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!