Had both girls on my lap for a few minutes today. That is until Teeny Tiny grabbed Middie Biddie's hair and gave it a good tug. There was a bit of a delayed reaction so for a moment I thought I had loosened her grip on the hair fast enough, but then the crying started and confirmed that Teeny Tiny hurt Middie Biddie.
They're at a stage where they really want to explore each other, but doing so means jabs in the eyes, bites on the fingers, and pulls on the hair. Teeny is so excited to see her sister that her hands stretch out in an excited attempt to grab her whenever she's in sight. I want to encourage them to enjoy each other and play together, but they just don't have the coordination to control their movements enough to avoid actively hurting each other. They're still just kind whapping at things and sometimes grabbing. I'm getting scratched on my cheeks and chin because they like to grab my face. But I can't really let them do that to each other too much.
It made me sad to see Middie Biddie cry. I didn't get that hand to loosen up on her hair fast enough. Just made me feel awful. And I feel awful when I have to separate them because someone (usually Middie Biddie) is getting a bit beaten up by the explorations of the other.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Kiddo Copia
So here's my new and improved office. There are still a couple of things to do to make it kid safe, but for the moment, the girls can only scoot an inch or two at a time, usually backwards, so there's no real rush.
There are some cables in the back that need to be covered and the outlet behind the blue thing needs to be covered, but we have plans for those, just haven't gotten to implementing them yet. The blinds are being replaced by some short curtains that are currently in the nursery and I have some black out curtains to replace the short curtains. For the time being, the cords for these blinds are gathered up in a tub and hangs from the top bar so the kids can't touch them.
Going around the room starting from the left. You can't really see it in the overall picture, but the front corner of the room has a cabinet that now stores things like boppies and baby carriers in the wardrobe portion, and various toys and spare blankets in the drawers. We're going to bolt it to the wall, but it's pretty secure even free standing. Those drawers are also difficult to pull out, but it won't be a major danger if the kids manage to get in them.
This is where we've moved the exersaucers. Now the girls can play in them being able to see the TV. Hanging above them are kid safe mirrors that won't hurt them if they are ripped off the wall. The pink thing is a standard baby play gym that they've pretty much outgrown, but I'll keep it there so we can make a crawling tunnel by hanging a blanket over it.
You can see in the big picture, there's an additional exersaucer thingy but instead of sitting in the middle of it, there's a seat that goes around the outside so a kid can practice walking. One of the ladies in my Moms of Multiples group recommended this toy for twins because you can set one twin in the seat and sit on the other side with the other twin so everyone can play together. As they get bigger, the seat comes off and it's a standard toddler play table.
1) Give mama a place to sit comfortably with one while the other is playing.
2) The girls need some form of furniture to grab onto and practice pulling themselves up, and walking.
3) There's a whole lot of cables, routers, modems, etc being covered by it.
4) I can sit on the couch with a girl on my lap to play with the table thingy.
5) It makes the flimsy lamp very difficult to get to a pull over.
There's also a supply of rags for spit up and a laundry basket. The gate you see goes from my desk to behind the couch covering all the cables from my computer equipment.
Then out of sight to the far right is my desk so I can continue to work and mama can watch the TV that's in the other room even though the girls can't.
The floor has been finished, but I have the mats down anyway because they have a little bit of traction as the girls are still having trouble getting mobile. On the wood floor, they were sliding so I'm hoping the mats will make it a little easier. And, ya know, softer than wood when falling down.
And that's the new Kiddo Copia play room!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Thawing milk
Argh! I write this in hopes that I save somebody a few ounces of milk.
The seams of frozen milk bags sometimes split and you don't know that they've split until the milk has thawed and has spilled all over the place or if you thaw within a container of warm water like I do, water has mixed in with the milk left in the bag.
When thawing milk, put it inside a second ziplock bag so if the frozen milk bag has a hole in it, any leaking milk will leak into the second bag and not be contaminated by anything.
You're welcome. Damnit.
The seams of frozen milk bags sometimes split and you don't know that they've split until the milk has thawed and has spilled all over the place or if you thaw within a container of warm water like I do, water has mixed in with the milk left in the bag.
When thawing milk, put it inside a second ziplock bag so if the frozen milk bag has a hole in it, any leaking milk will leak into the second bag and not be contaminated by anything.
You're welcome. Damnit.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
No more hand holding
Well, we did it. We set up a second crib and had the girls sleep by themselves.
They still fit just fine in one crib, but TTT has decided that bedtime is party time and she's rolling and kicking all over the place. TMB still lies pretty still in her own little corner, just suckin on her wubba, but TTT has been stealing said wubba and is so active that we were afraid TMB would wake up with black eyes if they continued to share space.
TTT whined a little bit as she went to sleep last night. She wasn't up to her usual bedtime gymnastics, probably because she no long had a sister to try to roll onto or a wubba to steal. Without her sister there, she just wasn't as motivated to party.
I'm a little sad about splitting them up. The end of an era. But a lot of eras are destined to end as they grow up. I'll need to get over being sad every time an era ends.
We also packed away all the 3m size clothing because they have finally both grown out of it. Yup, only 8 1/2 months old and already in 3-6m clothing! *headdesk*
TTT's gymnastics aren't limited to bedtime of course. Changing her diaper is now quite the ordeal. She twists and turns and the process can take upwards of 10 or 15 minutes as I try to diaper a moving target. Yesterday she showed off a new trick and as I was holding a leg in the air, she rolled up onto her shoulder into a modified headstand. TMB is the opposite. She just sits there and holds her legs up for me.
We're still waiting to see if this cold that's threatening fully manifests itself. They took a 2 hour nap today, don't feel like eating very much, and TMB is still having some phlegmy inhales. So I have reason to believe they're going to get full blown sick over the next day or two, but I've predicted that before and have been wrong.
On a completely unrelated topic, I've been fighting with the insurance company to reimburse me for my breast pump rental. They told me back in April that it would be fully covered as of August 1st. Once I attempted to actually get reimbursed, they decided that I was eligible for reimbursement after January 1. Guess who keeps notes of the conversations she has when she calls insurance companies!!! I've been requesting that they listen to the recording of that phone call (yes, they can do this) and even though I may have been given the incorrect information, that's the information I was given and they are obligated to honor the promises given.
I found out why my most recent claim appeal was denied and it's the stupidest reason ever. For any of you who may ever need to file a claim appeal with United Healthcare, here's a little secret. If the first paragraph does not contain the sentence "This is an appeal" they will automatically deny the appeal regardless of the validity. So make sure that's your first sentence if you ever need to file an appeal.
Jerks don't know who they be messing with. I don't give up and walk away. If I have a legitimate claim, I will continue hounding until it's paid, or until they have spent that money in hourly wages of their representatives dealing with me as I pile follow up phone call on top of follow up phone call. It's a lot cheaper just to pay the damned claims.
They still fit just fine in one crib, but TTT has decided that bedtime is party time and she's rolling and kicking all over the place. TMB still lies pretty still in her own little corner, just suckin on her wubba, but TTT has been stealing said wubba and is so active that we were afraid TMB would wake up with black eyes if they continued to share space.
TTT whined a little bit as she went to sleep last night. She wasn't up to her usual bedtime gymnastics, probably because she no long had a sister to try to roll onto or a wubba to steal. Without her sister there, she just wasn't as motivated to party.
I'm a little sad about splitting them up. The end of an era. But a lot of eras are destined to end as they grow up. I'll need to get over being sad every time an era ends.
We also packed away all the 3m size clothing because they have finally both grown out of it. Yup, only 8 1/2 months old and already in 3-6m clothing! *headdesk*
TTT's gymnastics aren't limited to bedtime of course. Changing her diaper is now quite the ordeal. She twists and turns and the process can take upwards of 10 or 15 minutes as I try to diaper a moving target. Yesterday she showed off a new trick and as I was holding a leg in the air, she rolled up onto her shoulder into a modified headstand. TMB is the opposite. She just sits there and holds her legs up for me.
We're still waiting to see if this cold that's threatening fully manifests itself. They took a 2 hour nap today, don't feel like eating very much, and TMB is still having some phlegmy inhales. So I have reason to believe they're going to get full blown sick over the next day or two, but I've predicted that before and have been wrong.
On a completely unrelated topic, I've been fighting with the insurance company to reimburse me for my breast pump rental. They told me back in April that it would be fully covered as of August 1st. Once I attempted to actually get reimbursed, they decided that I was eligible for reimbursement after January 1. Guess who keeps notes of the conversations she has when she calls insurance companies!!! I've been requesting that they listen to the recording of that phone call (yes, they can do this) and even though I may have been given the incorrect information, that's the information I was given and they are obligated to honor the promises given.
I found out why my most recent claim appeal was denied and it's the stupidest reason ever. For any of you who may ever need to file a claim appeal with United Healthcare, here's a little secret. If the first paragraph does not contain the sentence "This is an appeal" they will automatically deny the appeal regardless of the validity. So make sure that's your first sentence if you ever need to file an appeal.
Jerks don't know who they be messing with. I don't give up and walk away. If I have a legitimate claim, I will continue hounding until it's paid, or until they have spent that money in hourly wages of their representatives dealing with me as I pile follow up phone call on top of follow up phone call. It's a lot cheaper just to pay the damned claims.
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