We have been invaded by the worst of all invaders. Horrible aliens from the planet Nonap have descended and taken over my darling daughters.
Natalie and Abigail, who previously slept 2-3 hours every afternoon have now decided that they are too busy to nap. They have refused to sleep several afternoon this week. Wait, it's only Wednesday! Actually, they only fell asleep on Monday - the one day I needed to get them up at 3:45 so we could have a play date with Walker and Bean.
This behavior started a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was just an anomaly. But, it's now becoming a trend. A very untrendy trend. I can hear them in their room talking and laughing and running back and forth in their beds. The only up side is that they are pretty content to play in their beds for about two hours, so at least I get a little break.
If anyone knows how to exorcise the Nonapians, please let me know!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Now I Know My ABC's
Well, not quite, but we can repeat them!
Friday, Ben was reading "Pooh's ABC's" to Natalie and suddenly as he was saying each letter, she started to repeat the letters after him! Ben went through the whole alphabet, then called me and Nanny in so I could witness it too! Now, you too, can see the marvel of the ABC's. Keep in mind, this is round two so she was getting silly by the end. But Ben swears she repeated every letter the first time.
After showing off again for Poppy, Abby decided to join the fun and started repeating the letters too.
Now, I am fully aware that there are scores of two-year-olds who can not only repeat the ABC's but recite them all alone and sing the little "Now I Know" part too. However, considering that 2 months ago, Natalie and Abby barely had 20 words, every bit of repetition and vocal exercise is pretty exciting. It's all apart of their language explosion. And every day seems to bring something new. On Friday, Abby added another new word without any prompting and out of the blue. Aunt Susie sent the cutest Hello Kitty book bags with textured Hello Kitty faces on them. Abby was rubbing it and said, "soft, soft". She's also using great sentence babbles in which she seems to babble partly and fill in parts with words she knows and can say. So, it sounds like, "babble, babble George, babble, babble, down, babble". Natalie is also starting to use more jargon type sentences. Previously, she has been a one or two word phrase kind of gal. But, she is really stepping that up.
This is very exciting news for us. The ABC song is just around the corner!
Friday, Ben was reading "Pooh's ABC's" to Natalie and suddenly as he was saying each letter, she started to repeat the letters after him! Ben went through the whole alphabet, then called me and Nanny in so I could witness it too! Now, you too, can see the marvel of the ABC's. Keep in mind, this is round two so she was getting silly by the end. But Ben swears she repeated every letter the first time.
After showing off again for Poppy, Abby decided to join the fun and started repeating the letters too.
Now, I am fully aware that there are scores of two-year-olds who can not only repeat the ABC's but recite them all alone and sing the little "Now I Know" part too. However, considering that 2 months ago, Natalie and Abby barely had 20 words, every bit of repetition and vocal exercise is pretty exciting. It's all apart of their language explosion. And every day seems to bring something new. On Friday, Abby added another new word without any prompting and out of the blue. Aunt Susie sent the cutest Hello Kitty book bags with textured Hello Kitty faces on them. Abby was rubbing it and said, "soft, soft". She's also using great sentence babbles in which she seems to babble partly and fill in parts with words she knows and can say. So, it sounds like, "babble, babble George, babble, babble, down, babble". Natalie is also starting to use more jargon type sentences. Previously, she has been a one or two word phrase kind of gal. But, she is really stepping that up.
This is very exciting news for us. The ABC song is just around the corner!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Happy Adjusted Birthday!
I started this post on August 20th - my original due date - and the girls official "two year" birthday. I thought it would be appropriate to do a little developmental update.
Weight
When I started this August 20, there was good news and bad news. Today - the news is much better. Natalie had completely stalled on her weight gain. She hovered at 21#14-15 oz for for weeks. She just would not gain weight. Finally, this past week she finally jumped the 22 lb mark. Yesterday, she weighed in at 22# 4.5 oz. She's enough over 22 lbs that I'm hopeful she will maintain it and not drop below it again.
Abby has been gaining well the past few weeks and this has really pulled ahead of Natalie. She is now 22#13oz. She also has the cutest little pokey belly:-)
At these weights, the girls are just on the growth charts now - at 3%. Yea 3%!!!! They are about 33-34 inches tall which makes them about 8% on the height charts. To me, they seem pretty good in height. When I see them with other kids, they don't look that short.
And, in related news...
Food
*sigh* On the bright side, the girls are drinking their milk really well. They finish a lot of their bottles now. It's kind-of amazing. I really thought I would never see the day when they would drink 7-8 oz on a regular basis (something many 9 mth olds do easily). They probably get 26-30 ounces a day. That's a bit more than recommended for "normal" kids - 20-24 ounces of lowfat milk. My girls' milk is alost 30 calories an ounce. However, if you do the math, at 26 ounces, that is still only 780 calories a day. They need at least 1000 calories to maintain. Our ped wants them to get 1200. So, they need 400 more calories a day from food.
This is where we run into problems. It doesn't seem to me that they get that much. For instance: today, they ate the following:
Breakfast: a bite or two of sausage; maybe a bite of egg; grapes - food rejected: the rest of the sausage and eggs and buttered toast
Lunch: a bite or two of whole wheat pasta with basil pesto sauce; 1/2-3/4 of a chicken nugget (Abby - I think Natalie threw hers on the floor) - rejected: most of the pasta and the nuggets - Natalie would chew her food, then spit it on the floor - until they dumped all their pasta on the table.
Dinner: two or three small pieces of grilled chicken; another bite of pasta, one or two green beans (Natalie again would chew the beans and spit them out. Abby did the same with her chicken.) Rejected: all of the above. Our only success: 6-8 bites of frozen chocolate milkshake from McDonalds.
So, other than the milkshake, do you think they had 400 calories?
Our other food dilemma is their mealtime behavior. Spitting food out, dropping it on the floor, pouring out their food on the table. With any other child, I would remove the food the second they start playing with it. But, how to you take food away from a kid you are trying to conjole into eating it? If anyone has any ideas, feel free to comment.
Now on to happier subjects...
Verbal
Natalie and Abby have made tremendous progress. I think they have somewhere between 50 and 60 words - with Abby having a few more than Natalie. They are using several two word phrases mostly with "more" - "more...water, soup, etc." and "more please". They also use a lot of possessives. "Abby's ...shoes, Elmo,..." "NaNa's shoes,...", "Mommy's shoes" (clearly shoes are a favorite). Abby has a few more advanced phrases, "This is ....Mommy's shoes, Abby's Elmo, NaNa's Elmo". She also uses some directional words, "in, out, off" Natalie has just started using them as well, though not as often as Abby. They both are very good with "up" and "down", especially as in, "mommy up, up, up, up, up".
They can name a number of body parts: eye, nose, ear, teeth, elbow, knee, arm, head, back, mouth and can point to just about every other part: shoulder, forehead, chin, cheek, bottom, vagina, feet, toes, hand, belly, bellybutton, hair, tongue, leg. Are there any other parts left?!
According to my little chart, they are actually on target now for 24 months. Their speech therapist says that at 24 months they should have 50-250 words. So, the good news is if they were tested now, they wouldn't qualify. They are catching up and doing great!
Comprehension wise, of course, they understand almost everything. They follow directions very well (when they want to). Failure to follow through is definately a lack of desire vs. lack of comprehension.
Cognitive, Fine Motor and Gross Motor
These seem to overlap a lot on my chart, so they will here as well.
They are doing very well with stairs - up and down. We encourage them to hold on with only one hand (helps truck support). They are still generally doing one foot at a time (put one foot down, put other foot down - start over) vs one foot on each step. I'm actually very okay with this. It seems much safer to me!
Both girls, and especially Natalie, are little monkeys. They will climb on anything - and try to turn anything into something to climb. They now both climb up the outside on their cribs, but thankfully, not OUT of the cribs yet. Natalie likes to "hang". She grabs hold of something, then pulls her feet up in a pike position. It's really quite a feat. Try it sometime. She is quite strong (for someone so little) and has pretty good ab muscles.
They both love to jump. Natalie has been jumping and getting both feet off the ground for a while. Abby just started getting off the ground last week. They can walk backwards, run (all the time), and have started jumping off the bed into my arms. They can also walk on a balance beam type object (such as the parking beams, a 4x4, or the 4-6 inch beams that often surround play areas). Sometimes they need help with a more narrow one, but if it's about 6 inches, they can do it themselves. Spinning is also a favorite activity. It's pretty funny to watch. Usually they put one arm up, bent at the elbow. I guess it's for balance. They look like waiters spinning around with imaginary trays.
The only main thing we are working towards in jumping off the bottom step. I guess hopping on one foot is also next.
Fine motor wise - they can build towers of 6 or more blocks (Natalie is better at this - or willing to sit still long enough to do it). They will even use two different kinds of blocks: big block, big block, small block, small block, big block. They turn pages in books, scribble, and have started enjoying stickers, although sometimes they have a hard time getting them off their fingers. They are showing some variation in their scribbling: circular, horizontal and vertical, but I can't tell if it's purposeful or luck from spastic and quick scribbles. We have worked on puzzles and they have several they are good at. They are very good at matching one object to another: in puzzles - finding the spot where the cat goes based on the picture, or in a book, - finding a duck on one side of the page that matches the duck on the other. We also play a "Word Bingo" game. They have large cards with 9 pictures. I hold up a little card, and if they have the picture, they get the card to cover it up. (As they get older, we will play and obviously, whoever fills in their card, wins.) They match the pictures easily, although aren't always willing to leave the card on top of the picture.
I think they have fairly good fine, fine motor skills. One of their favorite activities is to take popcorn kernels (unpopped) and put them in a small-mouthed bottle. They also like putting coins in a piggy bank. There are some areas they need work. They don't use their hands together to solve some tasks. For instance, with stickers, if the sticker gets stuck on a finger on their right hand, they don't use their left hand to take it off. They also don't hold down paper with one hand to color with the other.
Self Help
Natalie and Abigail are very independent. They love to to things for themselves like steps, eating, throwing away their diapers. That is the cutest thing, by the way. They take their diapers and throw them over the gate by the trash can. They love it. They6 come back and ask, "more?".
They have also become very helpful. They love to throw things away and are getting better at putting away their toys, both when asked and even when they aren't asked. They are very helpful when it comes to diaper time. They will fetch diapers, wipes and diaper cream. A few times Abby has tried to help me vacuum the floor with my little sweeper machine. Natalie likes to help Ben open the mail. They both like to help clean up spills with a towel and will "clean" the slide, floor, or whatever, when handed a wipe. They also like to try to wipe their own faces and hands. In the bath, they are very cute. They wash each other's backs and hair.
Natalie and Abby are also doing very well in the clothes department. They are quite adept at taking OFF their clothes, much to our dismay. I often find them after naps or in the morning missing pants or pajamas. Thank goodness for onesies! They work hard at putting on their pants and are sometimes mostly successful. They manage to get shirts around their necks, but arm holes are still baffling. Shoes, however, are another story. A few days ago, Natalie put on both of her shoes all by herself. They were sandals with velcro straps. She undid the straps to get them on and then closed the straps once they were on. She even had them on the right feet, but I think that was more luck than anything else.
Abby also loves her shoes, and they often run around with one shoe on. They both do very well with the "croc" shoes which they can slip on and off easily.
and finally, Social/Emotional
One of the great things about twins is that they entertain each other. Natalie and Abby are very good independent players. They both play with each other, and will engage in their own separate activities. They are very, very busy. Natalie seems to have a longer attention span than Abby for most things and will sit and work on a task for "a while". I'm honestly not sure what "a while" is for a two year old, but it seems like a good amount of time to me. Some of the sites I checked say 15 minutes, and Natalie will definately do that. The only thing I have seen that really hold Abby's attention is a book. She loves books. She has added the verb "read" to her vocab and uses it frequently. With great enthusiasm and demand. Actually sometimes, it's a little whiny. So, we are working very hard on only responding to her asking nicely and in a normal voice. She does get a little whiny and demanding at times. On the other hand, when she looks at you with pleading eyes and says and signs, "pease", it's just adorable and melts your heart.
Natalie and Abby do a lot of their best playing in their beds. They are SO funny. I can often hear them running back in forth in their, laughing and talking. They are fond of throwing all their crib items from one crib to the other. Usually, everything ends up in Natalie's bed, but today I found everything in Abby's bed.
Other favorite toys include their toy food, their babies, and balls. They also like pushing their stroller, or in Abby's case, picking it up and putting it on the ottoman and big chair. Chasing each other, peek-a-boo, and tormenting the cat are also fun. They also have a fisher price farm that they like to play with as well.
SO, if you are still reading, congratulations. I assure you we are not nearly as narcissistic as the length of this post would suggest. I really do know that most people could care less about all these little details. But, I honestly do this for us as much as for anyone else. It's a great way to help me remember all the stuff they do and I don't have to write it down in multiple places. It's also my hope that one day Natalie and Abby will read this and have a record of all the little things they did.
I actually have a few things to say about their personalities and individual favorites, but this is already ridiculously long and it's 1:20am.
Nite-nite:-)
Weight
When I started this August 20, there was good news and bad news. Today - the news is much better. Natalie had completely stalled on her weight gain. She hovered at 21#14-15 oz for for weeks. She just would not gain weight. Finally, this past week she finally jumped the 22 lb mark. Yesterday, she weighed in at 22# 4.5 oz. She's enough over 22 lbs that I'm hopeful she will maintain it and not drop below it again.
Abby has been gaining well the past few weeks and this has really pulled ahead of Natalie. She is now 22#13oz. She also has the cutest little pokey belly:-)
At these weights, the girls are just on the growth charts now - at 3%. Yea 3%!!!! They are about 33-34 inches tall which makes them about 8% on the height charts. To me, they seem pretty good in height. When I see them with other kids, they don't look that short.
And, in related news...
Food
*sigh* On the bright side, the girls are drinking their milk really well. They finish a lot of their bottles now. It's kind-of amazing. I really thought I would never see the day when they would drink 7-8 oz on a regular basis (something many 9 mth olds do easily). They probably get 26-30 ounces a day. That's a bit more than recommended for "normal" kids - 20-24 ounces of lowfat milk. My girls' milk is alost 30 calories an ounce. However, if you do the math, at 26 ounces, that is still only 780 calories a day. They need at least 1000 calories to maintain. Our ped wants them to get 1200. So, they need 400 more calories a day from food.
This is where we run into problems. It doesn't seem to me that they get that much. For instance: today, they ate the following:
Breakfast: a bite or two of sausage; maybe a bite of egg; grapes - food rejected: the rest of the sausage and eggs and buttered toast
Lunch: a bite or two of whole wheat pasta with basil pesto sauce; 1/2-3/4 of a chicken nugget (Abby - I think Natalie threw hers on the floor) - rejected: most of the pasta and the nuggets - Natalie would chew her food, then spit it on the floor - until they dumped all their pasta on the table.
Dinner: two or three small pieces of grilled chicken; another bite of pasta, one or two green beans (Natalie again would chew the beans and spit them out. Abby did the same with her chicken.) Rejected: all of the above. Our only success: 6-8 bites of frozen chocolate milkshake from McDonalds.
So, other than the milkshake, do you think they had 400 calories?
Our other food dilemma is their mealtime behavior. Spitting food out, dropping it on the floor, pouring out their food on the table. With any other child, I would remove the food the second they start playing with it. But, how to you take food away from a kid you are trying to conjole into eating it? If anyone has any ideas, feel free to comment.
Now on to happier subjects...
Verbal
Natalie and Abby have made tremendous progress. I think they have somewhere between 50 and 60 words - with Abby having a few more than Natalie. They are using several two word phrases mostly with "more" - "more...water, soup, etc." and "more please". They also use a lot of possessives. "Abby's ...shoes, Elmo,..." "NaNa's shoes,...", "Mommy's shoes" (clearly shoes are a favorite). Abby has a few more advanced phrases, "This is ....Mommy's shoes, Abby's Elmo, NaNa's Elmo". She also uses some directional words, "in, out, off" Natalie has just started using them as well, though not as often as Abby. They both are very good with "up" and "down", especially as in, "mommy up, up, up, up, up".
They can name a number of body parts: eye, nose, ear, teeth, elbow, knee, arm, head, back, mouth and can point to just about every other part: shoulder, forehead, chin, cheek, bottom, vagina, feet, toes, hand, belly, bellybutton, hair, tongue, leg. Are there any other parts left?!
According to my little chart, they are actually on target now for 24 months. Their speech therapist says that at 24 months they should have 50-250 words. So, the good news is if they were tested now, they wouldn't qualify. They are catching up and doing great!
Comprehension wise, of course, they understand almost everything. They follow directions very well (when they want to). Failure to follow through is definately a lack of desire vs. lack of comprehension.
Cognitive, Fine Motor and Gross Motor
These seem to overlap a lot on my chart, so they will here as well.
They are doing very well with stairs - up and down. We encourage them to hold on with only one hand (helps truck support). They are still generally doing one foot at a time (put one foot down, put other foot down - start over) vs one foot on each step. I'm actually very okay with this. It seems much safer to me!
Both girls, and especially Natalie, are little monkeys. They will climb on anything - and try to turn anything into something to climb. They now both climb up the outside on their cribs, but thankfully, not OUT of the cribs yet. Natalie likes to "hang". She grabs hold of something, then pulls her feet up in a pike position. It's really quite a feat. Try it sometime. She is quite strong (for someone so little) and has pretty good ab muscles.
They both love to jump. Natalie has been jumping and getting both feet off the ground for a while. Abby just started getting off the ground last week. They can walk backwards, run (all the time), and have started jumping off the bed into my arms. They can also walk on a balance beam type object (such as the parking beams, a 4x4, or the 4-6 inch beams that often surround play areas). Sometimes they need help with a more narrow one, but if it's about 6 inches, they can do it themselves. Spinning is also a favorite activity. It's pretty funny to watch. Usually they put one arm up, bent at the elbow. I guess it's for balance. They look like waiters spinning around with imaginary trays.
The only main thing we are working towards in jumping off the bottom step. I guess hopping on one foot is also next.
Fine motor wise - they can build towers of 6 or more blocks (Natalie is better at this - or willing to sit still long enough to do it). They will even use two different kinds of blocks: big block, big block, small block, small block, big block. They turn pages in books, scribble, and have started enjoying stickers, although sometimes they have a hard time getting them off their fingers. They are showing some variation in their scribbling: circular, horizontal and vertical, but I can't tell if it's purposeful or luck from spastic and quick scribbles. We have worked on puzzles and they have several they are good at. They are very good at matching one object to another: in puzzles - finding the spot where the cat goes based on the picture, or in a book, - finding a duck on one side of the page that matches the duck on the other. We also play a "Word Bingo" game. They have large cards with 9 pictures. I hold up a little card, and if they have the picture, they get the card to cover it up. (As they get older, we will play and obviously, whoever fills in their card, wins.) They match the pictures easily, although aren't always willing to leave the card on top of the picture.
I think they have fairly good fine, fine motor skills. One of their favorite activities is to take popcorn kernels (unpopped) and put them in a small-mouthed bottle. They also like putting coins in a piggy bank. There are some areas they need work. They don't use their hands together to solve some tasks. For instance, with stickers, if the sticker gets stuck on a finger on their right hand, they don't use their left hand to take it off. They also don't hold down paper with one hand to color with the other.
Self Help
Natalie and Abigail are very independent. They love to to things for themselves like steps, eating, throwing away their diapers. That is the cutest thing, by the way. They take their diapers and throw them over the gate by the trash can. They love it. They6 come back and ask, "more?".
They have also become very helpful. They love to throw things away and are getting better at putting away their toys, both when asked and even when they aren't asked. They are very helpful when it comes to diaper time. They will fetch diapers, wipes and diaper cream. A few times Abby has tried to help me vacuum the floor with my little sweeper machine. Natalie likes to help Ben open the mail. They both like to help clean up spills with a towel and will "clean" the slide, floor, or whatever, when handed a wipe. They also like to try to wipe their own faces and hands. In the bath, they are very cute. They wash each other's backs and hair.
Natalie and Abby are also doing very well in the clothes department. They are quite adept at taking OFF their clothes, much to our dismay. I often find them after naps or in the morning missing pants or pajamas. Thank goodness for onesies! They work hard at putting on their pants and are sometimes mostly successful. They manage to get shirts around their necks, but arm holes are still baffling. Shoes, however, are another story. A few days ago, Natalie put on both of her shoes all by herself. They were sandals with velcro straps. She undid the straps to get them on and then closed the straps once they were on. She even had them on the right feet, but I think that was more luck than anything else.
Abby also loves her shoes, and they often run around with one shoe on. They both do very well with the "croc" shoes which they can slip on and off easily.
and finally, Social/Emotional
One of the great things about twins is that they entertain each other. Natalie and Abby are very good independent players. They both play with each other, and will engage in their own separate activities. They are very, very busy. Natalie seems to have a longer attention span than Abby for most things and will sit and work on a task for "a while". I'm honestly not sure what "a while" is for a two year old, but it seems like a good amount of time to me. Some of the sites I checked say 15 minutes, and Natalie will definately do that. The only thing I have seen that really hold Abby's attention is a book. She loves books. She has added the verb "read" to her vocab and uses it frequently. With great enthusiasm and demand. Actually sometimes, it's a little whiny. So, we are working very hard on only responding to her asking nicely and in a normal voice. She does get a little whiny and demanding at times. On the other hand, when she looks at you with pleading eyes and says and signs, "pease", it's just adorable and melts your heart.
Natalie and Abby do a lot of their best playing in their beds. They are SO funny. I can often hear them running back in forth in their, laughing and talking. They are fond of throwing all their crib items from one crib to the other. Usually, everything ends up in Natalie's bed, but today I found everything in Abby's bed.
Other favorite toys include their toy food, their babies, and balls. They also like pushing their stroller, or in Abby's case, picking it up and putting it on the ottoman and big chair. Chasing each other, peek-a-boo, and tormenting the cat are also fun. They also have a fisher price farm that they like to play with as well.
SO, if you are still reading, congratulations. I assure you we are not nearly as narcissistic as the length of this post would suggest. I really do know that most people could care less about all these little details. But, I honestly do this for us as much as for anyone else. It's a great way to help me remember all the stuff they do and I don't have to write it down in multiple places. It's also my hope that one day Natalie and Abby will read this and have a record of all the little things they did.
I actually have a few things to say about their personalities and individual favorites, but this is already ridiculously long and it's 1:20am.
Nite-nite:-)
Monday, August 24, 2009
Natalie is just so darn cute!
I love Natalie. She is just so adorable. If I had to pick a word, I think I'd use "sweet". She's sweet in that sweetest of waya. The way she smiles...so sweet. The way she is so concerned about Abby - so sweet. Even the way she plays - so sweet.
It used to be that Abby was always concerned about Natalie - patting the car seat or stroller seat next to her and saying - "NaNa". But, now, Natalie is all about Abby. When she wakes up, her first word is often Abby, or Elmo:-) If Natalie has her Elmo, she is very distressed until Abby gets her Elmo too. If Natalie gets a cookie, "Ibbi, Ibbi". Abby needs one too. She is just so conscious of Abby and seems to want to make sure Abby has her fair share too. Now, that's not to say that if Abby is trying to steal a toy, Natalie won't run in the other direction shouting, "no, no, no." But somehow, even that is so cute.
Today Natalie discovered a bag of teeny tiny Uno cards. I mean, really tiny, about 1.5" x 3/4". She loved them. She poured them out then put them back in. Then she poured them out again. I eventually gave her some cups, and she poured them in those. She played with them for at least 20-30 minutes. It was adorable.
Natalie has the cutest way of working on a task. She gets so involved in the smallest of things: stirring her cup with her little plastic spoon; playing with her farm animals; looking at her books. I love watching her explore her world.
I have to also mention Natalie and her Elmo. Natalie is fanatical about Elmo. Any Elmo. And she can spot him across a crowded store. For a while, Walmart had a huge Mylar Elmo balloon floating above the card section of the store. We were rolling around with our cart, and Natalie starts, "elmo, elmo, elmo". I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, until I saw the balloon high above our heads. Another time we were there, and she started calling again, but this time the balloon was gone. But, she remembered where he was supposed to be.
Natalie also manages to find Elmo on the most unlikely of places like the random diaper box we've packed books into (we don't use this brand, but it had this little tiny elmo on it). Anything with Elmo is pounced upon. Stickers, plates, books, diapers. She loves them all.
Of course, mostly she loves her little stuffed Elmo. When it's time for her bottle, she grabs her blankie and her Elmo. She actually gets quite distressed if she can't find him (and also if Abby doesn't have her Elmo." Elmo often goes on trips in the car with us where he sometimes dances. Natalie: "Da-Da-Da". Elmo also sometimes slides down the slide or rides in the baby stroller.
I wish I could relay exactly how Natalie says "Elmo". It's sort-of a "Eh-mo", or Eh(really short l) mo. Have I said how cute it is?
There's something about Natalie that just makes your heart melt whenever she smiles. It just puts a little smile on your own face and makes you happy to be alive. I love my little Natalie. She makes my heart sing.
It used to be that Abby was always concerned about Natalie - patting the car seat or stroller seat next to her and saying - "NaNa". But, now, Natalie is all about Abby. When she wakes up, her first word is often Abby, or Elmo:-) If Natalie has her Elmo, she is very distressed until Abby gets her Elmo too. If Natalie gets a cookie, "Ibbi, Ibbi". Abby needs one too. She is just so conscious of Abby and seems to want to make sure Abby has her fair share too. Now, that's not to say that if Abby is trying to steal a toy, Natalie won't run in the other direction shouting, "no, no, no." But somehow, even that is so cute.
Today Natalie discovered a bag of teeny tiny Uno cards. I mean, really tiny, about 1.5" x 3/4". She loved them. She poured them out then put them back in. Then she poured them out again. I eventually gave her some cups, and she poured them in those. She played with them for at least 20-30 minutes. It was adorable.
Natalie has the cutest way of working on a task. She gets so involved in the smallest of things: stirring her cup with her little plastic spoon; playing with her farm animals; looking at her books. I love watching her explore her world.
I have to also mention Natalie and her Elmo. Natalie is fanatical about Elmo. Any Elmo. And she can spot him across a crowded store. For a while, Walmart had a huge Mylar Elmo balloon floating above the card section of the store. We were rolling around with our cart, and Natalie starts, "elmo, elmo, elmo". I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, until I saw the balloon high above our heads. Another time we were there, and she started calling again, but this time the balloon was gone. But, she remembered where he was supposed to be.
Natalie also manages to find Elmo on the most unlikely of places like the random diaper box we've packed books into (we don't use this brand, but it had this little tiny elmo on it). Anything with Elmo is pounced upon. Stickers, plates, books, diapers. She loves them all.
Of course, mostly she loves her little stuffed Elmo. When it's time for her bottle, she grabs her blankie and her Elmo. She actually gets quite distressed if she can't find him (and also if Abby doesn't have her Elmo." Elmo often goes on trips in the car with us where he sometimes dances. Natalie: "Da-Da-Da". Elmo also sometimes slides down the slide or rides in the baby stroller.
I wish I could relay exactly how Natalie says "Elmo". It's sort-of a "Eh-mo", or Eh(really short l) mo. Have I said how cute it is?
There's something about Natalie that just makes your heart melt whenever she smiles. It just puts a little smile on your own face and makes you happy to be alive. I love my little Natalie. She makes my heart sing.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Guess what Abby said!
I am so excited and proud of Abby! She completely shocked us today with a whole new phrase. we were playing ring-Around-The Roses. After she dropped to the floor at the end of the second round, she suddenly blurted out, "ashes, all fall down!"
We were shocked! She's never said anything like that before. It was so cute and it was so exciting. It actually gave me goosebumps:-)
The girls have actually made a lot of progress in the verbal department. Abby has started saying more and more words and stringing them together in two word phrases. "More water" , "more please", etc. She is also using the possessive, "Abby's" as in "abby's ball", "Abby's duck-duck". She has also extended that to "This is ball...shoe...duck-duck" and "This is Abby's duck-duck".
Natalie is catching up verbally as well. She doesn't use as many words as Abby, but just in the past few days she has started stringing together words into two-word phrases, "more water", "mommy's shoe", "more soup".
It's amazing how much progress they make every week - or even every day. It seems like every day they add new words. At last count, I would say they have about 60-70 words. It's kind of hard to count though. I started making the list a few days ago, but every day I think of more words they know.
It's fun to hear them say new things every day. They are communicating more and more. Of course, the down side is that they are finding their voices in disagreement as well. "No!" is a favorite phrase. Usually, "no" is related to being asked to share with each other. Abby is particularly fond of the phrase as she has become quite possessive of her favorite toys hence all the "this is Abby's ..." :-)
Fortunately, most of the time they share very well. One of the things they each hoard is their water bottle. So, I have started counting. I count to ten and at ten "it's time to share!" They have both responded very well to this.
Auntie is here this week and Poppy and Nanny are coming Thursday, so we should have more stories to sell soon!
We were shocked! She's never said anything like that before. It was so cute and it was so exciting. It actually gave me goosebumps:-)
The girls have actually made a lot of progress in the verbal department. Abby has started saying more and more words and stringing them together in two word phrases. "More water" , "more please", etc. She is also using the possessive, "Abby's" as in "abby's ball", "Abby's duck-duck". She has also extended that to "This is ball...shoe...duck-duck" and "This is Abby's duck-duck".
Natalie is catching up verbally as well. She doesn't use as many words as Abby, but just in the past few days she has started stringing together words into two-word phrases, "more water", "mommy's shoe", "more soup".
It's amazing how much progress they make every week - or even every day. It seems like every day they add new words. At last count, I would say they have about 60-70 words. It's kind of hard to count though. I started making the list a few days ago, but every day I think of more words they know.
It's fun to hear them say new things every day. They are communicating more and more. Of course, the down side is that they are finding their voices in disagreement as well. "No!" is a favorite phrase. Usually, "no" is related to being asked to share with each other. Abby is particularly fond of the phrase as she has become quite possessive of her favorite toys hence all the "this is Abby's ..." :-)
Fortunately, most of the time they share very well. One of the things they each hoard is their water bottle. So, I have started counting. I count to ten and at ten "it's time to share!" They have both responded very well to this.
Auntie is here this week and Poppy and Nanny are coming Thursday, so we should have more stories to sell soon!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I know what Natalie and Abigail did this summer...
and now, finally, so will you! Summer's not really over yet, but I'm so far behind in posting, I'd figured I would get a head start.
Where to begin..let's go back to May...
May started with the girls' attending their first official birthday party. See link here: http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/bring-out-party-dresses.html
The next weekend was spent with some pre-birthday and Mother's Day celebrations.
Poppy and Nanny stopped by the bring the girls' some birthday gifts. They had a great time opening their presents and checking out their new bubble-blowing lawnmowers. Finally, Daddy has some help!
They also received a huge inflatable pool - which we have since tried out (pictures later). It's about 4' by 10', and the girls love it. They also loved the plastic balls Poppy and Nanny brought. They were meant for the pool, but the girls have loved playing with them indoors and out.
Mother's Day
Sunday morning, Natalie, Abby and I loaded up the
car and headed to Asheville to meet my mom for a little Mother's Day girl fun.
It turns out that Biltmore Estates is free to mothers on Mothers Day, so we thought we would check it out. It was late by the time we met my mother, had some lunch and finally made it onto the Estate Grounds. We did get to see inside the house (castle!) and roamed the grounds just a bit. On our way out, we came across a pond with baby geese. They were SO cute. We got out and Natalie and Abby loved trying to get close.
It turned out that it was quite late by the time we were ready to leave, so rather than drive the 3.5 hours home, we opted for the 1.5 hours to go to my mom's for an impromptu visit. It was great to see Mema, who was quite pleasantly surprised!
Birthday Bust
The rest of the week was spent with Abby getting sick and their birthday taking a beating. If you remember, their actual birthday was a bust. Abby was just getting over the throw-ups and as we sat down to a little tea party on their birthday, Natalie was just starting the throw-ups. We did not get to go to the Zoo, eat cake, take decent pictures, or any fun birthday stuff. http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/birthday-bust.html
While Natalie stayed home with us, my sister took Abby (who we thought was better) for the trip we had planned to Franklin to celebrate Mema's 84th birthday (May 18) and Kimberly's birthday (26th). It turned out that Abby still wasn't feeling so well and spent most of the weekend glued to Kimberly. But, she did get to meet Uncle John and Aunt Linda, Mema's brother and his wife.
As always, having Auntie around had great benefit for Natalie and Abby. Once Auntie and Abby returned from Franklin, Auntie convinced me to take the girls for a "real" haircut to fix the mess we made when Ben and I gave them their first way too short haircuts. So, off to Peek-A-Boo for $20 haircuts we went. The girls actually did far better than I imagined.
Nat
alie did great,
and Abby started off well, but right at the end, she lost it. Fortunately, she was pretty much done at that point.
I have to admit, their hair looked MUCH better. (Sorry girls - no more mommy cuts.)
Operation
Birthday Do-Over
We spent the 4th weekend in May on Operation Birthday Do-Over at Ya-Ya and Grandpa's. Ya-Ya had cake and presents and they finally had an official 2nd birthday celebration. They loved their new books, coloring books and pens, puzzles, and baby dolls. Oh, and the picnic table and outside swings were a hit too! (Ya-ya and Grandpa got a little carried away:-)) Probably the biggest hit were the baby dolls (one to go home and one for Yaya's house.) It crawls and says "mamamama" and "ba-ba
-ba-ba-ba", giggles, and oh, farts. The girls LOVE Ba-Ba baby. Since receiving them, they now crawl on the floor saying ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. I even caught Abby trying to push KitKat into 
the floor to make him crawl while she chanted, "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba".
We opened gifts and the girls had fun eating their strawberry ice cream cake with their special twin topper. (Remember, it was the cake topper at our beach shower).
After cake, we explored Yaya and Grandpa's yard and took lots and lots and lots of pictures - their official 2 year pictures. It was really fun, and great way to celebrate Natalie and Abigail's birthday - even if it was a week late. Many thanks to Yaya and G
randpa for hosting us and making the girls' birthday special.
(Abby and Natalie)
We rounded off the month of May with a trip to the Museum of Life and Science. Last year we bought a membership for their birthday, and it was expiring May 31. So, one more trip to get our money's worth:-) This time we started at the end and check out the bears (sleeping), foxes (also sleeping) and the lemurs (not sleeping). We also explored the "Catch the Wind" exhibit (which I had never seen). We had a few minutes in the toddler section before the museum closed. They had a stuffed horse that we sat the girls on for a picture. I learned that under no circumstances any time soon would they be interested in actually sitting on a real horse or pony. Just the little stuffed one kind-of freaked them out.
It turned out that May was a pretty busy month - and sort-of bittersweet. After 5 months of babysitting again for Walker and Bean, we decided it was best if I focused on Natalie and Abby and Walker and Bean had a new babysitter whose kids wouldn't get sick every other week. I was so happy being back with the kids again, so I was sad to leave, but I did think it was for the best. Looking back now, I can say it was definitely the right choice. It seems like the girls have been sick less. Plus, we have had so many doctor's appointments and new therapies, that I'm not sure how we would have fit it all in.
For me, though, it was so amazing to watch the four of the children I've loved most in the world get to know each other. Walker and Bean were so great with them, and at the end, Walker was so sweet helping the girls in and out of their car seats. They both were great at making the girls laugh. Natalie and Abby loved them too. Even now, they say "Wa-ka" and "Be" when they see their pictures. We will stay in touch though, and certainly hope to have many more playdates with Wa-ka and Be.
If May was busy, June was even busier. Stay tuned!
Here are a few more great pics that Ben took of the girls! It's hard to tell who's who but Abby is in the dress with the darker print.
Where to begin..let's go back to May...
May started with the girls' attending their first official birthday party. See link here: http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/bring-out-party-dresses.html
The next weekend was spent with some pre-birthday and Mother's Day celebrations.
Poppy and Nanny stopped by the bring the girls' some birthday gifts. They had a great time opening their presents and checking out their new bubble-blowing lawnmowers. Finally, Daddy has some help!
They also received a huge inflatable pool - which we have since tried out (pictures later). It's about 4' by 10', and the girls love it. They also loved the plastic balls Poppy and Nanny brought. They were meant for the pool, but the girls have loved playing with them indoors and out.
Mother's Day
Sunday morning, Natalie, Abby and I loaded up the
car and headed to Asheville to meet my mom for a little Mother's Day girl fun.It turns out that Biltmore Estates is free to mothers on Mothers Day, so we thought we would check it out. It was late by the time we met my mother, had some lunch and finally made it onto the Estate Grounds. We did get to see inside the house (castle!) and roamed the grounds just a bit. On our way out, we came across a pond with baby geese. They were SO cute. We got out and Natalie and Abby loved trying to get close.
It turned out that it was quite late by the time we were ready to leave, so rather than drive the 3.5 hours home, we opted for the 1.5 hours to go to my mom's for an impromptu visit. It was great to see Mema, who was quite pleasantly surprised!
Birthday Bust
The rest of the week was spent with Abby getting sick and their birthday taking a beating. If you remember, their actual birthday was a bust. Abby was just getting over the throw-ups and as we sat down to a little tea party on their birthday, Natalie was just starting the throw-ups. We did not get to go to the Zoo, eat cake, take decent pictures, or any fun birthday stuff. http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/birthday-bust.html
While Natalie stayed home with us, my sister took Abby (who we thought was better) for the trip we had planned to Franklin to celebrate Mema's 84th birthday (May 18) and Kimberly's birthday (26th). It turned out that Abby still wasn't feeling so well and spent most of the weekend glued to Kimberly. But, she did get to meet Uncle John and Aunt Linda, Mema's brother and his wife.
As always, having Auntie around had great benefit for Natalie and Abby. Once Auntie and Abby returned from Franklin, Auntie convinced me to take the girls for a "real" haircut to fix the mess we made when Ben and I gave them their first way too short haircuts. So, off to Peek-A-Boo for $20 haircuts we went. The girls actually did far better than I imagined.
Nat
alie did great,
and Abby started off well, but right at the end, she lost it. Fortunately, she was pretty much done at that point.
I have to admit, their hair looked MUCH better. (Sorry girls - no more mommy cuts.)
Operation
Birthday Do-OverWe spent the 4th weekend in May on Operation Birthday Do-Over at Ya-Ya and Grandpa's. Ya-Ya had cake and presents and they finally had an official 2nd birthday celebration. They loved their new books, coloring books and pens, puzzles, and baby dolls. Oh, and the picnic table and outside swings were a hit too! (Ya-ya and Grandpa got a little carried away:-)) Probably the biggest hit were the baby dolls (one to go home and one for Yaya's house.) It crawls and says "mamamama" and "ba-ba
-ba-ba-ba", giggles, and oh, farts. The girls LOVE Ba-Ba baby. Since receiving them, they now crawl on the floor saying ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. I even caught Abby trying to push KitKat into 
the floor to make him crawl while she chanted, "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba".We opened gifts and the girls had fun eating their strawberry ice cream cake with their special twin topper. (Remember, it was the cake topper at our beach shower).
After cake, we explored Yaya and Grandpa's yard and took lots and lots and lots of pictures - their official 2 year pictures. It was really fun, and great way to celebrate Natalie and Abigail's birthday - even if it was a week late. Many thanks to Yaya and G
randpa for hosting us and making the girls' birthday special.
(Abby and Natalie)
We rounded off the month of May with a trip to the Museum of Life and Science. Last year we bought a membership for their birthday, and it was expiring May 31. So, one more trip to get our money's worth:-) This time we started at the end and check out the bears (sleeping), foxes (also sleeping) and the lemurs (not sleeping). We also explored the "Catch the Wind" exhibit (which I had never seen). We had a few minutes in the toddler section before the museum closed. They had a stuffed horse that we sat the girls on for a picture. I learned that under no circumstances any time soon would they be interested in actually sitting on a real horse or pony. Just the little stuffed one kind-of freaked them out.
It turned out that May was a pretty busy month - and sort-of bittersweet. After 5 months of babysitting again for Walker and Bean, we decided it was best if I focused on Natalie and Abby and Walker and Bean had a new babysitter whose kids wouldn't get sick every other week. I was so happy being back with the kids again, so I was sad to leave, but I did think it was for the best. Looking back now, I can say it was definitely the right choice. It seems like the girls have been sick less. Plus, we have had so many doctor's appointments and new therapies, that I'm not sure how we would have fit it all in.
For me, though, it was so amazing to watch the four of the children I've loved most in the world get to know each other. Walker and Bean were so great with them, and at the end, Walker was so sweet helping the girls in and out of their car seats. They both were great at making the girls laugh. Natalie and Abby loved them too. Even now, they say "Wa-ka" and "Be" when they see their pictures. We will stay in touch though, and certainly hope to have many more playdates with Wa-ka and Be.
If May was busy, June was even busier. Stay tuned!
Here are a few more great pics that Ben took of the girls! It's hard to tell who's who but Abby is in the dress with the darker print.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Ring-Around-the-Roses
Here's another video snippet to keep people happy until I get off my butt and update the blog with "real" information:-)
Abby in blue and Natalie in pink, and, as always, ignore the mess.
Abby in blue and Natalie in pink, and, as always, ignore the mess.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Yea for the comments!
Yea! People are leaving comments! I was beginning to wonder if anyone was still reading! Thanks everyone:-)
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Bragging Rights
I have to admit that I am one hundred percent positively biased, but, I still want to brag a little about my girls. And since this is my blog, then, hey, I will:-)
Background
We have long been impressed by the girls' language comprehension skills. even when they were much younger, they seemed to understand much of what we said to them and would follow simple directions. We have also been impressed with they apply what we know they know to other scenarios. For instance, one time I asked one of them if they had poopies. Without being asked or directed, the other went and got a diaper and brought it to me. Experience had taught her that "poopy" equals a new diaper. So, even though I never said the word diaper, she knew they were associated.
More background
We have two baby gates in our house. One blocks the living room from the kitchen. The trash and recycling cans are located just on the other side of the gate. Since Ben has a habit of playing basketball star with wrapped up wet diapers, the girls have long known that the "trash" is by that gate. We also often get them to carry the diapers to that gate "to the trash". (Mostly this means they throw them over the gate.)
The other gate blocks the entryway (which leads to the other end of the dining room and kitchen) and the front door. The gates keep the girls from running out the front door and out of the kitchen. This gate has never really had any specific designation. In other words, we don't call it, "the gate by the table" or "the gate by the door". We do sometimes have them put their shoes over the gate because the shoe basket is located by the entryway in the dining room.
End Background
So, today, Natalie, Abby and I get back from Ross (a clothing/home store - sort-of like Marshall's) where we purchased 2 bags full of incredible developmental toys for the kids. It's nap time and we are in their room changing diapers and clothes. Abby went first, and then, to keep her busy while I was changing Natalie, I gave her a job. I asked her to take Natalie's shoes and "throw them over the gate". She happily grabbed them and ran off. My feeling was she would toss them over the trash gate since they are very used to that, so I added as she took off, "the gate by the door". I wasn't sure if she would understand that or not. A minute later she came running back looking for more shoes. I gave her her shoes, and she was off. When she came back, I handed her the two wet diapers (rolled up neatly) and gave her more instructions; " take these to the trash." Off she went, and then returned, empty-handed and looking quite pleased with herself.
It was a few minutes later when we were back in the living room and I checked to find: 4 little shoes tossed over the gate by the door and two little diapers by the trash. I was completely impressed. Not only had she followed all my instructions, she had put everything over the right gate.
I guess it doesn't sound that impressive when I write it, but I was just really surprised Abby was able to differentiate between the "trash gate" and "the gate by the door" - especially since we never call it that. I suppose she remembered that we usually have them toss shoes over that gate, and she certainly knows where the shoe basket is, so maybe my description was unnecessary. Either way, I was pretty impressed by my little two year old, who, if you want to be technical, isn't really even two yet. They are really only not-quite 23 months old.
Another unrelated Abby moment...
Last night while playing, she went to the toy shelf and pulled out their patty-cake bear. (It's a bear that sings and moves its arms to patty-cake when you squeeze its foot.) She took it to daddy and we did a few round of patty cake. When she was finished, she took it from daddy and headed straight back to the toy shelf. At this point, Ben looked at me and said, "is she putting that back!?" We watched wide-eyed as she stuffed Patty Bear right back into his little box where she found him. She did this completely on her own without prompting.
All and all, we have been really impressed. With all this direction-following and cleaning, Ben and I are just counting the days until we sit back on the couch drinking a coke and eating bons-bons while we give Natalie and Abby directions on cleaning the house...
Background
We have long been impressed by the girls' language comprehension skills. even when they were much younger, they seemed to understand much of what we said to them and would follow simple directions. We have also been impressed with they apply what we know they know to other scenarios. For instance, one time I asked one of them if they had poopies. Without being asked or directed, the other went and got a diaper and brought it to me. Experience had taught her that "poopy" equals a new diaper. So, even though I never said the word diaper, she knew they were associated.
More background
We have two baby gates in our house. One blocks the living room from the kitchen. The trash and recycling cans are located just on the other side of the gate. Since Ben has a habit of playing basketball star with wrapped up wet diapers, the girls have long known that the "trash" is by that gate. We also often get them to carry the diapers to that gate "to the trash". (Mostly this means they throw them over the gate.)
The other gate blocks the entryway (which leads to the other end of the dining room and kitchen) and the front door. The gates keep the girls from running out the front door and out of the kitchen. This gate has never really had any specific designation. In other words, we don't call it, "the gate by the table" or "the gate by the door". We do sometimes have them put their shoes over the gate because the shoe basket is located by the entryway in the dining room.
End Background
So, today, Natalie, Abby and I get back from Ross (a clothing/home store - sort-of like Marshall's) where we purchased 2 bags full of incredible developmental toys for the kids. It's nap time and we are in their room changing diapers and clothes. Abby went first, and then, to keep her busy while I was changing Natalie, I gave her a job. I asked her to take Natalie's shoes and "throw them over the gate". She happily grabbed them and ran off. My feeling was she would toss them over the trash gate since they are very used to that, so I added as she took off, "the gate by the door". I wasn't sure if she would understand that or not. A minute later she came running back looking for more shoes. I gave her her shoes, and she was off. When she came back, I handed her the two wet diapers (rolled up neatly) and gave her more instructions; " take these to the trash." Off she went, and then returned, empty-handed and looking quite pleased with herself.
It was a few minutes later when we were back in the living room and I checked to find: 4 little shoes tossed over the gate by the door and two little diapers by the trash. I was completely impressed. Not only had she followed all my instructions, she had put everything over the right gate.
I guess it doesn't sound that impressive when I write it, but I was just really surprised Abby was able to differentiate between the "trash gate" and "the gate by the door" - especially since we never call it that. I suppose she remembered that we usually have them toss shoes over that gate, and she certainly knows where the shoe basket is, so maybe my description was unnecessary. Either way, I was pretty impressed by my little two year old, who, if you want to be technical, isn't really even two yet. They are really only not-quite 23 months old.
Another unrelated Abby moment...
Last night while playing, she went to the toy shelf and pulled out their patty-cake bear. (It's a bear that sings and moves its arms to patty-cake when you squeeze its foot.) She took it to daddy and we did a few round of patty cake. When she was finished, she took it from daddy and headed straight back to the toy shelf. At this point, Ben looked at me and said, "is she putting that back!?" We watched wide-eyed as she stuffed Patty Bear right back into his little box where she found him. She did this completely on her own without prompting.
All and all, we have been really impressed. With all this direction-following and cleaning, Ben and I are just counting the days until we sit back on the couch drinking a coke and eating bons-bons while we give Natalie and Abby directions on cleaning the house...
Sunday, July 5, 2009
For Your Viewing Pleasure
I have SO much to update and blog about, and so many other things to do as well. For now, you can enjoy this little video from May 7. The girls started doing this on their own - running up and down the hall holding hands. It is the sweetest thing.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Just Another Day In Paradise
One of my favorite parts of my day is when I go in to greet the girls in the morning when they wake up or when they are up from their naps. The usually standing in their beds, waiting for me. Their faces light up when they see me and sometimes I get, "mamamamama" or "mommy, mommy". In the mornings, especially, I often gather them up, head to the living room and have "big chair time". We snuggle in Ben's big chair until they clamor to get out and chase a kitty.
This morning, I was greeted by Natalie. She was, as usual, at the end of her bed. For visual imagining purposes...her bed is along the wall closest to the door with the end of the bed being just about two feet to my right when I walk through the door. It is also helpful to know that the end of her crib is solid - no bars to see through.
So, I walk in and am hit by the scent of poopies. This is not at all unusual. Mornings, between when Ben feeds them and they officially get up, is pooping time (also often after naps). So, smelling poops is pretty normal, but doesn't take away from the delight of the grins on their faces. Natalie is too my left an waiting for me. I say hello, and she offers me a gift - her diaper - full of poopy. Oh. Dear.
This is a first. I quickly realize she is completely naked. I peer in and expect the worst. Fortunately, it was a smaller pasty poopy and with the exception of a small spot of her bed, it appears most of the poopy has remained in her diaper. It's not even really on her that much.
I take her and start to clean her up, then decide for sanitary and safety reasons, the best course is simply a bath. I get Abby out, who has also pooped, but is still, thankfully wearing her diaper, clean her off and deposit both of them in the "ba-ba", as it is called. I clean Natalie up well first so as not to contaminate the bath water, then add Abby and let the fun begin.
I still have to strip her bed and wash everything in it. Poor Natalie now has NOTHING left in her bed. She's had a few throw ups the last few days and as unceremoniously lost each of her blankets, stuffed animals, etc as they have been puked on. She was down to a last random blankets and a few toys. Now, it all must go - to the wash, that is.
I'm actually pretty shocked I didn't have two naked girls. If there was ever a case of monkey see, monkey do, it's Natalie and Abby. I'm fully convinced Abby likely did everything she could to get her pajamas off too, but simply failed in her attempt.
So, it's just another day with Natalie and Abby in paradise - if paradise is naked poopy babies.
This morning, I was greeted by Natalie. She was, as usual, at the end of her bed. For visual imagining purposes...her bed is along the wall closest to the door with the end of the bed being just about two feet to my right when I walk through the door. It is also helpful to know that the end of her crib is solid - no bars to see through.
So, I walk in and am hit by the scent of poopies. This is not at all unusual. Mornings, between when Ben feeds them and they officially get up, is pooping time (also often after naps). So, smelling poops is pretty normal, but doesn't take away from the delight of the grins on their faces. Natalie is too my left an waiting for me. I say hello, and she offers me a gift - her diaper - full of poopy. Oh. Dear.
This is a first. I quickly realize she is completely naked. I peer in and expect the worst. Fortunately, it was a smaller pasty poopy and with the exception of a small spot of her bed, it appears most of the poopy has remained in her diaper. It's not even really on her that much.
I take her and start to clean her up, then decide for sanitary and safety reasons, the best course is simply a bath. I get Abby out, who has also pooped, but is still, thankfully wearing her diaper, clean her off and deposit both of them in the "ba-ba", as it is called. I clean Natalie up well first so as not to contaminate the bath water, then add Abby and let the fun begin.
I still have to strip her bed and wash everything in it. Poor Natalie now has NOTHING left in her bed. She's had a few throw ups the last few days and as unceremoniously lost each of her blankets, stuffed animals, etc as they have been puked on. She was down to a last random blankets and a few toys. Now, it all must go - to the wash, that is.
I'm actually pretty shocked I didn't have two naked girls. If there was ever a case of monkey see, monkey do, it's Natalie and Abby. I'm fully convinced Abby likely did everything she could to get her pajamas off too, but simply failed in her attempt.
So, it's just another day with Natalie and Abby in paradise - if paradise is naked poopy babies.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Doughnut Gatherer
http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/June-2009/The-Doughnut-Gatherer/
A member of my preemie forum passed along this article about what happens when a food critic has a child who hates food. It's gotten quite a laugh on our forum both for it's witty writing style and the all-too-familiar struggle of a child who won't eat.
It made me think about the lengths we have gone to find foods the girls will eat. First of all, I have found myself feeding Natalie and Abby foods I always swore I never would. For instance, today, at Walmart, I bought them a 4-piece chicken nugget happy meal with apple wedges. Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence. McDonald's chicken nuggets are my fall back food when we are out and about. Usually, if I'm lucky, they will eat half of one each and a few french fries. Today, however, I am extraordinarily pleased to report that between the two of them the girls ate all the apple wedges and all four chicken nuggets (except the parts that were chewed up and spit out, thrown over board, or fell through the holes of the cart - probably at least one nugget total). Then they each ate a few of my fries too. I was pretty excited.
Here's a sampling of other things I have done in an effort to get them to eat:
* Spent 30 minutes on the cereal aisle trying to find the finger-food cereal whose serving (which they will never eat) is 120 calories instead of 110 calories. That way we can maximize the 4 or 5 pieces of cereal they might eat.
* Ditto on the yogurt aisle, baby food aisle, granola bar aisle, cookie aisle, and juice aisle.
* Left a store with $30 worth of food for the girls to try to discover later they wouldn't eat any of it.
* Found a food they would eat and offered it ad nauseum for as long as they would eat it. We did this with a yogurt they liked for a week or so; sausage which they used to eat but now only take a few bites; milk from a sippy cup - they stopped drinking milk from their sippy cups when we switched to soy - now they will only drink water, and Abby, some juice; granola bars - oats and honey, 95 calories each - they were eating 2 a day, begging for them like they were crack for about three weeks. The bars offered this morning on the way to PT were slightly nibbled on and discarded. I guess we are done with them. So far, the only food they haven't rejected from over-use is Ya-Ya's chicken and rice soup. More baby crack. They LOVE this stuff. I have to add, though, they will only eat Ya-Ya's. They won't touch it if I make it. Right now I am offering it 1 to 2 times a day and it's about the only thing they will eat right now at home.
* Allowed them, heck, encouraged them to eat foods full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup (which is, of course, okay in moderation), additives, and ingredients I couldn't pronounce because they had the most calories. Chicken nuggets dipped in copious amounts of BBQ sauce, various fruit/granola/cereal/cookie bars, ice cream, and the past few days, the German Chocolate cake I made for my mom's birthday.
* Added butter, olive oil, duocal, and benecalorie to perfectly good foods to turn them into oily messes in hopes that each of the expected 4 bites will have as many calories as possible. I even added a scoop of duocal to their water two days ago.
*Actually bemoaned the fact that my girls love fruit: peaches, apples, cantelope, grapes, bananas...they eat them up. Of course, fruit has very few calories.
* Much to my horror, I have two two-year olds that still get 4 bottles a day. Never in my wildest dreams...well, at least they are sucking on pacifiers all day. (They rejected those since they were several months old. I'm sure they knew they would benefit their sucking reflex and possibly help them eat better.)
What is it they say...never say never...
A member of my preemie forum passed along this article about what happens when a food critic has a child who hates food. It's gotten quite a laugh on our forum both for it's witty writing style and the all-too-familiar struggle of a child who won't eat.
It made me think about the lengths we have gone to find foods the girls will eat. First of all, I have found myself feeding Natalie and Abby foods I always swore I never would. For instance, today, at Walmart, I bought them a 4-piece chicken nugget happy meal with apple wedges. Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence. McDonald's chicken nuggets are my fall back food when we are out and about. Usually, if I'm lucky, they will eat half of one each and a few french fries. Today, however, I am extraordinarily pleased to report that between the two of them the girls ate all the apple wedges and all four chicken nuggets (except the parts that were chewed up and spit out, thrown over board, or fell through the holes of the cart - probably at least one nugget total). Then they each ate a few of my fries too. I was pretty excited.
Here's a sampling of other things I have done in an effort to get them to eat:
* Spent 30 minutes on the cereal aisle trying to find the finger-food cereal whose serving (which they will never eat) is 120 calories instead of 110 calories. That way we can maximize the 4 or 5 pieces of cereal they might eat.
* Ditto on the yogurt aisle, baby food aisle, granola bar aisle, cookie aisle, and juice aisle.
* Left a store with $30 worth of food for the girls to try to discover later they wouldn't eat any of it.
* Found a food they would eat and offered it ad nauseum for as long as they would eat it. We did this with a yogurt they liked for a week or so; sausage which they used to eat but now only take a few bites; milk from a sippy cup - they stopped drinking milk from their sippy cups when we switched to soy - now they will only drink water, and Abby, some juice; granola bars - oats and honey, 95 calories each - they were eating 2 a day, begging for them like they were crack for about three weeks. The bars offered this morning on the way to PT were slightly nibbled on and discarded. I guess we are done with them. So far, the only food they haven't rejected from over-use is Ya-Ya's chicken and rice soup. More baby crack. They LOVE this stuff. I have to add, though, they will only eat Ya-Ya's. They won't touch it if I make it. Right now I am offering it 1 to 2 times a day and it's about the only thing they will eat right now at home.
* Allowed them, heck, encouraged them to eat foods full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup (which is, of course, okay in moderation), additives, and ingredients I couldn't pronounce because they had the most calories. Chicken nuggets dipped in copious amounts of BBQ sauce, various fruit/granola/cereal/cookie bars, ice cream, and the past few days, the German Chocolate cake I made for my mom's birthday.
* Added butter, olive oil, duocal, and benecalorie to perfectly good foods to turn them into oily messes in hopes that each of the expected 4 bites will have as many calories as possible. I even added a scoop of duocal to their water two days ago.
*Actually bemoaned the fact that my girls love fruit: peaches, apples, cantelope, grapes, bananas...they eat them up. Of course, fruit has very few calories.
* Much to my horror, I have two two-year olds that still get 4 bottles a day. Never in my wildest dreams...well, at least they are sucking on pacifiers all day. (They rejected those since they were several months old. I'm sure they knew they would benefit their sucking reflex and possibly help them eat better.)
What is it they say...never say never...
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Doctors Visits Recap
Our doctor blitz is over. Here's the run down...
PT/Brace Eval - Not as bad as I thought. They fitted Abby for some FPO's - not sure what that stands for, but basically, braces. But, they weren't nearly as bad as I imagined. I was thinking something like "Forest Gump", and they are really this molded plastic. Because her problems are mild, they didn't actually cast her for custom braces, but are going to go with the generic type. The therapist, Julie, wasn't even sure if she needed them. She thought they might be able to correct it with PT. Even if she needs them, she may just get shoe inserts instead of the kind that come up to mid-calf. Their purpose is mostly to prevent her from walking on the ball of her feet.
We set up weekly PT for Tuesdays. So, we had our first one yesterday. Abby seemed to love it. PT at this age is cleverly disguised as play therapy. Climbing, playing, throwing, etc. It's an hour at an inside park! Julie is wonderful as well. Abby took right to her.
You may be asking what Natalie is doing during this time. Well, she is actually supposed to sit and watch. It's really my job to keep her entertained and out of the way with books or a toy. It is relaxed enough that she can join in every now and then, but the time is really for Abby. Fortunately, Natalie is pretty agreeable. If the situation were reversed, Abby would be freaking out trying to play too.
Speech eval: This was actually moved to Thursday, but went great. They therapist, Melissa, was very interesting and we actually spent a good bit of time discussing their eating issues and newly discussed milk issues. She talked about the "ecology" of a child and how if you fix that, many other things fall into place. For instance, the girls have gotten sick numerous times since January. Each time, they experienced significant weight loss. If you think about it and they've had this milk protein allergy all this time, it means that their immune system has been working overtime ALL the time trying to attack and deal with the milk. So, they have basically been immune compromised all this time. It's no wonder they have had problems fighting off simple colds. It was very interesting and she gave me a lot to think about.
Oh, and they qualified for speech as well:-) She thought they would respond very well. Already in the past few days they've added the words off and on. They add new words almost every day. We are still waiting on the details of when we start.
Pulmonology and X-Ray - A waste of time. Natalie and Abby did a PFT(Pulmonary Function Test). They had to blow in a tube to test their lung capacity and they tracked their blood oxygen level. It was pretty useless. I don't think they actually hit the number they were supposed to, but they are TWO. They don't even know how to blow. What breath they emitted had more to do with how hard they were crying. The X-ray was easy and it looked good, so Natalie's lungs are fine, too.
The only good thing I can say is that we were actually in and out of Duke in under an hour and a half!
Ear Appointment and Hearing Tests - Also a waste of time - and a waste of $40. Their hearing is perfect, and their ears looked perfect. The doctor was not at all concerned with only a couple of ear infections. He said if they start getting 6 a year, to come back. On the bright side, the doctor, Dr. Hulka at NC EENT, was wonderful. Very, very nice, and also a father of 3 year old twins.
and finally, 2 Year Peds Check-up - I have mixed feelings about this visit. Mostly, I think I'd like my $40 back on this one too. On the up side, the doctor was very pleased with their weight gain and I didn't hear anything else about g-tubes. Natalie weighed in at 21# 12oz and Abby 21#14oz and both were 33 inches tall. I kind-of expected them to weigh more, really, especially since at home that morning Natalie weighed 22#3oz and Abby 21#15oz. But, it was enough for the doctor to be happy. On the flip side, I was a little miffed with her blase' attitude over the milk issue. I wanted to know why no one had suggested we try dairy-free in the past two years. She sort of shrugged and said they didn't have the classic signs, like blood in the stool or severe Esma. I took a moment to point out the bumps that covered their arms and legs - which have improved in the past three weeks. I'm quite sure I had pointed them out to various doctors during all our visits since January. Her response was to ask me what we were putting on it. I guess difficulty gaining weight, daily vomiting, and my observations that they sometimes threw up partially digested pedisure 8-12 hours later didn't spark any fires that something might be going on.
Of course, they are doing fine in every other way. She ordered a blood draw to go ahead and test for allergies to milk, soy and eggs. That wasn't fun at all. They missed Abby's vein in her arm and were rooting around for it while she cried and cried. They finally tried a different vein in her wrist. Poor thing was so upset her nose bleed a little. Natalie's draw was much less traumatic. In a way, it was unnecessary since they can only test those three things and I plan on seeing a pediatric allergist for a full panel. So, they'll have to do it again anyway.
So, it's been busy. We now have PT on Tuesdays, Feeding on Wednesday, and Play Therapy on Thursdays. Once we add Speech, we will really have a party!
PT/Brace Eval - Not as bad as I thought. They fitted Abby for some FPO's - not sure what that stands for, but basically, braces. But, they weren't nearly as bad as I imagined. I was thinking something like "Forest Gump", and they are really this molded plastic. Because her problems are mild, they didn't actually cast her for custom braces, but are going to go with the generic type. The therapist, Julie, wasn't even sure if she needed them. She thought they might be able to correct it with PT. Even if she needs them, she may just get shoe inserts instead of the kind that come up to mid-calf. Their purpose is mostly to prevent her from walking on the ball of her feet.
We set up weekly PT for Tuesdays. So, we had our first one yesterday. Abby seemed to love it. PT at this age is cleverly disguised as play therapy. Climbing, playing, throwing, etc. It's an hour at an inside park! Julie is wonderful as well. Abby took right to her.
You may be asking what Natalie is doing during this time. Well, she is actually supposed to sit and watch. It's really my job to keep her entertained and out of the way with books or a toy. It is relaxed enough that she can join in every now and then, but the time is really for Abby. Fortunately, Natalie is pretty agreeable. If the situation were reversed, Abby would be freaking out trying to play too.
Speech eval: This was actually moved to Thursday, but went great. They therapist, Melissa, was very interesting and we actually spent a good bit of time discussing their eating issues and newly discussed milk issues. She talked about the "ecology" of a child and how if you fix that, many other things fall into place. For instance, the girls have gotten sick numerous times since January. Each time, they experienced significant weight loss. If you think about it and they've had this milk protein allergy all this time, it means that their immune system has been working overtime ALL the time trying to attack and deal with the milk. So, they have basically been immune compromised all this time. It's no wonder they have had problems fighting off simple colds. It was very interesting and she gave me a lot to think about.
Oh, and they qualified for speech as well:-) She thought they would respond very well. Already in the past few days they've added the words off and on. They add new words almost every day. We are still waiting on the details of when we start.
Pulmonology and X-Ray - A waste of time. Natalie and Abby did a PFT(Pulmonary Function Test). They had to blow in a tube to test their lung capacity and they tracked their blood oxygen level. It was pretty useless. I don't think they actually hit the number they were supposed to, but they are TWO. They don't even know how to blow. What breath they emitted had more to do with how hard they were crying. The X-ray was easy and it looked good, so Natalie's lungs are fine, too.
The only good thing I can say is that we were actually in and out of Duke in under an hour and a half!
Ear Appointment and Hearing Tests - Also a waste of time - and a waste of $40. Their hearing is perfect, and their ears looked perfect. The doctor was not at all concerned with only a couple of ear infections. He said if they start getting 6 a year, to come back. On the bright side, the doctor, Dr. Hulka at NC EENT, was wonderful. Very, very nice, and also a father of 3 year old twins.
and finally, 2 Year Peds Check-up - I have mixed feelings about this visit. Mostly, I think I'd like my $40 back on this one too. On the up side, the doctor was very pleased with their weight gain and I didn't hear anything else about g-tubes. Natalie weighed in at 21# 12oz and Abby 21#14oz and both were 33 inches tall. I kind-of expected them to weigh more, really, especially since at home that morning Natalie weighed 22#3oz and Abby 21#15oz. But, it was enough for the doctor to be happy. On the flip side, I was a little miffed with her blase' attitude over the milk issue. I wanted to know why no one had suggested we try dairy-free in the past two years. She sort of shrugged and said they didn't have the classic signs, like blood in the stool or severe Esma. I took a moment to point out the bumps that covered their arms and legs - which have improved in the past three weeks. I'm quite sure I had pointed them out to various doctors during all our visits since January. Her response was to ask me what we were putting on it. I guess difficulty gaining weight, daily vomiting, and my observations that they sometimes threw up partially digested pedisure 8-12 hours later didn't spark any fires that something might be going on.
Of course, they are doing fine in every other way. She ordered a blood draw to go ahead and test for allergies to milk, soy and eggs. That wasn't fun at all. They missed Abby's vein in her arm and were rooting around for it while she cried and cried. They finally tried a different vein in her wrist. Poor thing was so upset her nose bleed a little. Natalie's draw was much less traumatic. In a way, it was unnecessary since they can only test those three things and I plan on seeing a pediatric allergist for a full panel. So, they'll have to do it again anyway.
So, it's been busy. We now have PT on Tuesdays, Feeding on Wednesday, and Play Therapy on Thursdays. Once we add Speech, we will really have a party!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Weight Chart - Here We Come!!
Oh.My.Goodness.Gracious. I can not believe how much weight Natalie and Abby are gaining. It's really unbelievable.
Weighing in today:
Abby - 21# 2.5oz
and (and this is crazy), NATALIE - 21# 9.5oz
Can you believe it????
Let's take a moment to review. We started with Soy Wednesday evening, May 19 - two weeks ago. Just recovering from yet another weight siphoning illness, Natalie was a pitiful 19# 10.5 oz. Abby was at 20 pounds even. Do the math. In two weeks, Natalie has gained one ounce shy of an unbelievable TWO POUNDS. TWO pounds!!!! Abby has gained an also impressive One pound, 2.5 ounces.
To truly understand how impressive this is, you have to know that two year olds generally gain about 4 pounds - a year. What we are seeing is more along the lines of eight gain for an infant - when they are supposed to gain about 8 oz a week. It pretty amazing.
Needless to say, we are definately sticking with soy for a while. I am now ordering something called Bright Beginnings Soy. It's just like pedisure in that is is a complete nutrition and has about 240 calories per 8 oz. It's not available, however, in stores. I have to order it. That may actually turn into a good thing. Running to Target all the time meant every time I went I just HAD to buy something else - groceries, etc. Staying out of Target and Walmart will probably be good for our checkbook. Shipping is free from the place I am using (www. diapers.com) and they arrive very quickly. It's kind of nice having it simply arrive at my door:-)
We need to hit 22 pounds to make the weight chart at 3%. We have an appointment with the ped (who is going to be absolutely amazed) next Tuesday. I think we have a pretty good shot - especially with Natalie. Woo hoooooooooooooooooo.
Weighing in today:
Abby - 21# 2.5oz
and (and this is crazy), NATALIE - 21# 9.5oz
Can you believe it????
Let's take a moment to review. We started with Soy Wednesday evening, May 19 - two weeks ago. Just recovering from yet another weight siphoning illness, Natalie was a pitiful 19# 10.5 oz. Abby was at 20 pounds even. Do the math. In two weeks, Natalie has gained one ounce shy of an unbelievable TWO POUNDS. TWO pounds!!!! Abby has gained an also impressive One pound, 2.5 ounces.
To truly understand how impressive this is, you have to know that two year olds generally gain about 4 pounds - a year. What we are seeing is more along the lines of eight gain for an infant - when they are supposed to gain about 8 oz a week. It pretty amazing.
Needless to say, we are definately sticking with soy for a while. I am now ordering something called Bright Beginnings Soy. It's just like pedisure in that is is a complete nutrition and has about 240 calories per 8 oz. It's not available, however, in stores. I have to order it. That may actually turn into a good thing. Running to Target all the time meant every time I went I just HAD to buy something else - groceries, etc. Staying out of Target and Walmart will probably be good for our checkbook. Shipping is free from the place I am using (www. diapers.com) and they arrive very quickly. It's kind of nice having it simply arrive at my door:-)
We need to hit 22 pounds to make the weight chart at 3%. We have an appointment with the ped (who is going to be absolutely amazed) next Tuesday. I think we have a pretty good shot - especially with Natalie. Woo hoooooooooooooooooo.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
A Week in (Pre) Review
The next two weeks are going to be busy ones for the girls and I. Here's the run down:
Tues - Physical Therapy eval for Abby
Wed - Speech eval for both girls 10am and Feeding therapy at 11:15 (both at home)
Thurs - Play therapy (home)
Fri - Pulmonary appt. for both and follow-up chest X-ray for Natalie
next Mon - ear appt for both with hearing tests
Tues - Two year appt. with ped
Wed - regular feeding therapy
Thurs - regular play therapy
To be honest, the appointment I am most concerned about is the first one - the PT eval. One of the things they are evaluating is whether or not Abby needs braces on her legs to address the fact that she has starting turning her foot in when she runs or walks fast. It's not an aesthetics thing for me at all. It's more the crashing and burning of a fantasy.
The reality has been that, so far, the girls have largely escaped any real consequences and affects of their prematurity. Of course, feeding has been an issue, but even that respect, we have managed to avoid GI's and g-tubes. And, despite their very small size, their cognitive development seems to have remained unaffected.
Recently, however, we have started seeing gaps in our nearly perfect situation. When we started with their developmental play therapy, I actually thought they really didn't need it, but I figured it couldn't hurt and every little bit helps. In the past few months, however, I have seen areas in which they struggle. Our therapist, Elizabeth, (whom I adore) has also mentioned areas in which they seem behind. She has also commented on some currently minor sensory integration adaptations, such as Abby often sticking her tongue out while playing or concentrating on something (and unfortunately often when we are trying to get a picture:-)). I had previously worked with a child with Sensory Integration Disorder, have read some literature on the subject and have a few issues of my own, so I had been on the lookout for systems. I had already noticed that both dislike the feel of the grass on their feet (especially Abby) and also dislike it when their hands get dirty (again, especially Abby). Generally, these aren't terribly unusual, but every little thing makes me worry about more problems down the line.
Their recent developmental evals at SICC were also not what I expected. They tested at their adjusted age for everything but speech. Of course, in general, that's amazing for 26 week preemies. But, I was still surprised. I really expected them to do better in some areas. Maybe that's just my mommy pride, but they really do seem on track for their actual age in many areas. Again, I think that some things weren't tested, like receptive language, but, even I can admit there were things they struggled with. On the same day came the initial PT eval that suggested Abby needed to see PT for the braces eval. That was a bit of a surprise. Not the need for PT, or even that she was turning her foot in (I actually asked them to look at her and pointed it out), but the word "braces" kind-of threw me for a loop.
Again, it's not the physical presence of the braces, but the fact that I can envision Abby's response to them. I'm just so afraid she's going to cry and cry and try to take them off. And I won't be able to help her. I'll have to make her wear them while she cries and calls my name. The idea just breaks my heart.
Maybe I'm making it out to be worse than it is. I hope so. It just makes me sad that I will have to make Abby sad. Other than periodic immunizations and a chest x-ray, we haven't had to really put the girls through anything that bad since the ng tubes. And, that experience was just awful.
The other appointments are to address some other possible issues. Pulmonary is to test their lung capacity and see if they have residual lung disease. The ear appointments are to check their hearing (not worried about that) and to see if they are holding fluid in their ears and might need tubes. Their reoccurring ear infections necessitated that appointment. I'm not loving the idea of tubes either, but for some reason I'm feeling like their ears will be okay.
I feel a little guilty for worrying about what are really pretty minor issues. I really should be just overjoyed and grateful for how healthy they are. And I am. It's just that now our fantasy world has collided with reality and it's not nearly as fun.
Tues - Physical Therapy eval for Abby
Wed - Speech eval for both girls 10am and Feeding therapy at 11:15 (both at home)
Thurs - Play therapy (home)
Fri - Pulmonary appt. for both and follow-up chest X-ray for Natalie
next Mon - ear appt for both with hearing tests
Tues - Two year appt. with ped
Wed - regular feeding therapy
Thurs - regular play therapy
To be honest, the appointment I am most concerned about is the first one - the PT eval. One of the things they are evaluating is whether or not Abby needs braces on her legs to address the fact that she has starting turning her foot in when she runs or walks fast. It's not an aesthetics thing for me at all. It's more the crashing and burning of a fantasy.
The reality has been that, so far, the girls have largely escaped any real consequences and affects of their prematurity. Of course, feeding has been an issue, but even that respect, we have managed to avoid GI's and g-tubes. And, despite their very small size, their cognitive development seems to have remained unaffected.
Recently, however, we have started seeing gaps in our nearly perfect situation. When we started with their developmental play therapy, I actually thought they really didn't need it, but I figured it couldn't hurt and every little bit helps. In the past few months, however, I have seen areas in which they struggle. Our therapist, Elizabeth, (whom I adore) has also mentioned areas in which they seem behind. She has also commented on some currently minor sensory integration adaptations, such as Abby often sticking her tongue out while playing or concentrating on something (and unfortunately often when we are trying to get a picture:-)). I had previously worked with a child with Sensory Integration Disorder, have read some literature on the subject and have a few issues of my own, so I had been on the lookout for systems. I had already noticed that both dislike the feel of the grass on their feet (especially Abby) and also dislike it when their hands get dirty (again, especially Abby). Generally, these aren't terribly unusual, but every little thing makes me worry about more problems down the line.
Their recent developmental evals at SICC were also not what I expected. They tested at their adjusted age for everything but speech. Of course, in general, that's amazing for 26 week preemies. But, I was still surprised. I really expected them to do better in some areas. Maybe that's just my mommy pride, but they really do seem on track for their actual age in many areas. Again, I think that some things weren't tested, like receptive language, but, even I can admit there were things they struggled with. On the same day came the initial PT eval that suggested Abby needed to see PT for the braces eval. That was a bit of a surprise. Not the need for PT, or even that she was turning her foot in (I actually asked them to look at her and pointed it out), but the word "braces" kind-of threw me for a loop.
Again, it's not the physical presence of the braces, but the fact that I can envision Abby's response to them. I'm just so afraid she's going to cry and cry and try to take them off. And I won't be able to help her. I'll have to make her wear them while she cries and calls my name. The idea just breaks my heart.
Maybe I'm making it out to be worse than it is. I hope so. It just makes me sad that I will have to make Abby sad. Other than periodic immunizations and a chest x-ray, we haven't had to really put the girls through anything that bad since the ng tubes. And, that experience was just awful.
The other appointments are to address some other possible issues. Pulmonary is to test their lung capacity and see if they have residual lung disease. The ear appointments are to check their hearing (not worried about that) and to see if they are holding fluid in their ears and might need tubes. Their reoccurring ear infections necessitated that appointment. I'm not loving the idea of tubes either, but for some reason I'm feeling like their ears will be okay.
I feel a little guilty for worrying about what are really pretty minor issues. I really should be just overjoyed and grateful for how healthy they are. And I am. It's just that now our fantasy world has collided with reality and it's not nearly as fun.
Amazing weigh-In
Ben weighed the girls tonight. Abby weighed in at 20#13oz and Natalie showed her whose boss at 20# 14oz.
Woo-Hoo!
Woo-Hoo!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Ahhh, Our First Throw-up
Little Abby is responsible for our first throw-up in 9 days. BUT, it came after she had about 12 oz of milk within a 30 minute period. I think she just drank too much. So, really, I don't think it should count.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A Little Time Alone
Natalie and Abby are away at Ya-Ya's Feeding Boot-Camp. We took them down Saturday and I will go to get them Wednesday. Ben and I are enjoying a little baby-free time. We had grand plans to do all kinds of cleaning, but mostly we've just been hanging out. We did clean up a little outside and mow the grass. I've also cleaned the girls' room and my office and Ben shampooed the carpets in the living room, hall and baby's room. So, I guess we weren't completely lazy.
In other news, I weighed the girls before they left and I am so excited. Natalie was 20 pounds 3oz and Abby 20 pounds 8 oz. We have a 8.5 oz gain for Natalie in about 72 hours. Abby gained 8 oz. Also, no one has thrown up since Natalie did Wednesday morning.
I can not tell you how absolutely fantastic this is. Half a pound in THREE days! That's unbelieveable. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I can't wait to see how big they are when they come back from Ya-Ya's. Abby might even hit 21 pounds.
I just can't believe that the solution may have been this simple - a milk protein intolerance. Oh, the pounds they could have gained....
In other news, I weighed the girls before they left and I am so excited. Natalie was 20 pounds 3oz and Abby 20 pounds 8 oz. We have a 8.5 oz gain for Natalie in about 72 hours. Abby gained 8 oz. Also, no one has thrown up since Natalie did Wednesday morning.
I can not tell you how absolutely fantastic this is. Half a pound in THREE days! That's unbelieveable. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I can't wait to see how big they are when they come back from Ya-Ya's. Abby might even hit 21 pounds.
I just can't believe that the solution may have been this simple - a milk protein intolerance. Oh, the pounds they could have gained....
Friday, May 22, 2009
Kinda makes you wanna go hmmmmmm....
So, day three of diary-free. Very interesting. We are using soy milk and adding olive oil and a scoop of duocal. It's hard to know exactly, but it's probably about 200-250 calories per 8 ounces, depending on how much olive oil we add.
Fact One: No one has thrown up since Natalie did Wednesday morning. Not even when they were crying. Coincidence? Hmmmmm.
Fact Two: Their appetites seem have increased significantly. Last night, (well, Friday am), I fed the girls about 1am. Abby ate about 5 or 6 oz. At 3am she woke up crying. Ben fed her 5 more oz. At 5:30, Natalie woke up crying. So, I fed her. (7oz I think). Since I was up, I also fed Abby again, who had awakened and was crying anyway. She ate 7 oz. At 10am I woke them and fed them. Abby ate 7 oz again. So, in a 9 hour period, Abby had about 24 oz of milk. TWENTY FOUR OUNCES!!!!! in 9 hours!!! That's just crazy. Coincidence? Are they simply recovering from their sickness and making up for the lost weight? Hmmmmmmm.
Fact three: They are eating solids better too. In particular, their newest food: oats and honey granola bars aka baby crack. They can't get enough of these things. One bar has 95 calories. They are eating about two a day. This evening, we had them in their chairs and there was only about half of one bar left, and Abby had it. I took it and broke it in half to give some to Natalie. Abby had a fit. Even when I gave her back her half, she wasn't happy. She wanted it ALL. Since it was the last one, we packed up and went to Target to get more (and a few other things). As soon as they saw the boxes they started pointing and grunting to have one. Once they have one, they chew away, happy as larks.
They have also eaten other food: soy yogurt (only vanilla - NOT peach), chicken nuggets, french fries, and Abby seemed to enjoy the hotdog she had tonight. Overwhelmingly though, granola bars are the favorite.
Fact 4: I could be imaging things, but I think their rash is getting better, especially on their arms.
Fact 5: I weighed Natalie this morning. She has gained 5.5 ounces since Wednesday morning.
Conclusion:
The only thing I can figure is that they are able to process the soy better than the milk and their stomachs are actually emptying faster ergo they are more hungry. That's the only explanation I have for Abby being physically capable of consuming 24 ounces without throwing up. Before, they could go all night without eating, throw up and you could see all the partially digested milk - 8 hours after eating.
We are pretty excited that we may have found a solution to their vomiting and slow weight gain. It's rather mind-blowing that all along it may have been as simple as an intolerance to milk protein. That brings me to my rant...why, oh, why, oh why, didn't this occur to one of the dozen doctors we have seen in the past two years???? One time, while they were still in the NICU, it was discussed and we went dairy free for about a week. They wanted to see if they would eat more. They didn't and it was abandoned. So far, all their throwing up has been blamed on reflux - which is apparently the catch-all for any unexplained vomiting. It's amazing that it has not occured to anyone before now.
I have to give credit where credit is due - since it never occured to me either. This has all been the idea of my sister. One of her best friend's newborn baby was crying for hours on end (blamed on colic and reflux). They did a little research, switched him to a non-dairy formula and *snap* - a completely different baby. So, once again, thanks to my sister, we may have been saved.
It makes me a little angry when I really think about where Natalie and Abby could be had we figured this out a year ago. They could weigh pounds and pounds more. They would be stronger and mabe even further ahead in their development in speech and other areas. They might have even been off the special pediatric drinks and just on regular soy milk. Maybe we still wouldn't be doing 4 bottles a day - for two year olds.
At least it looks like we may have some kind of solution to our ongoing problem. We can only hope this isn't a fluke and is the real beginning of the girls doing much, much better.
Fact One: No one has thrown up since Natalie did Wednesday morning. Not even when they were crying. Coincidence? Hmmmmm.
Fact Two: Their appetites seem have increased significantly. Last night, (well, Friday am), I fed the girls about 1am. Abby ate about 5 or 6 oz. At 3am she woke up crying. Ben fed her 5 more oz. At 5:30, Natalie woke up crying. So, I fed her. (7oz I think). Since I was up, I also fed Abby again, who had awakened and was crying anyway. She ate 7 oz. At 10am I woke them and fed them. Abby ate 7 oz again. So, in a 9 hour period, Abby had about 24 oz of milk. TWENTY FOUR OUNCES!!!!! in 9 hours!!! That's just crazy. Coincidence? Are they simply recovering from their sickness and making up for the lost weight? Hmmmmmmm.
Fact three: They are eating solids better too. In particular, their newest food: oats and honey granola bars aka baby crack. They can't get enough of these things. One bar has 95 calories. They are eating about two a day. This evening, we had them in their chairs and there was only about half of one bar left, and Abby had it. I took it and broke it in half to give some to Natalie. Abby had a fit. Even when I gave her back her half, she wasn't happy. She wanted it ALL. Since it was the last one, we packed up and went to Target to get more (and a few other things). As soon as they saw the boxes they started pointing and grunting to have one. Once they have one, they chew away, happy as larks.
They have also eaten other food: soy yogurt (only vanilla - NOT peach), chicken nuggets, french fries, and Abby seemed to enjoy the hotdog she had tonight. Overwhelmingly though, granola bars are the favorite.
Fact 4: I could be imaging things, but I think their rash is getting better, especially on their arms.
Fact 5: I weighed Natalie this morning. She has gained 5.5 ounces since Wednesday morning.
Conclusion:
The only thing I can figure is that they are able to process the soy better than the milk and their stomachs are actually emptying faster ergo they are more hungry. That's the only explanation I have for Abby being physically capable of consuming 24 ounces without throwing up. Before, they could go all night without eating, throw up and you could see all the partially digested milk - 8 hours after eating.
We are pretty excited that we may have found a solution to their vomiting and slow weight gain. It's rather mind-blowing that all along it may have been as simple as an intolerance to milk protein. That brings me to my rant...why, oh, why, oh why, didn't this occur to one of the dozen doctors we have seen in the past two years???? One time, while they were still in the NICU, it was discussed and we went dairy free for about a week. They wanted to see if they would eat more. They didn't and it was abandoned. So far, all their throwing up has been blamed on reflux - which is apparently the catch-all for any unexplained vomiting. It's amazing that it has not occured to anyone before now.
I have to give credit where credit is due - since it never occured to me either. This has all been the idea of my sister. One of her best friend's newborn baby was crying for hours on end (blamed on colic and reflux). They did a little research, switched him to a non-dairy formula and *snap* - a completely different baby. So, once again, thanks to my sister, we may have been saved.
It makes me a little angry when I really think about where Natalie and Abby could be had we figured this out a year ago. They could weigh pounds and pounds more. They would be stronger and mabe even further ahead in their development in speech and other areas. They might have even been off the special pediatric drinks and just on regular soy milk. Maybe we still wouldn't be doing 4 bottles a day - for two year olds.
At least it looks like we may have some kind of solution to our ongoing problem. We can only hope this isn't a fluke and is the real beginning of the girls doing much, much better.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Battle of the (non)Bulge and the G-word
It's worse than I thought.
I weighed the girls today now that they seemed to have recovered (never mind that Natalie threw up AGAIN this morning in her crib.) Abby weighed in at 20lbs even - a loss of 12.5 oz in two weeks. Natalie was only 19lbs 10.5 oz. She was down 12 oz as well. She looks it too. Natalie looks so puny - and she seems unbalanced - like she's almost too weak to stand up. It's pitiful. Today is actually the first day since Friday that she is herself again.
My sister was here this weekend and after much discussion, and drawing on her vast experience with hundreds of babies through her sleep training business, we are now wondering if they have a mild milk protein allergy. Nothing dangerous, but just enough to make them throw up and have trouble digesting their pedisure. They have some signs: the vomiting and an ever increasing ezema-like rash on their thighs, arms, and back. So, we are trying a week of no-diary to see what happens. We are trying soy milk with olive oil plus stepping up the solids. We'll just have to see if it helps with the vomiting at all.
Since Natalie had been sick since Friday and was STILL throwing up, I took her to the doctor yesterday. As I expected, there was nothing visibly wrong with her - no ear infection, for instance. But, the ped was very concerned. We happened to see our regular ped so she knows them well. She threw around words like "failure to thrive", "potentional delays in developlement" and my favorite, "g-tube". She thinks we should consider it again so they can get the calories they need, which apparently is about 1200 a day. Honestly, I don't know how any kid gets 1200 a day. ADULTS can live on 1200 calories a day. They would have to drink 40 ounces of pedisure to reach 1200 calories. That is NEVER going to happen.
On the bright side, they seem quite hungry and interested in eating. Yesterday morning, I picked Abby up and she said, "eat, eat". I responded, "yes, mommy is going to fix you breakfast." I then set her down and she started howling. I picked her back up and asked her what was wrong. I said "tell mommy what you want..." Through her tears she said, "eat, eat". She wanted to eat right then. So, I put her in her chair, and she was very happy. I have also discovered they love granola bars - the oats and honey crunchy kind. At 190 calories for 2 bars, they are a great find. The girls have already each had one bar today.
Oh - I also just want to draw your attention to how Abby used her words to express what she wanted (eat, eat). I'm pretty excited about that, too.
So, the plan now is to try the diary-free route and feed them as much as possible. I am also going to check into have some allergy testing done. And before we even approach the g-tube route, we will have some other tests done, like a gastro-emptying test, and look into some medication that improve motility (how fast the stomach empties.)
That's the news for now - Abby and Natalie are head butting each other and I should probably pay attention...
I weighed the girls today now that they seemed to have recovered (never mind that Natalie threw up AGAIN this morning in her crib.) Abby weighed in at 20lbs even - a loss of 12.5 oz in two weeks. Natalie was only 19lbs 10.5 oz. She was down 12 oz as well. She looks it too. Natalie looks so puny - and she seems unbalanced - like she's almost too weak to stand up. It's pitiful. Today is actually the first day since Friday that she is herself again.
My sister was here this weekend and after much discussion, and drawing on her vast experience with hundreds of babies through her sleep training business, we are now wondering if they have a mild milk protein allergy. Nothing dangerous, but just enough to make them throw up and have trouble digesting their pedisure. They have some signs: the vomiting and an ever increasing ezema-like rash on their thighs, arms, and back. So, we are trying a week of no-diary to see what happens. We are trying soy milk with olive oil plus stepping up the solids. We'll just have to see if it helps with the vomiting at all.
Since Natalie had been sick since Friday and was STILL throwing up, I took her to the doctor yesterday. As I expected, there was nothing visibly wrong with her - no ear infection, for instance. But, the ped was very concerned. We happened to see our regular ped so she knows them well. She threw around words like "failure to thrive", "potentional delays in developlement" and my favorite, "g-tube". She thinks we should consider it again so they can get the calories they need, which apparently is about 1200 a day. Honestly, I don't know how any kid gets 1200 a day. ADULTS can live on 1200 calories a day. They would have to drink 40 ounces of pedisure to reach 1200 calories. That is NEVER going to happen.
On the bright side, they seem quite hungry and interested in eating. Yesterday morning, I picked Abby up and she said, "eat, eat". I responded, "yes, mommy is going to fix you breakfast." I then set her down and she started howling. I picked her back up and asked her what was wrong. I said "tell mommy what you want..." Through her tears she said, "eat, eat". She wanted to eat right then. So, I put her in her chair, and she was very happy. I have also discovered they love granola bars - the oats and honey crunchy kind. At 190 calories for 2 bars, they are a great find. The girls have already each had one bar today.
Oh - I also just want to draw your attention to how Abby used her words to express what she wanted (eat, eat). I'm pretty excited about that, too.
So, the plan now is to try the diary-free route and feed them as much as possible. I am also going to check into have some allergy testing done. And before we even approach the g-tube route, we will have some other tests done, like a gastro-emptying test, and look into some medication that improve motility (how fast the stomach empties.)
That's the news for now - Abby and Natalie are head butting each other and I should probably pay attention...
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