Valentines Babies, 2013!

[DragonflyWing]

That's so neat, Kellen! I wish I had taught the twins some baby signs, it sounds like such a fantastic way for them to communicate. It would probably help Lily be less frustrated...right now, she wants to say everything, but doesn't have the pronunciation yet. So for example, ball, bath, bottle, beans, and bye, all sound like "bah" and she gets SO mad when we don't immediately know what she's saying.

I'm sorry that your husband didn't get that job I hope you find something even better!

wamommy, I wouldn't worry about Max not walking yet, I think it's perfectly normal to start anywhere up to 15 months. Lily is not walking yet, either. She cruises just fine, but she absolutely will not take a step on her own. If she accidentally lets go with both hands, she panics and sits down immediately. I don't mind at all, because one walking baby is enough at the moment! Gunnar is walking everywhere, and has started trying to run. We've had a couple of bloody lips and bitten tongues because he gets too much momentum and faceplants.

Both kids have also been super attached to DH lately. Sometimes, if he's in the room they don't want anything to do with me. That means poor DH often has one baby in his arms and the other clinging to his pant leg!

I think the pregnancy symptoms are kicking in- I had to get up 4 times to pee last night!

 

[helena]

Ooh wow dragon, congrats!!! How exciting!! Glad DH is happy too.
Two years ish is a great age gap (I say so since there was 2yr1 month gap between my boys!). I bet second time around, with just one newborn it will seem like a breeze and the twins will be doing so much for themselves by the time baby no3 is here.
Exciting times

Oh...unless it's more twins!? Scarey...but oh, Imagine how awesome family photos would be!

A friend of mine had a baby boy last week, Eric Arthur.

 

[helena]

Updates for Kiara: 75cm, 22 pounds. Apparently average height slightly over average weight.
She has a few words - dada, tractor and cheese. No mummy....
We have many bumps as she is trying to run. Yesterday was so cute - she kept running off with her brothers favourite soft toy, and was giggling hysterically each time he pretended to be angry and came after her to get it. I love how they play now.

Spaghetti bolognaise is still her favourite food. But cheese is pretty high up there too. In fact she just loves eating. Tonight she ate her dinner (a plain beef burger cut into strips, bread, cucumber, tomato) then had fruit for desert and then once her brothers had got down to play she pointed and had a go at their leftover burger too. I love that. She isn't much fussed with milk, it's all about food. And she adores water at dinner time, straight out of a glass.

She has 10 teeth and two on their way. She sleeps 7-6 at night. Currently sleeping through...yay!

She is very smiley, but shy too. If strangers smile at her if we are out she will usually try and turn and hide in my neck. I like that, so sweet.
She is also a bit crazy, she was giggling to herself in the car today, patting herself on her face, giggling.
She has just discovered throwing and making fake "ooh" noises as if to say "oh dear, HOW did that happen!?". She is very playful now, I like that. She makes me laugh.

I think she should get a gold star
If only my boys weren't bickering day and night I would be a happy mummy....

 

[DragonflyWing]

Thanks, helena! Oh my gosh, if I had twins again I'd probably pass out! I'm fairly certain it's just one baby this time...partly intuition, but my tests are much lighter this time than with the twins, so it seems like the hcg level points to just one bean. With the twins, the test line on a FRER was darker than the control line at 12dpo. This time it was still quite a bit lighter. I think I'm 14dpo today, and the CB digitals are still saying 1-2 weeks.

I'm actually really looking forward to seeing/feeling all the differences between a twin pregnancy and a singleton! So far I'm feeling great.


I love hearing all about Kiara's progress! She definitely gets a gold star!

The twins love cheese, too. In fact, they have cheddar or mozzarella cheese cubes with almost every meal. Lately, they've also been loving beans and raisins. They don't much like to be fed with a spoon anymore, so they're all about the finger foods. Yesterday's dinner was beans, cheese, banana, peas, and raisins. I'm still trying to get them to drink out of a sippy cup and/or a straw, but for now they also like to drink straight out of a glass (with help).

They have 8 teeth each, and they're both chewing on their fingers a lot...I think their first molars might be on their way.

Lily has more words than Gunnar...I think she has about 20 words, and he has about 10. Their pronunciation is a work in progress, so a lot of the words sound similar. Gunnar likes to sing, and he often sings a tune along with DH when they're reading books together (it's so dang cute!). They both are suddenly obsessed with peek-a-boo, and are constantly slapping their hands over their eyes and peeking through their fingers to get us to play. Lily figured out how to pretend, and she feeds us pretend food, and hands us pretend trash off the floor. Sometimes we find out that it's not so pretend and she has just eaten something off the floor! She also pretend sneezes and giggles hysterically when she thinks she's fooled you.

Gunnar is even more accident-prone than before now that he can walk/run. Multiple times a day there is a stupendous crash followed by tears. We've gotten so used to it that it's just like "Are you bleeding? Is anything broken? No? Ok, you're fine." A few times he WAS bleeding, which was scary. Once he bit his tongue, and twice he cut his lip. I'm so afraid he's going to knock a tooth out! Most of the time he's ready to play again within a minute, he's not phased at all. On the other hand, if Lily sits down too hard she screams like she's being murdered. The other day, I came running into the bedroom because she was screaming like she was seriously hurt. I was expecting the worse when I came flying in, but she was just mad because her leg was stuck between the crib bars. Funny how different twins can be!

 

[helena]

It Is funny how different they all are! They sound lovely. Especially Lilly's giggles. Can you imagine life without them now?? Seems a long time ago I bet!
And it goes to show that babies tend to do one thing at a time - language or physical development. My children have always been the same, really good physically but not talking until a bit after others. I don't think my first said mum until he was nearly two!..
Kiara also isn't keen on eating off a spoon, although she is trying to grab the spoon and do it herself...so so so messy...by the time she has scooped some yogurt and then waves it over her head and then got it to her mouth there isn't much left....and I have delightful splatter effect curtains....doh.
Oh poor Gunnar with his bloody injuries. We have had a few its horrid. She currently has two cuts on her chin where she went to lean on a toy tractor that a boy moved at the last minute..landed on her chin flat on the patio, ouch!

Good luck with the molars. Kiara's gums still look so sore eve though her bottom ones are through, so red and bloody around the bits of tooth. It's got to hurt

Sunny day here. Have all three kiddos home (crazy french system of having Wednesdays off school) Heading into the garden for some sandpit play I think. Just overheard son 1 say to son 2 "can you throw this at my head?"... Time to get out of the house I think! Boys are strange creatures..

 

[wamommy]

LOL Helena. Boys are funny, aren't they? They truly are different than girls. I watch the girls try to play with Max and they are so much more into colorful imaginative play, while their brother likes to smash and yell! I'm sure it will change once he can do more than smash and yell, lol.

I love hearing updates about the babies! It sounds like they are all doing so well. They're all so different, even the twins!

Max is quite the eater, but his favorite foods are still fruits and vegetables. He LOVES grapes and whole strawberries. He also adores peas. He's not a fan of pasta, which is weird because the other babies loved it! Oh, his favorite snack right now is rice cakes. He likes to sit and gnaw on one for an hour until it's a big slobber ball before he devours it.

We're still at only 7 teeth here, 4 on top 3 on bottom. No sign of molars. Have you guys taken your LOs to the dentist yet? They say to do it before their 1st birthday, but I've waited until 18 months with all of them so far. It seems they should have molars first?

Dragon, how are you feeling?

 

[DragonflyWing]

We haven't brought the twins to the dentist yet, but we're thinking of making an appointment soon. How do you ladies handle teeth brushing? We've been using one of those little brushes that fit over your finger, but since they tend to bite it (ouch!), we're thinking of moving to a child-size toothbrush with flouride-free toothpaste. I'm not sure how to get the babies on board with it. Any suggestions?

As for me, I feel pretty good! No major symptoms other than peeing all night long. I think the fatigue is starting to kick in, though. I had a hell of a time dragging myself out of bed this morning.

I can't seem to stop testing! The test line is equal to the control line on a FRER as of this morning, but I still keep testing every day.

Lily took her first steps! She was so proud of herself

 

[SierraJourney]

I can't believe how many teeth your Lo's have! Camden has FOUR! lol. We use a child size toothbrush and he loves it! We brush, then let him try... he even cries when we take it away because he loves it so much!

 

[wamommy]

Since Max only has front teeth (only a few, Sierra, don't worry you're not alone!) I use a wash cloth with warm water on it to wipe his teeth a couple times a day. At night as part of our routine I use a baby toothbrush with just water on it and then let Max "brush" his teeth on his own afterward. He loves it too! He kind of just bites it, but I figure it gets him comfortable with it, so meh.

Dragon, hurray for dark lines!! That's so reassuring, huh? Even when a pregnancy is scary or unplanned (points at self) it's still nice to see a dark line so that the possibility of loss goes down. Also congrats on Lily's first steps! Max stood for a second yesterday and then plopped to his butt. That was a big accomplishment for us!

 

[SierraJourney]

Huge change in our lives over here----I've been working from home since Camden was born. Now my boss wants me to come into the office on Mondays and get a babysitter in home for the rest of the week so I'm available to come into the office if needed at a drop of the hat without a baby. I've never wanted Camden to be in daycare, and the cost of an in-home babysitter would be more than 3/4 of my income!

So, we're trying to decide what to do. It's basically impossible to live on DH's income alone--even if we downsized to a small apartment (I have a lot of student loans). So, DH is applying for some other jobs, we're thinking of re-locating to a bigger city or something. . .but still, so financially scary!!

We're thinking we have about a month before they start making me implement these changes.. . so, DH is frantically trying to apply for jobs and I'm trying to keep up working so we have any kind of extra money while we're in transition. We're also going to try to clean-up and paint some things in our house to get it ready to sell ASAP. It's amazing how kids change your entire world!! I'm hoping DH gets a great job somewhere so I can stay home with Camden and maybe teach some music lessons or something on the side. I'm kind of doubtful it will all happen in that time-frame, but I'm hoping maybe I can ask for an extension at work (without letting them know I'm thinking about quitting!). I was a mess yesterday--tears and hysterics---and today, I'm so busy at work that I've been able to remain somewhat calm.

Everything is so uncertain right now.

 

[DragonflyWing]

Sierra, I'm so sorry! That's awful that they're springing this on you. There's no way you can renegotiate? Did they say why they're making this change?

I don't know how you manage working from home while taking care of Camden! When I work from home, the twins are a huge distraction even when DH is taking care of them. If I had to watch them while I was working, I'd never get any work done at all. I admire your ability to multi-task!

I just found out that I'll be expected to travel to Atlanta for an important client meeting in October when I'll be 35 weeks pregnant. I'll have to tell my boss about the pregnancy as soon as I have my first ultrasound so they can make other plans, because I'm fairly certain I won't be allowed to travel at that point. With the twins, I wasn't allowed to be farther than 1 hour from my hospital from 24 weeks on. I imagine it will be much farther along this time with just one baby, but I think at 35 weeks even the airlines don't want you to fly. Eek!

 

[SierraJourney]

Thank you Dragon--and happy 5 weeks to you today!

The reason they are making this change is because my co-workers have been grumbling (basically I think they are jealous because I get to work from home--which is understandable--but they are saying untrue things about my work--which the bosses recognize but they just don't want to have to deal with the complaining all of the time).

Working from home with Camden is hard, but since I've been doing it since he was first born, we have a good little system going. Honestly, I hardly ever leave my office area, except for diaper changes. His playroom IS my office, so he can have fun while I'm working away. It's hard for my co-workers and bosses to see how well this system is working because they aren't here. When in fact, I've been doing almost TWICE the workload now as I did before I had Camden! I tried telling them all of this, but they just think it's easy to "just come in Mondays" and get a sitter for the rest of the time.

However, I'm super careful on who watches Camden (and he is SO fussy still that I try to make sure it's family that watches him), so it'd be hard to find someone to watch him all of the time, and it would take up most of my wages to pay for a sitter all of that time!

We really are in such a hard spot. I want to give my bosses an "ultimatum" that if I can't continue working as is, I can't work at all. . . but I want to make sure DH has a better job lined up before I do that, because I'm afraid that they'll just let me go then.

If ya'all know of some good jobs---let me know!

And Dragon---yeah, you definitely can't fly when you are that pregnant---or at least I wouldn't!!!

 

[wamommy]

How frustrating, Sierra! It must be scary, too. I don't think people (employers) realize how much child care actually costs, and how just "getting a sitter" is NOT a practical option on a daily basis. Hopefully they can see what a valuable employee you are!! In the mean time, hopefully your DH can find a job that takes some of the pressure off of you financially. Ugh. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. It seemed to have been working so well!

Dragon, I definitely wouldn't fly at 35 weeks. I'm supposed to go meet with my Mom for lunch on Sunday at 34.5 weeks and DH doesn't even want me to do that, since the restaurant is 30 minutes from the hospital! I think the technical airline deadline is 36 weeks, but better safe than sorry! Boy, I can't imagine going into labor on an airplane.

 

[DragonflyWing]

I just read that if you've had fraternal twins, your chance of having a second set is about 1 in 7.

I slipped and accidentally told someone at work about the pregnancy. She works in a different department, and I asked her not to mention it to anyone, but I'm kicking myself for being so careless. I'm hoping to wait until after the first ultrasound to break the news to everyone. The first time around, I told people early, and loved talking about it to everyone. This time I kind of want to keep it to myself, and I don't really want all the attention.

She was telling me that her roommate is 2 months pregnant and feeling really sick, and without even thinking, I said "Oh, that sucks. I felt like that last time, but luckily this time I'm feeling fine- oh, um, I mean...shit."


Here's my limerick for the day...

Our twins were born in December,
A joyous event, you'll remember,
God said "I know it will be tough,
But two isn't enough!"
So #3 will arrive in November!

 

[Kellen]

Sierra - That stinks big time! I wish people would try, just for a few moments, to view your world rather than their own. I completely understand about tight finances.

Our dentist says not to worry about teeth check ups until Teagen is 2.5 or so. He said by that time all her teeth should be in and she'll sort of be able to sit stillish. For now we have a baby electric toothbrush (Teagen is obsessed with our sonic ones) that we use twice a day. We have floride free toothpaste for her. The rest of the time she walks around with a small toothbrush and brushes by herself.

I have applied for three different part-time jobs in my local area. One is to be a peer breastfeeding counselor for WIC. I am pretty excited about it. The other is to be a driver's education instructor for the local community college. And the final one is to be the Director of Emergency Management for a neighboring county. It is part-time with the caveat that if whomever is hired pulls in enough grant money it would go up to full-time. I am overly qualified and kind of excited about getting back into a career, which I thought would never happen. But they only want the person to work two days a week right now and my mom has volunteered to be with Teagen.

Teagen had her first time out yesterday. My mom, grandma and new puppy invited us to go on a walk so I tried to put Teagen in the stroller and she absolutely refused. Okay, no problem, you can walk and hold my hand. She ripped her hand out of mine and started to rush towards the road. So I calmly picked up my shrieking child, brought her to the house, sat her in the chair and explained that she was going to sit there until she apologized. After five minutes of crying and whining she finally signed "sorry" and gave me a hug. Hardest five minutes of my life!

 

[wamommy]

Ahhh... time outs. I put my girls in time outs and they worked wonderfully for a long time! One day my oldest was threatened with a time out (at about 3 years old), looked me square in the eye and said, "I LIKE time outs now. I'm going to go play in time out." and she went and sat on her "time out rug" smiling away! So much for that, lol. Now we just take privileges away.

Good luck with the job, Kellen! I would absolutely LOVE to work out of the house for a couple days a week. I miss working! I think it will be a while for me, though.

I've been having some scary pains the last few days. I almost went in to the hospital to get checked out last night, but decided to wait it out instead. Maybe I'd just forgotten how uncomfortable these last few weeks are?? DH thinks I won't make it past 36/37 weeks, but we thought that last time and Max was born only 10 days before my due date! If I had to guess I'd say April 16th will be the big day. I guess we'll see!

 

[DragonflyWing]

wamommy, how are you feeling other than the pains? I can't wait to find out if it's a girl or boy! You haven't posted any bump pics in a long time. hint hint!

I'm still feeling great, no morning sickness yet aside from those couple of days right after I found out. So far all of my symptoms are so mild...I hope it stays like this! It must be true what they say about your uterus growing faster in your second pregnancy. I already have to be careful not to stand up too quickly, or I get those stabbing round ligament pains.

In other good news, even though I stopped most of my medication (I'm still tapering off one of them), emotionally I feel really positive. I haven't had any depression symptoms at all. I was in a bad mood briefly yesterday, but that was because DH left the twins and me in the car for 2 hours while he ran into the hardware store for "just a minute." Apparently searching for plumbing fittings sucks you into the Bermuda triangle. He couldn't understand why I was annoyed, either.

By the time we got home, both babies had completely soaked themselves and their carseats with pee (we were on our way home from a play date when DH took a detour to the store, so it had been several hours since they were changed), and I was so hungry that I was cranky to the extreme. When we got home, DH says "Ok, you take care of the kids and I'm going to fix these little clips on the sun visors in the van." -_- Are you kidding me? So I had to bathe both pee-soaked kids and get them redressed, then clean out the carseats before I could get something to eat. Needless to say, I was in a nasty mood for a while. Sometimes men can be completely oblivious. He had no idea why I was upset, and didn't think he had done wrong anything at all.

How is everyone else doing?

 

[wamommy]

wamommy, how are you feeling other than the pains? I can't wait to find out if it's a girl or boy! You haven't posted any bump pics in a long time. hint hint!

Ask and you shall receive! I had DH take one today to compare with Max's pregnancy. (both pics are around 34.5 weeks)

Pic #1 is Max (black shirt)
Pic #2 is Mystery Baby (purple shirt)

I think I'm smaller this time! So weird.

 

[DragonflyWing]

I think you're right about being smaller this time. Maybe it's a girl? You look fantastic!

 

[Kellen]

Men are indeed strange creatures that apparently don't understand how their really slow actions impact the lives around them. For example: DH, Teagen and I went to Wal Mart today to get mousetraps. DH proceeded to meander over to the sporting goods and took a whopping 30 minutes to look at canteens and rucksacks. He then tells me that I need to be patient because he lets me browse things all the time and never makes a fuss. What?! I'm sorry, but our child is hopping up and down in the basket and squawking because she is bored. And when was the last time I actually bought myself anything? Um... before Teagen was born while DH has gotten a 3 new pairs of pants, new work boots, new gloves, a new seat for his motorcycle, etc. I love the man, but Dragon, I completely understand your frustration.

And yes, we have a mouse in our house and it is driving me nuts. It keeps Teagen and I up at night which means I'm cranky and she doesn't want to sleep or even nap. We finally got traps today and will be putting them out tonight. I have vacuumed and scrubbed the house from top to bottom as mice make me feel dirty.