We are nearing the homestretch to twin two-year-olds, folks, and also nearing the homestretch to three under three. Ack. The hubs and I were discussing when to celebrate SB and BW's 2nd birthday, and decided that we will plan it for a few weeks after nugget is here. That will accommodate a possible early delivery without wrecking birthday plans and also allow people to meet nugget if they so desire. We're also tossing around adding in baptism for nugget since we will have family that would need to travel from out of state for baptism. Of course, I would feel a bit bad about piling all those events on family members in the same weekend, but oh well.
I can't believe they are almost two already. It seems like they just turned one. Although they have typical toddler moments, the are just so.much.fun. SB's hair hasn't grown in front yet, so she has built-in bangs. BW's hair, on the other hand, grows in a lovely mullet-ish style that results in her hair hanging in her eyes but the rest of the hair on the top of her head not being long enough to pull up into a proper ponytail. She won't leave clips in so she gets a sideswept ponytail that sticks out to hold her hair out of her eyes, at least. I swear it seemed shorter this morning and I sometimes suspect that daycare may take a scissors to it.
Although SB was more vocal when they were little, she is definitely our more reserved twin (ironic since I labeled her "social butterfly"), but the risk-taker - that child has no fear. She will jump off of almost anything. I see broken bones in our future. She has an extensive vocabulary but will try not to use words if you let her get away with it. If you ask her to use her words, she often says "please" while knocking on her head. I have no idea where she picked up that gesture. Her favorite phrase right now is "I do it!" She is very coordinated for her age and height (99%) and is very frustrated that she can't quite figure potty training out because she really wants to wear underwear. She is definitely a mama's girl and loves to give ferocious hugs and loves animals. She is still a picky eater and will eat the minimum required to survive, although we recently discovered she loves marshmallow peeps.
BW is our "family ambassador" she loves saying hi to people and now that she is starting to learn the daycare employees' first names, she loves saying hi and bye to them as we enter and leave every day. She likes things need and organized and loves to throw things in the garbage if they belong there. She also loves to help and volunteers to "help" sweep, empty the dishwasher, and cook. She also wants to "help" with vacuuming but it still a bit scared of the vacuum so ends up being a bit distraught over it. She is definitely more empathetic than her sister and is quick to comfort SB, but is also the first to push, hit, bite, etc. to get her way if necessary. She is taller than SB and much less coordinated, and also much more cautious. She will "jump" off of things by stepping down, then triumphantly say "I jump!" She particularly loves being goofy right now and making us laugh - it looks like we may have a class clown in our future.
I'm looking forward to seeing what personality nugget has. Will she be more like SB or BW? Or will she be some combination of both? Or entirely herself?
Friday, February 27, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Weaning twins
Because my blog is called Scattered Excerpts, I can post now about weaning SB and BW, even though that happened a few months ago, right? I was still breastfeeding SB and BW when I got pregnant with the nugget, although we were down to 2-3 times a day, usually upon wakeup and before bed, and also sometimes before nap. When I went in for my first appointment, the OB education nurse scolded me, telling me I needed to stop nursing immediately, without explaining why. I knew from reading about nursing during pregnancy about the risks, and that they were likely small for me, so I basically ignored her. However, I also have two very strong-willed toddlers, and I knew that I wanted to wean well in advance before the nugget arrived so I didn't inadvertently end up with them thinking they could still nurse too. I also started to lose weight. Although I had some food aversions and nausea, I was still eating plenty, so I decided it would be best for all of us to move on from nursing.
I ended any nursing before nap easily - I just explained to SB and BW that we only had snack upon wakeup and bedtime. Then, DH was able to take morning duty a few mornings - usually I nursed SB and BW first, then got them changed, dressed, etc. Simply by having him go in a few mornings and get them all dressed and ready for the day before they saw me was enough deviation from their normal routine that we were able to drop the morning session. BW asked for "snack" a few times, but I explained we only had snack before bed now, and she didn't have any issues with that. I approached the before-bed session a bit more gradually. I had been introducing bedtime books while nursing for some time prior to this, allowing both SB and BW to each choose a bedtime book we would read "while" nursing. This created a less than ideal nursing environment, as they would both frequently latch and unlatch, or turn their head to see the book, but I think it really helped with the transition once we got to that stage. The week I weaned, when I was around 14 weeks pregnant, I had DH alternate nights of bedtime routine with me, and skipped the nursing session - which wasn't an issue. The last time I nursed them, I knew it would be the last time. They had done just fine without nursing sessions when DH put them to bed. I had DH take pictures of our last session. Although I had always protested when he took pictures of me breastfeeding before, I now cherished those pictures and wanted one last moment captured. The girls were goofy, there were a lot of nip-slips, but I'm so glad we have those pictures. I get a little emotional when I think of our nursing relationship (damn pregnancy hormones), but I'm glad our transition went so smoothly. The next night I did bedtime routine, I gave them pacis instead of nursing while we read books. BW still asked about snack, but didn't protest when I told her no more snack. In the time that has passed, we have eliminated pacis during reading time, and they don't get them until they are in their cribs. I am not looking forward to paci elimination. They are very dependent on them for falling asleep and getting rid of them is not going to be pretty. I keep going back and forth about getting rid of pacis or getting rid of diapers, and right now potty-training is winning out. I am really, really hoping I can get SB and BW potty trained before the nugget's arrival. Three in diapers is very daunting.
I ended any nursing before nap easily - I just explained to SB and BW that we only had snack upon wakeup and bedtime. Then, DH was able to take morning duty a few mornings - usually I nursed SB and BW first, then got them changed, dressed, etc. Simply by having him go in a few mornings and get them all dressed and ready for the day before they saw me was enough deviation from their normal routine that we were able to drop the morning session. BW asked for "snack" a few times, but I explained we only had snack before bed now, and she didn't have any issues with that. I approached the before-bed session a bit more gradually. I had been introducing bedtime books while nursing for some time prior to this, allowing both SB and BW to each choose a bedtime book we would read "while" nursing. This created a less than ideal nursing environment, as they would both frequently latch and unlatch, or turn their head to see the book, but I think it really helped with the transition once we got to that stage. The week I weaned, when I was around 14 weeks pregnant, I had DH alternate nights of bedtime routine with me, and skipped the nursing session - which wasn't an issue. The last time I nursed them, I knew it would be the last time. They had done just fine without nursing sessions when DH put them to bed. I had DH take pictures of our last session. Although I had always protested when he took pictures of me breastfeeding before, I now cherished those pictures and wanted one last moment captured. The girls were goofy, there were a lot of nip-slips, but I'm so glad we have those pictures. I get a little emotional when I think of our nursing relationship (damn pregnancy hormones), but I'm glad our transition went so smoothly. The next night I did bedtime routine, I gave them pacis instead of nursing while we read books. BW still asked about snack, but didn't protest when I told her no more snack. In the time that has passed, we have eliminated pacis during reading time, and they don't get them until they are in their cribs. I am not looking forward to paci elimination. They are very dependent on them for falling asleep and getting rid of them is not going to be pretty. I keep going back and forth about getting rid of pacis or getting rid of diapers, and right now potty-training is winning out. I am really, really hoping I can get SB and BW potty trained before the nugget's arrival. Three in diapers is very daunting.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Tough decisions about pets
After much thought, the hubs and I made the decision to rehome our pets. I feel quite terrible about it., but I know in my heart it is the best thing for them and for us. I have remained fairly quiet about our decision, because I have been very critical of people who get rid of pets after they have kids, but this is now the reason for our decision, and, as someone who grew up with cats and dogs around throughout my childhood, I am very sad that my kids will not have that in the immediate future.
The hubs had a cat before we met, which he got for DSD. A few months after the hubs and I started dating, I got a dog. Although I grew up with pets and had roommates that had pets, this was my first pet. I researched for a long time and settled on a particular dog breed - a weimaraner. Then I spent several months working with a few rescue organizations to find the appropriate dog for me, and the hubs (then boyfriend) traveled with me to a different state to pick up the dog.
Cat is high maintenance. He was born on a farm, and still has some farm cat in him. He loves to go outside, demands to go outside, but expects to be let back inside when he desires, even if it is 4 am. He catches rodents, is highly susceptible to UTIs (as most male cats are) and has a penchant for peeing in bathroom sinks for some reason. He can open lever handle doors, but also can just repeatedly pull and release the lever handle to make the optimum level of annoyance noise in the middle of the night. He knocks over water glasses and shreds the weather stripping on doors, even though he is declawed. Although I like cats, I like them less as I get older, and I have had zero attachment to this Cat, and DSD and the hubs are not climbing over each other to clean up after Cat, so the litter box and his hair invade our house. Ick.
Dog is also high maintenance, which I knew going in. He is a breed that is highly prone to separation anxiety, and he is no exception. He is also highly intelligent and intuitive and very attention seeking. He has also grown protective as he has gotten older, particularly of me, and has lunged at people that he perceives to be a threat to me. We our twins were born, he became very protective of them as well, and would be very nervous is anyone other than immediate family were holding them, and would often try to position himself between guests and the babies. I was very happy he was so accepting of our babies.
However, all that changed when they became mobile. Suddenly, although still protective of them, he hated them. He didn't want them anywhere near him. He paced and growled and and would try to hide from them. We worked for some time on helping him be more comfortable with them. We let them feed him treats and encouraged him to relax and let them pet him. We did not allow the twins to bother him - they weren't allowed to pet him or touch him or even go in his general direction if he was in any way showing signs of agitation. We pretty much prevented any contact unless he was getting treats from them. Nothing worked. He still was very unsettled and unhappy whenever they were awake, essentially. We were very worried that sooner or later his agitation would turn into aggression. It didn't help that SB and BW love him, wanted to play with him, pet him, feed him. They were just as excited to give him treats as he was to receive them. Finally, after a lot of hard thinking, we decided that this type of environment was not fair to Dog, and we couldn't take any risk that he would have to resort to aggression out of frustration with the babies. For a while I hoped that as they got older and he got older, things would improve. But then I saw pictures of my friends and their toddlers, using their dogs as pillows, or sitting on top of them, and realized that things probably weren't going to improve. He is just not a dog that is comfortable with small children.
We were still in limbo a bit, but then the hubs happened to be talking to a co-worker. Her husband wanted a dog. She was willing to get a dog if it was a rescue dog of this particular breed. They weren't planning on having children. We met them. They came over to meet Dog, who loved them, and they loved him. We were honest about Dog's faults and his many great qualities. They were perfect for Dog. Dog went to live with them a few weeks ago, and they send us updates. A part of me still feels like I failed Dog, because I didn't keep him, I didn't keep my promise to give him a forever home. But another part of me feels like I had to do this so Dog wasn't miserable. Being in our home and being subject to constant agitation and nervousness was not fair to him, and he loves his new owners. They live close enough that he could visit if we wanted him to.
I feel a bit more guilty about Cat - but I also made the deal with hubs that if Dog goes, Cat goes. However, I also said that I wasn't going to dump Cat at a humane society or anything like that - we would wait for the right opportunity and home that genuinely wanted a cat, and Cat in particular. Then, out of the blue, my MIL called. She wanted Cat. Her house would be perfect for Cat, as it backs up to woods and he could explore outside to his heart's content. We could still visit and see Cat and get updates on how he is doing. Cat is still living at our house, but he will probably soon be moving to MILs house. Newsflash - I won't miss him. But he will have a lovely woman who will love his snuggles and won't mind his fluff, which is more fair to him than our house.
The hubs had a cat before we met, which he got for DSD. A few months after the hubs and I started dating, I got a dog. Although I grew up with pets and had roommates that had pets, this was my first pet. I researched for a long time and settled on a particular dog breed - a weimaraner. Then I spent several months working with a few rescue organizations to find the appropriate dog for me, and the hubs (then boyfriend) traveled with me to a different state to pick up the dog.
Cat is high maintenance. He was born on a farm, and still has some farm cat in him. He loves to go outside, demands to go outside, but expects to be let back inside when he desires, even if it is 4 am. He catches rodents, is highly susceptible to UTIs (as most male cats are) and has a penchant for peeing in bathroom sinks for some reason. He can open lever handle doors, but also can just repeatedly pull and release the lever handle to make the optimum level of annoyance noise in the middle of the night. He knocks over water glasses and shreds the weather stripping on doors, even though he is declawed. Although I like cats, I like them less as I get older, and I have had zero attachment to this Cat, and DSD and the hubs are not climbing over each other to clean up after Cat, so the litter box and his hair invade our house. Ick.
Dog is also high maintenance, which I knew going in. He is a breed that is highly prone to separation anxiety, and he is no exception. He is also highly intelligent and intuitive and very attention seeking. He has also grown protective as he has gotten older, particularly of me, and has lunged at people that he perceives to be a threat to me. We our twins were born, he became very protective of them as well, and would be very nervous is anyone other than immediate family were holding them, and would often try to position himself between guests and the babies. I was very happy he was so accepting of our babies.
However, all that changed when they became mobile. Suddenly, although still protective of them, he hated them. He didn't want them anywhere near him. He paced and growled and and would try to hide from them. We worked for some time on helping him be more comfortable with them. We let them feed him treats and encouraged him to relax and let them pet him. We did not allow the twins to bother him - they weren't allowed to pet him or touch him or even go in his general direction if he was in any way showing signs of agitation. We pretty much prevented any contact unless he was getting treats from them. Nothing worked. He still was very unsettled and unhappy whenever they were awake, essentially. We were very worried that sooner or later his agitation would turn into aggression. It didn't help that SB and BW love him, wanted to play with him, pet him, feed him. They were just as excited to give him treats as he was to receive them. Finally, after a lot of hard thinking, we decided that this type of environment was not fair to Dog, and we couldn't take any risk that he would have to resort to aggression out of frustration with the babies. For a while I hoped that as they got older and he got older, things would improve. But then I saw pictures of my friends and their toddlers, using their dogs as pillows, or sitting on top of them, and realized that things probably weren't going to improve. He is just not a dog that is comfortable with small children.
We were still in limbo a bit, but then the hubs happened to be talking to a co-worker. Her husband wanted a dog. She was willing to get a dog if it was a rescue dog of this particular breed. They weren't planning on having children. We met them. They came over to meet Dog, who loved them, and they loved him. We were honest about Dog's faults and his many great qualities. They were perfect for Dog. Dog went to live with them a few weeks ago, and they send us updates. A part of me still feels like I failed Dog, because I didn't keep him, I didn't keep my promise to give him a forever home. But another part of me feels like I had to do this so Dog wasn't miserable. Being in our home and being subject to constant agitation and nervousness was not fair to him, and he loves his new owners. They live close enough that he could visit if we wanted him to.
I feel a bit more guilty about Cat - but I also made the deal with hubs that if Dog goes, Cat goes. However, I also said that I wasn't going to dump Cat at a humane society or anything like that - we would wait for the right opportunity and home that genuinely wanted a cat, and Cat in particular. Then, out of the blue, my MIL called. She wanted Cat. Her house would be perfect for Cat, as it backs up to woods and he could explore outside to his heart's content. We could still visit and see Cat and get updates on how he is doing. Cat is still living at our house, but he will probably soon be moving to MILs house. Newsflash - I won't miss him. But he will have a lovely woman who will love his snuggles and won't mind his fluff, which is more fair to him than our house.
Friday, February 13, 2015
No growth problems here!
Although there was a miscommunication following our last growth scan, my OB scheduled me for a follow-up the following week to get the actual measurements. So far, baby nugget is right on track - her head even caught up a bit and is now right in line with gestational age. The continue to confirm via ultrasound that I do have circumvallate placenta, and I can recognize the edges of the placenta curling up as well now on the u/s. My mom went with me to this u/s and lucked out, because the tech was really enjoying doing the u/s and spent probably 10 or 15 minutes just trying to get some good 3D pictures for us, so we got to see baby yawn, and move her hands around and stick her tongue out.
I'm on the cusp of the 3rd tri now (how did that happen?) so I'm glad baby is growing okay. I am operating under the assumption right now that everything is going to be just fine. My mom, surprisingly, has stayed off google so far and hasn't researched the placenta issue - she said if she did she would probably just worry, which is probably true. I haven't really told anyone else, because I don't want to blow it out of proportion or get people worked up when everything may be just fine.
Baby is very active - although there was a lot of movement during my twin pregnancy with the two babies, they were also getting pretty crowded by this point in my pregnancy, so kicks and jabs had limited momentum. I swear this baby thinks she is a pinball sometimes, and she gets some good whacks in. I love it.
I also continue to have almost zero back and hip pain, just a few twinges here and there. Considering I am hefting 28-30 lbs of toddler several times a day, I am very thankful for this. I am sleeping well, and haven't even had to add pillow props (in fact, I've been trying to avoid, and I think sleeping with a pillow between my knees puts my SI joint out of alignment). I'm seriously considering sending my chiropractor flowers or a big basket of candy for their office as a thank you.
I'm on the cusp of the 3rd tri now (how did that happen?) so I'm glad baby is growing okay. I am operating under the assumption right now that everything is going to be just fine. My mom, surprisingly, has stayed off google so far and hasn't researched the placenta issue - she said if she did she would probably just worry, which is probably true. I haven't really told anyone else, because I don't want to blow it out of proportion or get people worked up when everything may be just fine.
Baby is very active - although there was a lot of movement during my twin pregnancy with the two babies, they were also getting pretty crowded by this point in my pregnancy, so kicks and jabs had limited momentum. I swear this baby thinks she is a pinball sometimes, and she gets some good whacks in. I love it.
I also continue to have almost zero back and hip pain, just a few twinges here and there. Considering I am hefting 28-30 lbs of toddler several times a day, I am very thankful for this. I am sleeping well, and haven't even had to add pillow props (in fact, I've been trying to avoid, and I think sleeping with a pillow between my knees puts my SI joint out of alignment). I'm seriously considering sending my chiropractor flowers or a big basket of candy for their office as a thank you.
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