Thursday, March 30, 2006

Rice Is Nice

Another milestone reached today, both Michael and Emily had their first "solid food": rice cereal. They did great, espescially Emily, she is a real food girl! I had tried Michael on it a few days ago, and he liked it, but couldn't get the hang of swallowing. But after watching Emily eat with gusto, he caught right on. Maybe this will get them over the hump of the 3am feeding....hope springs eternal!

Good advice?

All of the advice I have received from other mothers of multiples, or books on the subject all say the same thing: Get your children on the same schedule ASAP, or your life will be insane. Well, they have never met Michael and Emily. Today for example, Michael woke at 6:30am, had a bottle at 7:15, and was falling asleep again at 8:20. I put him down for his "morning nap" a few minutes ago. All this before Emily has even woken up for the day. Of course, big sister was up at 6:15, happy as a clam to play in her room for awhile.

With Sophie we were on such a schedule and it worked well. She was a very predictable baby, plus there was one of her, and one of me. Now there are two infants, one 4 year old, and one mommy. I would say that each of the babies are on a schedule, they wake, eat, play for a couple of hours, then go to sleep again. However, they are usually an hour or so apart at the start of the day, and somehow, by the end of the day, they have their last bottle together. Go figure!

I actually don't mind the lag time between their naps, as it gives me time to spend with each of them alone. I know by the time they start taking "real" naps, the kind that last more than 45 minutes, they will be more in synch.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Proof


My mother, myself and my mother in law Pam always joke about how the grandpas aren't really comfortable holding tiny babies. When Sophie was born, neither my father or Terry's held her until at least Thanksgiving, by then she was about 7 weeks old. Even then it was just a quickie while the photo was snapped. However, when you have twins, you need every pair of hands available. I am happy to say both Grandpas Gould and Maier have really stepped up and are great baby-holders. During a recent visit to Peachtree City, Gerry held not one, but both babies...pretty impressive!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Who says we aren't mobile??

Today was a jam packed day for us. The twins came with me to Sophie's dance/gym class, then we went to lunch with the dance girls and their mothers, and assorted siblings. At one table: 4 mothers, four 4- year old girls in full dance attire, two 2- year old boys, my twins in their stroller, and another set of boy/boy twins who are 19 ms. old. A gentleman walked by and commented "Is this the kids area?" We told him yes, and gave him advice to sit as far from us as possible. Actually, the kids did great, and we were only at El Toro, nothing fancy. Since we go there almost every Thurs after dance, they know the routine.....get a page to color, drink lemonade, and wait patiently for their cheese quesedilla while eating chips as fast as possible.

After lunch we raced home to find my mother waiting patiently in our driveway...oops! She was there to help me take the twins for their last RSV antibody injection. So after unloading everyone, feeding Emily and letting Michael play on the floor, we were all back in the car to the pulmonologist. The visit went fine, as usual Emily barely cringed at her shot, she is amazing, no tears or crying. But Michael makes up for it....full blown cresendo cry, complete with beet red face. Sophie's only concern was that the nurse knew that she DIDN'T need a shot today, and informed her of that as she walked in our exam room. Sophie enjoyed the visit, she got to see her sibs get shots, plus scored a tongue depressor and a pair of exam glove to take home, what a banner day!

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Rollie Pollie Emily

Today Emily rolled over for the first time, pretty amazing since she is so tiny still. I know you are not supposed to compare your children, but I had to check Sophie's baby book, and Emily has her beat by a full month. (Maybe Emily spends more time on the floor than her big sis ever did??) She is such a determined little thing, tonight she had no interest in eating, just wanted to get back down on the floor and practice the roll. Of course, she is not happy once she finally is on her stomach, with her arm caught beneath her. I was feeding Michael at the time, and had to keep interrupting him to flip her back over. He seems to sense she has surpassed him in this skill, and is not far behind. When they are side by side on the floor, it is really funny to see them working at it.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Hats Off to Aunt Mary



My sister Mary sent these hats for the twins and Sophie a few weeks ago. They have worn them several times already, although I don't know if they will again this year....today it was 80 degrees. Great weather for getting yardwork done. It only took me a week, but I have finally pruned everything in the backyard. March is one of my favorite months for that very reason, I love to get out there and chop things down! Every afternoon this week we have been out in the yard, the twins in their stoller, and Sophie "helping" me, or playing on her swingset. 4 is such a great age for that reason, she can totally entertain herself with her make believe stories, it is fun to watch and listen to. If I time it right with Michael and Emily, I can usually get in at least 90 minutes outside before someone needs to eat again. One thing is for sure, between the yardwork and the babies, I am keeping my chiropractor in business!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

4 Month Milestone




Today was Michael and Emily's 4 month well baby visit. They both are doing well, gaining weight and growing at the appropriate rate. They are still both small, but have finally hit the growth chart in some areas. The stats are as follows:
Michael- 12.6 lbs which is the 7th percentile, 24 1/2 inches which is the 25th percentile. The biggest thing on him? His head, which measures in the 45th percentile!
Emily- (the peanut) 11 lbs even which is the 5th percentile, and 22 inches which is not on the chart yet. Also her biggest asset is her head, which is in the 30th percentile.

They had their immunizations as well, and Michael was very fussy and warm all afternoon. Mom and Dad were over helping Terry install a ceiling fan in the kitchen, which came out great, pics to follow later. Mom was holding Michael while I was putting Sophie to bed, and he got warmer and warmer....she called to me when he started shuddering. We got the cold compress and Grandma wrapped him up. I did call the ped., his temp was just at 101, he said that was acceptable as long as we could control it with Tylenol, which he has been getting since this morning. So, he is fine, but had his very experienced Grandma thrown for a loop for a minute!

Emily as usual takes it like a trooper, just more sleepy than usual, but eating and playing fine. But big sis Sophie has a bad cold and a temp as well, tomorrow will be a no school, stay at home in pjs kind of day.

These are some new pictures...a friend of mine gave these blankets to the twins, they are called Taggies, and are really neat, already they are tryng to get the tag parts in their mouths. And Sophie reading Pooh to Emily...she certainly has her rapt attention!

Saturday, March 04, 2006

One Down, One to Go

Big news for us last night....Emily slept through the night! When you have been the one getting up every 2-3 hours to feed one of them, this accomplishment is HUGE!! She had her last bottle at 7:30pm, was asleep by 8:30pm, and didn't wake up to eat again till 5:00am this morning. That is a 9 and 1/2 hour stretch!! Michael, however, needs more work......he ate at 8pm, 1am and 5:30am. After that 5 am feeding, however, both of them slept till 9am this morning, and so did we. Sophie went home to Peachtree City with Pam yesterday for a little R&R, so we got to sleep in, pretty awesome. Yes, my life is now defined by the quantity of sleep I get each night.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Big Brother, Little Sister


One of the fun things to do with two babies is to put them together on the floor, and see what happens. Michael and Emily are really starting to notice each other, and it is funny to watch. Since they both still startle pretty easily, one of them usually ends up smacking the other, also funny to watch.

Today we had dance at 11, then went out to lunch with the dance girls, then on to the barber for Sophie's haircut. The twins were awake for dance, slept through lunch, and were both ready to eat when we got to the barbershop. As fate would have it, we ran into my friend Leslie, and she was kind enough to feed Michael while I fed Emily. When we were done, we held them on our laps facing each other. Neither one of us was paying much attention to them, since we hadn't seen each other in months and were busy catching up. I heard Michael cooing, and looked down to see him staring intently at Emily, who was smiling right back at him. I can only imagine their conversation...Hey, remember me? I was the one with my foot in your face for all those months, so glad we got out of there!!

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The Big Cheese

Yesterday Sophie had a birthday party to attend at Chuck E. Cheese. It is a running joke between my mom friends that Sophie is 4 years old, and we had still never taken her there. Since the arrival of Michael and Emily, she has gone with other families, but I had still managed to dodge the bullet. So yesterday was the big day. With Terry's help I left the house at 10:45 am with all three children, and the twins freshly bathed. Believe me, that is no small feat for one morning!

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, there is too much loud music and many blaring TV screens showing Chuck E. singing and dancing, but seeing Sophie enjoy herself was worth it. Her favorite part was when Chuck E himself made a visit to our table to sing Happy Birthday to Leanne. Sophie immediately turned to me and said "Mommy, can I go hug him?" A far cry from the days when she screamed at the thought of sitting on Santa's lap. We all got tokens to spend and she had so much fun using them for the little rides and games. For those of you not familiar with the system, you earn tickets each time you play the games, and these can be cashed in for a "prize. Sophie earned 137 tickets and she cashed it in for a candy eyeball, the most disgusting candy treat available. Michael and Emily had a great time as well; they slept through the whole thing. I told Terry it would be worth it to go again (during the week only however, I hear weekends are bedlam) just to see Sophie attempt skee ball, it was quite a sight!