Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Random Cuteness
This post is dedicated to my mom, who waits on pins and needles each month for this post. Is it me or are they getting cuter?
Monday, August 29, 2011
5 Months Old And a Development Update
Today marks five months that we have been able to hold our daughters. There are many times when I will think of an event, say trying on an outfit to see if it fits the girls, and feel as if it happened only a couple of weeks ago. Then, I sit to reason it out to realize it actually happened closer to six weeks ago.
The girls are currently settled into a pretty nice schedule. They get their really early morning snack sometime between 3 AM and 5AM, breakfast at 9 AM, eat a lunch around 12:30 PM to 1 PM, eat a quick diner at 4 PM to 5 PM (preferably closer to 4 PM), and have bedtime snack before going to sleep. They are getting pretty close to going through the night without a bottle.
They love to talk to us. They have such soft, sweet voices. They have also developed this adorable gurgle sound due to all of the saliva from teething. They laugh frequently. But they will also tell us when they want something. Their vocalizations are getting a little more distinguishable. High pitch, whiny sound will often mean they are tired or a bellowing hoot will indicate excitement.
The girls can successfully roll both ways. Alina was the first to roll from her back to her belly and Avery quickly followed. At first, they would roll over instantly upon being placed on their backs. I think the novelty has worn off some as they are back to being content (at least for a tiny bit longer) on their backs. They now will lay on their tummy, push their legs into the ground and lift their butts high into the air. We do not think it is going to be too much longer before they are crawling.
They have moods now. You can tell when they are tired or when they are inquisitive. When they are vocal, content, or grumpy. All in all, though, they are just very happy babies. They smile all the time, whenever you do anything. They love when we sing to them - thank you Pandora Children's Folk Songs channel. Odd sounding noises make them very happy and they certainly love a good raspberry to the neck.
Both are grabbing onto their feet. I love when they are on the changing table, holding their feet looking up at me. What precious a moment! They grab with purpose and intent, though often clumsy on the landing. And they grab everything!
They love gnawing on different textures, clothes and hands included. No teeth have begun to sprout up yet, but we may not be too far away from it. When they want to gnaw on something really bad, they will open their mouth wide and vigorously shake their head. There is a spinning frog on their jumper toy which is just out of reach, but both girls tried for a long time to make the impossible work by drooling all over its green head.
They are so strong! They want to be upright and love to try to stand and put pressure on their feet. You saw Avery's ab work in an earlier post and Alina is right there with her. They love to be touched and held, snuggling in close. Their hair is starting to grow, though they both thinned out pretty evenly on the top of their heads. You can tell they are identical twins more and more everyday.
Life is grand with the girls!
The girls are currently settled into a pretty nice schedule. They get their really early morning snack sometime between 3 AM and 5AM, breakfast at 9 AM, eat a lunch around 12:30 PM to 1 PM, eat a quick diner at 4 PM to 5 PM (preferably closer to 4 PM), and have bedtime snack before going to sleep. They are getting pretty close to going through the night without a bottle.
They love to talk to us. They have such soft, sweet voices. They have also developed this adorable gurgle sound due to all of the saliva from teething. They laugh frequently. But they will also tell us when they want something. Their vocalizations are getting a little more distinguishable. High pitch, whiny sound will often mean they are tired or a bellowing hoot will indicate excitement.
The girls can successfully roll both ways. Alina was the first to roll from her back to her belly and Avery quickly followed. At first, they would roll over instantly upon being placed on their backs. I think the novelty has worn off some as they are back to being content (at least for a tiny bit longer) on their backs. They now will lay on their tummy, push their legs into the ground and lift their butts high into the air. We do not think it is going to be too much longer before they are crawling.
They have moods now. You can tell when they are tired or when they are inquisitive. When they are vocal, content, or grumpy. All in all, though, they are just very happy babies. They smile all the time, whenever you do anything. They love when we sing to them - thank you Pandora Children's Folk Songs channel. Odd sounding noises make them very happy and they certainly love a good raspberry to the neck.
Both are grabbing onto their feet. I love when they are on the changing table, holding their feet looking up at me. What precious a moment! They grab with purpose and intent, though often clumsy on the landing. And they grab everything!
They love gnawing on different textures, clothes and hands included. No teeth have begun to sprout up yet, but we may not be too far away from it. When they want to gnaw on something really bad, they will open their mouth wide and vigorously shake their head. There is a spinning frog on their jumper toy which is just out of reach, but both girls tried for a long time to make the impossible work by drooling all over its green head.
They are so strong! They want to be upright and love to try to stand and put pressure on their feet. You saw Avery's ab work in an earlier post and Alina is right there with her. They love to be touched and held, snuggling in close. Their hair is starting to grow, though they both thinned out pretty evenly on the top of their heads. You can tell they are identical twins more and more everyday.
Life is grand with the girls!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Avery's Strong Ab Muscles
The girls are trying their best to lean forward. Often when holding them, they will push forward. A few times, upon awakening from a nap, Avery will shoot upright, sitting tall for the briefest of moments, then start to slump to the her side or forward. She is working those muscles! Here she is trying it in the bouncie!
Everything is Bigger
Everything has become bigger int he Wilson household:
- Bottles - Since the girls have come home, we had used the Avent 4 fl. oz. bottles. We have made the switch to the 9 fl. oz. bottles. We need to buy more bottles!
- Appetite - It felt like they would always drink 4 oz. per meal. I am pretty sure they were at that amount for at least 2.5 months. Then that could not satiate their hunger any longer. They hovered around 5 oz. for a bit, but have happily settled on 6 oz. (except for the morning feeding which still lingers at 5 oz.).
- Bottle Nipples - When the girls hit 3 months, we tried to transition them to the nipples that have 3 tiny holes. They had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the faster flow, so we stuck with the 2 holes until they grew a bit more. Now they have no problem and enjoy the fact that they can get more fluid at a faster rate. Us parents like it too, especially in the middle of the night feeding, when it is quicker for them to finish up their bottles.
- Clothes - Each brand of clothes fits differently. Gerber's shrink a lot in the dryer, so you have to always buy large. We found the WalMart brand of clothes to run quite big, leading us to tact them as the brand for plus size babies. Carter's is our staple brand that we go by. Baby Gap and Gymboree seem to run pretty similar to Carter's. While they can still wear the 3-6 month onesies, they also can easily wear the 6-9 month sizes. There is even one solid 9 months size that they can feasibly wear.
- Diapers - The girls are moving on up to size 2 of diapers (at least in Pampers size).
- Car Seat Space - We had to take out the infant body liner. We still have the one for their head in the car seats, but we had to move it higher so it wasn't squeezing their shoulders.
- Tub Space - We ditched the hammock a while back. They have been excitedly working on their splashing so the tub has been moved into the actual bathtub.
- Cribs - We just ordered the second crib. Not sure how we are going to fit everything in their room. Hopefully years of successful Tetris experience will come in handy when trying to figure this out!
Nasal Gaspirator
One afternoon, while spending some time on the floor of the girls' room, I discovered how much they enjoy our nasal aspirator. For the longest time, they were not fans of it, as it would mean either Mommy or Daddy was going to try to get a booger out. Somewhere along the line, they might have realized we were trying to help them breathe. After a long period of booger-free girls, Avery ended up with a giant milk boogey. I went to get it out with the aspirator and she started giggling when the suction occurred.
Robyn has always blown on their faces, which has always been appreciated. They will often do a slight and sudden sucking in of air with an adorable startled look on their faces. On this one particular afternoon on the floor, I picked up the aspirator and blew it in Avery's face. She loved it. I whipped out my camera for some priceless video. We think it has the potential to go viral, so do not hesitate to share!
Robyn has always blown on their faces, which has always been appreciated. They will often do a slight and sudden sucking in of air with an adorable startled look on their faces. On this one particular afternoon on the floor, I picked up the aspirator and blew it in Avery's face. She loved it. I whipped out my camera for some priceless video. We think it has the potential to go viral, so do not hesitate to share!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Already Taking Advantage
We had to make email addresses for the girls so we can have access to our doctor's online portal. We set them up to forward to my address. Ches is a big proponent of Google+. They recently launched games. Ches is now also a big proponent of the game City of Wonder. The key to social gaming is having other friends that also play the game to unlock special bonuses. The problem is that Ches and I are hermits on the social media scene (okay, yes, in real life too).
Ches had the bright idea of setting up Alina's and Avery's Google+ profiles and signed them on to play City of Wonder. Now the area of his city is twice as big as it could have been. He had signed my profile up earlier, giving him a grand total of 4 friends (the computer, named Sofia, friends you as well). He is already taking advantage of the perks of having kids.
I was seriously mocking him about subjecting our girls' accounts to such silliness. That was until he got me hooked. It is such a stupid game. All you do is click things when the timer is up. Why is it so addicting? Not sure, but it is. Now we are both taking advantage of having our girls as our social friends.
Ches had the bright idea of setting up Alina's and Avery's Google+ profiles and signed them on to play City of Wonder. Now the area of his city is twice as big as it could have been. He had signed my profile up earlier, giving him a grand total of 4 friends (the computer, named Sofia, friends you as well). He is already taking advantage of the perks of having kids.
I was seriously mocking him about subjecting our girls' accounts to such silliness. That was until he got me hooked. It is such a stupid game. All you do is click things when the timer is up. Why is it so addicting? Not sure, but it is. Now we are both taking advantage of having our girls as our social friends.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today was a Friday. We had a rough week at work and I wanted to devote a large chunk of time that evening to enjoying Washington's brews. Since we were trying to have a baby, even though it was before I was late, I thought it prudent to take a pregnancy test to get the all clear before the night of debauchery.
We had a pregnancy test in the closet, you know, the cheapo kind. I had taken them before. If negative, the window would stay clear. If positive, a blue vertical line should appear. When I looked at the result this certain Friday morning before going into work, an extremely faint smidgen of blue appeared, but it was definitely not a definitive line. I then walked to the bedroom to ask Ches if he thought it was a blue line. He was also unable to tell due to the faintness of the color. Since it was different from the previous times, I decided to call the hotline to see if they could provide clarity.
Apparently, this was so common of a question that they provided the answer on a recorded message. "Even the faintest of color is a positive result." We were shell-shocked. We promptly called the doctor's office to see if we should come in for confirmation. They told us that they literally would use the same type of test so if we had already done one, that should suffice. We decided that we would buy a digital pregnancy test at lunch and would let that tell us the truth of the matter.
We got ready for work and went in like it was a normal day. It was surreal to be sitting at a computer and have the occasional thought that I might be pregnant. We had been trying for over half a year with no luck. We were starting to think we should just focus on our work and try again later with hopefully more success. But I was hopeful then.
Lunch came tortuously slow. We had an abnormally brisk walk to the grocery store, bought the test and promptly returned home. I took the test, only had to wait 45 seconds, and then saw the result written in plain English.
I turned to Ches, who was standing right next to the bathroom, and told him I was pregnant. We shared of few moments of elation before turning to call our immediate families. Mom and dad were easy to get a hold of, but we had to wait until Ches' parents could call us back since they were chilling in Guatemala. Jennifer and Chris were really excited.
And then we had to compose ourselves as the end of the lunch break rapidly closed upon us. I was wrong to think the morning part of work had dragged on for ages, since the last 3 hours crawled by slower than an ant stuck in molasses. We had the whole weekend to let the reality set in before having to be back in the office. For this, we are eternally grateful.
In some form or another, our girls have been in existence for over a year. How quick a year goes by.
We had a pregnancy test in the closet, you know, the cheapo kind. I had taken them before. If negative, the window would stay clear. If positive, a blue vertical line should appear. When I looked at the result this certain Friday morning before going into work, an extremely faint smidgen of blue appeared, but it was definitely not a definitive line. I then walked to the bedroom to ask Ches if he thought it was a blue line. He was also unable to tell due to the faintness of the color. Since it was different from the previous times, I decided to call the hotline to see if they could provide clarity.
Apparently, this was so common of a question that they provided the answer on a recorded message. "Even the faintest of color is a positive result." We were shell-shocked. We promptly called the doctor's office to see if we should come in for confirmation. They told us that they literally would use the same type of test so if we had already done one, that should suffice. We decided that we would buy a digital pregnancy test at lunch and would let that tell us the truth of the matter.
We got ready for work and went in like it was a normal day. It was surreal to be sitting at a computer and have the occasional thought that I might be pregnant. We had been trying for over half a year with no luck. We were starting to think we should just focus on our work and try again later with hopefully more success. But I was hopeful then.
Lunch came tortuously slow. We had an abnormally brisk walk to the grocery store, bought the test and promptly returned home. I took the test, only had to wait 45 seconds, and then saw the result written in plain English.
I turned to Ches, who was standing right next to the bathroom, and told him I was pregnant. We shared of few moments of elation before turning to call our immediate families. Mom and dad were easy to get a hold of, but we had to wait until Ches' parents could call us back since they were chilling in Guatemala. Jennifer and Chris were really excited.
And then we had to compose ourselves as the end of the lunch break rapidly closed upon us. I was wrong to think the morning part of work had dragged on for ages, since the last 3 hours crawled by slower than an ant stuck in molasses. We had the whole weekend to let the reality set in before having to be back in the office. For this, we are eternally grateful.
In some form or another, our girls have been in existence for over a year. How quick a year goes by.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Alina and the Totem Toy
I was rummaging through my wallet the other day and happened upon an gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond. I have no clue how long that was sitting there. It is a good chance that it was gifted to me when we lived in Gainesville (which was 4.5 years ago) since there is not a store that is easily accessible to us. Anyhoo, I checked online to see if there were any funds still left on the card. To my surprise, I had $30.
So of course we decided to spend it on the babies. We are a fan of the Lamaze brand of toys 
(we have Captain Calamari and the Knot) so we decided to pick up a couple more. The Peacock has now joined our family, and the girls have been ecstatic withe this addition. They especially love the black and white patterns on the back of the tail plumage. We also bought the awesome totem toy, which Alina took a liking to. The video below is when we showed her the toy for the first time.
So of course we decided to spend it on the babies. We are a fan of the Lamaze brand of toys 
(we have Captain Calamari and the Knot) so we decided to pick up a couple more. The Peacock has now joined our family, and the girls have been ecstatic withe this addition. They especially love the black and white patterns on the back of the tail plumage. We also bought the awesome totem toy, which Alina took a liking to. The video below is when we showed her the toy for the first time.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Sleep Update
So the girls are four and a half months old. About three weeks ago, they were going 4 hours in between feedings at night. We often timed it to hit (like clockwork) at 9 PM, 1 AM, and 5 AM. Then the girls suddenly started going from 9 PM to 2 AM and then 6AM. This was also fairly predictable for a week or so.
Now, things are going crazy - in a good way. They jumped to 6 hours a few times, then back to 5 hours. The doctor told us that the highest incidence of SIDs happens during the fourth month. There is a correlation between fewer SIDs cases and the child sleeping in the parents' bedroom. For this reason, Ches has pumped up the twin-sized air mattress and has slept in the girls room the past two nights. The girls also happened to go at least 7 hours after the night feeding both nights. Ches will continue to sleep in the girls room, especially if it somehow encourages them to sleep longer and better.
Regardless of feeding time, the girls prefer to be out of the crib around 5:30 AM. We are not sure if it is associated with the room growing brighter from the sun or if they obtained the perfect amount of sleep. Since Robyn takes the morning shift, she will bring the girls out to the living room, place them on pillows next to her on the couch, make faces at them for a little until they fall back to sleep fairly quickly. Robyn has been out hiking and down in Portland the last few days, so we have have started pulling the girls out to cuddle with us in bed for the first part of the morning. They have loved coming into mommy & daddy's room to fall asleep for a little while longer.
To try and minimize the amount of time we are up for that early morning feeding, I get the bottles with water ready before we head to bed. So when it is time to go, one person has to start changing the girls while the other goes out to mix in the formula and heat it up to the perfect temperature. We take turns doing each part. Whoever does the bottles gets to start feeding the first clean & happy baby. A few minutes later, the other person comes out, washes their hands, and feeds the second hungry baby. And then the race is on!
The girls are not the most effective burpers at night. They often fall completely asleep right after the bottle, making it neigh impossible to release the pent up air bubbles. The goal of the race is to have the baby that finished their bottle and burped before the other baby has done the same. Obviously, this is a race of chance, since we have no direct control over which baby will ultimately win. But the prize is so very sweet: to sit on the couch, with the sleepy (or occasionally hyper) girl cuddled in your arms. It is such a peaceful, quiet time. That is until the other baby burps or the other person is convinced no burp will come. Then the girls must be put back in the crib.
Nights are way nicer than they used to be! We were reminiscing on the time when they girls were only on a three hour cycle and fussed all the time in the crib. Now if only I could get past my stupid sleep issues! I still wake up very frequently, even if there is no sounds from the baby girls! But I am sure it will get better!
Now, things are going crazy - in a good way. They jumped to 6 hours a few times, then back to 5 hours. The doctor told us that the highest incidence of SIDs happens during the fourth month. There is a correlation between fewer SIDs cases and the child sleeping in the parents' bedroom. For this reason, Ches has pumped up the twin-sized air mattress and has slept in the girls room the past two nights. The girls also happened to go at least 7 hours after the night feeding both nights. Ches will continue to sleep in the girls room, especially if it somehow encourages them to sleep longer and better.
Regardless of feeding time, the girls prefer to be out of the crib around 5:30 AM. We are not sure if it is associated with the room growing brighter from the sun or if they obtained the perfect amount of sleep. Since Robyn takes the morning shift, she will bring the girls out to the living room, place them on pillows next to her on the couch, make faces at them for a little until they fall back to sleep fairly quickly. Robyn has been out hiking and down in Portland the last few days, so we have have started pulling the girls out to cuddle with us in bed for the first part of the morning. They have loved coming into mommy & daddy's room to fall asleep for a little while longer.
To try and minimize the amount of time we are up for that early morning feeding, I get the bottles with water ready before we head to bed. So when it is time to go, one person has to start changing the girls while the other goes out to mix in the formula and heat it up to the perfect temperature. We take turns doing each part. Whoever does the bottles gets to start feeding the first clean & happy baby. A few minutes later, the other person comes out, washes their hands, and feeds the second hungry baby. And then the race is on!
The girls are not the most effective burpers at night. They often fall completely asleep right after the bottle, making it neigh impossible to release the pent up air bubbles. The goal of the race is to have the baby that finished their bottle and burped before the other baby has done the same. Obviously, this is a race of chance, since we have no direct control over which baby will ultimately win. But the prize is so very sweet: to sit on the couch, with the sleepy (or occasionally hyper) girl cuddled in your arms. It is such a peaceful, quiet time. That is until the other baby burps or the other person is convinced no burp will come. Then the girls must be put back in the crib.
Nights are way nicer than they used to be! We were reminiscing on the time when they girls were only on a three hour cycle and fussed all the time in the crib. Now if only I could get past my stupid sleep issues! I still wake up very frequently, even if there is no sounds from the baby girls! But I am sure it will get better!
Lunch Time!
Ches started full time work in the office at the beginning of August. Luckily, the office is only a ten-minute walk away from home. We miss Ches terribly since he was such a big help. Before, when he was on the six hours in office and two at home each day, I would often have to only cover one feeding by myself. On full days of him in the office, depending on when the first feeding of the morning hits, I can end up doing three solo feedings a day. But our girls are so wonderful and frequently patient that it hasn't been too much of a problem yet.
Since we prefer not to go nine hours in a row without seeing each other, I pack up the girls (sometimes Robyn packs up a lunch for both of us) and meet Ches in a park that is a 3 minute walk away from his office. We get to spend almost thirty minutes in wonderful weather at a beautiful and deserted park. We sit on a picnic table in the shade while Ches eats. I will hold one of the girls (whoever happens to be awake), and then we move over to the activity area with the swings and slide.
We all walk Chesley back to his office, say goodbye for a little longer, and I will typically walk around with the girls for another half hour. Meeting up in the park makes me so happy. I know how hard Ches works to support his family and we could not be more proud or thankful. But it is hard for him to be away from his daughters. So every day that the weather permits, we will continue to meet Daddy in the park for lunch as a little token of our appreciation. We love you, Chesley!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Four Month Doctors Appointment
We had our scheduled doctors appointment this morning. We were very excited to see how our girls have grown since the last visit at two months. Here are their stats:
AVERY
AVERYWeight: 13 lbs 6.5 oz (50th Percentile)
Length: 23.75 in (25th-50th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 41.5 cm (50th-75th Percentile)
ALINA
Weight: 14 lbs 4 oz (50th-75th Percentile)
Length: 24.5 in (50th-75th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 41.8 cm (75th Percentile)
Length: 23.75 in (25th-50th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 41.5 cm (50th-75th Percentile)
ALINA
Weight: 14 lbs 4 oz (50th-75th Percentile)
Length: 24.5 in (50th-75th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 41.8 cm (75th Percentile)
So our girls have gigantic heads. The Wilson head - both Ches and Chris have large heads. And so do the girls. The doctor continued to be impressed by their physical prowess (height of lifting head & chest, hold head up straight, being pulled up into a sitting position, weight they can carry on their feet). We asked him questions that had come up in the last two months.
And then came time for the shots. Ches had Alina and I was holding Avery. After Alina had her painful turn, I placed Avery on the bed and held her little hands. She looked me in the eye, gave me a half-smile, and then the most heartbreaking look as the nurse gave her the first of three shots. Her eyes seem to ask me "What happened, Mommy?" She cried for a while, just like her sister did, and then fell asleep in the car seat.
They were champs the rest of the day, and had only one hour of sorrowful crying. We gave them some infant's tylenol since they had a bit of a fever and hopefully to take the sharpness out of their pain. They eventually fell asleep until the next feeding. We got bunches of smile out of them after that point in the evening.
They are such healthy and happy baby girls.
And then came time for the shots. Ches had Alina and I was holding Avery. After Alina had her painful turn, I placed Avery on the bed and held her little hands. She looked me in the eye, gave me a half-smile, and then the most heartbreaking look as the nurse gave her the first of three shots. Her eyes seem to ask me "What happened, Mommy?" She cried for a while, just like her sister did, and then fell asleep in the car seat.
They were champs the rest of the day, and had only one hour of sorrowful crying. We gave them some infant's tylenol since they had a bit of a fever and hopefully to take the sharpness out of their pain. They eventually fell asleep until the next feeding. We got bunches of smile out of them after that point in the evening.
They are such healthy and happy baby girls.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Learning to Gnaw
The girls have been busy exploring the world via their mouths. At first, we had to hold the toys in theirs mouths while they sucked on them. In a matter of only a couple of weeks, they are now picking them up and gnawing on it mostly of their own volition (you can see Ches helping out a little on the video). With the balls and blankets, the girls can do it all by themselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)