was in there (taking the babies out) he told me there was no way I would have been able to deliver Miss Olivia vaginally, so I would have been forced into a C-section anyhow.

So what's my point with this rant?

Well...I have had a difficult time accepting my post baby body. After being on pelvic rest and a no exercise restriction for the last 6 months of my pregnancy, I felt fat and unhappy. Sexy was by far a thing of the past. Post C-section my tummy was anything but toned (more like deflated balloon!). I am sure many many of you share my sentiment. So, once I was given the okay, I started trying to tone my body again in my "free" time (HA). Unfortunately I continued to weigh the same from 3 months post birth to 8 months post birth. It was very disheartening. Then for the last 4 months I decided to change things up. I have been doing 75 sit ups every day, speed-walking a mile, and done other miscellaneous toning exercises (and a smidge of yoga) along with watching what I eat.

The results?

As of the girlies 1 year birthday, I am only 3.1 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight!!! Can you believe that?! Now of course my body is never going to actually be the same as it was pre baby girls, but I can go and buy (relatively form fitting) clothes and feel comfortable in my skin again! 71 lbs...that is just crazy!!! It took me a FULL YEAR to get there....I'm just glad I kept working on it!

Now here's to hoping that once I stop breastfeeding I don't gain any of it back! Fingers crossed! And then of course I still have 20 lbs to go before I hit my pre-IVF weight....I'm not holding my breath...

So for full disclosure....

Here's me 6 weeks pregnant with the girls (documentation picture of what size I was going into it - lol)

Before giving birth to my two princesses:

Now, 1 year post babies (no spankx or any other suck me in's involved!):

Sure, my body is totally different, and I still have the extra "deflated balloon" skin, but I'm okay with it =). My OB said if/when he delivers our next/final child (via C-Section) that he will go ahead and do a tummy tuck free of charge....sweet....

So, where are you in your post baby weight loss journey? Is it something you are having to constantly work on? What has helped you lose the weight that you have lost so far? If you have lost all of your baby weight, have you been able to keep it off?

Oh, and a breastfeeding update since I just brought it up....I am in the process of weaning. I am pumping 3 x a day now, and Bri has stopped nursing entirely, even in the mornings. My supply has dropped significantly in the last 3 weeks, so I suspect in another week or two I will be able to stop pumping all together. Bittersweet! The girls don't need it anymore though, so I'm okay with it =)

Okay, that's all for now!
Have a great weekend ladies!

Megan

We are ONE!!

2011-10-13T22:30:00.000-05:00

Happy 1 year Birthday Olivia and Brianna!

As of 8:59 and 9:00 PM tonight, Olivia and Brianna (respectively) are officially 1 year old. And what a wonderful year it has been! I can't believe how much our lives have changed in one short year.
In the beginning....

Now....

WOW...WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

So what’s new with our precious little one year olds? (Oh geez, I have a hard time even saying that!)

We are becoming more and more independent every day. We are very interested in what is going on around us and how things work. We are incredibly curious. We have figured out how to flush the toilet, open up drawers and cabinets, unroll the roll of toilet paper, and empty the trash can. We aren’t trouble makers at all! They also both love the water and the hair dryer and insist on assisting mommy in the bathroom every single morning while she gets ready for work. I don’t mind one bit =)

Okay, so now on to toddler (yikes!!) specific facts for 1 year…

Miss Olivia – AKA “Baby A”

Favorite activity: Cruising the furniture, playing peek-a-boo, reading books
Mobility: She is cruising like a wild woman! She will take a couple of steps between two pieces of furniture, but can not walk unassisted yet. She is making an effort to stand unassisted, and she loves her new push carts that she got for her birthday, so it's just a matter of time before she is walking. Crawling is still her preferred mode of transportation.
Favorite food: NOT CAKE! LOL! I would say mashed potatoes, pancakes, and any sort of puffs or food that she can eat easily on her own are her favorites
Personality: Drama Queen, yet very tender hearted. Very outgoing. Is waving at everyone, especially daddy, mommy, and sister first thing in the morning and any time any one leaves the room or the building (LOL). Wants to be involved in everything that is going on. Definitely very observant. Also very smiley =).
Favorite Person: Still Daddy!
Teeth: 4 currently, 2 on top and 2 on bottom cutting 5&6 (both on bottom) as we speak
Words: Da-da, ma-ma, hey, yep, ut oh, hi
Can sign: "All Done" and "More" on occasion

Miss Brianna - aka "Baby B"

Favorite activity: Splashing in the bathtub, playing in the dog water, and anything that lets her be outside for any extended period of time
Mobility: WALKING! AHHHHH! She started walking last Thursday (October 6th). She took 5 unassisted steps from her daddy to the middle of the floor. Since then she has continued to take unassisted steps, but so far not any more than 10 at one time. She still prefers crawling to any other mode of transportation. Well, other than being picked up and carried around...that is still by far her preference...
Favorite food: Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, triple berry ricotta pancakes, cake (LOL), shredded cheese, grapes, and puffs. And you, little peanut, still nurse first thing in the morning =).
Personality: Shy/Reserved. Will smile at and interact with you, but has to warm up to you first. Loves to be around others. Does not often enjoy being the center of attention...unless there is cake involved (hehe). Loves to chatter away while she is eating.
Favorite Person: Mommy or Papa Ken, depending on the day
Teeth: 6 – 4 on top, 2 on the bottom
Words: Da-da, Ma-Ma, yep, oh, thank you, hi, hey
Can sign: "Milk" and "All Done"

You little princesses are growing up TOO fast!!!! Mommy and Daddy love you both so so much and can't fathom life without you! We are so honored to be your parents!

Until next time -
Megan

Our 1st Birthday Party!!

2011-10-13T14:41:00.001-05:00

Olivia and Brianna are officially 1 year old today! Ahhh! I will do an updated 1 year post shortly, but the girls birthday party was Saturday and so I figured I should probably go ahead and post about it!

The girls had an absolute BLAST at their party! We packed as many people as we possibly could into our home, the girls played with their friends, were held by lots of people they hadn't seen in a while, and enjoyed some super tasty cake. Well - Bri enjoyed the cake anyway - Olivia screamed bloody murder when we put it in front of her and cried even harder when we put some in her mouth. She is not a cake girl apparently! Bri however took every opportunity to get messy getting less cake in her mouth than she did just about anywhere else. She had a great time!!

Here are some pictures from the party!
The cake(s) that Aunt Bridget made (they were SOOOO good)...

The Happy Birthday banner Auntie Renee made for us....

The monkey door hangers I ordered (super cute!)....

The girls awaiting their cake....(note the "I am 1" monkey highchair banners =))

The girls post cake on their plate (see poor Livvy just screaming?!)

And Bri still eating her cake...10 minutes later....

I realized after the fact that I didn't really get any good pictures of the girls in their little birthday dresses...bummer....not that they were special birthday specific dresses anyway, but still, I totally spaced taking their pictures in them! Here's what I do have....the girls were checking out their massive collection of birthday presents=)

Thanks to everyone who came and who sent their birthday wishes from afar! We love you all!

Until next time -
Megan

A new path?

2011-09-28T15:49:00.000-05:00

I've been kind of an absent blogger...sorry...

Something has been weighing on my mind for about a month now...

Staying home with my girls

When I went back to work 10 weeks after the girls were born I was honestly a little relieved. I had some "me" time back. I was something other than "the twins mom" for 10 hours a day, 4 days a week. I could go to work without worrying about the girls. I had a fabulous, fully capable nanny for 3 days a week, and my awesome dad for the other day. I was off on Wednesday's, so between Wednesday's and the weekend, I had 3 days off to spend with the girls. Ideal, right?

Maybe.

I liked this set up. I would venture to say it was almost perfect. Until about a month ago....the girls now know that I'm leaving. They know that I'm gone. They sometimes cry when I leave. I don't want to leave.

This is becoming the common scene whenever I leave to go anywhere (work, the store, etc.)

Insert sad face here!

I'm the breadwinner at this point. I've been working in the same government job for 4+ years, and it's been great. I make good money, carry the health insurance, have a good benefits plan with awesome time off.

But my contract ends in June...then what?

Are there other options for me to keep working? Sure!
Is the money guaranteed to be the same? Not a chance.
Are these positions within the VA where I am now? Probably not.
Would I have to start all over with my time off, switch insurance, and move to a different location? Very likely.
Do I want to do this? No.

For the first time, I don't want to advance myself. I want to be with my children.

And this is a STRONG desire....not just yeah maybe that would be cool, but like, this is what I am supposed to be doing desire. We worked SO hard to get these girls here and they are growing up SO fast...I almost feel like I am missing it. And I regret that. I don't want to have regrets.

The bigger piece of this puzzle is money (of course). We just can't afford for me to stay home all the time. I would have to take some sort of job doing something. So we are thinking about our options.

One thing that Si has wanted to do for years and years is be an IA (Independent Adjuster) for catastrophies (hurricane's, floods, tornados, etc.) and travel to where the storms are and work on assessing damage and helping people get their lives back together. I had always told him no before. I wouldn't be able to deal with him being gone for weeks or months on end multiple times a year. But now I'm seriously considering it.

Why?
We could go with him.
All of us.
Even the pugs.
24-7 with the girls and the pugs.
I could help do the IA stuff too, so we could work twice as quickly. (okay, or with the girls, maybe 1.33333 x more quickly...lol)
We would get to travel to where the disasters were (something we wouldn't be able to do once the girls are in school).
We would be helping people get their lives back together.
We could make the money situation work.
We would only work 1/2 to 2/3 (ish) of the year (in theory of course), and would be "off" the rest of the time

The negatives?
We would be away from our family and friends
We would get zero breaks together from the girls
We would never know where we were going next or how long we would be gone
I would really have to learn how to budget.

So this is the battle that is going on in my mind right now...and with all of the party planning, there hasn't been as much time to blog. The big banana birthday extravaganza is next Saturday - oye! I hope I'll be ready!

We made a trip to the apple orchard today with our parents of multiples group, and the girlies had a great time =). Here's the girls trying to figure out why we had parked their stroller in the middle of an apple tree. No worries...they figured it out...they each got to pick out 3 apples, and now mommy gets to make them their own batch of applesauce! YAY!

So that's all for now (like that isn't enough!)...hope you are having a happy hump day!

Until next time -
Megan

11 Months...=)

2011-09-15T22:38:00.000-05:00

I literally feel like I just wrote the girls 10 month post last week. Now 11 months? What? Crazy. Another month gone. WOW.

So what's new at 11 months with the girlies? Well, let's see!
Overall, the girls are more mobile than ever. Usually they have one speed (crazy fast) and are going in two different directions. If they go in the same direction, it's likely towards something they aren't supposed to have (a power cord, a straight shot to the stairs, daddy's cell phone, etc.).

They are back to eating like champs, as long as they aren't being fed anything green. Sad. I thought they would continue to like veggies until they got a little older at least! Now they won't touch any of it...unless it's totally pureed...bummer! Otherwise they are eating just about everything that we eat. Tonight they had BBQ ribs, sweet potatoes, and corn. They loved it! Last night they had spaghetti and garlic bread. I love not having to cook separately just for them!

In looking at pictures from 6 weeks ago compared to now I can tell that the girls have started to slim down significantly. I went to Carters 2 weeks ago and stocked up on all of the fall essentials for the girls in size 18 month (as we were so there...12 month clothes barely fit)...but now we are back to fitting perfectly in the 12 month clothes and swimming in the 18 month. Of course, the girls started losing some of their baby fat after I bought them a new fall wardrobe! HA!

So, moving on...here are the specifics for each girl for 11 months:

Miss Olivia (aka - baby A)

Favorite activity: Cruising the furniture, playing in the water, hanging out with her daddy
Mobility: She is cruising like a wild woman! She will take a couple of steps between two pieces of furniture, but can not walk unassisted yet. She is making an effort to stand unassisted, so it's just a matter of time before she is walking. Crawling is still her preferred mode of transportation.
Favorite food: Spaghetti, cheesy bread, and mama milk =)
Personality: Drama Queen! And very outgoing. Is waving at everyone, especially daddy, mommy, and sister first thing in the morning and any time any one leaves the room or the building (LOL). Wants to be involved in everything that is going on. Definitely very observant. Also very smiley =).
Favorite Person: Still Daddy!
Words: Da-da, ma-ma, hey, yep, ut oh

Miss Brianna - aka "Baby B"

Favorite activity: Anything having to do with water - trying to get into the bathtub while mommy is in the shower, playing in the dog water, splashing and playing in the pool and bath. Oh yes, and flushing the toilet. This is a new skill she learned two days ago. GREAT!
Mobility: So close to walking. She can balance herself unassisted for several seconds, but can't quite get the concept to take a step. Is a great furniture cruiser. Still prefers crawling to any other mode of transportation. Well, other than being picked up and carried around...that is by far her preference...
Favorite food: Mashed potatoes! LOVES them! And cheese. And mama's milk. Yup, these are so my children! LOL!
Personality: Shy/Reserved. Will smile at and interact with you, but has to warm up to you first. Loves to be around others. Does not often enjoy being the center of attention. Loves to chatter away while she is eating - so cute now - but something we will have to work on in the future I suspect =)
Favorite Person: Usually Mommy, but Aunt Denise and Miss Whit give her a run for her money!
Words: Da-da, Ma-Ma, yep, oh, yaba daba doo (I kid you not, but there is no way she says this on purpose), and thank you

Sigh...less than one month before our little peanuts are 1!! We are in the thick of party planning here! The theme? Monkeys! Our little monkeys are turning 1 and we are going to celebrate! And Stephanie, thanks for the gentle nudging towards Etsy! That is one dangerous site for me! I have found so much stuff on there that I MUST have - LOL!

I will leave you with a question - what do you guys think for birthday attire? Dresses? Personalized first birthday onsies? Tutu's? What is the "correct" attire for a first birthday? I was leaning towards dresses, but we don't have any specific dresses at this point that we would wear, so then I was leaning towards first birthday onsies and maybe a tutu, but I don't want to be too casual either (and I don't know how they will react to tutu's). Thoughts?

Until next time -
Megan

Happy Grandparent's Day AND Patriot's Day

2011-09-11T14:17:00.000-05:00

I know that it's the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, and we all remember where we were, how it affected us, and what has changed since that time. I hope future generations are able to appreciate 9/11 as well...but I don't want to rehash it on my blog. Instead, I would like to focus on National Grandparent's Day!!

National Grandparent's Day is a bit different this year, as instead of focusing on my grandparents, I'm focusing on the girls grandparents!

My parents, Pat and Ken, live in Omaha. My AWESOME dad watches the girls 1 day every week while I am at work. They absolutely LOVE him. It's precious! After his scare with encapsulated kidney cancer last year, it made us all cherish the time that we spend with each other. I am so glad the girls get the opportunity to spend this much time with him!! My mom has made it her mission to find the cutest dresses EVER and get them for the girls. She also has a thing with rattles too...she finds the coolest most bizarre rattles ever....the girls have quite the collection!

Si's parents, Leslie and Dale, live in Kearney and North Platte, respectively. Leslie makes the trek down to Omaha to visit the girlies at least once a month and they absolutely adore her! They also chat with her on the phone on a regular basis and just smile and giggle from ear to ear! Dale makes his way down to Omaha about once every 2 months. The girls are always tickled pink to see him! Speaking of, he should be down later this week again I think. YAY! A visit from Grandpa!

Happy Grandparent's Day Pat, Ken, Leslie, and Dale!! The girls love you all!!!

Until next time -
Megan

Fall is coming, oh my!

2011-09-07T08:45:00.001-05:00

I know that Labor Day is the "unofficial" end of summer, but every year I try to squeeze every last ounce of summer out of the season. I wear white after Labor Day, and I refuse to take off my open toed shoes until the snow falls. Yup, I'm THAT kind of girl.

Si on the other hand hates summer and can't wait until fall. Fall to him signals the start of football, cooler weather, and no longer having to mow the grass (LOL).

This year we celebrated Labor Day by heading off to Memorial Park to try and get some pictures of the girls in their cute little sleeveless dresses next to some flowers before fall came and swept their beautiful blooms away.

Success!

Admittedly, Si was the one to snap some of the best pictures we got, but to cheer me up, he quickly reminded me that the reason the girls were smiling was because they could see me and were smiling at me, instead of me hiding behind the camera. =). So that made me feel better.

Here are some of the pictures we got. And I learned. . .photography is WAY harder than it looks! The first two rounds of pics that I took were in the direct sun and were shadowy and funky, and the third round was taken in the shade - perhaps not quite enough light? This is tricky I tell you! (Any photography buffs out there, please feel free to provide guidance...I'm learning as I go!)

The girlies in the sun, Bri on the left, Livvy on the right

The girls in the shade - Livvy on the left, Bri on the right

I love that last picture! They seemed so much happier in the shade!

So what did you do on your long weekend???

Until next time -
Megan

Mommy and Me Monday

2011-09-05T18:33:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time since I've done Mommy and Me Monday! We were out and about enjoying the GORGEOUS weather today and taking pictures of the girls in the park. Si, unbeknownst to me, snapped these pictures of me playing with the girls. I love them!

Hope you guys had an awesome Labor Day Monday too!!!

Until next time -
Megan

To pump, or not to pump?

2011-09-04T15:52:00.000-05:00

The girls are quickly approaching their 1 year birthday and with that comes the question of whether or not to continue my pumping and nursing escapades. And they are escapades.

My entire daytime schedule is built around nursing and pumping. Get up, nurse. Then pump. Shower. Go to work. Pump. Wait three hours, pump again. Pump one more time before I leave work. Come home, have dinner as a family. Play. Bathtime. Pump again. Watch a couple of shows. Shower. Pump again. Watch the news. Go to bed. That's my daily pumping schedule in a nutshell.

I have an entire second set of pumping gear at work. I have two pumps - a Medela Pump in Style and a Medela Freestyle. I have battery packs, I have car lighter adapters, I have spare parts galore. I have about a gazillion bottles...so many that the nanny has a hard time making them all fit in the cupboard when she does the dishes (LOL).

To say I am well equipped may be the understatement of the year.

As you learned in my last post, by the time the girls are 12 months old I will have spent two months (60 days) solid pumping and/or breastfeeding. I LOVE that I can provide my girls such a wonderful form of nourishment. LOVE it. But, it is incredibly time consuming, and it is obvious now that the girls are mobile that it takes Si's full attention and energy to divert the girls away from me for 30 minutes 4-7x a day while I am pumping. I can tell he is irritated and is ready for me to be done. After all, there are things he can't get done around the house because he can't do anything while I am pumping (laundry, mow the yard, etc. simply because I can't watch the girls while I am attached to my pump).

And I get it.

So, in 5 short weeks the girls will have hit 12 months old, and my breastfeeding or pumping days can come to an end.
But what if I want to keep going?
Bri has become a good morning breastfeeder again, and I absolutely cherish the one on one quiet time I get with her when she nurses.
Additionally, the benefits of breastfeeding may go down when they hit a year, but they don't go away. I would think it would be beneficial for the girls to have my immunity through say, cold and flu season, wouldn't it?

But is it worth THAT much time spent being married to the pump??? I just don't know.

So...now I am trying to decide whether to:
1) Stop at the girls 1 year birthday (next month)
2) Stop at the girls adjusted 1 year old birthday (November 11th)
3) Stop after cold and flu season (maybe March?)

I mean, I would love to have my body back (and wear normal bras and tanktops), but if breastmilk is still beneficial to the girls, I want to do what is best for them! If it were you, what would you do?

As always, comments and opinions are welcome and appreciated!

I will leave you with a picture of Daddy holding the girls while they (appropriate to this discussion) enjoy the fruits of my labor =)

Until next time -
Megan

Top 21 things I've learned in 10 short months

2011-08-22T14:50:00.001-05:00

1. That first month with two newborn babies was the craziest, most sleep deprived, hectic, chaotic month of our lives.
We were lucky to get 2-3 hours of sleep a day, and even that was in increments of 30-45 minutes most times. I'm amazed we retained our sanity through that mess!

2. Thank God for NICU nurses!
They got the girls on the same feeding/waking/sleeping schedule during the 8 days they were there. I know that this made our lives A LOT easier once the girls came home.

3. Invest in some nice maternity clothes that you love while you are pregnant (especially pants). Chances are, you will be wearing them again for a while once you deliver.
I'm just now (10 months post birth) no longer wearing ANY maternity clothes. 10 months. Yeah. And let me just take a moment to say how nice it is to shop and buy "normal" clothes again, even if they aren't my pre-pregnancy size just yet.

4. It's true; unless you are a freak of nature (and I envy you freak of natures out there), it will take you at least 9 months to get back to your pre-pregnancy size.
I don't think you ever get your pre-pregnancy body shape back, so I might as well throw that idea out the window (along with my bikini's =)).

5. Breastfeeding and pumping is a MAJOR time committment.
I've done the math; by the time the girls are 12 months old I will have spent the equivalent of 2 months SOLID breastfeeding and pumping milk. 2 MONTHS. 60 full days. WOW. I wouldn't trade breastfeeding my girls for anything in the world, but when I was told I would have to "commit" to it, I didn't think this was exactly what I was signing up for!

6. If you are a mom choosing to breastfeed, invest in some nursing tops and tanks.
I wear nursing tanks every. single. day. (instead of nuring bras) and I love them!. The tanks help to shape your post pregnancy belly a bit too. . .we can all use that, right? =). Nursing tops are perfectly designed to be stretchy and conceal the fact that you are breastfeeding an infant. I found nursing bras to be clunky and uncomfortable and non nursing tops to be a pain since you have to take them off to feed or pump. . .maybe just me. . .

7. I feel it is perfectly acceptable at 3 AM to latch a baby on to your breast and fall back asleep in your lazy boy recliner while feeding.
After all, you have to work the next day, and beauty sleep is most definitely important.

8. You really can learn how to change a poopy diaper in your sleep.
I've had to do it at least 25 times...that I can remember.

9. It's crazy how quickly babies grow out of clothes.
I wish I got a new wardrobe every 2-3 months! This does slow down I'm told. . .we just aren't there yet.

10. Childcare is ridiculously expensive.
For two babies, we are literally making the equivalent of another mortgage payment each month. Another. Mortgage. Payment., complete with escrow and insurance. Are you kidding me?! People weren't lying when they said that disposable income goes out the window once you have kids. Yeah. It really does.

11. We currently go through 85-100 diapers a week. This is down from our original 140 diapers a week when the girls were newborns.
We have gone through approximately 4270 diapers thus far, and about 2200 wipes. Wowza. How soon can I start potty training again?! LOL.

12. Buying two cradle swings was the best investment we made with the girls.
Bri has reflux and she slept in her swing for the first 6 months of her life. Both girls took beautiful 2+ hour naps in their swings. Those swings were the only way that mommy and daddy got any sleep those first couple of months. Well worth the money.

13. I slept on the couch, nearly upright, for the first 8 weeks after the girls came home. Laying flat hurt from the C-section incision. Walking upstairs to my bed hurt even more.
Why don't they tell people about this type of stuff? No one said a word to me! Right after I had the girls they wanted me to walk to the NICU to see them - one floor down on an opposite wing in the hospital. I couldn't walk that far. No way. It hurt a lot. It was harder to walk post c-section for me than it was for me to walk filled with fluid and weighing 232 lbs prior to delivery. I thought it would be easier, not harder! I also thought it would heal in a week or two, and I'd be as good as new! HA.

14. A double stroller that my car seats snapped into made my life SO much easier the first 6 months.
I could snap the girls right into the stroller while still in their car seats and go on my happy way. If they were sleeping they remained sleeping. Sure, my options were limited on which stroller I could get that could accomodate two car seats at the same time, but the ability to leave the house and go somewhere by myself with two tiny babies was well worth more than having the fancy brand name stroller. Ours was a Graco and with the stroller and both car seats it still cost nearly $500. I did mention that babies are expensive, right? And that was only one of the 4 strollers that we have bought to date. . .

15. Boppies are one of the greatest creations ever.
They were awesome to help position babies during breast or bottle feeding. They also work as a support when babies are learning to sit up on their own. We still use our boppies and put the girls in them for their first bottle of the day. And when the girls aren't using them, the pugs think they make a most wonderful dog bed =).

16. Save the nasal aspirators you get from the hosptial when you have a baby.
Those nose suckers ROCK! And you can't buy anything in the stores that are even close to the suction power in one of those suckers. I can't tell you how many times we have had to use that thing - we still use it probably at least once a week - and will continue to use it until the girls become proficient at blowing their noses. Yet another item that is worth it's weight in gold.

17. Making baby food is easier than it sounds!
I've made all of the girls baby food (with the exception of prunes, oatmeal, and yogurt), and even being a working momma who breastfeeds/pumps, I have still been able to make time to do it. All it takes is an oven, a blender, ice cube trays, and 2-3 hours a week. You will save yourself SO much money.

18. The more time you can spend enjoying time with your babies instead of managing them, the happier you'll be.
I've found this to be very true, although it took me quite a while to get there. It is awesome to be able to actually enjoy your children! They can bring such joy to your life!!

19. No two babies are the same. Just because your baby reacted this way to "X" doesn't mean mine will too.
Essentially, just take each piece of advice like a grain of salt. Some advice will apply perfectly to your situation, but other advice won't. Don't be afraid to learn on your own; generally it's just easier to learn from other people's mistakes =).

20. Make time each week to spend time alone with your husband/significant other.
This is so important. You need that time each week away from the kids to reconnect. It doesn't have to be anything fancy - a trip to the grocery store without the kids, a walk around the block, a dance lesson (my personal favorite). It goes a LONG way. I can always tell when we have missed our weekly time away because we get snippy at each other and with the girls. It's not pretty. We have to remember that we were a couple first, and parents second. Without our marital foundation, we can't be the best parents we can be to our girlies!

21. I got SO sick of people telling me to enjoy the freedom and ability to do whatever I wanted and "sleep while I could" before the babies came.
BUT. . .I don't think anyone truly understands what seasoned moms and dads mean by that until their babies arrive. Sleeping past 7 AM is a luxury in our house. And vacations? Not without babies. And even then, who has the disposable income to go on vacations anymore?!

So that's it! There's my list! The top 21 things I have learned in the last 10 months with twins in tow! What did you learn once your baby/babies made their debut? What's missing from my list?

Until next time -
Megan

That's a conundrum!

2011-08-18T14:01:00.000-05:00

Who thought that was a good idea?! Livvy is the queen of getting stuck under things and consequently can't figure out how to get out! That girl cracks me up!

LOL...I couldn't resist the quick post! =)

Until next time -
Megan

10 Months Old!

2011-08-16T16:14:00.002-05:00

The girlies turned another month older on Saturday, and are now only 2 months away from being 1 year old! AHHHHH!!!!!

Here's a brief rundown of what's new with our 10 month olds =)

Miss Olivia - aka "Baby A"

Nicknames: Livvy, Liv, Livvy girl, Peanut
Favorite activity: Taking things off of shelves, out of baskets, and off of tables and scattering them on the floor around her. Also, playing with helium inflated balloons. SO cool!
Mobility: She has moved on from rolling to crawling full speed ahead! Man she is fast! She has also learned how to pull herself up on furniture (and people). She tries to take unassisted steps, but has a bad habit of falling on her face (and consequently screaming bloody murder)
Favorite food: Pancakes, peaches, bagels, and pear juice (50/50 with water of course). And whatever else mommy and daddy are eating =)
Personality: Loves people (a daddy trait)! Full of smiles (a mommy trait). Loves to watch what is going on around her. Soaks everything in. Has a bit of a temper, and occasionally bullies her sister, pulls hair, and tries to take her toys. Scared of older men and anyone with gray hair, other than Aunt Denise (LOL).
Favorite Person: Usually Daddy, but Papa Ken will give him a run for his money!
Words: Da-da, hey, yep

Miss Brianna - aka "Baby B"

Nicknames: Bri, Bri baby, Peanut
Favorite activity: Sitting in the front entry way looking outside; closely followed by banging on pots in the kitchen and playing with plastic hangers
Mobility: Crawling everywhere, and easily pulling herself up on furniture or people. She has also been working on cruising the furniture. Watch out world, here comes Bri!
Favorite food: Pancakes are by far her favorite! She also enjoys bagels, sweet potatoes, and DQ vanilla soft serve (shhh - so does Livvy!)
Personality: Reserved. Will smile at you, but has to warm up to you first. Likes to be active and moving (a mommy trait =)). Has a bit of an ornery streak (a daddy trait). Has a knack for getting into whatever she isn't supposed to be getting in to. If you tell her no, she will acknowledge you, then do it anyway, and laugh. I kid you not. Little bugger!
Favorite Person: Usually Mommy, but Aunt Denise is pretty darn cool too!
Words: Da-da, Ma-Ma (although only occasionally on purpose), yep

Holy buckets! I can see them turning from babies into little ladies, right before my very eyes! So bittersweet! I can't believe it is possible to love someone so little SO much! I absolutely don't know what we would do without them. They are definitely the lights of our lives =).

Until next time -
Megan

I'm changing pediatricians!

2011-08-15T10:13:00.000-05:00

We went in for our 9 month check up a week an a half ago. Anyone care to check my math on that? How old were the girls? If you said less than a week away from 10 months you'd be right!

So am I a slacker mom that doesn't call and make my girls well baby check ups in a decent amount of time to be seen at that actual milestone? HA! Not at all. We call a minimum of 8-12 weeks in advance to try and get in for a well baby check up with my pedi as close to their actual month birthdate as possible. This is the second time it has been nearly a month off. Seriously, who is THAT busy that they can't see their patients on time if they call 2+ months in advance? I don't think I should have to book my appointments out multiple months in advance. Am I being unrealistic?

So that is one reason I am looking at switching pediatiricians. The other? Well, you saw my posts over the last two weeks about momma knowing best and the nurse blowing me off? I'm not a fan of the office staff. The front desk staff are fine, but the nurses are awful! I made the appointment to have Bri seen two weeks ago for a sick visit and we went in - the pediatrician checked for an ear infection - negative. Then she thought maybe she had a UTI so they took a urine sample. Well, we never got a call back with the results from the lab so the nurse told us no news was good news, meaning that apparently Bri didn't have a UTI. Okay, fine. During that visit we also decided to switch Bri's med for her acid reflux again as she's been spitting up and burpy for the last several weeks (boo!), so that was an ongoing issue again.

Following our sick visit Tuesday night/Wednesday morning Bri was up from 1 AM-6AM every 10 MINUTES, screaming blood murder. Nothing would calm her down. I gave her tylenol/advil, fed her, rocked her, changed her, bounced her, sang to her, put her in bed with us, but to no avail.

I called the doctor's office first thing Wednesday morning to ask what I should do - this was not normal and something was obviously going on (even though her physical exam was "perfect" on Tuesday). 6 PM (10 HOURS LATER) the nurse calls me back and tells me that since she has an ear infection (WTF???) that her ear hurts and that is normal, but it should get better over the next 24-48 hours if I just keep giving her the antibiotics.

UM, WHAT?

She was checked for an ear infection, but the pediatrician said she didn't have one. So that wasn't the problem, and she wasn't taking antibiotics. Seriously??? LOOK AT MY CHILD'S CHART BEFORE YOU CALL ME BACK! So she says sorry and says she will call the pediatrician back then call me again. When she calls me back she has nothing new to offer - try giving tylenol and advil and see if that helps. Yeah, my issue though lady is that we have NO IDEA what is wrong with my child and why we are having to medicate her! Whatever.

So, I decide to problem solve on my own. I figure maybe it is her acid reflux and she is having issues with that. I call the pharmacy, and they say they have the script ready to go, we just need to come and pick it up. So we head to Walgreens, only to find out that the pediatrician's office AGAIN dropped the ball and didn't call in the pre-auth so that the insurance would cover the medication. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was standing right there when the pediatrician put in the note for the nurse to call in the pre auth because she was showing a new physician in the clinic how to do it. So I know it was put into the system. One of her office staff once again forgot to do it. So irritating.

Then last Thursday we had our nearly a month late well baby check up. I talk to the pediatrician very specifically about these issues. She defended her office staff on the medication and said that it can take 6-8 hours for a pre-auth to go through. I stated back that it had been 36 hours and it still hadn't been done. She continued to defend her office staff and said that Walgreens hadn't requested it from them. I personally talked to the insurance company, and they were the ones waiting on the doctor's office. They had what they needed from the pharmacy.
Strike one.

Then I expressed my concerns about Tuesday night/Wednesday morning when Bri was up all night. My pedi told me that she was up and crying because she has developed object permanence and has learned that if she cries that I will come and get her. Further, I should just let her cry it out. Okay lady, strike freaking two. She was SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER. Like not whining, not whimpering, like straight out screaming. For 5 HOURS. And she didn't stop when I was holding her, so she wasn't crying because she wanted her mommy to pick her up.

Then I expressed my concerns that the girls are starting to refuse my milk (or formula, either way) and some days I have a hard time forcing them to drink 12 oz. The absolute minimum that a baby should be drinking at this age is 18 oz. So this looks like a problem right? Apparently not to her. She told me that the girls were fine on weight so unless they started to lose weight that I didn't need to force them to drink the milk.

Um, and I would know if they were losing weight how? I don't have a scale at home to weigh them on. . .and wait, once babies become mobile don't they lose some of their baby weight? So how would I know the difference between healthy and unhealthy weight loss untill it was too late? I wouldn't.

She then questioned me about the girls sleeping arrangements and promptly proceeded to tell me that Bri should not be sleeping in her pack and play in our room with us. And I needed to get her out of our room as soon as possible, like within the next couple of days. Look, I knew that Bri couldn't stay in our room forever, but there are plenty of mommas out there that co-sleep with their infants and would literally laugh at my pedi if she said that to them. And really, what the heck difference does it make to her?? If my child is in my room, that affects her how? It doesn't. I had every intention of moving Bri out of our room and had been waiting for the right time. When *I* was ready. (BTW - I moved her out 5 days ago and haven't looked back - but it wasn't because the pedi told me to - it was a long time coming and I had to be ready - which I finally was)

The pediatrician was very pointed with me on several issues while we were there, and I didn't like it. I also didn't like that she couldn't come up with a reason for Bri's fever for a week, or her crying for 5 hours straight. She has been a constipated baby for months, so I asked her about that and if that could be causing issues and she blew me off.
Done.

When she walked out the door at the end of the visit she said "see you at a year". . .I promptly stated back as the door closed "no you won't". . .
UGH.

Seriously. I'm so switching pedi's. I need one who actually listens to me. I've set up the girls 1 year visit with my old pediatrician (for October 17th - their birthday is October 13th - NICE). I didn't want to bring the girls to him to start with because I thought he would be retiring within the next 10 years and I didn't want to have to move the girls to a different pediatrician at that time. Bad idea! I should have just gone with him to start with because here I am, moving them at 10 months old. Pathetic.

Please be honest and tell me if I am over reacting. I really think that the doctor that I, Si, or the girls are seeing needs to listen to me and address my concerns. And it shouldn't take 2+ months to get a well baby appointment. Seriously! These girls are our life! We couldn't let anything happen to them!!

Hope you all had a most excellent weekend!
Until next time -
Megan

"9 month" stats

2011-08-08T11:25:00.000-05:00

These are actually the girls 10ish month stats. . .our pediatrician's office can never get us in on time for our visits so we are always past our actual monthly milestone by about a month. Oh well! We dare to be different anyway!

Withought further ado, here are the girls "9 month" (actually 10 month) stats!

Baby A - Miss Olivia
Weight - 22 lbs 4 oz - 90th percentile
Height - 2 ft 4 in - 53rd percentile
Head circumfrence - 18.4 in - 97th percentile

Baby B - Miss Brianna
Weight - 23 lbs 5 oz - 95th percentile
Height - 2 ft 5 in - 84th percentile
Head Circumfrence - 17.5 in - 56th percentile

I've got some big healthy girlies!! Go girlies go! They've even been eating less breastmilk than usual and they are still in the 90th+ percentiles. I just love their little rolls! Notice Livvy's arm rolls?! LOL! I think the chunk is SO cute! =)

In other developmental news, Friday they both decided that the way to get around was to crawl like madwomen and cruise the furniture. HOLY BUCKETS! That happened fast! One day I could do dishes in the kitchen and know that the girls weren't really going anywhere and the next it seems like I couldn't walk away for a second because they would be gone in different directions, eating the dog toys and pulling down tablecloths. AAAHHHH! They are really growing up aren't they? This is when it becomes real - wow - we have two little ladies on our hands!

I have at least two other blog posts in progress - one for my "blog on fire award" (yay award!), and one about switching pediatricians. So stay tuned!!

Until next time!
Megan

Maybe a UTI?

2011-08-02T17:45:00.002-05:00

So I brought Bri into the pedi today. For more info on why, check out my last post here.

Essentially I wanted to rule out an ear infection...which she doesn't have. YAY. The next most common infection for a baby to have is a UTI, so the pediatrician decided to check for that. Unfortunately in infants the only way to check for a UTI is to get a urine sample, and the only way to get a urine sample is by catheterization. Not the most pleasant thing for a baby. But, it is pretty fast and more uncomfortable than painful. Bri was a trooper!

The initial results in the office showed a low positive result with lymphocytes (white blood cells) in her urine. But, the pediatrician wants to get the culture back from the lab before she starts her on antibiotics. She talked to me about a condition called urinary reflux which she will want to check for via ultrasound if the culture from the lab comes back positive as well. We should know in the next 24-36 hours.

I also talked to the pediatrician about Bri's acid reflux. Bri was originally taking Prilosec (I thought she was taking Prevacid) when she was a month or so old, then was switched (by a accident) to Prevacid at 6 months, then the insurance refused to pay for the Prevacid without a prior authorization so we switched back to Prilosec at 7 or 8 months. Since switching back to Prilosec, Bri has been really burpy and spitty again. The pediatrician thinks that could be part of the reason she is being so fussy and doesn't really want to eat or sleep now. Reflux hurts!! So, we are switching back to the Prevacid since she did so well on that. We should have that tomorrow. On a side note, most babies outgrow reflux at around the 9 month mark. Apparently not Miss Bri. And that's okay. The pediatrician said that 8-11% of babies don't. I am just excited to see if the Prevacid will help my sweet girl start feeling better! I miss my smiley girl!

Thanks for all your feel better wishes for Miss Brianna! She appreciates it even though she can't say it back just yet =). She will, however, give you a high five on command. How sweet is that? =)

Hope you all are having a great day!

Until next time -
Megan

Does momma really know best?

2011-08-01T17:57:00.001-05:00

I think we all, as parents, question our parenting skills from time to time and occasionally need to be reminded that regardless of what other people may tell us, we are the parents, and we know what is best for our children.

So why am I on my soapbox today?

Bri has been crazy fussy since at least Friday. Like, I can't put her down fussy. Like she doesn't want to play. Low grade fever. Drooling everywhere. Not eating well. Sleeping even worse. Consequently, momma is tired too.

Bri is getting at least her two upper teeth right now. I know this is not a pain free process. I get that. But tylenol is doing NOTHING. Orajel is helping a little, but it requires relatively frequent applications, and I'm not a huge fan of orajel and don't really want to use it. I feel like this has been going on a long time to simply be a new tooth (or two). I personally think she might have an ear infection. I have had 3 other people today tell me the same thing.

I called the pediatrician's office to get their input since they are the "experts". I went through the speal. . .low grade fever, getting two teeth, not eating well, not sleeping well, blah blah blah.

Know what I got? The nurse told me that Bri probably isn't sleeping because it's hot outside. Um, really? Well it's nice and cool inside, AND she was sleeping fine for the rest of the summer, so I highly doubt the heat is the problem. How ridiculous of a statement is that?

Further, she stated that she was "sure" she was fine and could be checked out on Thursday when we were in for our 9 month check up. I asked her if there was anything I should be watching for or how I would know to call back. She told me if Bri stopped eating ENTIRELY or quit sleeping ENTIRELY that I could then call back and make an appointment to be seen, but she didn't think that was going to be necessary. UM, are you serious? You want me to wait until my child is eating no food and is refusing to sleep at all before we come back in? NOT HAPPENING.

So, I promptly called back and scheduled a sick visit for Bri for tomorrow. Isn't this why we pay for health insurance?!?! I would feel absolutely awful if I waited until Thursday, Bri was seen, and she had an ear infection and I made her suffer through it for a week before going in to be checked out. I will pay the 20 bucks for the copay. Come on now.

I will let you know how it turns out. Even if it's nothing, I won't regret going in. I'd rather know than not, you know? And, my momma gut says something is up. I don't know what is up, but this isn't my normal teething Brianna =(.

Where is my happy girl?! I miss her! I hope she feels better soon!

Happy Monday all!

Until next time -
Megan

SD

The sippy cup and self-feeding dilemma

2011-07-29T14:53:00.001-05:00

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

Baby proofing? It's about time slackers!

2011-07-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

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

Hot and busy, but still time for pics!

2011-07-18T23:07:00.000-05:00

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

9 months old!

2011-07-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

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

Leaps and Bounds!

2011-07-04T20:55:00.000-05:00

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

A whole post about poop?! Really?!

2011-07-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

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

"How far apart are they?"

2011-06-27T22:07:00.000-05:00

"Excuse me?"

"How far apart are your girls? They look pretty close in age."

"Um, they're twins. They are the same age" I replied, puzzled how anyone would think otherwise when looking at two infants.

"Oh. Well that one (pointing at Bri) looks longer in the stroller. I thought she was older and you had this one (pointing at Livvy) soon after having the other one (pointing at Bri)"

Okay, stop right here. My girls look different. I know that. But they don't look that different! They are only 8.5 months old! They aren't walking or running around. One isn't significantly taller or shorter than the other. They weigh within a pound of each other. Why on earth would someone think that they weren't twins?!

Honestly, I knew that this day would come since they are fraternal twins and they do look pretty different. But I was expecting them to make it to at least 3 or 4 years old before I would have to defend their twinhood! They were even dressed the same. I mean come on now people! Seriously! How many moms with same sex daughters of different ages dress them in the exact same outfit? A few do, I'm sure. But I highly doubt it's the majority!

MoM's - have your twins been called out yet as not being twins? Do you have a certain thing that you say when people ask? I mean, I'm used to being asked if they are twins, and I usually have a bit of a script for how I respond to that. But I've got nothing for the opposite question. I guess the technical correct answer to her direct question of "How far apart are they?" would be "One minute". . .is that the response I should use when asked again?

And switching the topic totally to. . .baby monitors! Big change I know. But, ours broke, or is defective, or something. It's an expensive baby monitor too! It's a color video monitor unit complete with sound, as well as a separate portable sound only unit.

We have a 1 1/2 story home, and our bedroom is upstairs while the nursery is downstairs. We wanted to make sure we could have our eyes and ears on the girls in the nursery from our bedroom upstairs. So we got the super expenisve baby monitor. The problem? The sound. The picture is great. We can flip it on and off by pushing one button, and can see a real time picture (usually of Livvy) sleeping (or thrashing) in her crib. Ahhh. But the sound is awful! Full of interference. Like to the point that you can't turn it up because there is no possible way you'd be able to sleep through the crazy increases in static. Then about a month ago, the hand unit died. It just quit picking up any sound at all after we charged it. Weird.

So we contacted the company (Summer Infant) last week and they are having us send it in, and they will send us out a replacement. BUT, it takes 7-10 business days to get it back. So, we have an easy week and a half to two weeks with no baby monitor. That's not okay. So, we were looking to see if there was a relatively inexpensive monitor unit that we could buy that would be good for the two weeks until we get our rockstar unit back. Any suggestions? For the time being we are going to pick up the cheapest one they have at Target and give it a whirl. Hopefully it doesn't suck! Which one do you guys use? Do you love it? Hate it?

Okay, that's all for now! Happy Monday!

Megan

Our first ER visit. . .

2011-06-21T16:33:00.000-05:00

Yup, you heard right! Last Wednesday, at the ripe old age of 8 months, we had the joy of experiencing our first visit to the Children's Hospital emergency room. What would cause such an endevour you may ask? What a great question!

All was well during the day. We got up as usual, ate as usual, went to the zoo with our triplet friends, ate again, and mommy and daddy were just getting ready to go to our weekly ballroom dancing lesson when Bri threw up. She only threw up once, and it was a lot, but she was still in a great mood. . .bouncing up and down. . .chanting Da-da, and smiling. Aunt Denise was to watch the girls while we were dancing and she came over and was still totally fine with watching the girls even though Brianna had just thrown up. She still seemed to be her normal self. And babies can randomly throw up for no reason, right?

Sure.

Once.

We didn't even get out of the driveway and Aunt Denise called us. Bri had thrown up again, and it was more than she had thrown up the first time, and now she just didn't look good.

We turned off the car and went back inside.

Bri looked pathetic. White as a ghost. And just lying there. In between throwing up anyway, which ended up happening about every 2 minutes. After about 10 minutes Brianna just slumped over and quit really responding to me. She couldn't hold up her head, and would only open her eyes in response to painful stimuli. I was scared.

I called my mom. She didn't know what to do.
What?! My MOM didn't know what to do?!
Nope, she had never had babies sick like that SO young. She told us to call the nurses line for our pediatrician's office. Already did that. Waiting for a call back.

We had the doctor from across the street come over and take a peek at Bri. He has a little one too and understood how stressed we were at this point. Her vitals were okay, but he was concerned about how lethargic she was. He suggested that we take her in to the ER be checked out.

Okay, we can do that. But guess what??? Now Olivia is throwing up too! We have TWO puking infants sitting on the living room floor. We are using anything we can find to catch it and/or sop it up (gross I know - be glad you didn't have to be there!) we went through at least 10 blankets and a roll of paper towels. Wow.

So we decide we should go in, and sooner rather than later. We hop in the car and hightail it to Childrens ER. They got us in within 5 minutes of being there. Awesome. They did all the vitals and stats and everything seemed okay - no fevers, no diarrhea, nothing to indicate an illness other than the near constant vomiting. UGH. The nurse kept a close eye on Bri who was cuddled into my chest. She didn't like how lethargic and non-responsive she was being. I didn't either. But I was SO glad we were in an ER where they could actually watch them and monitor them.

We were moved to an actual exam room and I immediately claimed the rocker in the corner and just sat and rocked Bri. There's something innate that makes me think that rocking will make things better. I just sat there and rocked and stared at her. I was so scared. She still wasn't responding to me unless I grabbed her or pinched her. Liv was on the other side of the room, still puking. Sigh. What is wrong with my babies I thought? What did I do?! Did they get into something? How could I have prevented this?

The doctor came in and talked to us. They decided to do some blood work on Bri. It came back okay, but they wanted to give them fluids while we were still there. Okay. Fine by me.

They came in a little later and gave the girls some Zofran. It was dissolvable, but Bri immediately threw hers back up. Poor peanut! We continued to rock, and Bri continued to lay slumped into my chest.

Then about 20 minutes later, out of nowhere, Bri opened her eyes and sat straight up. I thought maybe she was going to throw up again. But then she started babbling. That soon turned into "talking" to her sister. Then she started smiling. The nurses came back in and did an oral pedialyte fluid challenge with the girls. They had to be able to keep down the pedialyte for 30 minutes before they would allow us to leave. By this time the girls are lying on the hospital bed, 10:30 at night (2.5 hours PAST bedtime), talking and playing, having a grand old time. WHAT THE HECK?! It was as though nothing had ever happened. 3 hours of feeling awful,and scaring mommy to death, and the girls were 100% back to normal.

The ER doc came back in and talked to us. They were glad we brought them in and reassured us that that was the right thing to do. They are still very little and can dehydrate very quickly. She thought this throwing up episode was 1 of two things - either 1) a virus, in which case we should expect diarrhea and a fever at some point, or 2) something in the food I gave them. They had had each of the foods I had given them that day at least 4 times, so I had no explaination to what could have caused it if it was the food. I remembered that it was a new 4 pack of Yobaby blueberry yogurt though, so we suspect that it was the culprit. It probably was left out too long during stocking or something. As you can imagine, I promptly tossed the rest of it when I got home!

I am happy to report that we are healthy and back to normal, and have been now for several days. No one else ever got sick, so we are pretty darn sure it was the food. Our friend Jeff came over and professionally cleaned our carpets on Thursday afternoon - talk about a Godsend! Our livingroom floor smelled like souring blueberry yogurt - ICK!

Why do our kids scare us so?! Seriously! I am hoping for a much less eventful Wednesday tomorrow. Have you guys had your first ER trip already with your kiddos? Were you as scared as I was? Geez!

And I realize I am a touch behind in my blogging, and I have a couple of other things to blog about, but I wanted to post this so it was out there, even though I didn't have a chance to attach any pictures to it at this point. Hope you all are well!

Megan

Our first family reunion! and other musings. . .

2011-06-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

You notice my exclamation point? Well, that's how we greeted everyone when we walked in the door to the girls first family reunion on Sunday (Si's side). . .except it was "WWWWAAAAAHHHHHH"!!! From Olivia, directed towards her great grandpa. The whole room stopped what they were doing to see what was going on. Great first impression! We were super cute though, so luckily few people cared=)

The girls are into the "stranger danger" stage now and are afraid of new people. I took them to the mall a couple of weeks ago in just the stroller, not the car seats attached into the stroller (facing me), and they SCREAMED bloody murder when we walked into our first store, Victoria's Secret. They cried for 20 minutes. I just kept shopping, thinking that maybe they would stop... eventually. Yeah, I was that mom. And yeah, it was not fun.

Speaking of that mall experience. . .the girls and I go shopping every Wednesday with Miss Sheila and baby Adam. If we can't use our current stroller, we are going to have to find something new. We are thinking about this one. (Non tech savvy people, click on the word "one" and it will link you to the stroller I am talking about)

It's got some super cool features, most notably that the seats can be changed to face whichever direction we want that day. Both girls can face me, both girls can face out, the girls can face each other, or the girls can face away from each other. How cool is that?! We don't really have any desire to buy another new stroller, but we are thinking that we want to try and save the Graco that matches the car seats so we can sell the whole thing as a set when we are done with them, and the pink safari jogging stroller we have (that I love) is great. . .but it doesn't fit through standard doorways! That obviously can't be our primary stroller then can it? I need to be able to go to the mall and fit between the clothes in the isles as well as down the isles at the supermarket without blocking other peoples carts! So, we are looking at this one. There is a different brand spanking new stroller that is purple that I LOVE, but I can't justify the $650 price tag. SO, this is what I can get. I really think we are going to like the versatility with this stroller. I know a lot of twin moms are big on the side by side strollers, but you know what? At this point I'm a tandem girl, all the way. It may be heavier and longer, but it better accomadates my needs at this point =).

In other news, Olivia had these two little bumps on the inside of her gums and she had a scratch on her ear that we were thinking needed to be looked at by the pediatrician, so we made an appointment to go in today. Sure enough, Livvy has a little skin infection by her ear. Antibiotic ointment 3 x a day and we will be good to go. As for the little bumps, they are mucus seals (like a pimple kind of on the inside of your mouth). They should go away on their own. Gross, but glad it's an easy fix!
While we were there we weighed the girls and we just keep getting bigger!
Miss Olivia - Baby A - 19lbs 15 oz
Miss Brianna - Baby B - 21 lbs 2 oz (holy buckets Batman!)

Also, news in the tooth department. Bri has gotten her second tooth, also on the bottom. For those of you keeping track, that's Brianna - 2, Olivia - 0.
Olivia is obviously just way too busy rolling all over the place to grow teeth! You put her down and she rolls one way, then turns around and rolls the other. Except in her crib. In her crib she rolls onto her tummy, then screams bloody murder until someone comes to save her! Bri can roll as well, but chooses not to at this point. Instead she would rather lay on her back and grab her toes. Crazy how different two babies can be!

One thing they can both do equally as well however, say Da-Da! Si is so proud. Olivia can say ma-ma, but has only said it a couple of times. It's a work in progress. Every time I say Ma-Ma to the girls they laugh at me. Not the response I was expecting!

That's all for now! Have a great rest of your week!!

Megan

I'm a little addicted to Carters!

2011-05-30T21:39:00.000-05:00

Warning! This ended up being a picture heavy post!!! Sorry! Look away if you can't stand to see pics of some cute babies! =)

The girls have been growing like CRAZY, and as such they have also been growing out of clothes so so quickly! Last week I started going through their closet and dresser and taking out all of the clothes that were the wrong size/or and the wrong season. Over 80% of their wardrobe was instantly eliminated! AHHH! We all know what that means then. . . I had to go shopping!

It was great timing really as many of the stores are having some stellar Memorial Day sales. Carters is no exception. I love Carters. For several reasons really. First, they have some totally cute stuff. Second, the girls can wear it everyday because it's comfy, versatile, and durable. Third, it's relatively inexpensive all things considered. So, it made sense to me that I would make my way to Carters this weekend. Miss Sheila and I went on Friday, then I went to the Carters outlet with my mom on Saturday morning. I bought SO much stuff! And I am really big right now into the girls matching. Like really big. I love it. I think my tiff with them not matching is that if they don't match then I at least want both outfits to be on the same level - equally as cute. That way one baby doesn't have a cuter outfit than the other. Is that silly of me? Anyway, getting two of each of the outfits solves that problem! The girls are always equally as cute that way =).

Here's a picture of most of the loot from my shopping Friday and Saturday. . .holy buckets right?|!

I have been busy washing and reorganizing the girl's room all weekend. Here's a question for all of you - we have SO much stuff! Clothes, swings, bumbo chairs, blankets, etc that we aren't using anymore. . . what the heck do you do with it all???? Store it? Sell it? How long do you wait to sell it? I mean we aren't 100% sure that we are done having kiddos. . .we would be absolutely fine if the girls were "it", but we have frosty embabies waiting for us at the RE, so there is always a possibility we could have more, and if we did, I really like the clothes that I have now. Should I keep them? There are a TON of clothes. . .I'm talking probably 7-8 big rubbermaid containers full, and that's just newborn to 6 months! We went a little crazy with the clothes. Now I'm running out of places to stash everything as the girls outgrow it! So, your input is welcome, as always =).

What else did we do this weekend? Well, we went to Sheila and Andy and Adam's house for a BBQ on Saturday night (great fun!), then we had a BBQ at our house Sunday at noon (great fun again!), then we celebrated Aunt Denise's birthday Sunday night by taking a night off cooking and enjoying some Olive Garden and some AWESOME lemon cake my sister in law made. YUM! The girls kept trying to stick their hands in the frosting, but I think we got a good pic of the girls with Aunt Denise and the cake before we tore into it. . .

We took advantage of the warm and humid Nebraska weather today to get the girls outside in shorts - the first time this season. I have had plants sitting on my patio for nearly a month now waiting to get planted, and I finally made time to get them in the ground. Of course since the girls were outside I took the opportunity to snap a couple of pics of them. . .enjoy!
Miss Olivia

Miss Brianna

The girls together. . .

The girls AND the boys sitting with Aunt Denise this afternoon =)

Okay, that's all for now! I didn't realize how much I had to say and how many pictures I had to post - Wow! So were your weekends just as busy as mine? What did you all do?

Until next time!
Megan

Nope, still not mobile!

2011-05-27T18:08:00.001-05:00

I've been getting lots of questions as to whether or not the girls are mobile yet. My answer? Nope! Not even close! The girls continue to hate tummy time. That said, I appreciate all of the comments I got from my fellow bloggers, and I am no longer concerned that they won't crawl or walk or turn into perfectly normal little toddlers. . .eventually! Whew! Thanks for the reassurance ladies!

So, what have we been doing about our lack of mobility? Well, our back-up nanny (Michelle) has been working with the girls a lot on tummy time on the days she is here, and the girls really are getting better at tolerating it. They still don't make it even 5 minutes on their tummies, but I can tell they are getting stronger every day and one of these days are simply going to take off (you know. . maybe in like a month). I'm enjoying my time not having to chase them around and am of course not in any hurry to have them mobile! BUT. . .when everyone else's babies are doing it, well, I guess I'm a bit of a competitor at heart and want my babies to be up there at the front of the line too!

Eh, it's a work in progress. Bri can get her chest fully off the floor though. That's good, right? Livvy still has no desire and would much prefer to roll over or bury her head in the carpet. That girl is going to need some serious motivation to get up and going! She loves to just sit and watch what is going on. No need to move. That little girl is a sponge. She's analyzing everything going on around her. Am I in trouble or what?!

The girlies during typical tummy time - note that Livvy is trying to project herself over instead of practicing a crawling position? Crazy kiddo!

Ah! I actually got Liv to look up for long enough to take a picture! Sweet!

Bri being her happy self for a couple of minutes during tummy time =)

Why on earth do we moms feel that it's a competition between our kids and the kids around us? Why do we want to be the best? Is it just human nature?

Hope you guys had a great week!!
Megan

If you have any prayers to spare, this family could sure use them. . .

2011-05-25T21:41:00.000-05:00

I ended up checking out a blog for a fellow multiple momma after a Facebook friend posted a prayer request a couple of days ago. This family is going through a really tough time right now. They have a 4 year old son and 6 month old boy triplets. On May 22nd, the mom (Mel) was doing baths and putting the triplets to bed when they noticed that Owen, one of the triplets, had flipped himself onto his tummy in his crib. When they went to flip him back onto his back (babies are supposed to sleep on their backs now to reduce SIDS risk) he was unresponsive. Mel called 911 and started CPR on little Owen. Long story short, this little guy has been in the hospital since the 22nd with a very grim prognosis, only a 2% chance of survival. The family found out today that his EEG (brain waves) were flat, no activity. In the morning they will take him off of the ventilator to verify that he can not breathe on his own. They have then decided to donate his organs.

I can not even imagine the pain this family is going through. So many people have sent well wishes and prayers, and Mel has unwaivering faith and trust in God, she is seriously an amazing woman. My heart breaks for her and her family. So my one request for tonight is that you add this family to your prayers for the forseeable future. I can't imagine losing a child. So young. So innocent. So sudden. It's just awful. If you'd like to visit her blog and leave a comment letting her know of your support, you can do that here: bissingfamily.wordpress.com

Life is so short. Remember to love deeply, forgive quickly, and live every day to the fullest. I think we all forget how precious life really is. I am holding my girlies a little closer tonight. I hope you do the same.

Thanks ladies!
Megan

Say What?!

2011-05-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

The girls have officially said their first words!! Amazing! I love to hear their sweet little voices=). I don't think that they are associating what they are saying yet with actual things, but they are getting there.

About 10 days ago Bri out of the blue started chanting "da-da-die, da-da-die". A little morbid, yes, but I was sad her first words weren't momma! Even if it would have been followed by die. . .lol. Then on Friday night, again out of the blue, here comes Miss Livvy with what else but ma-ma! MELT MY HEART!!! She had no idea what she said, and she hasn't said it again since, but it was music to my ears! Bri of course continues to chant da-da-die. . .go figure! The girls are incredibly chatty when I am around. Mostly babbling, but they just love to chat it up. Apparently they don't do it with anyone else though because everyone keeps commenting on how chatty they are with me. I love it!

Here's a pic of me and the girlies from earlier today. . .it is Mommy and Me Monday after all. . .I suppose I should post a pic of me with the girlies!

What else do I love (other than my dear husband of course)? Bath time! The girls are so happy when they get out of the bath - smiles ear to ear - it's so sweet! Here is what I get to look at every night before their last feeding and go to bed. Am I not the luckiest woman in the world?

Miss Bri

Miss Livvy

Okay, that's all for now. Just wanted to pop in and say hello and post an update like I promised I would! Hope you all are doing well!

Until next time,
Megan

It's been busy round here!

2011-05-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

Geez, it's been nearly a month since my last post! Holy buckets!!
Well, there's been plenty going on in the wild and crazy Hollibaugh household! Where to start. . .

Si had his first "bring your kids to work day" at the beginning of the month. It was so surreal. I remember that day last year and it wasn't a happy day. I am so glad that this year it was a happier time when we could actually celebrate being parents. Here's a shot of the girls with Si in his extra large "cube" at work. So proud =)

We also did our first zoo trip with daddy in tow - fun stuff! We checked out the gorillas which is something the girls hadn't seen before - it was quite the experience!

And of course Si sniffed some gorilla booty outside of the exhibit - so silly =)

The girls had their super late 6 month check up on May 5th, and they are doing great! We have some big girlies ladies and gentlemen! Here are their stats:
Miss Olivia - AKA Baby A - 26.5 inches (62nd percentile), 18 lbs 7 oz (76th percentile)
Miss Brianna - AKA Baby B - 26.5 inches (62nd percentile), 19 lbs 9 oz (92nd percentile)

I couldn't believe they were the same height! Bri looks so much taller! Livvy must just be a sloucher when she sits or something. Too funny. Anyway, the girls are appropriately meeting developmental milestones, and the pediatrician isn't concerned about them at all. Livvy does continue to measure in with a larger head than Brianna (95th percentile), but the pediatrician says she is still within normal range and she is perfect, so we are running with it! No helmets here!

What else? Well, Si and I have been taking ballroom dancing lessons! We got off to a rough start with our first instructor, so we switched to a different instructor at the same facility and now we are doing great! We can waltz and foxtrot around the dance floor like nobody's business! We still have a long way to go, but we know all of the basic steps, and our instructor told us we can now dance better than 97% of the population. Sweet! I love how I feel when I am in Si's arms. So safe, so secure. We are one. I LOVE that!

Si and I have been jumping back into the rescue stuff more in the last few weeks, so between that and the dancing, I simply haven't had time to update. Plus it's been crazy at work - ebb and flow man, geez! I got a nice slow transition back into work when I came back from maternity leave, but now it's nuts. Of course, as it is getting warm and I would like to be taking time off to spend with the girlies, I get super busy at work. LOL. Such is life. At least I have a job right? We are very blessed. No complaints here!

Oh yes, we tried to foster our first rescue "pug" this weekend, our first since the girls were born. Yeah, except he wasn't a pug. And he didn't make it very long with us. Mr. Tank is a bulldog. 49lbs of solid muscle. SO cute. We were told that he was a little aggressive around other animals. But Si has ALWAYS wanted a bulldog (seriously Si?! But they are cute, I get it). So we decided to give it a try. We had him for less than 2 hours. We gave him a bath and he tried to attack Si while we were trying to dry him off. Yeah, not happening with babies in the house. So, he's with one of the other expert rescuers who doesn't have any kiddos, so hopefully she can get him rehabbed so we can get him adopted out. He is such a cutie!! If he'd have been a really good boy we probably would have kept him (against my better judgment of course!).
Mr. Tank. . .

Okay, I think that is all that has been going on since I last posted. We are all doing fine here! Allergies are in full swing, so we have a sneezy snotty household, but no other ill effects. The girls are still sleeping through the night, and we are working on naps. Bri now naps in her crib instead of in the swing (YAY!). We are trying to transition Liv out of the swing for naps but she is being very resistant. It's a work in progress.

Oh, I almost forgot!! How could I forget this!? Bri got her first tooth yesterday!!! 5/18/2011, so 7 months 5 days old. She was super fussy yesterday when we were shopping, so I'm guessing that is why. Liv still doesn't have any teeth, but if I had to guess, it's going to happen any day now. =).
These may be the last pictures of that toothless grin that I love so much!

Okay, that's really enough for now! I promise to try and post more often, even if it's just a short thing letting you know the newest update and that we are doing okay. Hope you are doing well too!

Until next time,
Megan

New milestone met!

2011-04-27T16:23:00.000-05:00

Both girls can now sit up unassisted! YAY! They still topple over after a while, but their muscles are strong enough to hold them up for a bit while they are playing on the floor. They LOVE being able to sit up. Definitely their new favorite thing!

We went for our 6 month pictures today (2 weeks late, but better late than never!), and would you believe that the girls were able to STAND assisted (holding on to a bench, not mommy or daddy) for the first set of pictures?! I about fell over! They are growing up SOOOO fast!

The weather here is supposed to warm up to the 70's on Friday so I am hoping that I can maybe get my garden planted and maybe I can do some shopping for some of the annuals I want to plant out front. I am excited to plant this year! Last year I planted but after about June or July wasn't really able to tend to what I had planted (due to my massive belly =)), so Si is definitely looking forward to me being able to take care of my own flowers and garden this year.

Ah, and I almost forgot! Our multiples club is have a playgroup for kiddos under 18 months on Saturday, and so far the RSVP list includes 4 sets of twins, all between 3 months and 12 months. Sounds like great fun! Hopefully the girls will meet some cool new friends =).

That's all I've got - a pretty boring post for a Wednesday! Do you guys have any grand plans for your weekend? I am SO ready for some warm spring weather around here so we can do more playing outside and less hanging out inside. My new stroller needs more of a workout! =)

Until next time,
Megan

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:54:00.000-05:00

I hope you all had a wonderfully blessed Easter holiday today! We spent our day enjoying the company of family, and the girls got to soak up some grandma time. Even though my parents live in town and my dad watches the girls once a week while I am at work, they rarely get to spend any extended time (more than 15 minutes or so) with their grandma K. Today they got to spend a whole 5 hours with her, and I think they really liked it. In fact, they were a bit a confused as to who she was. . . she kind of looks like mommy. . .and she kind of sounds like mommy. . .but she doesn't smell like mommy. . .hmmm. . .who is she?! LOL.

We started out the day in our PJ's and Easter hats that Deb from Aunt Denise's church made for the girls. LOVE THEM!! She has made hats for the girls for every major holiday so far and they are totally adorable!

We never did get the girls into any Easter specific dresses because, well, we weren't going anywhere and we were eating (which at this point means the girls too are eating) and I didn't want to worry about getting sweet potatoes or ham or anything smeared on beautiful dresses! So, we ended up in little skirt outfits with flower headbands on after we finished our lunch.
Here's a picture of Miss Olivia

And a picture of Miss Brianna

That just about sums up our day! Oh wait! Si and I had our first ballroom dancing lesson tonight - we learned the first couple of positions/moves to the waltz. We were both a little nervous at first, but it turned out to be a great time! We hope to have at least one lesson a week, and we hope to find the time after the girls are asleep to practice our new moves. FUN!!

Okay, and I'm going to go off on a quick tangent - consider yourself warned! I really wish that Easter was an observed holiday (tomorrow or Good Friday - either way!), and honestly it kind of bugs me that it isn't. I mean, all of the stores and most of the restaurants were closed today, so obviously as a nation we observe the holiday of Easter, so why on earth isn't it a national holiday too? We get a day off for President's Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but not Easter? What gives? Simply because it's a "religious" holiday means we can't recognize it as a national holiday?

Okay really, that's all for now! Happy Sunday!

Megan

Still hating tummy time. . .

2011-04-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know how to fix this?! They have hated tummy time since they were born. I honestly thought we would just keep doing it and they would outgrow it, but they haven't. If you stick them down on their tummies you have 30-45 seconds before they start screaming bloody murder. I usually let them sit there and scream for a couple of minutes before I pick them up or flip them over, and during the time they are screaming they bury their heads in the blanket or carpet or whatever they are laying on and refuse to do anything.

I've tried propping them up by putting a receiving blanket under their chests. We've tried getting down on the floor with them. We've tried facing them toward each other. We've tried enticing them with new and exciting toys. We've tried putting them on a blanket and pulling the blanket around the living room and dining room. We've tried laying them on top of us or on the couch so that they aren't on the floor. They still make it less than a minute or two and they are screaming. I'm getting concerned that if they don't do enough tummy time, they aren't going to learn how to crawl. Any thoughts on how I can help remedy their hate of tummy time???

Today we put them on the floor on the boppies with cool toys and both mommy and daddy with them. We made it nearly two minutes, but still, screaming! What else can we do??? And will they be lagging behind later if they refuse to do tummy time now? Mommas - did any of your babies refuse to do tummy time too???

Here's a picture of them @ 3 weeks old doing ~~screaming during~~ tummy time.

And here's a picture of them now - pre-screaming =).

They look so happy in the second picture! I just think they should be happy for longer than 2 minutes during tummy time at their age. I mean, are they going to cry every time they go to crawl? And what do I do. . .just let them cry it out so they get the exposure to tummy time?

Happy early Easter everyone! We got the girls Easter baskets for their first Easter, even though we know that they won't remember it and wouldn't know the difference. With any luck I will find a few minutes to post tomorrow too =).

Until then!
Megan

Little Rebels!

2011-04-21T22:40:00.000-05:00

The girls definitely got their daddy's stubborness. Holy buckets ladies, you are turning into little rebels! I thought you were supposed to be at least 2 years old before that happened! The girls also happen to have aquired my pouty lip that always allowed me to get my way. What a lethal combination!

SO. . .the last few days the girls have been absolutely refusing to take naps. No if, ands, or buts. I've tried letting them cry it out. I've tried rocking. I've tried nursing them to sleep. I've tried babywearing. I've tried driving around. I've tried stroller time. Nothing. works. All I end up with at the end of the day is two WAY too overtired ~~screaming~~ babies and an overtired momma and daddy.

It's just a phase I keep telling myself. . .it too will pass. . . right?! I remember having some short term nap issues around 3 months too, and they were temporary. These too should be temporary then too! I know that my friend Sheila is having issues with napping with Mr. Adam too though, and it's been going on for weeks. Ick! Didn't the babies get the memo that they have to sleep??? LOL.

In other news, we didn't get our pictures taken last week. We went to our appointment but the photographer didn't have us down so she wasn't there. Major bummer. Two happy babies in Easter dresses, a dressed and pressed mommy and daddy, and a grandpa along to help out. . .but no photographer to take our pictures. We rescheduled for next week. Hopefully nothing will come in our way! Of course since we were already in our Easter dresses we had to take a couple of pictures when we got home though. . .
Miss Olivia

Miss Brianna

The girlies together =)

Oh, and we have new friends! We went to the zoo this week with our new friend Kristen from the multiples club and her trips Sissy (Elizabeth), Mikey, and Willy. We had a great time! We definitely got some looks at the zoo, and several moms came up to us and told us how "brave" we were for taking that many babies out of the house. What else could we do?! Be hermits for the rest of our lives? Absolutely no way!! =)

Here's a couple of pictures from our zoo adventures on Wednesday. As you can tell, no smiles. . .likely a direct result of no naps!

That's all for now! TGIF tomorrow!! I need a weekend! And Happy Easter everyone!

Until next time. . .
Megan

6 months!!

2011-04-13T08:32:00.000-05:00

I just realized that while I have been posting lots of pictures lately I haven't been posting much in terms of updates on the girls (who are growing like WEEDS - literally).

First off, the girls are 6 months old today! They are both in the thick of a growth spurt as I type this. They are eating MASSIVE amounts of food and are growing like crazy. About every 3rd night they aren't sleeping through the night and are getting up to eat, making for a pretty tired mommy and daddy. They are eating solids now and have tried sweet potatoes, applesauce, pears, green beans, mashed potatoes, bananas and avacados. Next on my agenda of things to try with them is chicken. At this point I'm raising little vegetarians. We live in the Midwest, so they must love meat!

Miss Olivia (Baby A) - Has learned how to roll over from her back to tummy (!), as well as how to roll off the recliner (oops!). She HATES tummy time, so once she rolls to her tummy she gets really ticked off and screams until someone picks her up or puts her back on her back. Good thing she isn't rolling over very often! HA!

She also has a new sound that she likes to make - we call it the squeaky door - eeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkk. It's hilarious. At first you think she might be crying or upset, but then you realize that that isn't it at all. She is so proud of herself after she makes this noise! And fake coughing - yeah - she's great at that. She will do that in the morning when she is in her crib and wants someone to come and get her. She will get progressively louder with her fake coughs then get this HUGE smile when you come in and get her. She's totally playing us. And it's working!!

Food - she likes food, and opens SO wide! But she's funny of course - she wants the food and will scream if you don't give it to her, but she only wants 4-5 bites at a time. Then she wants her milk. Then food again. Then milk. Then food again. She's very adimant about what she wants and it is apparent during feeding time. And don't even think for a second that you can eat during feeding time - no way! Unless you are sharing what you are eating with her it's not happening =).

Teething - I was so sure that she would have a tooth by now. I could feel one on top coming through last week, but it must have gone back up because I can't see it or feel it anymore. Bummer! I wish they would just come in and get it over with!

Miss Brianna (Baby B) - LOVES her jumperoo. It is her favorite thing ever! Well, other than momma of course =). She will jump and jump and jump and jump like a crazy woman for upwards of 30 -45 minutes in that thing! She has also learned how to sit up on her own. She hasn't entirely mastered the skill yet, but she sure is getting there. She has the strongest tummy muscles ever. If you lay her down on her back and she doesn't want to be there she will do the equivalent of a crunch and just hold it and whimper until you pick her up. You can see her tummy muscles flexing for pete's sake! Oh, and feet! She LOVES her feet. They are just the coolest thing ever, don't you know! She has no desire to roll over, and is not mobile yet.

She is full of laughs and giggles, and almost always looks surprised and happy. She has a bit of a shy streak around people she doesn't know and will bury her head in my chest when someone she doesn't know talks to her, but otherwise she is a very outgoing little peanut. No new sounds for her though =). She too has joined in the fake cough revolution, and she also likes to stick her fingers so far into her mouth that she gags. My crazy little bulemic baby!

Food - she LOVES food! All food! She will eat and eat and eat - and she's not picky what it is. She doens't open up all the way like Liv does, but she is happy to eat whatever you want to feed her and for however long you would like to feed her. If this continues she is going to be one good little eater.

Teething - we are working on cutting some teeth. We were working on one on top last week along with Liv, but it still hasn't popped through the gums yet.

Not a whole lot else going on. We went up and visited Si's parents and grandparents last week in Kearney - the girlies had a great time! Everyone loved seeing them, and the girls loved all of the attention! It was our first road trip with Abby the Acadia (yes, we name our cars), and I LOVE her! The boys (the pugs) went with too, and we had room for everyone and room for all of the stuff we needed to bring. The Acadia is exactly what we needed. We are so glad that we bought her instead of a minivan=).
Here are some pics of our trip. . .

We have our 6 month pictures today so that should be fun. Hopefully the girls are in a good mood and we get some more great shots of them=). Our 6 month pediatrician visit isn't until May 5th so I won't have weight/height updates until then. Oh well. I know for a fact that they are growing like crazy and I am quite sure that they are doing just fine!!

Hope you all are doing well!!

Megan

So pretty!

2011-04-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty sure that Daddy was hoping that at least one of the girls would turn into a little Tomboy, but so far that couldn't be further from the truth! We are both princesses! See? Get ready to open up your wallet Daddy, we already LOVE to shop, and mommy has a feeling that that's just the tip of the iceburg...=).

We are trying to get ready and find outfits for our 6 month picures and Grandma K had bought us these two ADORABLE dresses. Of course we had to try them on before picture day...=).

Hope you are having a wonderful Friday!

Megan

How do YOU keep the romance in your relationship?

2011-03-28T21:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, I admit it. I was naive enough to assume that having babies wouldn't throw our marriage into a spiral of chaos that neither of us saw coming. After all, infertility truly made our marriage stronger. . .so why wouldn't having the babies that we had waited so long for make our marriage stronger too?

Easy.

Sleep deprivation.

100% all day long going going going.

Teething.

Breastfeeding. . .and pumping. . .and breastfeeding. . .and pumping. . .constantly.

Stress.

Nonstop babies. One of them ALWAYS needs something, and if they don't, then the dishes need to be done, the kitty litter needs scooped, clothes need washed, the floors need scrubbed. And we do let those items go for as long as we can, but we have to keep the house sanitary!! We have two pugs and a cat - it's a pretty hairy household if we don't clean at least once a week.

Me feeling the need to "keep score" and expect everything to be equal. . .I take the girls shopping with me and give him some alone time and I expect to be able to cash my alone time card in later. But I can't! I'm breastfeeding. . .I have to be available to pump or feed every 3 hours. . .a spa day is out for me. . .

Zero intimacy.

Zero romance.

Zero sex.

Yup, I went there.

And I did so because I know I'm not alone. I don't feel comfortable in my post pregnancy body. YET anyway. I feel fat. And I definitely don't feel sexy. Si assures me that I am sexy, and he loves me regardless (so sweet!), but I am having a really hard time getting past what I look like. And that's not all of it. I have a new identity now. I am no longer the sexy wife. . .I am the mommy. Okay, and how do you get past thinking about your babies that are downstairs while you are trying to be intimate upstairs? It's hard. I haven't mastered it yet.

So how do we solve this problem?

We haven't been out "on a date" since before the girls were born. If we do go out, either the girls are with us and/or other people (family or friends) are with us. We never have time to just be. So, we have decided to have a dedicated date night each week. It doesn't matter if we just go to the grocery store, or if we go to the movies, or out to dinner. It has to be just us. We have to get our marriage back into good shape. If we don't, we can't be good parents.

We have actually decided to try ballroom dancing. I'm pumped! We know how to swing dance and that was our special thing that we would go out together and do before all of this IF junk and pregnancies and bedrest. It was SO much fun! We had total trust in each other. We were one out on that dance floor. I SO want that back again. We are going to do some swing I think, but we are also going to try some Tango, Foxtrot, and Waltz. I will let you know how it goes. I want to start classes next week. We will see if it helps us connect again.

Are any of you facing the same issues? What has helped you and your spouse get your intimacy back? Romance? Sex life?

We love these little peanuts to death, and we don't know what we would do without them! We just have to remember that we need to come first. Without each other we don't have much =)

YAY Food!

2011-03-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

The girls ~~finally~~ tried some baby food last weekend, and they LOVED it! I made sweet potatoes for them (baked, gutted, pureed, thinned out, packaged, and froze) and I must say, they are quite tasty =). The girls were definitely ready for "real" food, but I'm glad I waited.

Don't they look happy?

Since then they have also tried green beans, mashed potatoes, and applesauce. Well on our way to real food!!!

I'm being bitten - OUCH!

2011-03-25T11:24:00.000-05:00

Okay moms, help me out here. HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP????

I get why it's happening. The girls are teething and it hurts. During the day while I am at work they are getting breastmilk bottles instead of straight from the tap. They can chew on the bottle nipples and the bottle nipples don't get mad or jump or cry at them. . .so why does mommy?

Seriously, it HURTS. And I've tried to pull them back in towards me - even though that is totally counterintuitive. That's what I did when they were newborns and would bite me. And it worked. They stopped. But now? It hurts SO badly when they do it, I can't help but yelp and pull them away from me. And what do I have to show for it? Blood blisters actually around my nipples. . .yeah, not pretty.

So what can I do? My mom suggested putting my finger in their mouth when they bite me while they are eating as that will break the suction and at the same time let them know that they did something wrong. And I get that. But nowadays they are breaking latch every 15 seconds because they are too busy looking around, trying to grab my hair, my nose, my shirt, their blanket, whatever is even remotely close. So it isn't like they are totally honed in on feeding anyway. And maybe that's a good point to make. I don't get bitten in the middle of the night, and I usually don't get bitten first thing in the morning or right before bed. . .when they seem to be 100% focused on eating. Maybe them being focused has something to do with it?

Last night after Liv bit me I just started crying. . .I'm not ready to stop breastfeeding, but if this is going to be how it is, I will have to stop. I would still pump and feed them that of course, but that isn't the same thing. I want the closeness and the special time with my girls that I have now (or had I guess). I'm not ready to give that up! HELP! What has worked for you guys? Any ideas?

Mommy and Me Monday

2011-03-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

The girlies and momma styling and profiling in our new chariot! The girls LOVE it!! And it's pink. . .so what isn't to love? =)

This is a "jogging" stroller. We got it Saturday at the multiples sale. YAY new stroller! Hopefully the "jogging" will get this last 15 lbs of pregnancy weight off! HA! Not that I'm doing any jogging just yet, but hopefully I will be soon!! =)

Have a great Monday!

Megan

Mommy and Me Monday
Hosted by Krystyn

Our first trip to the zoo!

2011-03-20T18:47:00.000-05:00

At work they were selling discount zoo memberships for the next year, and while I suspected that the girls may still be a bit too young to get the full benefit of the zoo, I went ahead and signed us up.
My bestie Sheila and I, her son Adam, and the girlies made our way down to the Henry Doorly Zoo here on Omaha on Wednesday. We had SO much fun! We hit up the aquarium and the lions/tigers. Here are the pics. Our "first" zoo experience was a success! We will definitely be going back soon!! Thanks for going with us Sheila and Adam!! =)

We survived Orlando!

2011-03-16T09:43:00.000-05:00

I am happy to report that we have returned from our 5 day stent in Orlando, and we all survived in one piece! On the plane rides down I seriously was expecting the worst. Si was on a direct flight with Frontier, and I was on American with a layover in Dallas. The Frontier flight was full so Si did have to hold Miss Olivia all the way down to Orlando, but he said she was a champ and didn't make a peep! She fussed just a little while they were on the tarmack, but he gave her some tylenol and had no other issues. Go Olivia!

My first flight was only an hour and a half, and it wasn't full, so AA let me bring Brianna's car seat on the plane with me. Strapping her in was a breeze, and she slept the whole way to Dallas. Not a peep! Not one!! Our trip from Dallas to Orlando wasn't quite as peachy. The flight was full. . .the seats were TINY, and the second we sat down Brianna started fussing. I had a young teenage boy in the middle seat beside me, and while he was very nice, it made me feel bad for breastfeeding. Bri is at the age where she has no desire to be covered, and if you do cover her (to cover yourself) she makes it her mission in life to get the blankets off. SO, I only nursed her on one side. I didn't want to give him a boob shot and make him feel any more uncomfortable than I am sure he already was. Once I got Bri on the breast she was way better, except that once she started eating she decided to poop, and of course it was a blow out poop. Awesome. Once I changed her she slept for about 45 minutes (out of the 2.5 hour flight), and the rest of the time was spent playing. We had a very sweet older lady caddy corner from us and she was great at distracting Brianna as well as keeping her entertained with pictures from magazines and clanking two pop cans together. That was incredibly helpful! She has a grandson who is 4 months old, so she was used to entertaining him and knew exactly what to do. AWESOME.

In the end, when we got off the flight I got about 7 comments from other passengers commenting on how great Brianna was on the plane. I personally didn't think she did all that well, but maybe that was just me being paranoid and thinking that every sound she made was as loud as a scream and was upsetting the other passengers - lol. Apparently that wasn't the case!

The flight home was uneventful for both parties. Both girls did well. Frontier only let us bring one of the two car seats on the flight even though there were TONS of extra seats, so that was frustrating, but I nursed Bri (and had no one sitting beside me on the flight), and she slept for a good 2+ out of the 3.5 hour flight. YAY!

SO, how was Orlando? It was good! The girls LOVED the warm weather and not having to wear socks =). They hated the car though (we got a Ford Fusion instead of an identical Acadia to what we have at home - the Acadia's were $80 a day!). Every time we put them in the car they cried. At home putting them in the car puts them to sleep, so this was a bit of a surprise to us! The girls didn't nap well overall the whole time we were there. There were so many new things that they hadn't seen before and they wanted to take everything in!

One thing I noted about Orlando that wasn't so nice - the rudeness of people down there! Seriously! I am sure this statement is an overgeneralization, but at least 75% of the people we ran into were seriously rude to us. And these were people in the service industry! The people at the hotels were rude (except a select 1 or 2), the people at restaurants were rude (with the exception of the people at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant on Disney property), and the random sightseers were pretty rude too! I can't tell you how many times Si would go to open the door for me to drive the stroller in and people would cut right in front of me. It was definitely irritating. Or, people not waiting for us to get off the elevator before they got on. Seriously parents, teach your kids some manners!! Sigh, maybe next time will be better! Or maybe I just need to grow some thicker skin! LOL.

We went to Downtown Disney several times, and the girls loved it! Here are a couple of pictures =)
Here's Brianna posing with her Minnie ears on. . .

Here are several pictures of us at Downtown Disney - one in front of the fountain

One in front of the water front

Here's a picture of Si by "Jenny" - the real Jenny - the shrimping boat from Forest Gump =)

And here's a picture of me and the girls standing by a giant Mickey Mouse =)

We also went to the premium outlets, and mommy scored a new Coach diaper bag, Coach shoes, and D&B handbag. Daddy got a new pair of shoes and some socks. Equal? I think so! =)

When we got back to the hotel we all got into our swimsuits and got in the pool. The girls hated the kiddy pool, but LOVED the big pool. They didn't want to get out! Here are their pics in the kiddy pool for the first time with mommy and daddy. The kiddy pool was cold and the big pool was heated - I'm guessing that is why they disliked the kiddy pool =)
Here's Daddy with Olivia in the kiddy pool

And Mommy with Brianna in the kiddy pool

What else is going on? Well, we broke the habit of Bri sleeping in the swing at night while we were down in Florida - YAY! She is now sleeping in her boppy (I know, I know, they aren't supposed to sleep in them - but we are just transitioning her to her pack and play). So, we are working on using the swings less! YAY! We will also be starting first foods this weekend - sweet potatoes first. We will make sure to record it as I expect it will be pretty comical!

Oh, and Olivia is relatively mobile! She will lay on her back on the floor (or bed, or wherever you put her), and she will arch her back and push with her feet, and move herself across the floor! Crazy kid!!!

And we are still growing like weeds - we are outgrowing our 6 month outfits!! Where is the time going?! Oh well. I hear a couple of peanuts starting to wake up from their naps, so I have to go. We are going to the zoo today with Miss Sheila and Mr. Adam. We must go get ready!! More pics to come soon!!

Until next time. . .
Megan

PS - Congrats Scott and Natalie on the birth of Miss Emilia yesterday! You have such a beautiful family, and we couldn't be more happy for you!!!

What a LONG week!

2011-03-06T16:22:00.001-06:00

Whoever told me that once you have kids and they get sick the whole house gets sick SO wasn't kidding. Last Sunday night the girls had started getting snotty and congested. Over the course of several days that evolved into tons of congestion, runny noses, babies being suctioned 15x a day, lots of sneezing, coughing, nobody sleeping, and a crazy amount of fussiness and irritability (Bri was literally attached to me for several days straight). Si got sick on Monday night, and by Wednesday I had caught the bug too. Si went to the doctor on Tuesday and we brought the girls in to the pediatrician on Wednesday. And what bug could that possibly be??? Well the pediatrician didn't find anything obvious but the PCP found out it was strep after he got Si's culture back from the lab! ICK!! So. . .the whole household has been sick for nearly a week. Boo.

I am happy to report that we are FINALLY on the mend and everyone is starting to feel better. After a couple of days on antibiotics of course. Which is good, because... we are set to go to Orlando later this week! We decided to turn my business trip into a mini vacation for the family. Our first "family" trip. AWESOME. We are staying just 2 miles from Disneyworld, so of course we are going to have to drop by. . . you know. . .maybe take a trip to Magic Kingdom? Meet some Disney characters? Get our pictures taken in all the cool places?! Can you tell I'm excited?!

Even thought the girls will be way too young to remember it, we aren't. And I can hardly wait to get out of 30 degree temps and into the 70's and 80's =). I even bought a swimsuit. Yeah. Me. Me and my 4 month twin postpartum body bought a swimsuit. Needless to say, it is a 1 piece, and it's one of those swimsuits that "sucks it all in". Good thing. I wouldn't want to blind all of those poor Floridians at Disneyworld or in the pool that would happen to be gawking at "the twins" while I was wearing it. =).

What else has happened since the last post? Hmm. . .well we bought a new car! We got a GMC Acadia. We LOVE it. Such an awesome vehicle. It came with a hefty price tag, but it has all wheel drive and the inside is the same as a high end minivan (captains chair's in the middle row and 3rd row bench seating that can seat 3 comfortably - all leather). Sunroof for Si and I and a moon roof for the girls (which they LOVE). Oh, and the power lift gate. Such a fabulous feature in a vehicle. Although I did manage to tell the lift gate to close and Si wasn't clear yet and it bopped him in the head. Oops. He will survive. I still felt bad though (hehe).

Oh, and I finally broke down and had my wedding ring resized. I haven't been able to wear it for about 9 months now and it was driving me bananas. I was trying to be patient and give my body time to go back to it's pre-pregnancy size and stature, but I don't think that is going to happen any time soon. So, $180 later, I am no longer the unwed mother of twins when I am out alone in public. You'd be amazed how many people notice such things. . .

Okay, that's all I think I have to update for the time being. I'm trying to come up with the list of stuff that we MUST HAVE for the girls for the trip. So far there's a ton of stuff on it! If you have traveled with an infant (or two) before and have any input, definitely let me know. The girls love their swings at home (Brianna even sleeps in hers at night because she has GERD), so we are contemplating bringing at least one "travel swing" with us. And we will be bringing the two Boppies. And crib sheets (the hotels have "cribs" although I suspect they suck). Since the hotels have the cribs we shouldn't need our pack and play, although if that would be better than the hotel cribs and people have strong feelings about it we would be willing to consider that. We will be bringing the girls car seats (obviously) and stroller, then of course lots of clothes, diapers, some formula etc.. Anything else that we must have for them???

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! Stay well =).

And of course I will leave you with a picture of the girlies. . .so sweet!!

Until next time. .
Megan

My Heart Aches. . .

2011-02-24T21:59:00.001-06:00

I have two wonderful beautiful precious 4 month old baby girls that I love more than life itself. Between the girlies and my husband and our pugs and kitty I thought that my heart was full (at least for the time being). Then I saw this:

Yes, that is what you think it is. It's a positive pregnancy test. I will stop now by saying that it's no longer positive, then tell you how (well I guess you all know how it happened) so maybe I will just tell you how I figured out that it happened, and how I feel about it.

SO. . .last Monday (not 3 days ago, 10 days ago) I got in the shower as usual at 5:30 AM to get ready for work. I was washing my hair and I noticed that I was kind of nauseous. Strange I thought. Am I just hungry? When was the last time I ate? Since I get up at funky times in the middle of the night to feed the girls or pump it throws my body for a loop and my body thinks that it is morning and that it is time to eat. I thought maybe that was what was going on.

Although, this was a strangely familiar sensation. . .I'd had this feeling a lot when I was pregnant with the girls. . .but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind.

Then last Tuesday we were having dinner, one of my favorite pastas from Whole Foods and chicken scallopini (LOVE!). Yeah, I didn't eat the pasta. At all. It didn't taste good to me. Weird. I love the pasta from Whole Foods. I asked Si if his tasted weird and he told me no. Hmm I thought. . .food aversions. . . but again, I just stuck that in the back of my mind.

Wednesday was a georgeous day in Nebraska and I decided to take the girls for a walk around the block. One of our neighbors is an OB nurse practitioner and just finished breast feeding her son, so I casually asked her if it would be weird for me to feel the need to POAS (pee on a stick). She said absolutely not - that many breastfeeding moms feel the need to take a pregnancy test every couple of weeks or every month just for reassurance that they aren't pregnant since they aren't cycling. Okay I thought. . .that's right. . .I haven't cycled yet. . .there's no way I could be pregnant.

Fast forward to Friday morning. Brianna got up at 4AM to eat so after she was done I decided to just stay up and go ahead and get ready for work. I still had a pregnancy test in my bathroom closet, so I decided to go ahead and take it. . .for reassurance. . .

I very quickly got the positive test shown above.
Holy crap.
That can't be right.
There's just no way.
I'm breastfeeding. TWINS.
They are only 4 months old.
I haven't cycled yet.
I have stage 4 endo.
I only have one tube (on the left).
and my left ovary is my non-dominant ovary.
It took us 6 years of trying and 2 IVF's to get pregnant with the girls.
What are the odds I could be pregnant now? Answer - <0.01%

Not good.

So I call my OB's office the second they open on Friday morning (9 AM) and I leave a message - something along the lines of - hey, it's Megan (after having the girls they know exactly who I am), and you aren't going to believe this BUT. . .I got a positive pregnancy test. What process would you like me to follow now? Previously my progesterone has been low, but I'm breastfeeding now and I think that might affect different levels of hormones and I don't know if I should be on something, but I would appreciate a call back.

8 hours later at 5 PM (after the office was closed for the day), I got a call back from the OB's new PA. She told me to take another/different brand of test over the weekend and if it was still positive to call on Monday and they would have me come in for a beta. WHAT??? REALLY??? MONDAY???

"Why wait?" I inquired. Well apparently thier office has seen an influx of false positive pregnancy tests with FRER (First Response Early Response) over the last month. Okay. Fine. I will test again.

So I did. Saturday morning. Still a line, but definitely getting lighter. By Sunday the line was gone. I called on Monday to let them know that I had gotten another positive test, but I was concerned because the line was getting lighter, and me being the freak of nature that I am in the reproductive department was concerned about an ectopic pregnancy. The last time I had an ectopic my tube tore when my beta numbers were under 50 - nearly unheard of - but that's me - if there is a tiny chance something can happen. . .it will.

So, the normal PA was back on Monday and saw the exchange going on between me and the new PA and called me immediately. She asked if I wanted to come in for a scan and a beta - UM YES! Of course I do! I'm incredibly concerned about an ectopic pregnancy, and would prefer to be checked out just to make sure I'm okay.

So Brianna and I make the trek over to CB to have the PA scan me and do a beta. They did the beta first, then I waited FOREVER for the scan. And what did they see on said scan? Well, two different PA's were doing the scanning and there were two possible sacs in two different areas. The first contender measured in at 5 weeks 0 days and the second contender measured in at 5 weeks 2 days. Now I am in shock and they are starting to get excited. . . I start to get excited too (I apparently had forgotten that my HPT's were no longer positive). They immediately write me scripts for Neevo, Folbee, and Prometrium. Wait a second. NOW they write me scripts??? Oh that's right! I wasn't taking a the prenatal that I needed because my OB REFUSED TO GIVE IT TO ME. . .AFTER he told me that this exact scenario was totally possible and "happens all the time". Uh huh.

Well. . . .my beta came back negative at less than 1(yes I expected a low or even negative number since the tests were getting lighter and were actually negative by the time I was seen) so now the OB's office is telling me that my pregnancy tests gave me false positives, and that the "sac(s)" previously seen on ultrasound were actually blood pockets.

Excuse me? From what? I had TWO D&C's after the girls because there was still crap in my uterus and I wouldn't stop bleeding. My OB did the last D&C ultrasound guided to make sure he got everything out of my uterus. And he has pictures to show that there was NOTHING left over. NO blood, NO sacs, NO anything. Now I am being told that my pregnancy tests were obviously wrong, and the ultrasound findings were blood? Really? I smell something fishy. Maybe someone trying to cover his a$$ since I specifically requested the prenatal I needed to sustain a pregnancy and he REFUSED to give it to me? UGH! I don't know. I'm irritated and I just find it hard to beleive that multiple preganancy tests from multiple lots were somehow "contaminiated" and are handing out false positives. The first test I took was well over a year old from when I was first pregnant with the girls. The test from Saturday was from a different lot that I just bought from Target on Friday afternoon. Yeah, not the same test, and a false positive is beyond not likely.

At this point I'm not bleeding. . .not yet anyway. Which makes sense, since supposedly I was never pregnant. I can tell you - this was my FOURTH pregnancy. I know what it feels like to be pregnant. I also know what it feels like and what it looks like on pregnancy tests when you miscarry.

Sigh. . . cue miscarriage #3. . .

In theory, because I am breastfeeding, my progesterone level should be high enough to keep me from actually miscarrying on my own. Awesome. And since the OB's office is saying now that I was never actually pregnant, they aren't going to do a D&C or anything to clean out my utuerus. UGH.

I thought twice about posting this to my blog because so many freinds and family read this blog and I didn't really want to go public about getting a positive HPT. BUT, when I googled breastfeeding and pregnancy tests and false positive tests there wasn't jack out there for me to read and to compare my story to. Apparently this just doesn't happen. So I felt that I should share my story so others would have something to compare their situation to, should it ever happen again. And if it does, and if you are one of those readers - drop me a line and let me know - I'd love to hear your story.

Now on to how I feel about this whole ordeal. First I was terrified when I saw that BFP on Friday morning. What would Si think? Could we handle it? Emotionally? Finanacially? I mean, how on earth would we be able to properly care for 1 year old mobile twin girlies and a newborn and give everyone the attention they need??? Would our nanny still be able to watch everyone? Would I have enough time leftover to take off work for maternity leave (again)? What if the baby wasn't okay - I mean - I was off of my necessary prenatal for nearly a month?

Then I got excited when I saw Si's eyes light up Friday morning when he exclaimed "maybe it's a boy!". I thought, maybe! How cool would that be!

That turned to a little bit of sadness and relief (I'm being honest here) when the HPT's got lighter. I mean, I didn't want to have to explain to everyone (and you KNOW someone would say something) about how we magically got pregnant on our own when the girls were 4 months old after having to do fertility treatments to get the girls here to start with. I can hear it now - "see, if you would have just relaxed. . ." or "see, you weren't patient enough. . ." you would have gotten pregnant on your own. Grrr...I can feel my blood boiling and no one has even said that yet!

Now, over the last couple of days I have become very sad about the loss of our baby. . .at night when the girlies are asleep and I lay in bed I think about the baby still inside of me that didn't get a chance to develop into their full potential. And I wonder - which way was harder - was it harder for me to m/c when we were desperately trying to get pregnant? During that time finally seeing those two pink lines was such a relief - the excitement was absolutely overwhelming - and such a scare at the same time as I was so terrified that I would lose the pregnancy.

Or is it harder now, now that I know what potential that baby really has? I've been holding my girlies just a little closer the last couple of days. . .that's what these baby (ies) could have become. . .so sad that they didn't get that chance. . .

4 month stats!

2011-02-24T13:17:00.000-06:00

I'm a bad bloggy mommy! I told you guys I would update with the girls stats from their 4 month checkup, then I didn't. Sorry! There were other things on my mind (that's for a different post, maybe later tonight).

Anywho. . .the girls are doing "AWESOME" in the words of the pediatrician. They are gaining weight well, meeting developmental milestones, and are sleeping through the night like champs (most days anyway). She couldn't be happier with them!

We were given our second round of shots (BOO), and we screamed like champs. Needless to say we are glad that's done with. Olivia ended up with this big welt on her leg after one of the shots, and I felt horrible for her since it was painful to touch and was red and raised, but the pediatrician wasn't worried about it and it went away after a couple days. No long term scars =).

We were also given the okay to start solid foods at this visit. The pediatrician wants us to start with vegetables first, then fruits, then meats, then cereal. Apparently there is a new study that shows that kids that were started on vegetables and fruits first, instead of cereals (starch), are more likely to choose to eat veggies and fruits over starches as they get a bit older. I would have to say that what the parents offer the kids plays a bigger role in what they actually eat, but hey, who am I to say?

On to my next question for you guys - Am I a horrible mother for not wanting to start solids yet? I just don't want to. I don't think they are ready (or maybe mommy isn't ready?). I think they are doing just peachy on breastmilk, and I'm not in any hurry to give up breastfeeding them. I know, I know, feeding them solids won't make them stop breastfeeding right away, but still, it's a small step to the rest of their lives. . .and they are already growing up entirely too quickly! Hmm. . .perhaps me being greedy? Perhaps. . .but that's my right as their mommy, right?

So with that - here are the girls stats for 4 months =)
Miss Olivia - aka Baby A - 15 lbs 3 oz - 85th %ile for weight, 35th %ile for height
Miss Brianna - aka Baby B - 16 lbs 5 oz - 93rd %ile for weight, 53rd %ile for height (she is 1/2 inch taller than Liv)

As you can tell, these are not small babies. But they sure are cute!!

Have a great day everyone!
Megan

4 months old. . .remember when?

2011-02-14T20:33:00.000-06:00

The girlies turned 4 months old yesterday. It's amazing to see how far they have come in just 4 short months. It seems like yesterday they were born and were such tiny little princesses. They are still princesses of course (they are my babies after all - lol), but they are much larger (well over double their birth weight) size 2 diaper and 3-6 month clothes wearing princesses =).

It seems like just yesterday this was me. . . .

And I have to admit, I really miss it. I don't miss not having the girls around, but I absolutely miss feeling them kick inside me, being so excited to meet them and hold them and tell them how much they were loved or how happy we were that they were finally here with us. I didn't have a difficult pregnancy (except in the beginning we had a scare or two, and at the very end with pre-term labor and pre-eclampsia). The time being pregnant was awesome, and I would go back there and do it all over again in a second =). My husband, yeah not so thrilled about that idea, but I think that's probably because after about month 7 I was pretty worthless and couldn't even pick up stuff off the floor. Needless to say he was ~~happy~~ ecstatic when the girls finally came and I could start to resume semi-regular activities. . .

The girls were so little back then. . .

Then it seems that I blinked, and now look at these adorable little peanuts!! No head support needed, wanting to sit up on their own, awake nearly as much as they are asleep, smiling like crazy, cooing, babbling, laughing, teething, sleeping through the night (95% of the time), drooling everywhere, grabbing and playing with things and with each other. . . ahhh, I wouldn't have it any other way. . . everyone should get the chance to experience this. . .
Girls hanging out in the boppy. . .they are starting to look more alike each day. . .dang it! They were so easy to tell apart previously!!

Bri in Jeannie's arms and Liv in the Bumbo chair on the counter (I know, I know, you aren't supposed to put the bumbo's on the counter, but seriously I was right there) =)

Here we are in our little casual dresses. . .yeah, that's the last time you will see Bri in those tights. . . she had a blowout and I couldn't get it out of the tights - LOL.

Here we are in our Valentine's outfits! We don't want to smile, but we are still kind of cute anyway!

And of course a picture of each of the girls alone. . .
This is Bri =)

And this is Liv =)

Happy Valentine's Day, and happy 4 month birthday girls. We love you so much more than words can say.

Hope you had a wonderful day!!
Megan

PS - we have our 4 month check up and shots on Wednesday so I will make sure to update our stats when we're done!

We finally took the plunge. . .

2011-02-09T18:42:00.000-06:00

And joined our local multiples club - Omaha Parents of Multiples Club (OPMC).

Last night we drove to the church that the meeting was held at and as soon as we got to the parking lot we knew we were in the right spot. Not a car in sight. And I mean "car" literally. I wish I would have taken a picture of the parking lot. Nothing but a sea of minivans and large SUV's. And of course that makes perfect sense - every person at the meeting had a minimum of 2 kids that were in car seats at the same time - of course they needed bigger vehicles! And speaking of vehicles, we MAY have found our new vehicle, a 2009 Buick Enclave =). If we actually buy it I will give you all a run down of all the cool features and post some pictures. Think the inside and features of a minivan, but on an SUV frame that has 4 wheel drive. SWEET!

Anyway. . .back to the multiples club meeting. . .

So we parked the Escape went inside. ~~Twins and triplets~~ Kids EVERYWHERE! Apparently they had babysitting for the meeting (which is very cool), so you could bring your kiddos if you were so inclined. Interesting.

Then the meeting started - business first - followed by BUNCO - which was a ton of fun if you've never played it. It really mixed up the people at the meeting and made you mingle with people you probably wouldn't have otherwise. Si was the lone male in a sea of female multiple mommas. They were so impressed that he came, but they all admitted that their husbands came to their first meeting with them too. Now they just stay home with the kiddos. LOL. Si is versatile though. He had a great time and thinks that he would like to go along next month too (if I want him to of course). Cool with me! All of the other multiple mommas can be jealous of my super cool committed husband =).

Overall, the meeting wasn't what I expected. Many of the multiples moms had kids that were 5-7 years old, so I was kind of bummed. I was hoping to network with more multiple mommas that were our age, or at least had kids about the same age as the girls. There were only about 20 people in attendance last night though (out of 300 families that belong to the multiples club), so I don't know that the mommas in attendance last night were actually a representative sample of the club. I did meet one very cool multiple momma last night - her name is Kristen and she is the proud momma to 6 month old B/B/G trips. We are going to get together once the weather gets a bit nicer here in Omaha so our girls can play with her kiddos. It should be fun! 2 mommas and 5 infants. . .can you imagine the looks we will get? =)

Overall I'm really glad we joined! I suspect we will find some really great friends through the multiples club, and hopefully the girls will be able to find some great friends too =). (Although no one will beat the Sheila/Megan and Adam/Hollibaugh honey friendships!)

(I just couldn't post without sticking a picture of the girls on here too) =)

Until next time. . .
Megan

Mommy and Me Monday

2011-02-07T21:36:00.000-06:00

We are getting SO big! Talking (or cooing) all the time, and we have even started laughing out loud! So sweet! We have started grasping objects and are trying to help mom and dad hold our bottles while we eat. Still no desire to roll over though, even with coaxing. We go back to the pediatrician next Wednesday for our 4 month check up and shots. I can't wait to see what they weigh! They feel so heavy to me!

Have a great night!

Megan

Traveling (flying) with a baby? Insight needed!

2011-02-06T10:55:00.000-06:00

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone!! We are having a Super Bowl party tonight with lots of food and people, and I'm excited to see everyone=). But that's not the reason for this post. I have a question, and I need your input.

I have a work conference in Orlando next month. Due to flight schedules from Omaha I have to be gone from Thursday until Saturday night (even though the conference is only from noon-5PM on Friday and 8 AM-noon on Saturday). Si and I discussed getting a plane ticket for him and flying everyone (us and the girls) down to Orlando for a mini-vacation of sorts. But the flights are EXPENSIVE, and the babies are really too young to enjoy/remember/know the difference between being at home vs. being in Orlando (at Disney World), which essentially turns this into a question of what is easiest for us.

For those of you that have been following my journey, you know that I breastfeed my girls (or pump and feed them the breast milk). Of course this is a major concern if I have to be out of town and away from the babies for any significant period of time, but overall my concern with being gone without my babies for 3 days is multifaceted.

First, leaving the girls at home. It can be done, but Si dealing with two teething 4 month olds BY HIMSELF for several nights is not going to pan out well (the nanny would be around during the day on the weekdays so it would only be evenings, overnights, and the weekend). I mean sure he can do it, but he will be SO frazzled by the time I would get home. And in all honesty, I wouldn't choose to do it on my own unless I absolutely had to, so I'm thinking that he probably isn't going to have a great time with it. Not to mention that I will be forced to pump for every single feeding (every 3 hours during the day and at least once at night) and won't have ANY exposure to my girlies at all. I bet my milk output goes way down. Boo.

And pumping while traveling??? How the heck am I supposed to do that??? My flight down is over the course of 7 HOURS. No way can I go that long without pumping. So what are my options? Pump in my seat on the plane? Um, not really an option (the pump is loud enough to be obvious and easily detected by the person next to me, besides the fact that I don't really want to bear my breasts for the world to see). Pump in the bathroom on the plane? What, for 30 minutes while none of the other passengers can go to the bathroom (the flights out of Omaha are almost always small planes with only one bathroom)? Yeah, not so much of an option either. On my 50 minute layover between flights? That would be an option, except I have to change planes (and terminals), and the planes start to board 30 minutes before take off. There is no way that I can de-board the plane I am on, change terminals, find a bathroom to pump in and pump for 30 minutes, and still catch my connecting flight. Not going to happen. Sigh.

I woke up this morning at 4 AM (as usual) to pump (the girls are sleeping through the night now, so I have to get up and pump since no one is awake to feed - and it's my biggest pump of the day so I can't skip it!). Anyway, so I woke up this morning VERY upset. I had come to the realization that when I woke up at 4 AM in Orlando (for several days) that there wouldn't be any girls for me to look at or listen to breathe, or hear the tick tock of Brianna's swing as it swings back and forth all night. All I would have in Orlando would be silence. I literally cried while I was pumping this morning, and it took me a good hour after I was done to get back to sleep.

Then it came to me. Why not bring one baby with me to Orlando?! This would solve my breastfeeding problem on the way there (and back), would lessen the load on Si (he could easily take care of one baby - one baby would be a breeze after taking care of two all the time!), and I would still get to be close to one of my babies. Would it be ideal? No. Would it be doable? I think so!

I was so relieved when I came to this realization. However, I've never traveled with a baby before, so I have no idea how big of a pain in the neck it would really be (in fact, all I could think was that traveling with one had to be easier than traveling with two - which was our original plan).

There are only a couple of hours each day that I would be in meetings, so I was thinking that maybe I could see if the hotel had a nanny/babysitter that they could recommend, and worst case scenario there are other work people there with me who maybe would potentially volunteer to watch Bri for 45 minutes or an hour at a time during the conference. . . we could just rotate! I would have to excuse myself from the meeting at some point to go and pump anyway. . .it's just a thought. . .

So what do you think? What would you do? Would you leave the babies at home with Si? Would you take one and leave one? Would you just pay the money to fly Si down there too (with Olivia too of course!)?

How hard is it to fly with a baby? How hard is it to pump and try and bring gallons of breast milk back through security? (okay, so gallons might be an exaggeration, but it probably would be a gallon and a half. . .). Anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to bring Bri with me if possible, and I don't really care that it's extra work. I bring the girls out on my own all the time, and while it is extra work, I refuse to not at like a normal human being doing normal things simply because I have twins. I don't think traveling would be that much different. . .but maybe I'm wrong. Your insight is appreciated!

Besides, how can I go for 3 days without seeing these beautiful little ladies smiling back at me???? =)

Megan

Teething sucks. . . and other thoughts =)

2011-02-01T22:25:00.000-06:00

LOL. It's just the beginning of teething for the girlies, but they already hate it, and so does mommy! Their little gums hurt and they just scream and drool and poop and scream and chew and drool and scream some more. I feel so bad for them! We give them Tylenol to try to help with the pain and we hold and rock them like crazy, but it doesn't always work. Bummer. So far their sleep schedule hasn't suffered too much. Maybe going to bed a bit later or getting up a bit earlier, but all in all not bad. We consider ourselves lucky. Then again, we know the worst is still yet to come.

In other news, we LOVE our nanny.

Best decision we made. If you can afford it, go for a nanny over daycare. The nanny comes to your home so you don't have to take your kiddos out, and she can even help with the baby laundry and dishes. LIFESAVER. And the girls absolutely love her. It makes me kind of jealous to be honest. . .they get so excited to see her, which is great! But I don't think they get that excited to see me!

In girls news, the girlies still haven't rolled over. They just have no desire. They just lay on their tummies during tummy time and scream. Because obviously we don't have enough screaming going on in our household already and need more! HA! Of course they thrash around on the blanket and kick their legs and move their heads around, but that's it. That's the extent of their effort. Slackers =). Oh, and they are refusing to smile for the camera anymore. I think they think that the camera is stealing their little souls or something. I get out the camera and they immediately stop talking and smiling and just stare and glare. I hope it's just a phase!

We went and test drove cars on Sunday. Okay, we're not getting a minivan. I didn't like how they drove (They were so slow to accelerate - I felt like I was driving my 4 cylinder Cutlass Sierra from HS!) and I didn't like how I felt behind the wheel. I felt like a soccer mom. And while I may be a soccer mom in 10 years, I'm not now. I don't know, maybe the Highlander commercials have brainwashed me, but I would really prefer an SUV with all of the amenities of a minivan (which ironically the Highlander doesn't have - in my opinion). Of course the only problem with getting this "perfect" SUV is that this is WAY more expensive than a minivan would be. We found a vehicle that is perfect for our needs - a GMC Acadia - SLT2 package. It has 4 wheel drive, captains chair's in the second row and a 3rd row bench seat, a whole host of amenities including the rear hatch release (just like the minivans), DVD player/entertainment system, leather seats, sunroof, auxillary jacks, navigation system, back up camera and sensors, heated seats, the list goes on and on. The coolest feature was that when I was driving it the speed is actually projected up on the windshield. When the turn signal was on, that also projected onto the windshield, as did the volume for the radio. Craziness. To the tune of $30K for a 2008 craziness. Yikes. A Mercedes SUV from the same year is only a couple thousand more. Yikes again. If you look really hard you can find a 2009 for $30K, but they are usually several states away (I know, because Si has made it his mission to find one of these cars in our price range, regardless of it's location). If you drove it though, I think you'd love it as much as I do. I never should have driven it! Now I can't stop thinking about how awesome it would be to have one. . . . higher car payment here I come. . .boo. . .

Oh, AND the TV went out today - talk about MAJOR DRAMA. 5 days before the 9th annual Super Bowl Shindig AND in the middle of a blizzard. Luckily it was only the bulb (it's a DLP rear projection TV). We had just replaced the $200 bulb in July, so we were irritated that we needed to replace it again, but at least we didn't have to replace the whole TV. And the picture is so nice and bright again! =). Crisis averted!

Okay, that's all for now! I wish we could get a break from the snow, but it is Nebraska in the winter, so its to be expected!! Here are the girls sporting their snowflake outfits fron great grandma while it's snowing like crazy outside! Note that they are sitting up. . .they love to sit up now and hate to lay. They are growing up. Sigh. Have a great night!

Megan

Anyone need some Follistim?

2011-01-30T11:49:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone -

I know that some of my followers have already been blessed with beautiful babies, but several of you have not experienced that joy just yet. For my fellow infertiles who are still actively trying - do any of you need some Follistim for your IVF or injectible IUI cycles?

I have 4 (four) - 900 IU unopened boxes of Follistim sitting in my refridgerator. They expire in June 2011. I saved them in the event that something happened during our pregnancy or in the event that we would need to do another IVF (typical infertile, right?).

Anyway, as our girlies are now 3.5 months old and we have 14 frosties safely tucked in our RE's freezer, I am 99.9% sure that I would have no use for these meds before they would expire. Would you? As there are 4 boxes, they could easily be split up between multiple people if there are multiple people that could use them. I'm not asking for any money for the meds, just your 100% honesty that you really do need it for your personal use and don't intend to sell it. If you aren't in town I am happy to ship it, so don't let that deter you (although I would accept the cost to ship since it will have to be overnighted to keep the meds cold enough and that can get pricey depending on where it's getting shipped to).

And just FYI - this is/was my "lucky batch" of Follistim. All 3 of my pregnancies occurred while I was taking this lot of Follistim =). It took the 3rd time to be the charm and have a successful "full term" pregnancy, but hey, I was thrilled to get pregnant PERIOD, and the Follistim got me there. I hope it can help one or some of you out there in bloggy land. And if nobody needs it, no worries. I can donate it to my RE clinic. I just donated a ton of meds last year after our BFP so I'd like to spread the wealth a little bit and help some other ladies out.
Just let me know!

**Update** all 4 of my 900 IU cartridges have now been sent to new homes =). To my knowledge Ms. O still has a 300 IU cartridge of Follisitm up for grabs, as well as some Menopur, and I have a friend (KC) that still has a 450 cartridge of Gonal F. Same deal with them - no charge for the meds, you just pay the shipping. Thanks ladies!

Megan

For those of you impatiently waiting for updated pictures of the girls, don't you fret. . .it's on my agenda for hopefully later today after we go SUV/Minivan shopping =).

The importance of being your own advocate

2011-01-21T09:58:00.000-06:00

I am mad at myself today. I became really good at being my own advocate during our struggles with infertility and I ~~pushed~~ urged others to do the same. So why is it that after I have had a successful pregnancy I seem to have lost the tenacity to stand up for what I believe to be the right choice/decision/treatment for me?

I have no idea.

Here's what happened (with a bit of a backstory so you fully understand).

I was diagnosed with compound heterozygous MTHFR gene mutation in December of 2009 after my second miscarriage. My RE had flat out refused to run any testing on me prior to my next IVF ~~even though we had already paid her well over $10K for failed fertility procedures in our quest to conceive~~, so I requested that my OB run the recurrent miscarriage/habitual aborter blood testing. He agreed. What came back was that I was compound heterozygous for the MTHFR gene mutation - having one copy of the C677T and one copy of the A1298C genes. To oversimplify a bit, MTHFR is as clotting disorder that also inhibits your body from being able to properly metabolize folic acid. This is a huge deal during pregnancy (obviously), but it is also something you need to be mindful of for the rest of your life as it increases your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, blood clots, and a whole host of other problems.

Anyway, I was taking a prenatal vitamin called Neevo while I was pregnant that contained a metabolized form of folic acid that was readily available to be used by my body. I felt great while taking it. I was also taking baby aspirin - one a day - during my pregnancy. I still had some Neevo at home and I had continued to take it along with my baby aspirin after my girls were born. I ran out of Neevo two weeks ago. I quickly became ~~exhausted~~ lethargic. I thought maybe it was because I had twin babies at home and I was now working. But I hadn't felt this way before, work wasn't high stress or physically demanding, and the girls were sleeping more now than ever. I thought maybe it was because I wasn't exercising enough. But when I would ~~exercise~~ do something as simple as climb stairs at work I would get so tired, and so almost lightheaded that I would have to stop after 5 or 6 flights.

Then I thought about what had changed. I had run out of prenatals and had switched to a different brand that didn't have them metabolized form of folic acid that the Neevo did. So I requested more Neevo from the pharmacy. The pharmacy contacted my OB's office, who DENIED the request. Really? Denied? It's a prenatal vitamin, not a controlled substance for Pete's sake! No worries I thought. I had seen my OB multiple times since the girls had been born because my body just wouldn't stop bleeding after my C-section. I ended up having not 1, but 2 D&C's post partum, the last one being on New Year's Eve day and being ultrasound guided to make sure that my OB "got it" - a necrotized piece of something (not placenta, and not cancerous) that had literally grown into the wall of my uterus and was refusing to come out with "simple scraping". I had my post D&C follow up visit (from D&C #2) with my OB yesterday. I figured I would talk to him about the Neevo, it would be no big deal, he would refill it, and I would go on my happy way.

This is what happened instead:

Me: "What should I be doing in terms of supplementation of folic acid or taking prenatals now that I'm not pregnant?"

OB: "Nothing. There is no need for you to supplement anything."

Um, okay. That wasn't in my plan. So I reminded my OB that I was compound heterozygous for MTHFR and I asked him what I should be doing in terms of supplementation of folic acid and the other B vitamins as my body still can't metabolize folic acid, so I know I still need to do something.

Me: "But I have the MTHFR gene mutation - I thought I needed extra folic acid at the very least - regardless of if I am pregnant or not".

OB: "No, there is no reason for you to take any folic acid at this point".

Me: "Really? I thought I had to always be on folic acid, and I really liked the Neevo that I was on while I was pregnant. Could I get more of that?"

OB: "No, there is no need for you to be on that"

Okay, so lets add another layer to this story. Si and I have made the decision not to prevent future pregnancies at this time (mostly because I am breastfeeding and I don't want the hormones to mess with my milk supply), so there is a very very slight possibility that I COULD get pregnant on my own. You know, the way a one tubed, stage IV endometriosis, infertility and recurrent loss patient could. . .I think my quoted chances of getting pregnant on my own - less than 2%. Yeah, I'm really not concerned. And if it did happen, we would definitely consider it a miracle and a sign from God that we were obviously supposed to have another child. But that's not the point.

I figured at this point he would say oh yeah, since there is a possibility you could get pregnant you should stay on a prenatal. Instead, this is how the conversation went. . .

Me: "You know, we aren't going on any sort of birth control, so I suppose there is a very slight possibility that I could get pregnant. . ."

OB: "Oh it could definitely happen. I've seen it happen many times before"

Me: Blank stare. . .

OB: "After you get pregnant next time we will start you on a prenatal again. There's just no need for you to be on one, or anything else, right now."

Me: Blank stare. . .

OB: "You do need to make sure you are taking your baby aspirin every day though. And any time you fly you need to take an entire aspirin to try to prevent clots."

Me: "Okay, I get that. I've been so tired though lately, and I suspect it's because I no longer am taking my prenatal"

OB: "You are probably tired because you have twin babies at home and have had 3 surgeries in 12 weeks. You should be tired."

Me: Again - blank stare. . .

I mean, what do you say to that? I have never had 3 surgeries in 12 weeks before, so I guess I don't know how tired I should be after that. But don't you suppose that if this was just a "normal" tired for me that I wouldn't bring it up? I mean of course I'm tired! I have twin babies that keep me running 24-7! But I'm used to that. And it's ~~WAY~~ better than it used to be. But I'm more tired now than ever. And I did try supplementing iron again (on top of the OTC prenatal) in case I was anemic. . .no change. =(.

Okay, so let me review ~~and tie this all up in a pretty little bow for everyone, except my OB~~. My body CAN NOT fully metabolize folic acid. Folic acid is 100% absolutely necessary AT THE TIME OF CONCEPTION. As I am not on birth control right now, conception could potentially (although definitely not likely) happen ANY TIME. If my body can't fully metabolize the folic acid that I am taking in from food, and I am not supplementing, there is no way that there is going to be enough folic acid readily available in my system to prevent neural tube defects in a baby if I did get pregnant (in which case I would probably ultimately end up miscarrying). The ~~very simple~~ solution? A prenatal! Preferably one that has the metabolized form of folic acid I need. Is anyone having difficulty following me, or is it just my OB???

Besides, isn't it standard procedure now to put women of child bearing age on a a prenantal REGARDLESS of whether or not they are trying to have children, just "in case" they do get pregnant??? It thought that was the new standard reccomendation. I know I was on a prenatal the entire time we were TTC/not preventing. . .so for 6 years before I was actually pregnant. And he had no problem writing the script then.

I am so confused. And now I have to figure out what my next step is. I was taking the metabolized form of folic acid, which is what I need to make the folic acid readily available to my cells. And of course, it isn't available without a prescription. Sigh. Now what? My PCP maybe? I am so mad at myself for not pushing this more with my OB yesterday. I really do love my OB, and I ~~normally~~ trust him fully. Which is why this is such a shock to me. Now I don't have another appointment with him for 3 months when I go in for my "annual exam". . . .

I know that many of you aren't in the same shoes, and may have no idea what MTHFR is, but do you have any thoughts on what you would do in this situation? I guess I just don't understand what the big deal is to give me the prenatal, so I'm lost at what to do next, or who should be next on my contact list. I'm most definitely not going to do nothing. . .

Ugh! TGIF!
Megan

They did it!!!!

2011-01-17T16:06:00.003-06:00

Both girls slept through the night last night!! This means that they went from about 9:30 PM to 7 AM without waking up - not to eat, not to be changed, not to play - AHHHH - it was heaven!!! I still had to get up at 4 AM to pump of course, but I did a super quick 10 minute pumping session and then went back to sleep. Sleep. I had almost forgotten what real REM sleep was! It was FABULOUS!

And today, well, today has been wonderful. It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and being a federal employee means I have today off. YAY! And when I have the day off I have so much fun with the girlies. The girlies have been so happy today that I have spent a decent part of the day trying to catch their smiles on the camera. It's a work in progress. BUT, I snapped this gem this morning. . .this is Miss Olivia. . .LOVE IT!

I attempted the same picture with Brianna, but she wasn't nearly as cooperative. Maybe a different day!

Grandpa (aka Papa Ken) stopped by for a bit to see the girlies and his twin babysitting skills amaze me! Here he is entertaining both girls =)

And a picture of the girlies together=)

So what are you enjoying about today? I find that I love the girlies more and more each day, and enjoy every single second I get to spend with them (even the fussy ones!). Have a great rest of your evening!

Megan

Late addition - per popular demand - here is a picture of Brianna hanging out in her blanket. Not quite as cute as Olivia's, but it was requested that I post it anyway =).

Have a great night =)

3 months old, and my first full week back at work

2011-01-16T17:20:00.000-06:00

The girls turned 3 months old this week. They are getting SO big and are changing every single day. They haven't mastered any new skills this week, but they are sure working on it! New this week - Brianna has started trying to roll over, has been very very vocal with her coos, and seems to be working hard on finding her voice range. It's quite comical. Olivia has started mimicking what other people are doing, follows you everywhere with her eyes, and is perfecting the art of sleep (dad is SO proud). Both girls have also discovered their hands this week and are quite content trying to stuff as many fingers as possible into their mouth at a time. Crazy kids! They are finally out of size 1 diapers and are on their way out of 0-3 month outfits (I thought that would happen weeks ago, but I think they had just come off a growth spurt when I made that prediction).

This was my first full week back at work, and on Wednesday I thought everything was going perfectly and that this was going to be easier than I thought (HA). Um no. See, I was busy at work on Monday and Tuesday. Like I barely had time to remember to pump busy. I had Wednesday off (I work 4 - 10 hour days). So when I went in on Thursday I figured it would be crazy busy too, but it wasn't. I mean I had stuff to do, but I wasn't busy. Same thing on Friday. Add onto the fact that Brianna decided that her current sleep schedule was crap and should be thrown out the window on Wednesday and Thursday night, and I was TIRED. 10 hour days are hard enough. They are even harder when you get less than 4 hours of sleep a night. Sigh. I was seriously dragging by Friday evening. I'm hoping next week is better. On the bright side, the nanny seems to have done very well with the girls - YAY! Brianna was fussy all day Thursday and I think it wore on her a bit, but she still came to work on Friday, so apparently it wasn't too bad =). And she is helping with dishes and laundry when she isn't super busy with the girls and it is awesome to have that extra little bit of help around the house. For us, a nanny really was the right choice. It's only part time, and it is expensive, but it's worth it!

What else is going on? Well, Sheila and Andy and baby Adam came over to visit yesterday. We left the guys at home with the babies and Sheila and I went to Cheesecake factory for some non-mommy time! It was much needed. Of course we ended up sitting there talking about the babies the whole time, but still, it was nice to actually be able to eat food while it was still hot and talk to an actual other living breathing adult =). We must do it again very soon. We snapped a picture of all three of the babies together before they left to go back home yesterday - they are so cute together - now if only we could get them to smile! It's a work in progress=).

Sheila and I have also decided that we are going to make our own baby food. We are organic food eaters anyway (at the very least with produce), and organic baby food is SO expensive, so we are going to give making it ourselves a shot - at least with fruits and veggies =). Hopefully it will be cheaper and more fun for us to make it anyway. We gave canning a shot a couple of years ago and had a great time so I hope this effort is equally as fruitful (ha - no pun intended!). I think we have decided that we are going to use the special ice cube trays with lids to freeze the baby food. Do any of you have any experience with this or any other aspect of baby food making? Any tips or cautions for us? I'm kind of wondering how much we should be making at a time. . .hmmm. . .

And of course I won't leave you without pictures of the girlies from the last week!
I personally think there's nothing cuter than a sleeping baby. . .here's a picture of Brianna asleep in my arms =)

Do you ever wonder what the babies are thinking when you take a picture? Try interpreting this look! LOL! Olivia cracks me up!

And last but not least, here's a picture of Si, asleep, after watching the Bears/Seahawk game holding the girlies who are obviously very much awake =)

Okay, that's all for now. Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!!

Megan