18 Month Olds

The twins turned 18 months old about a week ago, and keeping up with the pace of the past few months, we have had a very busy last week of summer which included a trip to the pediatrician so here are their current stats:

Anna is 32-1/2" and 22.0 pounds (tall and skinny)

Mia is 32-1/4" and 22.12 pounds (tall and skinny as well, but definitely looks "bigger")

I have to say that I enjoy 18 month olds way more than 15 month olds. I feel like they have grown in so many ways this summer. It has been amazing to watch them learn and change from day to day. Neither is really talking much (at least not in any language we understand), but they understand everything we say to them. Anna continues to be a biter, but no longer throws tantrums which is nice. Mia continues to throw HUGE tantrums (she's a girl who likes to get her way), and she has learned to bite as well so that's not so nice. Dan keeps telling me that her screaming and crying is "just a phase," but it seems she has been going through this "phase" for about 18 months now. Oh well, maybe she'll be a delightful two year old. We are starting to realize that Mia would probably be much happier if she were an only child, Anna follows her around ALL the time, which is very frustrating for her. While Anna likes to copy everything Mia does, they are continuing to develop very different personalities. You can see their differences even in the way the eat, as you can see in the pictures below...Anna takes her time and tries to stay clean. Mia shoves as much food in her mouth as quickly as possible.

I don't have too much experience with other 18 month olds, but mine definitely like to be helpful. When I say we're going out, they run to get their shoes and then mine (and then they proceed to try and put them on my feet), when we get home from the store they love to help put the groceries away, they try to take each other's clothes off and dress each other, Mia will rub Anna's back when it's time to go to bed. I find myself giggling at all the little things they try to do to be helpful.

So it's back to work for me tomorrow. We have no big plans in the near future, just gotta try and get back into the working mom routine.

Summer, so far.

Wow, it's been so long since I've gotten to this that I forgot my password to sign in. Anyway, summer has kept us very, very busy. We started with a really nice family vacation to Florida (though the plane ride was AWFUL). Since then we have been trying to fill our days with picnics, trips to parks and, of course, swimming pools. The girls have hated the water so far, so we are tyring to get them more comfortable with it, and take every opportunity to get them in a pool. It's getting a little better, they don't scream anymore, but they also don't enjoy it at all. We've been to the library a few times, a couple of kids concerts and the botanic gardens. We still have to hit some of the children's museums, the race track, arboretum and probably the zoo before summer comes to an end. I have to admit that it's more fun to do things with the girls this summer, though I do miss my little 5 month olds that were just happy to be cuddled with last year. While the girls nap I busy myself with crossing things off the never-ending To Do list...I have two years worth of deep cleaning and organizing to catch up on (pregnant 2 summers ago and last year the babies were, well babies). I have to give a lot of credit to all the stay at home mom's of twins - it is exhausting keeping up with all the housework and keeping up with and entertaining the kids.
I have a ton of pictures from all our summer adventures, but honestly I'm too tired to put them on here. So I leave you with a video of what happens when toddlers turn bad, and their mother is mean enough to videotape instead of comfort them - this went on 45 minutes (the crying, not the videotaping) despite all my attempts to stop it!

Twins Talking

Took the girls outside the other day, not quite sure what they were talking about, but they sure had a lot to say!

What's new at our house...

Not too much, we're counting down the days until summer vacation (sorry boss:)).
The twins have been walking a little over a month now, and it's like they've been walking their whole lives, Anna is even attempting to run. With their new found skill, they HATE being tied up in anything like a stroller or shopping cart, which makes it very difficult to run any sort of errand. We have officially become a family who walks out of Target with two crying babies, and everyone turns and looks at us (fortunately for us the majority of the population finds twins fascinating and intriguing so even when they are screaming, people smile and say "look, twins." Hmmm, one screaming baby=annoying, two screaming babies=cute??).
So that leads us to what's new:
~Both girls have learned to throw all sorts of tantrums - the throw your head back, arch your back, scream at the top of your lungs tantrum, the sit down where you are and scream at the top of your lungs tantrum, the throw yourself in the middle of the floor and scream at the top of your lungs tantrum and so on. Stay tuned for video.
~Anna has learned that biting Mia in the face is a very effective way of getting her out of her space.
~Anna has also developed separation anxiety, I can't even leave the room without her crying.
~Both girls have become very attached to their sippy cups, kind of annoying because anytime they see them they go into one of those above mentioned tantrums.
~They have figured out how to open the lid on the garbage can, Anna finds it fun to take things out and drop them on the floor, Mia finds it fun to get herself a snack - ick!
~If you ask either of the girls for a hug and a kiss, they will give it to you which is adorable.
~The twins are showing their understanding of the world more and more everyday, they are little people now, not just little babies. If we put their coats on, they walk to the door. If we ask if they want to eat, they go to their high chairs. If we say night-night, they crawl up the stairs. We love that they actually understand us.
~I have learned that there are certain kinds of places that I can't or shouldn't take the babies to by myself for safety and sanity reasons (anything with open spaces, where the babies can't be "confined" to one room or so), but at least I tried. I recently went to a work event with over 1,500 people, and if it were not for help form work friends, I for sure would have lost a baby. I also took them to one of those indoor inflatable play places - they were constantly going in different directions, Mia even went into the employees only area once (okay, maybe twice) while I was chasing after Anna. Perhaps it's time to invest in those leashes they make for kids:)

Mia

Random videos of Mia (Anna will get some videos too, just might take me a couple weeks to get to this again!).

My Week as a Stay at Home Mom (aka Spring Break)

Day 1 (Saturday): It snowed. It snowed all day, so we just stayed at home and played.

Day 2: Dan and I had a productive day ripping out some old shelving in the garage to make room for the 17 (okay, just 4) strollers. Eventually it will also be a good place to store the girls bikes. Then we had to figure out what to do with all the crap that had been cluttering those shelves, and only had nap time to work. Busy, busy day.

Day 3: Anna spent the day with her grandma while I took Mia to the allergist. I felt kind of like a wack-o parent when the doctor was questioning me about her egg allergy - he asked how she reacts when she eats something baked with eggs to which I replied "she's never had anything like that" and he said, "she's never had a muffin, cookie, cake, anything? Poor girl. You didn't even let her have birthday cake?" Ummm, we found out about her allergy before her birthday, why the hell would I give her a cake which would then send her to the emergency room?? He then took us into another room and he put on a Little People cartoon, to which I said, "she doesn't watch tv," and he said "Oh, does she play with toys?" Needless to say, I didn't like the guy and we won't be going there again. We were there for two hours, she got 4 pricks in her back (which turned bright red and developed hives) and then she got a shot. Not a fun day for her, but then we also went grocery shopping and out to lunch (and she learned how to drink from a straw today!). It was a short glimpse into what life must be like with one baby-seriously, how easy could it be with only one kid!

Day 4: Another fun day, I got to take both girls to the pediatrician for their one-year-old immunizations. 3 shots for Anna, 2 for Mia. Then we went to Buy Buy Baby and bought them a few new things. Yesterday Mia learned to drink from a straw, today Anna learned how to spit food out - and with her new skill she will not eat anything!

Day 5: Anna spent the day with her dad, he took her to the bookstore and bought her Polar Bear, Polar Bear which was really cute because he remembered her favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I took Mia shopping with my friend Jen and her baby Ariana. I took Mia because she is usually the more patient of the two, but not this day...she did not want to sit in her stroller for a second! Oh well, new spring and summer clothes for the twins!

Day 6: Our play date for the day got cancelled so I took the opportunity to drop the girls off with grandma, and I went to the mall to do a little shopping for myself. In the hour that I was there I saw 7 sets of twins, and then felt guilty and lonely so I left empty-handed and went to pick them up. Later in the day I attempted to do our taxes. I wasn't very successful, gotta get them done soon though!

Day 7: I took Anna to the library for the "laptots" storytime (I only took Anna as I was feeling a little guilty that I had taken Mia out twice this week alone). We met our new twin friends Natalie and Noah (born two days after Anna & Mia) there and had a great time singing songs and playing with some other babies. Anna was strangely very quiet and reserved, I guess she is a little more cautious when she doesn't have her sister with her.

Day 8: Today I took the twins to a birthday party without Dan (which I normally do not like to do because of a bad experience taking the twins alone to a party when they were much younger). Everything went fine and the girls had a great time chasing two little dogs around.

Day 9: The plan is grocery, laundry, cleaning - all the usual Sunday stuff to do, and then back to work on Monday.

It was a pretty good week.

Ahh, Spring!

It's been around 60 degrees here lately so we've finally had a chance to get the girls and the dog outside for some fresh air. After work today they got to play on the back porch while I got to pick up all the piles of dog poop that had been buried by the snow for the past few months. Tonight the twins had there taste buds corrupted when their grandpa took them out for pizza (mmm, their first junk food) and then to Oberweiss for their first taste of ice cream (mmm, more junk food). We'll see if they're still willing to eat their veggies tomorrow!

Mia's first steps

Guess she did not want to be left behind...Mia started walking 4 days after Anna. We were a little surprised since she was about 2 months behind in crawling, and she just learned to stand on her own a couple weeks ago. Guess we now officially have toddlers. Time to go shoe shopping!

A Weekend Day in Our Life...

6:35 - Dan gets up, feeds and lets the dog out and makes the bottles for the babies

6:45 - Twins get up and get their diapers changed, Dan gets in the shower and ready for work

7:00 - Anna and Mia have their bottles

7:10 - I feed the girls some yummy rice or oat cereal (mush) with fruit

7:25 - The girls feed themselves a waffle, bagel, toast or whatever the breakfast is for the day - I eat a granola bar and have the next 10 minutes to get breakfast cleaned up and the laundry started

7:40 - Dan leaves for work and morning playtime begins

8:45 - Playtime turns into fighting time-each baby wants what the other one has, there is some pushing, ocassionally biting and always alot of screaming and crying

9:05 - Diaper change #2 (maybe #3) and we get ready for nap

9:15 - Morning nap = Babies sleep while I pick up the trail of destruction from morning playtime and whatever else needs to be cleaned and move the washed clothes to the dryer

10:00 - I finally get to shower!

10:45 - Lunch for me (I have to eat early since they could wake up at any minute), pack the diaper bag for afternoon errands and get the stroller in the car


11:15 - Babies wake up, diaper change #3 and I get them dressed for the day

11:30 - Twins lunch

12:15 - Pack everybody in the car and run whatever errands we can run in the next two hours, or until someone starts throwing a fit in a store

2:15 - Return home for a short playtime

3:00 - Diaper change #4 and afternoon nap-I fold the laundry and make some baby food

4:30 - Twins get up, have their sippy cups and diaper change #5

5:00 - Feed the twins dinner

5:20 - Playtime #3 which is usually just a bunch of whining and fighting as they're pretty much done with the day by now

6:30 - Twins feed themselves a snack and Dan finally comes home

6:45 - Dan and I eat dinner - usually at home, but as a special treat we pack everyone in the car and head out to pick up a QUICK bite

7:20 - Bath for baby #1 and into diaper #6 and pj's

7:35 - Bath for baby #2 and into her 6th diaper and pj's

7:50 - Read a few books and put the babies in bed

8:00 - Dan and I once again pick up the mess left behind from our day and wash all the dishes

8:30 - I head out to the grocery store

9:15 - Get home, we put the groceries away and have time for some news or a show that we have recorded on the dvr

10:00 - Bedtime for me! Yay!

It's a great day!

Despite the fact that Mia has been sick for 4 days (explosive diapers, vomiting, dehydration....), March 1st is a great day. The twins new health insurance went into effect today and it costs about 70% less than the old plan - what to do with all the extra cash we're saving???
As we were getting the girls ready for bed Anna took her first steps, three in a row! We're so excited, but frightened of the prospect of actually having toddlers in the house. Stay tuned for Mia's first steps, though the poor girl probably doesn't even have the energy to try right now. BRAT diet and milk detox starts tomorrow, hopefully that gets her on the road to recovery!
Sorry the video is the wrong way!

1 year old summary

All the parenting books on twins will tell you that you should not compare your twins, but everyone always does, so here's the 1 year old run down:


Both girls are 30".

Anna is 18 lbs. 3 oz.
Mia is 18 lbs. 7 oz.

Both girls eat just about everything we give them, no picky eaters here!



Anna enjoyed her birthday cake.
Mia would not even touch hers.

Anna picks up handfuls of food and shoves it in her mouth.
Mia picks up one bite at a time.

Anna likes to take toys out of the box, Mia likes to put them back in.

Anna is curious, she sees something new and dives right in.
Mia is more reserved and approaches new things very cautiously.

Anna always moves quickly.
Mia moves at a slower pace.

Anna is a do-er.
Mia is an observer.

Anna is a little impatient and easily frustrated.
Mia has a little more patience, but throws a much bigger tantrum when things don’t go her way.

Anna is silly.
Mia is serious.

Mia is more talkative, but Anna is louder.

Maeby (our dog) is much more tolerant of Mia than she is of Anna.





That's it for today - this could all change tomorrow!!

Twins Turn 1!

And now for our first actual entry...My friends with kids know how exciting it is when your baby turns one. My friends with twins (okay, that's just you, Amanda) know what a feeling of accomplishment it is that you have survived the first year. Somehow we made it through the first few months of sleepless nights with feedings every two hours (and it took over an hour to feed them and get them back in bed so we were left with 45 minutes of sleep at a time!) and we functioned like zombies. Over the past year we have had to deal with the challenges of premature infants, endured two surgeries, countless visits to the doctor, and a recent trip to the emergency room. We have easily changed 5,000 diapers, fed over 700 jars of food and 3,000 bottles. Our couch is covered in spit-up, our coffee table has about 30 dings from plastic blocks being banged upon it and the child-proofing never seems to stop. Our house is overflowing with baby stuff, we have had to get two of everything and four of some things. We have had to come up with creative ways to do the simplest tasks such as going to the grocery store (and yes, we LOVE Peapod). We have over 100 episodes of Jeopardy to watch that are saved on our DVR, we no longer know the meaning of “free time,” and we have a lot less money in our pockets. But 365 days after our itty bitty twins were born, everyone is healthy and happy, Dan and I are still married and man do we love those babies! And we owe a huge THANK YOU to those who have helped us make it through this year, don't know what we would do without you!
Enjoy some pictures from the babies first birthday!

Welcome to our blog! Though I'm still not entirely sure what a blog is or how it works, we have decided to give it a try...mostly since my parents are now out of state and this way they can get updates on the babies (they simply refuse to join facebook). We are also doing this because many people (mostly those who have/had only one baby at a time) find our life with twins to be very humorous. So now we can share all our joys and frustrations of raising our identical twin girls. Hope you enjoy the glimpses into our crazy life!