Brandich, Party of Five!: July 2015

Summertime and the living is easy.....not really!

Laundry Dutch pile

We have had quite the jammed pack beginning of summer! As I mentioned last month our calendar is full every weekend until August 15th. Those weekends have been mostly filled with travelling back home to visit with family. This month we will be visiting in-state friends. The two most exciting occasions this past month were the fourth of July and then when my cousin Chip and his family were home from Colorado.

Keller twins together for the first time

During the fourth weekend, the babies had their very first trip to Chaska Beach. They did awesome and loved lounging and playing as much as big brother Austin. We had plenty of help as my parents went along with us and my brother Ryan and his girlfriend LeAnn. The babies of course taste tested the sand but we found out quickly that if we let them have their pacifiers less sand made its way in! We also spent some time swimming at grammy Barb's pool. These two babies are little fish, especially Kelsey. She has taken up dunking her face and leaning toward me off the pool edge as to jump in! Both babies are able to hang on the pool edge and really enjoy floating around the pool. This year we got Austin some water wings known as the "puddle jumper" that has an extra flotation across the chest. He is able to float and swim on his own in the pool which makes things much less stressful and manageable with 3 kids to attend to!

Poppin' bottles on the beach

Fun at the Crocker Park Splashpad

At grammy's pool in June

Last weekend was one of the weekends I was looking forward to most this summer, the arrival of Chip and family. Last year when they were in town, I had just delivered the twins and was unable to meet and visit with them. I was so surprised to see how much larger their twins were compared to ours. They are only 4 months apart but developmentally more like 6 months due to our twins premature age. I cannot believe in a few short months our twins will be catching up and doing the same activities. It was really great seeing all of them and catching up after 2 years apart. I really wish we all lived closer or at least where we could drive and not fly. I have made some excellent friends in Cleveland but wish I had my closer friends and family right next door!

Bubbles with Cousins

The twins are moving right along with development and we are not seeing any delays with their skills. Both are now "real" crawling and pulling up to stand. Logan is now cruising and Kelsey has definitely been giving it a try too. Logan has 3 teeth but Kelsey is still toothless. They are moving onto table foods and really love to feed themselves. I am using up my stockpile of pureed food and adding in more and more pickup foods. We introduced lots of new foods this month, those being, kiwi, spinach, cantaloupe, grapes, broccoli, potato, chick peas, quinoa, salmon and watermelon. I have also started the process of introducing cows milk into their diet with a gradual process of adding small amounts to their formula bottles and gradually increasing the milk and decreasing the formula. Once we are onto milk it is a lot easier to drop the bottles and move to all sippy cups.

Carrots for dinner

The kiddos finally seem to be on a nap schedule. They have a short morning nap 30-40 minutes after breakfast then a longer nap around 2 hours after their yogurt lunch. They do tend to get off kilter when we are not at home but we don't mind and aren't very strict about occasional changes in schedule. Kelsey has also finally begun her Hemangeol. This medication is oral and administered twice daily. We had to attend 3 Dr. appointments while they gradually increased her dosage. We hung out in the office for two hours each time to make sure she managed her blood pressure with the upping in dose. This medication is actually a Blood Pressure medication that happens to shrink the blood vessels in the Hemangioma. I am planning on taking a picture of her tumor once a month to see the progression. It will likely be gone in 6 month to a year.

Start of medicine

Climbers like looking outside

Hanging out at the Dr.office

We started the potty training process with Austin this month. A couple of moms in my mommies group have used a specific book, "Toilet Training without Tantrums." I gave it a read and it gave me the confidence I needed to jump right in with the cold turkey no pants approach. It only took him 3 days to be accident free if naked. It has been a bit trickier introducing underwear but just today things finally clicked and 2 weeks in, we are on our way to being fully day trained. He has had only one accident during his rare nap time and he has been 50/50 for nighttime. I am not focusing on night training just yet. He will be heading to school later next month so just getting him used to using the potty and wearing clothes is all I am concerned about. I have been so pleased with his progress. Before reading the book my idea was to wait until he was ready after reading the book and discovering that children are always ready but need parental guidance and consistency, I have decided to train the twins next summer when they are 22 months before their birthday. The book suggests that the best window to train is from 18-24 months and it's a learning process just like using a cup or fork. You don't wait until they are ready instead you introduce and teach when it's age appropriate! I love love love this book and philosophy. I have passed on my copy to two friends who are currently training on the N75 program. N for naked and $75 for cleaning your carpets or upholstery when complete hahaha!

I have also found a job and have already started work. A couple weeks ago I applied for a part time job posting on care.com. They liked my application and set up an interview. When they arrived, I knew I had met them somewhere and even stated so when they walked through the door. Once we got talking we discovered that we had mutual friends and that we both had attended a Halloween party hosted my those mutual friends. The rest is history. I am watching baby Leo (6 weeks old) this month on Tuesday and Thursday 12-3 while his mom studies for her Pharmacy Boards and then next month when she returns to work at the hospital I will mostly have him M,W,F part time. She may go full time later this year but definitely next summer when she plans to do her Residency. I am so happy to be earning some money again and so far things have been great! I am glad I held out and waited for the right family and hours I wanted. Things always seem to fall into place if I don't get too worked up over them!