Mission: Sippy Cup

Oh the trials and tribulations of finding a sippy cup from which your toddlers will actually drink. (Yes, they are just about toddlers now). They do really well with them when it's filled with juice or water during snacktime. But if I try to fill it with their milk, replacing their beloved "bah-bahs" - all hell breaks loose. Go figure! I so thought I could have them off the bottles by their first birthday. hmmpff. Looks like we'll be joining the masses in the infamous "breaking the bottle" battle.

And just so it's clear, the sippy cup industry must be booming. I have tried (and am not alone on this - most of my mommy friends have confirmed this as their experience too) ... I have tried SEVEN different types of sippies - some with hard spouts, some with soft spouts, some with straws, some that help to reduce gas, etc. - to determine if there is just one particular type that the girls will really take to. NOPE. The struggle continues....

Here are the 7 different types I've tried thus far. (And mind you, we have at least 4 of every kind - and are running out of cabinet space!)

How Much Wood Can a Woodchuck Chuck?

So every morning when I come into the girls room to get them up for the day, I'm usually greeted by two little squirts standing in their cribs, laughing and talking to each other. But the last couple weeks I've noticed Olivia GNAWING on her crib rail, as if she's trying to eat her way out! Ugh! These are beautiful, brand new cribs (thank you Mama Diane & Papa Bede)! This little woodchuck has scraped off a good portion of the wood finishing with just the few toofers she has. Time for some damage control, guess I need to look into a protective crib rail covering.

I remembered this morning to survey the damage and collect evidence:

Oh, and I had to work late last night, not getting home

until right before the girls' bed time.

And this is what goes on when Daddy's in charge for the evening:

BDay Planning, New Teeth and Pay back!

Can you believe it, our little girls are going to be 1 year old in just a couple of weeks. And what's a first birthday without family and friends joining together to watch the munchkins smash into some cake, right!? We're going with a pink and brown polka dot theme.

In other news, both girls are finally getting more teeth in - their top front two are poking through in both Caroline and Olivia. Isn't it interesting how they are getting the exact same teeth at the exact same time? So all together, only 4 teeth for each twink thus far. Caroline was NOT about to allow me to hold her still enough for a picture. And here's my attempt to snap one of Liv's chompers before she squirmed away - so it's quite blurry.

As daddy was vacuuming the house yesterday,

Olivia wanted to help me with the laundry.

These hungry little monkeys were ready for their lunch!

Mmmmm... scrambled eggs and sausage might be a new favorite.

C

O

Here's just a quick video of Caroline walking with the walker toy. They're doing this all over the house now, but I can never seem to catch it on video.

Bath time last night. We usually put them in the tub together to splash around and play, but when the girls are extra dirty and covered in food from their dinner (as was the case last night) I have to bathe them one at a time to do a good cleaning job. Daddy got some pictures and a video of Olivia getting bathed and Caroline patiently waiting her turn.

As a side note from the previous post of our scare with Olivia:

Apparently I used to do the exact same thing when I was a baby. From all the horror stories my family tells of what an absolute difficult baby/toddler I was, a similar incident was remembered from when I was a baby. My poor mom and dad. I'm definitely getting pay back X's TWO now! So it's confirmed - my daughter is a drama queen and she get's it from her mama.

And as my Uncle Cliff so wittingly put it,

Olivia's latest escapade into medical history is merely a fulfillment of the
Jewish mother's curse--"May you have a child just like you!"

First Trip to the ER

We knew a trip to the Emergency Room was bound to happen sometime with babies/almost toddlers in the house. Yesterday we had a scare with little Olivia.



I got the call from our Nanny, Maria, yesterday afternoon. I immediatly knew something was up because she has never once called me for anything since she started working for us - NEVER. She sounded extremely frantic and said that Olivia had been unconscious and unresponsive. What a horribly frightening moment for me, as her mommy, to be miles away and totally helpless. Maria said that she seemed to be alright at the moment, but to please hurry home, and I told her to call 911 if she went unconcious again. A million thoughts raced through my mind as we raced home to assess the situation. Apparently, Olivia had been upset and crying because she was getting her diaper changed (not uncommom for them, they always scream and cry whenever we lay them down to change them) - and then Maria said that all of a sudden Olivia just got quiet and went limp, her eyes rolled back into her head. Maria tried picking her up and screaming her name but Olivia just laid there limp not responding. Maria ran downstairs to our neighbors door to yell for help, and after what she thought was about a minute or two, she said that Olivia came to and opened her eyes again. She did check to make sure Olivia was breathing the whole time, and she was. When we got home, she seemed fine - was playing and even wanting to eat. I called her pediatrician and they advised me to take her to the Emergency Room.


We took her to the ER and they monitored her for a long time. I was concerned that it might have had something to do with her PFO (heart condition), but they said that wasn't related to the incident. They at first thought it was a seizure, but ruled that out since she wasn't shaking around during the episode. So after a million questions and a full exam, the doctors are attributing it to "Breath-Holding Spells". They gave me a bunch of information about it:

Breath holding spells begin at age 6 months to 2 years, and usually stop when a child is 4 or 5 years old. Your child may hold his breath when he is suddenly injured, frustrated, angry or frightened. During a breath holding spell your child:

• may make one or two cries and then hold his beath until he becomes blue
  around the lips and passes out.
• may stiffen out when he or she passes out.
• will breath normally again and become fully alert in less than 1 minute.

These spells are dramatic, uncontrolled events that happen in otherwise healthy children. The typical spell begins when a child becomes upset, is statled, or has a minor injury. Your child will usually stiffen, turn blue, relax, wake up and start breathing again.

These episodes are often frightening to parents. They can be worrisome to physicians, because the spells can mimic serious or life-threatening conditions. They may require careful evaluation. They are a common pediatric problem. Simple spells occur in about a quarter of healthy children.

After almost 3 hours at the ER, the doctors assured me that these spells are harmless and will stop on their own. But that doesn't make them any less scary for the parents! Geeze Louise!!

The girls were really good while at the hospital. They sat and played on a gurney while we waited to see a doctor. They definitely enjoyed all the attention they were getting from the nurses! (sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures)

And all the commotion certainly did not deter Olivia's appetite!

1 Year Birthday Photo Session

Yesterday we took the girls to have some nice pictures made for their First Birthday coming up. HA!!! It was pretty rough, to say the least. They did NOT want to sit/stand still, much less give a smile for the camera. Rob, myself and the poor photographer were all jumping around like deranged monkeys trying anything to get the girls to behave and look at the camera. Caroline was in a mood and only wanted to be held by mama and when I put her down she'd throw a fit and cry. Geeze Louise. We ended up getting only a few shots where they weren't screaming bloody murder, and a whole lotta outtakes. Here's a sneak peak.

One of the ONLY ones where Caroline is smiling.

Sisters!

C

Funny Faces

Olivia and all her cuteness

The tutu shots did NOT go as planned. They absolutely hated the way the tulle material felt and were irritated by it. We got about three pictures of these and then had to switch to the dresses (above).

Nope, not looking at the camera.

"MOM! Why are you making us wear these itchy things!?"

Both about 2.5 seconds away from having a meltdown.

Rob and I left two hours later with tired, grumpy babies. Wheeeww. I am hopeful that pictures will get easier as they get older. But for now - my point and shoot digital camera is gonna have to do!

Getting in to EVERYTHING!

We have so much fun on weekend mornings. No rushing around to get out of the door for work, making waffles, watching cartoons and

playing with the twinkies.

Here's Liv watching Handy Manny, she's really into it as you can see.

Ok, go ahead and call me a bad mommy for letting my babies watch TV. They love cartoons, what can I say! And if it helps them eat all their waffles, then I'm all for it.



After breakfast I was in the kitchen and realized it was just a little bit too quiet, and I knew the girls were into something. Sure enough, I look in our room and catch them red-handed going through my jewelry armoire and pulling out everything they can get their little hands on. It was too cute to immediately scold them so I got a few pictures and a video.

They are both doing pretty well with sippy cups now, and have recently discovered these straw sippies which they really love.

Caroline

Olivia

And yes, they are into anything that opens or pulls out, so it was about time to put the baby locks on the cabinets. Here's Liv devising a plan to break into it anyways.

And since we're into making anything that's not a toy into a toy, here's the girls in their new "wagon" - a box from a recent Target shipment. Nice.

And here's the girls banging their sippy cups on the high chair trays. I'm struggling with mealtime being more of a playtime these days. Ugh.




And one more of Miss Caroline giggling!

11 Months Old!

The girls are 11 months old, as of yesterday. One more month til the Big
O-N-E! Where have my little babies gone?? They are growing and learning so much.

Let's see, new tricks and accomplishments:

• wanting to feed themselves more and more
• Eating EVERYTHING - favorites right now are black beans, string cheese, cream cheese & bagels.
• standing on their own for a good 2 seconds before landing on their tooshies
• walking around with the help of their walker toys
• major separation anxiety when mama has to leave for work in the mornings! (which I secretly love)
• Olivia got her third tooth! It's her top left one, about half way out now. Caroline still just has the two bottom front ones.
• talking up a storm, well in baby-speak of course. It is so fascinating watching them deep in conversation with each other. I wonder what they talk about?

Weekend with Family

Saturday we went out to Grandma & Grandpa Krupa's house. The girls are so bored with all our toys at home, so they were quite entertained with all Grandma's toys!

C in blue, O in orange

"Hello??" My girls love phones.

Piano Playin' time!

Liv rough-housing her sister, as usual.

Grandma Diane teaching Caroline how to play.

Video:

They love Shautze.

They're kinda freaked out by grass,

not quite sure what to think of that stuff.

... so we got out a blanket.

Charlie was loving the fresh air too.

Olivia flipping the bird, or picking her nose.

Either way, we did NOT teach her that!

Then Sunday we all went to Aunt Kari & Uncle Jay's house. C&O had a blast with all their cousins "big boy/girl toys". Uncle Jay got some cute pictures of all the kiddos.

Of course once we got back home, they didn't want anything to do with their own toys. So what better way to entertain them for a few minutes than mom's mixing bowls and wooden spoons!

A video of them playing:

Shortly after that, the spoons became weapons so had to be taken away.