The Two Month Doctor's Appointment

This morning was the 3rd well-baby visit to the doctor's office. The girls were on their best behavior for the nurse and doctor. We all like the pediatrician, but I think Ches was biased before we even met him since Dr. Monk has a pretty sweet beard.

Each well baby visit, they check the girls' weight, height, and head circumference. They write the information on a sheet for us to take home, but when the doctor took the sheets to input the data, we never got them back. So all I actually remember is the weights: Alina is now an even 11 pounds and Avery is a little behind at 10 pounds 4 ounces. These weights both fall in the fiftieth percentile, so they have caught up to the average. While I don't remember the numbers, I do remember that both of the girls fall into the 5-10% in regards to their height. So, basically, we have short, chubby babies! Just the way we like them! *Can you guess who is who in the pictures?*

Unfortunately, they also do immunizations on the two month check-up. They received the rotavirus vaccine orally. We each took a baby and squeezed the sweet, syrupy liquid into their cheeks. Alina took it down easily, leading us to think she will take after her mommy and be a major sweet-a-holic. Avery struggled and kept letting it ooze out of her mouth. She did get enough in, but it took a little time and coaxing.

The other vaccines were given in three shots, all administered to the thighs (two on one side and one of the other thigh). Both the girls were champs, crying when they were given, but then quieted down very quickly once in the security of our arms. They were both happily asleep by the time we were leaving the doctor's office. The next appointment is not until August 2nd, for the four month check-up.

We made it home after picking up infant acetaminophen from Rite Aide (and made sure to get the right kind, since tylenol had a recall on theirs recently). After feeding the girls, Avery ended up with the hiccups. From that point on, all hell broke loose. The poor girls were in some pain from the shots. Both of them were crying inconsolably for about four hours. Ches called into work to help soothe the babies as best we could. Ches held Avery the entire time - every time he went to put her down, she would start up again. I was cuddling Alina on the couch. Any movement and the crying would start again. Even in these comfy spots, they would wake and cry until they got tired again and drifted back into a restless sleep.

Talk about heartbreaking! All we could do was hold them and tell them how much we love them, but that did naught to relieve the pain they felt. We felt utterly helpless. I am so thankful Ches was there. I do not think I could have managed that situation by myself and come out sane. We understand the need for the immunizations, but what a rough time for everyone! Ches and I both had the tetanus shots recently and can recall how much they pained us for several days after, so we can only imagine what it must be like for them. Poor girls! At least they do not receive any more shots for double the time they have been in the world, but still! Not looking forward to that and will make sure to plan to have Ches take the day off from work.

Random Cuteness Catch-Up

So much cuteness happens each day in our house! We are so very lucky to be witness to it, and we are even lucky enough to capture some of it on camera. Here are some of the adorable moments in the past couple of weeks:



Here is Ches asleep with the girls. This was taken at 6 AM in the morning. He is still in the shirt he wore to the office the previous day. Taking care of the girls is hard work!



Buddy decided he could still fit on his daddy's lap, despite there already being a very content Alina in his arms.











To the right, Mommy and Avery get a little cuddle time in on the couch. On the left is Little Lady Lina (aka Lina Bug aka Alina) wrapped up in the ducky towel after a bath from daddy.

And below is a video of Alina in the ducky towel with the hiccups.

Two Months Old!

Such big girls we have now (Alina is in the picture to the right)! To celebrate, we went to Babies R' Us yesterday. This was a big deal as it was the first time we completed both a diaper change and feeding outside of the house (other than once before to the doctor's office). Babies R' Us has this awesome room set up for just this purpose. Back by the bathrooms, the room had two changing tables, a gliding chair, and a love seat (see Avery in the picture below on the love seat - apparently she was not as thrilled about the room as we were).

While we were in there, right after the feeding when we were strapping the girls into the car seats, Alina decided it was the time to have a massive poop. Luckily, the accompanying wet fart alerted us to its existence. Ches picked her up and started changing her, and she decided to poo again...and again...and again. Then, after cleaning up the constant stream of poo, she thought it the appropriate time to pee everywhere. Ches finally was going to secure the diaper when the second barrage of urine shot up and all over the new diaper and the mat we had down. Thanks to Ches' quick, skilled moves, he was able to save the outfit she was wearing. We are so happy that this was being dealt with on a nice changing station instead of in the back of our car.

When we were finishing up, another mother walked in with a very cute 4-week-old boy. She was totally shocked to see us with twins. She kept making statements about how difficult it must be for us to handle the twins when she was having a hard time with just the one. We said that we had a lot of help which has enabled us to be able to handle the load. But then she said she also had the help of her in-laws and that it was just so much work to have one baby. She sounded pretty rough. It made us both thankful for our situations - to have such wonderful daughters with wonderful grandparents (and aunt & uncle) and wonderful teamwork between the two of us.

We made out like bandits with all of the sales Babies R' Us had for memorial day weekend. We even got a new carrier that fits Ches perfectly without having to subject the girls to a face full of beard. We tested it out when we both walked to Safeway with the girls in the carriers. It was very nice to have the convenience of just attaching them to our chests instead of setting up the caravan. We even managed to buy all the necessities for our memorial day grilling session including a 12-pack of beer, sack of potatoes and the other essentials (hot dogs, buns, chicken skewers, etc.). Hopefully we can make a solid attempt to take a walk everyday with the girls in the carriers, weather permitting.

Feeding Time

8 Weeks Old!

We have had the honor of getting to know our little girls for eight weeks now! I cannot believe it was that long ago already. My five week antepartum stay seems like a distant memory that somehow doesn't even feel like it actually happened. I feel terrible because I still have yet to send a thank you note with pictures of the girls to the wonderful nurses that took such great care of us there! I keep saying to myself that I will put something together once I have professional pictures, but who knows when that would be!

We are settling in to more of a rhythm of late. I feel like I am able to get more and more done each day. Unfortunately, cleaning the living room still remains on the low end of the priority scale. I pick up what I can, but the lack of vacuuming is haunting me in a major kind of way. Thanks to Fizz's interest in an almost empty coffee bag (the sound of the bag is similar to the one his treat bag makes), there has been a small pile of coffee grinds on the floor by the door for several days. It remains there because I get hung up on the thought that if I take out the vacuum to clean that one spot, then I should vacuum the rest, but that takes a good 20-30 minutes, and there is usually something more pressing to take care of in that amount of time! Yeah, okay, we can be a bit gross, but I know you still love us!

I view the day as a success if Ches and I have full meals, take showers, bathe the babies, clean out the litter, and all the dishes/bottles have been cleaned. For the other things (cleaning of kitchen, folding of laundry, picking up the obvious stuff in the living room, squeezing 20 minutes of recumbent biking, blog post, making an extra nice meal, napping, etc.), I rotate days. I keep hoping to make the weekends extra productive, but it can be hard when what used to be a two hour trip to Walmart has now turned into five hours. Practice makes better, though, and we will keep trying!

At night, the girls feed every three hours, almost like clockwork. Occasionally, we will get an extra 15-30 minutes, and the very rare 4 hours. While still mostly the same during the day, they have the tendency to do more of the 4 hour stints. I am writing this post during my night shift, listening to the monitor. In fact, I have to run to put a pacifier back in a baby's mouth right now (it is a fun game to try and guess who is crying)....okay, I am back! Sometimes, the girls enjoy the comfort of sucking on something at night while they sleep. Our thinking is that it is better a pacifier than a thumb!

And now it is time for me to get the bottles ready and wake Ches to help with the feeding. I will sign off with a cute picture of Alina, taken a couple of weeks ago - we really need more animal hats cause they are just too cute!

The Art of Consignment Shopping

Look how cute these girls are in these outfits! I had the great opportunity to begin my ventures learning the art of consignment shopping from a master - Robyn! Ever since John & Robyn came up here, we have heard of their extremely successful journeys to thrift and second-hand stores. Every trip to a store, they would come back with at least one (but usually a bit more) name brand, new condition item. They also managed to stock our kitchen with great utensils from Goodwill - so glad to finally have a cast-iron skillet!

The day before they drove to California, Robyn and I went to an adorable little shop that is well hidden from the road. I have been to Goodwill before, but this was my first time in any other type of second-hand store. I was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that was not particularly organized! With this feeling, if left alone, I probably would have looked at one shelf and then quickly retreated to my car.

Robyn jumped straight in to the first row of clothes, despite it being placed just a little too high for comfort sake. The 0-3, 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes items were all mixed in together. I am thankful she taught me her system: make one giant pile of everything you have any interest in, then prune it after you have gone through the store. I was definitely a little slower on the selection front, but Robyn was just pulling out gems of clothing left and right.

We ended up with roughly 25 outfits, a hat, and some toys for $100. We would have spent near $300 if we bought all of that brand new. So I have learned my lesson and will continue to shop for baby clothes at that and other thrift stores! There is one (called Rumple New Skin) which will accept my maternity clothes for credit! Everyone knows that buying baby girl clothes is irresistible, so this new shopping habit will help us stretch our tight dollars!

After pushing through a great deal of stubbornness, we finally broke down and got a swing. Here is some video documentation of Avery's thoughts on it. I think its a winner.

Development Update!

Hi all! The girls are changing everyday! They actually stare at the toys on the bouncie seats. Not sure if it is intentional, but we see them hitting the toys at a much higher frequency than just a week ago! Ches caught Alina in the midst of an intense staring contest with her hand. Maybe they will soon figure out they control them! This little video of Avery does not quite show their growing knowledge of their extremities, but it is still adorable!

Their grip has dramatically improved as well. They are very fond of grabbing individual beard hairs. I love hearing Ches politely asking the girls to please let go. He knows it is only going to get worse as their grip strengthens and they learn to grasp larger and larger handfuls of the wiry ruggedness growing from his chin.

Of late, they have also been grabbing the pacifiers and yanking them from their mouths, only to begin crying and turning their head around, frantically looking to put the binky back in their mouths. There have been a few absolutely adorable instances when they have managed to find the binky and put it back in themselves, often with vigorous head shaking!

If it wasn't for a misplaced arm, Avery would have rolled over onto her back from her belly this morning. Granted, it is not a very smooth action, as it usually requires them to be in a fussy mode to encourage flailing, but we think that once it happens accidentally, they may learn to do it intentionally.


The girls are starting to fit into some of the onesies labeled 3 months. There is still plenty of room to grow, but it is not overly loose either. To celebrate, I dressed them up in their "I Heart Auntie" onesies and took a couple of pictures. Avery's facial expression in the image to the left is too cute to not post here. I also am a fan of Alina's raised eyebrow in the photo on the right. At least this photo shoot went a lot smoother than the Gator one!


The weather here could not be more perfect. It is in the 60's during the day and the low 50's at night. We have more days of sun than rain. We have enjoyed taking the girls out for strolls in their 'caravan' and intend to strap on the snugli & moby wrap to go walking around the Grand Forest. I need practice wearing one of those things (and need to build the strength) as we intend to hit up Pike's Place Market sometime soon - hopefully before it is too unruly with massive amounts of tourists. We will also have to perfect the art of eating all the food (the warm, gooey mac & cheese from Beechers and the flaky goodness of the chicken, mushroom, rice pirosky) with the girls hanging from our chests.

And all of the hustle and bustle in this house does not seem to be affecting the kitties. They like smelling the girls, but will definitely give them queer looks once they start crying. But Fizz does not let the crying hinder his cat naps!

Sleepless Nights

Everyone we meet that has a kid, but not twins, always asks jokingly if we are getting any sleep. They think they can commiserate with us. It is when we run into the parents of twins that we receive the solemn look on the face with the sincere question of "Have you adjusted to the total lack of sleep?" There is no joke in their voices but the smile on their faces show their joy at the fact that they are no longer in that situation. They feel our pain, as they have been there and survived. I wonder if the lack of sleep we experience is unlike anything the parents of singletons could imagine. From the same parents with the solemn looks, we hear that it will all get better...when the girls start going to school.

Along with the sleep deprivation twin parents suffer through, there is a sense of pure accomplishment and pride when you put your children down in the crib, walk out the door, and hear complete silence on the monitor. On a comparable level of deepness of emotion, there is an overwhelming frustration at volleying back and forth of getting one child to sleep while the other begins to stir, and then repeating the cycle throughout the whole night.

So, the grandparents left on Saturday morning. I am thankful for the amount of sleep they gifted us while they were here, but now, the transition to this sleepless haze I am currently attempting to function with is quite difficult. Multiple times Ches and I have jested with them about their permanent move to be our live-in nannies, but the humor seems to slip to irrational possibility, maybe even desperation, as the night hours go on.

We made the mistake on Saturday of making two different outings with the girls in their car seats. The outings were everything you could hope for from infants: they slept soundly while at the restaurant for breakfast and on the stroll through the aisles of Costco and when they did begin to stir, a simple rocking of the seat or pushing of the stroller kept the crying at bay. We thought everything was going to be okay since they were wide awake for the cycle right before bedtime, but expectations mean naught to a baby girl.

Last night went a lot better. The twins actually went down in their crib for at least 2 hours without grunts, albeit the two hours were at different points throughout the night. I took the first shift (10 PM to 12 AM), fed them together (12 AM to 1 AM), we shared the second (1 AM to 3:45 AM), fed the girls & pumped (3:45 AM to 5 AM) and Ches took the last one (5 AM to 7:30 AM).

We shall see what tonight holds! But I must away as it is time for a feeding and then hopefully a shower and a nap (doubtful, as getting both of those in a single day is a luxury)...

Morning Cuddle

The last two morning have been heavenly! Not only have Papu & Mimi given us an extra shift of sleep (so solid 7 to 8 hours per night), we were peacefully awoken by Robyn bringing the girls in to cuddle with us on the bed. Each morning, we spent an hour huddled close before getting up to start the day. Apparently the girls like to cuddle as much as we do! Those two hours are by far the best hours we have had as a family thus far!

Yesterday, we were also treated to a royal Mediterranean feast prepared by Robyn (Mimi). We had avgolemono, Greek salad, hummus with homemade pita chips, and spanikopita. Everything was absolutely delicious! Our friends, Ben and Marilyn (so, not sure how you spell your name!), met the girls for the first time. I think they fell in love with the girls instantly, but who can blame them! Our girls are just too cute to resist!

Avery had a record three outfit changes in the day due to her pee explosions. Her sister didn't want to be outdone in anything so she granted us with the first major poo in the bath tub. Ches was bathing her when she made the loudest fart (I heard the bubbles in the living room from the guest bathroom). Ches thought a sound that ferocious had to mean something more sinister was awaiting him under her warming cloth, and he was very right. But all in all, an absolutely wonderful day!

Love to all!

Gator Girls

Ches and I are die hard University of Florida Gator fans! As such, it is only natural for our daughters to also bleed orange and blue. Mimi and Papu have worked for the Gators for many years and forged great relationships with many of the coaches. Becky Burleigh, the soccer coach, was kind enough to make adorable onesies for the twins. They are perfect! So we decided to do a fashion shoot with them:

Unfortunately, they were not feeling like being models at the time, so it took a lot of quick snaps to get a shot that was reasonable. We think Alina is signaling a good touchdown in this photo:

Here is Papu with the two Gator Girls:

They are just too cute! The hats are courtesy of Mom. Expect many more Gator Girl pictures as they grow, especially during football season!

My first posting (with a little bit of catch-up)

Please say hello to our lovely daughters! Alina is sporting the pink giraffe kimono top and Avery is doning the red & brown stars with the brown pants (which have adorable ruffles on the butt, courtesy of Gramps). They are five weeks old in this picture (as opposed to the six weeks old they are as of today).

Alina is a little heftier than her sister weighing in at around nine and a half pounds while Avery is workng hard to catch up being eight pounds and ten ounzes. Their favorite activies include sucking down breast milk from a bottle, making loud farts, peeing on their daddy during diaper changes, staring at their best friend (which is the lamp in our living room), and spitting up on their Papu (paternal grandfather). They dislike being burped, not being cuddled, sudden changes to direct sunlight, and daddy going to work. They are both fluent in the languages of Dolphin and Predator as well as being proficient in the ancient martial art of Flailology (both arm and leg flailing schools).

We spent five weeks in the antepartum unit prior to their arrival. The nurses were amazing, especially my two favorites, Summer on the night shift and Janice on the day shift. I would look forward to having them on my service whenever they took a break. They were amazing! The food was way better than expected and you cannot beat the fact that you ordered off a menu anytime of the day to arrive at your bed 45 minutes later. After I tired of the menu, we explored the many wonderful food options surrounding the hospital.

Ches stayed with me every single night. He is so amazing! His work only allowed him to work from the hospital for 3 days in the whole 5 week period so he actually did the commute across the ferry every other time. He held my hand through all of the scary parts, helped calm me down when I let my imagination run wild with worries, and even went out to buy me bras, underwear, and feminine products! I did say he was amazing, right?

John and Robyn (Ches' parent's) jumped in their RV in Southern Florida as soon as they heard I entered the hospital. They booked it across country, skipping visits with all of their family and friends, to make it to Washington in 5 days. I cannot say enough wonderful things about them and their help. They made exquisite homemade meals that Ches brought me in the hospital, cleaned our house thoroughly (we are talking about steam cleaning!), and assembled the crib & changing table as well as decorated the nursery. They kept our cats company and lifted my spirits with their visits to the hospital (especially since they brought Piroshky Piroshky for me and Pike's beer for Ches).

My sister came to visit me the first weekend I was in the hospital. She raised my spirits and gave me the strength to have a positive attitude for the remainder of my stay. She also convinced me to step into the modern era by getting an iPhone. While my mom could not make the physical trip, we connected on Skype every weekend. My Uncle Steve and Aunt Lucy called multiple times and Ches' wonderful extended family gave continual support via facebook. My dad had a planned visit to the Seattle area due to a conference. Little did they know that they would be there for the splendid event of the birth of the girls.

I could not have dreamed of a better delivery and labor experience. My very talented doctor made the decision to induce me at 36 weeks since I my labs showed the beginning of pre-eclampsia. I was given pitocin to start real contractions at 11 AM. Dr. Scheve came in and broker my water around 2 PM. I started pushing at 9 PM, was moved to the operating room (since all twin births happen there), and at 9:51 PM, Alina joined the party. At 10:15 PM, with a very slight assist from forceps, Avery entered the world.

They were such healthy little girls! Both were close to 6 lbs. when born and there was no NICU stays. They came on a Tuesday night and we were out of the hospital on Friday morning. We have been spoiled by the immense amount of help we have received from John and Robyn. They are the sole reason we have had any sleep, enjoyed many healthy & scrumptious meals, and have a clean home.

But that is about to change as they are heading out this weekend on their own adventures. They have done more for us than we could have ever hoped for! Ches and I are nervous to see them leave but are excited to see how we can manage on our own. Luckily, they will be back in several weeks to see if we have survived.

So that is where we are at and hopefully I will atually keep up with this thing!