Sunday, July 31, 2011

we have walkers!!

Today was the day!  We officially have walkers!! Yes, they will still crawl, but they prefer to walk.  They know how to stand up without holding on to anything, so they will walk first all around the house, run into something and fall.  I think I need to get them helmets!

They are also so proud of themselves!  They have the biggest smiles on their faces when they stand up and get ready to walk!  They love when Ian and I get all excited and cheer them on!  They get a confidence boost. 

Now comes the expensive part of walking.  Buying shoes :(.  Infant shoes are minimum 12 dollars.  Yes, to everyone that might not be a lot, but it is when you have 2 children you are buying for, when you are living on one income, and when you know you will have to buy new ones within a month.  If anyone knows of a cheap place to buy shoes I would really appreciate it.  I did get a pair from payless for 3 dollars (same kind they sell at target for 14 dollars.)

Hope everyone has a good night.  All of August will be posts from the past.  I know a lot of people who are having twins soon, so the posts will be about tips, advice, and experiences of raising twins during the first year of life!

Love,
  Jacquelyn

Monday, July 25, 2011

must be easy having one child!

I love having twins, I love my two baby girls.  But there are days where I think it, it must be easier to just have one.  the girls are just getting over a virus, but one had it and when it was done, the other one got it.  So I had 2 weeks of sleepless nights instead of just one. 

Teething- Their teeth have been coming in a week apart.  WHY can't they come in at the same time?  So one of the girls will get 2 teeth, then a week later the other one will get 2 teeth.

Its double everything in my household in stead of just one, but I wouldn't trade it for the world! Its just one of those nights where I need to vent!

I love my girls and they are very well behaved girls, I am not being biased because they are my children, but truthfully they are very good, but I am not the most lenient (sp?) mom.  We don't let them get away with things.  today, we were out all day shopping with titi, and they did so well.  I am very lucky that I can take the girls out to a restaurant and they are going to behave.  Everyone has warned me that I would never be able to take them to restaurants, but we have a routine of making sure we order their food right away and that we have toys and snacks to distract them.  I also do not get out of the house a lot by myself with them so they love to look around and see all the people.  they laugh at everyone who walks past them, and they say hi to everyone!  I love it! 

Weighing the good with the bad. Yes there are days where I want to pull my hair out, curl up in a ball and just cry, and there are times I have to give myself time outs.  If I just had one the house would be spotless, I would have time to shower, I would have time to take a nap instead of cleaning the house, but at the end of the day when they cuddle with my husband and I and drink their bottles I can't imagine my life without them, and i couldn't imagine my life without all the chaos!  When we go and check on them before we go to bed and see them sleepng I get teary- eyed every time.  Ian and I sit together and tell each other every night that those girls have been the best gifts in our lives,and instead of our relationship getting pushed aside, they have made Ian and I's relationship stronger.  We are stronger because we want the girls to see the love that we have for one another.

Newborn picture!

3 months!

3 months!

Family picture on vacation 1 1/2 weeks ago, they refused to keep their flower in so their hair is all over the place!

They are our life, our strength, our motivation, our love, and forever our baby girls!  At the end of the day when the storm is calm and we can sit down for a moment, we know God has given us a challenge, but in the long run He has rewarded us.  We get double the kisses, double the hugs, double the laughter, and double the joy, which out-weigh double the challenges!  We would welcome twins again if we were blessed, but not for a couple years! But we would welcome just one too!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Back-tracking

FYI-  I will be back-tracking on the blog.  There is so much I want to share about how we got to this point, and about the girls from infant to now.  I also will post pics of them when they are newborns to show you all how much they have thrived and changed!  Can't wait to share our experiences and open our lives up to you!!  ENJOY!

Love,
  Jacquelyn

tips part 2!

Ok, sorry I have been away.  Zoey decided to start regressing at night, most likely due to vacation.  The beach is a place my husband and I absolutely love.  We really wanted the girls to like it.  did they?  Well they did not like it the first two days, then they got used to it a little during the middle of the week, they love it by the end of the week and of course it was time to leave :(.

1.) Pool at the house-  We were lucky to be able to be at a house that was oceanfront with a private pool.  This pool definitely came in handy.  When we first took the girls to the beach and put them on a blanket, they were ok, but the minute any part of their body touched the sand or ocean, they screamed.  Yes the beach can be scary, they never touched sand, and the waves crashing can be a little scary.  So Ian and I decided not to force it and we would go to the pool.  They LOVED the pool, thank goodness!  So we were able to hang out outside and still enjoy they weather in OBX.  We also had a ton of help from family!  We each took turns going to the beach and relaxing!

2.) baby pool on the beach-  I got a lot of pointers from previous family and friends with infants about this.  GREAT thing to do!  My sister brought a little inflatable pool and we filled it will some salt water.  The girls actually enjoyed this a lot.  We put it under canopy to keep them out of the sun and they played with all their sand toys in it.

3.) Stroller to the beach-  We did not bring the pack and play to the beach or a baby tent for them to sleep in.  We would bring the stroller down to the beach and have them nap in it.  They did very well and took two naps in it.  Towards the end of the week when they started getting used to the sand, we put them on the blanket. But with this there are many different things you could do.  We just didn't want to be stuck in the house on vacation.

4.) Music-  When we put the girls to bed, they always have a cd playing.  We continued to do this at the beach and it worked.  Now my family is crazy!! When we are on vacation we have a fun time!  So I knew when the girls went to bed, I had to play music to drown out all the noise.  Highly recommend if you are going with a big group and planning on staying up late!

Everyone has asked me:  Did their schedule get ruined.  Well that was one thing my husband and I had a hard time trying to figure out if we should keep the same there as it is at home.  We have the girls on a very tight schedule, because we two the same age, if they weren't on the same schedule I would get nothing done and it would just be a mad house here.  So we decided to try and keep the schedule the same as much as we could besides the naps, which were done at the beach instead of the crib.  The girls did very well except for the fact of them getting up at 6:30am instead of their normal time (7:30am), but that is ok, because we wanted to get to the beach early.

Overall vacation we feel was a success!!!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Tips on taking twins on a beach vacation!

Ok, so we went to OBX for a week.  We did not know how the girls were going to do with a 12 hour car ride and the beach in general.  Here are some tips on taking toddlers on a vacation.

1) Packing- Oh My Goodness!! Let me just say there is so much stuff you have to take for multiples... 2 pack and plays, two bumbos (or feeding seats depending on what you have), pretty much two of everything, and then try to fit it all in an SUV.  The worst was packing their clothes-  they have more clothes than me, most are from family and especially their titi (Auntie Rachel).  They have so many cute clothes I didn't know what to pack, so I just threw all their dresses they have in the suitcase.  The girls and I shared one suitcase to have more room in the car.  They ended up with 3/4 of the suitcase and I only had 1/3 of it. Thats not even all- double stroller, beach toys, pool floaties, husband's bag, beach chairs and umbrella, cooler, bottles, cups, snacks, sheets, towels, etc...

2) Toys- I had a rubbermaid and packed a lot of their toys so that they had something very familiar at a not so familiar house.  They did so well with the house because we tried to make it as comfortable for them as we could.  We had blankets from home, baby einstein movies, and their toys.

3) toys for the back seat- I packed to bags of small toys for the backseat, so if they were unhappy in their car seat, I would hand them a toy.  They would play with it for a couple minutes and then get bored, and I would switch it out.  this was a big plus and I highly recommend it.  I also went the dollar store and target in the dollar section and bought cheap little toys, so that it was something new and they played with it a little longer than the toys they play with often at home.

4) portable DVD player-  So my children absolutely hate watching t.v.  I am not complaining about this except when all I would like is 5 minutes to get something small done around the house,  they will not watch anything, except 5 minutes, maybe, of baby einstein but that is asking a lot!  So we decided lets test out a dual screen portable dvd player for the car.  It was a big SUCCESS!!  We only played it once on the way down (we drove through the night), and twice on the way back (we drove during the day).  They loved it, especially Mickey Mouse clubhouse dvd! So we decided when we got home we would see if they would watch it in the house, the outcome UNSUCCESSFUL!  o well thats ok, I would rather get nothing done than have my children sit in front of the tv all day.

5) special lovies-  We made sure to bring the girls special blankets, lovies, and Zoey's duck bink (Harly sucks her thumb).  we knew they would have a hard time the first night in a bedroom they did not know, so we wanted to make sure they had everything with them that they would have in their cribs at home.  They screamed for about 5 minutes, then Uncle Schmoe went in to comfort them for a minute.  They cried for anouther 5 minutes and then fell asleep.  We made sure to put the pack and plays right now to each other.  When we went in to check on them they were both up against the side of the pack and plays so their heads were almost touching!  It was so cute and made mommy get teary eyed.  I love that they have this special bond with one another!  Highly recommend bringing a monitor with you so you can go to other areas of the house and still know that you can get them if they need you by listening to the monitor.

This is kind of a long post and I am still not done with the tips...Tomorrow I will give more tips regarding the beach and when one child does not like it and the other does.

See you then, Good night

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Vacation= Success!!

We just returned home from vacation in OBX! It was a great week with family and friends!!  It was beautiful, hot, and perfect.  The girls did very well!  The first two days were not a big success, but by the middle of the week they were loving the beach!

I will be giving advice on traveling with multiples, and being away from their own home tomorrow so stay tuned....

Love,
  Jacquelyn