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!

Pacifier Free

This weekend, after multiple previous attempts, we successfully got rid of Anna's pacifier!  Sam has been pacifier free for months now (since our first attempt), but Anna just wouldn't budge.  Rather than suffering though days of waking up every hour at night without the pacifier, we'd give up and give it back to her in the past.  I was convinced that, like the swaddle, she would be stubborn and hold onto it as long as she wanted to.  Then, like the swaddle, one day, she'd just finally be okay without it.  And so that's the way it was.

We've never been huge pacifier addicts around here (we call it a Nuk, even though we used Mam pacifiers), and have only used them during sleep for over a year- starting probably sometime around 6 months.  I can't really remember when we stopped using them while they were awake.  We never brought pacifiers to daycare once they started going around 6 months old, so we knew they could nap without pacifiers outside of our house.  Our original goal was to completely eliminate Nuk usage by one year old.  Anna gave hers up for good the weekend before she became 17 months old. 

Sam never seemed bothered by not having a pacifier himself anymore but seeing one in Anna's mouth.  He liked to play the "I took it from you" game, but only because he thought it was fun, not because he actually wanted her pacifier.  He'd always shove it back at her once he got it out of her mouth anyway.  In fact, at some point he understood that the "Nuks" were Anna's, and would often give them to her or shove them in her mouth at the beginning of nap time too.  If they were especially chatty before going to sleep, sometimes one would end up in Sam's crib by morning (by Anna passing one over the crib side to him), but once we took it away from him, he never tried to really suck on a pacifier anymore, even though they were around.

So back to our final attempt.  Since Sam and Anna were at daycare last Monday through Wednesday and didn't nap with pacifiers there, we thought it would be a great chance to try again without Anna's Nuk at home.  First, we did naps without Anna's Nuk on Thursday, but let her have it that night.  The nap went fine.  Then Friday after no Nuk at nap, we tried a Nuk-less bedtime.  It did take Anna a little longer to fall asleep, but over all not too shabby.  She had no overnight wake ups, and just woke up pretty early for her the following morning.  She woke around 5:30 am, but was able to fall back asleep for a little while.  While the before-7-am wake up was not her typical 8 am lately, I was pretty thrilled that it went as well as it did.  Saturday night was similar: a little longer to fall asleep than normal and no overnight wake ups.  BUT she woke up at 5:30 am Sunday morning and would not go back to sleep. 

The early wake up was not completely lack-of-pacifier related... we discovered later than day that we had the unfortunate timing of getting rid of her pacifier right before her next molar is cutting.  Poor Sweet Pea is teething worse than she ever has before.   She was cranky all morning, slept badly at nap, and continued throughout Sunday as one big hot teething and overtired mess.  I do think she probably would have woken up at 5:30 am even if she had her pacifier, but I'm guessing she would have been able to go back to sleep with it.  She is still wearing her amber teething necklace while awake, and I do believe it helps- but molars are just in a difference category of teething.  Can you just imagine how it feels to have that flat side of tooth trying to push through solid gums, tearing the gums as they move?  Poor babies.

This morning, the same thing happened- she woke at 5:30 am a crying teething mess and she was cranky and overtired all day.  I am wistful for those 9 am wake ups that we had earlier this summer!  I'd even love the 8 am ones!  Heck, at this point, I'd feel pretty good if she made it to 7 am.

I still think our pacifier removal was successful, because she is sleeping through the night.  I do think if she still had it, it would help her through those early morning hours, but at this point- they are all in the trash and I'm not getting new ones.  Hopefully this teething episode will be over quickly.  Waking up at 5:30 am is really destroying our routine.  I cannot bear waking Sam up when she gets up that early because he's always needed more sleep than she does.  She cannot make it from 5:30 am to noon with no nap, but really struggles to take a second nap in the afternoon if she takes one in the morning.  I'm crossing my fingers for later than 5:30 am tomorrow! 

A Pair of Failures

Over winter break, we attempted to drop one dose of prevacid for Sam and Anna's reflux, to just one dose a day for each of them. Earlier in December we successfully dropped the third dose that they had been taking since the acid reflux got under control last summer and so I was hopeful that it would be the beginning of the end of dispensing medication via syringe 6 total times a day. Unfortunately, it didn't take long before Sam and Anna were spitting up lots of formula again, and it didn't take long for the bottle refusing to pick back up either. That old but very familiar frustration and worry about bottle feeding and weight gain came flooding back and I most definitely don't want to be in that place ever again, so we quickly went back to 2 times a day again.

It was disappointing that it didn't work because I had fantasies that we could finally put the reflux and feeding issues behind us for good. It also made me realize that I am not going to be willing to risk the return of uncontrolled reflux and everything that comes with it again for a long time, this time. It will be awhile before we take the plunge to try to drop a dose again.

Failure #2: At the new year, I had declared that Sam and Anna's New Year Resolution was going to be to stop using pacifiers, and, well... basically- I'm a wuss. First it was delayed because we had company and it wouldn't be polite to let your babies cry it out with guests in the house, you know? Then Sam and Anna got their second colds which seemed to hang around forever. I just couldn't take away a comfort item when they were feeling crummy. They also went back to daycare after almost two weeks at home and I thought waiting until after that transition would be better. Then my husband was out of town for work and like hell I was going to potentially endure sleep issues voluntarily by myself. Then the excuses got a little weaker- "Anna's more fussy than usual, maybe she's teething." "Sam seems to have amped up the separation anxiety- we can't take the pacifier away now."

Now here we are mid-January already and we haven't even attempted a night without the pacifiers. It doesn't look promising we'll try anytime soon, either, because my husband's next work trip starts on Monday. Eh- I'm not worried. We just used the New Year Resolution as a way to make it fun for us and give us a start date. Plus, I haven't had a kindergartner yet that still used one and I'm pretty sure my two won't be the first!

Growing Up and Letting Go

We're in a time of rapid changes. They both have one tooth at last. Sam and Anna are crawling all over the house, and making me fear the day they both are walking all over. Sam is pulling up/climbing on everything in sight, cruising the furniture and doesn't want to sit or be held still for a second. They interact for longer periods of time while playing together - hearing them laugh at each other's antics is one of the best perks of twins. I will have to imprint these memories in my brain to recall when toy stealing and temper tantrums punctuate their playing together more often than giggles.

Both are adding words to their vocabulary- they will say Mama and Dada, and repeat some words we say. Anna's first and most frequent word to say independently is "Bella" while Sam's is "Anna." Anna has learned how to drop food off of her tray to feed Bella. While I miss the days when this was purely accidental, it is cute (right now) to hear her call "Bella" and then uncurl her tiny fist to drop a yummy goodness from the heavens (as far as our dog is concerned) into a waiting mouth. Both babies are starting to show an increasing disinterest in eating "baby food" i.e., the pureed stuff, so our plan is to start moving towards 100% table food once daycare starts back up again next week. I am concerned that they won't be eating enough once we do that since their weight has never had any "wiggle room," but I think it is a step that Sam and Anna seem to be ready to take.

When Sam and Anna hit 9 months, we finally stopped tracking every single bottle amount throughout the day (anal of me, I know- but soooo hard to keep track for two babies at the same time when eating enough has always been one of our biggest concerns). Now this week, we are attempting to wean them off of their 3 doses a day of Prevacid (via Buffer Babies) to see if they have outgrown their severe GERD. To say that this has make me scared is an understatement. I never want to relive the days of uncontrolled reflux for two babies at the same time ever again. But I know that if we are ever to finally move on from their reflux, we need to be willing to see if the medicine is not needed any more. We successfully dropped one dose, and are now attempting to drop another. If all goes well, we'll try to stop the final dose soon, as well.

Sam is now too tall/big for quite a bit of his 9 month clothing. This is the first time that some baby clothes are too small to come in his size. This is somewhat of a milestone to me, because for so long I could pick out anything in the baby departments and it would come in his size. I want to know, though, why is it that it is so hard to find lots of footie pj options for 12 month + sizes? Why all of a sudden do the pjs come without feet at 12 months+? It's not like I can cover him with a blanket yet. While our babies sleep in sleep sacks, I still wonder if his feet will be warm enough at night without the footie pjs this winter. I wonder if I should put socks on his feet when he's wearing footless pjs?

We decided that Sam and Anna's New Year Resolution is to give up their pacifiers for good. The AAP recommends not using them after 6 months, but since our babies didn't have any teeth until this month, I figured it couldn't possibly mess up their bite. They've never been hugely dependent on them- we have just used pacifiers to make bedtimes and naptimes easier to transition to sleep. They haven't used pacifiers at daycare at all. Recently, pacifiers seem to be something that they are more interested in at any time of the day whenever they catch a glimpse of one, so we figure now is a good time to toss 'em, before they get too attached. I definitely don't want 2 year olds walking around with plugs in their mouths! I don't think it will be that big of a deal to them- I just hope that they don't decide a thumb is the new alternative.