Flying with Toddlers

Day Two,

Confession, I had to type "flying" about three times in the title to get it spelled right. I'm thinking that I haven't had enough coffee today.

On our most recent trip to KC we decided to fly.

A few months ago, we decided to become all hipster and sell our car and move down town. Well, the real reason wasn't to be hipsters. Maybe I'll write about that tomorrow.

Well, on our way to KC everything went great. Minimal fussing, maximum sleeping. Everything any parent of a toddler (or two) could ask for.

On the way back home, things didn't go quite as smooth. The girls missed their nap time because I decided to try to coincide nap time with our flight. Great idea, Sara. Well, in theory it was a great idea. Unfortunately, I didn't plan on the fact that we would be grounded for two hours...with two overly tired 15 month old toddlers.

Everyone on the plane was super thrilled with us.

We started on a happy note.

Grace and Kate liked watching the airplanes and being hams. 

Seriously, they were waving at everyone. They bring so much joy to so many people. 

Once we found out that our plane was grounded... The vibe changed a little. I didn't bring milk or many snacks for the girls. Again, everyone on the plane was thrilled. 

Then, we got creative. We made drinking water out of our sippy cups a game by putting them in the back pocket of the seat in front of us. If nothing else, it really kept them entertained. 

Thankfully, I was finally able to get off and get milk. What a relief. Once we were finally aloud to take off, Kate and Grace were out cold. Kate didn't even wake up for the landing, and we were sitting right next to the wings/wheels/engines (another great planning job by Sara Hey). 

As a side note, I was talking to our friend Amy about this whole fiasco and she told me it rained for 30 minutes here. Seriously?? We were grounded for two hours because of 30 minutes of rain?!?! End Rant. 

So, what did I learn from all of this?

1.Austin is great. 

Well, I already knew that.  But, he is so great with the girls. He sings them songs from their princess book, has picnics with them and gets up in the middle of the night when they fuss. Grace, Kate and I are lucky girls.

2. Over preparing snacks is always a good idea. 

Even if the girls don't eat them, I can get hungry too!

3.I am so thankful for technology.

If you have a toddler and haven't heard of Peek a Boo Barn, you are missing out. 

Well, if nothing else, I'll be better prepared on our next flight :)  

60 Blogs in 60 Days, Take Two.

Last year, I really really tried to write 60 blogs in 60 days. Really.

I had a good start and then fizzled out. I think there were a number of things that contributed to the fizzle.

Maybe the fact that I had twin babies. Eh, could be.
Or Maybe, when I did have time to write about the happenings of our ever so exciting life I decided all I wanted to do was pass out on the couch instead.

Often, I just had the idea that our lives really weren't that important for people to read about. I was just going about what seemed normal for me and every once in a while I would come to the realization that the situation we are in is unique and important. Grace and Kate bring so much joy to so many people and sometimes I just forget that. I just become so use to the blessing they are that it just becomes "normal".

Now, my babies really aren't babies anymore. They are 15 months old and running around like crazy. They are pulling hair, throwing food and yelling "NO,NO", "ball", "puppy", and many other things. I feel like we are this crazy tornado that causes chaos where ever we go.

But honestly, it's getting better.

I went back to work in January. It was one of the best decisions we could have made for our family. I am wired to work and be a professional, and I am a much more delightful person to be around since I've gone back to work. Seriously, just ask Austin. While I think being a stay at home mom is an awesome calling, it's not mine.

All of that to say, I feel like i'm not living in the tornado of chaos fog any more.

We were in KC this last week and I was talking to my mom. I was telling her that I really don't feel like I remember anything about Grace and Kate being itty bitty. She told me that is the way we are programmed so we can have more kids down the line. Ha, I believe it. Then, she promptly told me stories about when I was 2 and would stand in my room screaming, for hours and hours, because I didn't want to go to bed. (I guess she still remembers that!)

So, why 60 blogs in 60 days? Because I want to be real. So often, I find it's easy to tell everyone about the wonderful things the girls are doing and you might not hear about how Kate's new favorite sport is trying to rip out mommy's hair from the roots (I only wish I was making this up). Share in our failures as well as our triumphs, and just laugh with us. Because, that is what we do.  We laugh and look forward to what the next day might hold, as long as we have a cup of coffee in our hands.

BOB

No, this isn't a post about my dad or any member of my extended family (I'm pretty sure half of them are Robert/Rob/Bob). This is about our stroller. We have gone through our fair share of strollers. We have been so blessed to find GREAT deals on strollers since the girls were born. We have spent a combined $200 on strollers, which is a huge win for a great stroller in general.

We recently purchased a BOB jogging stroller off of Craigslist. Creepy, I know. But it was a great deal. We registered for the Chicago Marathon today, so our jogging stroller is going to get some good use!

Registering for the marathon was a marathon in itself. It took each of us 40 minutes to register...they wanted to make sure we were dedicated I guess...


 This is what our BOB looks like... kind of.

We got our stroller right before Austin left for a youth retreat. Our sweet friends Brad and Stacy came up for the retreat. We found out Grace had phenomena right before the retreat, so Stacy and I stayed back. There are very few people I could just hang with for an entire weekend, but Stacy is one of those people in my life. We never run out of things to talk about. We will have our own talk show one day. Just wait for it. We took the girls on a walk on one of the days... when we got back we had a hard time folding up the stroller. Okay, when I say hard, I mean it probably took us 20- 30 minutes. It somehow ended up in our house, but I'm not exactly sure how...

Ha. At least it made it in the house. 

They are cute... even in a stroller.

Sleep Training

It's been a while. Who am I kidding, it's been a lot longer then a while.

The girls are almost a year old. I'm thrilled that we have made it through this last year, but a little heart broken that my sweet girls are no longer babies. Grace and Kate are the most amazing blessing in our lives. They have taught us so much, and are constantly bringing smiles to our faces.

Over the last year, one thing that hasn't brought smiles to our faces are the hours of 1am - 5am. We saw a lot of those times over the last year! I'm pretty sure I have read just about every book on the market about sleeping. We have tried so many different methods in order to get our girls to sleep, but NOTHING has worked... We just didn't know what to do.The girls would constantly wake each other up...we were just at our wits ends. Finally, we decided to start looking into some sleep training.  I can't stand to hear my girls cry. I can't. There was no way we could do the cry it out method. I knew if someone would come in and tell us to let the girls to just cry I would never be able to do that. But, there had to be a solution to our sleep problem.

I finally found a sleep consultant who was having a free seminar, and we decided to check it out. When she said that she didn't use the cry it out method, I realized there was hope for us. A sleep plan that didn't involve my sweet girls screaming, and I was able to be in their room until they fell asleep. Okay, I could do this. We hired her, and I am pleased to say I have had babies sleeping through the night for the last 3 nights. Yes, 11 hours plus!

Up until this point Austin was getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. He took 80% of the night time shift, because my blood sugars would go crazy when I was tired and stressed. He was such a trooper. It is such a wonderful thing to be getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night. We can breathe a sigh of relief.

We did a few things differently, but one of the best things we did was buy a white noise machine. This is such a silly thing, but the night we did Grace slept through the night. No Joke.

 This is similar to the one we ended up getting.

I am thankful that we ended up getting a plan that Austin and I could both agree on, and stick to together. We are still working out some kinks in our sleep plan, but a rested Mommy and Daddy are a happy Mommy and Daddy.


In totally unrelated news, this weekend we went to a mall in the burbs. When we got there, we realized we forgot our stroller. AWESOME. We found out that the mall had loaner strollers, and so we headed on over to the customer service counter. The girls LOVED the stoller, I don't know what it was about it. They just giggled and waved at everyone, they are the biggest hams.

Kate is in the front and Grace is in the Back. They had so much fun! 

That's our sleep update for the day!
Sweet Dreams!

A long over do update.

The girls hit their 7 month mark on the second. I can't even believe it. It doesn't seem like it was that long since they were 4 pound babies, and now they are hitting the scale around 15 pounds. It blows my mind.

Since I last wrote a blog, we had baby dedication at church. We are so thankful for such a wonderful church and fabulous community. While none of our KC family was able to join us, our Chicago family (Parker and Jillian) were. We are hoping to get a video to share with you all soon.


Grace:
Grace is so goofy. She is our mover and grover, and she is crawling! Well, she crawled like 3 times so she is basically crawling. She has been rolling where ever she wants to go for a good two months now, and we knew this day would be coming soon. It's time to bring on the baby proofing. Both girls are sitting up great, and Grace loves to read books, go to the park and play with her crinkle books!

Kate:
Kate is so joyful. She is such a smiley baby. Recently (last 24 hours) she started saying da da. I have to say, this broke my heart a little, I have been working on ma ma with both girls form the time they were still in my belly! Eh, but Kate is a daddies girl through and through so it was to be expected and exciting all the same. I still have hope that Grace will say ma ma first :)

This last week, my type one diabetes kicked my butt. It landed me admitted to Northwestern for DKA. The night I was admitted our sweet friends Amy and Josh came and helped us with the girls, it was a huge blessing. The next day my mommy flew up.It was just so fabulous to see her and to have an extra set of hands while I recuperated. Having your mommy around is just good for the soul :) They had told me to expect to be in the hospital for at least for 48 hours but I won the super star award and was there about 24 hours before being discharged. The whole thing came down to the fact that I haven't been taking great care of myself, but this was a huge wake up call for both Austin and I on how things can escalate so fast! We have already made changes to make sure it doesn't happen again any time soon!

I hope to post the baby dedication video soon. Austin also took a video of Kate being so silly, I will try to put that up later as well!

Kansas City

In my last blog, I mentioned the girls and I spent a week in KC. It was such a fabulous time. We were able to catch up with some family and friends, attend a NICU reunion and I was even able to attend a wedding of one of my sweet friends from high school. 

On Saturday, the girl and I (and my mom!) went to the girls NICU reunion. We had such a great time and we were able to see so many people who are near and dear to our heart. Going through time in the NICU is full of emotional ups and downs (I'm tearing up as I write this). No one really knows what it's like unless you have gone through it with your children. But, one thing that really made it a little easier on us was that we had the most fabulous nurses. Seriously, it made all the difference. On the day I had to leave the hospital and my sweet girls had to stay, I was a wreck. Austin had already had to go back to work (it was about a week after the girls were born) so I went to say good bye to Kate and Grace and I lost it. Their nurse for the day came over and hugged me and told me that she promised that she wouldn't take them on their first pony ride or take them to the zoo. She said all she was going to  do was make sure they ate, slept and pooped. While it was so silly, it was just what I needed. After we were discharged, the girls got admitted to Children's and one of the nurse practioners found out about it and called me to see how the girls and I were doing. We weren't even at the same hospital. They were seriously the best. All of this to say, it was such a treat and joy to see these wonderful people again. 

These were some of our great nurses!

We got to see a lot of family in KC as well. The girls are really starting to go through seperation anxiety, so we had a little trouble with that while we were there. But, for the most part, they did excellent with the people coming in and out of their day. 

The girls with Austin's parents

The girls with their cousin Annalise. They LOVE her!

Finally, I was able to go to an old friends wedding. It was the first time since the girls were born that I have really just to go out with girl friends without them and it was a blast. I laughed so hard. It was good for the soul. 

The best part of KC? Hanging with my mom. She's the best, and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with her! I can only hope I have the same kind of relationship with my sweet girls!

Bed Time

I feel like every other post is about sleep, or lack there for. 

Never fear, this one is about sleep too. 

The girls and I spent the last week in KC. We had a fabulous time, but the girls got spoiled. They were rocked to sleep every night, they got to sleep in the living room, and if they didn't want to take a nap they didn't have to. They loved every moment of it, but we sure are paying for it now. 

Since we have been home, it has been exceptionally rough. Austin has been a trooper (He did have a week of sleeping through the night). The girls FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT sleep. As a result we have two crabby babies. I feel like Austin and I are zombies. We go through the motions of everyday life and drink a lot of coffee. LOTS AND LOTS OF COFFEE. 

The way Grace fights sleep is she rolls around in her crib and flails her arms and legs. She then gets into an incredibly awkward position and we will move her and she begins all over again. 

Case and Point. 

Kate on the other hands lays in her crib and blows raspberries. She then starts babbling until there is a excessive amount of noise coming from their nursery. 

I seriously think we might lose our minds soon. No joke. 

In other news, I took the girls to the park the other day and stepped in dog poop. Then Grace proceeded to kick my shoe and get it all over her. Awesome mom moment. But, I wouldn't want to have missed it for the world. I love my sweet girls, with dog poop on them and all.