Twins 3.5

For the first time, I feel like I am updating on my little children, not my babies/toddlers! They have changed SO MUCH in the last 6 months.

I'm going to be honest, the newborn/baby phase was so crazy hard. I just kept thinking, "when they are older it will be easier." That got me through some of the hard days/times/phases. From about 10 or so months, when they were sleeping through the night better, until about 15 months was seriously great. I was finally catching my breath, and thought "hey, I can do this!" Then 16 months hit and it got so difficult. The terrible 2's had made it's appearance. From about 16 months until 3 was so, so, so hard. Twins in the terrible 2's was harder then we could have imagined. Then you'd get the people who would say, "you think 2 is hard, wait until you get to 3! It's SO much worse!" Which had me really scared. And apprehensive. Then 3 years and 2 months hit, and the twins got SO much easier. The terrible 2's had ended! So far 3 has been bliss. It's still been difficult, as twins at any age would be, but it's been so much better than the 2's. Both Trevor and I just can't get enough of these two stinkers at this age. They are so much fun!

We have had so much fun doing fun family things, and have started playing a lot of games together which has been such a great way to spend time together. We have spent so many hours playing their favorite games "the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel" and "Pop the Pig".  They love playing hide and seek.

They love to watch shows and play on the tablets they got for Christmas (due to our international travels). This I'm not proud of, how many shows they watch, but with my pregnancy and sickness they've been watching more TV than I'd like. But, as Trevor reminds me when I feel like such a horrible mother, it's just a phase. It's been a life savor, though, with as sick and now as immoble as I have been and am. They call Netflix "Snowflakes" which is so stinking cute, and both can use the remote. Oliver still loves to watch monster/halloween type shows. Savannah prefers to watch girly shows.

They both absoultely LOVE school. That has been something that has greatly blessed the whole family. It has been so nice (essential?) for me to have some alone time for the first time since they were born. 3 years. They go 2 days a week for 3 hours. I can't even explain how nice it's been to have time to clean without them destroying, go grocery shopping, etc. We almost never have anyone babysit, so honestly since they were born I have gotten very rare outings without them. It's hard though because so many things I need to get done while they are gone but I feel bad doing without them, since I know they would enjoy it so much, haha.  They love their teachers (Mrs. Ocea is their favorite. Savannah often names her toys Mrs. Ocea, it's really cute). They have really progressed so much. Savannah has seen the most change socially. She will now walk into any park or play place and say "mom, I am going to make a friend." And she does, every single time. She loves making new friends and is incredibly social. Oliver has always thrived academically, and he can identify all of his colors, identify and count the numbers 1 to 20 and all his letters. Savannah can identigy her colors, identify and count 1-10 and most her letters. I met with their teachers for parent/teacher conferences, and they said the twins are just amazing. They follow directions,  they listen, are respectful. They can be put in any group with other students, even the more difficult students, because the twins are so accepting/well behaved. They said the twins do really well in school being independent. They will often look around and make sure the other one is still close, but they don't have to be in the same group or next to each other. They did say that during project time at the table, it is important to Savannah that Oliver sits next to her. She will sometimes have a meltdown if they aren't together, but Oliver doesn't seem to care. Controversly, at mat time when they read stories, it is important to Oliver that Savannah is next to him, and he likes to be snuggly with her. We couldn't be more proud with the progress they have made at school. A year ago I still couldn't drop them at the gym daycare - they would just cry the entire time. At nursery, too. I never thought I would be able to leave them anywhere, but they have done so well at school.

Another huge miletone is - they are potty trained! This is something that I dreaded more than almost anything else. I really put it off. Savannah was more than ready a year before I did it. Oliver showed no interest at all. But they had to be potty trained to start school, so one Saturday I woke up and just decided -we were doing it! Oliver had shown no interest at all, and  I didn't want to do them both at once, so we started with Savannah. She did really well, which we figured she would. We definitly had accidents and regressions, but she rocked it! They weird thing is, she didn't wet the bed for the first month, and now she pees every night - so they are both in pull-ups for night. We waited a little over a week, until Savannah felt a little more solid before starting Oliver. I started him on a weekday, so I was alone with Savannah who was very new at this and still needing constant supervision and having some accidents, and Oliver who had no interest in being potty-trained. The first day was absolutely awful. It was so bad, I almost completely gave up. His success rate was almost 100% -  on the kitchen floor (the only room in the house without carpet. So we had to stay in the kitchen the entire day). I was ready to give up, and then he made it parly on the potty and so I decided to give it until Trevor got home to relieve me. The first 3 days were pretty rought, but after that he just did so well! We were so impressed  with how well he did. He struggles the most with peeing at night, but during the day he really did so well. In fact, once he got it he had less accidents than Savannah, which shocked us. The first 3 months were pretty difficult with going out, making potty breaks, accidents, etc - but they are doing so great now and we rarely have accidents any more.

They both still love to read! This makes me so happy. They will often have 5 or 6 books under their pillow in the morning. I'm constantly going in and removing books from their beds. They can't sleep without books under their pillows.

They are still just the best of friends. They love to play together, be together, sleep together. For Oliver's surgery they spent their first night away from each other, and they both cried about it for a week before it happened, since we talked about what would happen. That night, Oliver started crying for her and we had to call her and they talked and he just cried for her. It was really sad.

They are both so beyond excited about having a little sister. They love to touch my stomach and ask me daily how she is doing. They have felt her kicking, and seriously, I might have cried it was so special (ok so I might cry at everything these days, but whatever - it was a special moment). They get so excited when they feel her. When we first found out I was pregnant, in preparation to telling them, I showed them videos of a baby growing in utero. They had the beginning part, the egg being fertilized and growing into a baby, which I thought nothing of. Well that is their absolute favorite part. They baby growing pales in comparision to watching the sperm find and fertilize the egg. When the sperm fertilizes the egg, they cheer and yell! It's hilarious. They must thing it's something like hide and seek and are so proud of the sperm for finding the egg, finally. They say "skermies" though so that makes the whole thing even better. They love to watch the skermies find the egg.  They both have asked to be there when she is born, so we have to think about that one. Logistially I'm just not sure it will work but especially Savannah really wants to be there. They are always asking about her, and telling me how they will help take care of her. Savannah is excited to feed her and change her diaper - and Oliver wants to teach her to swim. Which is alarming to me because he, himself, does not know how to swim.  Their excitement and their love for this little girl has made me even more excited for her arrival.

Bedtime has digressed. It is an hour (at least) of "I need a drink" "I need to go to the bathroom" "I am too hot" "I am too cold" "he/she hit/kicked me" "I'm scared of the dark" "my ____ hurts" "I need _____" "my blanket fell off" "I need to be tucked in again" "I need a hug/kiss" "He/she is on my bed and won't get off" "I don't want to sleep alone" "I want to sleep on your floor". It's a gong show every night, haha.

They say the funniest things. I'm constantly texting Trevor at work with these hilarious conversations we have. I need to try and go through our past texts and get them blogged. It's been so fun to talk with them. They have definite ideas and opinions and wants and we can carry on conversations. I love getting to know them. They seem like friends to us. We love hanging out with them! We love them so much. Watching them grow up has been the greatest privelage of my life! Seriously, I feel so lucky to hang out with my best friends all day.

They still call each other "Bubby" and "Nani" and that is how they identify themselves. They don't identify as Oliver and Savannah.


Savannah 3.5

This girl brings so much joy. Her belly laugh is so contageous. We often say we wish we could bottle her laugh, as it would cure any type of sadness. She is still wild and busy, but is better at channeling that with playing, and not destroying. She loves the colors pink and purple. If you ask her almost any question about what her favorite is, the answer is usually "pink and purple" (ie - what is your favorite princess? - pink and purple. What is your favorite show? -pink and purple).

She is such a little diva. She loves to pick out her own clothes, tell me how to do her hair, can get completely dressed, including shoes. She is definitely the boss around her and leads Oliver around on her little escapades. She is really shy with people outside our family (except for kids - where she is always trying to make friends). She is not super snuggly with anyone outside our immediate family - she doesn't like to give hugs or anything.

She is so capable and such a helper. She can get snacks, a drink, brush her teeth, etc. She is really helpful with me, when I ask her to vacuum the kitchen, wipe the table/chairs and she loves to help me put away laundry and does a really great job. She loves to do what I'm doing and help.

She does get bouts of eczema still, especially in winter.

She is still the biggest thumb sucker! It's definitely a problem, as she touches all kinds of things and places and germs and then sucks her thumb and gets sick, and gets the family sick. With me being pregnant, and Oliver just gets sicker more often, and worse, than Savannah, the winters especially are just so hard.  We've tried to limit thumb sucking to only at night in her bed, but she does not follow that rule at all. At night she sucks her thumb so hard it sounds like she's going to suck it right off. She gets really bad growing pains at night! It's really sad. Nothing seems to help but tylenol. It happens once a week usually, sometimes 2 times a week, sometimes none. When she gets them, she always ends up sleeping on our floor which means so does Oliver.  She would sleep on our floor/in our bed every night if we let her (so would Oliver....). She is still beyond obsessed with her special pink blanket.

She loves to play pretend and has started to use over the top mooshy phrases when talking to Oliver, such as "hearty love" "sweetie pie love boy" "honey baby". It's so cute. 

Savannah really does have a good attitude most of the time. She's a really happy girl. She is friendly, outgoing, and loves her family so much. She is very protective of Oliver.

She has the worst gas. Seriously, this child. And she is so proud of it. They will chase each other around and toot on each other, which they had to have learned at school - since we do not do that at home.

Oliver, 3.5

This little man is a snuggler! He loves to be snuggled. He will gladly hug family members and friends to say goodbye or hello. He likes to hold my hand. He is such a softie and will get his feelings hurt easily.

He is obsessed with technology. He would watch TV and not get off the couch all day if I let him. When we watch a show and say it's time to turn off the TV, he will usually cry and has a meltdown. He loves to watch Halloween type shows still, transformer type shows, anything Power Ranger or Super Hero, and of course - Ghost Busters. He loves to watch his dad play video games and will watch for the "monsters". He LOVES his tablet. Seriously. The kid is obsessed. We don't let him play every day, but he asks all the time. He does like to play games far too advanced for him, and he does really well. He doesn't play the typical toddler ones. He will play some the require basic math and problem solving and does really well. He blows me away. 

He loves to be tickled! He asks us to tickle him all day long. He has the sweetest little laugh, and has the best cheesy grin.

He loves to sit by himself and play. He has such a vivid imagination. He will sit at the counter while I make dinner, and use the salt, a fork - whatever he can find - to just play and play. He is so amazing to watch.

He can't get dressed, or put on socks/shoes by himself. Not for being incapable -  but because he simply could care less. I still pick his clothes out every day as he doesn't care at all what he wears. At school, they had to tell me to work with him to put on his underwear because he would just come out of the bathroom naked, haahaha.

He loves play fighting and anything super hero, power rangers, ghostbusters. We spend a lot of time looking for ghosts throughout the house and catching them in his "packpack".

For a long time I have been worried about Oliver's sleeping. He just was constantly cranky - and I always felt like it was due to not sleeping well/feeling well. He was a really restless sleeper (sleeping wtih Savannah is totally fine - sleeping with him is impossible with all his kicking and waking up and restlessness). He snored so bad! He also started looking really gaunt to me and I was worried. I took him to his pediatrition who basically brushed off all my concerns. He also has constistently been sick more often than Savannah, and when he gets sick is sick worse and longer. Months later I decided to look at his tonsils and they were HUGE. Like, almost touching in the middle huge. And gross. And they had this awful tecture/color. I took him to an ENT who said "WOW! Those are enormous!" When he looked at them, and agreed they needed to come out, and his adenoids too. For insurance purposes, we wanted to wait until the next year to get it done so I had to stress about this upcoming surgery for months. And being pregnant and emotional didn't help matters. I was so so stressed about it for months before. He did amazing in surgery! He came home and wanted to eat immediatly (chocolate cake! Which, he really isn't much of a sweets guy, so that was weird). The recovery was much better than I expected. We had to alternate tylenol and ibuprofen every 2 hours so for  the first 3-4 nights we had to wake up every 2 hours at night to give him meds which was exhausting for us. Trev and I would alternate so it wasn't as bad, but he was in bed with us (I worry...) so I woke up every time anyways. Then on day 6 or so the scabs started to fall off and the next 4 days were by far the worse! We had to up his meds again. He would have these almost panick attacks, and I think the pain/feeling of the scabs coming off made him feel like he couldn't breathe. It was really sad and really scary. He's been so much happier since, though! He is sleeping better - less restless. He doesn't snore anymore. His face doesn't look as gaunt, he seems healthier overall and he is less cranky!

Baby #3 28 week update

I guess it's about time I posted about our happy little news! Baby #3!

We were terrified to have another baby, if we got twins. And also the twins were just so dang hard (and awesome!) that we just kept delaying. But we ideally wanted our kids to be 2 years age difference, and that just was not an option. We got pregnant right after the twins' 3rd birthday which will make them nearly 4 years apart and I did not want such a large age gap, but honestly it's been perfect for me. The twins were seriously so hard from about 16 months until 3.2. I seriously thought I was going to lose my mind. It was so, so hard having 2 in the terrible 2's. But then they hit just after 3 and it's been amazing! They/we still have our moments, but 3 has been complete bliss compared to the 2's.

We had high hopes this pregnancy, with a singleton, would be easier. That has proven to be true. But still it's been terrible. I got really sick at 7 weeks, and couldn't open the fridge or cook or anything until 16 weeks. Which meant I couldn't clean the kitchen, the bathrooms, couldn't cook for my family... the house fell apart and we were mostly eating out. Plus the fatigue, and teaching at 5am. It was rough. And then pelvic pain started at 12 weeks again, just as it did with the twins. It was bad, but I could push through it. We went to Florida and Saudi where I walked a lot. It was really painful but I just walked through it (it actually was less painful in the humidity than in Utah, so that was nice). But then in Saudi we all got really sick. With me getting so sick, all my terrible symptoms came back and I was  nauseous all the time, throwing up... it was terrible. After maybe a month I was ok enough that the symptoms started to wane.

Early it was hard, because I had horrible cramps from 5 weeks to 14 weeks. I thought I was miscarrying that entire time. It was really stressful and painful. I struggled to sleep because it would get worse at night. And then I'd incorporate the cramping into my dreams and dream I was miscarrying. Not fun.

I started to get big quick, and at 20 weeks my uterus was measuring at 24 weeks. At 24 weeks my uterus was measuring 29 weeks. So we will see where I am this time.

My blood pressure was still good at my 24 week appointment, but over the last week I have not felt right and my blood pressure is rising, a sign of preeclampsia again.  That has been hard news, as I was hoping to not get it this time. It's scary to think I could end up in the hospital again, with a premature baby, having to be on magnesium. I had so hoped for this pregnancy to be healthy and to have a normal experience and a normal birth with a full term baby. I'm on moderate bed rest and that is helping my blood pressure.

I had to go into Labor and Delivery 2 weeks ago for pre-term labor. They monitored me for 6 hours and I am having contractions but it is not dilating me, so that is good. It's so stressful to be having these contractions and just praying I don't go into early labor again.

I still have that awful pelvic pain, but this time I have a diagnosis, which is oddly comforting. SPD. Basically the hips separate further than they need to, earlier than they need to, causing lots of pain and the ligaments to stretch. It feels like my hips and tail bone are out of socket and the whole weight of my midsection in on my ligaments. It is so indescribably painful. I've been going to the chiropractor weekly, and that is the only way I'm still walking. He has to put my hips back in their socket every week, as well as my tail bone every other time. Then I'm in so much pain for a couple days after, as everything adjusts to being in place. So there are some days of the week I am actually doing ok, and others where I can't even walk the pain is so bad. I am grateful because at this point with the twins, I couldn't really walk, so I am doing better. SPD gets worse with each pregnancy as well.

Overall, I have done way better than with the twins. My early sickness wasn't as bad and didn't last as long. It is crazy how much more comfortable I am with just one baby. By this point with the twins I was so uncomfortable from them. I couldn't breathe well and every position was uncomfortable. It is obviously uncomfortable, but I really can manage well with my belly and it isn't bad.  With the twins my hair was so tangly I couldn't even brush it. This didn't happen this time.  If it wasn't for the cramping/early labor and the horrific pain, this pregnancy would have been manageable!  This is for sure our last. I can't physically do this again. Plus the toll it has taken on everyone.

We are just praying that I can manage my blood pressure, the chiropractor can keep me walking and this little girl can continue to grow until she is full term.

Things I don't want to forget the twins said/did over the last year+

Since I've been so bad at keeping track of our lives, I've kept a list of things I didn't want to forget the twins have said/done over the last year+. Sadly, going over the list, there are already things I don't know what they mean. These are not in chronological order.

I was changing one of the twins' diapers, and they had pooped a tiny little nugget - like moose poop. I said, "it's a little nugget!" and they kept saying "I pooped a chicken nugget!" So any time they poop, they declare they pooped a chicken nugget.

Savannah has some jammies with polka-dots on them. She calls them her coconuts. So now they call polka-dots "coconuts" and I can't correct them.

One day I was driving home from school, which ends at 12. Oliver started to say he wanted a mailbox. I kept asking him what he wanted, and he said "I'm hungry, I want a mailbox." He wanted a happy meal, hahaha. So now they call happy meals, mailboxes.

We moved. It was very emotionally difficult for Savannah. She would say she didn't want to move, and would cry. Even after we moved, she would ask for our old house. As we were packing to move, she was becoming very agitated and started regressing her behavior.  She would act like a baby. Baby talk, crawl around. Then she started insisting she would only drink from bottles again. I fought her on it, but she would cry and cry and wouldn't give in. So one Saturday she is asking for a bottle from Trevor, and he is saying no and she is crying. So then he says "Savannah, all your bottles are gone! The Bergens (from Trolls) took them all!" She bought it completely and never asked for a bottle again. My husband is a genius.

When we drive home, when we get close, the twins will say "house, where are you!!?? Where are you!?" and then we see it, they get excited and say "There it is!!" They've been doing this since 1.

Bubby is our polite little guy, and would say "thank you!" all the time. His 'thank you' sounded just like "fuck you" though..... It was hilarious.

Bubby loves letters and numbers and could identify letters in the grocery store from a very young age.

Nanny is obsessed with pink, purple and princesses. My mom gave her a purple flower nightgown she became obsessed with and would want to wear it every day. She wore it day and night for 3 days before I could get it off her without an enormous breakdown once.

They  say "hamburger" as "hanguger" and "French fries" as "frafries"

They have been beyond obsessed with Halloween, ghosts, monsters, etc - since 1. I bought this Halloween silverware set from Target and that is all they would use for over a year. Savannah would insist on the Frankenstein fork.

Oliver has always been into shows, but Savannah wouldn't sit still for the life of her until 3. But they became obsessed with the live actor version of the Scooby Doo movies. That is all they would watch for at least 6 months. Nothing else. From like 16 months until after 2, it was Scooby Doo or bust. Savannah would actually sit and watch it but nothing else. Also, they went through an Ice Age (I think #3?) phase. This was early 2's. There is a part where the squirrel goes to heaven and sees the pearly gates. Every single time, Savannah would cry her eyes out. Only at that part. Even if she hadn't watched any of it, but walked in right at that part, she would lose it. So weird.  Also, they became obsessed with the Goosebumps series at about 2.5. Thats all they wanted to watch.

Savannah loves to sing. They both like to sing in the car especially. They like to sing "Old McDonald" but they each take turn picking the animal. It is rarely farm animals, and tends to be more along the line of ghosts, monsters, spiders, crabs, etc.

They went through this phase where they would pretend to get stuck on us. Especially at night when we were tucking them in. They would say "I'm stuck on you!" And not let go.

Oliver started to call pepper "ants". So now we call pepper "ants".

They went through a phase where putting them down for naps was especially difficult, and bed time too. They had to have certain rituals and they had to be done right or they would flip. For naps specifically, if I didn't tuck them in right they would have to go upstairs and walk down to their room again and we had to start all over.  I had to 'butterfly" the blanket - sweep it over them, and then count from 1-5 or 1-10 depending on the day. If I didn't 'butterfly' the blanket right, or didn't count to the right number they would lose it and we had to start again. Now Oliver insists he has his special blanket on
backwards.

They both have their special blankets. They are the blankets that Cory Connor made them. They have to have them at all times. If they get hurt or are sad, that is the first thing they want.

One morning while I was teaching (there was a gap of 15 minutes or so between when Trevor left for work and I finished working) and I came out and they had dumped out 2 DOZEN eggs. All over their heads, bodies and the floor.

Savannah, especially is a trouble maker. Oliver goes along with it, but from what I can tell 99.9% of the trouble they make, Savannah instigates. We've had so many marker incidents (including coloring inside of Oliver's ears, and coloring all over our newly painted wall as we were moving out). At our new house, she also located the unpacked spice rack and emptied nearly 20 bottles of completely full spices throughout the house.

They have had sleep over's at my mom's and it is their favorite. They ask to have a sleep over with Teta all the time. They also love my parents' dogs, Kenai and Roo.

They love going to the doctor and dentist. When we were house hunting one day (it was just me, the twins and our realtor), Oliver was running in a living room and tripped and fell right on the corner of a piano bench. The bench went right through his lower lip (a year later and he still has a scar on his lip). SO MUCH BLOOD. I'm trying to not get blood on the carpet and furniture and find the bathroom and he's screaming, and Savannah is still running around like the crazy child she is. It was seriously so awful (the whole house hunting experience was seriously so awful). I thought he was going to have to go to the ER, but we got the bleeding stopped and the actual hole was relatively small. A couple of days later, Trevor was changing his diaper and noticed his top tooth was knocked crooked! He had hit the bench at an angle and the bench corner had gone through his bottom lip and knocked out one of the top teeth. I hadn't thought to look at his top teeth! I had to take him to the dentist and he had to be sedated and they put the tooth back in. Luckily the nerve hadn't been severed so they could do that. A year later and the tooth is still brown. Savannah was so upset that he got to go to the dentist and she didn't. The whole time he was having his tooth fixed she was crying and trying to get into the chair.

We got a picnic table that the twins fell in love with, and we had to eat all our meals there until it was far too cold and I finally told them no. They would call it the 'nik nik table'.

They call string cheese "milk cheese".

Savannah will only let me do one hair style on her- pigtails. And she calls them 'reindeers' because of Sven in Frozen. It's so cute. She asks for reindeers every day, and will not let me try anything else.

Just after valentines day this year, I was teaching at night and Trevor popped in between classes and asked, "the twins want to play hot hot love. What is that?" and I had no idea what he meant. I'd never taught them to play any game called hot hot love. So after teaching, he tells me they were calling it hot hot love, but they wanted to play duck duck goose. We were so confused, but I figured it had to come from school. So when I picked them up next, I asked the teacher what game they played on valentines day? They had played "heart heart love" which makes so much more sense!  Hahaha. So now they still ask to play hot hot love, instead of duck duck goose.

S has crazy bowels. She toots more than anyone I have ever met. And she's super proud. Wait untit she's a teenager.

There are so many more I have forgotten! But this list is up to date now. I need to make a separate list of all the funny things they say.

Savannah, age 4: walked in on her daddy listening to music and dancing. "Daddy, when I  look at you my butt moves"

mom: what do you want to be when you grow up? Savannah (age 4): a blesser (I think from church, blessing the sacrament).

Oliver says he wants to be a fire hydrant when he grows up. He means a fire fighter, but he says fire hydrant every time and I think it's hilarious.