Other than that, a pretty low key week. Playing with babies, lots of soccer, and sitting on the couch and watching TV with Mark! My parents get here a week from tomorrow and hopefully the weather will be good for them (it's raining at the moment). I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Thirteen is NOT my lucky number. Thirteen is the number of gross poopy diapers I changed today. THIRTEEN! Kyan was not feeling so well, and had 9 of those himself. Ugh so gross! At least they are still cute. And Hugo has started pulling himself up to stand, although with that skill comes his fair share of falls, so there are a few more tears these days. Kyan is still not crawling, but he can at least turn himself around on his belly 360 degrees.
Other than that, a pretty low key week. Playing with babies, lots of soccer, and sitting on the couch and watching TV with Mark! My parents get here a week from tomorrow and hopefully the weather will be good for them (it's raining at the moment). I'll keep my fingers crossed.
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Okay well maybe not "new," but just more practical. Okay not even practical, just more sneaky. I think I need a hidden camera. Today I brought my little video camera to try and capture some of the hilarious moments I have with the boys, and the boys were way too distracted by the camera to do anything funny! I need to get a hidden camera in order to truly capture some of the things that they do. Or at least a camera that blends in with their toys. Something, anything other than a plain old camera. Some of the funny and cute things I'm trying to capture... (1) Kyan's "screeching." He is usually pretty quiet, but he has discovered his voice, and is quite pleased with himself. He screeches like a bird over and over and over again. You would never guess that a noise that loud could come from something so small. (see video below for a preview) (2) Hugo's deep belly laugh when he is being tickled. But again, throw a camera into the equation and suddenly he is not ticklish anymore, and just wants to grab the camera. (3) The interaction between the boys. Specifically, Hugo's intense desire to touch/poke/pinch/bite Kyan, and Kyan's eyes getting bigger and bigger as Hugo gets closer, and then the whining and tears that are sure to follow. It's pretty funny. (4) Kyan in the jolly jumper. Priceless. (5) Kyan eating his solids. It's probably the funniest thing either of the babies do. He opens his mouth so wide, and then with each bite he sort of grunts and then makes a "mmmmmmm!" sounds and kind of tenses up his face with delight. Words can't describe it. :) Anyway, I uploaded this video trying to capture Kyan's screeches, and of course he went quiet except for a couple of big yells here and there. In other news, I have my first soccer game this Sunday. We are playing a team from the south island here in Wellington, it should be an interesting game! I will let you know how it goes!
Ok so after my second week of work, here's what I have to say about my job and why it is fun, but quite challenging. (1) Sometimes, the babies are on opposite sleep schedules- which means no break for me, but also that we are house bound because one baby is always napping, eating, or getting ready for a nap. (2) Sometimes, the babies are on the same sleep schedule, which means that they both want to be fed, changed, and held at the same time. (3) Kyan is scared of Hugo and cries when he gets too close. (4) Hugo LOVES Kyan and always wants to touch, pull, and poke him. Particularly in the eyes. (5) Each baby is very easily distracted while taking their bottles, and the other baby thinks that's the perfect time to screech at the top of his lungs... Bottle feeding is a 20-30 minute task. Each baby. (6) When it's nap time, I have to get both babies up the stairs in one go. My biceps are going to be huge in no time. (7) Hugo will not lay still for me to change his diaper. It's a serious struggle. And I had to change his diaper 5 times today. (8) The babies are happiest when we are outside on a walk. BUT, this requires the babies to be sitting side by side, within arms reach of each other (see numbers 3 & 4 above). I've included a visual for you... Here they are, in the stroller Notice Hugo's hand... Now Kyan's starting to get mad... Hugo: "Hehehehehehe...." Kyan: "Help!" It's all downhill from there... Hugo: "Okay fine I will play with the toy instead. Jeeez." *Sigh. Now a good nanny probably would have intervened right around picture 1, BUT I had to let it play out and get it on film, of course. This all happened in a matter of 3 seconds anyway. Oh and if you want to make the pictures bigger, just click on them. But anyway, another good day, although absolutely exhausting as usual.
Week 2 of work with the babies, and today was a pretty good day overall. The babies slept well and ate well for the most part. But, once again, going out with the babies proved to be quite a mission. It went something like this... Both babies were sleeping, and I decided that once they woke up (and had been fed, changed, etc etc) that I would take them out for a walk. So first Hugo woke up, so I brought him downstairs and fed him a bottle, oh so slowly... Shortly after, Kyan woke up, and I went up and got him and tried to give him a bottle. Problem was, Kyan wouldn't take a bottle with Hugo awake, since Hugo was making noises similar to that of a screeching parrot, and Kyan was way too distracted to take a bottle. 20 minutes later, I finally got a decent amount of formula in him, and so we moved on to lunch. He ate his solids pretty quickly, and we moved on to feeding Hugo his solids. WHAT A MESS! Hugo is tough to feed. He's not really into opening his mouth for a spoon, so I have to trick him into eating. He loves to eat crackers (or "gum" crackers) so I give him a cracker to hold, and then as soon as he tried to take a bite, I have to shove a spoonful of food into his mouth before he gets the cracker in there. Anyway, once he finished, I had to clean him up, and get both Kyan and Hugo changed, dressed warmly (which involved a few trips up and down the stairs), and then finally we were ready to go! This time I decided to use the single stroller for one baby, and carry the other baby in a front pack. So I got them all ready to go, and then Kyan started crying... he didn't want to be in the frontpack, he wanted to go in the stroller with Hugo. Okay great, so I needed to get the double stroller out of the garage and maneuver it down some stairs, which is pretty tough with a baby attached to your chest, might I add. But anyway, I finally got the stroller, and at this point I already feel like I've done a full workout! So I set up the stroller, get the boys all strapped in and ready to go, and I feel something on my nose.... a rain drop. NO WAY. Literally, after I spent 45 minutes getting the boys all ready to go, it started to rain before we even took a single step on our walk. So we waited it out for a few minutes, and then I decided, what the heck, and we went for a ten minute walk just so all my efforts weren't for nothing. It wasn't raining that hard, I swear. But overall, it was a good day, lots of fun! And Hugo's latest trick (he's the baby on the left) is kissing my face with a big sloppy mouth! He's so cute! Love, love, love these babies!
Day one of real work was a success!! I had both boys today from 8am to 5pm, and it went pretty smoothly overall. Both boys went down for a nap shortly after I got there, which left me some time to prepare all bottles and meals for when they woke up. After they were awake, they both got fed and dressed, and I decided to take them out for a walk while the weather was still nice. Well let me tell you, getting out of the house with 2 babies is quite a mission. Once they were fed, I changed both of their diapers, got them all dressed, packed a few diapers and a leftover bottle for Hugo, transported one baby to the stroller, came back for the other baby, who in the 30 seconds since I had changed his diaper had already pooped, so I had to go get the other baby out of the stroller and back inside, change another diaper, and then start over. FINALLY I got them all in the stroller and ready to go, when both of them started to yawn... I looked at my watch and they were both due to go back to sleep in about 30 minutes. So we went for a quick walk, and then back to bed they went. Now you might think that my job sounds like a piece of cake... feeding, changing diapers, and then the babies just sleep. Well, not exactly. There are many little details that make this job difficult, such as... (1) Getting both babies up and down the stairs at the same time... (2) I can't have both boys in the same room when feeding them a bottle, because they get too distracted by the other one and then don't eat, but I can't leave one baby alone in a room while I feed the other one, so I have to kind of "hide" so that I can see the baby I'm not feeding, but they cannot see us. Tricky. (3) One baby is slightly scared of the other baby and cries when he gets too close. And the other baby ALWAYS wants to be close. (4) The babies feed off each others cries. (5) I can't feed both babies at the same time (only one high chair), but when one baby sees the other one being fed (solid food), he immediately wants some and gets mad when he has to wait. (6) The babies get verrrrry jealous of my attention. For example, when the babies are alone, they are very happy to play on the floor, or sit in the walker, or roll around with toys without me hovering or holding them. But as soon as there are two babies, if I hold one or play with one, the other one cries until I pick him up, and then the one I was holding first cries when I put him down. Jealous babies! (7) Hugo is now nicknamed "Rolley Poley" because every time I change his diaper, he immediately rolls onto his stomach. You try changing a baby's diaper when he is on his stomach... so he has to be distracted (somehow) or he cries! (8) These babies are TOUGH to feed solids. Well, mostly just Hugo. I have to practically pin his hands down and trick him into opening his mouth and then I can shovel the food in his mouth. By the time he's done eating there is always food all over his face, hair, clothes, hands, MY clothes, hands, etc. etc. etc. Oh yeah, one I forgot to mention. Teeth. These babies both have teeth coming in, making them a little extra fussy. See?? But anyway, it's all worth it when I get these HUGE gummy smiles and kisses from these two precious babies!
So today was day 2 of 3 of my first week of work. This was supposed to be the first time I had both babies by myself for 9 straight hours! BUT, Hugo and his mom got really sick over the weekend, so she had to postpone her first day of work until tomorrow. So she stayed at home with Hugo, and I looked after Kyan all day! I had a great time with the little guy, and have now totally got the hang of his routine (I hope), so now I hope I'm set for tomorrow with both babies all day long!! Although it would figure that after a few days of sunshine it has started to rain again, and is expected to rain all day tomorrow! House bound with 2 little babies!! At least the sound of the rain is like natural white noise so they sleep a little bit deeper. :)
In other news, our good friend Matt Boyd is coming to New Zealand tomorrow. His grandma passed away earlier in the week, but she made it all the way to 96 years old and lived a great, healthy, happy life! We are going to her funeral on Friday, and then hopefully we can spend a little bit of time with Matt. He can be our first official visitor, although not under the best circumstances unfortunately. Anyway, tomorrow's update will include pictures and stories from my first REAL full day on the job! I can't believe we have been in New Zealand for more than 2 months already! We left San Francisco on August 3rd, and it's October 9th today! In that time I have accomplished quite a lot, and I am most proud of finding a job with 2 great families that I think I am going to love! My first official week of work starts on the 13th, and I am excited! How could I not love these little faces! Today I spent the whole morning at an infant/child first aid course, which was really really informative, as well as really scary. I learned a TON, and I think that a first aid course like this should become mandatory in schools everywhere. At least in high schools! I learned CPR for adults, children, as well as little babies, and learned exactly what to do in case of many different emergencies. It was also so scary to realize what can go wrong, even if it is really rare. I have been babysitting for a long long time, and I have had to deal with a few kids choking (none serious enough to stop breathing, thank God), but it is probably the scariest thing you could possibly experience (in my opinion). But at least now I am fully prepared for any potential emergencies!! I also learned New Zealand has like 4 different emergency numbers (I learned that 911 does work here too, although the main number for emergencies is 111). Ooh and I also learned about how to use a defibrillator, so if anyone ever goes into cardiac arrest, and I have a defibrillator nearby, I will know what to do! :)
Overall, a very busy morning, packed with tons of emergency information! But I feel a lot smarter and a lot more prepared for potential emergencies now, and hope to never ever have to use any of what I just learned. Ever. Now, just praying for the rain to stop so we can enjoy the weekend... PLEASE. What a day this has been... Today was my first day with BOTH babies, and I only had them for 4 hours (less than half a usual work day), and let me tell you, I am exhausted. Originally I thought it would be awesome to get them on the same schedule (eating, sleeping, playing at the same time), and then while they slept I could have a break. Well, I take that back. I want them on opposite schedules so I only have one baby at a time. To all those moms out there with twins, I applaud you. In fact, I think you are amazing. This is hard stuff. Here's how the day went... I got there at 1, both babies were awake, but Kyan was due for a nap any time. I put Kyan down for a nap shortly after his mom left, which is not quite as easy as it sounds... We were in the lounge (which is not baby-proofed by they way) and Hugo is quite mobile now, so I can't leave him in there while putting Kyan to bed, and they don't have a pack n play or anything to kind of keep him safe and secure somewhere. So I managed to pick up Kyan in one arm, and Hugo in the other, but then I had to somehow stand up off the floor to get into Kyan's room. Well once I got that down, I put Kyan in his bed while watching Hugo on the floor, finally got Kyan asleep, and went back and played with Hugo. After about 30 minutes, I put Hugo to sleep in another room, and then thought I had about an hour to just chill before one baby woke up. Wrong. Hugo only slept for 25 minutes, and would not go back to sleep. So I got him out, and believe it or not up to this point it was all pretty smooth sailing. Then... I was about to give Hugo his bottle, when Kyan woke up. I let him cry for a few minutes, and then I had to put Hugo's bottle down to carry him into the nursery to get Kyan. Hugo was not so happy about that. I managed to carry them both back into the lounge, and of course then they both needed bottles, yet they can't hold their own bottles, and they both needed to be held... uh oh. And they fed off each other's cries, and it didn't help that Kyan is kind of scared of Hugo so he cried every time Hugo got close to him (which was a lot)... But anyway, finally I got them semi-fed, although Kyan wouldn't really take his bottle so we moved on to baby food. But both babies wanted to be held, and so I ended up feeding Kyan in his high chair while holding Hugo, who was constantly trying to grab the spoon from me. Luckily for me, somehow both babies were happy and all smiles when their parents got home! Phew... So anyway, basically for an hour both babies wanted to be fed at the same time and held at the same time, which meant there were some unhappy babies and a stressed out nanny for a while. Oh boy. Thought we were totally ready for babies of our own, and now I'm not so sure. :) BUT, on the upside... tomorrow is my birthday, and when I got home from work Mark had a big surprise for me! He had cleaned the house, lit candles, gotten all dressed up, and had my slippers waiting for me by the front door (reminded me of when we got engaged!) He had made me a 4 course meal, and bought me presents too!! We had kind of talked about not doing b-day presents this year because we're on a tight budget, but I should have known he wouldn't be able to do that!! Anyway, it was a great birthday present, especially because tomorrow is such a busy day that we won't really have time to celebrate. So overall, I'd say it was a great day! What a lovely candle lit evening!!
Day 2 with the babies! Now I didn't have them both together like I originally thought, but I got 2 hours with each of them today while their moms went out. I took Kyan for a walk in the Baby Bjorn, which I liked very much. And then after a bit of struggle, I managed to put him down for a nap, and that was it! Then I went to Hugo's house, and I must say, he is getting quite mobile. He rolls all over the floor, and can get from one side of the room to the other. He also seems to want to get into everything he is not supposed to (his dad's stereo, my camera bag, mom's purse, etc...) so I have to keep a close eye on him at all times. And I tried to give him a bottle, but that little boy is just so busy that he doesn't want to stop playing to drink it! He would start drinking it, then something would catch his eye and he would lunge for it, getting milk everywhere! I think he drank half the bottle, and his mom considered that a success. :) But we had fun, and of course the two boys are on opposite schedules (one goes down for a nap at 10:30 whereas the other one is waking up at 10:30, etc...) so I will definitely be worn out by the end of a day with these two! Now all this time with the babies is making me really realize how much work having a baby is. I mean, they constantly need to be fed, burped, entertained, diaper changed, and when you aren't doing those things, you are cleaning up after those things... And once these babies start really crawling, they will be into everything! Little things left laying around the house become potentially dangerous, things that are "hidden" are not safe unless locked away, baby's aren't content to just lay there and hang out like they did before they were mobile. Being a parent has got to be absolutely exhausting! Worth it I'm sure, but exhausting nonetheless.
While I don't actually start work for another 3 weeks, today I got a little taste of what my new job is going to be like. I am going to be taking care of 2 little babies, and today I got to spend some time with each of them individually. Both moms are getting a little nervous/anxious about leaving their baby boys, so they wanted me to come and spend some time with each of them today so they could get out of the house and feel more comfortable going back to work. So first I got to hang out with Kyan! He is 6 months old, and such a cutie! You will be seeing many pictures of this little guy, as well as his little buddy Hugo, in my future posts. I am sure they will provide plenty of interesting stories as well! So, here is Kyan! I only managed to take a few pictures but there will be plenty more in the future! Look at those big baby blues! Kyan is definitely the more "serious" of the two babies... he would be content to just stare at me (or anyone) for hours and hours! I only spent an hour with him today so there's not very much exciting stuff to tell, although I did manage to get applesauce all over myself, as well as a big glob of spit up on my shoulder. Oh and I changed my very first cloth diaper... I'm still not sure what I think about them, although I am leaning more and more towards using them when I have kids. Anyway, so then after I left Kyan's house, I headed over to Hugo's house for round two. So, meet Hugo! It is amazing to me how very different two baby boys can be. Hugo is full of personality... all smiles, babbling up a storm, lots of facial expressions, whereas Kyan is more subdued and serious, perfectly happy to just be held and cuddled. I'm sure this will change once I get to know them better. Hugo is going to be tough work once he learns to crawl, I can tell you that much! But anyway, overall it was a good day with the babies! Stay tuned for next week, when I get them both at the same time!!
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