Leah, Emma and Claire (and Jen and John)

On the eve of the 3 year anniversary of the girls coming home from the NICU we had to take Leah in.

John took the afternoon off work yesterday and was outside working on the fence. I took the girls across the street to see their friends so John could work without helpers. When we came back we couldn’t find him and Leah and Emma were in the house yelling “JOOOOHHNN” thinking they were pretty silly. Leah was at the top of the stairs when John came in the door. I was at the bottom. She must have turned in excitment to see her Dad and fallen. In all the commotion I only heard thumps and turned around just in time to see her head smack the rug at the bottom of the stairs. It was an awful sound.

In a bad parenting moment I just scooped her up. She never lost conciousness but she screamed for a very long time. She was shaking like a leaf but appeared to be relatively ok. We assumed she was just shaken up until she refused to eat dinner and wanted to go to bed. We took her up to bed and she just lay there. We were about to call telehealth when she started puking. It was awful. She perked up for a little bit after that but then lay on the floor while I changed her bed. Telehealth said if she puked again to take her in.

So about 30 mins later she threw up again so John took her in. When the arrived she puked on John and was immediately given a bed. John sat there with her for 4.5 hours. The doctor checked her out and gave her a freezie to see if she could keep it down. She did. By this point it was midnight and she was back to her perky self so they came home. We had to wake her up in the night but she woke up this morning with an appetite and a desire to play. Apparently all her symptoms are common with blunt force trauma to the head but it was still pretty scary to see her so out of it.

It was the first time Emma had to go to sleep without her sister. She’s old enough to understand where Leah was so there wasn’t really any issue except I had to leave the light on for her. This morning Leah told her all about her trip to the hospital - it was pretty cute. Emma has to go to the hospital on Tuesday for her Echo so now she’s really excited. I’m actually happy we have the Echo because Emma started saying “Next time I am going to fall down the stairs so I can go to the hospital with Daddy”. 

Last Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day for John. It’s hard to believe this was John’s 4th Father’s Day - his first one was celebrated in the NICU and the nurses made cards with polaroids of Leah and Emma.

In 2005 I got him a Father’s Day shirt at Old Navy. It was pretty cheesy “World’s Greatest Dad” and I thought for sure he’d put it in his drawer and that would be the end of that. I never expected him to wear it almost weekly for two years! This year I decided he needed a new one and a few Fridays ago the girls and I spent 3 hours at Square One searching for any Father’s Day shirt. We found nothing. So I decided to make one. Arts and crafts are not my thing - especially those that involve fabric paint, markers and three year olds, but I knew he’s like it so we made one. Leah and Emma also made themselves shirts for the special day.

Needless to say he loved it. We took him to the lake down in Burlington and then for lunch. Anyone who knows John knows how lucky the girls are to have him as a Dad. He is fun and patient and the part I love most about him is he is able to be such a wonderful parent without spoiling them rotten. Yep, all ‘four of his girls’ are very lucky.

In other news, Leah and Emma have started sleeping in. I am for sure going to jinx this but for the past 10 days they have slept in til between 7:30 and 9am! This morning John and I were downstairs doing stuff while all three of them slept. I don’t remember the last time that happened where it wasn’t dark out! John thinks it’s because he put the fan and the radio in their room. I think it’s because one night, after a particularly long day that started at 6am,I put a quilt over their window so it’s dark.

Or maybe it’s because they feel sorry for me because Claire is turning into a horrible sleeper. She’s really brutal lately and can’t seem to get into a deep sleep except between the hours of 10pm - 6am. It could be her teeth, it could be my supply, it could be that she’s spoiled… I’m now taking supplements, eating oatmeal and drinking a ton of water. It seems to be helping a bit. I am so very tempted to give her an 8 oz bottle of formula see if it knocks her out! She won’t drink that much pumped milk - little bugger. 

So in an attempt to fill her belly we gave her rice cereal last night. She loved it. It’s funny because she was so sturdy in the chair that we didn’t even have to put it in recline mode. Hard to believe that until yesterday I could take all credit for these chubby cheeks!

Before her meal she thought the bib was the treat.

A video of me and my helpers feeding Claire. I’m hoping the novelty wears off quickly!

I’ve also started an art tag in Flickr so I can keep track of the family artwork. I have a box that I put it in but I figure I’ll take pics as well. Yesterday it was so hot I got out the colour wonder finger paints Amelia got the girls for their bday. When they were done Leah insisted on writing her own name on her page. I was pretty impressed with what she came up with! It says Leah for those of you that can’t work it out

I am such a star! I’ve been getting better at getting all three of them to nap at the same time.  Small victories that make for a much happier me.

We have been extremely busy lately. It’s so bad that I have actually forgotten to tell John some pretty key tidbits of information. I hardly ever see the guy so I guess I have an excuse. He’s been working really hard on the fence and it is very nearly done. We are only missing a gate so the girls can now go around back and I know they haven’t made a run for it…not that they would…yet. 

I haven’t been updating this at all beyond the girls updates. Those updates are tedious now but I make myself do them. We’ve had lots of visitors over the past month. My parents stayed for 2 weeks and we did all sorts of fun stuff with the girls. The highlight for them was a trip to African Lion Safari. We took the van on the Safari. The baboons were all over us. It was really quite creepy but I managed to keep that to myself. If you don’t believe me check this picture out - that’s our windshield…

On the last night my parents were here they camped up in Milton in their motorhome and we took the girls up for dinner and a daylight campfire. They thought it was a ton of fun and I think tenting is going to be a tough sell in the coming years.

After my parents left we resumed our usual routine. We are lucky to have some people on our street who are home during the day with their kids/day care charges and we meet them at the park in the mornings. The girls really enjoy the other kids and it is nice that they will go off and play while I watch Claire. I think the age gap between them and Claire is going to work out quite well. They are growing more independent by the day just as Claire starts to become mobile and require more attention.

On the Claire front - her eyes are definitely changing now. I think they will be the same hazel colour as her mom and dad. She’s also rolling across the room now - I just haven’t seen it yet. I would suspect that she was being dragged across the room by her sisters but John’s mom saw her in action. Her bottom teeth are all the way out now. The gummy smile is officially gone.  I think they are still bugging her because she’s always munching on them and she’s having a hard time getting into a deep sleep.

John’s parents left today. They were here for a week helping the Windsor Nuns get settled in Toronto. They took Leah and Emma into the convent yesterday and by all accounts they were good little girls. As of today John’s mom is officially retired and joins the rest of the grandparents in the good life.

Not much else to report. We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us filled with birthday parties and get togethers with friends. Summer is in full swing and it’s nice to be outside - especially now that we can finally use our backyard! 

This is very long. I have been writing it in spurts when I have a moment. I still can’t believe they are no longer babies or toddlers.

Hair
Emma’s hair is still quite fair and has a tight curl. My mom cut it last month to tidy it up and it is quite short with the curl. Her eyelashes are getting darker so her hair might follow. Leah’s hair is light brown but has some red in it. It has a loose curl which I find
hard to manage. I put anti frizz stuff in both their hair which amuses John. I never have clips etc in their hair but I tolerate it when our moms are around. I will probably have to take the plunge in the coming year and let their hair grow. It’s just so easy when it’s short!

Eyes
Both their eyes got a little lighter this year.

3 Year Checkup
They were at the doctor last week. They are both 27lbs which is in the 5th percentile - that’s the curve they’ve been following now since they got on it and the doctor is not concerned. Leah is just under 36 inches and Emma is just over (25th percentile). Emma is noticeably taller now.

Emma has a heart murmur that they are going to check out with an Echo on July 3rd. The doctor was not concerned but he wanted it checked.

Eating:
They are not the greatest eaters but there is usually something I can find that they will like. Leah could exist on peanut butter and toast. They are getting better at trying things and I don’t give them a hard time if they don’t like something as long as they try it. Emma is much more adventurous and likes a fair number of fruits and vegetables.
Leah will eat bananas and all the meat and bread she can get. She loves tuna.They still only get juice for a treat and they still love milk. They are both now fully aware of the vast array of junk food that is available. They love potato chips and chocolate. They are not
so crazy about sugary candy.

The toilet
We had some pretty intense moments with Leah over the past 6 months after she started holding her poop. I don’t think John or I will ever forget how awful things got. It took 5 months for her to be back to normal and I am very relieved she got over it.

In other more exciting news both girls started intense potty training at the end of March. I decided to do Emma first and leave Leah (who was still having poop issues). It took one morning, five outfits and one broken washing machine for Emma to get it. She never looked back. Much to my surprise Leah took Emma’s lead and within a week we were in full time undies.

They are both really good about going and have just recently started being very interested in public washrooms. They would visit 4 times if you let them just to check it out. We only use the handicap stalls so they haven’t figured out there is a whole row of stalls quite yet - give it time! I also have the potty in the car in case of emergencies - we’ve only had to use it once. Both of them had to go. In 35C heat. My mom and John tried to convince me to throw it in the gas station garbage bin but I thought that was gross and decided to drive home with it. Never again!

Sleep
Night time sleeping is good as long as you are ok with getting up early. They get up early and itt doesn’t seem to matter what time they go to bed at. Emma needs more sleep than Leah but lack of sleep doesn’t mess up her day. Leah needs more sleep than she gets and can be a handful if she’s tired. Leah goes to sleep last and wakes up first pretty much every day.

I had nearly given up on napping when pregnant brain finally lifted and I started separating them right from the start of the nap. Emma sleeps in the guest room every day now and Leah in her bed. They are fine with it and they read quietly until they go to sleep. Sometimes I even get Claire to sleep at the same time and I don’t even know what to do with myself it’s so exciting (guess why I have time to write this!).

Since they miss out on the old two hours of mid afternoon partying they are pretty excited when it comes to their alone time at bedtime. They usually have to get a few ‘adventures’ out of their system before they settle down and read their books. They get along much better at bedtime and when they’re tired they go to sleep rather than fighting.

We don’t really have an involved bedtime routine but there are a few key points that can’t be forgotten or you will be called back upstairs. With the arrival of Claire John found out that Little Bear is on every night at 7:30. For most of the past 6 months they have watched Little Bear before bed or had a bath. After they are in their jammies (as they call them) they brush their teeth then hide under the blankets while we pretend we can’t find them. Once they are found John gives them their super hero medicine (water), their monkey juice (sippy cup) and then they ‘kiss the animals’ which involves you flying them around their room and them kissing all the pictures in their room. After that it’s playtime until they call you up to put their blankets on.

Big Sisters
The girls became big sisters this year. They have both accepted Claire right from the start. When she was a newborn they were gentle but not very interested. As she has developed they have become much more interactive with her. Emma was always a little mommy right from the start and was very interested in helping. Leah has come around now that she can make Claire giggle and hold her hands.

In the 5 months Claire has been around we have had no issues with jealousy or resentment. They have never put up a fuss about anything Claire related and I can leave the three of them alone in a room and know they’ll look out for her not beat her up! Looking back I am really surprised at how well they adjusted without it being a big deal. Twin benefit I guess!

Language
All focus has shifted from what they say to what we say. I have had to cut so much out of my vocabulary. I’m really careful (anal) about what I want them exposed to. School is coming quickly and the innocence will soon be gone. They don’t know the words fat or stupid or anything else really derogatory. I wish it could always be like that but I know it will come and I don’t want it coming from us. I never realized how many times I called myself fat until I had daughters!

Getting Around
They can do pretty much anything they want now. Leah is still lacking in lower body strength but she can for the most part keep up with Emma. John jokes that Emma is pound for pound the strongest person he knows. She can carry milk, a bag of potatoes or 12 cans of corn with minimal effort.

They can both pedal their bikes now and spend many hours going up and down the driveway. It’s still early in the summer but they are still whiners about cold water. They pretty much have no interest in the fancy splash pad that is 3 mins from our house. They are a bit better in the sprinkler at home but it takes a ton of coaxing.

Independence
They are both pretty much independent now. I officially retired their feeding chairs for the bday party so now they sit in boosters up at the table. They still don’t get down unless someone lifts them which works out well for keeping the house a little less dirty! They can both dress themselves but Leah still likes you to help her. Now that it’s summer I can tell them to get their hat and shoes on and wait by the door and they are ready to go without me lifting a finger! 

They are both really into helping. We hear “Can I help?” about 50 times a day. So far I’ve got them making their beds, tidying up their room, doing laundry, helping unload the dishwasher and vacuuming up their crumbs with the dustbuster. They can also change a diaper with supervision.

Personalities
Leah is highly emotional. She’s usually a very happy little girl who loves to sing and talk about her day. Leah will just randomly tell you how much she loves you. I have talked about her spirit before and it’s hard to put in words but those who know her know what I’m talking about. She’s just super sweet - when she’s in a good mood. THe other side of Leah can be hard to deal with. She’s quick tempered and can whine with the best of them. In recent months we have seen less and less of bad mood Leah. Her vocabulary has expanded and just the other day she said to John “Sometimes I get frustrated and I cry. I’m a big girl now and I need to use my words not cry’. The message is getting through! We have also noticed a big improvement in her attention span (for things other than tv - Leah loves tv) and her patience. She will now sit and do a puzzle to completion whereas before she would get annoyed and give up.

Emma is more devious than Leah. She watches everything and takes it all in. She is testing us a lot more these days and sometimes she can be very defiant. You always know when Emma is being ‘bad’ because she half closes her eyes when she talks to you. Emma can also whine with the best of them but she is much more persistent. Where Leah will just start screaming Emma will repeat “please share Leah” over and over and over and over again. WHen she finally does get upset it is not something she gets over quickly. Emma is a great little helper and likes to be involved in everything we are doing. While she isn’t as openly affectionate she still has her moments when she’s very sweet. Emma is a really good little girl for the most part. She listens well and will follow most rules without being reminded. She likes to do things herself and she is very proud of her accomplishments.

Both girls love John. They are definitely Daddy girls. And to his credit it’s not because he’s soft on them. He’s just super fun and has a ton of patience with them. To my credit when we ask if I should go to work they are both adamant that I have to stay home with them…that they would miss me…and most importantly “You can’t go to work Mommy, you don’t have work shoes”.

While all the kids around them are fascinated with there being two of them, they still don’t get the twin thing. They just recently found out that Dora has twin siblings (I have a lot of apologizing to do to Dora…and Diego) but they don’t make the connection. We also don’t talk about it very much. I still call them the girls rather than the twins. I think to us they are just so different and I would prefer everyone else saw it rather than just lumping them in as the twins.

Playing/Sharing
Over the past 6 months the girls haven’t really played with any particular toys. They have been too busy making up games and playing with each other. The pretend to be random pairs of people - the favourite since their bday party is Leah as cousin Stevie and Emma as cousin Tommy. It’s really funny watching and listening to the stuff they come up with while on their adventures.

They enjoy crafts and puzzles and will sit and patiently work at both. They are up to 48 piece puzzles now. The big thing that has finally happened is that they’ve stopped hoarding. This has been a huge deal because it used to drive me insane that nothing stayed together. It also made playing things with them tough because the stuff was scattered all over the place in random bags/purses or even wrapped up in kleenex…

Somedays they play well together and other days they are at each other all day long. I am convinced that 99.9% of the crying can be blamed on there being 2 of them. The bad days are becoming less frequent (especially with the return on the nap). They are slowly learning to take turns and be nice to each other.

They are also pretty good with other kids. The neighbour runs a daycare and we see them at the park a few times a week. The girls just jump in with their ‘friends’ and play away. They are both very social and like other kids - especially the older ones.

They both love to sing and they know a ton of songs. We are currently working on Oh Canada which they started to sing while watching Sens games.

The are also getting good at their letters and can each draw a few letters as well as shapes…and also random scribbles that according to them are cats, dogs, elephants…

Leah’s favourite colour is still yellow and Emma’s is still pink. It is a bit obsessive. For their birthday we got them each a pictures frame, a plate and a bowl in their favourite colour. They thought it was the greatest gift… 

They are getting more sensitive and you can now hurt their feelings. If someone other than myself or John is stern with them they will usually cry.

I could really write about them all day but I think I’ve got the important things down. I might add some more as I think of them. I am really starting to appreciate writing down all this stuff about them every so often. They’ve changed so much in just a year. This coming year they will start preschool and grow even more independent. I can’t even imagine what they will be like when they’re 4 but I know it will seem like the blink of an eye before I’m writing about it!

Claire was 5 months on Friday.

Hair:
She still has one little patch at the back of her head down by her neck. The rest of it is fuzzy new hair. Still quite a bit of red. It’s not straight. She has very distinct eyebrows and her eyelashes are getting thick and long like her sisters.

Eyes:
Claire’s eyes are always changing. Somedays I am convinced they are going brown and then they’ll catch the light and they are very blue. I think they are going to change - I’m just not sure what the final colour will be.

Teeth:
She got her first bottom tooth early on this month and then her second bottom tooth just this past week. You can actually see them now when she smiles. She is doing really well with teething so far. She has a hard time sleeping and is a bit fussier but she’s not in any apparent discomfort beyond that.

Eating:
The teeth have me a little worried but so far breastfeeding is still going well for Claire. I’ve had some issues keeping my supply up and I’m not sure if it was the heat or maybe she hasn’t been eating as much with the teething. I really have no idea how much she eats which is interesting when it comes time to give her bottles. I still haven’t caved in and given her cereal - I enjoy the convenience of the all milk diet…and I am also anticipating lots of offers of ‘help’ once she moves to spoon feeding.

Claire had her first taste of formula this week. With the supply issues and the “Leah and Emma birthday week extravaganza”, I hadn’t done enough pumping and was all set for a night out. I had some in the freezer but I wasn’t sure if it was enough. I wanted to be around in case she reacted (I still have a bit of paranoid mother left in me) so we gave her a bottle of some stuff that promised to make her smart. She gobbled it up. Even whimpered for more when the first 4ozs was gone - she has never wanted more than 4ozs of breastmilk…

Sleep:
The teething has put her off a bit this last couple of weeks. She has been terrible at napping during the day and only has the odd cat nap. She gets pretty tired when she doesn’t nap and she just starts screaming. It can be hard to settle her when she’s like that but she usually passes out once you swaddler her and walk around. At night she settles well but wakes up frequently. When she’s on her game she usually has two good independent naps in the day and gets up twice in the night after she goes to bed around 9pm. She is spending more time in her cosleeper but still sleeps with me.

She didn’t set any sleeping records this month…if anything she’s regressing.

Schedule:
ha ha ha ha ha. Twin mom Jen would think Claire’s mom Jen was a baaaaad parent who was setting herself up for all sorts of fun.  

Things she did this month:
She is now a star at rolling onto her belly. After she figured it out she pretty much refused to stay on her back. She likes looking around while on her tummy but she eventually gets fed up. She doesn’t seem to remember she can roll belly to back so she starts to yell and then cry if you don’t come help her.

She is very curious and likes to touch and chew anything she can get her hands on. She can selectively grab things now and pass things from hand to hand. The odd time she has even picked up her soother and managed to get it in her mouth.  She has also started chewing her feet. She is actually pretty obsessed with her feet these days.

She is very aware of when people are around and watches everything we do. Most of the times she’s happy enough on her own but she has started to cry if we leave her for a second.

She can stand up on her own as long as she has help with balance. The same with sitting. She is a little more interested in her bumbo but I think I’m going to have to get the tray attachement because she is constantly reaching forward and isn’t strong enough to get back up.

Even though she’s right on track, she still seems young to us to be doing all these things. Mobility is coming quickly and it will be an adjustment for everyone once Claire doesn’t stay where we put her.

Personality:
She’s still a very happy baby. She’s extremely easy going and accomodating to whatever we want to do. She’s started to get a bit more irritable when she’s tired or hungry but it’s manageable. She still very rarely screams for more than a couple of minutes and we can always settle her. She loves getting into the action and would prefer to shop in the Bjorn rather than in her stroller. She really gets a kick out of Leah and Emma and they just have to look at her and she’s smiling and giggling away. The only thing that I can think of that she really doesn’t like is getting her nose wiped. She hates that and will even take it so far as to cry because you’ve hurt her feelings.

Our computer is not working (man can I relate to those Mac commercials) so I’m a bit slow on getting the pics from their party up. I will post their big update soon too!

They are pretty excited it’s their bday but they think they’re having another party today! We are going to take them out today and then for dinner tonight. Should be fun.