Fun with Sunscreen Lotion

I put Ben & Ella down for a nap around 1:15 or so. I expect playing for a little while but eventually, they fall asleep. Not so much today. I would hear giggles, then screams, so I'd go check on them. Most times, it was because they were fighting over a toy or a doll. Well, one time, it wasn't that. Around 2:30 or so, I hear screaming and so I go check (all the while, I'm trying to take a little rest myself - I'm exhausted and not feeling so well). I open the door and see that they had found some sunscreen lotion (I think from one of our diaper bags/backpacks) and had smeared it all over themselves. It doesn't look like any got in the eye or mouth, but I suppose I don't know for sure. So I had to take them out and give them a bath, change the sheets of the one bed covered in lotion. After the bath, I tried to get them to take a nap again. It just wasn't happening today so they came out of their room about 3:15 for good. And no, I didn't take a picture though I should have.

Guess what they are doing now - napping. It is now 6:08 p.m. here and Ella started to fall asleep on the floor so I took her to her bed and then Benjamin (while screaming - he wanted to go outside). I'm going to have to wake them up soon so they will go to bed at a decent hour and have dinner at a decent hour unlike last night when they didn't have dinner until 8 b/c I wasn't feeling well, then Jon took them outside while dinner was baking. The kids insisted on walking, so he took them to the park and I had to go rescue him otherwise, they would have been at the park until they wanted to fall asleep and well, I don't think Jon would have liked to carry two sleepy toddlers all the way home while carrying an infant in a Bjorn. I stayed at home b/c I wasn't feeling so great. I think I'm not feeling well b/c of my incredible exhaustion not because of a bug. Nicholas has decided to go back to waking every 3-4 hours - he had been going 5-6 hours.

I really, really wish that I could have someone come help me one day a week so I can feel like I can take a nap - I feel as if I need to get things done while Nicholas naps (and the twins if they are here) because I can't get it done while they are awake. The person that helped us last time once a week (MIL) is for some unclear reason not able to come help or something. I don't know. I wish I knew what was going on there.

Anyway, that's all. I'm off to go make dinner and have it all ready by the time the twins get up, so they can eat, then go play outside for a while and then go to bed at a decent time. Contrary to what you may think, having them go to bed later does not mean that they will wake up later.

Actually, one last thing, what does one get their childcare provider/preschool teacher for childcare appreciation day (which is apparently tomorrow and my daycare is taking the day off - I do not remember them doing this last year but they said it is in their policy and I don't know where I put that).

Ben & Ella Stories

Just wanted to write down that last night, I got running hugs from my children when I came home. :-D Jon's mom is at our house watching the kids and helping me out while Jon is busy at work.

Then later on, they decided it would be fun to chase each other around one high chair then go give each of us a hug then go back to the high chair chase. It was adorable. I love getting hugs from them.

This morning, because I had my OB appointment,I got to see them awake before I left. We went into their room and they were sitting up in their beds chatting with each other and giggling. I'm looking forward to being at home more so I can see them more. They will still go to daycare while I'm out on leave to keep up with their routine, but maybe not 5 days a week - we'll see how it goes though.

Many things...

I really need to write more...I can't remember all the things I wanted to write about.

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We stayed at home, watched football (Seahawks suck this year - UW too), and went to the park to play for a bit (it was rather crowded at the park). It was just the four of us and our two kitties. The kitties even had a turkey dinner (though they'd rather it be fish).

Ella didn't seem to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner all that much - Benjamin, at least, ate a little bit of it.

Pregnancy

The other day into work was a rather bumpy one - it felt as if the baby was going to come out due to all the pressure I was feeling. It felt as if the baby was dancing on my cervix - much like Ella did.

We went on a walk to a park about 10 or so blocks away yesterday - that brought on quite the hip pain. It may be time for the PT again.

Yesterday, at church, the pastor asked if everything was going o.k. in the pregnancy. A friend who goes to the same church said that we were mentioned b/c I had told our small group that I was going to have the fetal fibronectin test and that they had prayed that the test went well. It was nice of her to ask. It will be the next time that I go in that I'll be a bit worried about the results as that's when I got a negative on that test. Next time is also the gestational diabetes test.

Children Stories

Each time we leave the daycare, Ella insists on sitting in the time out chair. Then she gets up, pats the chair and tells Benjamin to sit there. She even tries to gently nudge him that direction, but he has no interest. I'm thinking of trying to find them a little table and chair set for Christmas as I think that they would enjoy that - Ella especially. Or maybe one of those little couches for toddlers.

Yesterday morning, we heard some giggling in their room and we just listened to them wondering what they were giggling about. It turns out they were playing hide and seek with the curtains.

Last night, Ella insisted on going to bed with one of my little books - ones that you might find at a Hallmark or something like that. So funny.

Lately, Benjamin has started to turn on his music crib toy when he wakes up - it's a good way to let us know. :-D

Both children - especially Ella - will sit down on their little potty for a little while, but they don't actually do anything. Sometimes they like to sit their with their pants on. It's a step, right? Getting them comfortable with the potty.

Other

Went to go see Twilight this past weekend - it was alright. I enjoyed it well enough - though it was rather cheesy at spots and the special effects were just bad. That being said, I may go see it again especially since the movie I wanted to see next and thought was coming out next weekend (The Time Traveler's Wife) isn't coming out until 2009 sometime.

Baby Talk

After we had the twins, people would ask us if we want to have any more and I always said that if it happened, it happened. We weren’t going to do anymore fertility treatments, so it would have to be a miracle for me to get pregnant again. Back when I said that I really didn’t think it would happen. After all, why would it? We tried for several years before turning to IVF – our last hope for a miracle. Now, not only do we have our sweeties, Benjamin and Ella, it appears another miracle is heading our way. It has slowly started to sink in that this is really happening. Tomorrow, I will be at 11 weeks.

(I do wish I would have known that this was going to happen – I wouldn’t have gotten rid of all those clothes and baby gear!!! I only have a few items that I kept for sentimental value (to remember how tiny Ben & Ella used to be). People tell me, of course, you were going to get pregnant after you gave all that stuff away! Oh, and after we bought the CR-V that won’t fit 3 carseats! I’ll be visiting some sales for clothing and baby gear, and we’ll be trading in our Civic for a minivan later this year probably.)

Anyway, as it is starting to sink in, I am just feeling such joy. I’m still freaking out about the money part of it, but I am just thinking of how wonderful it is to have Benjamin & Ella. I just love my children so much. The wait was definitely worth it. I can only imagine I will feel the same way with our new child – in fact, I already do feel that way. I love this child already. It definitely was once I saw that heartbeat. In only one more week, we’ll get to see our baby again for the NT scan.

Yesterday, when I was at the daycare to pick up Ben & Ella, they were asking me if I would mind being a reference as they have a woman who is due next year that is interested in their daycare. I told them I wouldn’t mind. Then, I became nervous because what if they gave all of their infant spots away before we told them of our pregnancy (at the time being, we are thinking of both of us continuing to work – we’ll see how that goes)? So I told them and asked if they had a spot available for our new addition, and they said yes – they’ll save a spot for us and without having to pay them to hold the spot (thank goodness). I didn’t ask them how much extra it would be – I was afraid to know.

In other news, at the daycare, they have an indoor slide in the infant room that has 3 steps to climb up before they can go down the slide. Ella successfully learned how to do it and is now loving the slide. Benjamin just likes to climb up the slide. Benjamin has learned recently about going through the tunnel at the daycare. He used to get so frustrated because he couldn’t figure out how Ella was doing it until he realized one day he just needed to lower his head. I guess he now goes through the tunnel a lot and finds it quite fun to do so.

That's about it for now.

Stairs, here we come!

When I arrived at the daycare yesterday, Ella sees me and starts crawling quickly over to me. So cute. Then Benjamin sees me and he’s standing at the foam play mat wanting to get over to me, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to get down from a standing position. At that moment, the day care provider (DCP) tells me that Benjamin did something amazing today. She went off to get the camera and she shows me pictures of Benjamin crawling/climbing up the foam play mat stairs. Benjamin started crawling on Monday – he’s already figured out how to climb up the stairs!

Here is a picture of the foam play mat thing with Ella climbing up the steps so you can see what I’m talking about (the daycare said that they would send me the pics, but I haven’t gotten anything yet).

Rolling Over and More

Benjamin rolled over again last night!!! I, of course, squealed with delight, and he smiled really big up at me. Yay Benjamin!

Tomorrow, my sweet babies will be 6 months old. I can't believe they're already 6 months old! We're going to start giving them solids at that time - that should be interesting. We're starting with rice cereal, then after a little bit, move onto other flavors - probably start with veggies first then go to fruits. I'm excited to see how they will react. We are going to try to video them eating solids for the first time so we can share with everyone.

Ella is so funny when she wakes up - I heard her talking this morning to something - maybe her bear mobile - then when I came in to get her, she gave me a huge smile. She's so cute. Benjamin was still sleeping when I left this morning, so he didn't see me go. :-(

Our DCP (day care provider) was telling me yesterday and told Jon this morning that Ella wants to eat every 2 hours or so - I think they need to give her more food - and well, I think she's ready for solids. She also cries when Jon leaves - unless she doesn't see him go and is distracted by the DCP.

Well, that's all for today.

Today's post (what a creative title)

I ended up going home early yesterday, and I'm glad I did. I really needed that rest. It felt weird, though, to go home and not go get the babies. I went home and slept for a couple hours before I went to go get Benjamin and Ella. When we got home, we just hung out for a bit. At one point, I was holding Benjamin and Ella was in the bouncy seat in front of us. Ella sneezed, and Benjamin thought that was hilarious apparently because he let out a little chuckle. So adorable!

This morning, I decided to go in a bit later to work again to rest a bit more, but today I was able to make it throughout the whole day. I actually feel a lot better than I did yesterday. I still have a stuffy nose, but I don't have the aches and pains as much as I did yesterday and the day before. Because I went in late, I was able to go with Jon to drop off the babies at daycare. Ella, once again, cried as we were leaving. That makes me so sad. I didn't want to leave them!

One thing that has changed since the babies started day care is that our bed time for them has changed. They used to go to bed between 7:30 and 8, but now, it can be anywhere between 8 and 9 (though Benjamin is still awake and it's 8:53 p.m. as I write this and he isn't showing any signs of wanting to sleep). We're still trying to figure out the new routine.

One year ago yesterday, our lives changed forever - we found out we were pregnant. What a wonderful day that was - the best election day ever!

Quick Post about Various Things

hmm...what to write about today. I don't really have much time on the weekends to blog so this is going to be a quick post.

The babies' 2nd day at the day care went well. I got there about 15 minutes earlier yesterday than on Thursday. I really appreciate that. They seemed happy to see me and I was happy to see them. I walk in to the house and I hear Ella's little squeal. I come downstairs and see her cute little face looking up at me. So cute. Benjamin was being fed at the time.

Oh, for some silly reason, I think I'm going to have time to read 3 different books in the next few weeks. I borrowed a book from a friend (Lean Mean Thirteen) and a couple from the library (one that I've read about on other blogs (Happiness Sold Separately) and the other because I've read the first 3 of this series (Shopaholic & Baby). If I manage to read these, I'll have something to write about on this blog. :-D

Well, that's it for today.

Daycare Day 1

Yesterday, Benjamin and Ella had their first day at daycare. And wouldn't you know that traffic ended up sucking again and this time I can blame it all on Bill Clinton and the Sonics. Bill Clinton was in town lecturing and signing his book and the Sonics had their home opener - are the Sonics moving to OK anytime soon like they keep threatening to do?

Anyway, I got there about 5:45-5:50 - just before the 6 p.m. cut-off when the daycare starts charging by the minute! I knocked on the door - I wasn't sure if I should knock or just walk in - it's a home daycare so I knocked and waited for the door to open. I came in and went downstairs to where the daycare is and saw my children being held by the daycare provider and a helper. I said hi to Ella and she smiled so big at me! Aawww!!! I then picked her up and said hi to Benjamin - he just looked at me.

I asked the daycare person how things went and she said that they were good babies. Ella took short little nap and Benjamin took longer naps. Benjamin didn't really cry, while Ella would all of a sudden cry, but would be calmed down when being paid attention to or held. All of this sounds normal for them. Both of them, per Jon, were very interested in their new surroundings. Apparently, there were 4 girls that were super excited that there were TWO babies! So adorable! By the time I got there, there was only one child there.

When we got home, Ella was really tired. It was an exciting day - she probably felt the need to stay awake as much as possible so she didn't miss anything. She took a nap when we got home - a good size one too and she still went to sleep a little before 8 and slept mostly through the night (Jon got up once to give her the pacifier and she went back to sleep).

While Ella slept, Benjamin and I hung out. Benjamin was super excited to tell me all about his day - he couldn't stop talking. I've never seen him talk so much. Usually, Ella is the chatterbox. It was just so cute listening to him tell me all about his day. (Benjamin slept pretty much the entire night too - though he did wake up about 11:30, but fell right back to sleep in my arms. I gave him a pacifier and he went back to sleep).

Later, Ella woke up and Jon and I were changing their diapers, Ella began to tell us all about her day. She is so cute when she gets into chatterbox mode. And if you turn away, she seems to wait until you come back.

Well, that's day 1. I'm a little less anxious about them being at the daycare, but I still wish it was me or Jon that could take care of them. Please, please, please let traffic be great tonight.

Day 1 at Day Care

My heart is just aching today. Today is Benjamin & Ella's first day at daycare. My husband dropped them off so I didn't have that heartbreak of saying goodbye to them there. I will be picking them up though. With one car, this is going to be interesting. My husband dropped them off then took the car to Northgate where my vanpool meets (I took the bus there). He then took the bus to work from there. I will go find the car (he told me where it's at),then go pick up the babies. He will take the bus home. As soon as we can pay off our Civic, we're getting another car. I'm hoping that our tax refund will take care of that, so it will be another few months.

Anyway, I hope that they do well at the day care. I miss them terribly. When I first came back to work, it was nice to have that break - some adult interaction, but I want to be back home with my babies now. And now, Jon isn't even at home with them. Someone that is essentially a stranger is watching them now. Sure we've met the daycare providers several times, but we still don't know her all that well and neither do Benjamin and Ella.

I wish it was time to go home now - I hope that we have great traffic tonight. I am so incredibly anxious to get them and bring them home.

Latest Belly Shot

24 weeks 6 days
Originally uploaded by heathercim.

Here I am at 24 weeks 6 days with Oliver looking on, as usual.

Nothing new to report today. I didn't call any more day cares today instead I ran some errands since I had my car here at work since I'm meeting some college friends for dinner over in Bellevue. After work, since I have some time before I meet them, I'm going to find some warm weather maternity clothing to wear since I have none. Today is just a warm and beautiful day in Seattle and I was burning up in my jeans and long sleeve shirt, and it is supposed to be nice this weekend in Seattle and over in Spokane. So nice to have some nice weather for a change!

I probably won't be online too much the next few days, so I'll update everyone on how the baby shower went when I get back. Have a wonderful Easter everyone!

Day Care Search & Other Tidbits (25 weeks 2 days)

Well, I’ve called 4 day cares so far (I might call some more during lunch tomorrow). Two of which the people sounded really nice – not that the other two were rude but they basically were telling me it was way too early to call for a day care and said to call a month before I needed the day care – that seems crazy to me. I don’t think they understand how stressed that would make me. The two that sounded nice they said to come on in and take a look and ask questions to see if this would be right place for us. One of the places is really, really close while the other is maybe a mile or so away. The latter one I’m going to go look at on Monday morning while the other one I will need to call on a Friday to come look at the place on the weekend (which seems weird b/c I’d like to look at the place while they have kids there, but I guess if I like it, we can come back while there are kids there).


In other news, my boss just brought in a potential replacement for me while I’m out on leave. This guy worked with us last summer as a temp when one of my coworkers was out on her maternity leave. He had been through infertility treatments before and I got the impression that he didn’t know why we needed a temp again this summer until my boss asked me to stand up and show off my belly. I wasn’t sure how to react to that. I don’t think I would have liked that situation had it happened to me. Currently, this guy and his wife are adopting a child from China and he is just anxious to get a baby – he’s hoping for two babies.

My boss had me go through what I do here and he says that he’s interested in the position so I might be seeing him again to go into more depth about what I do and specifically what still needs to be done when he’s done with his school year in May. Hopefully, they decide to hire him and he decides to come back as everyone here really likes him.

Regarding working from home...I would really love it if my company allowed us to do that. It seems the only ones that are allowed to work away from the office are those who travel a lot or who are higher up in the chain. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t try especially if my OB asks me to cut down my hours before the baby comes. I don’t think they would allow it after the baby comes, but who knows.

Regarding having someone come to our house – that would be the best situation. I looked into au pairs a while ago, but I’m just not sure where the au pair would be in our house especially when my brother comes to live with us. Our house isn’t that big. The person could stay in the room downstairs after my brother finds his own place, but the room wouldn’t be that private so I don’t think that would work out too well. I’ve only barely looked at having a nanny come to our house during the day, but it seems like it costs too much. Maybe I will be able to find something by joining the multiples groups in the area – I plan to go to the first year meeting for one of the groups this coming Monday.

Some other tidbits – I worked on my scrapbook some more last night after I got home from meeting with my friend and it is starting to come together though I don’t know if it will be fully done by the time my shower comes around this weekend. If I have time tonight after getting things ready for our trip this weekend (I’m meeting some college friends for dinner tomorrow night so I won’t have time to do it then), then I’ll work on it again. I have to say I’m kinda enjoying putting the scrapbook together.

Emotional Today (well, everyday) (25 weeks)

For those of who are still trying to conceive – this probably isn’t the post for you…

I’m sitting here at work crying. I can’t stop the tears from coming down, which sucks since I’m at work!!! I am seriously freaked out about finding a good day care for a price that we can afford and now someone is basically telling me we’re selfish for having to go to a day care. We want these children so badly. We would love to stay home with them, but that just isn’t a realistic option for us. Did we make the wrong decision to go forward with IVF and go forward with having twins or even one baby at all? Some people think we're bad people for using IVF when I could “just adopt” or live child-free and now we're bad people for having to put my infants into a day care? I hope that everyone realizes how hard this will be for me. What if I make the wrong decision and place them in a day care that will be bad for them emotionally or physically? I’ve already made several poor decisions in my life (there are only a few good ones), including going to law school and taking out loans to pay for it all, so it is all too likely I will make another poor decision.

I’m already freaked out about having everything done for these babies for when they come and freaked out about taking care of them especially when I’m at home alone, do I need something else to be freaked out about?



Well, maybe if I write about something positive, then maybe I stop being so emotional. Over the weekend, I went to a friend’s baby shower and her cutie pie son was there (he’s about 7 weeks old). Holding him in my arms was so wonderful. Another friend brought her almost 3-week-old son with her and he is such a cutie pie too. It was a really fun baby shower. I look forward to going to another friend’s shower on the 14th. I have my first shower this coming weekend that I’m looking forward to – though my body is not so much looking forward to the drive over to Spokane.

The visit with Jon’s parents on Saturday was good too. Jon and his dad put together the other crib. Now we just need the rest of the room done and we’ll be set. There is no way I’m getting the house ready by 30 weeks as people have suggested we do. I’m at 25 weeks now and most weekends this month will be busy, as will the weekdays. Luckily, even though Jon is back in class as of tonight, he’s only in class 2 nights a week. Sunday’s CPR class was good – though scary. The safety part of the class was good too in that she told us what things aren’t needed so I took some things off my registry. We also picked up some things from a professor at Jon’s work – some girl clothes and some other things (we haven’t looked through everything yet) – so that was really nice. Then after that, we went and played some Wii games at a friend’s house. My favorite was bowling and cow racing. :-)

I just felt one of the babies move… still love that feeling so much – I just hope I can be a good mom to them.

Another Day Closer...

to seeing my wigglers again! Yay! :-D

Just a couple comments on comments I've received:

Regarding day care and who will watch the twins when Jon and I go back to work. I would love it if I could find someone to come my home - that would be the ideal situation if I wasn't able to be with them. Unfortunately, I don't think an au pair would work for us since we don't have that big of a house - the au pair wouldn't really have her own private space. My brother will be in the downstairs room, but he will have to share that space with us as our washing machine and dryer are down there and with our kitties as that is where their litter boxes are. I think my brother is o.k. with this situation, but I don't know if an au pair would be. Otherwise, I would be definitely looking into that further.

I'm not sure when I have time to meet people - which is one reason I'm nervous about the day care thing because when are we going to be able to do this while getting other things prepared and my husband in classes? I plan to join the couple multiples groups in the area, so maybe they will be able to give some suggestions. A friend has offered to watch them, but who knows what will happen in between now and then. It won't be until possibly end of September or October before we will need someone to watch them. It would be great if we lived closer to my mother-in-law as she said she would watch them for free. I'm hoping that maybe she would be willing to come up to us for a little while to watch them if we need her to.

If I can't find someone to come to my home, I would like an in-home day care close by my home or near my work or my husband's work. My employer has a program through one of the community colleges nearby my work, so we may check that out to see if that might be an option.

Well, anyway, we really do need to get started on looking at places just so we can weed out the bad ones and see what the prices are out there. It's just not going to be a fun time.