Where Has the Time Gone? And other updates

Max and Harper have been growing, changing, and learning so quickly! They are over 14 months old. Seriously. It seems like they should still be like this...

But, really they are toddlers like this...

So, our house is a lot louder. It is filled with giggles. Blocks banging. Screaming from fighting over toys. Furniture being moved. Doors of our TV stand being ripped by the hinges. But gosh, it is so great!

Our house is also a disaster area. We now need new floors and refuse to have people over until it is done. (We needed new floors B.B.-before babies-but now we really need them!)

When can they start helping clean up??

They are learning machines, I tell ya! They literally can repeat anything we say. I told them "dangerous" when trying to rip the safety outlets out for the 100th time. Pretty soon, anytime they go near the outlets and we say "no", they say "dangerous". It's adorable. They talk all the time. We don't always understand their babbles but for the most part we can communicate pretty well. They sign "more" but also say "more" now when they sign. They say and sign "all done" and "milk". They say "uh-oh" for everything. Here is another list of their words: night-night, bye-bye, hello, hey, ball, dog, momma, dada, no, thank you, diaper, toothbrush, Bella, Grampa.

Many other words they can repeat but they don't really use when they are talking to us regularly.

They are not only walking, but running. So that's fun!

They climb like champs. On furniture. On us. On each other. In fact, Max has now started this aggressive hugging. I know that seems like an oxymoron but seriously, he starts hugging Harper sweetly and then winds up tackling her to the ground where he holds her down. All while appearing to be a loving brother. Poor Harps! She also gets the brunt of his biting. Although, I think he is getting better with this the more he learns to communicate.

We started a Timeout Corner. At first, I thought they were too young for this. However, daycare is teaching us a lot about what they can do! They sit at a big kid table, sleep on cots (not cribs!), and play on playground equipment.

The daycare teacher sent us proof that they sleep on cots when I didn't believe her.

Grandparent's Day at their school (All four of their grandparents were there!)

Big kid activities mean they get in big kid trouble too. Harper nearly fell off the slide on the playground and a teacher had to try and catch her and wound up scratching her cheek. Poor girl got a nasty scratch but I will take that over a head injury any day!

Harper's scratch

Max impresses us with his engineer mind. He inspects everything to figure out how it works. Then, this happened!

How the heck does a 14 month old make block towers?! That just seems crazy to me. Such a smarty pants! He thinks everything through...you can see the wheels turning. Usually, he is plotting his next move to get around the barriers we have in place or to do something he is not supposed to do. But he is such a lover. He gives the best smooches and hugs. But he also has a cry that breaks your heart. (Along with an ugly cry face to boot!)

Harper is the sweet, cuddly girl. She melts your heart with one glance. Her eyes smile from deep inside her soul. She is such a Momma's girl too! I love that. When she is sick or tired, only Momma can make it better.

Loves Momma and Me Selfies

They love this tub! No idea!

Both have been cutting multiple molar teeth. How awful for them?! They are handling it like pros. Harper still only has two top front teeth, three bottom front teeth, and now FOUR molars! Max has four top front teeth, four bottom front teeth, and now TWO molars! They are both working on more too. Thank goodness for teething tablets. They have made all of our lives better.


I have no idea how much they weigh or their height. We go to the doctor in October for their 15 month checkup. I would guess around 21-22 pounds. They wear size 4 diapers now and 12-18 month clothing. They are short so we usually have to roll their pants so they fit them. My shorties!


The twins have had their ear tubes in their ears for a couple months nearly...but we see their doctor that did the surgery this week. Max has an ear infection now but the tubes just let the infection drain out. It is gross! We put in ear drops a few times a day and wait to see the doctor. Hopefully, that will make it all better.

They eat everything in sight. Heck, they ate chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant last week! They are going to eat us out of house and home. And our dog is loving cleaning up the food they purposely throw on the floor.

No more ravioli in the middle of the day!

They sleep really well. There was one night last week that Max woke up at 2am. He didn't ever go back to sleep. He didn't cry, just thought it was play time. He didn't nap until 12:30!!! It was insane. And Jeremy and I were exhausted too! But normally, sleep is great. Although, I miss the rocking and soothing a bit...we just lay them in their cribs. They go to sleep on their own and self-soothe for the most part. Max still MUST have a pacifier to sleep. But he is pretty good about finding it in his crib in the middle of the night in case it falls out of his mouth.


Our lives are so busy. Between my two jobs, Jeremy's job, my parents' anniversary party, Halloween costumes, organizing closets, Zumba classes and trying to keep an organized chaos with the rest of the house...I am exhausted! But it is so much fun!

New Classroom before school started

Now some other random pics of the last two months. I have not been great with taking too many pictures so I am sorry!

They love bath time and splashing us. 

Max is now obsessed with his Tickle Monster hands

Pigtails!!!!!!!!!

Watching Dada mow

Dinos

See you soon!
-Lisa-

You are Raising My Babies

I can't begin to tell you how difficult it is to have your babies away from you for most of the day. I am SO hoping that I can take a break from teaching for a couple years so I can focus on my own babes instead of other people's.

I do love the sweet smiles I get everyday when I pick Max and Harper up from daycare though. It makes my sometimes awful day forgotten. I love that. I just wish I was able to spend more time with them. I am really looking forward to Christmas break. I know that I will still need to take them to daycare even though I am off (we are paying no matter what) but will only take them for a short amount of time. I will use that time to clean, wrap presents, prepare food, etc. I just love morning snuggles and my morning snuggles only happen on the weekdays.

The people and place you leave your precious babies is so important. I HIGHLY recommend our daycare provider. Brighton Learning Center is amazeballs! Even though I hate the thought of leaving them...those ladies are so good with our miracles. They love them so much and I love that. BLC is worth the extra money we pay. We get educated and caring women who teach (I know they are only 5 months old!) them so much. We get crafts and pictures that show all they do. It is pretty incredible. BLC has a blog and Harper and Max are in some of the pictures for tummy time. I do believe they are the cutest babies featured if I do say so myself! Ha! Here is the link.

We looked around at a few different locations and considered lots of different options. I just know that we were led to make the decision to place our babies in BLC's hands. They are spending more awake time with them than we do...sad! But they love them and that is all I can ask for as a working mama.

-Lisa-

Working Mom Blues

I never thought I would be THAT woman that would be a stay at home mom. I always have loved working and loved teaching. I still love being a teacher (most days!) and love the people I work with. BUT...I would absolutely love to stay with my beautiful babies.

I am glad I started back to work a couple weeks before they started daycare. I had time to adjust to being away from them. I knew they were in good, loving hands when they were their daddy.

Tuesday, our world and their world changed. They are attending a Christian based school three whole blocks from our house. The women there are amazing and so caring. Although that makes it easier, it is still so hard to accept the fact that they are essentially being raised by other people.

Tuesday, Jeremy got them dressed and ready for their first day of "school". As he set them down in the infant room. He handed over the last of the supplies we needed to bring. He kissed them and started to prepare to leave. Harper gave him the frowniest frown and let one tear drip down her cheek. This act, of course, left Jeremy feeling awful. Although, he swears he didn't cry-cry...he did leave in a hurry. Luckily, I will hardly ever be the one dropping them off in the morning.

I get the pleasure of picking them up and seeing their sweet faces. I swear they look at me like they are SO happy to see me. They seem to love daycare and they have them on a pretty strict schedule. We thought we did but they take scheduling to a whole other level.

I can't get over that they are "teaching" 3 month old babies. They have done all kinds of activities this week. Here are their day sheets we get each day:

Colors in Spanish! What?! We are going to have genius babies!

They are still sleeping through the night and going down for bed with no issues. They are just awesome babies!

More twin spam for you. Have a great weekend!

-Lisa-

Sad, sad day!!

This will be brief since it is my LAST DAY of maternity leave. I have snuggled Max and Harper most of the day knowing I will be in baby snuggle withdrawals the next 8 months of my life. Jeremy and I are in talks and plans to see if this will be my last year teaching for awhile. I would love to be a stay at home mama until they are in school or much older.

Tomorrow morning will be a tough one. But Jeremy is home with them (BY HIMSELF!) for the next two weeks. They start daycare October 15. We took all of their "stuff" to daycare today and met some of the teachers. It is a great place and they will be in great hands...but I am SO SAD.

Here is a bit of what I will be missing!

Max loves to talk and coo!

So serious

They love their Bumbo seats!

Sleeping in

This is a common expression from Harper when she isn't smiling!

-Lisa-

24 week update

Woo-hoo for viability!! I never thought we would get to 24 weeks. We can breathe a sigh of relief.

I feel like I have been so busy but I look around and nothing is getting done. I start to freak out a bit when I realize that Maxwell & Harper will be here in about 11-13 more weeks. As much as I can't wait to wrap them up and hold them in my arms...Momma and Daddy are not ready!

We have basically figured out daycare. It wasn't easy and we had lots of great options. We have decided to go with this daycare close to our house. We went and toured many centers but fell in love with the staff and facility. We won't need daycare until October 15. I go back to work October 1 and Jeremy is taking his leave at the beginning of October. Hopefully, one more spot will open up before then. At the moment, one of the twins has a spot while the other is waitlisted. The director said that she is sure a spot will open up before then so not to worry.

Our nursery is coming along. I am in the middle of many décor projects at the moment. I am NOT a crafty person so I am definitely out of my element. I will post pictures of the projects in a separate post.

FMLA and insurance is quite the headache but it seems to be working itself out as well.

At my doctor checkup Tuesday, I only gained 5 pounds this month. This is a change from the last appointment where I gained a whopping 10 pounds! I am up 33 pounds. I can't believe how large and in charge I am getting. However, my doctor assures me I am right on track and healthy. She said I will slow down on the weight gain because twin mommies usually load up on the pounds early on. In fact, if you gain 24 pounds before the 24 weeks mark...twins have a greater chance of staying in there longer so they are born at a healthier weight.

One thing that pregnant women may downplay is the movement. I am in complete awe of the punches, kicks, movement, etc. Jeremy is obsessed with watching the belly and feeling it. I think he nearly cried when his hand was kicked hard. I love looking at the belly move. It is a complete miracle and just feel so blessed that we get to experience this. I can't believe that more pregnant women or moms haven't told me about the awesomeness of this stage. I don't even care that I can't sleep because I know that when I feel them punch me, they are thriving.

Max and Harper will grow up knowing how much they were prayed for. They will know what blessings and miracles they truly are. They will also know that God sent them as His perfect timing for us. I can't help but smile and cry happy tears at the thought of holding my precious angels. It puts our whole infertility struggle into perspective.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11


-Lisa-