The Ark Family Blogtag:kduluth.com,2011-01-05:/the_arks//12011-01-14T03:41:34ZAfter a very high-risk pregnancy including 3 weeks of hospital bedrest, our identical twin girls were unexpectedly born via c-section at 29 weeks, 1 day. Lily weighed 2 lbs and Juliette weighed 2 lbs 11 oz. Juliette was at the hospital for 55 days; Lily came home after 70 days. Now we have three toddlers running around and life is crazy!Movable Type 5.04Blog address changetag:kduluth.com,2011:/the_arks//1.2542011-01-14T03:38:25Z2011-01-14T03:41:34Zbeckylynn
http://www.kduluth.com/blog/ for future updates from the Ark family. ]]>
Blog updatestag:kduluth.com,2011:/the_arks//1.2532011-01-06T04:53:44Z2011-01-06T04:58:56Zbeckylynn
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Tantrumstag:kduluth.com,2011:/the_arks//1.2522011-01-04T04:15:05Z2011-01-11T04:16:21Zbeckylynn When Maia was younger (around 18-19 months) I used to think that her tantrums were bad. Now that I have Juliette I know what a bad tantrum really is! Juliette will scream at the top of her lungs, hyperventilate, throw toys, throw herself on the floor, etc. all for the most insignificant of things! For example, this weekend after breakfast I was cleaning up and Juliette came over to me whining "up up up" and I told her that she'd have to wait until I was done cleaning because really, have you ever successfully tried to sweep, load the dishwasher and wash high chair trays with a heavy kid in one arm? Juliette melted down. She ran away, screaming at full volume so Ben took over and held her and she lost it even more. She was yelling for mommy and nothing he did would calm her down. He brought her into another room, tried talking softly, tried yelling, tried to get her to breath into a bag (since she was hyperventilating). She ended up scratching his neck (he was bleeding) and by the time he finally gave up, I was done and she ran over to me, hugged me with big big tears and it took probably about 10 minutes to calm her down. I'm not really sure how to handle this situation. I usually don't give in to her requests because she needs to learn patience and that when I'm busy she needs to find something else to do! She's just so high-strung and emotional that she has nothing rational going through her head in these moments. Is it an age thing? She's almost 22 months (19 adjusted) Will it pass or will it continue through the teenage years? Lord help us all.
Lily is usually a happy girl but sometimes she'll whine/cry for an hour straight when she's tired. I refuse to put her down for a nap though because she's on one nap a day and is usually fine with that. Even her incessant whining in these times does not even come close to Juliette's total meltdowns so it's certainly something I can handle.
In other news, Ben is back to work today after the week's vacation and I'm sure going to miss my every other day of sleeping in! Oh well, getting back to a routine will be nice as long as Juliette doesn't keep pulling the 5 am wake-ups. Ben also is coming down with some sort of yucky flu thing - not great timing but he came home from work today pretty miserable. He's got chills and aches and has been sleeping since 6:30. Hopefully he can sleep most of it off.
Tomorrow I start my next cake class, Fondant and Gumpaste. I love the look of fondant and since I'm taking it with my friend Stacy again and her sister Kristine I know we'll have fun - we always do! On Sunday of next week I'm also taking a "Tall Cakes" class so it'll be a very cakey week for me. Hopefully Ben's up to taking care of the girls by himself tomorrow night.
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New Year's Eve and stresstag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2512011-01-01T03:53:46Z2011-01-01T04:11:29ZI'd like to say that the holidays this year have been a time of great happiness and joy but while that was true for some of it, it's also been very stressful and filled with sickness, crabbiness and doctor's visits.Juliette...beckylynn Juliette had pneumonia, Lily and Juliette had back to back ear infections, they're teething, Maia has been terrible to put down for naps and bed ever since her binky disappeared, Juliette vomited all over me, all three girls have some sort of viral rash all over their bodies and now Lily and Juliette are constipated. My aunt Nancy has been in and out of the hospital this month, all three girls have been ridiculously whiny and it's all about "Mama mama mama" for everything.
On the other hand, my brother and sister-in-law and their kids were in and around town for the week along with Grandma Laurine so it was great to see all of them. We had a lovely Christmas morning opening gifts and a fun "Peterson Christmas". My dad was sick so he couldn't make it but it was still great to see Annabelle and Maia get to play together again and to see how big James has grown since we last saw them. The girls and I also were able to go to my cousins Rob and Jackie's house to celebrate Christmas Eve with the extended family so we had a lot of fun with that too. Our neighborhood does a Christmas Eve luminary thing where families put out paper bags with candles so we participated in that and I loved driving through the neighborhood without headlights and see all of the pretty lights. It was very peaceful!
Grandma Laurine had to leave today. I'm sad that the kids were so sick/crabby while she was here since she doesn't get to see them very often. C'est la vie. Hopefully everyone is back to their old selves next time!
Happy New Year's everyone! May it bring health and happiness to all. ]]>
Maia is growing uptag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2502010-12-11T05:18:33Z2010-12-11T05:38:19Zbeckylynn Maia also moved to a "big girl bed" a few months ago. It is really just a toddler bed (her crib with a side bar) but it's been good for her though she's already bigger than what they say the max height is to use the bed! It won't be long before she's in a big double bed (our crib converts) and that will be bittersweet.
Potty-training is going well. During the day she only wears underwear except for naps when she insists on wearing a pull-up. For a long time she refused to go #2 in the potty but some candy bribery fixed that pretty quick. Now I just have to figure out how to not have to give her candy after going potty! ]]>
Thankfultag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2492010-11-27T03:09:38Z2010-11-27T03:22:22Zbeckylynn Today is Black Friday and for the first time in several years I hit the stores at 2:30 a.m. I put Ben in charge of night wakeups and braved the (very) cold weather to stand in line outside of Target for an hour and a half. I got what I came there for thankfully, though I almost didn't! I also hit Joann's and Bed Bath and Beyond and it was a lucrative morning.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving and because it's the start to the holiday season, I want to list some of the things that I'm most thankful for this year.
Healthy, beautiful and smart children. They amaze me every day with what they are learning. They are growing up so fast!
A caring, wonderful husband who I can't imagine life without
Our family and friends who have been there for us and love us
Having a roof over our heads and the means to stay warm and fed
Free time. Although I enjoy spending time with my kids I cherish my quiet time.
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Prevacid is magictag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2482010-11-21T04:18:35Z2010-11-21T04:30:03Zbeckylynn I also brought Lily in to the doctor the following day for extreme fussiness. She has nothing wrong with her BUT when they took her weight (just a week shy of 20 months) she was 18 lbs, 2 oz with clothes on. This is amazing to me because at her 18 month well baby visit she was 16 lbs, 12 oz so that's more than a pound in under 2 months! We've noticed lately that she is eating extremely well and she doesn't tug at her shirt anymore when she's finished with her food. It's been gradual but I'd say the Prevacid we're giving her is doing absolute wonders. At the rate she's growing she'll catch up to Juliette in no time!
My cake class is going great. It's so much fun - last week we decorated cupcakes which I immediately smooshed on my way home and this week we'll decorate our final cake. I need to come to class with the cake already iced so I'm trying to plan my week's time accordingly. I also am making a strawberry pretzel salad and a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving this year so I have to fit that in somewhere too. I start my next cake class on Monday (2 days before my final other class ends) so it will be a busy week. ]]>
Whoopstag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2462010-11-14T03:35:24Z2010-11-14T03:46:15Zbeckylynn Halloween was really fun. The girls dressed up as bumblebees and loved wearing their outfits. We had a lazy morning then went to a nearby church after their nap to "trunk or treat". The kids had a lot of fun getting candy from people's cars! They had a big bouncy house there so Maia loved jumping in that. We went out trick or treating after that - my dear mom came over to hand out candy while we all went out. Maia had the most fun and I think we'll have leftover candy for months. I'd post a photo of the girls in their costumes but for some reason I can't upload anything right now - gotta figure it out.
Otherwise, things have been good. I started my cake class 2 weeks ago and I am having so much fun with it. We learned to ice a cake (boy do I need practice with that one) and are learning different icing techniques like stars, flowers, leaves, etc. I've already signed up for another class on flowers and cake design and I'm excited. I love getting out of the house one night a week and I don't feel bad about doing it since putting the kids down for bed alone isn't nearly as hard as it used to be.
We had such nice weather the beginning of the month so we tried to take advantage of it by going outside a good bit. We went for walks and to the park with Stacy and Finn last week. The girls learned how to go down the slides all by themselves - on their bellies! So funny.
We had our Early Intervention meeting this week. We wrote up their new plans for the year and for the first time their plans are different. Juliette has about 100 words now and Lily is at around 15-20 so they really want to work on verbalization with her. They also both will be working on proper play with toys and objects. Really though, we're hunting for things since they're both doing so great.
It snowed for the first time this year today - probably got about 6 inches. The girls loved waking up to the snow and we brought them outside this evening and they had a blast. It was quite an ordeal to get them all bundled up but we managed! ]]>
We survivedtag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2452010-10-31T01:11:07Z2010-10-31T01:22:28Zbeckylynn The girls are doing great! It's amazing how well Lily is walking now. Just a month ago she started taking a few steps here and there and now she's a pro. Juliette is talking like crazy. She has tons of words now and is just a sponge for information. They're so cute too - a few times recently I've caught them trying to give each other hugs or kisses and that just melts me.
Tomorrow is Halloween! We carved some cool pumpkins last week which turned out awesome but the squirrels ate them already. We also made some fun pumpkin sugar cookies and the girls had a great time decorating them last week. We found out that our neighborhood gets a ton of kids for Trick or Treating. One neighbor told us that she has to buy 10 bags of candy each year and another neighbor said that they bus kids in. That is crazy! We barely got anyone at our old house except mostly non-dressed-up teenagers and a handful of cute kids. My mom is coming over tomorrow and I think we'll head to a local church and do their Trunk or Treating (people have candy in their cars that the kids can get) and then go to a few houses around the neighborhood. I think they'll have fun! Maia can't wait. All of the girls are going to be bumblebees this year.
I haven't run much since my 5k but I'm going to try to get back into some sort of fitness/eating better regimen. Hopefully I can get with it and start having more energy. Even though the girls are sleeping better (Juliette is sleeping through the night 90% of the time now) I still sleep badly and am tired all the time. ]]>
Single momtag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2442010-10-18T14:41:46Z2010-10-18T14:49:01Zbeckylynn Lily has really taken off with the walking! I'd say she walks more than she crawls now and I'm so thankful. To put it into perspective, Maia didn't walk until 15 months and adjusted the girls are almost 16 months so she's really not that far off track. She's doing such a great job - what a trooper.
Maia had her speech therapy appointment on Wednesday. It went well - what's funny though is that she didn't stutter at all the day before and the day of and she's barely done it since! I don't know if it has just "gone away" but I'm not knocking it. The therapist did give us some great tips on how to speak to her when the stuttering is happening so we're equipped to handle it if it recurs.
Now that Maia is three I'm hoping to enroll her in some classes so that she can get out and play with kids her own age. The trouble is that I can't do it during the day since I have the girls (if I have to participate with Maia I'd rather be able to give her one on one attention versus trying to wrangle two little walkers as well) so I'm not sure what to do. Maybe I can find some evening classes I can take her to since she stays up until 8 these days! ]]>
I did it!tag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2432010-10-13T01:58:29Z2010-10-13T02:12:05Zbeckylynn Saturday night we headed up to our friend Matt and Meghan's house and went shopping at the Albertville Outlet mall for Christmas photo outfits and on Sunday we did our photo shoot. We had a fun time and the pictures turned out great! I am really excited to do cards this year and am happy that we got it done so early when the leaves are still colorful.
Tomorrow is Maia's first speech therapy appointment. I'm thankful that Ben can get off work to watch the girls while Maia and I go and I hope that she demonstrates the stuttering for the therapist. We'll see how it goes.
Next week Ben is leaving me a single mother as he's headed out to Delaware for the work week. I hope I can maintain my wits and my sanity and keep my head from exploding! :)
Oh, I signed up for a cake decorating class! I'm really excited because it means I can get out of the house one night a week for a month so hopefully I'll love it. It starts in November. ]]>
Sleep is not overrated and neither is speech therapytag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2422010-10-06T01:49:16Z2010-10-06T01:50:25Zbeckylynn We had a fun
weekend. On Saturday we went shopping at our favorite children's
clothing store (Children's Place) and went out to dinner with our
friends the Springers. On Sunday we went to a pumpkin patch and the
kids had a blast riding in the wagon, running around and jumping in a
bouncy house. It was perfect weather too.
I'm not sure I
mentioned Maia's 3 year appointment. I took her on Friday and she was
31 lbs, 37 1/4". I am also not sure I mentioned the fact that for the
last 6 months, Maia has started stuttering. In the beginning it wasn't
much but it's progressively gotten worse so I brought it up to our
pediatrician. She said that it's normal for kids her age to stutter
because they think faster than they speak but the fact that it's been
going on for as long as it has and that it's gotten worse (more than
half the conversations we have with her) makes her feel that we should
get evaluated. So we have an appointment on the 14th to get it checked
out.
We also started giving Lily Prevacid again for reflux. She
seems uncomfortable after eating and her sleeping has been fitful so
we're hopeful that it will help. She doesn't vocally complain during
the day but she stretches funny and tries to tear her shirt off so it
does seem that something is wrong. Hopefully this will be a short term
thing but we'll see how it goes. ]]>
All donetag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2402010-09-29T03:23:08Z2010-09-29T03:43:33Zbeckylynn Ben's mom just left after a week's visit. We had a good time and it was nice of her to come out for Maia's birthday! Maia loved her princess cake and I think it turned out really great too. It took two nights to make but it was worth it and I actually had a lot of fun doing it. Her party was a lot of fun. We had some friends and family come to celebrate and I think everyone had a good time. Maia loved all of her gifts and it's still amazing to me that she's 3 now (exactly twice the age that she was when Lily and Juliette were born)!
I'm signing up for my first 5K this week. It's the Historic Riverfront 5K Run/Walk and I'm doing it with my friends Patrick and Kari who also did the C25K program. I haven't run in a week because my leg/ankle had been bugging me but I'm starting again tomorrow so hopefully I can get back on track to be ready for this run.
The girls had their 18 month appointment today. Juliette was exactly 20 lbs and Lily was 16 lbs, 12 oz. Juliette is in the 3rd percentile for weight and obviously Lily is way less but at least she's staying on her growth curve. The doctor thinks maybe she's having some reflux problems which might be contributing to the slow weight gain and seemingly uncomfortableness after meals. We'll try the Prevacid again and hopefully it makes a difference! Juliette is 30" and Lily is 29 3/4" so they're both 10% for height. Poor babies got 4 shots each today so hopefully they recover quickly from those.
Apparently now that I have my USB cable back, my blog program is not letting me upload photos. So yet another thing to figure out! ]]>
Sad...tag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2392010-09-22T03:40:59Z2010-09-22T04:07:50Zbeckylynn Juliette has slept through the night a few times this week with other times only waking once. It's been such a change though and it's much more difficult for me to get her to fall back asleep now. Ben seems to have the magic touch with her - she'll lay right down for him but she'll scream for me if I leave while she's still awake. Lily is still waking a couple of times at night. I've been sucking their noses since they're still snotty but I also think she's teething. Bad combination!
Ben's mom arrives tomorrow to spend the week since Thursday is Maia's 3rd birthday. We're having her party on Saturday and I'm hopeful that her cake will turn out. We'll see how it goes!
I finished my 9 week running program (C25K) on Sunday so I'm pretty proud of myself that I can now run 30 minutes straight. I'll be signing up for a 5k here sometime soon with my friends Patrick and Kari (who are almost done with the same program) so I'm excited about that.
I can't find my USB cable to download my recent photos but I'm looking.
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Sick sick sick.tag:kduluth.com,2010:/the_arks//1.2382010-09-15T02:17:59Z2010-09-15T02:31:21Zbeckylynn As soon as Lily started being snotty, she stopped nursing. She hates to breathe through her nose when she's got boogers and this is a problem since she's a thumb sucker. It is much tougher to calm her down at night when she won't nurse! Water from a sippy seems to help but otherwise we have to hold her until she's really asleep (when normally we can just lay her down). She's starting to feel better now though and after two days of not nursing she started to do it again this morning. I'm really happy because I'm not ready to give it up and I think she can use all the extra growing help we can give her!
Juliette on the other hand nursed just fine through the first couple days of snottiness until all of a sudden she started refusing as of Sunday. Not just refusing but throwing a fit if I even attempt to get her to try. I don't know if it's just because of her nose or if she's telling me that she's done altogether but either way it's tough. She is terrible at going to sleep by herself. The other night I exhausted my options with her and let her cry for a little bit and she started hyperventilating. Poor baby! She's always nursed to sleep. It is bittersweet because I love nursing and the time I get to spend individually with each baby and it's sad to think that this might be the last time I'll nurse a child.
Aside from being sick, we're doing well. We actually ventured out to Como Park on Sunday and had an awesome time looking at the animals. It was such perfect weather and the kids were happy to be out of the house!
Lily and Juliette had a follow-up eye exam last week too which went great. Their vision is fine right now and won't have to get checked again until their 3 year well baby visit. It's hard for me to imagine them being three! Their 18 month well baby visit is in a couple of weeks so I'm excited about that.
I'm starting to get ready for Maia's 3rd birthday party. Invitations have been sent and I'm trying to prepare for the crazy cake I'm making but I'm really excited to try. She's really into the show "Super Why" right now so I'm looking for a fun gift along those lines!
I am working on photos...can't find my camera USB cable but I'll get it going (Heather!) shortly!
