More kids, more pages on this blog. This, however, will certainly be the last one. Just like the other three, the twins are getting their own space on here, too. But since life gets in the way of this blog more often than not these days, they’re going to share a page. Sorry, guys.
And the title, The N/A Chronicles? That stands for The Nat/Avit Chronicles, not The Nonalcoholic Chronicles. Life with 5 kids without some cocktails here and there? Not a chance. So check back here to see how the story of our twins unfolds.
(FYI, because I write so much about these kids, their pages are all broken into yearly chunks so as not to crash my site. I’ll keep the current year on the main page for ease of use. Enjoy!)
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January 31, 2020
Happy 2nd birthday my littlest loves!! I can’t believe you’re 2 and no longer real babies. Although I’m pretty sure I’ll always call you the babies. We’re having a little party with family tomorrow, and I made you each a giant cupcake cake with your initial on it. I hope you have a fun time, even though you don’t know what birthdays are yet. The big 3 loved opening presents with you this morning and showing you how your new toys work. Your favorites were the new Daniel Tiger and Peppa Pig Color Wonder paper and markers. We all love you both so much, and I still can’t believe we have twins!
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February 3, 2020
Big day for you two – I turned your car seats around to be front facing. I know the guidelines now saying keeping kids rear facing until age 4 is the safest, and your car seats can stay rear facing until you reach 40 lbs., but I couldn’t stand cramming you into the rear-facing seats anymore. I made sure I added the safe stop belts to your harnesses like the instructions said, I have the top tethers secured to the backs of both your seats, and I raised the straps on your harnesses. Those seats aren’t going anywhere! It really does give us so much more room in that second row of seats, and the driver’s seat doesn’t squish back into your seat, Avit, every time we turn the car off. You guys love it. Nat, the first time I put you in your “new” seat this afternoon to go pick the girls up from school, you said, “Ooo!”
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February 5, 2020
Avit, I was taking off my toenail polish in the bathroom today, and you walked in asking where I was. You saw your new personalized bath towels hanging on the rack, pointed to the A in your name, and said “A!” I thought ok, that’s cool, you say A for every letter, so no big deal. Then you left and came right back with a wooden letter A from your name puzzle, held it up next to the A on your towel, and said “A!” again. Ok, that proves it – you’re a genius! 😀 You also sang along with me during “Twinkle, Twinkle” today for nap and bedtimes – I love it!
Nat, unfortunately you took a terrible spill tonight. I was down in the basement, you came down to find me like you always do (you guys are actually very good on stairs so i don’t really worry about that), and we started to head up. I turned around to look at something, and all of a sudden you started sliding down the last couple stairs. I think you had tried to pick up your milk cup, slipped, and then tumbled down the bottom handful of steps. But at the bottom you somehow flung forward in a complete blur and smacked your forehead right on the concrete floor, and it made a cracking egg sound and scared me to death. I literally almost threw up, because I fully expected to see a gash with your brain oozing out of it when I lifted your head when we got to the top of the stairs. Fortunately nothing of the sort appeared, not even a scratch, but you did get quite the goose egg. My poor, sweet boy, I’m so sorry!!
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February 10, 2020
Official 2-year stats:
Nat:
- Height: 35″ (72%)
- Weight: 27 lbs. 8 oz. (42%)
- BMI: 15.8 kg/m2 (27%)
Avit:
- Height: 35″ (72%)
- Weight: 31 lbs. (82%)
- BMI: 17.8 kg/m2 (80%)
Now the weights aren’t the most accurate since neither of you would stand still on the scale long enough, so we’ll just call those close approximations. Avit, you’re obviously still much heavier than Nat, though.
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February 11, 2020
Big day – I took the playpen down today! Oh man, here we go into the realm of no containment for you two. I only used it when I wanted to exercise, and lately I’ve only been riding the spin bike in the basement instead of my workout DVD. I only do a 20-minute workout, but you still manage to climb out at least once during that time. The first time I heard it happen I knew it was you, Nat – your little footsteps ran into the kitchen to get your cups, I shouted up for you to get right back in the playpen, I heard you run back, and you both were sitting in there contently when I came up. But I was sick of just waiting for you to climb out every single time I went downstairs, so now you just have to learn not to destroy everything like the other kids did.
I try to get down to start biking as soon as possible when we get home from school drop-off, so you’re still fairly calm and ready to watch your shows (Daniel Tiger, Peppa Pig, and Cuphead are the current favorites). If I wait too long, I’ve learned that your attention span decreases and your intent to run around and destroy the house increases. Today I did have to get off the bike and chase you back up the stairs, Avit, but then I figured out that you won’t go down the stairs if it’s dark. The bike is just far enough away from the bottom of the stairs that you can’t see me from the top of the staircase. So I’ll just bike with the lights off from now on. I actually don’t mind that at all; plenty of natural light comes in from the glass block window across from the bike anyway.
So fingers crossed. Please, please, PLEASE start behaving a little and letting me exercise for my health and sanity!
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February 14, 2020
Avit, you actually said Avit today! I’ve never heard that before. Nat, you’ve been saying Nat for a couple days now, and today you said that your name is Nat and my name is Mama. Great job, little beans!
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February 23, 2020
So last week I was actually able to get 3 DVD workouts in without having you guys contained in the playpen. You did pretty well! I turned one of your shows on in our bedroom and cleared off the rocking chair for you to sit in, so you’d go back and forth between rooms, checking out what I was doing. You never really got in my way, though, which was incredible. I set my expectations very low, assuming I’d be interrupted every 2 minutes, but I barely had to stop any day. Thank you!
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March 25, 2020
Avit, you are so cute. You now pull your blanket up by yourself in your bed, which is awesome. You totally snuggle in. Your words are starting to get a lot better, too. Nat, your words are still pretty good, and I absolutely love how you do your side hippety-skip through the house and your little octopus arms when you dance around.
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March 28, 2020
Daddy gave you guys buzz cuts today, and you did way better than last time. I showered you both off afterwards, and Nat, as I was drying Avit, you pooped right on the floor next to the shower, hahaha!!!
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April 6, 2020
A piece of poop mysteriously appeared on the living room rug this afternoon while Daddy was on a call for work, and he picked it up, not knowing what it was! Hahaha! Avit, we’re pretty sure you were the culprit somehow. Gross.
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April 16, 2020
Nat, you now have all 4 2-year molars either in or almost all the way in. I saw your top right one about halfway in the other week and thought the bottom right wasn’t in yet, but I saw today that it’s fully there, too! Avit, you have none yet.
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May 7, 2020
Avit, you FINALLY have a 2-year molar starting to come in – lower right. None of the other 3 are breaking through yet.
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May 10, 2020
You guys woke up at your usual 5-5:30 this morning and I put on Little Baby Bum, again, as usual. A song came on with apples in it, and you both knew the words! You obviously don’t say full sentences, but you were singing the ending word of every line, when I’d never even heard this one before. Impressive!
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May 29, 2020
Avit, your second 2-year molar is finally coming in – bottom left. Still neither on the top, though. Both of your words are getting so much better, you’re starting to talk in phrases, and you know a lot of your letters! Avit, the other day you pulled my birthday sign out of the front closet and pointed to and named correctly almost every single letter on it. I was amazed! Great job, kiddo!!
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June 3, 2020
Avit, you can count to 10! I was cleaning you off after lunch, and you just started right at 1 and counted the whole way up. You led on every number, I repeated you, and you didn’t mess up once! You surprise and amaze me every day now, kiddo.
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June 22, 2020
Avit, you pooped on the toilet today! You definitely know when you have to go poop, and even when you pee in your diaper you know that you need to be changed, but this was the first time either of you had actually done anything when I put you up on the potty seat. Great job, my love!
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July 18, 2020
Nat, you got your first bee sting today. We’re up north with Mr. Hand and Miss Clara, and you had run up from the beach and across the deck toward the front door. I was following you up, heard you kind of start crying then let out a shout, then you came running back to me saying “shoo bug, shoo bug!” You were grabbing the back of your leg, and sure enough, there was the telltale little red circle bite, just like Della and Morrison got, right on the back of your calf. I’m sorry, my sweet boy! Those are definitely no fun, especially when you’re so little. Thankfully you weren’t allergic either, so now that we know 3 of you aren’t, hopefully the other 2 aren’t either.
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July 25, 2020
Avit, one of your top 2-year molars is FINALLY coming in! I just saw the upper right one poking through tonight.
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August 10, 2020
We had your 30-month checkups today, the first time we’ve ever done one of those. It was mainly so the doctor could ask about potty training and getting rid of your pacifiers, both of which she knows aren’t happening anytime soon. 😀 Everything looked just fine, and here are the official stats:
Nat
- Height: 36 3/4″ (63%)
- Weight: 30 lbs. 8 oz. (57%)
- BMI: 15.9 kg/m2 (38%)
Avit
- Height: 38 1/4″
- Weight: 33 lbs. 2 oz. (82%)
- BMI: 20.4 kg/m2 (99.4%)
I don’t entirely trust those height and weight measurements since you both jumped around on the scale and barely stood still long enough for the nurse to get the measuring tape to the tops of your heads, so we’ll call them more approximations. 😉
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August 19, 2020
Avit, your 4th 2-year molar is finally coming in! I saw the very first corner of your upper left one poking through tonight. I just find the comparisons between you two so fascinating, because Nat has had all 4 of his in forever!
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October 10, 2020
Well, my loves, leave it to the last one of you 5 to break a bone. Avit, last evening you fell out of Miss Kate and Mr. James’s hammock. It was only about a foot or so high, but you landed right on their deck, flat on your right side. I watched the whole thing happen and could nothing to get to you in time to stop it, but the look on your face showed you knew something kind of scary was happening. I thought you just bonked your head because you immediately started crying and rubbing the side of your head, so I snuggled you in my lap for a little while. I had no idea anything else was hurt until after dinner, when you screamed when I tried to lift you out of your high chair. It obviously hurt you when I laid you down on the changer to put on your pj’s, and you couldn’t lift yourself up to sitting either. I swear I heard a tiny pop when you did try to sit up that first time on the changer, but it also could’ve been anything else. I told Daddy I was afraid I was going to have to take you into urgent care for a broken collarbone, but he thought you’d be ok. He said there’s really nothing to do for a broken collarbone anyway, so I gave you some ibuprofen, got you as comfy as I could, and hoped for the best. I got a cup of water and the ibuprofen ready for if you woke up during the night, which I assumed you would, and I gave you another dose about 5 hours after bed and then again first thing this morning, 12 hours after your first dose. You were still in a lot of pain when you woke up, wouldn’t sit up, and hadn’t rolled over all night. You are usually all over your bed during the night, so I told Daddy I was definitely taking you in. So I packed up your milk, snacks, Daddy’s old tablet for PBS Kids, and our masks, and we headed off to urgent care. We got there first, and thankfully we did because there was quite a line forming when we got called into the exam room. You did an absolutely amazing job!! You kept your little Packers mask on the whole time you were supposed to, you said good morning and waved to everyone you saw, and you were a dream on the exam table while the tech took your x-rays. It did come back as a fractured collarbone, but thankfully nothing else in your shoulder, arm, ribs, lungs, etc. So you got a cute little dinosaur sling and you’re still on regular doses of ibuprofen, and you did a pretty good job of keeping your dinosaurs on today. You were definitely more subdued than normal, it’s still very painful for you, and you HATED that you couldn’t go outside with everyone else this afternoon, but you did ok. I lay you down and pick you up differently so I don’t jostle that side as much, so hopefully that will help. I have your cup of water and ibuprofen ready on my bedside table again, and I have to call the orthopedic specialist on Monday for a follow-up appointment to make sure nothing got missed, but I sure hope you heal quickly, my little bean. It kills me to see any of you in pain.
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October 13, 2020
Avit, you have now rolled over both of the past 2 nights while sleeping, which, while I’m assuming is an improvement in your pain level, I don’t think you should be doing yet. So I keep gently rolling you back to flat on your back. Today at naptime, I even put one of the old Boppy pillows in there to help keep you from rolling. But with the way you still run and slide, bounce on the couch, etc., even with your sling on, I don’t think this poor collarbone has a chance of ever healing.
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October 16, 2020
Avit, we had your followup appointment with the orthopedic specialist today, and all looked really good. Your collarbone isn’t even actually fractured, it’s just bent. There’s no crack at all. He said you’ll still have a little bump, but that should heal itself in time. He said to keep your sling on for 2 more weeks since you run around, slide, climb, and fall so much, otherwise it would’ve only been 1 more week. He said unless you really fall hard on it or something happens to make it seem like you’re really in a lot more pain, we won’t need another appointment and definitely no more x-rays. Now if you would just calm down a little bit, it would make this job of healing much easier!
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November 1, 2020
All 5 of you guys and I had our flu shots this morning, and Nat, you told the nurse your name was Natty Beans. 😀 I gave you two a bath when we got home, and Avit, you pooped in the tub. Fantastic. Thankfully I had gotten Nat out already, but still. Gross.
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November 20, 2020
Avit, today is 6 weeks past your collarbone bend, so hopefully it’s healed/healing well and won’t hurt anymore. You’ve been using your right arm completely and raising it fully above your head again, so I think it’s feeling ok.
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December 10, 2020
Nat, you started whistling yesterday, and you can put your socks on by yourself now. Great job, little one!
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