Adjusting to a New Daycare

I did not imagine that the transition to a new daycare would go like this.

It has gone so much better than I thought it realistically would go.

Sam and Anna have done great.  The only hiccup in the entire newness of it all has been that Anna did not nap a few days in the first 6 days they spent all day at the new daycare.  But, she also decided to take a nap strike last Saturday at home in the middle of those 6 days, so I'm not faulting the new daycare that much for that hiccup in her normal routine.  They have had a few accidents (less than 1 a day between the two of them), but they have been potty trained for less than a month so far, so that doesn't phase me at all either.  The same thing could have happened at home too, if I was still with them all day long.

But most importantly, I know they adore their new daycare provider, Rachel.  They don't want to leave when I arrive at the end of the day.  They are excited to go in the mornings. Randomly one evening Sam stated, "I miss Rachel."  During our bedtime prayers, Sam and Anna have now decided we need to add in Rachel, Pastor Ben, and Eliza (their 6 month old daughter) every night.  Sometimes their dog Toby gets put in our nightly prayer too.  Now I know that she could still be the "shinny new thing" with lots of newness appeal and once that wears off, their enthusiasm could wane- but I do think it is a really good sign that a.) they are adjusting well b.) they are getting high quality care.

Overall, I am so happy with how easy and great the transition to a new daycare provider has gone for us!

Well, That Stunk

We had an interesting chain of events in the last week at our house.  First, I took Tuesday off of work to clean our house for relatives to visit.  Let's face it, that's about the only way I have time to make our home presentable to what I feel is an appropriate standard for visitors.  Then, Grandpa Dan was delayed a day because of car trouble.  Our daycare provider took a sick day on Wednesday and since I already stayed home from work the day before, Daddy fielded that one and took that day off of work. 

Then Thursday I shuttled Sam and Anna to daycare (Which is not our usual routine and means that I have about 5 minutes of their awake time before we get in the car.  It's rough to get twin toddlers out the door before 7 am!) because Daddy and Grandpa went turkey hunting in the morning.  Sam may have seemed extra cranky in the morning, but they usually are when I have to get them up early and drop off at daycare a half hour earlier than usual.  He also coughed a nasty little cough which made me hesitate for one second and consider staying home, but since they were knee-deep in colds at the time, I kept getting Sam and Anna dressed as fast as I could anyway.  I hadn't even pulled into the school parking lot at work 30 minutes after drop off before I got a call from daycare that she was certain that Sam had croup.  I walked to the office before even getting to my classroom and had them call a substitute in before I turned around and left to get him and bring him to the doctor.  Sam, of course, would not cough once for the pedi, but we thankfully left armed with a Rx anyway.

Friday Sam seemed much better, so we did bring them to daycare that day.  However, when I picked  Sam and Anna up after school (pretty soon after they woke up from their nap), we discovered that Anna had a fever that started climbing once she woke up.

Our plan for months was to leave Sam and Anna with their Grandpa Dan (who was visiting to turkey hunt anyway) and Aunt Mary Saturday to Sunday so that Daddy and I could go to a wedding of old college friends a 4+ hour drive away.  We were planning of course, to stay overnight.  I had been looking forward to this ever since we got the Save the Date because these are the last of our college friends to marry and quite possibly the last wedding to attend with the old group.  We rarely get to see these friends and so both of us were and are extremely sad about it.

Sam's croup and Anna's fever, of course, prevented that.  Ibuprofen broke Anna's fever but not before I saw her at the most lethargic I've ever seen.  Sam's cough got better, but still interrupted all his sleep day and night for days so he was a cranky,  mama-clingy mess all weekend.

Now Monday Anna's fever is all gone.. but now she's coughing (not croup-like yet) and Sam's still not himself, but less crabby and clingy.  We missed the wedding and our friends a lot, and sick kids makes my heart just hurt for them.  Needless to say, we're looking forward to a better week ahead, hopefully filled with better, happier and healthier days!

Cookin' With Daddy

Now that Sam and Anna are older, it fills my heart with a special joy to see them help cook alongside their daddy.  This weekend, Sam and Anna helped make homemade pizzas:

One of the few photos I took of their individual pizzas

And they also helped make homemade goldfish crackers in heart shapes for the daycare party:

 Anna LOVED pulsing the mixture

Since I'm the farthest thing possible from being a cook (in the past, I've overcooked mac and cheese, and made a mess of almost everything that is considered easy to make in the kitchen), it warms my heart to see Sam and Anna building memories cooking with their Daddy.  Daddy said it was the best part of his weekend, too.  As they get older, I know that it will be something special that they do with him only.  I can't wait to be on the other side of the counter for every experience... snapping photos and sampling the goodness they create.

Their grandpa is supposedly building one of these helping towers for a birthday gift... double wide for twice the kids.  I am so excited for easy counter-top access (and how much more safe it will be than standing on chairs!) that I can hardly stand it.

 

Big Weekend

First, our weekend started out with Sam and Anna napping in real beds at daycare.  I had given our provider my blessing to start if she wanted to, because Sam was starting to climb out of his pack n play during naps frequently, even with his sleep sack on.  Oh well- the sleep sacks bought us over a year more  of crib/pack n play sleep anyway, as it was at about 9 months old that he first started climbing out of the pack and play.  I'd say it's amazing that we got this far to have him still sleeping in them 14 months later.

I guess it went well.  Both took regular length naps in the beds, and Sam still called for her when he woke up instead of climbing out on his own.  I will admit, because I did not know that she was going to do it specifically that day, that I had some issues with it happening when I wasn't prepared for it.  I still have some times where I feel like I miss out on my kids because they go to daycare.  I missed out on the first time they slept in real beds.  I wasn't there to make a big deal about it, and celebrate their success in doing well the first time.  I'm still not planning on transitioning them to real beds at home anytime soon though.  First, because I think nighttime is a different story than naps.  Secondly, because we'd probably be tying in the transition to real beds to separating each into their own rooms and I definitely don't want to do that yet.  And thirdly, because I want some time to put thought and effort into decorating their rooms and I don't envision that happening until I'm not working over 40 hours a week outside of our home.

Pictures from daycare

Moving on... Sam also pooped in the toilet for the first time this weekend.  I'm also not really planning on making the big potty training step any time soon- but I am not going to discourage either Sam or Anna if they request to use the toilet.  My current plan is to just put them on the real thing when ever they ask to, and celebrate any successes.  We'll see if I can hold out until this summer to commit to potty training both of them.  We have quite a stash of diapers right now, due to the end of Amazon's good diaper deal, so I'd like to think that I won't have to buy any more after we use these up, but we will see.

Finally, we made our last attempt to become a pacifier-free household.  I used the word last because we are in it to win it this time- regardless of the effect, the pacifiers will no longer be in Anna's mouth after this weekend.  That's because we went to Build-a-Bear at the mall on Saturday and put Anna's Nuk inside the bear she picked out.  She watched it go inside and didn't mind as the bear got stitched up.  I didn't expect it to bother her though, becuase she has only used it for sleep at home for over a year and having it during the day wasn't usual for her.  Sam got his own build-a-bear, although he didn't have a pacifier put in.  I saw this idea on another twin blog, and thought it was perfect.  It just seemed to be the way that made the most concrete sense to explain it to a toddler- you can't put it in your mouth anymore, because it is inside your bear and we can't take it out.  But it can still give you comfort and be near you, even if it isn't in your mouth.  Logical, right?

Picking out the animals at Build-a-Bear

Stuffing Anna's bear

 Putting the heart in Sam's stuffed dog

 "Washing" their new animals

Trying to wrangle two toddlers with boxes almost as big as they are on the way out

At bedtime when she asked for her Nuk, we reminded her that it was inside the bear and that she could feel it inside and hug the bear instead (after reminding her that she was a big girl, and big girls don't have Nuks).  She demanded several times that we "Open!" the bear to get it out, but we just ignored her requests and put them to bed.  With minimal fussing, she was quiet and we had a pretty normal night, with a normal-for-her-lately waketime the next morning at an early 6 am (but waking and going back to sleep off and on for awhile after that). 

Night two was similar- requests for her Nuk, reminders to hug her bear, and minimal fussing before their room was silent at bedtime.  I don't imagine that it will get any tougher, so I am relieved that this time has been so easy, compared to the other attempts we've had in the last year or so!  Like her swaddle, we just had to realize and accept that when she was ready, she would be ready- and no attempt we made before that point would work well.

With her track record, I'm assuming potty training and transitioning to a real bed will be the same way- if she's ready, it will be a piece of cake, and if she's not, then it will be an epic failure.  I guess only time will tell!

Senior Sing Along

I asked my husband nicely if he would take time off from work to go with Sam and Anna and their day care provider to the senior citizen holiday sing-along for toddler music (since I couldn't) and he agreed to go and take some pictures and video snippets for me.  We weren't sure how well they would turn out once Sam and Anna noticed that he was there, but he did get some okay ones. 

 Look closely and you'll see Anna is front and center in front of the leader on the floor.  Most of the kids hung out around the edges, and the ones closer to her age even stayed next to their adult.

Sam is a big grandma lover, and so he decided to adopt this nice lady as his "Gran-ma!" du jour while they were there.  I guess he climbed up into her lap and stayed there for a while... apparently the little old lady just loved it.

Anna participated along to every song and motion, just like the big kids.  Sam was a little more hit and miss.

I think it is hilarious how Sam and Anna wave goodbye in the song, and then take off for the door!

Mama Loves Time Savers

Mama Loves is a linky party where mamas can share anything that has made your life easier as a mama.

Maybe you've found:

• a toy or book that captivates your child(ren)
• gear you just can't live without
• a recipe your choosy toddler gobbles down
• a parenting book that you've found perspective changing
• an activity that wears your kid(s) out (these lead to good naps, which we all love)
• an outfit that flatters your post-baby body and makes you feel fabulous
• or anything else you're loving--creativity welcome!

To link your own Mama Loves post up, head on over to Julia's blog, Pontifications of a Twin Mom

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Most of my Mama Loves have been products you can buy.  In an effort to avoid the shopping push right now (Black Friday and Cyber Monday can just be done already),  today's thing I love is nothing you can buy.  It's a little trick my daycare provider taught Sam and Anna that has made a world of difference in how I go out and about with my duo.  Something so easy and small, it's something anyone can do, but something any parent of multiple children will especially love.

Here it is:  When getting in or out of the car, our daycare provider taught Sam and Anna to put their hand on the car right above the wheel and keep it there until you are ready to hold their hand.  So simple, but it works so well.  It makes it so easy to unbuckle one child and then get the other child out- without the need to confine the first child in a stroller or cart first.  It works well in parking lots or any public place when you want to keep close tabs on your little ones.

They've been doing this since they could walk.  I honestly rarely use the stroller when we go places anymore, because they are so obedient in following this rule.  It is awesome for those times when it's just me with Sam and Anna.  It's such a time saver to take one child out, take the other child out, and then hold hands to where ever you need to go without getting out the stroller, buckling in each child and then refolding up the stroller when we're done. I can use double shopping carts in the store.  Those double strollers can be heavy and cumbersome! And it keeps them safe in busy parking lots, too!

My Summer Is Over

Last year, I wrote a lot of posts about returning to work after 6 months of being home with Sam and Anna.  It was definitely one of the harder things I've done, but because being a SAHM 100% of the time isn't an option for us, there was no choice.

This August, I've pretty much steered clear of the topic because my motto has been mostly "it is what it is."

It will be hard.  I will be sad.  I will wish for more than just the summer months to stay home with Sam and Anna.  But it is what it is.

I know it will get easier.  I know some days will be harder, but I know it will be okay.  I know that our daycare provider is a great person to have care for Sam and Anna during the day and I know they'll still love me more because I'm their momma.  I know I may miss some giggles and smiles, but the ones I will see will be that much more heart-bursting.  I may miss a "first" but I'll always have my firsts with them.

It is what it is.  And it is going to be okay.

One of Everyone's Fears About Day Care

My daycare provider did the unthinkable yesterday... she sent me an email in the morning that Sam took his first step- and walked about 7 feet from their kitchen to their living room.  I tried to give myself a little time to find perspective on this one, but I'm still sad about it.  You see, I missed it.  I wasn't there. I missed his first steps.  Not only did I miss it, but so did my husband. 

I told her when we started going there to pretend all milestones didn't happen until we mentioned them first.  That way I could be ignorant about either of my babies' ability to sit, stand, crawl or walk and live it like it really was the first time when I saw it.  No one would be the wiser, except her.

I think she forgot that conversation.  Or was just too excited to think about it before shooting off the email. (Totally understandable I guess, and I don't begrudge her for it really.) 

My first reactions was not to cheer for my son's new found skill, but to hold back tears for not being there to witness it and cheer him on in person.  I'm trying to just focus on Sam's accomplishment and be happy and proud of him.  Every time I think about it that sadness just creeps in and makes me want to cry.  Alas, this is the beast of daycare.

The fear of missing part of your little one's childhood.

The fear of someone else being there when you are not. 

So Sam's taking  multiple steps in a row... but forgive me if I just pretend for a while he's not.   Until I see some steps for the first time, that is.

The Newest Stage of Nap Woes

Naps have been tenuous around here lately. I am afraid that Anna's going to be an early transition-to-one-nap girl. According to most of what I read, this change from 2 to 1 nap occurs usually between months 12-18, typically around 15 months. Anna's only 11 months old!

Sam is no where near ready for one nap. The other times we dropped a nap, Sam was pretty close behind his sister. Going from 3-2 naps we only had a few days when Sam got an extra 30 minuter in the evening, but it didn't disrupt the synchronizing of the other two naps during the day. I'm a little clueless how to do naps if Anna's only taking one, and Sam still needs two. Their naps would be at completely opposite times. Right now this is what's happening:

• Up at 6:30 am
• Ready for naps signs at about 9:30 am.
• Put both down, Sam falls asleep fairly quickly, Anna plays and then fusses for almost a half hour and finally falls asleep at around 10 am. (I'm taking this as a sign that although she shows sleepy signs, she needs more awake time. But if we push it too late, that messes up the afternoon nap even more.)
• Both want to keep sleeping until 11:30/12, but getting too close to noon delays the afternoon nap.
• Afternoon nap at around 2 depending on when they woke from the first nap.
• While at home Anna fights and fights the second nap and sometimes falls asleep around 3:00- or sometimes stubbornly evades sleep completely until Sam is ready to be up, so we give up. Sam sleeps fine. Both up at around 4:00 pm.

Here's how Anna on one nap; Sam taking two naps would go:

• Put down Sam at 9:30 am, get him up at 12
• Put down Anna around 12, she gets up around 3 (hypothetically)
• Put Sam down around 2, He gets up at 4
  

See how that just isn't a great plan? In theory we'd get an hour of them both sleeping- but in reality, Anna would probably wake up at 2 when Sam got put down... and then we'd get zero time all day with both babies napping. My bet would be that Anna would be cranky by our usual bedtime and need to go to bed earlier too, if she got up at 2 pm.

Two things are also happening that are posing a problem during naps at home:

1.) Sam and Anna discovered that they can now chat over the sides of their cribs. The sides of the cribs that are next to each other are solid wood. I chose our cribs back while pregnant because I thought it would help them sleep better and play less when they were supposed to be sleeping. I guess I should just be satisfied that I got 11 successful months out of that plan. Right now they stand and talk to each other at the beginning of almost every nap at home.

2.) Although Sam is now pacifier free, Anna is not. We gave up trying to get rid of hers when her nighttime sleep was destroyed without it and resigned to trying sometime in the future. After all, at the time a month ago, we were just working on getting rid of the pacifiers because we wanted to, not because they were causing any problems. But now Anna's pacifier is causing a problem. During naps, if she's fighting sleep, she will throw them over the side of the crib... and then can't go to sleep without it. This doesn't happen at daycare because they don't use them at daycare. I wish I understood why she can sleep just fine without a pacifier at daycare, but not at home. I'm sooooo not looking forward to trying to wean her from the pacifier again.

Daycare has a different problem though- this week Sam climbed out of the pack n play during his nap. Twice. She caught him in the act the second time: He used his arms to pull up and pushed against the mesh with his feet to climb the side. Once he got to the top, he swung his foot over the top. The first time, he let her know he was done with his nap by knocking on the door.

I'm not sure how we are going to solve this problem. I am also afraid that means my not-even-one-year-old baby is going to be climbing out of his crib in the very near future. This scares the sh*t out of me- I cannot imagine trying to get him to sleep on a mattress on the floor, and I can't imagine a crib tent successfully containing my little monkey either.

Rejoining the Working World

I'm all fixed up- Last week I got my first haircut and highlights in 6 months (my last haircut was pre-babies!), eyebrows are freshly plucked, nails are freshly painted, wedding ring is sparkly clean. New clothes hang in my closet (since most old clothes don't fit) to get me through a few days at least. I do only have 4 lbs to go to pre-pregnancy weight (go me for losing 60+ lbs!) so it is entirely still possible for me to meet my goal of losing all the pregnancy weight by the first day of school. Unfortunately, post-baby my bod doesn't carry the weight at all like it used to.

Tomorrow is the first day I will be officially back at work. I did go in on my own (unpaid) time to set up my room, but tomorrow is different. Tomorrow I have to get up at 5 am because I have to be there at 7:30 am and I have to stay there until 3:40 pm.

Ugh.

I am trying to tell myself that today is NOT my last day at home with Sam and Anna to prevent waterworks- because I do get this Friday and next Monday/Tuesday home with them. I am also trying to tell myself that tomorrow is really NOT my "first" day back at work. They will be home with daddy this week, so I do not have to drop them off at daycare either.

We did do our first day at daycare as a trial run last Thursday. I went back home to get my school things after giving our daycare provider a 2 page typed sheet with information and verbally going over it with her for a half hour. Going home was a big mistake. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep. It was a combo of daycare, the stupid decision to get bangs (which I haven't had since high school) at my haircut the night before and our dog taking a turn for the worse. (Benelli had stopped eating, but a switch to canned dog food has helped him start eating again since then.) I did pull myself together and go to work in my classroom. I only called the daycare once, because I had forgotten to tell her to shake their medicine before giving it to them. I even stayed and worked in my classroom for a full 8 hours before returning to get Sam and Anna. They both ate okay and napped okay while there, so I guess our first day was a success.

The next time Sam and Anna go to daycare is September 2nd. They will be going once a week for a few weeks until they start full time at the end of September. Daddy has some vacation days he's using to stay home to ease us all into the transition of school, work, and daycare. I think the way we've worked this out will be better for all us, especially myself!

MIA

I will probably be a little MIA for a while- and the reason makes me so sad. School starts on September 1st, and our school-wide Open House and inservice days are two weeks before that, so that means I need to start setting up my room and getting ready for the year. I was able to pick up my keys today.

I had a anxiety attack yesterday thinking about everything that I've got going on and need to do in less than month. I ended up calling my husband and asking him to come home early because I was such a mess after I struggled through yet another poor feeding with Sam and Anna thinking about everything. They won't start daycare full time until September 20th, but they will start going 1 day a week beginning next week. It causes me a phenomenal amount of stress to think about how their feedings will go with someone else taking the reins. I know my babies better than anyone else. I work so hard at getting them to eat as much as possible- I know what tricks work best, I know how to get them most in them- and this all varies bottle to bottle. I often say it is an Olympic sport to feed Sam and Anna (I'm still waiting for my gold medal). It scares me to no end that their eating will be drastically reduced, and they will start to lose weight on a regular basis.

There's a reason I have not mentioned much about daycare on here, I think I've been in denial and trying to push it as far from my mind as possible. Besides their special challenges, like any mom that works out of the home, I know I'm going to miss them so much, my heart will ache. I have spent almost 6 months of their life with them every day- the most I was gone from them was about 3 hours long, twice. It makes me tear up to think of the possibility that they will smile for someone else most of the day, and have firsts (like first time sitting up, first word, etc.) when I'm not there. I also know these thoughts are not original. These thoughts on top of the thoughts of concern for their health literally make me physically ill though.

Now add on top of that, the stress there always is for a elementary teacher at the beginning of the school year. Unless you've been in that position, you can not comprehend the amount of things that need to be done and get ready (most often on your own time) in a short time frame. The state of my room today made me almost cry by itself. There's a lot of cleaning and organizing that I'll need to make time for that the sub didn't do. Plus, I often use the end of the school year to prep some things for the fall, and since I wasn't there, that didn't get done either.

Needless to say, I'm a mess. My to-do list is so long, it would rival Santa's gift list. I need a 48 hour day... or the ability to forgo sleep for a week. My posts will probably be few and far between, and pretty brief. Wish us luck in this next big transition of Sam and Anna's lives!