Saturday, August 29, 2009
Babbling babies
Kenna has had quite a repertoire for a few weeks now...ba ba ba, ma ma ma (the first one!), da da da, pa pa pa, and diaper (just kidding). :) She really has upped her brother in this area. Nathan has always made lots of sounds, but no consonants. Well, for the record book, this week he has done "da da da" a handful of times and this morning ever so briefly he did "ma ma". It's so strange to hear him say something like Kenna does because he just doesn't make those sounds yet...but he crawled into my lap this morning and suddenly said "ma ma". My heart melted, even if he doesn't know what ma ma means yet. :)
Monday, August 17, 2009
An overdue update!
It's been a busy couple of weeks, but time for an update! A lot has actually happened.
I hate starting on a sad note, but it's top of mind so I must...our wonderful, amazing, spectacular part time nanny (one day a week) had to quit tonight due to cat allergies that are getting worse and worse as she works with us. :( I'm so sad, I have to admit I broke down and cried after she left. She loves the kids and was so sad too. It's so hard to find someone you love like this, so I'm super bummed. I have 2 weeks to find someone new. Big, huge sigh, but...
On happier notes, here is the latest!
Lots and lots of teeth!
Nathan now has all four front teeth and Kenna has SIX! She has four on top, two on bottom, which all came in before her eight month birthday. What a toothy little grin she has now. :) Amazingly, she was never really grumpy about it. Neither was Nathan...until last week. He was so grumpy suddenly and obsessing over his teeth - grinding them constantly (Kenna does that too, it's like finger nails on a chalkboard!). I assume he must have more coming in soon because of the grumpiness. He was his happy self today though, so hopefully we are on a good path. :)
Hair!
Kenna has had hair steadily coming in over the last few months but Nathan has been as bald as ever. Lately though he has started to get a little fuzzy and it's SO cute! I've really noticed it in the last two weeks. It still doesn't look like a lot but you can suddenly tell it's growing and when he wakes up from a nap he has "bed head" with little ruffled hair on the back. I think it's the sweetest thing ever (especially to go with the ultra grumpy he look he gets after nap time)!
Nathan knows Kenna exists!
Yes, Nathan officially has noticed that Kenna exists alongside him! For months and months now, Kenna has observed her brother intently, always curious about and interested in him. Nathan has never much cared to know what his baby sister is doing. But in the last couple of weeks all of that has changed. They now interact all the time! It's like the light switch went on for Nathan that he has a playmate. It started with a nighttime event when they were in PJs getting ready for bed. They suddenly began "chasing" each other around the living room and laughing. Nathan would crawl toward Kenna and she would crawl away as fast as possible, laughing all the while (she still doesn't do a regular crawl, but can move just as fast with the army crawl, slithering on the floor with arms and legs). Kenna laughing is also a new event - she would laugh out loud before when you tickled her, sort of as an automatic response, but now she is laughing out loud at things and it all started with her laughing at Nathan crawling after her! The funny thing is, originally I don't think Nathan was even crawling after her, he just came near her and she thought it was funny and crawled away quickly. But over time he joined in and now laughs too. This has now opened up a whole new world of interaction at different times, especially mealtime. When they try a new food they look at each other as if to say, "what do you think?" (sometimes while spitting it out!) They also reach across the high chairs to touch each other and sometimes just start laughing. It's so adorable when they connect like that! And I just love finally hearing Kenna laugh!
Need...more...containment devices!
Looking back on my last post, I can't believe it was only July 25th that Nathan mastered the crawl. I mean, he is EVERYWHERE. Opening drawers, pulling up on things, pulling on electrical cords (still working on baby proofing...), you name it. He knows when I say come here, and crawls with a big smile fast toward me, straight into my lap. Melts my heart every time. :) Kenna has that army crawl perfected and has shown no interest in getting her tummy off the ground. But she moves as fast as Nathan so why would she care?! She too is into everything and especially loves to pick small specks off the floor and study them as she slivers around. Kenna LOVES to investigate rugs for some reason. She picks up the different corners and pulls them up and down. Now that they are so mobile, they have a lot less interest in toys. They want to move chairs, look at rugs, open kitchen drawers, play with cords and anything else that isn't meant for them. I've started working on teaching them "no" and need to do babyproofing very soon (like yesterday). But, I don't want to completely baby proof because I want them to learn boundaries with some things that aren't dangerous but that they just aren't allowed to play with. I'm making some progress with a firm no and hand squeeze. Kenna listens much better than Nathan. He will whine then go back to what he wanted. Kenna looks at me, doesn't like that I am not happy, and moves on!
Kenna finds a new sleeping position...
Months after learning to roll over both ways, Kenna has decided that she wants to sleep on her stomach suddenly. With Nathan, he learned to roll over, and there has never been a day since that he has slept on his back. Kenna always slept on her back, but just the last week has been sleeping on her stomach. I was really surprised when I first saw it and a little scared because it was so unlike her! But it's been consistent for a few days so we may two stomach sleepers now.
Making baby food
This is really, really unlike me, but I have decided to make as much of the babies' food going forward as possible. I keep trying to figure out why I want to do this, because it is SO not like me, and here is what I can come up with:
1) I've gotten really into cooking in the last few months and making baby food is a great way for me to systematically learn to cook pretty much every vegetable and fruit! So, for one, it's a cool learning experience.
2) I have a lot more control over what they are eating. I really like the idea of them eating pure, fresh food in its original "form" without added preservatives and all those other things in the ingredient list on jars. I love knowing that when they eat pears, they are...just eating pears. Fresh and pure. Baby food can be on the shelf for up to 3 years in some cases with all the stuff that is in it!
3) I want them to have healthy eating habits, and this is a great way of supporting that. You can make a lot more variety than you can ever buy in "baby food packs". I want them to have the opportunity to learn about and like lots of different foods. So many kids are so picky and don't get well balanced diets, and it's my goal to avoid that as much as possible. I never thought I would be "that" mom, but I hope my kids don't know what fried food is for a very long time. :)
4) I can more easily control portion size. I have big eaters! When you buy those jars or packages, you are somewhat limited to the portions they come in. When you make your own food, you can freeze in whatever portions are most practical for you.
5) In addition to all that, it's cheaper!
On another food note, I'm peeling everything before preparing to get rid of as much of the pesticide residue as possible. It's hard to wash it all off and babies' bodies are much more sensitive to it (they get 60 times the exposure given the concentration of their foods). Anything without a peel I will buy organic. I can't believe I'm saying that, because like I said, I am totally not the I-buy-food-at-Whole-Foods-and-Trader-Joes-person-because-of-environmental-and-social-issues by nature. But I've been reading about organic food more and while my kids are small, I think it's worth while to give them the majority of food that is either peeled or organic given how much more they are impacted by it (compared to adults). I have a special concern about chicken and want to only feed them natural chicken, hormone free - I have endometriosis, which is thought to at least be partially caused by the extreme levels of estrogen in chicken (for people who eat a lot of meat). If I can minimize Kenna's risk at all of endo by only giving her hormone free meat at home, I think it's a very worthwhile pursuit.
So far I have made: peaches, pears, apples, mangos, bananas, carrots, zuchini, broccoli, asparagus, and garbanzo beans.
I will have to post some pictures later...gotta go find a nanny!
I hate starting on a sad note, but it's top of mind so I must...our wonderful, amazing, spectacular part time nanny (one day a week) had to quit tonight due to cat allergies that are getting worse and worse as she works with us. :( I'm so sad, I have to admit I broke down and cried after she left. She loves the kids and was so sad too. It's so hard to find someone you love like this, so I'm super bummed. I have 2 weeks to find someone new. Big, huge sigh, but...
On happier notes, here is the latest!
Lots and lots of teeth!
Nathan now has all four front teeth and Kenna has SIX! She has four on top, two on bottom, which all came in before her eight month birthday. What a toothy little grin she has now. :) Amazingly, she was never really grumpy about it. Neither was Nathan...until last week. He was so grumpy suddenly and obsessing over his teeth - grinding them constantly (Kenna does that too, it's like finger nails on a chalkboard!). I assume he must have more coming in soon because of the grumpiness. He was his happy self today though, so hopefully we are on a good path. :)
Hair!
Kenna has had hair steadily coming in over the last few months but Nathan has been as bald as ever. Lately though he has started to get a little fuzzy and it's SO cute! I've really noticed it in the last two weeks. It still doesn't look like a lot but you can suddenly tell it's growing and when he wakes up from a nap he has "bed head" with little ruffled hair on the back. I think it's the sweetest thing ever (especially to go with the ultra grumpy he look he gets after nap time)!
Nathan knows Kenna exists!
Yes, Nathan officially has noticed that Kenna exists alongside him! For months and months now, Kenna has observed her brother intently, always curious about and interested in him. Nathan has never much cared to know what his baby sister is doing. But in the last couple of weeks all of that has changed. They now interact all the time! It's like the light switch went on for Nathan that he has a playmate. It started with a nighttime event when they were in PJs getting ready for bed. They suddenly began "chasing" each other around the living room and laughing. Nathan would crawl toward Kenna and she would crawl away as fast as possible, laughing all the while (she still doesn't do a regular crawl, but can move just as fast with the army crawl, slithering on the floor with arms and legs). Kenna laughing is also a new event - she would laugh out loud before when you tickled her, sort of as an automatic response, but now she is laughing out loud at things and it all started with her laughing at Nathan crawling after her! The funny thing is, originally I don't think Nathan was even crawling after her, he just came near her and she thought it was funny and crawled away quickly. But over time he joined in and now laughs too. This has now opened up a whole new world of interaction at different times, especially mealtime. When they try a new food they look at each other as if to say, "what do you think?" (sometimes while spitting it out!) They also reach across the high chairs to touch each other and sometimes just start laughing. It's so adorable when they connect like that! And I just love finally hearing Kenna laugh!
Need...more...containment devices!
Looking back on my last post, I can't believe it was only July 25th that Nathan mastered the crawl. I mean, he is EVERYWHERE. Opening drawers, pulling up on things, pulling on electrical cords (still working on baby proofing...), you name it. He knows when I say come here, and crawls with a big smile fast toward me, straight into my lap. Melts my heart every time. :) Kenna has that army crawl perfected and has shown no interest in getting her tummy off the ground. But she moves as fast as Nathan so why would she care?! She too is into everything and especially loves to pick small specks off the floor and study them as she slivers around. Kenna LOVES to investigate rugs for some reason. She picks up the different corners and pulls them up and down. Now that they are so mobile, they have a lot less interest in toys. They want to move chairs, look at rugs, open kitchen drawers, play with cords and anything else that isn't meant for them. I've started working on teaching them "no" and need to do babyproofing very soon (like yesterday). But, I don't want to completely baby proof because I want them to learn boundaries with some things that aren't dangerous but that they just aren't allowed to play with. I'm making some progress with a firm no and hand squeeze. Kenna listens much better than Nathan. He will whine then go back to what he wanted. Kenna looks at me, doesn't like that I am not happy, and moves on!
Kenna finds a new sleeping position...
Months after learning to roll over both ways, Kenna has decided that she wants to sleep on her stomach suddenly. With Nathan, he learned to roll over, and there has never been a day since that he has slept on his back. Kenna always slept on her back, but just the last week has been sleeping on her stomach. I was really surprised when I first saw it and a little scared because it was so unlike her! But it's been consistent for a few days so we may two stomach sleepers now.
Making baby food
This is really, really unlike me, but I have decided to make as much of the babies' food going forward as possible. I keep trying to figure out why I want to do this, because it is SO not like me, and here is what I can come up with:
1) I've gotten really into cooking in the last few months and making baby food is a great way for me to systematically learn to cook pretty much every vegetable and fruit! So, for one, it's a cool learning experience.
2) I have a lot more control over what they are eating. I really like the idea of them eating pure, fresh food in its original "form" without added preservatives and all those other things in the ingredient list on jars. I love knowing that when they eat pears, they are...just eating pears. Fresh and pure. Baby food can be on the shelf for up to 3 years in some cases with all the stuff that is in it!
3) I want them to have healthy eating habits, and this is a great way of supporting that. You can make a lot more variety than you can ever buy in "baby food packs". I want them to have the opportunity to learn about and like lots of different foods. So many kids are so picky and don't get well balanced diets, and it's my goal to avoid that as much as possible. I never thought I would be "that" mom, but I hope my kids don't know what fried food is for a very long time. :)
4) I can more easily control portion size. I have big eaters! When you buy those jars or packages, you are somewhat limited to the portions they come in. When you make your own food, you can freeze in whatever portions are most practical for you.
5) In addition to all that, it's cheaper!
On another food note, I'm peeling everything before preparing to get rid of as much of the pesticide residue as possible. It's hard to wash it all off and babies' bodies are much more sensitive to it (they get 60 times the exposure given the concentration of their foods). Anything without a peel I will buy organic. I can't believe I'm saying that, because like I said, I am totally not the I-buy-food-at-Whole-Foods-and-Trader-Joes-person-because-of-environmental-and-social-issues by nature. But I've been reading about organic food more and while my kids are small, I think it's worth while to give them the majority of food that is either peeled or organic given how much more they are impacted by it (compared to adults). I have a special concern about chicken and want to only feed them natural chicken, hormone free - I have endometriosis, which is thought to at least be partially caused by the extreme levels of estrogen in chicken (for people who eat a lot of meat). If I can minimize Kenna's risk at all of endo by only giving her hormone free meat at home, I think it's a very worthwhile pursuit.
So far I have made: peaches, pears, apples, mangos, bananas, carrots, zuchini, broccoli, asparagus, and garbanzo beans.
I will have to post some pictures later...gotta go find a nanny!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
A big event
One difficult thing about having two babies rather than one is that you can't go to the grocery store because only one baby fits in the cart. While we were using the double snap and go there was a nice storage area underneath and I could at least do a small trip. But last week we had to tuck it away because the babies have outgrown the graco car seats that snap into it and they now have the big convertible seats instead. So we now use the side by side Combi everywhere. It's a great lightweight stroller but there is virtually NO storage. I thought that was the end to my even light weight grocery shopping with the babies. BUT...
drum roll...
today we went to Costco, which is the only place I've ever seen with two baby seats in the cart, and the babies had their first grocery cart experience!! Yes, I did a full Costco shopping trip with Nathan and Kenna riding in the front. I'm so excited (I actually really like grocery shopping because I've gotten way into cooking lately). It occurred to me that if they can sit on their own now, they should do fine in the cart so we ventured out. I parked in the back of the lot where I spotted a cart so I could try it out there and abandon the mission if they were falling over. SUCCESS!
As a side note, I knew I was going to post about this so I decided to count how many people stopped to talk to us (people are fascinated by twins). 17! Yup, 17 people talked to me about them. I think they looked pretty small in the cart compared to babies you usually see sitting up, and with two of them, they caught everyone's attention. It was lots of fun. I really never get tired of people wanting to see them. I'm so proud of my little babies. :)
drum roll...
today we went to Costco, which is the only place I've ever seen with two baby seats in the cart, and the babies had their first grocery cart experience!! Yes, I did a full Costco shopping trip with Nathan and Kenna riding in the front. I'm so excited (I actually really like grocery shopping because I've gotten way into cooking lately). It occurred to me that if they can sit on their own now, they should do fine in the cart so we ventured out. I parked in the back of the lot where I spotted a cart so I could try it out there and abandon the mission if they were falling over. SUCCESS!
As a side note, I knew I was going to post about this so I decided to count how many people stopped to talk to us (people are fascinated by twins). 17! Yup, 17 people talked to me about them. I think they looked pretty small in the cart compared to babies you usually see sitting up, and with two of them, they caught everyone's attention. It was lots of fun. I really never get tired of people wanting to see them. I'm so proud of my little babies. :)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sitting, Crawling and Sick!
We have been very fortunate that the babies have only been sick once since birth - when they were three months old they had a cold for about 3 days. Well, cold #2 is now under way. It started with Nathan sniffling, then I got sick, now Kenna and we are all three a mess. I have it worse than they do fortunately (I have the additional thrill of throwing up too, which they don't seem to have). Kenna had a 102 fever yesterday but we gave her tylenol and it brought it down. The only thing worse than 2 sick babies is being sick yourself at the same time! I feel really bad for them not being able to blow their noses on their own. I keep using the nose sucker thing but with as much as I blow my own nose I know they must be miserable.
I'm pretty sure we brought this home from the church nursery, which is where I think we got it last time. No more nursery for a while.
I've been posting about how Nathan has been entering new crawling phases and finally pretty much perfected the one knee at a time thing. Well, if he was at 90% ability before, I can safely say this morning he hit 100%. Crawling before was a thing of necessity for him. He would see something he wanted and find a way to crawl to it. But this morning he went exploring all over the house on his own, for the sake of exploring. I watched in awe as he crawled across our hard wood floors, through the kitchen (where he never has tried to go) and around the dining room with no problem. No falling to his stomach and resuming, one long consistent Christopher Columbus style exploration. :) Wow, you can guess what we will be doing today. I never thought baby proofing would suddenly become so urgent. The way our house is, it's hard to baby proof. We have an empty room in the entry way that I have wanted to turn into a playroom eventually and now is the time. We've picked out a cool wall storage system and rug to start and Bryan is going to go pick it up today. I'm really excited to do something with that room.
There is such a difference between this age and the first 6 months or so. Today I'm sorting and putting away all their old close, breaking down swings, putting bouncers and tummy time things in the garage, etc. It's a whole new stage. I need to go buy some new types of toys for them ASAP. I really feel like we have little kids now and not babies! It's really exciting.
Lastly, I think we can also safely say this is first week when BOTH babies are sitting up for long periods of time on their own! It's amazing! Here are some pics:
A couple of other updates...Kenna is constantly saying "mamamamamama". OK, I know that she isn't referring to me but it is so clear when she says it with a big huge smile that it melts my heart anyway. It is SO precious. I can't even imagine when she says it for real what it will be like. Lastly, our babies are really starting to "argue". Nathan wants whatever Kenna has and immediately grabs it away. If she grabs it back he doesn't care, but when he takes from her she cries immediately. Very different personalities. :) We're working on "No" but it's not very effective thus far!
I'm pretty sure we brought this home from the church nursery, which is where I think we got it last time. No more nursery for a while.
I've been posting about how Nathan has been entering new crawling phases and finally pretty much perfected the one knee at a time thing. Well, if he was at 90% ability before, I can safely say this morning he hit 100%. Crawling before was a thing of necessity for him. He would see something he wanted and find a way to crawl to it. But this morning he went exploring all over the house on his own, for the sake of exploring. I watched in awe as he crawled across our hard wood floors, through the kitchen (where he never has tried to go) and around the dining room with no problem. No falling to his stomach and resuming, one long consistent Christopher Columbus style exploration. :) Wow, you can guess what we will be doing today. I never thought baby proofing would suddenly become so urgent. The way our house is, it's hard to baby proof. We have an empty room in the entry way that I have wanted to turn into a playroom eventually and now is the time. We've picked out a cool wall storage system and rug to start and Bryan is going to go pick it up today. I'm really excited to do something with that room.
There is such a difference between this age and the first 6 months or so. Today I'm sorting and putting away all their old close, breaking down swings, putting bouncers and tummy time things in the garage, etc. It's a whole new stage. I need to go buy some new types of toys for them ASAP. I really feel like we have little kids now and not babies! It's really exciting.
Lastly, I think we can also safely say this is first week when BOTH babies are sitting up for long periods of time on their own! It's amazing! Here are some pics:
A couple of other updates...Kenna is constantly saying "mamamamamama". OK, I know that she isn't referring to me but it is so clear when she says it with a big huge smile that it melts my heart anyway. It is SO precious. I can't even imagine when she says it for real what it will be like. Lastly, our babies are really starting to "argue". Nathan wants whatever Kenna has and immediately grabs it away. If she grabs it back he doesn't care, but when he takes from her she cries immediately. Very different personalities. :) We're working on "No" but it's not very effective thus far!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
More teeth!
Kenna now has both of her top teeth coming in - they are just about to break through the gum! I guess she is getting all her teeth in pairs. :) Nathan's bottom tooth is still pushing through and now we can see it is slightly at an angle. Hopefully that will resolve itself. But no sign of the other tooth yet. Kenna will certainly beat him to a toothy smile!
Nathan has almost perfected his crawl. He is getting places fast. He has even figured out how to go from crawling to sitting. We have an urgent need to do the following now:
1) BABY PROOF!
2) Lower the crib mattresses before Nathan figures out how to pull up (which could happen any day)
3) Switch the car seats to the convertible ones. Even though those Graco snug rides are supposed to last until about a year, they only go up to 22 pounds and Nathan is just about there! He barely is fitting in his seat. So we need to swap out. I'm really sad about not being able to use the snap n go stroller anymore though. It's so much more of a hassle to take the gets out of their car seats everywhere and rebuckle them in a regular stroller!
Nathan has almost perfected his crawl. He is getting places fast. He has even figured out how to go from crawling to sitting. We have an urgent need to do the following now:
1) BABY PROOF!
2) Lower the crib mattresses before Nathan figures out how to pull up (which could happen any day)
3) Switch the car seats to the convertible ones. Even though those Graco snug rides are supposed to last until about a year, they only go up to 22 pounds and Nathan is just about there! He barely is fitting in his seat. So we need to swap out. I'm really sad about not being able to use the snap n go stroller anymore though. It's so much more of a hassle to take the gets out of their car seats everywhere and rebuckle them in a regular stroller!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Two Nathan milestones this morning
While feeding the kids breakfast this morning, I noticed something white in Nathan's mouth...sure enough, he had the bottom left tooth break through this morning! There is just a little white peaking through but it broke the gum line. The other one looks close! Kenna's literally came in within 2 days of each other, so it will be interesting to see if Nathan does the same.
Secondly, Nathan figured out this morning how to crawl without double-knee hopping - he went across the living room one knee at a time! I think it's official, we have a crawler!
I can see how exhausting this is going to be...both babies are into EVERYTHING. This is going to be a hard stage because they are too young still for "discipline". It would be much easier to say, "Nathan if you touch my computer cord one more time you are going to your room." Any advice on how to at least teach them what "No" means at this age? I know most books say that they can start to understand that now, but I'm not sure how. I will tell Nathan no in a firm voice repeatedly and move him away then he keeps going back.
Secondly, Nathan figured out this morning how to crawl without double-knee hopping - he went across the living room one knee at a time! I think it's official, we have a crawler!
I can see how exhausting this is going to be...both babies are into EVERYTHING. This is going to be a hard stage because they are too young still for "discipline". It would be much easier to say, "Nathan if you touch my computer cord one more time you are going to your room." Any advice on how to at least teach them what "No" means at this age? I know most books say that they can start to understand that now, but I'm not sure how. I will tell Nathan no in a firm voice repeatedly and move him away then he keeps going back.
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