Look What I Bought.....

Yep, that's right!  We are now the proud owners of four little princess potty chairs, two for upstairs and two for downstairs.  The girls have randomly started saying "uck uck uck" and grabbing their bottoms after they poo.  So, I decided that it was a good time to start thinking about introducing the potty.  While I'm not 100% sure that the girls are ready for full-blown potty training, I figured it couldn't hurt to start presenting it. 

Just like everything else, I did a lot of research about potty chairs.  I was almost 100% positive that I wanted to get the fancy Baby Bjorn potties until I read the reviews about them.  It never would have dawned on me to think about splash guards and the high center piece when dealing with girls.  I'm glad I actually did read up before just going out and buying them. 

Like I said previously, I'm not positive that the girls are ready for this but we are going to start slowly and see where we go.  If it doesn't work and the girls reject the idea completely, then we will wait a few months and try again.  I've heard too many horror stories about parents who start potty training too early and then their children rebel and they are in diapers until they are three.  I have no plans to force the issue and plan to let the girls decide on their own when they are ready.  So, my plans are to just introduce the potty before the girls take a bath.  I will let them sit on the chair and see how it goes.  Wish me luck!



If you have any potty suggestions, I'm all ears!

18 Months....

Yes, I know I say this every month but I seriously can not believe that my little babies are so grown up.  It  doesn't seem right to me that we are less than six months away from the girls second birthday.  Everyday they surprise me with something new that just proves to me that they are no longer babies.

I wanted to wait until I had actual facts and figures before I did my 18 month update.  The girls got gold stars and princess stickers from the pediatrician yesterday.  She continues to be amazed by how well they are doing and is very impressed by their progress.  The girls got a Hepatitis A shot, a flu shot and a heal stick to check their iron levels.  Addison seriously did not cry at all.  She did this little fake sobby thing, but didn't shed a tear.  Alexis on the other hand, well you would have thought someone was murdering her.  So here we go:

ALEXIS

• As of  yesterday (the 19th) she weighed 20 pounds 13 ounces and was 30 1/2 inches tall.  Finally hit the charts:  7th percentile for weight & 12 percentile for height.
• Currently uses Size 4 Kirkland's (Costco Brand) diapers
• Currently wears 12 month clothes, sometimes an occasional 18 month but that's very rare.
• Wears size 5 shoe
• Has 12, maybe 13 teeth.  Trying to verify this is like sticking my hand into an alligators mouth.
• Officially no longer uses a bottle, EVER.  She had a hard time with this, especially at bed time, but we are happy to say that she has finally given it up.
• Loves Barney and Elmo.  Can literally be screaming her head off and the minute you turn on Barney or Elmo she will instantly calm down.
• Still has a limited vocabulary of:  MaMa, DaDa, Cat, Ball, Buh Buh (barney), MoMo(Elmo), BaBa (bottle aka, sippy cup), Dog, Tah Dah (when she does flips or just generally anything worthy of a Tah Dah).  She tends to do more pointing than talking.
• Has the sweetest personality when she is by herself, not that she isn't sweet when she isn't alone, but it's obvious she loves the personal attention.  She will give hugs and kisses and loves to cuddle.
• Loves to read books, actually let me rephrase that....she loves to turn pages of books.
• Loves to sing and has the sweetest little singing voice.
• Knows several of her body parts and will point to them when asked. 
• Recognizes a dog, cat, frog, pig or cow.  If you have a book and ask her where the dog is, she will point to it.  Also will say mmmmmm, trying to say Mooo, to imitate a cow.

ADDISON 

• As of yesterday (the 19th) she weighed 19 pounds 2 ounces and was 30 1/2 inches tall.  (Yes, both girls are the exact same height.)  She also finally hit the charts:  1st percentile for weight & 19 percentile for height.
• Currently uses Size 4 Kirkland's (Costco Brand) diapers.
• Currently wears 12 month clothes.
• Wears size 5 shoe
• Has 12 teeth.  Again, this is very hard to verify 100% these days.  Addison is a little more laid back about letting me check but she gets tired of me looking in her mouth very quickly.
• Sleeps with a little blanket.  I'm ok with this since my girls never took pacifiers. 
• Shares her sisters love of Barney and Elmo.  I think Addison loves Elmo more.  Anytime she seems Elmo anywhere she makes sure that everyone knows that she just saw Elmo.  We were walking through Target's baby section the other night and she saw Elmo on a baby bib and started shouting "Elmo Elmo Elmo".
• Her vocabulary has seriously exploded in the past month.  I can't even begin to create a list of words that she knows.  Everyday it is something new.  Yesterday at the pediatricians office she pulled Terry's keys out of the diaper bag and held them up and said "keys?".  A few nights ago, she kept saying something that Terry and I both thought sounded like "apple".  Sure enough, she was telling Terry that she wanted applesauce. 
• Is a social butterfly.  Is always telling everyone Hi or Bye.  Loves to wave, blow kisses and draw attention to herself.  Super Cute!
• Loves to read books.  She will actually sit on your lap and let you read to her.  She also loves to turn the pages but is more willing to let you read to her.
• Knows several of her body parts and will point to them when asked.  She also will tell you where your specific body parts are located.  Her favorite lately being teeth.
• Recognizes and can imitate several animals.  She says mmmmmm (instead of mooo) for a cow, baaaa for a sheep, twack twack for a duck.  She can pick out and point to a specific animal if you ask her.

We are anxiously awaiting Halloween at our house this year.  The girls are loving their costumes and can't wait to make their debut around our neighborhood.  Stay tuned for more updates.....

Venting.....

• Why don't people understand that a preemie baby will ALWAYS be considered a preemie baby? 
• Why can't people understand that preemie lungs are considered undeveloped until the child is AT LEAST 24 months corrected age?
• Why can't people understand that a preemie will always have weak lungs and be more apt to contract colds and respiratory infections?
• Why can't I make people understand that during cold, flu & RSV season it is in the best interest of my children to stay at home and away from other children?

Before you judge or get mad I ask you ONCE AGAIN to place yourself in our shoes for just one minute.....

Imagine you went through hell and back just to get pregnant.  Your pregnancy is rough at best.  You almost lose both your surviving children within minutes of them being born.  You spend countless hours in the NICU for over three and a half months of your life.  Don't you think that you would do everything humanly possible to make sure your children don't get sick?  Don't you think that you would do everything in your power to make sure that they don't ever have to suffer one ounce of pain?  While I'm not naive in the fact that my girls will never get sick, I think it's only good parenting to try and protect them.  Am I wrong?  Please just try and understand before you judge and/or make your ignorant comments. 

How far are you willing to go to protect your kids?  I will do anything I have to!  And if that means putting up with people who can't grasp that concept, then so be it, but I just wish I could make people understand!!!

October 15th

Today is October 15th, National Pregnancy and infant loss remembrance day.  Before we struggled through infertility, a miscarriage & losing our baby girl Hope, I had know idea that this day even existed.  While I continue to trust that the Lord has/had our best interest at heart, there isn't a day that goes by where I don't wonder or think about my Angels in heaven.

Today we ask that you say a prayer for every parent who has lost a child and for every child that was taken from this world too soon.

Children of the Corn??

Took the girls to the local pumpkin patch over the weekend.  I seriously can never remember going to a pumpkin patch and being too hot.  Usually we get to enjoy warm apple cider and some hot chocolate....not so much this year.  The temperature was close to 85 degrees and we were making sure to keep the sun block near.  We had a blast checking out the different animals and just generally being out of the house and enjoying the beautiful day.  I love that the girls are actually understanding animals now.  They can tell me pig, horsie, duck etc.  They still get confused sometimes, but watching their little minds work, makes me very happy.  The girls loved running around the corn maze.  Yes, I said "running".  It was so hard to get decent pictures, because it seems as if they both like to run in different directions.  Here are a few pictures, I couldn't decide which ones  I like best so there are a bunch:

 Addison checking out the piggies.

Addison watching the horsie. 

My best attempt to get both of the girls looking at me.

Addison on the toy horsie. 

Alexis determined not to look at me.

Again, my best attempt to get both girls to look at the camera.  Alexis left & Addison right.

Addison....how can you not love that little face? 

Alexis (left) Addison (right)  Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?

Alexis in the scarecrow head.

Addison in the scarecrow.

All the following pictures are the girls playing in the corn maze.

Addison says, "looking for the perfect pumpkin is hard work.  I'm just gonna rest here for a second... right in the dirt."

Addison, "which one shall I get?"

Addison, "This one looks good".

Alexis, "I like this one but it's a little heavy for me."

Addison testing out her muscles.  I didn't work.  The great pumpkin won.

Alexis also putting her muscles to the test.  She just ended up knocking it over.

Alexis, "I like this one!"

Kiss your Sissy!

My heart absolutely melts every time I see my girls give each other kisses!!!  I can't even find the right words to describe it.  I was finally able to somewhat capture it on film this morning.  Too bad the love fest ended shortly there after with them biting each other.  Any hints on how to stop the biting??  NEED HELP!!!

A whole NEW perspective.....

We finally broke down and installed the girls forward facing car seats Wednesday evening.  We have been going back and forth on this issue for a month or so.  Indiana state law (as well as most other states) dictates the rule for forward facing seats is one year of age AND 20-22 pounds.  While our girls are very tall and their legs were scrunched up in their infant carriers, they previously didn't meet the 20 pound weight requirement to flip them around.  Every time that we would go somewhere, Terry and I would feel bad putting them in their infant car seats with their long legs pressed up against the back of the seat but we knew that they would be the safest in a rear-facing seat until they hit the weight requirement. 

After much discussion, and after cleaning up several vomit incidents from Miss Addison, we decided to flip them around.  While I don't know what the girls current weights are, I'm positive that Alexis definitely meets the 20 pound requirement.  Addison is very close if she is not 20 pounds.  We decided that even if Addison isn't quite 20 pounds, that she will be more comfortable facing forward and we are hoping that her car sickness issues will be eliminated by making the switch.

When I was a child I remember numerous occasions where I would need the "bucket" when we were in the car.  Yes, the "bucket" was nothing more than an old plastic butter bowl, but it served the purpose during those road trips to Grandma's house when I got car sick.  I have a vague recollection of standing on the side of Highway 55 while my parents would clean up the car & dispose of the "bucket" so we could return home.  I hope that Addison does not acquire my tendencies towards getting car sick, but as it looks now, this may be wishful thinking on my part.

The girls were ecstatic about their new "big girl" seats.  I really wish that I would have taken a video of this, but who knew that new car seats would be so exciting to my kiddos?  It was if they were seeing the outside world for the first time and they were getting a whole new perspective on life by simply being able to see out a window.  They both loved the fact that they could not only see Mommy in the car, but that they could see each other.  Their eyes were both very wide with excitement and their little giggles were very contagious.

I can't believe how big my little girls look in these pictures!!  They seem to be growing so fast lately!  Please forgive the quality of the pictures, they were taken from my phone.  (Addison on top, Alexis on bottom)