Monday morning, we woke to discover a second tooth had made an appearance in Molly's mouth! She now proudly sports both of her lower central incisors, more commonly referred to as her bottom middle teeth! Although one is more visible, you can certainly feel both of them and they are surprisingly sharp! No wonder they hurt so much coming through.
The arrival of Molly's second tooth could have been predicted by her poor moaning in the middle of the night. It was clear she was in pain and needed a bit more comfort than usual to settle back down to sleep! The Hyland's Teething Tablets have been a big help, but this night called for a little baby Tylenol to help her through the pain!
Tonight, Abigail has been fussing several times with very similar moaning, "I'm in pain Mommy!" sounds. If I had to predict what was going on, I'd guess we can expect Abigail to be sporting a chiclet in the near future!!
Monday, 19 August 2013
Friday, 16 August 2013
Lesson Learned
It took me awhile to finally settle on the title for this blog post as there were many other "telling" titles that fell runner up such as "I Should Try Following My Own Advice (see last blog post)" and "Why The Turkettes Have Attended Mommy's Baseball Game for the First and Last Time". Lesson Learned seemed a good title to sum up my ironic decision to break the girls routine and take them to my double header baseball game last night...days after I blogged about how sacred routines were in my household!
The abbreviated version of my tale of woes goes something like this: Husband is required to stay at work for a few hours last minute, Mommy finds out ball team is short, Mommy decides to bring girls to ball game (because naturally they'll just be able to fall asleep at the park after their bottle), God-daughter and cousins come to support Mommy's bad decision, first game goes great, teammates get to meet the girls, half way through the second game (approx 1.5 hours past girls usual bedtime) fussiness begins, Mommy leaves ball game early to drive crying twins home (yup, they cried the entire way home) girls sleep immediately once in crib, Mommy regrets poor decision making.
As clearly stated in my previous post, I know my girls need and thrive on their routine. Why I decided to test this well known theory is beyond me!! Lesson learned, routine wins, no more baseball for the Turkettes this season!
The abbreviated version of my tale of woes goes something like this: Husband is required to stay at work for a few hours last minute, Mommy finds out ball team is short, Mommy decides to bring girls to ball game (because naturally they'll just be able to fall asleep at the park after their bottle), God-daughter and cousins come to support Mommy's bad decision, first game goes great, teammates get to meet the girls, half way through the second game (approx 1.5 hours past girls usual bedtime) fussiness begins, Mommy leaves ball game early to drive crying twins home (yup, they cried the entire way home) girls sleep immediately once in crib, Mommy regrets poor decision making.
As clearly stated in my previous post, I know my girls need and thrive on their routine. Why I decided to test this well known theory is beyond me!! Lesson learned, routine wins, no more baseball for the Turkettes this season!
Tuesday, 13 August 2013
Why Routines Are Sacred
For over the past decade my teaching philosophy has been rooted in routines and relationships. These two fundamental aspects of my classroom allow my students to feel confident and comfortable in their learning environment. My students know what they can expect from me and our student-teacher relationship and they know what to expect from my consistent classroom routines. Once the relationships and routines are in place, aside for the minor learning bumps in the road, the rest of year is smooth sailing. While my teaching philosophy often results in me wearing the labels of Type A, hard core, or OCD to name a few, the truth of the matter is, discipline problems are virtually nonexistent in my room. So I'll wear these labels as badges of honour as long as learning takes place in my classroom. Once the Turkettes made their appearance and the "shock" of parenting had subsided a little, I began integrating my teaching philosophy with my parenting philosophy.
Building a relationship with the girls was the easy part. All the love, attention and care they need are joys of parenting. With that being said, we went through quite a period of time when I had NO IDEA what the girls needed. They would cry or fuss and we would helplessly look at one another and attempt to troubleshoot what problem could be. But, very early on we started implementing a routine. Same bedtime everyday, same nap time everyday, same bedtime routine everyday. With the creative, skillful help of my friend Adam Dunn, I tracked the girls sleeping and eating habits on an intense colour-coded excel sheet for all hours of the day. My Type A/OCD was considered to be in overdrive to some. Then a funny thing happened, suddenly patterns started emerging at an alarming rate!! The girls consistently needed a nap around 9am and 1:30pm. They started eating consistently around 7:30am, 11am, 3pm and 6:30pm. They were in bed around 7pm almost on a daily basis. WE HAD A ROUTINE!! The best thing about our routine finally being established was being able to understand what our girls were trying to communicate to us. The fussing or crying was no longer a mystery, instead it was often an indication we were close to bedtime or feeding time. Since we could now understand what the girls were trying to say, the fussing and crying drastically reduced because the girls needs were being met.
Parenting is a funny thing. If it's your first baby (or babies!!) you basically have no idea what you're doing. Sure, pre-baby you have grand ideas of what you THINK you'll be doing, but that was a rude awakening for us as we adjusted to what we were ACTUALLY doing once the girls arrived. With modifications, I was able to adjust my beliefs into a new distorted reality and I now feel fairly confident we know what we're doing. While part of my naive grand plans pre-baby included the concept that the girls would be very portable and would adjust to our social sport-filled lifestyle, the reality is a compromise was met. The girls do get carted around, and passed around for that matter, from friend to friend at all of our social gatherings, but the routine is SACRED. Appointments and plans are made with the girls schedule in mind. Doctors appointments happen after nap time, social gatherings happen after bedtime, car rides are planned during nap times. While this often creates scheduling difficulties for us, or causes us to miss out on a few events, after a few months of trying both a routine and no routine, the routine wins. We have to make some sacrifices here and there because of our girls routine but which parent doesn't? Every day just after 9am I know I can grab a shower, work on my blog, make a few phone calls, and clean up around the house. Every day by 7:30pm I know my little girls will be fast asleep not to be heard from (minus the odd teething incident) until some time after 6:30am in the morning. Am I a slave to my kids routines and schedules? I proudly answer YES, because let's face it, sleeping through the night is just AWESOME!
Building a relationship with the girls was the easy part. All the love, attention and care they need are joys of parenting. With that being said, we went through quite a period of time when I had NO IDEA what the girls needed. They would cry or fuss and we would helplessly look at one another and attempt to troubleshoot what problem could be. But, very early on we started implementing a routine. Same bedtime everyday, same nap time everyday, same bedtime routine everyday. With the creative, skillful help of my friend Adam Dunn, I tracked the girls sleeping and eating habits on an intense colour-coded excel sheet for all hours of the day. My Type A/OCD was considered to be in overdrive to some. Then a funny thing happened, suddenly patterns started emerging at an alarming rate!! The girls consistently needed a nap around 9am and 1:30pm. They started eating consistently around 7:30am, 11am, 3pm and 6:30pm. They were in bed around 7pm almost on a daily basis. WE HAD A ROUTINE!! The best thing about our routine finally being established was being able to understand what our girls were trying to communicate to us. The fussing or crying was no longer a mystery, instead it was often an indication we were close to bedtime or feeding time. Since we could now understand what the girls were trying to say, the fussing and crying drastically reduced because the girls needs were being met.
Parenting is a funny thing. If it's your first baby (or babies!!) you basically have no idea what you're doing. Sure, pre-baby you have grand ideas of what you THINK you'll be doing, but that was a rude awakening for us as we adjusted to what we were ACTUALLY doing once the girls arrived. With modifications, I was able to adjust my beliefs into a new distorted reality and I now feel fairly confident we know what we're doing. While part of my naive grand plans pre-baby included the concept that the girls would be very portable and would adjust to our social sport-filled lifestyle, the reality is a compromise was met. The girls do get carted around, and passed around for that matter, from friend to friend at all of our social gatherings, but the routine is SACRED. Appointments and plans are made with the girls schedule in mind. Doctors appointments happen after nap time, social gatherings happen after bedtime, car rides are planned during nap times. While this often creates scheduling difficulties for us, or causes us to miss out on a few events, after a few months of trying both a routine and no routine, the routine wins. We have to make some sacrifices here and there because of our girls routine but which parent doesn't? Every day just after 9am I know I can grab a shower, work on my blog, make a few phone calls, and clean up around the house. Every day by 7:30pm I know my little girls will be fast asleep not to be heard from (minus the odd teething incident) until some time after 6:30am in the morning. Am I a slave to my kids routines and schedules? I proudly answer YES, because let's face it, sleeping through the night is just AWESOME!
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
And We Have Our First Tooth!!
Waking suddenly from a dead sleep to a scream crying baby has to be one of the most unpleasant shocks to your system. Your head bolts up, you realize what is happening, attempt to navigate yourself around your bedroom in the dark resisting the urge to "accidentally" hit your sleeping husband's leg on the way by, fly into the room, determine which baby is crying (LOL) then begin the soothing process checklist:
1. Is she hurt?
2. Legs between the cribs?
3. Soother missing?
4. Dirty diaper?
5. Teething?
My discoveries:
1. Molly's in pain.
2. In the middle of the crib.
3. Soother is missing.
4. Diaper is dirty!
5. and a front bottom tooth has made an appearance!
A little check of Molly's mouth and suddenly I felt the rough texture of the top of a tooth!! After many middle of the night awakenings to hear a baby crying in pain, the feeling of a tooth snapped me out of my sleepy autopilot fog! Suddenly I was wide awake and super excited because my baby girl had her first tooth!!
1. Is she hurt?
2. Legs between the cribs?
3. Soother missing?
4. Dirty diaper?
5. Teething?
My discoveries:
1. Molly's in pain.
2. In the middle of the crib.
3. Soother is missing.
4. Diaper is dirty!
5. and a front bottom tooth has made an appearance!
A little check of Molly's mouth and suddenly I felt the rough texture of the top of a tooth!! After many middle of the night awakenings to hear a baby crying in pain, the feeling of a tooth snapped me out of my sleepy autopilot fog! Suddenly I was wide awake and super excited because my baby girl had her first tooth!!
Monday, 5 August 2013
Hold Onto Your Hats
"Hold Onto Your Hats. Sh!ts About To Get Real!" This could quite possibly be the funniest and most accurate quote I've ever read in a parenting book. This quote was suggested as the more helpful comment parents should tell their newly pregnant friends. "The Sh!t No One Tells You: A Guide to Surviving Your Baby's First Year" by Dawn Dais was a random book purchase I made for our trip to Newfoundland, figuring there would be lots of nap times where I could use a good read. Although I originally thought this book would have been a great read before the Turkettes arrived, I realize I likely would not have laughed as much or exclaimed YES! as many times as I did by reading the book after their arrival.
This book caused me to laugh at the parenting firsts we had conquered together and relate to a group of women who survived the same experiences we were living through. I think it's a must-read for first-time moms as her advice and anecdotes provide the encouragement to survive the most empowering and frustrating time of your life. The funny thing is, all the advice in the world can't prepare you for what is going to happen when baby (or in our case babies) arrive. Did I know we would be lacking sleep? Absolutely. Did I realize that the level of sleep deprivation would beyond anything I thought possible? Nope. I felt like a walking zombie for a few months!
What I loved the best about this book was how connected I felt to the author and other moms sharing their stories. Not only could I totally relate to her comments and experiences but on a number of occasions I felt as though she was taking the words right out of my mouth. Some of the chapters that resonated with me include #4 Breastfeeding is Really F'n Hard, #11 Your Life is Officially Over, #17 You'll Never Sleep Again, #21 Teeth Are The Devil. While breastfeeding is over, our old life now redefined and we're experiencing sleep again, we are still battling the Tooth Devil at the moment and I anticipate this Devil will be around for quite some time erasing all memory the lovely Tooth Fairy.
Another aspect of the book that struck me was the support group Dawn created for herself. While she had Chipper Jen as her "go to" mom for advice, I also had a couple Moms that were only a text message away! While the support of your mom is unmatched, it's great to have friends who just recently experienced motherhood that you can text at all hours of the day to ask "What did you do?" when you're at your wits end!!
Now that I have a healthy dose of parenting experience and an ounce of parenting confidence, I have a much better sense of what my friends would appreciate receiving at their baby showers (even if they don't know it yet!) The Sh!t No One Tells You is the book I will give in place of a card to all of my first-time mom friends!
This book caused me to laugh at the parenting firsts we had conquered together and relate to a group of women who survived the same experiences we were living through. I think it's a must-read for first-time moms as her advice and anecdotes provide the encouragement to survive the most empowering and frustrating time of your life. The funny thing is, all the advice in the world can't prepare you for what is going to happen when baby (or in our case babies) arrive. Did I know we would be lacking sleep? Absolutely. Did I realize that the level of sleep deprivation would beyond anything I thought possible? Nope. I felt like a walking zombie for a few months!
What I loved the best about this book was how connected I felt to the author and other moms sharing their stories. Not only could I totally relate to her comments and experiences but on a number of occasions I felt as though she was taking the words right out of my mouth. Some of the chapters that resonated with me include #4 Breastfeeding is Really F'n Hard, #11 Your Life is Officially Over, #17 You'll Never Sleep Again, #21 Teeth Are The Devil. While breastfeeding is over, our old life now redefined and we're experiencing sleep again, we are still battling the Tooth Devil at the moment and I anticipate this Devil will be around for quite some time erasing all memory the lovely Tooth Fairy.
Another aspect of the book that struck me was the support group Dawn created for herself. While she had Chipper Jen as her "go to" mom for advice, I also had a couple Moms that were only a text message away! While the support of your mom is unmatched, it's great to have friends who just recently experienced motherhood that you can text at all hours of the day to ask "What did you do?" when you're at your wits end!!
Now that I have a healthy dose of parenting experience and an ounce of parenting confidence, I have a much better sense of what my friends would appreciate receiving at their baby showers (even if they don't know it yet!) The Sh!t No One Tells You is the book I will give in place of a card to all of my first-time mom friends!
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Flavour Town Update!
Flavour Town continues to grow for the Turkettes with the recent addition of some great flavours and new discoveries! A not so great parenting first included the discovery that Abigail does not like or is possibly allergic to avocado! Thankfully this discovery happened before our big trip, but it has resulted in avocado being temporarily removed from the menu for the time being (sorry Molly, I know it was a favourite of yours!) One night after a great meal of avocados, Abigail "surprise" projectile vomited on her exersaucer. I use the term surprised to illustrate the lack of warning for the major amount of avocado that this child expelled from her little body! Furthermore, after she finished throwing up, she continued to play as if nothing had happened! A little while later she vomited again, but this time became rather upset. A full outfit change and a lot of comforting was required. After her nighttime bottle, she went down easy enough but then woke up crying. When I picked her up to comfort her, she proceeded to vomit all over us, three times in a row! Fun times!! We weren't entirely sure why she was vomiting, she didn't feel warm but when we went to take her temperature (another parenting first) we realized we didn't know how to use our digital thermometer. Okay...it's not really that hard, but when you're covered in vomit and worried about your kid, your problem solving skills tend to falter. So here is a great tip....know where all of your baby medication is and learn how to use your thermometer ahead of time so your stress levels are reduced when your baby does get sick!
Flavour Town has expanded for the girls and so has our ability to make more of our own food for the girls. Thanks to my friend Beth, the girls are going to give the protein chicken another shot, this time through a homemade chicken soup we made the other day! The girls have added a sweet potato/turkey combo to their food list so we are getting some protein in now! The girls have also successfully tried Apricots, Peaches, Pears and Apple Sauce. The apple sauce, likely due to its texture has caused Abigail to make some of the funniest faces. She actually shudders while taking a mouthful but then keeps coming back for more!
What Foods Our in Their Future?
We still haven't gotten around to trying zucchini yet, but we did just make a batch of our butternut squash! Now that the girls are approaching the 8 month mark, we are trying to introduce some finger foods. While the girls mostly played with the Cheerios on their tray, they did manage to eat a few of them one at a time! We still have to work on including more veggies, so maybe some beans in the near future, everyone loves the musical fruit! LOL
Flavour Town has expanded for the girls and so has our ability to make more of our own food for the girls. Thanks to my friend Beth, the girls are going to give the protein chicken another shot, this time through a homemade chicken soup we made the other day! The girls have added a sweet potato/turkey combo to their food list so we are getting some protein in now! The girls have also successfully tried Apricots, Peaches, Pears and Apple Sauce. The apple sauce, likely due to its texture has caused Abigail to make some of the funniest faces. She actually shudders while taking a mouthful but then keeps coming back for more!
What Foods Our in Their Future?
We still haven't gotten around to trying zucchini yet, but we did just make a batch of our butternut squash! Now that the girls are approaching the 8 month mark, we are trying to introduce some finger foods. While the girls mostly played with the Cheerios on their tray, they did manage to eat a few of them one at a time! We still have to work on including more veggies, so maybe some beans in the near future, everyone loves the musical fruit! LOL
Burgeo: Visiting My Gramps' Hometown
The main purpose of our family trip to Newfoundland this year was to visit Burgeo, the birth place of my paternal grandfather! We still have lots of family living here and since my parents haven't been back to visit in over 30 years it was walk down memory lane. In 2011 Shawn and I came to Burgeo with our cousin Linda (now from Corner Brook) to meet up with my Great Uncle Dan (my Gramp's brother) and Aunt Betty. We returned to see them, now married and with the Turkettes! What a difference 2 years can make!
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| Outside Uncle Dan and Aunt Betty's House |
We had a wonderful time catching up with our family and as always we had great homemade food from Aunt Betty. The girls really took to them and enjoyed all of Uncle Dan's funny faces.
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| Inside Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan's House |
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| Aunt Betty, Cousins Don, Budd, Linda, Uncle Dan and our clan! |
Their Burgeo popularity hit an all-time high when our family was screeched in during the Community-wide celebrated Screech-In Ceremony. Altogether there was 20 people screeched-in! The girls got off easy by only having to kiss the cod. The rest of us had to dip our foot in a bucket of Atlantic Ocean water, sing a song (each individual sang a verse solo....my worst nightmare), eat some salted cod, attempt to eat some rock solid bread, drank a shot of screech and kissed a cod! Meanwhile, Captain Anne who was conducting the ceremony mocked as many of us as she could in front of a local crowd of 200+ people!
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| Screeched In! |
Our last big adventure in Burgeo was to visit Sandbanks Provincial Park. If you didn't put your foot in the cold water, the white sand would make you think you were in the Caribbean! We completed an 8km hike around the park to see different beaches and parts of the ocean. The girls almost made it but grew tired about half way through and had to take a nap!
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| Awesome beaches! |
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| Great Look-outs! |
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| Sleeping beauties! |
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| Burgeo Museum |
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