We have a stripper!
For the second time this morning I walked in to find a naked Ciara standing in bed. Thankfully althouh she removed her nappy she didn't pee in her bed but I'm sure that will come ;0). I'm going to have to find some zip up PJ's as she hasn't quite mastered full length zips yet.
In other news we have no hot water- our upstairs neighbours were messing around with their heaters and seem to have taken out the heating system (combined heating and hot water supply). I hope this gets fixed quickly as I'm getting tired of always having builders and repairmen here (our kitchen still isn't finished 6 weeks later!!)
PS Start play therapy next week but we're still waiting for our Speech therapy appointment. At the rate this is going we won't need it by the time we get to the top of the list.
PPS Enya can now say hello, Ciara is satisfied with a simple hi.
9 Jul 2009
8 Jul 2009
Lunchtime fun...
When I opened the door this is what was in our drive!
We're gettin a carport built for us and after great fun helping to excavate the holes for the foundations (you should have seen the gravel nappies we've had) the foundations were finally poured today. I wish I'd had more hands that I could have filmed the girls reaction- they were both squealing and just wanted to run and investigate this huge machine, unfortunately my hands were occupied trying to hold the terrible two out of danger.
Speaking of terrible twos, can you believe they are going to be TWO years old in just over 5 weeks!! Z has alrady started teaching them to hold up 2 fingers. I'm baking a practice birthday cake ) to try to figure out how to make a half sphere cake - wish me luck!!
7 Jul 2009
another perfect day
Play with me mommy
A typical photo of Ciara at present, she loves the camera. She has gone around for the last few days with Z's ID card from the Bio trade fair around her neck. I think she thinks it is a necklace, she loves bracelets and handbags too- she is going to be very expensive in years to come!
On the seesaw with our landlady's granddaughter
Above are some of the photos I promised you yesterday (I need to get Z to do some photoshop editing on the others before I can post them).
Yesterday was a really great day, the girls are back to taking two 2 hour naps a day, so they are not as grumpy as they were last week. I also took them on a long walk to get out the house as I'm convinced half the trouble is they were bored. We walked to some local shops- about a half hour walk, longer as part of the walk is on a quiet track between fields where I let them out the pram so they could run around a bit. They were little angels and stayed on the path and even helped me push the pram.
When we got to the store I discovered they now stock Ben and Jerrys ice cream! I love B&J and one of the first things I did after arriving in Germany 6 years ago was check out the stores for it, no luck then but it is now available. I managed to resist the temptation to buy a tub as it was a really hot day and it was a long way home but I will be heading back to the shops soon to stock up the freezer;0).
I landed up busing home as my comfy shoes gave me blisters. Again this was a pleasant surprise as I had no trouble getting onto the bus with my twin buggy and there was even a space for prams or wheelchairs left open. I didn't even have to pay for the girls, aparently they only start paying from 6 years of age. I can see some adventures on the bus coming up.
A typical photo of Ciara at present, she loves the camera. She has gone around for the last few days with Z's ID card from the Bio trade fair around her neck. I think she thinks it is a necklace, she loves bracelets and handbags too- she is going to be very expensive in years to come!
On the seesaw with our landlady's granddaughter
Above are some of the photos I promised you yesterday (I need to get Z to do some photoshop editing on the others before I can post them).
Yesterday was a really great day, the girls are back to taking two 2 hour naps a day, so they are not as grumpy as they were last week. I also took them on a long walk to get out the house as I'm convinced half the trouble is they were bored. We walked to some local shops- about a half hour walk, longer as part of the walk is on a quiet track between fields where I let them out the pram so they could run around a bit. They were little angels and stayed on the path and even helped me push the pram.
When we got to the store I discovered they now stock Ben and Jerrys ice cream! I love B&J and one of the first things I did after arriving in Germany 6 years ago was check out the stores for it, no luck then but it is now available. I managed to resist the temptation to buy a tub as it was a really hot day and it was a long way home but I will be heading back to the shops soon to stock up the freezer;0).
I landed up busing home as my comfy shoes gave me blisters. Again this was a pleasant surprise as I had no trouble getting onto the bus with my twin buggy and there was even a space for prams or wheelchairs left open. I didn't even have to pay for the girls, aparently they only start paying from 6 years of age. I can see some adventures on the bus coming up.
6 Jul 2009
Family weekend
This past weekend was a real family weekend. I can't say that we did anything special but it was nonetheless a wonderful weekend. We barbequed on Saturday night, slept in late (well 8 am is late for us recently) on Sunday and then pancakes for brunch. The weather has been hot and sticky so we took most of our meals outside on the terrace, I love this.
Enya can now climb the ladder to the slide alone I just need to help her sit down on the slide. She can also climb up the front of the slide all the way to the top although I stand next to her for safety (Z and I decided they were both going to do it anyway so better that they learn to do it safely than we spend all our time stopping them and later they do it anyway and hurt themselves). Ciara only gets about halfway up the front of the slide and then collapses onto her tummy and slides down, she also can't manage the ladder as with the big cloth nappies on she is not flexible enough to get her foot up onto the next rung. But that's OK, she'd rather swing anyway!
( I was going to add some photos but blogger won't let me add photos today, I really hope this feature comes back, unlike my spell check which still is non functional!!)
Enya can now climb the ladder to the slide alone I just need to help her sit down on the slide. She can also climb up the front of the slide all the way to the top although I stand next to her for safety (Z and I decided they were both going to do it anyway so better that they learn to do it safely than we spend all our time stopping them and later they do it anyway and hurt themselves). Ciara only gets about halfway up the front of the slide and then collapses onto her tummy and slides down, she also can't manage the ladder as with the big cloth nappies on she is not flexible enough to get her foot up onto the next rung. But that's OK, she'd rather swing anyway!
( I was going to add some photos but blogger won't let me add photos today, I really hope this feature comes back, unlike my spell check which still is non functional!!)
3 Jul 2009
times they are a changing
Taking the chair for a walkIt's becoming harder and harder to ignore the fact that I no longer have babies, that my little treasures are turning into proper little girls before my very eyes.
Since coming back from our holidays, we've had another spate of things changing to adapt to our "big girls". First of all dummies are a thing of the past now, for both girls. We decided this change was urgent while still on holiday as both girls were wandering around the whole day with a dummy in their mouths. Usually at home they only got a dummy in bed but on holiday they were so whingy we gave in and let them have a dummy outside of their cots. I'm happy to report this has been an incredibly painless change, if they do wake up in the night we just go in and tickle their backs for a few minutes and they drift off to sleep again- we haven't had to do this more than 2-3 times though as they usually settle by themselves after one or two crys.
The next change is we've removed the front bars from their highchairs. They were both climbing up the chairs and trying to climb into them over the bars and this was very scary to watch as they balance on one foot on a narrow area while lifting the other over *shudder*. They are both also so quick that I'd turn round for a blink of the eye and when I turned back, there they would be teetering on the highchair! With the bar gone they can still climb up but they don't have to do the balancing act to get in. We are also using the harnesses so they stay in the chair for the meal (thanks once again mom, for the harnesses!!) although my feeling is we won't need them for long. I have to laugh though when I start preparing the meal and both girls come into the kitchen and climb into their chairs, Ciara even trys to put on her bib while Enya has a couple of times tried to put on her harness!
Self feeding in the chair
I must say that the harness is very well accepted by both girls, we have no fighting when we put the harnesses on, rather the opposite, they love to get their harnesses put on as they know they are either going to be fed or we're going out.
The last change we have instituted is that we are starting to think about toilet training them. I know they are not yet really ready for this, but we want to get them used to sitting on the toilet/potty so they aren't scared of it. We're starting off by just putting them onto the training seat when we change their nappies and clapping and feting them when they sit on it for a couple of minutes. So far it's going very well, Enya was very suspicious at first but now sits quite happily, Ciara is not quite so sure but will stay for a couple of minutes before trying to climb down. I have the big girl underwear in the cupboard but think I will leave that for a couple of weeks still.
Loo time
Where have my little babies gone!!
2 Jul 2009
Continuing along the lines of my post from yesterday, another thing that has gotten more interesting (read challenging) now that the girls are older is shopping.
Admittedly I never did the weekly shop with the girls in tow (and still don't if I can possibly avoid it) but every now and then I have to go and pick up things that was forgotten during the normal grocery run. When the girls were babies I'd have one in a sling, one in the carseat in the trolley and all was good.
Now days I have one in the trolley seat, one sitting in the trolley and spend half my time rescuing the fruit from being trod on or the packets from being chewed or the milk from bring chucked down onto the floor. Thankfully Enya is very good about not trying to climb out the trolley and it is deep enough it is unlikely she will fall out accidently but it still makes even a quick shop more stressful than it used to be. (before anyone asks, no we don't have any twin/sibling trolleys in any of our local stores)
Clothes shopping (eg before our holiday) is a big NO NO! They hate it and are incredibly whingy from the moment we walk into the shop. They also try and pull everything off the hangers, which considering most shops walkways are barely wide enough for a twins buggy, are always in reach. Nope, clothes shopping is at this time not possible without at least 2 adults present.
Every cloud has a silver lining though so at least it's keeping me out the shops and spending money. Now if only internet shops didn't exist ;0).
More eating faces for family!
Admittedly I never did the weekly shop with the girls in tow (and still don't if I can possibly avoid it) but every now and then I have to go and pick up things that was forgotten during the normal grocery run. When the girls were babies I'd have one in a sling, one in the carseat in the trolley and all was good.
Now days I have one in the trolley seat, one sitting in the trolley and spend half my time rescuing the fruit from being trod on or the packets from being chewed or the milk from bring chucked down onto the floor. Thankfully Enya is very good about not trying to climb out the trolley and it is deep enough it is unlikely she will fall out accidently but it still makes even a quick shop more stressful than it used to be. (before anyone asks, no we don't have any twin/sibling trolleys in any of our local stores)
Clothes shopping (eg before our holiday) is a big NO NO! They hate it and are incredibly whingy from the moment we walk into the shop. They also try and pull everything off the hangers, which considering most shops walkways are barely wide enough for a twins buggy, are always in reach. Nope, clothes shopping is at this time not possible without at least 2 adults present.
Every cloud has a silver lining though so at least it's keeping me out the shops and spending money. Now if only internet shops didn't exist ;0).
More eating faces for family!
1 Jul 2009
Life with twins
I remember right at the beginning being told (and reading in the internet) that with twins the first year is hard but then it gets easier than it would be with a singleton. The theory was that twins will play together and therefore entertain each other. Well let me disillision you now, I've found this second year to be much harder than the first. Don't get me wrong there are definite highlights to this second year as well, but it has definitely been more work and less "selfish me" time and still twice as "hard" as it would be with a single toddler.
The first year is hard because of the lack of sleep with round the clock feedings and midnight wakings once they are suposedly sleeping through. But generally as long as the babies are getting fed, cuddled, have dry nappies and allowed to sleep they are generally content and "easy to please" and really in MHO not that much work. This all changes when they start moving about, suddenly you need to be making sure they are not getting into anything dangerous and have to provide a bit more on the entertainment front as they are no longer always asleep, but at that stage still not very hard to manage.
The reason I've found this second year so challenging is now they have more complex needs than just comfort, love, food and sleep. And unfortunately in a lot of cases they don't have the means to communicate these needs yet. This means multiple meltdowns when they don't get what they want, because we just don't know what it is they are looking for. They also are more mobile and into everything but have no sense of self preservation, this means when they are awake we have to be with them and can't do anything too involved chore wise due to the need to supervise constantly. THey also get bored very easily and so require more entertainment, the old myth that twins entertain each other- in our case it's rubbish. They steal each other's toys and copy each other but actual playing together doesn't come until later in their development (according to my milestone chart at about 3 years on average). This means we spend a lot of time mediating little wars.
Now again please don't get me wrong I love my twins and I wouldn't want to give either of them up but I would also like to set the record straight, twins don't suddenly get easier as they get older. They remain double the work of singletons but they also give double the joy and rewards! Watching them give each other a cuddle when the one is crying (only happens if the cause wasn't a toy war!!) or babbling to each other as seriously as though they were discussing world peace are very precious momoents and wouldn't be possible if they weren't both there.
The first year is hard because of the lack of sleep with round the clock feedings and midnight wakings once they are suposedly sleeping through. But generally as long as the babies are getting fed, cuddled, have dry nappies and allowed to sleep they are generally content and "easy to please" and really in MHO not that much work. This all changes when they start moving about, suddenly you need to be making sure they are not getting into anything dangerous and have to provide a bit more on the entertainment front as they are no longer always asleep, but at that stage still not very hard to manage.
The reason I've found this second year so challenging is now they have more complex needs than just comfort, love, food and sleep. And unfortunately in a lot of cases they don't have the means to communicate these needs yet. This means multiple meltdowns when they don't get what they want, because we just don't know what it is they are looking for. They also are more mobile and into everything but have no sense of self preservation, this means when they are awake we have to be with them and can't do anything too involved chore wise due to the need to supervise constantly. THey also get bored very easily and so require more entertainment, the old myth that twins entertain each other- in our case it's rubbish. They steal each other's toys and copy each other but actual playing together doesn't come until later in their development (according to my milestone chart at about 3 years on average). This means we spend a lot of time mediating little wars.
Now again please don't get me wrong I love my twins and I wouldn't want to give either of them up but I would also like to set the record straight, twins don't suddenly get easier as they get older. They remain double the work of singletons but they also give double the joy and rewards! Watching them give each other a cuddle when the one is crying (only happens if the cause wasn't a toy war!!) or babbling to each other as seriously as though they were discussing world peace are very precious momoents and wouldn't be possible if they weren't both there.
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