Our Thanksgiving adventure

For thanksgiving we went to Philadelphia.  My sister is pregnant and not allowed to travel anymore because she is due any day.  The girls did awesome traveling.  We drove to Pittsburgh and stopped at Ian's best friend's house to give the girls a break.  After dinner, we got back on the road.  No crying at all from the girls!  We arrived in Philly around 11pm.  And the girls woke up and got a second wind.  They didn't go back to bed til almost 1am.  Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving.  My mom did all the cooking and it was delicious.  We went to Uncle Ryan's family's house for desert.  It was very nice seeing everyone! 

My mom, sister, and I went black Friday shopping at midnight (we were hoping we could put my sister into labor, but it didn't work, she is still preggers!)  We hit three stores and it actually was pretty calm.  We didn't wait in any lines, and when we checked out at each store it was only a 5-10 minute wait.  We got home at 3:30am.  the men were in charge of the babies in the morning so we could sleep in!

Friday- My extended family came to Rachel and Ryan's house for a visit.  It was so nice to see them!  We don't get to see them often, but when we do, it is a lot of fun!  The girls had a lot of fun.  They loved their gifts and had a picnic with Mari.  They love to dance too.  They dance 24/7, at home, on car rides.  So they had a little dance party that night (video will be posted on another post)!

Saturday- we hung out in the morning.  Ian, the girls, and I had a photo shoot for xmas cards in the backyard.  We then went to a little town with shops to let the girls run around before we hit the road.  It is a 7 hour drive, so we were preparing for a bad drive home.  But to my surprise, once again the girls did awesome.  They were up for 5 of the 8 hours (we took an hour break for dinner).  The whole 5 hours they were awake, they played with their toys, watched blues clues, danced, and then daddy climbed in the back and they were laughing hysterically and having a great time with him!

It was a successful trip!

Turkey carving time

My best friend!  Don't mind our looks, we were still getting ready!

kids should be in bed, attempting to get them in their pjs.  I have multiple pics of Zoey determined to get uncle ryan up to play with her!

Playing with their new phones nani got them on black friday

talking on the phone to Grandma Didi, then cousin Jackson!

Having a picnic with cousin Mari! Thank you Seaz family for these, they love them!

The men hanging out!

Relaxing before dinner

My parents and Uncle Riqui, not sure where Aunt Sharon went.

Girls testing out Gavin's toys before he arrives!

Thanksgiving

This post is coming soon along with a couple other great ones that I am excited to blog about! It has been crazy around here with traveling and waiting on my nephew to arrive.  I will try to get at least one or two up tomorrow!  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we sure did!!

Sissy!

For the past couple weeks, the girls have been calling each other sissy!  I love it!  If they don't see one another, they walk around going "sissy" til they find her.  If one wakes up from nap earlier than the other, they point and say sissy, and try to go to her crib to wake her up.  Thats when I block it!  It is just adorable!  I will try to get a video of it to show you all, but every time i pull it out they stop!  I have tried hiding it, turning it on and walking in on them talking to each other and saying sissy, but they always know!

Harly was crying the other day, so I told her to go get her juice in the kitchen.  She cried all the way to her juice cup, when Zoey saw she wasn't in the playroom, she kept saying sissy and searching for her. 

when one of them cries, they get a concerned look on their face and say sissy and tries to give hugs and kisses.

Zoey woke up early the other day.  I pulled her out and brought her to the living room.  She got off the couch and walked all the way to her room, opened the door and said sissy, sissy, sissy!

Tonight, Harly decided to not listen to mommy and daddy and she stood on the couch.  Zoey looked at me then daddy and said, "sissy, pointed to Harly then said sit!"

It is adorable, but it also makes me cry.  They are growing up too fast for me.  I feel like each stage flies by.  I love that they love each other.  I love their little moments where they just sit and talk to each other.  they play peek a boo with each other and laugh hysterically, they kiss and hug each other, and they cuddle together!

A tradition that we will keep going with them is:  Every night we gives kisses and hugs to mommy and daddy, then we have them kiss and hug each other!

I will try to get a video of it up!

18 month old check up

Harly                                                                                                    Zoey
Height: 31"                                                                                          Height: 31 1/4"
Weight: 24lbs                                                                                      Weight: 23.10lbs
(Harly weighs a lil under, she wouldn't give up her lovey or my hand, and she was wiggling all over so they couldn't get an accurate weight)

Tuesday was the girls 18 month checkup.  It was a rough, and traumatizing morning for two kids.  I didn't think the girls would remember the doctors, but boy was I wrong.  The minute we walked into the doctors office, Harly had a break down.  She cried the whole visit.  It was a battle to get her weight, height, and head circumference.  She also would not let the doctor touch her.  Zoey did pretty well, but she was scared and nervous, especially when she saw her sister so upset.

Everything looked good.  The girls are doing very well.  They still are not saying as many words as she would like, but they understand everything we say ( they learn one new word a day).  She is very pleased with that.  She also said again, it is because twins have their own little language.  Its true, they will sit and babble to each other and carry on a full conversation.  they will laugh at what each other is saying, its cute!

The girls got their flu shot and on top of it had to get their blood drawn.  I knew that this day would come.  they were suppose to do it at the one year appt, but wanted to hold it off.  Well today was the day.  As a nurse I knew what to expect, but it is still hard when it is your own child.  Zoey got poked three times, they could not get her vein, so unfortunately she has to do it again in one month.  Harly did very well, she screamed bloody murder, but it took them 3 seconds and she was done.  they got her vein on the first try.  She was fine the minute they put the bandaid on and when mommy gave them both a snack!

Zoey has been having issues the past month will illnesses and just not herself.  We are starting her back on two mecidations she was on during the first year of her life.  Hopefully this helps her and gives us back our happy, bubbly, full of energy baby!

After their doctors visit, they got Chipotle for everything they went through! ( they love chipotle!)

Umbilical hernias

Official results: No surgery for the girls!!!!!!

 When the girls were born, everything looked great. They were healthy, no signs of complications with any organs, they just lost a lot of weight and were tube fed for a little while.  Well we brought the girls home and everything was going well.  They lost their cords a couple weeks later, and were doing great eating.  One day, Ian and I discovered their belly buttons about the size of a ping pong ball.  We were still going in for weight checks, so we had an appointment in two days. 

The girls had umblicial hernias.  Common in premies and in girls more than boys.  Their hernias kept growing too.  They were very large for a couple months.  They didn't go down into regular belly buttons until the girls were almost 10 months old.

They have had normal belly buttons since they turned one, but they still weren't fully closed.  Yesterday was the day!  They are officially closed!  We are so happy!

These two pics are when the hernias were still on the smaller size, they got a little bigger than this.

 They started going away around 7 months, they were normal belly buttons around 9-10 months

fraternal vs identical

We get a lot of people asking us if the girls are identical or fraternal.  Truth: we have no idea!  And the reason we don't know is:

When I got pregnant, there were a lot of ifs', and whys', if I would be able to keep baby B, why one baby was doing great and one wasn't, if I conceived them a two different times.  From the looks of it, my midwife, and doctor said fraternal twins.  We kept it all 9 months as fraternal twins.

Well, the day of my delivery came.  When the girls were born and they looked at the placentas, and babies.  They changed their mind.  They said the girls were identical.

Between the midwife, OB doctor, neonatologists, and one of the best pediatricians in the state, they all are pretty sure the girls were identical.  It is very rare, but you can have identical twins in one sac, and then they can split into two sacs, and another placenta can develop. We had all the doctors explain this to us.  Crazy right?!?

Why we don't know for sure:  Zoey's placenta stopped working so they could not test it.  Because her placenta did not work, they would have to do a blood test.  Our insurance did not cover the blood test and it would have cost us 300 dollars.

So yes, we do not know.  Are there days where we would love to know?  yes, but no matter if they are identical or not, we will love them just as much.  There is nothing to really tell them apart.  They look alike, there is nothing significant.  They each have their own personalities though.  The good thing is, we could always tell them apart, because one had more hair than the other.  So it was nice, we never had to put anything on them.  Now, there are definitely times we mix them up, then we will look at them for a minute and be like, " no wonder you weren't listening to us, we were calling the wrong name!"

We don't really care about finding out because we will treat them the same, we will never compare them to each other, we will let them be their own unique individual person. And most important, we will always love them no matter what!

we love giving each other kisses and hugs!

Tantrums...

O M Goodness! The tantrums have started in this household! I have tried many things.  This is one thing I will not tolerate in my house, cause I will go insane!  Some people may not like what I do, but everyone has their own views!

When the girls throw tantrums it is either because one has a toy the other one wants, they don't like what meal or snack I made them, or because they don't like what outfit or shoes I picked for them.

Like I said, these tantrums are not allowed in my house.  When they start to throw a tantrum I get to their level and tell them to stop crying and tell me what they want, then give them mommy's explanation on why they can't have it, or what they did that was bad.  Whether the explanation is: you have to share with sissy, this is the meal mommy made (it is usually the veggies, they are on a green bean kick right now and only want those and no other veggies!), or you need this outfit, you can't go out naked (yes, they are in the "I don't want to wear clothes stage". 

A lot of moms have told me to leave the room and let them throw the tantrum, they will stop at some point.  I can't do that, I have tried it and can't handle it.  Especially if both of them are throwing a tantrum, I want to throw one with them.

My way works for me and the girls.  It may work for you or it may not.  The girls understand everything.  They understand my simple explanations. It just works!  A lot of people think that I am comforting them and letting them get away with it.  I am not, they don't get picked up and cuddled.  After it is over and done with, they listen, they wait their turn for the toy, they usually eat the meal I made them, and they put the outfit or shoes on.

Now when the girls are older and can actually communicate using words (right now they can't tell me why they are upset, only way is to cry), my technique may change.  If they are throwing a tantrum for no good reason, if they did something wrong, or if they want a toy they can't have because sissy is playing with it; then they can go to their room or time-out until they calm down and can use their words.

the tantrums have been less and less everyday! YAY!!

From day 1, we have also given the girls choices.  If we have an outfit that came in two different colors, the girls pick what color they want to wear.  Choices have worked well in our household and we will continue to give the girls choices not just with clothing.

Perks

There are some awesome perks with my hubby's job.  This one is a great one.  Ian gets a company car for work.  a brand new car, one made for him.  He gets to pick the exterior color and interior color.  No car payment, and no insurance payment for the car.  So just one insurance payment for the my suv.  He drove his last car for 2 1/2 years, and now has a new one that he will drive for only a couple years. 

His new car is a 2012 Ford Fusion!

Johnson and Johnson

Why I love our play group, they keep you up to date on everything!  So one of the ladies posted a link regarding Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo.  Because not only is this blog about my children, and for parents going through the stages I am going through with my children, but I also like to keep the parents updated on important information that has to do with their children.

When I got pregnant, my husband and I wanted to use all natural products on the girls, and start eating better, and live a better lifestyle.  I don't use this shampoo but I know people who use these products, so please check your bottles.  From one parent to another!

Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo have been putting a carcinogen in their shampoo that we use on our children.  This company has been selling baby shampoos to other countries without this chemical in it, but not to the U.S. and some others.  When asked about this, the company's response was, "we are pashing those out."  Really phasing them out, why don't you just remove them from the shelves?  That is not a good enough answer.

This is an article regarding the issue: Claims
This one is from safe cosmetics campaign on removing these products: baby's tub still toxic
Also, Parenting magazine and parents.com just came out with an article about this.

Hope this helps in boycotting Johnson and Johnson til they take this chemical out of baby products.  We, parents, need to protect our children!

Life Changing

We went to one of Ian's friend's wedding tonight in Pittsburgh.  Ian and Marko have known each other since Preschool.  I can see why they are best friends, because they are the most genuine, care free, and sincere people you will ever meet.  Marko is an amazing person, and we are so blessed to call him one of our friends.

Well tonight was the first time I met his father, and he was the first stranger ever to make me cry (in a good way.) Ian introduced me to him, and he was so excited to meet me.  He was telling me about how much he loved Ian like his own.  His nickname for Ian was "Smiley" growing up.  It is the perfect nickname for him.  For those of you that don't know my husband, he always has a smile on his face, and is always positive.  My husband is the most carefree, laid-back, and happiest person you will ever meet!  he doesn't give a sh*t what people think about him, and I love that (I wish I could be more like him!)  It was awesome hearing about how much he adored my husband, and how much he adored me without even knowing me (its nice to know my hubby and his friends talk highly of me!)

He was asking about the girls and how they were.  He asked me if it was life changing.  I stated that it has changed my life and I loved it.  He said I disagree.  I was confused at first, but then he said you life doesn't change, your lifestyle changes.  I had to think for a moment, then I realized how right he was.  You life doesn't change, just your lifestyle.  Instead of going to the store with nothing, you have to bring half your stuff in the house (diaper bag, stroller, toys...).  It is so true!  Everything he told me tongiht was dead on.  I never thought of life the way he described it, but it was all right!

Marko's dad makes you feel so comfortable.  He is probably the most genuine and inspirational person you will ever meet.  He is someone you want with you 24/7.  He met me for the first time tonight, and he has never met my children, but he made me feel like I was the best mom, and talked so highly of my children and how he knows they are going to be great kids, by the parents they have.

So to Marko's dad-  thank you!  Thank you for making me cry, thank you for showing me how lucky I am to have not only an awesome husband, but an amazing father.  thank you for you words of encouragement, and the strength you have given me just by talking to you for 10 minutes.  Your words are so inspiring and I hope I can be more like you and have a positive outlook on life.  thank you for reminding me about Ian and how I have found a great man.  I promised you tonight that I would love him forever and with all my heart, you asked me to take good care of him because you love him and he is a good man; I promise you I will.  And now the tears come....

I also love how much Ian loves him.  He has told me over and over again how awesome Marko's dad is and it is all true.  I am so glad my husband is apart of this family.  I wish all of you could meet this great man, because your life would change.  He needs to be a motivational speaker!  Its also funny that when you bring up his name everyone's face lights up, you won't hear one bad thing about this person!  I hope I can be like this, and have this kind of impact of people, and my childrens friends!