Toddler-proofing

We baby-proofed our home months ago, but the twins are toddlers now and climb on everything. I was eating lunch earlier after I finished feeding them and glanced down the hall and saw Little Sister on top of the changing table with Sissy starting to climb up as well.

Last night, my husband asked if we could try to prevent the twins’ chairs from hitting the walls in our breakfast nook. The problem is the twins climb on and push the chairs and hit the walls with them after they have finished eating while I’m trying to clean up the kitchen. I can’t be right there to keep the chairs from touching the wall.

I remembered seeing this photo on Pinterest and figured I could use pool noodles in a similar way on our chairs.

It doesn’t look very nice, but it will save our walls from further damage. Notice the marks on the wall to the left of the first picture and the nick on the corner of the window wall. The two walls on that end of the table have marks at chair height all around, so the walls don’t look very nice either.

We have been planning to repaint our breakfast nook but didn’t want to do it when they would just mess it up the next day. We’ll see how the pool noodles and zip ties hold up to our toddlers, and hopefully the chair pushing is something they will outgrow quickly, so we can remove the pool noodles. In the meantime, I’d rather have funny-looking chairs and nice-looking walls.

The twins can be little Houdinis when they want to be. Little Sister has been taking off her diaper after I put her to bed (once with a onesie on), so I used duct tape on her diaper yesterday at nap time and bedtime. It worked!

Please excuse the poor quality of the photo and her crazy hair. I was afraid to step away from her with her standing on the changing table. I have decided it is time to get twin beds for the girls. We can change diapers on the beds and not worry about them climbing on the beds as much as the changing table. All of their clothes are in their closet, so we can hold off on a dresser for now.

Baseball and Birthdays and Dance! Oh My!

This summer seemed to fly by more quickly than ever before. It seemed like we were always busy, but I don’t remember what we were doing. I didn’t post often, so I’m really behind on sharing these photos.

Big Brother played baseball again in the spring and enjoyed playing catcher. He has had this baseball helmet for two years but refuses to take the MLB sticker off the brim. Goofy boy. He improved a lot this year, hitting, fielding, and throwing better. He is now swimming on a team at the Y instead of playing football (fall) and basketball (winter), but he wants to play baseball again in the spring.

Big Sister took ballet and tap (Combo I) last school year and just started Combo II for this school year. She performed in a recital in June and looked so cute and sassy in her costume.

In July, Big Sister lost her first tooth, began wearing a shorter hair style, and turned six years old. Whew! That was a busy month for sure!

The twins turned 18 months old in August and would not cooperate for pictures. We were unable to get any of them together for the first time since they were born. Stubborn little girls! I think they were a little shy. They wanted me to stay right with them the whole time. The next pictures we have taken will be of our whole family, so their daddy and I can each hold one. Maybe they will cooperate if they are in our arms. I can hope anyway.

Our New Wheels

If you know me very well, you’ll know I’m a runner, or at least I try to be. I began running regularly in the spring of 2010 and for the next two years, I ran everything from a 1 mile fun run to a full marathon. Then I found out I was pregnant with twins, and my doctor told me not to run during my pregnancy. Once they were born, there was no time for running! After we were settled in our new house last summer, I started looking for a good jogging stroller. A serious runner friend recommended the Chariot Cougar, so I looked for one on Craig’s List because those are out of our price range. I saw a few, but I was always the second or third person to contact the seller. I started researching similar bicycle trailers/jogging strollers and finally found the Allen Sports Premier 2-Child Aluminum Bike Trailer/Racing Stroller on Amazon.

We’ve had it for almost a month, and we’ve been on several runs (less than 20 miles total) so far, and I’ve been happy with it. The tires are large and similar to bicycle tires, so it is easy to push, and I am able to use one hand to push until I get to a curve. The front wheel is fixed because this is a true jogging stroller, but it is so lightweight that it’s simple to push down on the handlebar and lift the front wheel to turn.

We took it for a test drive down the driveway to my in-laws’ house, and the twins enjoyed riding in it. The stroller has two shoulder straps that hook onto a strap that comes up between the legs. There is another set of straps that fasten around the waist of each child. There are cushioned sleeves around the straps at their neck level and on the strap between the legs. Of course, one of my twins removed the lower strap cushions before we ever took the stroller out of the house, but I will be sure to put the cushions back on when the twins are no longer in diapers.

There are three straps at the bottom, which allow you to carry one child alone in the center or two children side by side. My twins are tall for being 19 months old, and they have plenty of leg room and head room. The width is a little more snug, but they haven’t complained, and I bought the narrower stroller because it fits through doors. I plan to take this stroller to the arboretum, zoo, and anywhere else we will do a lot of walking.

Big Brother and Big Sister go to school three days a week and complete assignments at home on Tuesday and Thursday. We have been going for “walks” on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings right after the twins wake up, so they usually ride in their pajamas while eating breakfast. Most of the time, when I put shoes on the twins, they take them off unless they are running around outside. I have tried putting shoes on them before jogging, so they would be able to get out and play as soon as we returned home, but one day we lost a shoe, and Big Brother rode back down the street to find it, so now we just let the twins ride barefooted. All I can see when I’m running are their little feet, but they sure are cute.

Here is a photo of all of my children on one of our “walks”. Obviously, I’m the only one who does any walking, but they continue to ask if we are going on a walk.

After two years of inactivity, I am slowly starting to run again. I tried to run too much the first week and ended up with a pulled muscle. That has mostly healed, but now my heel hurts when I run, so I’ve only run a mile on each of our walks this week. I guess that’s better than what I was doing before we got the double jogger. Oh, I should mention that this stroller also attaches to a bicycle as a trailer, but I don’t own a bicycle, so I haven’t tried it out as a trailer. Big Brother wants to pull the twins with his bike, but I don’t trust him to be careful enough with my precious cargo.