New Year

With about five hours left of 2010, I thought I'd do a reflection on this year post. Very original.

2010 was a year of changes. The girls turned 2, and with being 2 came more independence. A good thing. But with independence come tantrums as well! Besides all the tantrums, it has been so fun watching the girls grow. I loved watching them go from parallel play, to actually interacting with each other and playing with one another. I loved watching them develop their imaginations as they now do lots of imaginative play. I have loved watching their personalities develop.

We had other huge changes as well. My husband's dad died, and while that was very sad and very difficult, it brought about some changes that have moved us in a positive direction. My husband quit his dead-end job and enrolled in college. He is going to get his bachelor's degree- which has been a dream of his for a long time. That makes money extremely tight, but we are managing. And even though money is tight, we have more energy because he is staying home with the girls and he is able to clean. Plus, he gets to spend tons of quality time with the girls. So even though money is stressful, it really is a good thing.

I don't know what 2011 will bring, but I am excited to find out.

Lastly, I don't know if I am the only one who ponders these things, but I remember being a little girl and imagining life after the year 2000. It seemed very futuristic, and I thought we would have flying cars by now. Besides the flying cars, it seemed so far away, and now it is here. Crazy to think about.

Croup

Croup is scary. I hope my girls never ever get it again!

Right before Christmas, S had a very stuffy nose, but it wasn't bothering her too much. On Christmas, M started getting a stuffy nose too, but she was fine. Christmas night, I put her to bed and she was not going to sleep. I thought she was wired from all the excitement of the day. Then, she started crying a bit and saying that she couldn't lay down. This was weird since she usually never complains at bedtime. I kept trying to put her back down and finally brought her in my room to sleep with me.

That is when I noticed that when she was sleeping, she was having noisy breathing and she would also sometimes gasp for air. And she had a horrible "barking" cough. I had already called the nurse line earlier because during dinner a red spot appeared in her eye which freaked me out (turned out to be a broken blood vessel), so we already had an appointment scheduled for the following day. I called again though because I was worried. Nurse said it sounded like croup, and told me what to do.

First, I had to take her in the bathroom, and run a hot shower and sit in the steam for 20 minutes. Then, we had to go outside- luckily it had stopped raining- and breathe the cool, moist air. That seemed to help for a bit. I then had M laying on me as I was propped up so she could breathe better. By this time it was about 3 am. At 5 am I was very close to taking her in, but I didn't.

I got maybe 1 or 2 hours of sleep. M got about 3, if that. She was fine though during the day. Took her in to the doctor, got a dose of steroids, and she has been fine ever since! That night was so scary though. Croup is awful.

My body works! Amazing!

I forgot to refill my bcps, so I tried an experiment. I stayed off them. A couple weeks after stopping them, I got fertile cm. I was shocked! But, my body has a way of playing tricks on me. So I waited. 2 weeks later, my period showed! Yes, it was very light, but it was THERE. Amazing. Now, a friend of mine who also has PCOS has been having regular cycles since giving birth and weaning, but I figured since I went right back on the pill I would not be fixed. But I am! When af came, I seriously wanted to throw a party! I cannot tell you how nice it feels to see my body working. And no, not thinking about trying to have another. I'm just thrilled my body is doing something right.

WOW! You know you are a twin mom when...

So the below post... I mean, half post...I started I guess about a week ago. I remember going to write it, and I thought I had finished it and posted it. Then realized tonight, that no, I never even finished it!
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I hate it when I have a great idea for a blog post,
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Ha! So not only do I hate it when I have a great idea for a blog post, and don't go and write down immediately and forget, but I also hate it when I go to WRITE a blog post and don't finish. Definitely a twin mom. I now remember that I started that post while the girls were eating dinner and I of course got distracted with them.

That half-post totally sums up the twin mom experience :)

Potty Training!

Here is the question of the week from Multiples and More:
What are your tips and tricks for potty training?

* What age did you begin with your child(ren)?
* How long did it take?
* Did you use a "system", or just wing it?
* Did you use specific rewards for incentive? How did that work for you?
* If you could change anything about the experience, what would you do differently?
* Did you use Pull-Ups?
* Do you think it's easier to potty train multiples at the same time, or separately?

It is too funny that this is the topic I have been focused on for the past month, and now it is a question of the week :)

Note: I do not claim to have THE definitive answer on this, and I'm not sure any tips or tricks I share will actually be tips or tricks. But, I can share my experiences!

My girls are 2 1/2. 29 months to be exact. At about 18 months, I purchased two potties and they become toys for awhile. Eventually, they would sit on them. M had been showing tons of signs of readiness around age 2. I decided that when I went on break from school, that was it, we would potty train! I tried 1 day of putting her in big girl undies and sitting her on the potty every 15 min. By the time the first hour was up, she flat out refused to sit on the potty anymore. So I quickly changed my plan.

Now I am doing the "Laid back" approach. They go on the potty if they want. They wear pull ups. Sometimes they want to go on the potty, and sometimes they are too busy playing to want to sit on the potty. This works for us right now. I think I will try the no diapers at all thing again, but not until my next break. I do believe that the closer to age 3 they are, the easier it will be. I hope.

Laid Back Potty Training

As you know, I've stepped away from the militant route and am now trying a laid back approach to potty training. I must say it is a lot less stressful for both me and the girls, and I think it is working! This morning M had diaper rash so I let her run free this morning. I told her that if she needed to peepee, her potty was there and she needed to pee in the potty since she had no diaper on. I was fully expecting an accident, but when I wasn't looking, she went over to her potty, peed and then told me that she went peepee in the potty!

Even S has been doing better. She has been actually wanting to sit on the potty and in the last couple of days has actually peed in the potty! And today she even told me before she had to go (and her pull up was dry) and then went.

Who knew that we would be so interested in pee and poo?!? I am glad they are starting to get it, and I know different things work for everyone, but I must say the laid back approach is nice.

Twinstock is here!

Twinstock is here! Click on the link to the left!

M is still resisting the potty. I am tempted to get the 3-Day Potty Solution, but I don't really want to spend $25 on it. Have any of you used it?

I just can't believe how much they are growing up. They are building things with blocks and the big Legos, they are talking a lot, they are amazing!

Potty training is not going so well. Yesterday, I put M in big girl undies. She did very well for the first hour, but I noticed she became less and less excited to sit on the potty every 15 min. Then, she had a slight accident, but she knew she did and got on the potty. A little later, however, she had an accident and didn't seem to care. By this time, she did NOT want to sit on the potty, so I backed off.

Today, pull ups. I asked her every so often if she wanted to sit on the potty, or if she had to go potty. The answer was always, "No." Until right before nap, she wanted to sit on the potty! And she peed! We cheered, and after nap, she did not want o go on the potty. So, I figure we will do the laid back approach and maybe in a couple weeks we will try undies again. I know I should not push her though because she will do the opposite. She does this a lot at meals. She will refuse the bib. I tell her she can't eat until she wears the bib. And still, she refuses. But when I tell her, "When you are ready to put on the bib, you can eat" and walk away, she lets me put it on after about 1 min. It has to be her idea, or she won't want to do it!

The girls are now in pull-ups. This is because it is much easier to get them on and off the potty this way. We are not pushing it yet. Hubby just asks if they need to go to potty and we are encouraging sitting on the potty. It is interesting because many times M seems so ready! And then other times, she really doesn't. For example, yesterday she was sitting on the potty and told hubby to look, said "peepee" then opened her legs and started peeing. So, this led me to believe that she does somewhat know the feeling of having to pee. However, other times, she just goes in her pull-up. No warning.

Next week, when I'm done with work, I will try M in the undies. S isn't quite ready yet. I think I may get a sticker chart too.

Thanks for all the comments and tips! This week they are in pull ups, but really NO pressure. Hubby has been asking them if they need to sit on the potty, and lately, they don't want to. Next week we will start having a regular "potty time" and then when I am off I think I may see how M does.

I will have to investigate the "cold" pullups. My girls didn't seem to be too concerned today when their pullup was super wet!


Work is dine one week from tomorrow. I am SO ready! My school is super stressful and insane.

Potty Training Twins

I am about to start potty training the girls. I get panic attacks just thinking about this. I think here will be a good place to share all of it- the good, the bad, the dirty- in hopes of maybe helping out another twin mom in the future.

We have had potties around for months now. They are encouraged to sit on them, but we don't make it a regular thing. M has peed on the potty quite a few times. S has peed once, I think. She is definitely not as ready as M! I am done with work in a week and 3 days, and then it will be potty training in full effect!

I know everyone says to skip the pull-ups, but the more I thought about having two running around with nothing there to catch it, the more I panicked. I have thought about this for over a week now. I think I have thought about it way too much! I decided that we will start with pull-ups. I think they have two diapers left, and then it will be pull-ups. I may try putting M in undies and see how she does, but there is no way I can do both like that at once.

I think I am so nervous because well, I haven't done this before! I hate the unknown. But I need to remind myself that this, like everything else, will be a learning process, and I will do what works for us, and that the girls will learn...eventually.

Feel free to share any tips you have! I'm not going to promise that I will try any of the tips, or that I will think your tip is the best, but I will read them and probably try them.

Deep breaths...deep breaths... we will survive...

I know. I haven't updated in a long time! The girls are doing great- talking so much! They are at a really fun age. Tonight they were running around, laughing and giggling so much. I couldn't help but think of when I was little and went to sleepovers with my best friend. And they will have that every night! Although, that could always turn out to be a headache for me. But seriously, it is awesome. They are so lucky to have each other. I am quite jealous, because when I was little, I had nobody. Literally. No brothers or sisters (until I was 7), and no kids lived in the neighborhood I did. In some ways it was good for me to be on my own, but I definitely missed out on some socializing. Anyway, this age is great!

What I really wanted to write about was school. Work. It has been a tough year. After about 3 years of being out of the classroom, I went back in. That was a bit of an adjustment at first, but I did realize I really like being in the classroom. It must be a control thing. I can run my class how I want when it is mine. When I coach other teachers, I don't have that control. Of course, it is always great to work with teachers who want to try new things, but at the schools I worked at, this was few and far between.

I love my students this year. They are very interesting. They are not as "tough" as the students at the first middle school I worked at, yet they do come from rough backgrounds. Before the year started, other teachers would talk about how "low" they were, but their test scores indicated that they really weren't that low. I was used to working with all Far Below, and Below Basic kids. However, most of the eighth graders exhibited behaviors consistent with lower scoring students. I worked really hard with all my students, as I always do. This year was a bit different though since I am in a K-8 school, and the class sizes in seventh and eighth grade are super small. My largest class has 20. That has allowed me to get closer to the students, which has really been great for some- most- kids.

One student came after the year started, she had been kicked out of another local middle school. She seemed fairly "tough" and her skills weren't that high, and she didn't like to read. Her turn around has been amazing. Somehow, the chip on her shoulder came off, she started trying and saw that she could indeed succeed, and she now loves reading! I turned a non-reader into a reader. That is the best thing I can do. She went from having all Fs and Ds to an A in English and Science and Bs in other classes. She is so proud of herself, and that is awesome to see. I think if she had stayed in a typical middle school, she would not have been this successful.

Many of my students claimed they didn't really like reading at the beginning of the year. By the second semester, most of them changed their minds. They got just as excited as I do when I would get new books. Most of them started getting As and Bs in their classes. They went from testing Basic to testing Proficient and Advanced. Not that I think the tests are all that. But they do have some merit and students do feel proud when they do well. I definitely did not teach to the test, and real reading, writing, and thinking is always key in my classroom, and I know this is why they succeeded. I don't think I have ever been so proud of a whole group of 7th and 8th graders as I am of these.

Bibs

Let's talk bibs. Ever since the girls were born, I have been on a quest for the perfect bib. When they started solids, I went with the Bumkins bibs. I had only heard good things about them, and they worked great- for awhile. Have a pocket to catch food, machine washable. Then M started being able to take off any velcro bib. Then I found J.J. Cole bibs at Babies R Us. I loved those! They were sturdier than the Bumkins, which was great for messy food, and they snapped! Also machine washable. However, they started stinking after awhile.

I thought I would have to always buy more bibs, and then I spotted the Circo brand at Target. They have a pocket, are sturdier than the Bumkins, but not as stiff as the J.J. Cole. They have velcro and I was worried about M. taking them off, but I decided to try them. What do you know? They worked! And I absolutely love them! They are a bit more waterproof than the other bibs, so instead of getting soaked after I rinse them, they are just a little wet, and the water just beads up on it. The velcro seems to hold better than any other ones I have tried, but that may change after a many uses. We will see. And the best part, they are cheaper than the other bibs! I paid $6.99 for two wheras, before, I was paying $5.99 or $6.99 for one.

I totally recommend these bibs, especially if you have twins. I was happy they came in a two-pack. It seems like everything comes in a three-pack. Unfortunately, I cannot find them online, so no link. Check them out at your local Target!

I have been such a bad blogger! My excuse is that I'm busy. But that's only an excuse since I do find time to do other things.

The girls turned 2!! Thanks for the birthday wishes! I still can't believe they are 2 already! They are definitely acting like two year olds as well. Plenty of tantrums and asserting independence here. I am glad I have been teaching awhile because I do think it helps me understand some of their behavior better. Of course, some behaviors, well, I just have no clue. For example, M. has been hitting, pushing, and biting S. for no reason. I attended a positive discipline workshop and they talked about how if they are fighting in front of you, it is for attention, and they went into detail about this. However, they did not talk about when they wait until you are not looking or not in the room and start fighting! I still suspect it is for attention, but it is odd how she waits until I am not looking. And frustrating.

The birthday party was fun. We had a Hello Kitty theme. I will post some pics later.

It is so exhausting working full time- as a middle school teacher- and raising twins. Wow. I feel like I can never catch up with cleaning, or anything else. Weekends are for running errands and grocery shopping. I am so looking forward to my break!

I honestly don't even know how I do it. I was thinking about it the other day. This week, Monday felt like it should be Friday. Worked all day, then took the girls to the doctor. S. needed an xray of her lungs. M. was diagnosed with an ear infection! That totally caught me by surprise! I'm thinking it just started though, because that night she started pulling at her ear. Then S. had to get a breathing treatment and we had to pick up meds for everyone. We didn't even get home until a little after 7 pm. Talk about exhausted.

It definitely doesn't get easier with twins- just different. Still, with all the melt downs (which are daily these days), I still like toddlers better than newborns! Some things are easier- they can feed themselves, walk to the car, but other things are more difficult- they are independent, stubborn, have melt downs for no apparent reason.

And then something so cute and heartwarming happens and you forget your exhaustion. I love having my girls so much.

I just got inspired to write. I actually have a lot to write about, but am going to put what happened at school the other day on hold. I need to write about infertility. Infertility and being a mom.

Those of us who went through infertility, but are now moms, are in a unique situation. We now have kid(s), so perhaps some of our friends who are still dealing with infertility have been communicating with us less- which we totally understand. It's so difficult to see everyone around you getting pregnant and having kids when you are not. So we totally understand why they would want to distance themselves, although we do miss them. But then we also don't feel completely comfortable around moms who did not go through infertility. Yes, on some levels we can relate, but plenty of times we feel different from them.In a way it is sort of isolating.

I decided to write this because recently a friend created a group where we could go and "talk" online. Basically, reconnecting after awhile. I realized that I had been missing these people so much! I feel connected to them even if I don't know them very well. We will always have this connection, this shadow around us. Infertility changes you forever. For better? For worse? Neither? I don't know. All I know is that it has changed me profoundly.

Luckily it was over pretty quickly. But that Friday was pure hell. I was changing diapers left and right! Saturday they had less, and Sunday it had pretty much stopped. It was very exhausting. Also the last weekend before I returned to work. By the time I went back to work on Tuesday, I was so ready!! I saw it as getting a break!

Last week, we had crazy rain storm! And since we never get rain, they don't bother to put drains in the blacktop on campus. So it was like a lake. Last night we even got hail!

The girls are doing great, and really talking so much.

Ever wonder what it is like to have TWO babies with diarrhea at the same time?? Probably not. It's not fun. First, I had to pick M up from school since she had it. Came home, and she had some more. She even puked! A couple hours after we got home, the school called and S had some as well! I'm not really sure just how many diapers I changed in the few short hours that they were all home and awake, but it was far too many.

Dinner was an elegant meal of saltines, cheerios, and banana, which Maya proceeded to throw up shortly after she ate. They were a bit crankier than usual, but not too bad. And they have been drinking fluids. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'm really not looking forward to the thousands of diapers I will have to change and the screaming babies who try to fight me as I change their diapers. I thought having one of them sick at a time was rough. Nope! This is way worse!

I love this blog, and today's entry is hilarious!
999 Reasons to Laugh at Infertility #821 The real fertility acronyms

This stage is so hilarious. The girls are talking more, know what they want- and don't want, are trying new things, and it makes for some very funny incidents!

Today, the girls were playing in the play room and I was on the computer. I hear S say, "puke, puke" and I wasn't really sure if she was actually saying puke- I'd never heard her say that before. Then I see her get her doll's clothes and she starts wiping the floor. I think, "Hmm, that's funny, is she pretending?" Then she turns around and I see puke on her leggings! Too funny that she knew what happened and she was trying to clean it up! Love it!

M has been obsessed with sitting on the potty. She says, and signs potty and tries to pull off her pants and diaper to sit on it. Of course, she never does anything on the potty, she just likes sitting on it. Well, the other day she was doing this, but she was pulling her shirt up. Finally, I decided to take off her shirt since she was trying so hard to get it off. I was occupied for a couple minutes then I look over and see M, naked, sitting on the potty! I think it took her about 30 seconds to get her pants and diaper off.

Every stage comes with new challenges, and there are plenty of challenges during toddlerhood, but I am loving it. So far, the toddler stage is my favorite.