Mother Daughter Fight

Well, I’ve officially had my first mother daughter fight. And my daughters are only 7 months old! These last few weeks, sleep habits have gone out the window. They started getting worse little by little ever since our trip. I thought I could just wait and deal with it after our next trip next week. Well Saturday morning I had a “I have had it” moment again. Last time that happened we went on operation binky breaking. Remember how well it worked? Well, they’re older this time and a lot more opinionated. But…it had to be done. Siena was waking up about 3:30 every night until I gave her a binky or a bottle and then many times that didn’t work for very long or at all. Aria has gradually been waking up earlier and earlier. What used to be, I talk for a few minutes and go back to sleep, turned into I talk and then I cry until someone comes into my room at which point I get so excited thinking they’re going to get me up for the day, only to be very disappointed when they don’t.

So…we did Operation Cry it out. Sure enough Siena woke up at 3:30am and screamed/cried/yelled for an hour. Oh my gosh, that was a long hour. Finally she settled down and went back to sleep…for 1 ½ hours…at which time both girls woke up and screamed for 30 mins. After 30 mins of 2 babies crying hysterically, I couldn’t handle it. I thought I would lose it. I was about to get up and just feed them, when they both stopped crying!!! YAY!

That morning when I got Siena up and gave her her morning bottle, she was apparently still mad at me. I wish I had taken a picture because instead of her playing with my hand, my hair, or whatever else catches her attention while eating, she wouldn’t look at me. And I’m not making this up. She drank her entire bottle with her head turned away from me. Eyes open, staring off into the room, no smile, nothing. I was already feeling a little bad about the night but I really had no idea a 7 month old would know to hold a grudge like that. I for sure lost Mother of the year award in her eyes that night. Luckily after her morning nap, she warmed up and has been fine since.

But the good news of the weekend was they both slept through the night last night. Not a peep. Of course it could just be out of pure exhaustion but I’m hoping they just learned their lesson quickly.

First Family Vacation

This post is kind of long, sorry for the travel log.

We took our first family vacation. We decided not to make it too elaborate and just figure how and if we can travel with 2 little girls. Getting ready for the trip was exhausting. I started making a list of all the things we would need for 5 days…the list started with 70 diapers and went from there. I already felt tired after writing just that on my list. We needed 2 pack n plays, our stroller, formula, diapers, baby food, spoons, bowls, bibs, blankets, burp cloths, etc. that didn’t include the clothes we packed for them or our stuff. But we did it, we got it all packed and better yet we fit it all into my car.

So Saturday morning we got up, got ready, and just as they were ready for their first nap, we got in the car and left. We made it to Filmore where we stopped and fed them, let them stretch and play. We even let them have their first swing ride. You can’t tell by their faces in these pictures but they loved it. The girls were both such good travelers the entire trip and slept a lot or were happy to play with their links and firefly stuffed animals.

When we got to St George we were lucky they let us check in a little early because the girls were in need of another nap. After a short nap we decided to take them swimming. I was so excited to try out their new bathing suits that I had purchased for $.47 each…yep, you read that right, 2 bathing suits for under a dollar. I scored a deal that day! As you can see, the girls were pretty excited as well.  They liked the pool but it was kind of windy so unless they were mostly in the water they were cold and didn’t last a long time.

The 2 problems with St. George were that it was windy and cool both days we were there and that our hotel room had really thin walls. Even though Siena and Aria are pretty well behaved they do have their moments and in the early morning when either of them would cry out, I would fly out of bed to quiet them as to not wake our neighbors. We didn’t make any neighbors mad, but the girls were more than happy to have their binkies at their beckon call.

Monday morning we woke up and after their first nap we headed down to Las Vegas. We had gotten this groupon for a 2 story loft down there close but off the strip. It sounded pretty good. When we checked in the lady said they had 3 pools, our room was over looking pool #2 but that pool #3 was heated so we’ll want to go down there. I remember thinking the way she worded it was kind of strange and why couldn’t they heat all 3 of their pools. Either way, when we got to our room, this was our view…not only was it not heated…there was no water and there was a lovely jackhammer serenading us one afternoon. The good part about our room was it was big and 2 stories so it gave us a little more room to move around and wasn’t near anyone else for the girls to disturb.

We had a great time though, we walked through some hotels, saw the Bellagio water show (my fav.), went shopping at the outlets and met up with some family that was in town as well for dinner. The girls did so good being out and about and a little off their schedule. Never complaining once and would happily just sit in their stroller and take it all in.

I cannot even begin to tell you all the comments and people stopping us asking about the girls. We got it everywhere we went. It was pretty comical. Shane wanted to set up a video camera on the stroller so we could capture what everyone was saying, those smiling, whispering ‘look at the twins,’ etc. We do have cute girls but it got to be pretty funny how many people commented about it everywhere we went.

On the last night we were there we went to the Aria hotel and had to take some pictures of Aria there. I think they turned out so cute. Don’t worry, there is a Siena hotel in Reno, NV we’ll go to one day and do the same thing.

We had a really fun time although it wasn’t super relaxing. To sum it up, on the way home Shane said ‘Well that was…an experience.’ We learned a lot about travelling with little girls. I think they had a good time too but they were so happy to be back home. When we got home we put them in their jumper and exersaucer why we unpacked and as we would walk by, they would look up at us and then right back down to their toys. They stayed that way for almost 45 mins without a peep from them.

We can’t wait for our next trip in a couple weeks with my family. We’ll have more family to entertain them and hopefully we can relax a little as well. Or as Jennifer offered ‘Next time leave them with me and you and Shane go by yourself.’ We might just take you up on that sometime Jennifer.

7 Months

Aria and Siena turned 7 months today. 

I had to take pictures without headbands this month so you could see how much hair Siena is getting.  They are both growing a lot more hair but Aria has always had a bunch of hair.

Here are some things about the girls this month in no particular order:

• Siena is loving any toy that is in Aria's hands.  It doesn't matter if she has the exact same toy in front of her.  If it's in Aria's hands, she wants it and let's us all know.  Oh boy...this is only going to get worse.
• Aria rolled from her stomach to her back...finally!  She is close to rolling the other way as well.  So happy she hit this milestone.
• Aria has decided to talk non stop.  In fact I told Shane while she has been our quieter child, she might end up the louder of the two.  When she talks, she is so loud.  In fact Shane told me the other day that he could hardly concentrate on work with her talking so loud on her play mat.
• Siena is scooting backwards on her back.  She tilts her head up to look behind her and then pushes with her legs.  It's pretty funny to watch and when she gets going, she's pretty fast about it and very proud of herself.
• Siena is also rolling a ton and can scoot in circles when she sees something she wants.
• They continue to laugh more and more at each other and talk a little bit back and forth.
• We went on our first family trip where they enjoyed some firsts of swimming and swinging.  Post to come in a few days.
• Siena is jumping so high in her Johnny jumper. She looks like a rabbit with both feet together jumping up and down constantly.  She is loving her jumper a lot these days.
• Aria also likes the johnny jumper but instead of jumping she spins in circles.  She moves her little feet and goes around and around and around.  We have to unspin her and then she just starts right over again.
• Their sleep habits have gone down hill a touch this month.  I think they both went through a big growth spurt and although it's better now, it's not as good as it used to be.  We go on another trip the end of this month and if it's still not great when we get back, we'll have to do some sleep training.  For now it's ok, they have their good nights along with an occasional bad night and lots of early mornings.
• Siena is LOVING solid foods.  It took Aria a little longer but she has caught on and both eat really well.  We feed them rice cereal and fruit in the morning and a vegetable at night.  Siena has her mouth wide open after every bite until it's gone, and then she eats what Aria hasn't finished.  Squash is probably their favorite, Aria doesn't like peas (it's a little thicker texture so it might be the texture at this point.)  Siena started spitting/blowing her food earlier this month.  We said a lot of No's while putting the back of the spoon up to her lips.  I'm not sure if she understood or just grew out of it but she rarely does it and as soon as she starts and we say no she stops.  I hope that continues.
• We have been loving the spring weather and have been going on lots of walks in the evenings.  They love their stroller and are always happy and content in it.
• They both still love their feet and toes and still play and suck on them a lot.
• Both are sitting up really good.  Aria was a little wobbly and then just last week has gotten it down.  And now when Aria falls over you don't hear a peep and she starts playing wherever she lands, but when Siena falls over she lets us know every time. 
• I don't think I've ever written this down, but I've had people ask me how I get the girls to both look at the camera and smile at the same time.  I found a secret trick.  Their all time favorite song is 'The Wheels on the Bus'  It doesn't matter what they're doing, when I start singing that song, they smile.  So now when you see a picture of both of them smiling you can picture me in the background singing and snapping pictures.  I don't know how long that trick will last but I'll use it for as long as I can.  I keep thinking I need to broaden their song knowledge, but they just love that song so much.

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend!

Saturday we made an appearance at our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. The girls are too young to care or look for eggs but it was nice to get out and say hi to our neighborhood. The girls wore these bunny ears Grandma and Grandpa Goold gave them. I thought they looked pretty cute. Well when we walked up to the party, everyone was dying at how cute they were. In fact we had several people take pictures of them with their phone and cameras.

Sunday the Easter bunny brought them their Easter baskets, a little toy that lights up and some empty Easter eggs to play with. The girls love their light up toy but can’t make it light up on their own yet, but they will stare at it for as long as it’s lit up. However, Siena got her thumb on the button just right and had it lighting up on her own a couple times and then when she couldn’t do it anymore she threw a little fit. Kind of funny if you ask me.

I had to post both pictures of Aria cuz I thought her face was so cute in both of them, I couldn't choose which one to post.

We went to church and both girls looked so cute in their Easter dresses. We heard some really nice talks on the Atonement and I’m so grateful for the time we take to remember Jesus, his life and example, his sacrifice and resurrection.  How grateful we are for Him.

After church we went to my parents and had a really yummy ham dinner and just relaxed.  It was a great day and great weekend and we also enjoyed some really nice spring weather, which I'm loving.

PS...Aria had a little rough day. In church I went to clip Aria’s binky on the sleeve of her dress and clipped her skin with it. She screamed. (Very bad Mom moment!) I picked her up, put the binky in and she stopped immediately. That’s my little mellow girl. I felt sooo bad and now there is a red welt on her arm where I did it. I was glad I didn’t break the skin. Then that night at my parents we were about to feed her and she started throwing a fit. She got so worked up she wouldn’t eat or drink and the little she did, she ended up throwing up. We finally got her settled down and she was fine the rest of the night. Today she is happy as can be at my sisters, so she has recovered. We were late getting them in bed, Siena was fine and happy all day but she was the hard one to put to bed last night and woke up twice screaming before we had even gone to bed. Then she settled down and was fine the rest of the night.

New skills

It's Siena and Aria here.  We wanted to update everyone on some new skills we have learned recently.

Siena:  I've learned to sit up.  I'm pretty good at it but don't like it when I fall over, it scares me.

Aria: I'm learning as well and can do it for a short amount of time...that is until you decide to come crashing into my party.

Aria: We both love sucking on our toes, they taste oh so yummy.

Siena: I like sucking on my toes so much I made a special place for my big toe to go through in my pajamas.  Hmmm, I wonder why mom and dad don't put me in those pj's ever since I did that. I thought it was genius of me.

Aria:  Apparently you like other people's toes too.
Siena:  I'm so not going to be happy with this picture when I get older.

Siena:  I've caught onto the 'Planking' craze.  I think I'm pretty good at it but my mom won't put me up on anything high to really try it out.
Aria: Crazy sister

Siena:  The doctor told mom and dad that we might be responding to our names by now.
Aria:  Yeah so all of the sudden when I hear the word Siena and look up, they just stare at me and look away.  But when I look up at the word Aria, they smile and talk to me.  How am I supposed to know which name belongs to me? 
Siena: And I thought my name was cute girl.
Aria:  I thought my name was sweet girl.

Goopy eyes...be gone!

Ever since Aria and Siena were about a month old, they have each had one goopy eye.  Siena's right eye and Aria's left eye.  You can kind of see it in this picture of both of them.

Well the doctor kept saying it was a plugged tear duct and to massage it each day and eventually it will go away but could last up to a year.  So we didn't worry about it too much although it bugged a lot.  Aria's was worse and we were constantly wiping it.  It got so as soon as I would start to wipe it she would squirm and protest. 

Well we had to take Aria to the eye doctor when she was a couple months old because her eyes weren't tracking correctly.  They told us to come back when she was 6 months and to give it time and it would probably correct itself because she was so small and early when she was born.  So we just recently went back and everything is fine with her sight.  Shane took her to this appt. and mentioned that her plugged tear duct wasn't getting any better.  So they told him they could do a quick procedure to fix it.  So they did it. 

This procedure required them to strap her down, stick a catheter looking thing into a tube that had been poked into her tear duct, clean it out and then wash saline solution down it and out her nose.  Let's just say...Mom was VERY happy she didn't go to this appointment. Shane told me that she cried but not even that hard.  In fact the doctors were surprised how lightly she cried.  That's my mellow little Aria. But I still felt bad she had to go through that.  She's a tough cookie with all the poking doctors have done to her since she was born.

Since then her eye has been perfect.  I no longer have to wipe it a hundred times a day and I hadn't realized that her eye was swollen because of it and it looks so much better now.

Shane kept threatening to take Siena to get the procedure done but hers wasn't as bad so I wasn't that concerned.  Well low and behold, Siena must have realized what we were talking about because seriously within the next week hers completely cleared up too.  Maybe it was Twinspiration.  I now have 2 goopy-less little girls and both parents are so happy!

Girls Weekend Away

Last weekend I went out of town, without Shane and without Siena and Aria.  I got to go out of town with my sisters, sister in law and Mom.  My parents treated us to a girls weekend away in St. George and Las Vegas.  And when I say treated us, they spoiled us and didn't let us pay for one thing all weekend.

It started Friday morning at my parents house where my dad cooked us all omelettes and hash browns and eggs (my favorite).  Then we got in the car and drove down to St. George.  We were so happy we all fit in one car so we could all talk the whole time and talk the whole time we did.  We all had stories and things to share.  You would think for as often as we all talk and see each other that we wouldn't have so much to talk about but we always do.

When we got to St. George we shopped for a little while and I found a great deal on a new pair of jeans.  Everyone was jealous I found such a good deal and I'm very happy with my purchase.  Then we went to dinner at Brick Oven...yum!  We had our own little private room there and it was so nice cuz we could all talk and hear each other and didn't have to fight the loud restaurant.

Saturday morning we slept in.  It was so strange to wake up to silence and be able to just lay in bed snoozing off and on until 9am!  I loved it and in fact my first thought when I woke up was, I should get a hotel room so Shane can do this sometime.  He deserves it.  Jennifer got up and made us all french toast and then we slowly got ready and after lunch headed down to Vegas.  We walked around a few hotels, got a snack, saw the Bellagio fountains (still love them) and then went to dinner at PF Changs (man I ate good on this trip!)  

 

Then the main purpose for our trip away was to go to the Donny and Marie show.  Whitney's dad was nice enough to have some good connections and got us these great seats and VIP tickets to the Meet and Greet afterwards.  We were so excited.  The show was soo good.  I LOVE Donny's voice and could hear him sing anything and it would be great.  I was surprised how much I liked Marie's songs as well and it was such a good show.  We were disappointed to find out after the show that they had cancelled the meet and greet.  Marie had hurt herself during the show (she had this huge purple knot on her face from where her guitar hit her during one of her songs) and Donny had been sick earlier in the week.  So we were sad not to get to meet them but the show was still so good.  We decided to have our own meet and greet with the life size picture of Donny on the side of a wall in the hotel.  Ok we were totally embarrassing but we didn't really care.  Jennifer is obsessed with Donny!

After getting back to St. George really late, and the time change, we were exhausted the next morning.  But we slept in again and then went to breakfast and drove home.  I was soo excited to see the girls and had missed them so much.  A HUGE shout out to Shane who handled the weekend with ease and never one complaint.  I love him and knew the girls were well taken care of all weekend.

Thanks Mom and Dad, we had such a fun time!