1st time for everything!

Alexandra had her first mess that warranted a walk straight to the bathtub!
I always thought is was a bit of a joke when my uncles talked about throwing kids into the tub fully clothed, apparently the joke was on me. Not only did she completely fill the diaper but she managed to shoot it up to between touch her shoulder blades.

It took about 30minutes of tub time to get her all cleaned up. During that time she helped me empty and draw clean water 3 times before we actually got her all covered in sudds. The beauty of it all was that when we got done Annellice also had a messy diaper.

I think I have hit my fill of the dirty diapers this week - it's dad's turn now. Weird part is that changing the dirties always seem a bit fun; the girls are usually smiling and we tend to have a good chance of a story coming out of the experience as well :)

No reason to be alarmed :)

During bathtime last week Annellice figured out how to hold her breath long enough to turn PURPLE! She almost looked like an Oompa-Loompa.

Why do kids do this exactly? After some bouncing, pulling of the arms and legs, gentle squeezing of the cheeks and na-da. In comes dad to the rescue! He pryed her mouth open then stuck his index finger in to pull her tongue down from the roof of her mouth. After about 30seconds the screaming began. YAHOO!
She is doing well now and has had no ill effects from her new-found trick. I have been checking on her a bit more when she is sleeping appears to be back to normal from what I can see.

Hearts are Good!

Totally forgot to tell you all... Alexandra had her post-hospital follow-up with the Cardiologist (Dr Albrecht from UVA) on the 17th. They started with taking her blood pressure which is not an easy task on such a small squerming body. After several attemptes by one nurse they pulled in another nurse for an extra set of hands, all the while Lexie sat there squerming and occasionally throwing out a smile. After the BP was taken they stuck about 10 sticky patches to her chest and abdomen to listen and document her heart rythms. From the patches with little plastic flaps that close-pin like things clipped onto. After the monitor printed out 3 tests the removal process started. We let the nurse be the bad guy on that one as Lexie didn't like getting the sticky pads taken off with warm water and soap much less just being yanked off without warning.

After much screaming and crying we were off to the ultrasound room with Dr Albrecht did his thing. He showed us on the monitor that there are still 2 small (less than 3mm) holes - VSD's and 1 hole that each baby has after birth that has yet to completely close. Now I know that sounds bad, but the Dr assured us that these holes are VERY common and that they DO NOT deter people from leading happy and productive lives.

So--- YEAH! No surgery needed! YIPPIE!!!

13" @ 6AM

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

So are they cute or what!!??!!??

Lexie is on the left and Annellice is on the right.

Who would have thought blowing air on the their faces would insite a riot of smiles?!? I am loving the trick so far though. Here is another one of them hamming it up.

Brrrr....

Wow time is flying by and I can hardly remember all the things that we have been doing since Thanksgiving! We now see what people say about this time just being a blur; I hope we can at least take enough pictures so we can at least look pack on it at some point and go "Oh yeah - thats when..." We shall see what happens though.

At any rate, the girls sported their snow suits for the first time about 1-2 weeks ago now. Even though they are sized for newborn and 0-3 months they are swimming in them. At least they are staying warm while we walk Titan - which is better than me some days! We are looking forward to our 1st snowfall of the year now. (Annellice is the the white suit and Lexie is in the pink one. )

The daily walks with Titan have been a good way to settle the girls in for the evening. If I plan everything correctly the afternoon stroll tires them out just enough so that I can get dinner made without to many runs to and from the pack-n-play/toys.

Recently, the girls started "talking" more. They now have "lights on" when they look at things, so we have started placing them on a play mat that has little objects dangling from it. Annellice enjoys talks to the pig and blue bird, while Lexie likes the cow and the red bird (each of the animals has a noise maker inside - either rattle, squeeker or bell sound). They are still not fans of Tummy-Time unfortunately. The trick may be to do it sometime when they are not hungry :)

Titan Loves His Girls

Return on Investment

Smiling is their latest trick...and no, not just gassy contortions of the face...real smiling. It makes me melt every time! Annellice is the bigger ham right now. She will smile for anything and anyone if she thinks attention is to be gained. Alexandra requires a bit of a better mood and is more selective in when and with whom she'll share her newest gift.

All Night Long!!!!!

For the first time the girls slept a full 8-hours last night. It was great not to have to get up in the middle of the night for the hour+ ritual of changing and feeding, though I don't expect this trend to be permenant yet. We have had single occurances of 6 and 7 hours in a night all of which were followed by a day of cranky babies, additional feedings, and sleepless nights. Here's to raising a glass of hope that we've crossed a threshold.!?

While the girls were sleeping soundly, I was cooking a turkey that had to be pulled from the oven around midnight. Long story short, when I awoke to remove the bird I started searching through the sheets for "the girl" and asking Gwynne where the baby was. Turns out I was having a dream that one of the girls was asleep on my chest and when I woke up I couldn't find her. Took a few moments of panic for me to regain a grip on reality...kind of funny now that I am awake enough to look back on it.