9 weeks

Today the girls had their 2 month doctor's visit which was unfortunately scheduled at 7:45 am. We miraculously got there on time and the visit went well. The girls got three shots each and an oral vaccine and did great. They screamed for while they got the shots and for about 30 seconds afterwards and then fell asleep for several hours. The doctor pronounced the girls "perfect" - they are growing like weeds and are meeting the appropriate developmental milestones. The nurse excitedly told us that the girls are finally on the growth chart - they were so small last visit that they didn't even make the 5th percentile on the charts. Today Kate was in the 5th percentile and Maya was in the 10th for their age - not their adjusted age, but the actual time since they were born! I think they're above the 50th percentile for their adjusted age - which is amazing considering they didn't make the charts for adjusted age when they were first born.

In other news, Maya and Kate have graduated to larger (8 oz) bottles since they started drinking all of their smaller bottles. I'm hoping that now that they are eating more, they can go longer at night between feedings. I can't wait until they are sleeping through the night - or at least five or six hours between night feedings.

White and Pink Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We're having a very nice Christmas at my parent's house. It snowed a foot last night and now the sun is out and it's beautiful. That's the white part.

Unfortunately, the pink part is that Kate has come down with pink eye. It doesn't seem to bother her too much, but it's kind of sad to see her pretty eye all weepy and crusty. We're giving her antibiotic eye drops - if it's a bacterial infection it should be cleared up by tommorow.

Here's a picture of the girls surrounded by their Christmas loot.

Saturday afternoon nap

Weekends are much more meaningful and fun now that Kate and Maya are here as it gives us a chance to hang out all day as a family. Today, we went on a long walk with the girls and Rosie. Josh carried Maya in a Baby Bjorn and I carried Kate in the Moby and, of course, Rosie walked under her own power. Now, Josh and the girls are napping on the couch...

Dog Bonding

Rosie is starting to pay more attention to the babies and this morning we all had a bonding session on the living room floor. The girls are definitely getting a good early dose of dog-iness, so hopefully that will inoculate them against dog allergies later in life.

Banshees

Our good babies who would eat, get their diaper changed and then drift peacefully back to sleep at night seem to have been replaced by babies who eat, get their diaper changed and then scream like banshees (what is a banshee anyway?) at the top of their lungs until someone picks them up. They then calm down until they get put down again - even if they appear to be in a deep sleep when put down. Luckily they seem to be taking turns screaming like banshees - one will sleep while the other screams. I've been dutifully picking the screaming one up, rocking her, calming her, putting her down and then repeating over and over again - and it doesn't seem to help matters. So, right now I'm trying to let Maya (she's the screamer right now) scream for 10 minutes to see if she calms down herself.

Update: after 9 minutes of top of her lungs screaming, Maya seems to have gone to sleep. The unbelievable thing is that Kate slept peacefully through the whole thing - twins have a remarkable talent for blocking out someone screaming in their ear.

Snow!

We're finally getting some winter weather - we got over a foot of snow in the past day and it's stil going! It's nice to see the snow, but it might mean an end to our afternoon walks with the stroller.

The babies are seven weeks old today. Kate is close to 8 pounds and Maya is almost 8.5 pounds! They are starting to "practice" smile - which is a truly beautiful sight. I'm not sure it's an actual smile, though, they do seem to do it more often when they are content or just about to drift off to sleep.

Here's a new picture of Kate...

Podee-licious

I had another major breakthrough in twin-care this afternoon. I've been sick of bottle feeding the girls - it's messy, difficult and really annoying to try to bottle feed twins in the traditional way (with a bottle and a nipple). I heard about Podee's from a twins forum and decided to give it a shot. It is really an epiphany - I can hold both girls close while they eat instead of holding the bottles and they don't spit/drool formula all over the place. Plus, I'll now be able to easily feed both of them while I'm out in public. I'll be oh so happy if I never have to feed the girls while they are propped up in a Boppy again!

Another breakthrough!

I'm slowly learning out how to deal with two babies and finally figured out how to carry both of them in a front carrier at the same time. My friends suggested that I get a Moby carrier because she had heard that it was possible to carry twins in it at the same time. I bought one a while ago and had been using it to carry one baby, but hadn't gotten the courage to put both of them in there at the same time. A few days ago I decided it was time to try it out, and it actually worked! I can now hold both babies and have free hands which allows me to play the piano and do other stuff. Best of all is that I can now go on walks with the girls on trails instead of just on paved streets with the stroller. Here's a picture of them both in the Moby.

Christmas pics

I got them all dressed up and then Maya promptly fell asleep. This is the only picture I got with her eyes open. Of course, she sleeps when I want her to be awake and is awake when I'd like her to nap!

Here's how Maya, Kate and I spent part of the morning.


And here's Maya and Kate in outfits that I think Laurel gave us plus their new Christmas hats.

More firsts!

Today was a very exciting day! It was the first day I've been out and about with the girls during a feeding/changing time. My mom and I went out with the girls and spent a lot of money at Babys'R Us (pictures of some of the cute outfits we bought will be forthcoming), met up with my dad for lunch at Chevy's, and then to Trader Joe's. We fed the girls at Chevy's after our lunch and then changed them in the back of my Subaru. I was so excited to realize that we can be out for more than 2 hours at a time. The next test will be having them out by myself during a feeding.

Here's a picture of Kate with our neighbor and friend, Claire, who came over yesterday to help with a feeding and to cuddle babies.


And here's one with Grandpa and I feeding the girls at Chevy's

Due Date/Binky-aholics Anonymous

Today was the official due date for the girls, so they are officially now supposed to be born. They are still probably on the small side for a regular newborn, but are growing fast. As of yesterday, Maya was 7lb8.5oz and Kate was 6lb14.5oz.

They are much more awake than they used to be and are noticing their environment a bit more. This morning, Maya noticed the Whoozit (a small toy) I was holding in front of her face and actually followed it with her eyes when I moved it around! Oh, and the girls are turning into total binky addicts - which is useful in some ways because it's an easy way to get them to stop crying if they are upset. It's quite a change from when they were first born and they'd get exhausted from trying to suck down a few cc's from a bottle - now they can suck on a binky for hours and still eat a good meal.