Sesame Street

LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary called me last Friday and mentioned he saw a commercial for Sesame Street live close to us. I got so excited I could hardly contain myself.  I went on the website to see when it was and its this weekend!!

So of course I got tickets for the girls, and us, and the grandma's and Auntie Cheryl and Cousin Stacey.......we may look like lunatics while we're there. Six adults and two kids. I think the adults are more excited than the kids.

So of course I had to go on Etsy and order the girls Elmo shirts with their names on them, and then I got myself a Elmo shirt and Gary a Grover shirt-because Gillian can say "Vrover" so if she see's the shirt and say's "Vrover" Gary will melt and because he's a good Dad he'll wear it!

So thats the plan for this weekend. I'm soooo excited! I can't wait to see the girls reactions. I know for a fact Gillian is going to be the most excited thing on the planet. I'm pretty sure she'll sit there like a good girl too. Finley on the other hand will be excited but she isn't the kind of kid to sit still for 5 seconds so I'm kinda worried about her! We'll see though!

The magic powder......

"Poopy Powder" as we have very affectionately dubbed it in this house, is a godsend! What is poopy powder you ask? Miralax!

I have to admit, I feel like a horrible mom. For months and months I really thought Finley was just a mean mean kid. Now that we have her on the miralax everyday and she isn't constipated anymore she is like a whole different child I mean not even in the same ballpark as old Finley.

Don't get me wrong. She's still my "spirited" child who can throw a tantrum with the best of them but she smiles now! ALOT! And I realized a few days ago when she started running around laughing and smiling again that I pretty much suck. I can't believe I missed this one.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling alot of mommy guilt over this one.........

At least I have my Finley back. My happy sweet sweet Finley back. Hopefully to stay this time!

Constipation sucks.

No not me! My poor peanut Finn Finn!

This girl has been struggling since we switched her to milk at 11 months old. Its been on and off but when its on its on! And its horrible.

Last night took the cake. She's been pooping rocks for days, I called the doctor a few days ago and they suggested I give her Miralax. So I gave her some on Tuesday and she pooped within 30 minutes. Then I decided I didn't need to give her any on Wednesday because (I'm an idiot) she pooped good on Tuesday. What a mistake that was!

Last night she got up around midnight and was crying, cranky, fidgety and trying to yank out her hair she was so exhausted. You could tell it was her belly. I couldn't get her to drink anything though so the miralax wasn't going to help then.

She was up with Gary until at least 6:00 this morning before she finally fell asleep on him. I passed out around 5:30 and got back up at 7:30 for some strange reason. I felt like a truck hit me and called into work.

Gary and I napped when the girls did this morning but I'm still beat. All nighters suck. Constipation sucks.

I gave her the miralax this morning and she went almost immediately. I won't be skipping it again for a while. I'm not sure how long she will take it but I read they can relapse if stopped to quickly.

I've also been trying to make dietary changes with her too but its hard. She eats a ton of fruits and veggies so I'm not sure why this is happening in the first place. Plenty of fiber in her diet, plenty of water drinking, she does love bananas and cheese though......I'm sure those are my culprits.

I'm going to try to give her less milk too. Maybe 1/2 a sippy cup instead of a whole one.

Anyway, I hope we don't have another problem like this for a loooooong looooong time! I'm too old to be up all night. I need my sleep!

Little Miss Chatterbox and the Mime.

Gillian is talking up a storm. She learns a couple new words a day. Finley is my mime. Seriously.

The doc said Finley was normal though and Gillian was "advanced" but man, its making me worried! I decided I need to count all their words and then worry myself more!
Gillian:
1. Momma
2. Dadda
3. Bye Bye
4. Hi
5. Eba (Elmo)
6. Vrover (Grover)
7. Bi-Bir (Big Bird)
8. Ber (Bert)
9. Kitty
10. Puppa (puppy)
11. Baba
12. Chicka (chicken)
13. Quack
14. Baaaa (when she sees a sheep)
15. Sissy
16. Chee (cheese)
17. Bath
18. Hot
19. Key (blankie)
20. ket (jacket)
21. kee (cookie......ie, cookie monster)
22. fishhhh (fish)
23. Baba (baby)
24. Nana
25. Per (diaper)
26. Mow-mow (mickey mouse)
27. Up
28. Duck
29. Ball
30. Night Night

Finley
1. Mamma
2. Dadda
3. Night Night
4. Mow Mow (mickey mouse)
5. Eba (Elmo)
6. Puppa (puppy)
7. Nana
8. Cracker (although I haven't heard it, Gary's swears she can say it)

I think thats all of them. Anyway......you can see why I worry now. I'm sure Finn will catch up in no time though, she always does!

My WTF moment of the day

So......Finley may be a little nutty. I say this lovingly of course but I think she's a little "coo-coo" (joking of course, please don't message me that I'm an evil mother)

When Finley gets tired she starts pulling her hair out and eating it. She's been doing it for a few months now and usually I can catch her as soon as she starts even reaching for her hair and put her down for her nap/night night and then it isn't an issue.

Then part of me a few days ago started going a little "coo coo", I started freaking out suddenly wondering if maybe its because she isn't getting enough attention? Do I pick her up enough? Does she feel left out because I read to Gillian so much? Am I playing with her as much? She has been a little cranky lately. Am I a freaking horrible mother?

WHAT THE F--K!

Phew. Okay now that I got all that out. I have to stop googling by the way, anyway, I will always worry one of the two isn't getting enough attention. Gillian does get read to ALOT. She's also alot more verbal and I spend alot of time flipping through books with her going over her words she knows. Finn on the other hand could care less about talking (unless she's screaming ELMO) or being read to.

Now every time Gillian comes to me with a book, which is every 2 minutes, I feel guilty..........

Anyway, I know it is just because she's tired and its what she does but its making me insane.

Has anyone else dealt with this? I'm so worried she's going to end up with a bald spot. Poor kid has no hair to start with, now she's trying to pull it out. Great.

Oh yeah and my WTF moment......in a feeble attempt to give Finley something to "soothe" herself with rather than yank out her hair I gave her a pacifier? Who does that? What parent in their right mind tries to get their kid hooked on a pacifier???

She took it too but I doubt she'll actually use it. She's not the pacifier type. Thats Gillian's thing.......

Oh well. Advice? Please......pretty please.

Its that time of the year again....

I dread it.....dread it. What is "IT"  you wonder?

Cleaning out the girls closets, and 3 dressers full of clothes. Yes they have 3 dressers full of clothes. Well one dresser is Pj's and their towels and stuff, but it still SUCKS!

I started tonight. I pulled out everything that doesn't fit them anymore or anything I wasn't fond of. I was making piles while the girls were in the livingroom watching their Elmo and then they decided that wasn't fun anymore and came to see what I was up to.

Then all my piles became one huge pile and everything was unfolded and screwed up! So I threw everything on top of their dressers and now I have a bigger mess. Not to mention 2 HUGE laundry baskets of clothes to fold in the livingroom and sort through. Errr.

I've been slowly shopping for the girls for spring/summer this year and have about a tote of clothes for them so far.

I'm trying not to go overboard with their clothes this summer. Easier said than done for me I know. Its all just so cute. I can't stop myself from buying it all!

Wish the spring weather would hurry up and get here though. Really stinks having all these cute clothes and not being able to wear them yet!! Hurry up nice weather!! HURRY!!!

Crazy kids

The girls have stepped it up a notch the past few days.

They are trying to get out of their cribs, opening closets and getting into them, climbing up on the couches and chairs....pretty much making me a nervous wreck!

So.....Gary rigged this up so they couldn't open the closet in their room anymore

We took all the cushions off the couches and now they are jumping on it like a trampoline.....never imagined this is how my expensive leather couches would be used when I got them years ago.

Also, Finley is knocking over anything she can find and climbing in it or on it. I had to take away her new princess kitchen because this is how I found her. Yep, she's stuck in the oven.

Did I mention the day I was making dinner and heard her crying but couldn't find her? Where's waldo anyone?

Its funny a year ago my biggest worry was them crying for one of 3 reason: Hungry, dirty diaper, tired. Hm. Sure seems easier a year ago huh? Why did I feel like that was so rough? Now I am chasing 2 running kids all over the house making sure they aren't climbing on something or wedging themselves in anything!!

Oh to go back to the good old boring days when they did nothing but lay there......the simpler days.

I gotta say though, those boring days sucked. I hated them. As easy as they were, they were too easy! I love my girls running and talking and getting into things. It makes me laugh to see what they can come up with next! Or to see how much they change and grow up everyday. It really is amazing watching 2 little people grow into big people thats for sure!

Progress

SLEEP!!

I'm pretty sure we're making progress in this house!

We are down to one nap, averaging about 2 hours long, and bed times have been pushed up to somewhere between 6:30-7:30 depending on everyone's moods. They are getting up around 8ish too, well maybe earlier, but I'm getting up around 8!

Oh did I mention both girls are consistently sleeping through the night? I had to let Gillian complain for about a hour one night but I stayed strong and went in changed her and put her right back to bed. Eventually she gave up and realized there would be no more late night Elmo marathons.

I have to admit. I miss our late night rendezvous .....but I'm over it and enjoy my sleep more.

This is war.....

Its no secret to anyone that we have some sleep issues going on in this house. I assure you, its not with me!
I love to sleep. I would think my kids would too but that unfortunatly is not the case.
For the most part 98% of the time Finley sleeps through the night. Gillian on the other hand has a terrible habit of getting up anywhere from 9:30-2:00am and torturing me. The time she gets up varies, the length she stays up varies, and I know I'm to blame.

When she does get up I usually change her and let her watch Elmo for a little bit and then put her back to bed.

Now I am convinced she his getting up just to watch Elmo. I'm over it. I can't watch one more late night episode of Elmo.

I always said I would never let my kids CIO as babies, but they are not babies anymore and fully aware of what they are doing.

Last night Gillian got up around midnight and we did our usual diaper, milk, Elmo routine. Then I decided to bring her in my room and try to get her to lay down. No luck....

Then a light bulb went off. This kid is playing me. Like a freaking fiddle!

I put her back in her room and let her cry-okay she wasn't crying but whining like a crazy girl  until she fell asleep a hour later. And I woke up this morning proud of myself!

So bring it on kids! From here on out your going to get a diaper change and back to bed with you! No more Elmo, no more playing, BACK TO BED WITH YOU!!!

I will win. Because I'm the freaking adult!!!

Love is.......

Love is......

Carrying TWO babies for 37 weeks with horrible morning sickness and heartburn and never once complaining!

Singing the itsy bitsy spider over and over again because the girls love to do their spider hands

Letting Finley feed me old Cheerios from goodness knows where because she likes when I make my chomping noise at her.

Chasing the girls around the house with the vacuum from couch to couch just to hear them laugh hysterically.

Reading the same book a hundred times a night to Gillian because its her favorite!

Letting Finley put a stacking cup up to my mouth over and over again while I scream "whoopie" into it just to hear her laugh.

Getting up with upset babies at all hours of the night and watching countless hours of Elmo to calm them down.

Taking a shower with 5,000 toys on the floor of my tub.

My husband trading in his Jeep Wrangler for a minivan.

Holding vomiting babies for the a whole night because I didn't want them to feel scared.

Secretly wishing one of the girls would get up at night because I miss them.

Letting them run around the house naked after bath time because its their favorite part of the day, even if I have to clean up a little pee!

Letting Finley put on her own lotion because she feels like a big girl, even if she only does her belly and knees.

Letting them take my slippers off a hundred times because they love to try to put them back on. Did I mention I yell "yippee" every time they come close to making it on my foot?

Rubbing Gillian's back for a hour while she's in bed with me to get her to bed, despite the fact my arm and hand fell asleep 56 minutes earlier.

Being excited to wake up in the morning so I can see my girls.

My life.......every last dirty diaper, crying baby, and sleepless night!

I honestly wouldn't change a minute of it for the anything in the whole entire world!!!

Screw you Wii!!!

Let me start this post by saying we had a great weekend, except for the part where Finn was a constipated maniac and was crankier than cranky!

Anyway, we had Ben, Jon, Sondra, Stacey, Christine and Kaylah over for Dance Central party night! It was fun, except for the part where I drank too much and Finley got up upset with a belly ache. Talk about a quick way too lose a buzz and sober up!

And in case anyone is reading this going Wow, this chic is a lush. I never drink.....for the plain and simple reason that I worry one of the girls will wake up and need me and I'll be bombed and not be able to take care of them. But I decided to live a little and have 2 drinks! Then I felt like crap trying to calm my poor Finley down!

So blah blah, drank too much, blah blah. Ben and Sondra stayed the night. Thank goodness because I felt like hell when I got up the next morning. Between daylight savings time and drinking the night before I needed a nap desperately! Since they were over to help Gary, I went and laid down for a hour and got a much needed mommy nap!

After I got up and the girls went down for their nap I ran to the store to get PRUNES! Which by the way worked in about 30 minutes for Ms. Finn! Poop Finally!!!

After things seemed to calm down Sondra started screwing around with our Wii. She decided to set up our Mii's and then we decided to do some stupid fitness test crap it has. Everything was going super until it asked me to step on the board and weighed me.

My BMI was  25.05 which FYI is .05 over the "healthy" range and that mother f*****g thing called me over weight..... Excuse me......stupid ass Wii.......what did you just call me? Oh hell no!!!

Does this Wii know I just had twins 15 months ago? I don't think it knows who its messing with! You're talking about someone who can feed, change and carry two babies at once!!! Don't mess with me!

So now I'm on a personal mission to prove my Wii wrong. I will lose my 3 pounds and get in this so called healthy range. Oh yes I will.....on a happy note it said my fitness age was 31. Guess what?! I'm freaking 31!! So I guess that's good right?!

So that was my Wii day. It ticked me off. I'm obviously not over it.

Dropping a nap

Well. We've been having issues in the house with sleeping.

The girls used to go to bed around 6:30/7:00, then something strange happened and it started getting later and later. At some point last week they were up past 10:00! That is just insane!

So the thinking started......on a typical day they would get up between 7-8 and take a nap from 10-12, then they would take their 2nd nap from 3-5. This is where the issue is.....

Their 2nd nap is just too late to be a nap in my opinion.

I had two options to fix the problem, one was to get them up earlier. That however would require me to get up earlier and I usually don't go to bed until at least midnight sometimes 1:00am so to have them sleep until 8 is perfect.

My 2nd option was to push their morning nap and get them to one nap day. We've been working on it for the past 4 days and some days are better than others.

Monday they napped from 11:30-1:00 and went to bed around 7, Finn was back up around 8 and Gillian around 9. I finally got them both back to bed for the night around 10ish.

Tuesday they had a dr's appt so they napped in the car from 12-2 and went to bed at 8. They never woke and slept through until 8 the next morning.

Wednesday they napped from 12-2 and went to bed around 7:30 Finley was up off and on for most of the night starting around 9ish, Gillian got up too at one point and Gary finally got Finn down for good around 2am. Both up at 8am.

Today they napped from 12-3 (yippee! 3 hours) and I put them both down at 7ish because they were acting tired. Gillian went right to bed but Finn refused too. I finally went in after about 30 minutes of her whining wondering if she had a dirty diaper. I picked her up and smelled her and there was nothing but she was signing "diaper". She hates to be wet so I brought her in the living room, changed her and let her lay out here for about 20 minutes. Then she started saying "night night" so I brought her back to her room where she played with her gloworm for 40 minutes before falling asleep.

Now I know for a fact Finley is teething. She is definitely getting her eye teeth and the doc said something about her cutting molars. I thought she had them all already though (except her 2 years) so I'm not sure......I can't get in there to look so I don't know. Either way I am pretty sure that is playing a huge part in her crankiness and I may be having a hard time deciphering between tired cranky and teeth cranky at this point. Poor kid is getting Tylenol every night for the past 4 nights because she's in so much pain. I'll be glad to see the teeth come in and hopefully her sleep to go back to normal!

Anyone else transition their kids to one nap around 15 months or am I pushing it? Would you try something else?

Vrover

Thats what Gillian calls Grover.....Vrover. She's too cute.

So I asked the pedi about Finn's talking and she asked me what words she can say ,  I gave her the run down of her usual ones and she said she was saying more than enough words for her age and Gillian was just a "advanced talker".

I guess this doesn't surprise me much with how quick Gilian does everything but this is a perfect example of why you shouldn't compare your kids. I'm constantly comparing them and Gillian typically does everything first and then I automatically think Finley is lagging behind. In reality Gillian is a over acheiver with most things and Finley is normal!

Sorry Finley, I hope you don't read this in 20 years and think your just "normal" and I hope Gillian isn't reading this in 20 years rubbing this in your face..........

Doctor Appt

Well the girls had their 15 month appt today! They didn't gain nearly as much weight as I expected either!

Gillian weighed 22.14lbs and her height was 32 1/2 inches. She only gained a pound but grew 2 1/4 inches

Finley weighed 19.13lbs and her height was 30 3/4 inches. She gained less than a pound and grew an inch.

They ended up getting their HIB shot and a booster on their flu shot and since we had such a debacle with their blood work I asked they do a finger prick hemoglobin test. Everything came back great. The doc said they were perfect.

I can't believe how little they both gained though. Finley especially is a little bitty cute peanut!!

Oh dear sweet Children of mine......

If you lift up my shirt one more time and pat my belly and say "baby" I may have to hurt you!

I know I'm still a little flabby from having you two 15 flipping months ago but I assure you there is no baby in my belly!

Those kids I tell you. They are cute though! Finley likes to come up and pull up my shirt, pinch a piece of fat and then laugh to herself and run away. As if she's saying "Yep, that fat.......its all my fault, I rock for wrecking your hot body" (okay maybe she isn't saying that but that's my interpretation)

Gillian decided to get up tonight after being down for 2 hours so I brought her to the livingroom and put on Elmo. If your thinking to yourself "Holy crap, does this chic use Elmo for everything" .....you're right! I use Elmo for everything. If my kids are upset and crying in hysteric's-I put on Elmo. If they are running around my house yelling "EBA" I put on Elmo, If they are at family's house and bored-you guessed it, I put on Elmo. He's my go to guy. Love that little red monster.

Anyway, we watched Elmo after Gillian got up tonight and when it was over she grabbed her phone (my old blackberry ironically enough-who give kids an expensive blackberry to play with as a toy is beyond me) and started "talking" into it. Then she would stick it to my ear and I would talk and we went back and forth. I finally asked her who was on the phone for me and whispered so quietly "eba" and handed me the phone.

She makes me laugh hysterically some days. I am amazed by how much they understand. I can't wait to have conversations with these two. They are such characters I can only imagine how those will go.

So that was my very random post of the week.......

The day I've been waiting for!

Tonight the girls are I were playing in the playroom and I told Gillian to give Finley a kiss and she did!!! Then she did it again and again! Then to top it off Finley kissed her....again and again! It was so sweet!

Their first act of "sisterly love".....and it only took them 15 months!!

A months worth of pictures.

Yes a whole month. I've been terrible about posting them so I've decided to just post a million of them all at once!

Miss Finley climbing as usual

Trisha and Chantelle came to visit! The girls loved seeing them!

Gillian trying on Daddy's hat

Gillian and Trisha again. Gillian wanted to wear her Elmo bathing suit

Finley playing with Daddy's hat

Uncle Ben and Uncle Jon got the girls Elmo hats

Finley wearing her hat



Gillian in her wrapeaze. Seriously, if you don't have one. You need one!

Gillian getting ready to go play outside! 



Finley doing the groverelli