Nearing the end...

We are nearing the end folks.  I'm so relieved and excited to say that we should be closing on the house and moving by the end of this month.  I am very grateful to have family (or hubby's family for this one) to stay with for the last 4 months (will be almost 5 when moving day comes) but I am so eager to be out on our own again.  I think Jeff's parents feel the same...a few days after we announced it was coming together and we'd be moving they went out and bought some new chairs for their living room (and I believe they are staying in the garage covered up until we check out haha...can't blame them).

We have the inspection today and will be setting an appraisal date and I think we'll be good to go.  We bought a new lawn mower a week or two ago that is sitting in the garage (we sold our old one prior to moving).  And my favorite and only other big purchase is this...a king size bed.  I have always wanted one and never thought I would get one.  But since we have been here so much longer than expected and needed to replace my old queen soon anyway we decided to splurge a little.  I will be making the bed frame...egads! (check out my craft blog for more on that later).  Jeff has asked me a few times if I think I really can do it (yes I can...all you need is a plan and some time right?) and if it will take forever.  Love him for his confidence haha.

I try to talk to Kendall and Seren about moving and show them pictures online of their room and the house.  They don't care of course but hopefully it sinks in a little.  I'm sure it will be another adjustment though just like moving in with the Grandparents D was.  I hope that things will level off rather soon though and that they enjoy it.  Anyway had to share the good news.

20 Months

*as always these are for me (and the girls) to remember so don't feel pressured to read*

Foods They Like:  They love almost all fruit.  They are less inclined to cheese but still like it.  They are getting better at eating meat.  They like pizza, bread, orange juice, bananas, enchiladas, etc.

Foods They Don't:  Mostly vegetables and odd textures.  I'm trying to offer veggies first when they are hungry to get more exposure.

Favorite Things:   They love water, going on walks (stroller or on foot), dogs of all sizes.  Playing in the back yard and with bugs and dirt.  They love playing with cousins.  They love going to the park.  Seren will slide down the big kid spiral slide like a champ and Kendall will try to climb on anything she can get a step on.

Favorite toy:  shoes (does that count?)...they love their own shoes, dress up shoes and any other shoe found lying around.  Still like the tunnel and love their word books.

Dislikes:  Being hungry and tired.  Teething.  Possible nightmares for Seren (waking up to screams from her in the middle of the night...this has gotten better the last few days).  Being told what to do or not to do (independent tantrums starting).

Their Accomplishments:  Walking and running.  Stairs up and down...we've taken the gate off now and even allow them to go up and down the spiral stairs. Understanding and talking more. Learning body parts.  Kendall is very good at pointing to different objects and animals in her books when asked.  Seren seems more active and not wanting to be bothered with this type of game.

Verbal:  They are talking and imitating more.  Still a little worried about this but I think they are catching on.

Teeth:  Seren is missing her canines and 2 year molars.  Kendall getting in her last molar and missing canines and 2 year molars.  Both seem to be teething although they are usually in good moods during the day despite this.

Sleep:  We've had trouble sleeping lately (as mentioned with Sleep Training post).  But this seems to be improving.  Teething is throwing them off though and causing most sleep trouble now I think.

Looking forward to:  Looking forward to more words and verbal skills.  They understand so much and are starting to catch on to speech.  Think of the coming seasons with them and how winter will be fun and next summer they'll be able to do more.  Still really want to move to our own home again.  We heard again on the short sale and have approval from all parties so should have a contract soon (please please please)

Kendall after pulling out two pigtails...
at least her hair is starting to come in finally.  It makes her happy to have barettes and pig tails

Seren with her hair up...this never lasts long.  She hates things in her hair and always yanks them out.

The Gatsby Girls... Seren, Kendall, H__, L__ at the aquarium Sept 1, 2012
We hang out with this group of friends (and our kids) at least once a month and have taken to calling them "Gatsby Nights"

Sleep Training...Again??

So the story goes...the girls had a somewhat rough adjustment to sleeping when we moved in with the in-laws.  This only lasted about a week or two and they were back on track.  But for the past month Seren has woken up and grumped in the middle of the night.  We mostly let her go and if she fussed for more then 10 minutes or so we would go get her, usually out of worry for Kendall waking up.  Sometimes Kendall would sleep through this but generally the moment we went to get Seren, Kendall was up as well.  We started stretching out the time we'd wait to get them which seemed to stretch the days between getting them up.  But for the last week Seren has screamed bloody murder.  Her arm getting cut off type of bloody murder.  The first time she did it I literally jumped out of bed and nearly ran to their room.  Scared the crap out of me.  But nothing was wrong beyond a little girl who wanted to get attention and maybe a midnight snack before going back to bed.  She didn't cry after we got her up and she acted perfectly happy and healthy the next morning and day.  No concerns.  The next night it happened again and again after that.  By the end of the week we wondered if there was something wrong or if she was just teething or having nightmares.  We contacted our doctor.  And the recommendation was to sleep train her again...let her cry for up to an hour.  Train her to go back to sleep on her own.  Possibly move Kendall to another room if possible.  Lovely.

Sleep training...this worked like a charm when they were 5 or 6 months old.  But the thought of letting her scream bloody murder night after night doesn't appeal to me.  Their ped. did say we could ease her back into it (checking on her, etc) but that could take several weeks to get her back on track.   I figure I will check on her a little this week and then wean and stretch the time between checks again.  No picking up.  No cuddles.  Lay her back down and comfort her and then leave.  I'm not against children "crying it out" to a point...I just hope we don't reach that point after a week or two.  So here we go again...wish us luck (oh and tips or tricks if you have any).

Redefining Goals

For those of you stopping in or new I started a list of 101 goals to accomplish in 1,001 days a couple years ago.  Surprisingly time has gone by so quickly with this.  I started on this list before we were officially starting our donor IVF cycle that resulted in Kendall and Seren.  I remember that I started it because I wanted to have other things to work towards besides starting our family...especially if things didn't work.  But they did and now I am very behind in getting these goals accomplished.  I have accomplished others but ones I can't check off of a list.

We are still living with Jeff's parents for the time being.  We have an offer on a short sale for a home that I love but it has taken months to go anywhere.  We keep hoping we'll get a contract any day now...that is the supposed next step as we've been told everything is verbally accepted.  But living here feels like a wrench in my plans to accomplish more of these goals sometimes.  I guess I could get creative.

But in the meantime I'm considering an extension or a re-writing of the list.  Adding in new goals possibly and focusing energy on things I've discovered that I really enjoy (sewing, home decor, DIY projects, etc).  Anyway just a random rambling and reminder to myself to get back on the horse with this idea because I really do like it. 

19 Months

Foods They Like:  They love almost all fruit.  They love cheese, ham fried rice, minestrone soup, pizza, zucchini bread, pancakes, chicken nuggets, etc.  They are getting better with vegetables (especially if it's mixed in with other things) mostly corn, tomatoes and carrots. 

Foods They Don't:  Avocado, olives, and a lot of vegetables still.  

Favorite Things:   They love splashing in puddles, going on walks (stroller or on foot), dogs of all sizes.  They like bath time and stories.  Playing in the back yard and with bugs and dirt.  They love playing with cousins.  Seren is especially interested in Abby (4 months older than the girls) and will stare at her and follow her around when they come visiting.
Favorite toy:  Tunnel from ikea.  Water with buckets and toys.
Dislikes:  Being hungry and tired.  Helping them eat...they very much want to do it all on their own.
Their Accomplishments:  Walking and running.  Stairs up and down although we still leave the gate up on the big stairs.  Understanding and talking more.  We're working on body parts and they are learning more of those.

Verbal:  They are talking and imitating more.  New words: juice, up, doggie and yes.  Seren seems to talk more but Kendall can really get going as well. 

Teeth:  Seren has four on top, four on bottom and four molars.  Kendall has four on bottom, four on top and two molars.  

Sleep:  They fight sleeping a little more but have each other for company or the other will usually sleep through if a fit is being thrown. 
Looking forward to:  Looking forward to more words and verbal skills.  They understand so much and are starting to catch onto speaking better.  Still looking forward to being on our own again, especially so I can have more control over diet, groceries and freezer meals. 

Sunny Days...

We are enjoying our share of sunny days here recently.  It is better than winter and snow and being cooped up inside.  Although some really hot days have kept us inside anyway.  There isn't much going on here.  I have been flying solo with the girls the last few days as Grandparents D have been watching other grandkids.  Jeff is also out of town for the same few days + one and the girls have been sick for the last week or two (just the sniffles and improving) so it hasn't been the best timing.  I was up with Seren from 3:30 am to 7 am one night/morning with Kendall joining in around 6 am.  Thank goodness they slept in until 11 am that day.  After that it has been all uphill though.  And we have partial word on the short sale being good news soon so that doesn't hurt the optimism.  Generally speaking though this summer has been full of sunny days, smiles and moments like these.

Kendall playing in the background while mom plays with her camera settings to capture the cuteness

(reminds me of pictures my dad took when we were little)

Seren loves to corner Thor at the front door when he's looking outside.  He actually didn't mind this time and started licking her hand (they are going to be good buddies when she's a little bigger)

Kind of Solution

After I purchased some plastic stroller type buckles on eBay...I found a perfectly fine solution at the thrift store.  I thrift my girls clothes.  I love it!  It's like a bargain hunt to find a cute (basically new looking) shirt for $1 or $2 and pants for $3.  I figure until they are old enough to take better care of their clothes (or at least not stain them over and over with spaghetti and strawberries, etc) then it is perfectly fine, great even, to get used clothes.  Goodness sounds like I could do a whole post on that.

Anyway I found a cargo type belt (1 1/2" wide with a double ring closure).  It was $0.69 and booyah also the 50% off color tag of the day.  So I bought it as a temporary fix.  We even took it for a practice run to the store.  I sat Seren in the basket again and looped the belt around her snugged it up on the outside so she couldn't mess with it.  She didn't like it.  In fact I think she was darn near pissed off about it.  At first she was really trying to fight it and stand up (not a chance).  Then she gave up and just whined about it a little.  I got a few sideways glances while she was freaking out but hey I prevented a concussion so who cares.

I am hoping the next trip to try it out won't be so troublesome.  It was the middle of nap time today and we had a super rough night as well.  Seren is not always the twin in the basket either but Kendall was half-asleep when we got to the store so I didn't want to chance her cranking out.

**Update:  The buckles I ordered never came.  I checked on tracking and the stupid company sent them to my old address...despite me updating the address with them and them sending me an email saying they'd send it to my current address.  Grrrrrrrr!  The belt has worked fine though despite the fact if the girl in the basket gets fussy that people notice more.  Come on people...I dare you to ask me why I use something to belt them in! Bring it!