Potty talk and more

This week has been all about potty talk. We have been (I have been) gearing up for the serious potty training, or toilet learning if you prefer (*Hi out there to any ACTS friends reading!*).
We have been talking to the boys a lot about underpants and staying dry and really encouraging the using of the potty. Wednesday we jumped in with all our feet!

We have been using underpants at home, with the exception of sleep time when we still use the diapers. When we went to Gramma and Papa's this evening we brought out the pull-ups (really want to avoid car seat messes for now) and that's what we will do for when we have to be out of the house until we have the underpants thing really down.

They have actually done pretty well. Yes, there have been accidents and wet underpants - even poopy ones, but there have been major successes too. So I am so encouraged that we are on our way to one day saying we are diaper free!!

Jack and Quent in the outfits they chose: T-shirts, underpants, and slippers!!

I am SO Proud of my Jack and Quent!! Wow, what big boys they are becoming.
Their 3rd birthday is right around the corner, on June 7th and that is so hard for me to believe that they won't be 2 anymore! They are growing up so fast, just the other day I was listening to the 2 of them talk to each other while they were playing and it was an actual conversation between 2 brothers. I wish I had been able to capture it on video, it was adorable.

Quent now sings songs all the time - and I mean literally ALL the words to the songs. His favorites right now are 'Puff the Magic Dragon' and 'Day-O', but he will sing anything. And he makes up new words for songs like the song he made up about his cup, sung to the tune of 'You are my Sunshine'.

"You are my cup, my only cup. When I am thirsty, you let me have juice."

Yep, he's hilarious! He sings it for everyone, but when I get the video camera out he doesn't want to, but I am bound and determined to get that little songbird on film!


Jack, oh my Jack. He is ever the helper now. He wants to do whatever you are doing, helping you along the way. He is actually quite good at sweeping, putting laundry into the dryer and emptying the dishwasher. The latter so much that he wants to take the dirty dishes out before they can be washed!
He is so in love with my parent's dog, a black lab named Bess. Although he has (and Quent too) taken to calling her "Bessie Boo"! He lets her out, gives her treats, feeds her, and talks to her like she is going to talk back, it's really adorable. He says, "Bessie Boo loves me so much." tonight he was crawling under the table with her and loving on her, he gives her hugs and kisses all the time.
This carries over to how he is with his own stuffed dog, Cookie Dog. He will tell Cookie Dog to sit and give it treats and then Cookie Dog will "lick" him to give him kisses. So Cute!

One last thing before I stop writing is that I have to share our new favorite bedtime friend with you:

These things are so worth the cost (although they were only about $17 each) - from the first night we got them, both boys have been out like a light (haha I made a funny) very quickly, staying in their beds, and it has just about ended the "there's a scary octopus in my bedroom" by Quentin at night.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE 'EM!!

Now I am off to my bed - sans night light!

Way Back When-esday

As I was reading Goodnight Moon tonight to Jack and Quent, and they were sitting with Daddy, I was thinking about how we started reading goodnight Moon and how different it was back when...
The boys were 2 months old in this picture (Quent on the left, Jack on the right) and don't they look oh so thrilled about Goodnight Moon. Well, I guess it planted the seed because now that is one of their favorite bedtime books. I always love our special reading times.
Ahhh, sweet baby memories...

Click on over to Twinfatuation to see who else is reminiscing tonight.

Hello Big Boys...Bye Bye baby room!

Here's one last look at their room this morning before the transformation began.
Oh, my babies are growing up :(

Quent posing with the cribs

That's our baby room, rocking chairs, changing table and all!


And Now -

Quent in his BIG BOY BED!

Jack is all covered up in his BIG BOY BED!

This is all that's left of the other stuff in the room.
We tried to minimize the amount of trouble there could be,
we'll see!

Ahhhh, I think Quent could get used to this (or at least I hope!)

Jack is still in constant motion so this picture of him looks a little goofy,
but he seems to like the bed too!

Oh Momma, what are you crying for? We like these beds so much, maybe we will stay in here instead of take that bath. - Really we had to force them out of the beds to get into the tub!

The move has been made.
The recalled cribs are at the curb (minus some crucial parts that will need to be returned).
The boys napped in their new beds. Well, with some help.
After 4 visits to the room to return them to their beds, i just stayed and laid on their floor until they were out. All in all, it took longer than usual, but we're hoping that once the newness wears off we can get them to STAY in the bed to sleep.
I got big dreams, huh?

Tonight, the same happened. I stayed in the room and put Jack back in the bed over and over for about 45 minutes,then Daddy came and took a turn until they were asleep. I think even though they are technically old enough and skilled enough to handle this move, I wonder if they (and it seems mostly Jack) are mature enough for the move. Can't turn back now.
Fingers crossed that they do okay through the night.
Still dreamin' big!

Hey, if anyone has any great "this worked for me" advice about making this transition easier, any and all suggestions would be welcome :o)
*especially from you twin Mommas!

The sleep test is over!

Last night was the sleep test and whoo boy am I still exhausted! (as is Jack by the way)

We arrived for the study at 8:30 pm and got Jack all hooked up and ready to sleep, I am thinking that he was asleep some where close to 10:30 or 11:00. There was no clock in the room, so I am not really sure. He had a hard time adjusting to all that stuff on his head, face, chest, side, back, finger, and then 3 belts wrapped around his little belly. He was quiet and calm just took a little while to sleep.

The techs came in the room a few times, again not sure how many - maybe 5 total, to fix something he had pulled off or to readjust placement of something.
What he hated the most was the nasal canula they use to measure his breathing in and out. He cried a lot after they put that on and it was a long while for me to get him back to sleep after that.

On the whole I think he slept as good as he could have given the situation, and they said he did really well for a little guy and they usually have to come into the rooms way more than that.
They were able to get all the info they needed, but the tech could not really tell me any results until the test was "read". Although she was in agreement that this would be the best age to have the tonsils out, he would do well, and it really is the only way to fix these kind of problems. So, without saying he "did poorly" she gave me the impression that he did have problems.

I would have called for the official results, but the boys and I were all napping until after the office closed, so I will call for those tomorrow. I slept horribly, even if he did not wake up for the techs coming in, I did. And then I would use the bathroom and take forever to fall asleep again. ugh. Although, this gave me the opportunity to listen to him at lots of points during the night, which I normally don't get to hear because I do not sleep in the same room with him. And boy can that boy make some noise. I never heard him stop breathing, and hopefully he didn't.

We got home about 7:30 this morning and Quent was happy to see us. (I am sure Daddy was too) Tom said that Quent did fine until he had to lay down in the room alone and go to sleep. That he did not like. So, Daddy had to go in a few times to help him out, but he said he was completely out by 10:00.

Other than playing catch up on sleep and dealing with a pretty cranky Jack today, we had an okay day. I think that Jack and Quent are both excited that Jack is back sleeping in his own bed, hopefully it will be a good restful night for all. I will update when we know the results for sure and what the plan will be.

**Thanks to my twin- mommy friends for their comments of support! It means a lot!

Now, I am super excited to sleep in my own bed tonight though :)

Here's a video

So, I am trying this for the first time, let me know if you can view it.
I took this video of the boys the other night while we were getting ready for bed, as you can see they can get pretty silly when they get running around with each other. We do calm things down when we get our jammies on and read our stories, but I thought this was cute. I love the "ah ah ah ah" run that Quent does toward the end, funny!



I taped it in our digital camera, not the video camera, so the quality may not be as good as it could be. If this works out like I want it to, then I will try some from the video camera.

NO MORE BOTTLES!

This week has been a big challenge and Jack and Quent have come through beautifully!
Last weekend Tom and I had a date day out (see post from 3/9) and due to some lack of communication on our part Len and Kyle had not given the boys their before bedtime bottle, they instead just had their cups with milk. Well, they did great, had a great night and we are super grateful to Len and Kyle for getting us to get done what we have been talking about for a while - NO MORE BOTTLES! It was a happy little mistake, and so we ran with it!

(admittedly, mommy was probably not pushing the issue like she should have been because that would mean my little guys are yet again doing one more thing that makes them not my little babies anymore and I was holding onto that longer than they needed it, which by their ease of transition proves that :)

Quentin did spectacularly right from the start, took to the no bottle thing like a champ. Jack, well, Jack had a little more of a hard time giving up that bottle. After a few nights of protest and crying, I am proud to say he is doing well too. So that make one whole week without bottles! Hooray!

Now our most treasured and cuddly part of bedtime can be just reading together. The boys love to read all the time but here are their current bedtime favorites:

Thanks Lenny and Ky-Ky for that little push we needed!