It has been a banner weekend for the Parish family! Elijah turned 16 months old. Yes, that happened on Monday but my insomnia has been kicking my butt and I have not gotten around tow writing his update until this weekend. I turned 16 weeks pregnant on Friday and then Saturday, we found out our babies' genders! I love knowing who is growing inside of me now and being able to call them by their names. But sorry folks, you have to wait until next weekend after we announce it at our reveal party. After the ultrasound, my dad and I did a little shopping. Was it for baby stuff? Yes, well sort of. Once my parents found out we were having twins and therefore on the market for a minivan, they decided that would be their gift to us! Needless to say we were floored, speechless and overwhelmed....and yes, we graciously accept! So Saturday, we turned in the Kia Sorrento for a brand new Honda Odyssey! As I said, it was a busy weekend!
16 Months Old
My little boy turned sixteen months old this week! My house is full if sweet little giggles and fast little steps running around on the wood floors. Elijah is a joyful, loving, gentle and affectionate toddler. Oh he is such a sweet boy. Don't get me wrong. He has his moments. He IS a toddler after all. (Though when I look at him I still see my baby.) But when he gets upset or has a little fit, he really moves past it very quickly. His verbal skills are moving slowly forward. So far his words are
Go = ga!
Bye Bye = ba! ba!
Banana = nanana
Mama - Mama
Dad = da
baby = ba
uh oh = uh oh
ball = ba
duck = du
I know there are some others he says less consistently that I am not thing of.
There are several words that he says that sound alike but it seems pretty apparent that he means different things. We are a little baffled because his comprehension is WAY above 16 months. He follows directions to the tee and he can even follow commands before you realize he knew those particular words. The other day, he found a penny and I said "let's go put that in your piggy bank" and he ran to his room and stood by his piggy bank. We are exploring different avenues of speech issues. I have set up a hearing test in a couple of weeks and am working on arranging a call with my aunt who is a speech pathologist. Odds are, he is totally normal and just a late talker but I am of the school of thought that early intervention is best if there is a matter that needs attention. I can definitely see progress in his verbal skills. He repeats a lot of what he hears, but he just seems to repeat it a little off. Most of his vowels are "a" and he doesn't seem to be able to put the ends on most words. The exceptions seem to be banana and uh oh. I just want to make sure that my sweet boy lives up to his big potential. So lots of updates on that in the upcoming weeks as we explore Elijah's learning style needs.
Elijah now has "chores". Yes, my 16 month old does chores. It is really just stuff he likes to help us do but he does it every day so I have come to think of it as his first chores. He helps his daddy feed the dogs. He dumps the food in the bowl and puts the food away. Keep in mind we have a big bloodhound as well as blue healer that eats her weight. So our food container is quite large. He loves to push it back into the pantry and close the door. He also continues to help me empty the dishwasher just about every day. As soon as he hears me open the dishwasher door, he comes running. And he really is helpful because it is not comfortable for me to keep bending over. He has started doing this on his own to be a "helper". I was surprised the other day as I stepped out of the shower and saw him standing there handing me my bathroom which I normally put on the floor right outside the shower. Since then, he has been doing that consistently. He continues to love to share, especially at Gymboree where there are lots of balls and bean bags to go around.
Elijah is definitely in his "separation anxiety" faze. Leaving him in the nursery at church during choir rehearsal is so hard! I go several minute early so I can sit with him for a bit but inevitably when it is time for me to go, there are tears. It seems that once he calms down (which according to the ladies in the nursery doesn't take long) he has a great time. He does love to be held so usually, when I come down to get him he is sitting on one of the caregivers laps. Fortunately, Chip is the one that drops him off on Sundays so I only have to see that sad little face once a week. I have to say, though, that the best part of my week are those times when I go get him from the nursery and see his face light up when he sees me. Makes my heart soar.
Some of his favorite things are Elmo, black bean burgers, homemade smoothies, ducks, dogs and music. He still loves to play outside and as the weather cools we will begin to spend more and more time outdoors. I am trying to plan a comfy little area set up for myself and the babies to relax comfortably outside while Elijah plays so he can get lots of outdoor time and the twins will be content as well. A recipe for perfect Houston winter afternoons.
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| Our boy still loves to be worn. (We were on our way to a barbeque. Chip doesn't normally walk around the neighborhood with a case of beer) |
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| Some silly time with Daddy. |
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| We are getting our money's worth out of his exersauces. He likes to climb into it on his own now. |
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| A little dinner out with Mama and Daddy |
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| Although I can't wear him for as long as I used to, I still love to wear my boy. |
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| Looking quite dapper in his tie! |
16 Weeks Pregnant
This week has been kind of nuts. My insomnia is back with a vengeance, the homeopathic remedy I was using no longer works. So my doula has recommend some others for me to try which I will be picking up this week. I have also started to feel some mild braxton hicks contractions! This freaked me out a little and I bumped up my doctor's appointment to Tuesday (over a week early) because I just wanted to be sure that everything was on the up and up. It was. Babies look great, no signs of any dilation and all three of us are the picture of health. Dr. Espana is extremely pleased with my modest weight gain. (Modest? ) Apparently 13 pounds is good for 16 weeks pregnant with twins, especially since I never really suffered from morning sickness. Still, I know that I can be eating better, fewer carbs. It has been tough being so exhausted because when I am tired, that is what I reach for.....carbs. They are easy and comforting. But I need to be more diligent. I have a goal, twin VBAC...natural birth. And that goal will be achieved only by me doing my very best throughout this pregnancy. And even though my weight is "good" now, we all know that it can creep up on you, especially in pregnancy!
Now about those contractions. With Elijah, I had major Braxton Hicks.....like I could not walk and working in a giant convention hotel like the Westin Galleria like I did at the time, that was pretty rough. But they didn't start until somewhere around 33 weeks. Granted they knocked me on my butt and these were extremely mild but still, I never expected to have Braxton Hicks this early. I read that women actually start to get them in the their first trimester but can't feel them and I have read that twin Mama's can feel them throughout most of their pregnancy sometimes. I guess I am one of those Mama's. Haha.
I am also starting to feel more and more movement. It is still very small and inconsistent motions but I remember thinking Elijah's movement felt like a sea creature in my belly and that is exactly what this has been feeling like lately, just very slight. I expect over the next couple of weeks, those movements will continue to grow along with my tummy!
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| 16 weeks - avocados from crown to rump! (Just picture little arms and legs on the avocados and that is my babies!) |
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| Happy Mama at 16 weeks! |
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| Pregnant belly....getting more obvious by the week. |
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| My favorite photo companion...and first baby bump! |
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| Now and Then. The twins and Elijah. |
We also had our gender reveal ultrasound this weekend. We use a place called Inside Story and they really give you an awesome experience. We used them for our gender ultrasound with Elijah as well as a 3D we chose to do around 32 weeks. It was really neat being back there, brought back a lot of memories from my pregnancy with Elijah. I loved having Elijah with us for this process and he was very intrigued by the images of his siblings on the big screen. He is going to be such an amazing big brother. I like doing our gender ultrasounds early because I really think it helps me bond with my babies. I get to call them by their name and really start planning things like the nursery. It also makes daydreaming about my little ones more fun! The outcome of healthy babies is what is more important of course! But it is pretty great that we get to find out who the new members of our family are so early!
Here are a few shots from the ultrasound but sorry, guys, no giveaways. ;) It has only been one day and it is hard keeping this secret!
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| Elijah being silly. |
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| Elijah was happy to be surrounded by grandparents for this special morning. |
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| Getting ready to find out a little more about our new additions. |
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| Sweet snuggles with Daddy. |
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| All set to go! |
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| Daddy getting ready to capture the big moments. |
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| Elijah looking quite shocked at the image of his little siblings. |
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| Elijah and Pop watching the new babies together. (Sorry folks, you can't tell anything from this shot) |
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| Elijah was wondering what were they doing to his Mama. |
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| Bye bye babies. |
A New Minivan
As soon as Chip and I found out we were pregnant with twins, I began to survey by car situation. I love my Kia Sorrento. Its a great car! Very comfy. It has served me well these last three years. It was the car we bought when we were trying to start a family. We bought that car for Elijah before there was an Elijah. But there is no way three car seats will fit comfortably. And because we enjoy visiting family, it would be nice to have a vehicle that could accommodate a lot of people. With no third row seating, the Kia fits five. So Chip and I began to discuss the possibility of buying a used minivian. With two new babies on the way, we didn't want to add a car payment to our list of bills. We paid off the Kia shortly after Elijah was born and I stopped working and a car payment would just not fit into our budget right now. So we began looking at gently used vans. My parents are pretty shrewd consumers and my dad knows a ton about cars. I remember him helping my grandfather with the purchase of his Chrysler Town and Country in 1996. He has just been diagnosed with lung cancer and wanted to make sure my grandmother was left with a reliable vehicle. That car is still in commission. My grandmother no longer drives but my aunt is now in possession of the Town and Country and drives it regularly. So we definitely wanted my parents input knowing nothing about vans ourselves.
What began as advice turned into an awesome gift for our quickly growing family. Chip and I were beside ourselves when we were offered a brand new mini van by my parents! We have said thank you several times but that seems so insufficient. They had the safety of our family in mind and let me tell you, our new Honda Odyssey is the safest one out there! Our insurance is actually going DOWN with this awesome new car! We chose the 2014 Honda Odyssey EX-L with navigation. And so yesterday, my dad and I went car shopping! I had such a great time visiting with him during our day. It was a fun and rare father/daughter excursion, due to a demanding work schedule, and a really fun day! We enjoyed texting back and forth with my mom about the neat features we were discovering (she already knew about most of them) and how our day was going. I was sending Chip progress reports and photos as he was having a father/son day with Elijah. And at the end of the day, I traded in the keys for my Kia Sorrento for a push button ignition of my new aweomse minivan!
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| My last moments with our first family car |
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| Moving on to bigger and better things! |
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| My new car all cozy in the driveway. It will be garage kept but when I got home I noticed our sago palm was growing over where the garage entrance is. That coupled with exhaustion, nighttime and the fact that I have never been a garage parker, I played it safe and let her stay in the driveway on her first night. Now she is cozy and snug in the garage. Chip chopped the branches early this morning. |
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| My awesome dashboard! You can control everything from the steering wheel! |
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| A (sideways) view of the console. Navigation, Pandora, XM radio all voice activated. All way cooler than I could have imagined! And two side air control! That's right, I don't have to freeze anymore when I ride in the car with Chip! The back also has it's own temp controls. |
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| And speaking of cool.....it has a refrigerator! |
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| That third seat in the middle row was a big selling point making this minivan able to fit 8 people comfortable. |
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| Remote opening middle doors....another awesome feature, especially when I have three babies! Okay, two babies and a toddler. |
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| Pop enjoyed some Elijah time after our busy day. |
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| I snapped a photo of Elijah under the desk and my mom said it reminded her of this photo of JFK & Jr. |
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