Monday, December 27, 2010

Sign Language

So, when the girls turned a year I decided to start signing with them. I tried it a few times when they were younger but they had no idea what I was doing and looked at me like I was nuts. Well......maybe I am?

So I started with "more". Gillian learned it in 2 minutes and has been signing it ever since. Finley will do it here and there but she's stubborn.

Then I moved to "all done". Both girls do a variation of "all done" instead of turning their hands upside down they wave them frantically all over the place back and forth. Its freaking adorable. But I get the point.

I have been doing "eat" with them but for some reason neither one wanted to pick up this one. This morning after the girls had been up for about 30 minutes Gillian signed "eat" out of no where. So we ate!

Then we decided to try "diaper" with them. Both girls instantly started trying to do it. Gary and I think they are geniuses.

It just amazes me how fast they pick things up at this age. I told Gary we really need to watch what we do and say around them. They know whats going on. They are not dumb.....it is freaky. Very very freaky.

So if you have a 1 year old I highly recommend trying a few signs! It feels strange to do it at first but honestly they get it and it makes life so much easier!! You can even look up the signs online! The girls look so excited when they use them and I actually know what they want!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

The aftermath

Well Christmas is over!

My house is a MESS! I had to order one of those 12 bin organizers for the girls playroom today. They have way too many little things and to put them in a toy box makes it impossible to ever find them again. It can't come soon enough! The little people, the blocks, the books and shapes. They are enough to make me insane!

The girls did have a blast though! Finley was a pro at opening her presents, and Gillians, and whoever's else's may have been laying around!

The girls got tons of toys, books and some clothes.

We had our Taco dinner and they even loved the taco's!

Finley at Grammie and Grampies Party


Finn opening her present from cousin Kelly


She loves it!


Gillian opening her present


Finn helping Daddy open his present


Gillian and Grammie


Christmas morning


Go Gillian Go!





Gillian and Auntie Cheryl



Finn playing with her top


Cousin Stacey opening presents with Finn


She loved her weebles


Gillian and Stacey opening presents


Uncle Ben and Gillian cuddling


Uncle Ben and Uncle Jon's present......their huge, huge present.

"Take care of your Dolly"

This morning I ran to the bathroom to tinkle. Of course Gillian followed close behind me (because privacy in the bathroom is a thing of the past) and she was holding her Madeline Doll hugging it while I was doing my tinkling business.

She was considering chucking poor Madeline in the tub so I said to her "No, No Gillian. Take care of your Dolly."

I got up, buttoned my pants and went to turn around and flush and poor Madeline was face down in the toilet!!!!

I screamed! Gillian was already laughing to herself running out of the bathroom. I ran out of the bathroom and yelled "OH NO, OH NO" to Gary. Like he was going to come save the poor drowning doll.

Not to worry though! Finley came walking out the bathroom holding a dripping wet pee soaked Madeline doll! Her hero!

Poor Dolly.....she got her first trip to the washing machine today and she isn't even a month old!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

2 more sleeps!

Until Christmas!

Tonight was my parents annual Christmas party with the family. We had filet mignon, baked potato's and salad. It was delicious! Best of all I got to see all my family that I love so much!! And seriously, I love my family! I can honestly say I don't have a family member that I don't love! Now that's one kick ass crew if you ask me!

The present of the night was from cousin Kelly.  She made an awesome cookbook with my grandmothers favorite recipes in it! My grandmother can bake,  She will go down in history as the most awesome gramma who baked non stop for all her family. I am so excited to have some of her recipes that I can share with my girls. Don't worry Gram. Your mocha cake will live on forever!!! Kell also got the girls some tub toys. Those will be a big hit for bath time tomorrow!

Ironically I will love the toys while they are playing with them and curse them when I am trying to shower without breaking a leg!

So Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I need to finish wrapping presents and clean up the house. I'm going to try to tackle the playroom too and make room for some of the girls new gifts. Should be a interesting day tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

$39.00

That is what I have left in my bank account! Christmas has kicked my bank accounts ass!

I have actually considered raiding the girls piggy banks for some money! Don't worry girls, you're money is safe (for now).

Now the big question is what else do I have coming out that I haven't thought of? Will my poor account be pushed over its $39.00 limit and into "negative land" the thought makes me GASP out loud!!! The last time I overdrew my bank account I was 18 for goodness sakes!

I guess only time will tell. Oh well if it does. I got all the groceries done and presents bought! Not even a over drawn bank account is going to ruin my Christmas!!

I feel like a rebel though! A poor poor rebel!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Vacation time

I'm done with work for the week! So excited to have 5 days off!

I am totally done Christmas shopping, I placed my peapod grocery order to be delivered on Thursday morning, and there are only a few things left to wrap!

The girls have actually been unwrapping their presents tonight, I wonder how many more times I will have to rewrap them before Christmas?

I am meeting someone tomorrow from Craigslist to pick up a Laugh and Learn Farm for the girls too and that is that for gifts. I didn't plan on getting it for them but saw it today and couldn't pass it up since they love their house so much.

I am looking forward to doing a little relaxing this week!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Ponytail!

The day I have been waiting for is finally here! I can put Gillian's hair in a ponytail! She's a cutie pie


.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The death of a Christmas Tree

So we went and cut down our own tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, so a little over two weeks ago. It was the perfect tree.

Well, there was a huge debate over where to put it this year because of the girls. We ended up putting it in the corner of the living room next to the pellet stove (first mistake) and the heater (second mistake).

Yesterday while Finley was tugging on the garland (again) I heard needles dropping like crazy on the Christmas presents.

This morning we get up and Gary and I are looking at the tree and it looks horrible! All the needles were falling off, they were everywhere. We were both convinced it wasn't going to last another day! I don't know if we killed it because it was so close to the heat or what but the damn thing was dead!

So......we undecorated the damn thing, chucked it outside (in the back yard of course so the neighbors weren't talking about the crazy people who killed their tree 10 days before Christmas) and Gary headed out to the tree lot down the street to get us another tree. Yep, another flipping tree.

We put the lights back up and garland and I guess sometime before Christmas we will decorate it.

Here are some pics of the carnage



After pulling off the ornaments, lights and garland


Seriously??


Gillian decided to walk through them......


And didn't like it! (Don't worry no babies were harmed)

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Molars and stuff

Gillian cut her bottom molars sometime within the past couple days. No wonder she was cranky and sleeping like crap for the past week.

Also,  for the past couple days I stopped dressing the girls alike. I like it. Its nice to not worry about finding the "other missing outfit" or have to buy 2 of everything.

Gary on the other hand is not embracing it at all! He was pretty upset when I told him I was stopping. He said I can't stop because they are twins. Like that automatically means they have to be exactly alike just because they were born on the same flipping day!

So I had to threaten him.......I told him I am never buying another matching outfit for them again! Lol. Poor guy. He'll get over it.

Speaking of clothes, I have had to get the girls 18-24 month shirts, mainly because they are so tall and everything is too short on them!

Well, that's about it for today.....I'm going to bed before the babies decide to wake up!

Elmo

Gillian and I were reading one of her Elmo look and find books tonight and I would ask her "where's Elmo" and she would point to him and scream. Then I started asking "who's that" pointing at Elmo and she said "EMO"! I couldn't believe it! She said it about 10 more times after that. So cute!

She said "Night Night" once before but never again after that so I guess this will count as her first word?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Here- have your own identity

When I found out I was pregnant with twins I said I would never dress them alike......

Then I found out they were both girls and started buying everything in doubles.......

Then they were born and suddenly I found myself ALWAYS dressing them alike........

I can count on one hand how often they have been dressed differently.........

Well that's all changing folks.

The girls are 1 now and need their own identity!

So today, I dressed them different.

And took them out in public! *Gasp*

1 Year

One year ago today Gary and I brought the girls home. I remember that ride like it was yesterday.......

These babies sure do change over night! Finn was being so cranky and mean for a few months there. She had me worried!

It seems she has stopped her biting (for now) and is becoming an overall more happy child! She is still my sassy pants but its okay, she keeps me on my toes! She loves to climb. LOVES! I mean on everything. Yesterday she pushed her music table to the window and got up on it and tried to rip the blinds down. She can climb up on the couch now by herself too! Although she won't climb up unless someone is sitting there. Thank goodness she hasn't done it with no on there!

She says "night night" all the time and sometimes "duck". Besides the usual Mama, Dada, Baba that's about it for her talking. She also learned to do kisses but does them open mouth, which I think is adorable but others may be freaked out by!

Gillian is still a cuddle bug, and she loves to read/be read too. She brings me books non stop all day long. She is obsessed with any book about cats, Elmo or farm animals. I am trying to get her to say "read". She did scream Night Night one night but hasn't said it since so I am not counting it as her first word until she says it consistently. She tries to say "duck" too and says "baaaaaa" If I ask her what a sheep does!

And she can sit and watch TV like no other kid I know. I am amazed a 1 year old can be so entranced by Elmo......I started limiting her TV time to a hour a day now. I was getting worried with her constantly watching what was on.

So that's a quick update on the girls this month. Both love the cats and dog, and love going to MY GYM every week. They do great interacting with the other kids. I love watching them have so much fun too!

 Can't wait to see what this next month brings.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Helmet days

Finn's helmet days will be coming to an end soon!

She had her 3 month helmet appointment last week and they said she is making great progress. When she started out they gave her a number measuring the degree of deformity,  2 is considered normal......she was a 13 starting out.

Poor crooked headed kid.

At her last appointment she was down to a 6. After her next appt I am hoping she's down to the 4-5 range and then we have the option to call it quits or just have her wear it only at night for a while. We'll probably have her wear it at night but we'll see.

Either way, she looks a million times better than she did. I even have a hard time telling her and Gillian apart from the top now! Never thought that would happen!

Big girls now!

Well, its official. I am now a mother to two one year olds! Its surreal! My babies are all grown up now!

Their birthday party was great! They were in great moods and it was great to get the family together.

They got lots of presents, including a beautiful pair of diamond earrings from Ben and Sondra. Lucky girls. Wish I had diamond earrings when I was 1.

I was too busy to take pictures during the party though, Sondra took some so hopefully she will post some soon so I can put some up!

The girls also had their 1 year well check today and here are their stats:

Finley was 18lbs3oz and 29 1/2 inches. She is in the 10th percentile for her weight and 75th for her height.

Gillian was 21lbs14oz and 30 1/4 inches. Which puts her in the 75th for her weight and 95th for her height.

 I was concerned about Finn's weight but the pedi says she is just tiny, she was tiny when she was born and has always been tiny. She said she's going to be the "tall model type"....lucky kid! Looks like the girls are going to take after me with their body type and height! Thank goodness too, I was worried they were going to be short.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Oh Poop.....

I am going to preface this by saying if you have a weak stomach stop reading.......

Last night got insane. Finley was constipated and waking all night long crying, she finally managed to poop out a few pellet sized hard poops and I changed her on the living room floor.

Today Gary calls me to tell me he had a great "dad moment."

Gillian came into the playroom chewing on something, Gary thought it was a rogue cheerio but after she was chewing on it for a while he decided to fish it out of her mouth. It wasn't a cheerio.

It was a rock hard pellet of baby poop! Can you say freaking yuck?! I don't know how she got it, it must have rolled out of the diaper when I was changing Finn last night?

I asked Gary what he did and he said he washed her mouth out with a washcloth and then told me he gave her a big kiss and then remembered she was just chewing on poop. Double yuck!

All I gotta say is better him than me!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The juggling act

I have said it before and I will say it again............."HAVING TWINS IS NO JOKE!"

Seriously though, I don't know any different. I don't have any other kids, I don't know what its like to only  take care of one baby-easy is one of the words that comes to mind though.

People often ask me if its "hard" having twins. On a day to day basis I don't think its hard at all. But like I said, I don't know any different. I guess I have adapted to my situation and just make the best of it, try to stay calm and deal with things as they come.

Tonight was one of "those nights", the tricky twin nights.

Usually only one baby will get up crying at a time. I can deal with that. But tonight Finley started crying and then 10 seconds later Gillian started crying and all hell broke lose.

I still have no idea what happened or what started it? I have a feeling maybe Finn's helmet was bothering her and she freaked and  Gillian got upset because Finn was crying so she started? Who the heck knows anymore.

All I know is I had two babies up and crying at the same time, a hour after I put them down.

I pulled Finn out and then Gillian and tried to calm them. They were both feeding into each others crying though so there was no stopping them. I tried every trick in the book. I gave them their night light to play with, shoes to chew on, toys to play with, nothing.

I finally dragged them both in the living room with my super strong twin mom arms and threw on Elmo. Silence.

Have I mentioned how much I love Elmo?

Anyway, now that everyone stopped crying I had to figure out how to get everyone back to bed peacefully. This is no small task when a baby has just taken a hour long nap and feels re-energized.

I laid Gillian down on her pull out bed and rocked Finn to sleep in living room. With every minute that passed I took a step towards her bedroom. Gillian was eyeballing me trying to figure out where I was going and taking a step with me each time and then sitting where ever I was to resume her Elmo watching.

I was worried she was going to start crying to be picked up because I was holding Finn, which in turn would wake Finn back up.

Then a good song came on and Gillian headed back to the TV dancing, I bee-lined for the bedroom hoping to get Finn in her bed before Gillian realized I was gone. I got Finn down just in time to hear Gillian clob hopping towards the bedroom whining. I ran out scooped her up in mid run and ran back to the living room! PHEW! I did it!

2 minutes later Finn was up again.........repeat last 3 paragraphs.

After I finally got Finley down for good (I think) I grabbed Gillian and started trying to rock her. No luck. She's too squirmy. I made her a 2nd bottle and turned off all the lights and TV  let her lay down until she was acting tired and scooped her up and put her in her crib.

So that has been my night so far.

I successfully managed to juggle to cranky babies and get them both back to bed within a hour! Go super mom!

So I don't know......do you think having twins is hard?
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