November 2018 Moms

SUMMER chit chat and updates

Re: SUMMER chit chat and updates

  • is anyone still checking in? i hope everyone has/had a fantastic mothers’ day full of rest and pampering! 

    in the past week the twins have started army crawling. elise has started saying “ad-da;” unsurprising because dh has been obsessively training the girls to say dada since day 1, so i’m pleased for him.

    what is everyone up to lately? how are the kiddos?
  • Happy Mother's day!!
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  • Hi friends! It's been a long, long time since I've checked in. Is anyone still active here? We've been really busy--we bought a new house 3 weeks ago so we've been busy packing up the old house and moving in. On top of that, Sydney had 2 hospital admissions in May. She got two UTIs practically back to back. It's looking likely that she'll need another surgery in a couple of months to correct her ureter. 
    How has everyone been? 
    @highsteaks How are the twins doing? Are they sleeping well?
    @wildrainbow How is M? Is he sleeping and growing well? 
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • i still check in for updates! twins are doing good, but we had a cold virus sweep through the house a couple weeks ago that all the kids are still getting over. the twins are sleeping flat in their own cribs for a couple good chunks of time now, but it was a long transition period. i hope the worst of it is behind us for good. they also have started bickering over toys, which is so cute (for now, and i’m sure that feeling won’t last long). amazing to see different personalities  already.

    i’m sad that Sydney’s having a really rough time. i think about the two of you a bunch. if you want to vent more in-depth about medical stuff, i’m always willing to hear it. how is day to day baby stuff? she sleeping and eating solids well?

    congrats on the new house! did you move away from the area?
  • @highsteaks So good to hear from you! I can imagine it'd be so fun to watch the twins fighting over toys. They sound so adorable! I'm glad they're sleeping better. I hope it continues so you can get more sleep! I hope everyone gets over the cold soon, too. It's no joke dealing with illnesses once you have more than one kid! It just sweeps through and gets everyone in its path. Ugh!
    Thanks for thinking of us! Day to day, Sydney is doing well. But these UTIs really do a number on her! They make her vomit and kill her appetite, so she is really struggling to gain weight. She had a weight check last week, and she hadn't gained any weight in a month. We're fortifying her milk to 24 calories and will probably increase to 27 soon once we hear back from the nephrologist about it. She's not taking well to solids, but we're trying. They want us mixing oil and fat into everything she eats, so we really need to get her eating solids to bulk her up.
    After this dose of abx for her uti, she's going to start taking two different abx every day to try to prevent more UTIs. Poor baby! It's frustrating and tiring giving her so much medicin, but obviously it's worth it to keep her healthy. It's just hard! She's such a sweet girl and she's a great sleeper. She just doesn't like to eat, haha. 
    We moved to the same area, we just upgraded to a larger house. It's nice to have extra space. 

    How is your older daughter doing? What else has been going on in your life? 
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • highsteakshighsteaks member
    edited June 2019
    that all sounds like a lot on you and S. no kid wants to eat when they’re sick. i hate that you have to worry about her weight gain ontop of everything else. that’s great that she is super sweet and sleeps well though!

    oh, my oldest. what to say about her. she loves her younger sisters a ton, but she still gets really jealous whenever i’m holding or feeding them. and we’re working on passing down her old baby toys one by one, and i think that can be emotional for her. school finished yesterday. i’m looking forward to hopefully a relaxing summer, but she is signed up for a few activities here and there to get out of the house and burn off energy. 

    tomorrow we’re all going to attend the nicu’s reunion picnic. i’ve been looking forward to it, seeing the girls’ old nurses and showing off how much they’ve grown. should be sweet.

    eta— how’s your oldest doing now?

  • Hi again! Sorry it's been a while. I get so overwhelmed sometimes trying to get everything done around the house, but I've been trying to take better care of myself by going to bed a little earlier. It's so hard! No matter what I do I still end up going to bed so late. The cycle is never ending. 

    Hopefully you have a great summer with your girls. That's good she has a few activities to do. I bet that will help with some of those jealous feelings. You know, I never thought about how hard the transition must be for kids when their parents bring home twins! That's good that she loves her sisters. I'm sure all those jealous feelings are totally normal since you guys have your hands full with twins. Hopefully she'll get a bit more used to it as time goes on. It should hopefully be a little easier as the twins start getting a little bigger. 

    How was the NICU reunion picnic? I should look it up to see if ours has something like that. I would love to go and see some of the nurses and staff! 

    My oldest is doing really well. She just graduated preschool yesterday! It was adorable and she was so proud. We got pancakes for dinner beforehand and it was a ton of fun. She is the best big sister ever. She is so caring and sweet and very rarely gets jealous. She's a super sensitive kid so I think she just kind of gets that the baby needs us sometimes. That said, she used to be a lot more laid back before the baby, and now she is a lot more energetic which is exhausting! Not sure if that's her way of showing jealousy or something? Or maybe just a natural progression with age. 
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • Hi,  ladies!  I'm sorry I'm just now replying.  The bump hasn't been working for me and life has been crazy.  

    @offtoneverland I'm sorry to hear Sydney keeps having UTI's. That is awful.  Hopefully this new protocol will help her feel better and she will be more inclined to eat more. It's hard top easy when your don't feel well.  

    M is doing pretty great.  We have a recheck with the cardiologist on Wednesday,  hopefully that goes well and I can be done with it. At his last GI appt, he was firmly on the growth chart, albeit in the very low percentile. He weighs 15.5 lbs and is about 27 inches long. I'm excited that he finally growing out of 3-6 month clothes and is moving into 6 month. He just grew out of size 2 diapers, which I am happy about. Overall he is doing great and is a bright redhead now. All the dark hair fell out and he is a bright redhead like his brother. It's  still crazy to me that we have two redheads. He is sitting up on his own and army crawling with one stride of actual crawling thrown in for variety. He has learned how to fake cry from his brother, which is both funny and sad. I now have to employ the rule that you have to have real tears to cry. Neither boy appreciates it. 
  • @offtoneverland how far have you gotten unpacking? it’s tempting to get stuff done in peace at night while the kids are sleeping, for certain.

    that’s definitely been the hardest part about twins for me: mitigating the jealousy from my oldest. getting the basic must-do stuff done just keeps me so busy. i’m trying my best to make more time for dd1, but i’m so tapped out at this point.

    the picnic was crazy crowded! apparently they were expecting about 900. we stood in a long line to take a pic with the doctors, then chatted only for a hot second before the photographer moved us along :| after that we started to bow out when it looked like all the nurse volunteers were busy dealing with the crowd. we managed to catch one of the twin’s main nurses on the way out who had just finished checking everyone in, so that was great and we got to have a nice long talk with someone. 

    congrats on your oldest graduating from preschool! how sweet! did you get a bit misty-eyed? what are you all planning to do this summer?

    @wildrainbow refresh my memory about why he’s seeing the cardiologist. how did the appointment go? so glad his gi stuff is going much better. i wonder what the odds are of having a redhead, let alone two in a row. genetics is so so fascinating to me. how are they getting along in general? is ds1 paternal to him at all?

  • @highsteaks M had to get a recheck to see if his PFO closed. It did, so we don't have to go back. I have no idea what the odds are, I will have to ask my friend who is a genetics counselor to see if she knows. The boys get along really well. Ds1 is a great big brother and helps me a lot. Of course, he does have his moments where he gets annoyed with M, but it doesn't last long. 
  • @wildrainbow ah that’s right i remember now. woohoo that it closed! 
  • highsteakshighsteaks member
    edited June 2019
    pip *poof*


  • @highsteaks Gah! They are so big,  and beautiful! 
  • @wildrainbow thanks!! it just astounds me how quickly they’ve grown. 
  • @highsteaks I'm sorry you've been struggling dealing with the jealousy of your older daughter. That must be terribly difficult to feel like you have to constantly divide your time. A few nights ago, I involved my oldest in helping me with the dishes after dinner. It took FOREVER but she loved it. Maybe you could try to involve her in some chores, like folding laundry and dusting? My daughter just loves to help me clean! Haha.
    Her graduation was so fun. She loved it and felt like such a big girl. We had pancakes for dinner at IHOP beforehand and got her some flowers to celebrate. I did get misty-eyed! She was the first one at her day care program to go all the way from the infant program to graduation, since the center opened right around the time she started. It was really special!
    Sorry the picnic wasn't great since you didn't get a lot of time to chat with the doctor. That's good you at least got to see one of the nurses! I'm hoping our hospital does a reunion picnic but I haven't seen anything about it yet. 
    As for our summer plans, we're going to New Jersey for the 4th of July to see our in-laws. Then at some point I want to go to Shenandoah to go to one of the big caverns! I think dd1 would love it. Other than that, we don't have any big plans for the summer. But then in the fall, we'll be going to Disney World for our 10 year anniversary! Do you have any summer plans?
    Thank you for the picture! They're ADORABLE! 

    @wildrainbow So glad the PFO closed! hooray! That's sweet that your older son is such a great big brother. :)
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • highsteakshighsteaks member
    edited June 2019
    @offtoneverland the flowers were such a good idea! i bet she felt so special. and wow that she was the first full graduate— i bet the director/owners/teachers were all feeling misty-eyed too! how lovely.
          are you facebook friends with any of the nurses? you should mention the idea of a reunion to them!
        disney in the fall sounds like so much fun! will you be there for their halloween stuff? also, dh and i love caves! let me know how it goes. we should take the girls to one, too. we just got back from dutch wonderland this weekend, and that was pretty perfect for dd1 who is shaping up to be a rollercoaster fiend. i want to look into a camping trip for the fall, but that may be too crazy. dh and i are also celebrating 10 years this july, but there’s no way we’ll be able to do anything grand for it.
          i could do better, for certain— laundry is one of those things that needs to be tidy when nothing else is for my sanity, so i do hate to have dd1 “help” with that. but she does love helping me cook and helping me in the garden so we spend a good amount of time together there. i am having problems breaking away from her to tend to the babies— she gets really mad when i stop playing with her to feed them or put them to nap. i need help to figure out a more effective transition there. and in a whole different area, the twins just garner so so much attention from other people because of the twin thing and i think that adds to her jealousy too. i don’t know how to help her cope with that! she’s always been high needs, and i thought she’d grow out of it as she got older and especially with a sibling, but she still acts out and sometimes it can be aggressive. i’m staying calm in front of her, but she is testing every last bit of my reserves. yikes, sorry for the brain dump!

    edited for bump hiccup
  • Howdy all, I decided to try and catch up today, and wow have you all been busy! Things have been pretty crazy here as well. The girls are finding their new normal as Penny has started crawling and getting into everything. For now they've been pretty excited and good about putting away the Legos, but I suspect the novelty will wear off soon. 

    @offtoneverland how's Sydney doing? Hopefully the UTIs are reducing and she's able to catch a break and gain some weight.

    @wildrainbow how's everyone over there? Hopefully the new normal has set in and everyone's finding their groove!

    @highsteaks I hear ya about the jealousy, DH and I cycle through who reads to each of the girls for bedtime so they all get some personalized attention from us.

    I had a scare this morning with Penny trying eggs, she got giant welts all over her face so I think she's allergic. Going to talk to her doctor as soon as possible about it, but just watching her for now.

  • @hollyeva Omg! She is so big and gorgeous! I can imagine how it scary it must have been with the eggs. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse. 

    We are doing ok. M has been sick an upper respiratory infection that wont go away. Also, he is into everything! I swear he can sniff out a crumb hiding better than our dog. He is getting ready to move into 6-9 month clothes, which means he is growing so freaking big. I'm having a lot of feels that he will be 9 months tomorrow. 
  • @hollyeva yay! so happy to hear from you and see that all’s well (except for the potential allergy). she is so beautiful! how is your summer going? how is Penny eating and sleeping for you?

    we went to the public pool today and we survived. barely, but we did it! the babies were so so happy to be splashing. they’d get water all over their faces, and weren’t even phased. i’m drop dead exhausted.
  • @hollyeva Oh my goodness, she is too cute. Her hair is getting so long! So sorry to hear about the possible egg allergy. Did you get in to the doctor yet to chat about it? My older daughter has been good about keeping the legos and other small things away from Sydney, too. It's hard work though now that Sydney is crawling because she can get into everything!
    Thanks for asking about Sydney. She's doing really well. Her new antibiotics seem to be working very well for her and she hasn't had any other UTIs since the ones in May. Her belly seems to be handling them a bit better too and she doesn't have blowouts as often anymore. She used to have them at least once or twice a day. Yuck!

    @highsteaks How has your older daughter been doing? Has she improved on the jealousy front any over the past month? I'm sure it's so hard for her to see the twins get so much attention. Are you part of a multiples group or anything like that? I wonder if other parents of twins may have tips for dealing with that jealousy. Yes, we're going to Disney World for Halloween! We won't be going to any of the parties because they're pretty expensive, but it should still be a fun time.
    The hospital had a NICU reunion last week. It was only okay, unfortunately. The party itself was pretty good--they had clowns, snacks, face painting, and lots of other fun things. But there weren't very many nurses there that we recognized! I wonder if maybe I just forgot what some of them looked like. We had different ones pretty much every day because we never had an assigned nurse. I'm glad I went, but probably won't go back for future ones.
    @wildrainbow I hope M is feeling better!
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • edited July 2019
    Hello! I'm sorry it's been a while. I try so hard to keep up with everything but there's just not enough time in the day to do it all. I hope you all are doing well. Any big updates on your babies?
    Sydney is doing really well lately! She is finally in the 1st percentile for her weight, so that's reassuring. I'm still fortifying her breastmilk with extra calories, but I'm starting to cut back on pumping because I'm exhausted. She isn't catching on well to eating solid foods yet (purees or table foods) so I'm going to schedule a feeding assessment with an OT to check for any issues. I'm wondering if she may have some sensory issues because she gags a lot and throws up when she's trying to eat. Other than that though, everything has been going great. We're painting my older daughter's room purple this weekend! She's so excited. Later this week, we're finally selling our old house which is super exciting. It will be a HUGE thing off our plates finally and will relieve a lot of stress from owning two homes at the same time.
    How are you all faring during this heat wave?
    Here's a pic of Syd!
    Deleted
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • @hollyeva did you get confirmation of an egg allergy?

    @offtoneverland oldest dd1 seems to be handling everything much better, thanks for asking! we both still have our rough days, but for the most part it feels more charmed than not. i was invited to join a multiples club, but they meet at dinnertime at a restaurant like 45 minutes away, so not terribly convenient in the least with three little ones. disney for halloween sounds so awesome!! sorry to see that your nicu reunion wasn’t fun—i felt the same way about ours and about future ones.
         thanks for the update about Sydney! I did catch the pic when you posted last week, and she looks so beautiful and happy! it’s terrific that the new antibiotics are working for her. here’s to staying uti-free. emilia has her next kidney ultrasound coming up in a few days, then an appointment with her nephrologist the week after for the results. the last one looked all good, so fingers crossed this one will as well. she was denied life insurance because of her bad kidney! i’ve got to submit her updated medical records and see if the insurance company will reconsider. fun times. also, the pedi is seeing her blood pressure rising the last couple appointments, which i think is something the nephrologist wanted her to keep an eye on, so not sure what’s going on there—hope it’s nothing.
        how did OT go with Sydney’s feeding issues? congrats on selling your old house!!! that has got to be a load off.

    babies are good! first teeth came in, and man i miss sleep so so much. i think more teeth are close behind. 
  • @highsteaks So glad to hear your older DD is doing better! I'm sorry the multiples club might not work out. What a rough time to have a group meeting for parents of multiples! Do you plan to try to attend at some point, or is there another one you could join? 
    Wishing Emilia tons of luck for her next ultrasound. Sydney's next ultrasound is on the 12th, followed by an appointment with the urologist to see what they say about her ureter and whether she'll need surgery in the near future. Her OT appointment is on the 7th, but she's actually been starting to do a little better with food lately! We stopped giving her medicine via syringe and have been putting it in her bottles instead, and I think that's helping her not be so afraid of having stuff in her mouth. She really hated her medicine, so we'd have to pretty much hold her down and force it into her mouth, so I wonder if that was causing some issues. We're still going to keep the OT appointment though, just in case she needs to be seen anyways. 
    Sydney also usually has borderline high blood pressure. Hopefully Emilia's evens out soon so you don't have to worry about it. From what the nephrologist has said, it can be kind of normal for kidney kids. Hopefully Emilia doesn't need to take any medicine for it. 
    I can't believe that about her being denied life insurance. That makes me so mad. I hadn't thought of that aspect at all for Sydney and now it worries me! Please keep me updated and let me know if they reconsider. 
    How many teeth do the babies have now? Sydney is just starting to get her third. The bottom two came in a month ago but they grow sooooo slowly. Hope your babies start sleeping well for you soon.
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • @offtoneverland First that pic of Sydney 😍😍
    I hope her feeding issues get resolved. I will say, you may want to get her evaluated with early intervention. They can handle feeding issues and it's usually free. We did it with ds1 because OT appts are crazy expensive, even with insurance. Most EI places have an OT on staff, so just something to think about. Ds1 was in EI from 18mo until he aged out at 3. 

    As for us Matthew is basically a giant now. At last weigh in, he was right at 17 pounds, which is awesome! His reflux is still pretty bad. We tried to switch back to zantac, but that lasted only a week because he spent all day crying. We are back on omeprazole. We will see what his GI says in August. It's  not really any better. While, he isn't spitting up, he is still refluxing. He just swallows it back down. So we've  moved from projectile to silent. I dont know if that means a barium study or not. He is an eating champion tho. He prefers "real" food over purees and would eat all day if I let him. After having such issues with ds1, it's weird to have a good eater. He has 6 teeth, and is currently working on what is probably 2 more. He is not a good teether, however. He cries, has every symptom under the sun and is just way extra. His personality is starting to show and he got the redhead attitude as well. He is a pretty chill dude until he's  had enough, then he releases the kraken as I've  dubbed it. He's  crawling and pulling up and trying to cruise. I'm not ready for it. 
  • @wildrainbow The appointment actually was with early intervention! I just didn't know what to call it. The appointment was today and it went really well. They said developmentally, she is on track in almost all of the areas. A few areas were borderline, but they weren't concerned at all. They did agree though that she seems to have some eating problems, probably because of sensory issues due to her health problems and medicine. They're preparing an IFSP for us and they'll probably start us out with one appointment per week, and we'll go from there. She's been doing really well, so I don't think her issues are extreme, but it sure would be nice if she'd start to eat a little bit more food! 
    I can't believe how much M has grown! He is growing like a weed. You must be so relieved. It's really amazing watching your kids grow after seeing them have a rough start to life. With DD1, I was of course always so happy when she'd hit new milestones, but with Sydney I celebrate them even more knowing how much she's struggled. 
    What were your older son's eating issues? 
    I'm sorry M still has such bad reflux. I hope it goes away soon. We were able to stop Sydney's zantac a couple weeks ago, and it's nice crossing one medication off the list. Hopefully M's reflux will improve soon!
    *TW*
    Me: 31 | DH: 33
    DD1: 8/2014  <3
    TTC #2: 6/2017
    BFP 8/3/2017 | CP 8/4
    BFP 10/16/2017 | CP 10/21
    BFP 12/18/2017 | CP 12/28
    BFP 2/15/2018 | EDD: November 2nd | It's a girl!
    DD2: 10/2018  <3
  • We confirmed egg allergy as well as peanut and tree nut. We see the allergist on the 27th to put together a plan to expose Penny to nuts and eggs so she can build a tolerance. We also have an injector called Auvi-Q which is pretty cool because it comes with a trainer to help kids (and care takers) learn how to use it.

    @wildrainbow I feel ya in the not ready for the cruising stuff. We went on a family vacation where Penny got to spend time with her cousin who's 3 months older (6 weeks adjusted premature) and now she's pulled up and it's trying to cruise. Penny's also been kind of extra with the teething lately, not much sleep for us!

    @offtoneverland wonderful news about Sydney! Sounds like she's gaining traction and things are starting to really go well. 

    @highsteaks how did Emilia's kidney ultrasound go? Hopefully she's doing well and that DD1 is shaking off the jealousy a bit.

    DD2 is still dealing with some jealousy and has been straight up acting out lately. I'm worried about her transition into the next classroom and the fact that she's been showing regressive behavior lately (biting, baby talking even when she's reminded not to do it). DD1 has been really enjoying the big sister role, she's been figuring out how to communicate more effectively with her sisters, Penny just adores her and Ellie's been competing with her a lot (even if it's not a competition).
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