Lest We Forget...

Here is a holiday picture of our "firstborn".

What a Difference a Year Makes...

What a difference a year makes. Last year the girls posed perfectly with Santa. (See top picture.) Even at that time I knew it was probably the first and last time I would ever get such a great shot. Boy, was I right.

Fast forward to this year. (See bottom picture.) It took THREE attempts to even get this picture. The first time they absolutely freaked when we tried to put them in Santa’s lap. Then, we let them walk around a bit to get used to the man in the red suit and then tried again – no dice. The THIRD time I had the idea of keeping them in the stroller and then backing them up without seeing Santa. This was the result. After the flash of the first picture L started crying. At least if this picture does not make a good holiday card, it's a good story to share with the girls when they get older. :)

In both pictures, L is on the left and A on the right.

18-Month Checkup

The girls have their 18-month check up last Thursday.

Both girls are doing great. They were 60th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height (although I think the height measurement was a bit too generous).

Here are their stats:
A: 24lbs, 1oz and 33 inches
L: 24lbs, 8oz and 33 inches

Who would ever think that they had started out as 32-week preemies? :)


What they are up to...

Their walking is turning into running.

They understand everything we say to them.

They are cutting molars but still only have two of their top front teeth. (L has 4 bottom front and A has 3).

They both LOVE books... both to "read" and to chew on.

A loves to build things with blocks... and L loves to knock them down.

Their favorite shows are Barney, The Wiggles, Teletubbies, and Elmo's World.

They love to follow along with the dance moves during Wiggles and Barney songs.

L loves pasta and A won't touch it, literally.

Cereal

The girls are learning how to eat with utensils. First we tried spoons with oatmeal. At first they seemed a bit confused about what to do, but once they got the hang of it, they seemed quite pleased that they could do it themselves.

Picture captions: Now, what do you want me to do with this? I will distract you with my cute smile while I discreetly drop the spoon off of my tray. Lost my spoon... now what?? Two spoons are better than one. This is fun! (First three pics are of L, last two of A.)

Playground Fun

L in purple, A in pink.

Cute Twin Moment

Considering that they are identical twins and how much time they spend together, the girls do not seem to acknowledge each other all that much. Occasionally they seem to crack each other up. But by now I thought they might have some sort of secret language and be completely inseparable. Most of the time it is as if they just co-exist in the same space and most of their play time involves them playing separately with different toys. However, now and then, you catch a moment like this that is such a neat part of having twins...

Who Needs a Hoover...

... when you have a dog to clean up after messy 17-month-old twins??

The dog is getting fat, but at least my kitchen floor doesn't need to be cleaned three times a day.

They DO drop food off of their trays on purpose -- what toddler doesn't, right? -- but so far it is not with the intention of feeding the dog. If they start that, the dog will seriously need to go on a diet!

Ladybug Ladybug

Can You Guess...?

Can you guess from these pictures who loves pasta ("ronies") and who doesn't? :)

Quick Update

L did great yesterday.

She is such a strong baby! A couple of hours after the surgery she was home playing and eating like her old self.

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes.

L is Having Outpatient Surgery on Thursday

L's procedure to correct the surgical hernias is this Thursday.

While it is a relatively minor procedure, it does involve anesthesia so we would appreciate your prayers and good wishes.

Will post an update after the surgery.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I wanted to remind everyone that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Nearly 8 years ago, breast cancer claimed the life of my sister, Cindy. She is the dear, sweet aunt my daughters will never have the good fortune to know.

Please do your part to help prevent another family from experience the loss we have. Participate in and/or make a donation to a local breast cancer walk. Go to this website: www.thebreastcancersite.com and help fund free mammograms for underpriviledged women. Wear a pink ribbon for the month of October to show your support. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you DO.

Thank you.

New Look

Here is what the girls look like without a mop of hair hanging in their eyes...

Apple-Picking Cuties

We took the girls apple picking for the first time on Sunday. They weren't quite sure what to make of it but enjoyed walking (and stumbling) around exploring the orchard and picking up the apples that had fallen off of the trees. A (in the pink top) decided to taste one -- turns out apples make good teethers!

A New Perspective

A couple of weeks ago, we finally turned the girls car seats around so they are now forward facing.* As you can see by their expressions, they were quite pleased with this change of scenery, this new perspective during car rides. (A's picture is on the top, L's the bottom.)

They are enjoying the extra legroom and being able to see Mommy & Daddy. They also are quite excited about being able to toss whatever they can get hold of onto the floor. Fun stuff.

*Rear facing is safer so we decided to keep them that way for a while even though they had met the requirements for forward facing (of one year AND 20 pounds) when they turned one the end of May.

Consult with Pediatric Surgeon

Yesterday, we took L for a consultation with a pediatric surgeon. She has two small hernias from her heart surgery: the larger one is where the drainage tube had been placed after her surgery (visible in the above picture) and another at the bottom of her incision area.

We have been told that the hernias will not go away on their own. It is a relatively quick and easy procedure to correct them but would require anesthesia. We were told it would take 30-45 minutes. Even though L has already been through a major, major surgery, the thought of having our baby put under makes us nervous.

It is really a cosmetic issue at this point. However, while the hernias are small now they could get larger over time if we don't correct them soon.

The surgeon came very highly recommended from several different doctors. If we do go forward with it, we may have it done in the next couple of weeks. I'll keep you all posted...


Sleep Update:

I am very happy to report that after a mere 8 days everyone in our house is sleeping better and longer these days. Woo hoo!

The girls have done a great job of adapting to their new bedtime routine. While there is usually some fussing while trying to get them to go asleep, they usually STAY asleep and have been sleeping for about 10 hours. I am practically giddy over the extra time I now have in the evening and in the morning too, not to mention more room in the bed -- guess we don't need a king-size bed after all. LOL.

The Adventurer

Well, we have a very adventurous little girl on our hands -- and it's not the one we thought it would be! Yesterday, we went to the shore for the day. Last time we took the girls they both played contentedly in the shade on a blanket under an umbrella. This time, L kept walking off by herself! Kind of cute to see that little girl walking down the beach, bucket in hand, but scary at the same time that she will wander off so easily... It surprised us that L would do that because she has always been the more cautious of the two girls. Guess not any more! Meanwhile, A happily played and stayed on our blanket under the umbrella. Guess she is like her mommy and isn't crazy about being in the sun. :)

Unfortunately, Mommy forgot to pack the camera so we don't have pictures to show of the little adventurer (other than a couple of grainy phone camera pictures). But the memories are there...

Better Late Than Never

This week we started sleep training the girls. Yeah, yeah, I know. This is something you are supposed to do when babies are infants. But, better late than never, right??

We had gotten ourselves into a pretty tough spot. We were putting the girls to bed already asleep (and they usually weren't falling asleep until 9pm or later) and if/when they woke up during the night or early morning we put them in our bed. As you can imagine, that had left us with little time in the evening for ourselves to relax or get some things done and also left us with not enough sleep.

Well, fortunately, I came to my senses and finally realized that we had to change this terrible routine. So, we are on Day 4 of this "sleep experiment" and I have to say (while risking jinxing myself) that it is going pretty well. The night of Day 2 was pretty rough but last night we saw great improvements. They were both asleep by 9:15 and, while I heard some fussing a few times during the night, no one got up crying. They both woke up at 5:15 but with a little coaxing and soothing went back to sleep for another two hours.

I am not foolish enough to believe it will only get better from here -- I am sure we still have some tough nights ahead -- but hopefully we are on our way to well-rested, happier babies and parents!

15 Month Check Up

The girls had their 15 month checkup. Both of them are doing just fine.

Their stats:

L
Height: 30 1/2"
Weight: 22 lbs, 12 oz.

A
Height: 30 1/4"
Weight: 22 lbs, 5 oz.

They each grew exactly one inch since their 12 month appointment. L literally gained on A in the weight department -- there were less ounces apart last time -- but L, until very recently, has been the much better eater.

They got a couple of shots. As you can imagine those were not appreciated. Normally, the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shot would be given at this time but, with our doctor's input, we have decided to delay their getting it. Partly because they were already getting two shots today. But mainly because as former preemies we felt it would be better to wait a bit longer to give them such a big shot. Plus, since they are not in daycare there is less of a concern of them actually contracting any of those illnesses.

The doctor is pleased with their progress. They are in the 50th percentile for height and weight (using their chronological and not corrected age). They are walking. They say at least 5 words -- actually they can say quite a few more as well as an array of animal sounds. :) And they are eating table foods 3 times a day. She was also pleased that we are done with bottles. Next up: Work on phasing out the pacis. That should be fun... Yikes!

Their pacis go everywhere with them as illustrated in the above picture.

Suggestions on how to "break the habit" would be very much appreciated.

Milestone

Here is one of the last pictures of the girls drinking from bottles -- as well as being a cute picture of them holding hands!


This week, we switched from bottles to sippy cups. The girls had been getting "juice" (25% juice, 75% water) in sippy cups for some time now, but were still getting all of their milk in bottles. I decided to go the "cold turkey" route and one day earlier this week put all of their milk in sippy cups.

So far so good.

What a relief to their mom who is just a little bit tired of hand-washing the countless bottles they have gone through over the past 15 months. (Yes, I know that baby bottles can go in the dishwasher. I am just too particular about making sure they are clean to use this method. LOL) And the timing was definitely right as they had decided it was great fun to turn the bottles upside down and watch the milk drip out and make puddles on their highchair trays.

Please note: I am keeping this blog open to the public. Because of this, I am taking certain measures in order to protect my family's privacy. I will refer to the girls by their first initials, "L" and "A". Also, I will not discuss where we live -- perhaps the state, but nothing more specific. I ask that anyone posting a comment that knows us to please do the same. Thank you!

Formerly of "Two Peas in a Pod"

Hey all.

Many of you followed us along on our pregnancy journey through my "Two Peas in a Pod" blog. After the twins (safe -- thank goodness!) arrival, I found it very difficult to keep up with a blog and therefore let it go.

Well, it's hard to believe it but the twins' first year is already behind us. It was a crazy, and yet wonderful, time.

Since so many of our friends and family live far away, I decided to start another blog so that you all could keep up with the latest on our girls.

Hopefully there will be lots of stories and pictures to share!