Development Update!

Our girls are growing and doing new things every day! They now spend most of their time awake during the day, which is awesome to spend the quality time together, but quite tiring when there is no break! They are now on four-hour cycles with the occasional five-hour stint either at night or when they have been in their car seats. They eat between four and five ounces each meal.

The twins make a whole new host of sounds. Long gone are the days of goat/predator/dolphin speak. They hold conversations of coos with us and each other. We will try to get some video since attempting to describe these sounds falls out of the realm of possibility to convey with words. Alina can go on for 30 minutes straight telling us about all her on-goings. She especially loves to tell her Ugly Dolls how much she loves them.

Avery enjoys showing her physical prowess by rolling over almost every opportunity we put her down for tummy time. As of yesterday, she is extremely close to turning over from her back to her belly. She will roll her head and shoulders to the side and lift up her leg, but she just needs a smidgen more oomph to do it. She very well may beat her sister by rolling over from both sides before Alina gets one down. But that is okay. Alina keeps trying her best and is really close!

They have so many facial expressions! Not only are they smiling more often, but they have more defined grumpy faces, several contemplatives looks, and even a few expressions of surprise. I love sitting and making different faces back and forth. You can really tell they are trying to figure out what I am doing.

They both clasp their hands in front of their chests. They have also discovered the joys of sucking on their tiny thumbs. We find this to be absolutely adorable even though we will pull their thumb out of their mouth to try and stymie the habit from fulling forming. Their batting at toys is becoming less flail like and more controlled. They still cannot hold toys by themselves, but their grasping is becoming stronger. I know this to be true since I apparently just got my hair cut to the perfect baby-pulling level.

We have started shopping for teething toys. The deluge of drool has begun. Ches loves to joke that it is very obvious they are my daughters since they will leave giant drool stains on their shirts. I can't help it if I have an overactive salivary gland that I may have passed along to the girls! I am told that the drooling will only continue to get worse as the teething develops. I envision ourselves being like the owners of Saint Bernards - always having a drool rag in hand.

Every day with the girls is a gift. We feel so blessed to be the parents of such wonderful babies. They are such happy little girls which pleases their mommy and daddy to no end. Wonder what they will develop tomorrow!

Burping Faces!

Here are some cute faces the girls were making while being burped one day. Alina has the headband and Avery is in the blue and pink sun dress.

Ches' First Father's Day

We had a low-key but very enjoyable day in honor of Chesley being a new dad. To boot, we were lucky enough to be able to spend the time with Ches' dad, John. John and Robyn had spent the previous night at the gorgeous Scenic Beach State Park. We met up with them for a feast of yummy grilled food. Below is a picture I took of the park a few years ago, just to show you the spectacular view from this place:

Of course, it was cloudy so we could not see all of the peaks, but still a lovely escape from our apartment.

We grilled up some BBQ chicken, Uli's heavey garlic chicken sausages, turkey burgers, veggie skewers, baked beans, corn on the cob, and had potato salad, pasta salad, and cantaloupe on the side. We had a very decadent chocolate cream pie for dessert. There was also plenty of good beer and wine to satisfy our thirsts.


The girls had the best time laying on a sheet and looking up at all the trees. They enjoyed the nature sounds and even tracked a couple of birds that were flying around. I have to imagine they also appreciated the freshness of the air as compared to the stagnant air in the apartment. They were the happiest babies cooing all the time. They especially loved drinking their bottles outdoors. Guess it is a lot prettier of scenery to look at while being burped.

While the girls took a nap - actually, it was Avery who napped while Alina cooed, flailed, and stared out the window - in the RV, we played a best-of-3 game of horseshoes. It was mothers versus fathers. Being Father's Day and all, Robyn and I let them win. Of course we made it a close battle so they would think we were actually trying our best.

That night was some of the best sleep the girls ever had. So all in all, it was a perfectly lovely day.

Ten Things We Did Not Know About Babies

We read a bunch of books, looked at many websites, and participated in multiple forums in order to prepare for parenthood. Now that we have become mommy & daddy, we have discovered that not everything can be conveyed about the experience of owning a child. Here are ten things that were completely unexpected (in no particular order):

1. Babies have awesome farts - Not sure if our girls are just especially gassy, but they let loose some really loud and funny-sounding farts. This amuses Ches to no end.
   
2. You will be peed on....a lot - I have seen this happen with boys on America's Funniest Home Videos. My dad told me that girls can do it too, just that it is harder to predict where the stream will land. I guess I was just naive, but I thought that this would happen only a few times in our diaper changing career. Little did we know that it would occur as a regular weekly event! Luckily, the washable mats catch it most of the time.
   
3. Babies have the technology to make poop missiles - As explained in the post about the visit to Babies R' Us, they launch these smelly loads ever so often. Ches witnessed the projectile stream fly over the diaper in waiting to make it all the way to the laundry basket, which is a good foot and a half away from the changing table. Impressive!
   
4. Burping sucks - Especially night burpings. Our doctor says to give up after 10 minutes of trying. But sometimes we can just feel the burp looming inside the girl, waiting to turn into a painful gas bubble in their intestines, so we continue well past the 10 minute mark. The girls especially hate the mid-meal burp. They get seriously pissed when you take the bottle/nipple away form them when they have not declared themselves finished. Do you know how hard it is to try to burp a crying baby? We do.
   
5. Hiccups sucks - Our girls are no strangers to hiccups. Not only did they get them everyday in the uterus, this trend has continued everyday of their sans-umbilical cord life. For the first month and a half, the girls had no problem when the hiccups would come. In fact, it was even quite adorable how their whole body would jump as their diaphragm spasmed. We thoroughly enjoyed the cute sound they would make when they left their mouths open. But then it all changed...now they hate the hiccups and will cry because they have no clue what is happening to them. So the cuteness we learned to associate with the first sound of hiccups has turned into a foreboding dread. It is only a matter of minutes before Alina & Avery will cry due to the stimulation of their phrenic nerve.
   
6. How badly you yearn for them to smile at you the first couple of months - and how amazing it is once they do - The first two months of a newborn's life can be quite challenging for the parents. The mother is dealing with recovery from the delivery and the father is trying to take care of the wife and new child. You are sleep deprived, malnourished, stressed, and living life in 2-3 hour cycles. All this for a being that cannot do anything on its own other than cry really loud and soil themselves. And then one day, you are looking at them when suddenly they make direct eye contact and smile. You smile back and your baby's smile grows even bigger, providing the proof that it was you that caused the grin instead of their internal gaseous functions.
   
7. Hands get rough and dry from all of the hand washing - I was not prepared for how many times we wash our hands any given day. If you are expecting a child, go to Sam's Club or Costco to buy the wholesale size of liquid hand soap that you can use to refill your current soap containers. You will save some serious money that way. At first, my hands had some raw, tough spots on them, but it only took 10 weeks for them to acclimate to their new state of cleanly dryness. Only 10 weeks...I guess I am partially to blame since I refused to use lotion, not wanting to get it on the girls.
   
8. Be prepared to be stopped whenever you go for people to admire your progeny - Everyone loves cute babies. I can only speak from our experience, but we have to add an additional 30 minutes for any trip. I mean any time we go to Wal Mart or the big grocery store up here. The longer you are out in public, the more time you should plan on being stopped. Invariably, we will be asked: Is it twins? Boy and a girl (people always think that the girl dressed in purple or green is actually a boy, despite the bows and frills)? What are their names? How old are they? After the questions, the personal story of a set of twins they know will doubtlessly follow.
   
9. It is freaking hard to try to keep a sleepy baby awake - We do not recommend trying to do this. Since it is vital to our sanity to keep the girls on the same schedules, we have spent many hours attempting this. Without a doubt, it will always end with frustrated parents and a crying, tired baby. Now, until they are a little older, we just let them sleep when they want and embrace the lack of down-time for us adults.
   
10. I never would have though we would need to put jock itch cream on our babies - Yes, the doctor has seriously prescribed Lotrimin for our baby girls. While their Michelin Man folds are adorable, they can also harbor living organisms, such as yeast. So our yeasty girls get jock itch cream for their neck and armpit folds.
    

Christina Dorn McKeeby Rocks!

Christina was one of my closest friends in high school. I still have the memory book she made me. She has always been extremely crafty and one of the most thoughtful people I have known. As soon as she heard I was pregnant with twin girls, she asked what color of yarn to buy so she could knit them matching hats. And let me tell you how adorable they are...oh wait! I can show you! This is Alina modeling the generous gift from Mrs. McKeeby! Avery was already swooped away to have her bath so I will try to get a picture of both of them wearing it next time! Many thanks, Christina!

Above, Lina is in her thoughtful pose and below she is waving hello.

And here she is just being adorable!

First Physical Milestone for Avery!

YAY! Avery rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time today! She has been practicing for a while, but she actually accomplished the task about an hour ago. She only did it once, but that is good enough. And better yet...both Ches and I were watching when she did it!

Avery definitely seems to be ahead in the physical department, but Alina beats Avery when it comes to cooing and smiles. Alina was trying her best to roll over as well, but very promptly gave up and fell fast asleep.

Too bad we did not get a video of the momentous occasion! We did, however, get some video of the girls enjoying their play mat time. Avery really enjoys kicking one specific toy that rattles. When her daddy comes in to give her kisses, she starts kicking it even more frantically than the previous pace. Alina spends a lot of time being fascinated by the blinky lights on the play mat Ches' boss gifted us.

Outdoor Photo Shoot!

It was such a lovely day last Thursday that we decided to take their girls out in the sun for some photos in their adorable outfits. Hope these bring you all as much joy as they do for me!

Too Cute Not to Share

Here is Alina in one of mommy's favorite outfits! Love the eye contact she is giving!

Catching Some Sun

Since it has been absolutely gorgeous out here, the girls have been enjoying some sun. They need their vitamin D anyway! I am so thankful our apartment has the grassy hill in the back. You can barely see into any other apartment and the one you can see has two cute kitties! Here are a couple cute pics of Alina in the sun in our backyard.

Twin Cuteness

Here are the girls together being cute! I love putting them next to each other. We ran into a father of 18-month twin girls who lives on the island and he said they didn't start becoming aware of one another until 7 or 8 months. Ches likes to ponder if it is going to be harder or easier for the girls to recognize themselves in the mirror since they have had another person who looks just like them to stare at this whole time already! Alina is on the right and Avery on the left.



Ches is talking to the cats in the background in case you were wondering.

Smiles

The girls have started to gives us nice, toothless grins! We get the Elvis-lip grin, the laughing smile, the tongue-hanging-out-of-mouth expression. Their favorite places for the happy faces are on the changing table and the bath tub. Often times, we will get a grin when giving tons of kisses. I was trying to capture Ches giving Alina a barrage of furry kisses to elicit a smile for the camera, but we caught something else...



Pardon my gasping laugh - I was totally caught off guard!

After cleaning up the spit-up, we decided to try again. If you look closely, you can see the smiles! Poor Avery was starting to cry in the background, so I had to cut it short!

Walks

We love walking with the girls! Not only is it great exercise, we get to show them off to everyone!

Friday was my first solo venture out of the house with the girls. In the morning, I was thinking of spending 30 minutes on the recumbent bike, but it was just too darn pretty outside and the girls didn't want to be put down to allow the ride. After a really tough feeding, I buckled the girls in the car seats (which snap into our stroller) in preparation for a walk to meet Ches at his office so we can all walk home as a family. Of course, as soon as I turn away to so do something, I hear a very loud poopy fart from one of the girls. Since it was unclear as to who had done it, I did the relatively reliable butt smell test and went to change Alina.

It was so nice to walk to Ches' office to meet him! So nice that we have done it for 3 days in a row and hope to do it today as well. It is still a bit of a work out for me to carry both car seats and to push the stroller up the hills, but I am eager to become stronger. These girls are only going to continue to grow. I have learned that it is best to wear real shoes instead of my trusty old flip flops, much to my chagrin.

We also were able to make it out to the Grand Forest this weekend. The weather was perfect Friday through Sunday. If anything, it was almost a bit too warm at slightly above 80 degrees. Sorry all of you Florida people...I cannot imagine living in 95 degree weather right now! Both the girls were awake at different points in the walk. It is nice to introduce them to real nature and not just the landscaped trees on the walk to Safeway. Granted, I think it is truly more for our enjoyment at this point since they are still just little stimulus boxes, but soon enough they will be able to acknowledge the differences.