Our Kids

Okay so big DUH! on my part.  This whole week has been wacky with me trying to add new activities and the girls trying to get over a reaction to their shot.  I am paranoid about the whole shot thing anyway so this reaction has really got me going.  In addition to the shot thing I think that the girls were overtired.  Thursday and Friday were almost unbearable at some times with tons of crying and tantrums, which is totally unlike the girls.  Come Saturday the day progressed as usual with very cranky babies.  By 430PM I decided I would let them nap and put them down.  They slept until 615AM the next morning!

Duh!  I guess that means they are overtired you moron of a parent.  I thought the one nap a day thing was working for us but apparently I was WRONG!  Today they went back for a nap at 930 after a whole 3 hours awake after a whole 14 hour sleep!  Then they went down for another nap at 2PM!  Unbelievable!  The good thing in all this is that it keeps you on your toes and totally humble.  I will never say, “Well I think we have this nap thing solid” again, at least not on this blog where there is a record of my stupidity:)

The plan for next week includes as many naps as necessary for my two beautiful happy babies to return.  Then we will go from there.  I wish this parenting manual had an English version, HA!

As the girls get more active and curious there continues to be a lot more grunting at our house.  Basically they don’t have the verbal skills to say “turn this on” or “hand me that” so they grunt and sign please or more to get what they are after.  They also go around and repeat more and more of what we are saying in their own little baby talk.  I know they are working on their language skills and it is interesting to watch.

We are solidly on to one nap a day, we had one day this week with two naps but that was the vaccine thing.  I am considering moving their bedtime to 7PM from 630PM but I will noodle over that for the next few days.  We don’t eat dinner together because by the time Jason gets home they are ready to read books, brush their teeth and turn in.  Moving bedtime to 7 won’t enable dinner together either and will just make Jason eat later so I don’t know if we will do that.  Piper is still awake right now and it is 7:27 but she is in her bed.  I am not sure why she is awake, I think Lela fell asleep right when we put them down around 6:40ish.  And no, they won’t go down seperately at this moment, they take great comfort in their sister being next to them even if she is awake and mumbling to herself.   Lela only took an hour nap today and Piper took a good 2 hour nap so that probably accounts for the restlessness she is experiencing.  We have a pretty solid routine and we stick to it.  As the girls grow it will be nice to have an evening routine that includes dinner with the family:)  But I am being patient I know we will get there in their own time.

Whew, how time flies. Wish I could say we were having fun but we weren’t:)  We have had some out of the box activities this week with a group story time and then a grand ol’ time with Daisy Poppins.  The girls are quiet observers in large group situations which is fine by me, I would much rather have them sitting with me than running about the room hopped up on sugar screaming (I am assuming the hopped up on sugar thing, the rest is fact:).

Although all the activities have been fun the girls have been fighting a fever all week and taking turns on who is the most pitiful.  Of course each little look is heartbreaking but I know we have to get through this week.  They got a vaccination and are experiencing some side effects.  Other than that we are doing okay but I think tomorrow we will take it easy and lounge around in the playroom.  I am sure having a temperature in 113 degree weather is no fun for them either.

Hope everyone had a happy fourth of July.  We knew the girls would be in bed by 630PM so we went out in the morning to the zoo.  It was overcast but still too hot for the animals, they were mostly sleeping.  We still had tons of fun and had a picnic by the giraffes.  The girls got some cool little lizards and there are some great shots of them “walking” them out to the car.

Just a few new things going on with the girls.  We have noticed that after about 5 days of one nap a day they start to get overtired and stop sleeping well.  So we are working through that, today Lela napped twice and Piper only once, we will see what tomorrow brings.  We are having an evening out on Saturday and Uncle JJ will be watching the girls so hopefully we will have it sorted out before then;)

In addition to the nap thing both the girls are starting to say more words, they will say “bye bye” to Elmo when he hangs up his phone, they will say wamellon, nana and a few other new words.  Piper has started to come up to me before she teetees and says diaper, then she makes a sad looking face and she teetees and then she is happy again.  They both have been coming to me when they want their diaper changed.  We have a potty and they will sit on it fully clothed but don’t like sitting on it bare cheeked.  They will say potty and can point to their potty and they love to sit on it with the lid down.  So we are thinking of doing some potty training, I am waiting on a book from the library and some cloth underpants that I ordered online.  Ahhh the adventures of parenting:)  Stay tuned.

Happy early Fourth of July.  Since Jason will be off tomorrow I imagine we will be playing with the girls on and off all day and I won’t have time or the desire to post.  All is well here, the biting and sibling mumbo jumbo continues but it is not bad, just something that happens.  The girls have taken to the one nap a day for two hours over the last few days.

The crowning jewel on this change is that they don’t get up UNTIL 7AM!  Okay so for those of you not in the loop that is the latest that the girls have ever slept except for the time when they were just little itty bitty babies that slept all the time.  It is a true luxury!  I probably should get up so that I can get something done before they wake up but I have been blissfully lounging in bed until they are happily emptying the dishwasher with their daddy.  As for their daddy he has been able to get up and shower and get dressed all before the little ones make a peep.

We are going to the pediatrician today for our 18 month checkup.  I don’t expect any real surprises and a good report. I think they have grown a couple inches but we will have that confirmed today.  Other than that no major plans for the rest of the day and who knows what tomorrow will bring.  If the weather is mild like it is today, Jason might find himself at the zoo with all his girls.  Happy Fourth of July!